The department stores are already having Pre-Black Friday sales and I'm sure people will be busy buying presents for their children, parents, grandparents, other family members and friends. It would be nice to take a few minutes and come up with your own Christmas list. Sure, Santa probably won't have time to shop for you, but there is nothing wrong with dreaming.

What would my top five wants for Christmas be?

Here is my list to Santa:


1. HP Black Licorice 15.6" 2000-2c29wm Laptop - My desktop is getting up there in age, though it still works great, my deepest fears is that it will quit working one day. Laptop computers are a lot cheaper than desktop computers. Plus, I can work on a short story or the next great American novel from the comfy of my bed.

The Prodigals: Giants in the Land, Book Two
By Clark Rich Burbidge
Illustrated By Karl C. Hepworth
Publisher: WinePress Publishing
Pub. Date: October 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-1606152416
Pages: 248

Review:

Author Clark Rich Burbidge returns with book two in the Giants in the Land series, which is set in a world where villagers relied on Giants to help them dig canals for irrigation, lifted heavy stones for foundations and the Giants built and took care of the levees. Basically, the Giants helped the people with day-to-day living that is until the Giants suddenly vanished, leaving everyone to defend for themselves.

In book one The Way of Things, a young father named Thomas volunteered to look for the Giants by venturing to the forest, which he had to leave his family behind and everything he knew. Throughout his journey, his faith and courage is tested until he finally learns the true meaning of being a Giant.

Seventeen years have went by since Thomas has become the Land's Forest Ward, occasionally over the years he would venture out to visit his daughter, Hope, who now has two children of her own, seventeen-year-old Tommy and thirteen-year-old, Rose.

Times have changed across the land as a ruthless band of raiders invade the villages and take anything of valuable. These raiders attacked Tommy's father and Uncle Samuel and they kidnapped his sister, Rose. It seems the raiders consider humans as valuables too, putting them into slavery for their leader, Big John, who works for The Leader.

Rules of Murder
A Drew Farthering Mystery
By Julianna Deering
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub. Date: August 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0764210952
Pages: 336


In the style of Agatha Christie's classic mysteries, comes Rules of Murder, book one in A Drew Farthering Mystery series by Julianna Deering.

Drew Farthering has always loved reading a good mystery, especially the books by his favorite detective author, Ronald Knox. Little did he realize that he would be thrown into a real murder mystery when returns to his family home n Hampshire, England, where his mother and stepfather are throwing a party on the grounds of their country estate. The estate is filled with interesting guests, including the lovely and intelligent American, Madeline Parker, who happens to be his stepfather's niece.

Suddenly, one of the guests ends up dead. Don't forget this is the early 1900s, so there are no cell phones to call for the authorities. Like the game Clue, Drew Farthering plans on finding the murderer himself, but it isn't going to be easy, as no one wants to confess to the crime.

Luckily, Madeline was with him when the murder occurred, so he can rule her out as a prime suspect. Using the murder guidelines he learned from reading Knox's books, Drew along with his best-friend, Nick, (the family's butler's son) plan on unraveling the mystery before someone else ends up dead.

The Tutor's Daughter
By Julie Klassen
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub. Date: January 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0764210693
Pages: 416

Review:

November may be the start of the holiday season for people, but this month is book review catch up for me, as I have a pile of books sitting on my desk that have been read, but are in dire need of reviews. I read The Tutor's Daughter back in December, but I got sidetracked; therefore I had to reread the book this month to refresh my memory.

In the style of Jane Eyre, The Tutor's Daughter find Emma Smallwood helping her father run a boarding school for boys called The Smallwood Academy ever since her mother passed away two years earlier, but the academy is collapsing because of the lack of students. To make matters worse, her father suffers from melancholic.

A few years prior to the Academy's fallout, two of the Weston's sons attended the school. Emma writes to the Weston family asking them if they are in need of a tutor for their children. The Weston reply back and before long Emma and her father head to the cliff-top manor in Cornwall to tutor the two youngest Weston children.

No, I didn't forget to have this written and scheduled for this morning. Actually, the internet connection was extremely slow last night, so I decided to write this today. Plus, I was busy watching The Walking Dead and Witches of East End last night.

The slow internet is a reason why I didn't get a few review posts scheduled over the weekend, so I'm going to be busy today and the rest of the week getting these reviews finished.

I know what "Thanksgiving" is, but it is the one holiday I would rather avoid at all cost. If you are like me, you probably have a few relatives that you don't want to see, let alone like them. Normally, it is just my parents, my grandmother, my uncle and me for Thanksgiving, which I still dread as I'm not a fan of turkey, cranberry, stuffing or anything with pumpkin in it, I would rather watch Home For The Holidays and go to the stores for the pre-Black Friday sales.

Beverly Hills Teens: Volume Two
Voice Cast: Hadley Kay, Michael Beattie, Karen Bernstein, Terri Hawkes
Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
Release Date: October 1, 2013
Retail: $12.98
ASIN: B00F3L8ON6
Running Time: 723 minutes
Rating: G

Review:

Thanks to DVDs, all of your favorite '80's animations series are being are becoming available to own. Mill Creek Entertainment released the first 32 episodes of the 1987 series Beverly Hills Teens earlier this year and now the second volume featuring the final 33 episodes is available to own on DVD.

Beverly Hills Teens is about a group of wealthy teens, but with the typical teenage problems, but the problems are outrageous. It’s a combination of Sweet Valley High and 90210. The series had a wide variety of different characters, such as the 10-year-old freshman Chester McTech, the money crazed Buck Huckster, scheming Bianca Dupree and the part-time model Larke Tanner.

The 33 episodes on the 3-disc set:

Sutton
By J. R. Moehringer
Narrated by Dylan Baker
Publisher: Hyperion
Pub. Date: 2012
Duration: 15.12 hours
Buy Link
Reading Challenge

Review: