17 Reviews
Prey (Infected #1) by Andrea Speed [Spoiler Free]
"I love it when you get all defensive."
"I'm the king of the jungle. I'm not taking any shit from a living dust mop."
"Now you're telling me to follow the money."
"Of course I am. I'm a gold digger."
"And I've just gotten confirmation that I'm King Freak. I suppose I should be glad. If I've got to be a freak, at least I'm the biggest one."
This is the second book I have read about werecats that I have actually liked. This is also the first book I have read from a gay male's perspective. I was very happy to see that it wasn't a stereotypical feminine gay male persona. That is the only gay characters I ever encounter in books, and it has annoyed me. Oh, and a star was granted just for the mention of Front Line Assembly.
Can we say hilarious? Because that is what this book was. I was laughing my ass off through most of it. I was also pleased with the way the change was handled and explained in this book. Rather than it be all pretty and shimmery, it was, as I would actually expect it to be, if it were at all possible: painful, time consuming, and dangerous.
I loved the plot. I loved how it all came together. And I also liked that the mystery wasn't really revealed throughout the book, so you had something to hunger for in the "real" story.
I enjoyed the character development for all of them. I liked the villains. I also liked how there were more than one of them. It kept things interesting. I am certainly moving forward in this series.
This was for the first book. I will update with the second.
Book Two.
"Lions aren't regal. From what I understand, they're lazy, sexist bastards."
"You can't believe everything you hear on Animal Planet you know."
I love that these books start off in the perspective of the victim. It threw me off with the first one because both the victim and the main character were ex-cops. So at first I thought I was reading from Roan's perspective, not the first victims'. Again, this book had multiple things going on at once. Speed is very good with setting up and executing her plots. They make sense, and they're easy to follow, while still keeping things hidden from you. I enjoy her writing style very much. I am quite a fan of Law and Order: SVU, so perhaps that is why these books are so easy for me to love.
I would have to say that Matt was my favourite character in book 2. He was hilarious. He reminded me of my sister. <3
Read from November 29 to December 01, 2012
Glitch (Glitch #1) by Heather Anastasiu [Spoiler Alert]
*I did not finish this book*
*I did not finish this book*
The Matrix meets Equilibrium meets X-Men. Yeah...I know.
The good thing about this was the explanation of what was going on and why, and even how, was done pretty well.
The problem I had was that the contradictions were too much for me. Zoe's reaction to having emotions is not something I would expect. At all. I would have expected her to be more like an autistic child, because she never learned how to deal with emotions at all--she never had to because she didn't have any. Emotion would have been scary for her. Completely overwhelming, she wouldn't have known what to make of them, or how to navigate them. She might even have thought she was dying or something. She wouldn't have known how to deal with all of these sensations, perhaps, she would have even gone into shock. And it would have been more to this side of the spectrum because, not only did she not have emotions while online, but she also didn't have her own thoughts. So, imagine all of a sudden being able to think...and feel. You'd be confused and scared. Not understanding--even with an education as to what an ancient person had endured.
Now, sometimes she acted as I would have expected her to, not understanding what certain emotions were, not understanding a conscience, not fully understanding love. But then there is this insta-love between her and Adrien, which doesn't belong in this novel--with the plot and the character development, story build up--there is no way insta-love could exist. She isn't supposed to be understanding these emotions, so how could she be so sure she was feeling any of them after knowing someone for a few hours tops? I don't think so. I could see her having some kind of attachment to him later on, with him being the first person for her to connect with, but not when she hasn't had time to figure herself out. She supposedly only glitched for minimal amounts of time, for approximately 2 months. That is not enough time for her to be comfortable with emotion and thought. She was also too accepting of physical touch after living 17 years without it. Yes...this was just too much for me to be happy to continue reading. I like things to be plausible in these types of novels, but this was too contradictory for me.
Insta-love is lazy and shows lack of creativity. So, of course, that was another strike.
The third strike was this:
Shuntin', crackin', glodlam'd, and gnangy
I hated Adrien just for the way he spoke.
The non-swear word usage was the last straw for me. If it were used like once or twice in a chapter, I think I could have dealt with it. But this was all the time. Just fucking swear already and get it over with. It was hard to visualize Adrien as a badass when he sounded ridiculous. What was up with godlam'd anyway? You are aware that the swear word in Goddamned is "God", right? So with godlam'd you're still using God's name in vein, so what was the point in changing it from goddamned?
