What do you want more than anything else right now? Do you want more free time? A new job? New clients? To be physically stronger or maybe just a little bit healthier? You can achieve any of these things through dedication and focus according to Alexa Fischer. The TV and film actor who also happens to be an entrepreneur and the founder of Wishbeads, argues that with her 21 day system you can find a way to motivate yourself into getting what you want out of life in her book, Wishwork: Make a Wish, Do the Work, and Watch It Come True. Continue reading “Wishwork Book Review from @kleffnotes”

Andra Douglas’ new novel, Black and Blue: Love, Sports, and the Art of Empowerment is loosely based on her own life and desires to be part of the world of football. Focused on Christine, the youngest of three daughters, who struggles to go against the expectations put on her by living in the South. She has always wanted to play football, but a spot on her high school team is kept from her and she finds herself dejected watching as her male classmates are given football scholarships, knowing that she will never receive one. When she moves to New York City she assumes that she will never play the game she loves, but sometimes fate has a way of stepping in. Continue reading “Black and Blue Book Review from @kleffnotes”

Alice returned from Wonderland, but back in England no one believes that her experiences truly happened. Marked as mad, much like the riddle filled hatter, she has been kept in an institution and forced to undergo treatment for these fits of fancy. After recently turning fifteen, Alice learns that while her sister Katherine, who has long been absent, is planning a wedding, she will be sent farther away. What she doesn’t expect is that the characters she has longed to rescue her from her captive existence need her as much as she needs them. In Ever Alice, the titular Alice returns to Wonderland and is tasked with a dangerous mission that will set her against the regime of the Queen of Hearts. Continue reading “Ever Alice Book Review from @kleffnotes”

Walter is a math prodigy who found his place on Wall Street, with his seemingly perfect job and family, he finds himself becoming a father figure for his daughter’s best friend, Amanda. Her single mother is often unavailable to her, but when the financial crisis hits in 2008 he loses his job and the life that he once had. His wife leaves with their daughter, but Amanda is still seeking family. K.C. Maher crafts a story that examines relationships and connections that arise in emotional situations. She does note in her author bio and in comments on the book that there are elements that challenge the limits of what is appropriate and her work has been noted by her lawyer husband as being outside of the standard. Continue reading “The Best of Crimes Book Review from @kleffnotes”

Dorian Gray: Beneath the Canvas dives deeper into the history of the Gray family by providing an insight into someone who was vital to the creation of the first Dorian Gray’s painting. Dorian might still be trying to cling to some of the more normal elements of life, this doesn’t mean he is safe from the ever looming morbi presence. In John Garavaglia’s sequel the story evolves and readers gain a knowledge that not even Dorian had in the first book. Continue reading “Dorian Gray: Beneath the Canvas Book Review from @kleffnotes”

Dorian Gray by John Garavaglia, the first in the Dorian Gray series inspired by the comics of the same name by Darren G. Davis and Scott Davis, is an adaptation for a young adult audience of the story of a new generation of Gray. As presented in the graphic novel, this Dorian Gray is not the first Dorian, whose life was recorded by Oscar Wilde, but a young affluent man living in New York. Still in high school, this Dorian has been raised by close family friends after the unexpected death of his mother and the disappearance of his father. In these pages readers follow Dorian as he learns his destiny. Continue reading “Dorian Gray Book One Book Review from @kleffnotes”

Banja de Banja is successful, but has been smashed to pieces by her divorce. As a self noted aggressive bisexual, she has a insatiable desire to meet new people and to experience new things. Comet Fox is a selection of chapters from her life. Some of these will make you laugh, some will make you cry, and others will make you question everything. Continue reading “Comet Fox Book Review from @kleffnotes”

Dr. Mark Goldstein has loved animals ever since he was a little boy. Both domestic and wild animals have interested him and after graduating veterinary school at Cornell University, he became a veterinarian in clinical practice. He then went on to be director of zoos in Boston and Los Angeles, then head of a progressive humane society where he advocated for animal welfare. During his 30 year career he has gained a great deal of knowledge about not just animals, but the people who care for him. By taking readers through his life he shares all that he’s learned about how to live. Continue reading “Lions and Tigers and Hamsters Book Review from @kleffnotes”

From 1787 to 1868 more than 160,000 women and children were convicted and sent from Britain to Australia for a variety of crimes. Convicts in the Colonies: Transportation Tales From Britain to Australia provides real life case studies and exceptional tales of those who were brought over in the first ships until the last ships. Lucy Williams examines everything from crime to sentencing in Britain to the perilous voyage these convicts had to face on their way to Australia. She then examines the three main penal colonies and the men and women who lived there. Continue reading “Convicts in the Colonies Book Review from @kleffnotes”

Roald Dahl is well known as a children’s author who delighted generations not only with his original works, but this the adaptations that came after them. While he is often best known for being an author, he was also so much more. Born in Norway in 1916, Dahl went on to become a rebellious teenager and later became a fighter pilot as part of RAF. He would later make his way to New York where he became involved in complex undercover operations. The Real Roald Dahl exmaines all of the parts of the author, both before and after his time as a writer to provide a deep understanding of the well known creator. Continue reading “The Real Roald Dahl Book Review from @kleffnotes”