Book Review: The Time Keeper

Author:Mitch Albom
Title:The Time Keeper
Publisher: Hyperion
Publish Date: Sept 4 2012
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: From the author who's inspired millions worldwide with books like Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven comes his most imaginative novel yet, The Time Keeper--a compelling fable about the first man on earth to count the hours. The man who became Father Time.

In Mitch Albom's newest work of fiction, the inventor of the world's first clock is punished for trying to measure God's greatest gift. He is banished to a cave for centuries and forced to listen to the voices of all who come after him seeking more days, more years. Eventually, with his soul nearly broken, Father Time is granted his freedom, along with a magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning of time.

He returns to our world--now dominated by the hour-counting he so innocently began--and commences a journey with two unlikely partners: one a teenage girl who is about to give up on life, the other a wealthy old businessman who wants to live forever. To save himself, he must save them both. And stop the world to do so.

Told in Albom's signature spare, evocative prose, this remarkably original tale will inspire readers everywhere to reconsider their own notions of time, how they spend it and how precious it truly is

Review: I heard so much about this book last year. I remember seeing a segment on it on Good Morning America.

That had me intrigued, but as my TBR pile is so massive, I didn't grab a copy, partially because of its short length and the other part being so many other commitments.

Well the book showed up in our library's ebook page so I decided to give it a go.

Mitch's writing style reminded me a bit of Richard Paul Evans. Very sentimental and very heart wrenching.

The story is told from 3 points of view, Sarah, a teenage girl, Victor, a wealth businessman dying of cancer and Dor, Father Time himself.

This is a very quick read. I found it very engaging, though the story was a bit choppy, switching between so many points of view, as a result it was a little harder to connect with some of the characters. I think Sarah was the character that suffered the most. You could feel all her teenaged angst but there was something missing from her. Whereas with Victor and Dor, you had a more rounded character. You knew what made them tick, so to speak.

Dor's story is the most fascinating, as it should be, him being the inventor of time and Father Time. You see his life at home and how he became fascinated with measuring things. He was an ancient geek! Pun intended.

Becoming Father Time is his punishment. Perhaps it is a good one too. The story's moral is to appreciate the time that you have because it is precious, and you don't know how long you have.

This may be a short read, but it really packed a punch.

Rating: 5 flowers

ARC Book Tour & Book Review: The Ghost & The Goth

Author: Stacey Kade
Title: The Ghost & The Goth
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Publish Date: June 29, 2010
Rating: 4 stars
Book Blurb: Alona Dare was the most popular girl in her high school class, or at least she was until she was run over by a school bus. Returning to the scene of her death as a ghost, she anticipates overwhelming grief at her untimely death. To her surprise, her classmates quickly move on. Not only that, but weird outcast Will Killian can see and hear her. Alona, used to getting her own way, haunts Will until he agrees to help her figure out how to progress from ghosthood to the big white light that she keeps expecting. Will has problems of his own; namely that every ghost in Groundsboro High, including a seething black mass of energy, now knows that he can see them, and they all want him to carry out their last wishes. Will and Alona have to work together to get the ghosts to stop tormenting Will, and to figure out exactly what Alona has to do in order to move on from this world. Their new relationship is full of surprises as they each experience a side of the other that neither expected. This tale of friendship from unexpected corners shows how two people can grow tremendously over time. The tale is absorbing, and Kade successfully portrays a typical present-day high school. This novel will appeal to fans of romances and ghost stories alike.

Review:  The Ghost And The Goth is like a teenage version of Ghostwhisper only with a more amusing cast of characters. Alona is a popular girl, who just happens to be recently deceased, care of a bus and Will is a "freak" who just happens to have a gift of hearing the dead when they talk and it gets him into a lot of trouble.

Will was very lovable, Alona not so much, but you really weren't supposed to like her. She was the popular girl, who was, like all popular girls, a bitch. Will was the underdog with a gift that made him look more than a little bit crazy, and his shrink! A really not so nice guy that was exploiting him as well as his mother.

Will has lots of problems. That's what makes him so likable. His frustrations are real and though his abilities are fiction, his emotions are very much the same as every teenager that was ever an outcast.

So Alona is stuck in the afterlife and the only person she can talk to is a guy she'd never associate with while she was alive.

Ironic, eh?

Do they become friends and help each other with their problems?

Of course.

Alona claims Will as hers, and becomes his spirit guide and also the go between for all the spirits that want him to help them with their unfinished business. Truthfully, a good many of these spirits are more interesting and have more amusing things to communicate than Alona, it might have been nice to have been able to hear more of their stories told in this book.

The Ghost and The Goth, is light reading. It can be devoured in one sitting even though it is close to 300 pages long. It is so fun to read, that you won't want to put it down. It definitely won't tax the brain, but it will open your eyes to the realities that are the cliques in high schools.

Inevitably they find a common ground and become indespensible to one another. Alana helps Will get over something he feels guilty about and he teaches her how to be *gasp* nice!

The ending was a little disappointing. I expected something totally different from what the author delivered. It was cute but it didn't offer closure. What it did offer was an easy way the author could write a sequel if she so chose to.