Anyway, I got to the point where Adrien's mom makes him take her back and I just couldn't be bothered with it anymore.
If you don't mind things contradicting themselves or not sounding plausible, and you don't mind reinvented swear words, (which I hate with a passion) then this book would probably be fine for you. But if you're nit picky like me, it will probably only drive you nuts.
Read from December 01 to 02, 2012
Books I have.
Bloodlines (Infected #2) by Andrea Speed [Spoiler Alert]
"You should charge admission into your life. It's a trip."
"People would demand refunds."
Heart breaking. The ending had me bawling my eyes out. It was tastefully done, and in a way that made it impossible not to cry.
I'm going to miss Paris.
"We're legally married in Canada. Here, we're dirty, filthy, outlaws, and somehow a menace to all straight people everywhere." Yes, gay people and their menacing ways! Destroying societies everywhere! It is a shame that people love to hate.
I love this series. I am addicted. And it really only took the first novella in the first book to get me hooked. I love that it's like episodes of a favourite show rather than a showing at a movie. It's a completely different feel to most of the books I read and I like the difference of it.
I am a fan of Roan's attitude, but he does come across excessively emo at times. Which I enjoy about his character, because he isn't perfect, but he is also not overly flawed. He comes across as a, dare I say it, real person rather than a fictional character. (This shouldn't be a compliment, because this should always be the goal. But the books I have been reading lately could use some help in that department; perhaps the authors need to read your books to get a feel of how it is done!)Speaking of writing styles: Speed's writing style is fantastic. There is life in every aspect of her novels. The music isn't generic, the scenery isn't overwhelming, the clothing isn't outrageous, the vehicles, houses, and furniture are not spectacular in every case. The cases themselves are very well thought out and executed. In both of the books I have read, I did not roll my eyes even once! I do not hate the main character. I do not hate any of the characters. They are all well developed, they act like people you could believe exist, and their roles make sense for who they're supposed to be--they're people you could relate to, sympathize for, understand, and feel disappointment towards. And so far, they all serve a purpose. They're not just there to be there and then tossed away. And that is a big plus in my book.
Read from December 02 to 03, 2012
Kisses From Hell by Various Authors
Sunshine--Richelle Mead
One Star.
I didn't like Rhea. She was so incredibly insecure and bitchy. There was no way anyone could not talk to her without walking on egg shells. Don't call her on it though, that just makes her talk down to you like you're a piece of shit.
And what the hell..? Why was this about vampires? A human suffering from blood loss could take take them out. Why did Rhea have a fire ability when she didn't ever use it? Not even to defend herself?
A tug-of-war between two people is not what I would consider a "fight".
Rhea, who was supposedly smart, only knew she had to act after Eric is practically falling off the edge of the cliff.
I'm also unsure of why Eric had the right to be upset that no one was concerned about Rhea's safety. She didn't know anyone, and she sure as hell did not go out of her way to get to know anyone. She kept to herself. The only person who would have found her behaviour odd, was Stephen, but there was nothing odd about her not being around. Eric only knew there was something wrong because he had been actively looking for her anyway. Yeah, shitty short story.
It was brought to my understanding that this is actually a prequel to the Vampire Academy Series--which I think I have, and have not read yet--I won't be reading it.
Bring Me to Life--Alyson Noel
Two stars.
I had made a deal with myself that I would never read another book by Noel again, after the whole Evermore fiasco. But it's part of this book and it is a short story, so I figured what the hell.
My biggest problem with this one was that this could have been awesome. Hence the two stars. However it fell flat
I noticed that Noel never found a healthy balance with her overwhelming description of places and lack of character development.
Noel added fuel to my fire raging against repetitive phrases; especially her
I wonder who knows...
Anyway, this story was entirely too predictable. The only thing that surprised me was that Bram was Lucian's brother rather than his son. Yeah...family issues.
Anyway, this has not changed my mind on whether I will pick up another book written by Alyson Noel. No, it just confirmed that I will not.
Above--Kristin Cast
One and a half stars.
I really wasn't fond of how this was written. It was kind of poetic so I can kind of respect that but it didn't flow well; it was disjointed, confusing, and just ambiguous for the most part. Not a good thing.
These were my favourite lines.
"With her touch he now felt all. Sucked hurt and burn from her body filtered through him leaving shadows of emotion."
"Rational.
Emotion.
Never. Not any.
Except with her touch."
"A twisted shadow stealing life. Collared by loss, led by wrath."
Hunting Kat--Kelley Armstrong
Two stars.
