What Were We Thinking - Nancy Sathre-Vogel

Title: What Were We Thinking?
Author: Nancy Sathre-Vogel
Genre: Memoir, Cultural
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 305
Date read: March, 2013

Before there was a family on bikes, John and Nancy teamed up for the ride of a lifetime. We arrived into Pakistan with little more than bikes and dreams. This book tells the story of that year on the road, and of our unlikely romance.

Not quite as good as "Twenty Miles Per Cookie" or "Changing Gears", but still WELL worth the read :) Although the title is very apt - what on earth were they thinking? ;)

I enjoyed reading this story of "how it all began" and getting to know more of the earlier stages of Nancy's and John's life. However, unlike their touring in the Americas, I have no real desire to visit that part of Asia, so though very interesting to read, it didn't give me the same kind of wanderlust.

Like Nancy, I was appalled by how she was treated by men and children in especially Pakistan and India. I would like to think that things have improved since 1990, but never having been to either country, I honestly don't know.

Still, I've got to agree with Nancy that the best way to experience a country is on bike, and for that reason I'd love to "do" New Zealand on bike some day... Until then, does anybody know of a book I could live vicariously through??? ;)

Casting Spells - Barbara Bretton

Title: Casting Spells
Author: Barbara Bretton
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 320
Date read: March, 2013

Sugar Maple looks like any Vermont town, but it's inhabited with warlocks, sprites, vampires, witches and an ancient secret. And Chloe Hobbs, owner of Sticks & String, a popular knitting shop, has a big secret too. She's a sorcerer's daughter in search of Mr. Right and she's found him in Luke MacKenzie, a cop investigating Sugar Maple's very first murder. Bad news is he's 100% human, which could spell disaster for a normal future with a paranormal woman like her.

A fun mix between the knitting novels that I love and the paranormal novels that I love :) There wasn't quite enough knitting in it for my tastes, but on the whole I really enjoyed it. It's been awhile since I completely disappeared into a book, so it was nice to discover I still could ;)

It isn't high literature, and there were aspects I thought were glossed over too quickly, but for pure entertainment it fit the bill, and I can always hope some of the remaining questions will be answered in later books in the series :)