I read this earlier in the year by itself. And it didn't do much for me. I am seeing that it was supposed to be part of a series which I have not yet read, but do have in the waiting list.
It was lacking quite a bit of oomph. But it was certainly intriguing enough that I am still interested in reading the series. And so far this was my favourite short story in the book.
Lilith--Francesca Lia Block
One Star.
I did not see the point in this short story. Really, I was so distracted, I was tempted to just give up on it. It was not interesting.
Over all, I would give this book one and a half stars. It wasn't worth the read.
Read from December 03 to 04, 2012
Faelorehn (Otherworld Trilogy #1) by Jenna Elizabeth [Spoiler Free]
Oh. My. God. This book was so fucking boring. I am so glad I am finally finished. I started this last night at about this time. And this was a short book...I even skimmed a shit ton of it and I am only now finishing it...that should say something. I can read a book twice as long as this one in half the time when I like it...yeah.
Needless to say, I was easily distracted from this book. I found myself fine with doing the dishes and other random chores, including but not limited to, cleaning the bathroom.
Unfortunately I read this in a monotone fashion...it was just completely flat to me. There was no excitement, no real tangible emotion; nothing jumped off the page to drag me in. I was completely outside of it and bored off my ass the entire time. The reading felt heavy, almost like you had to read it slow. It took far too long for anything of significance to happen, and when it did, it felt completely watered down.
There were a lot of over explanations. For example, why Thomas and Robyn were able to be driving vehicles on any given day. It was always completely irrelevant to the story and it also served no purpose in character development; however, it did contribute to the bore factor.
"I clicked on the name without so much as a second thought." Did anyone else notice that Meghan had a thing about second thoughts? She doesn't think about a lot of things she ends up doing...
I was also curious as to the size of these pine cones...I mean, geeze, she thought she killed the boy...Must have been some impressive pine cones.
I also liked how seriously delusional Meghan was. I kind of felt bad for her, because she finally learns she's not crazy, just to completely convince me that, in fact, yes she is. I am not seeing how she was ever lead on by Cade. Good lord, they never so much as hugged or held hands! How was he leading her on by being friendly? The majority of the time she was sure he was not interested in her in that manner, so why was she twisting it? It was much like how she was so worried he was going to take advantage of her while thinking she didn't stand a chance with him...what kind of contradiction is that?
With how often her dreams were brought up, and the fact that she was having a particular dream annually, why was this dropped like a hot potato without ever explaining the significance of those dreams? Why was she having them? I want to know why they were so important to occur every year around the same time.
I really wish the scene with Cade and the Morrigan hadn't been so obvious. I also wish the identity of those two characters hadn't been so obvious.
Meghan was a fucking fool. She was completely nuts. Aside from her delusions and possessiveness of Cade, she was an imbecile. She couldn't put two and two together unless it was completely spelled out and shown with complete diagrams for her. She was also completely dull. There was absolutely nothing story worthy about her. I'd have to say she was one of the weakest characters I have ever read about.
So, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that her "Flaw" is that she is an imbecile. I could totally see how that could destroy the balance of the Otherworld.
Speaking of the Otherworld. What the fuck was up with that? We got a glimpse of nothing? She was there long enough to see some stones, the sky, and some shrubbery that was not even described? That was like the most anticipated part of this book! And I was given a fucking rock garden? Then she is back home again? Yeah, bad move!
As for the romance, I can see a lot of people being annoyed by the lack of progress. I was fine with it. In fact, it was the only thing I enjoyed in the story. I am happy that there is something left to be discovered between them in the next book, even though we all know there is something building there.
I do love the cover.
Would I recommend this? Oh, no. It wasn't worth the torture. Will I read the next books? No.
Read from December 04 to 05, 2012
Books I have.
Finding Eden by Camilla Beavers
"But I'm distracted every time Sahariel moves, as if I'm part of his ocean." (Except it said 'movies')
"I don't want to cause him pain. In fact, I want to take it away, along with everything else. I want to take away his pride, his anger, happiness, joy, love, sadness, everything. I want him empty; devoid."
Where do I start?
Well, I would give this one and half stars because it did have potential.
Typo city, this book was. Incorrect word usage, and bad grammar! It is important to proof read your work--not just hit spell check. Which I am sure is what happened here, as most of the words were correctly spelled, but instead of he, it ended up as be. This was a common occurrence and became more frequent toward the end of the book.
At times, it almost came across as if English was the second language to this author. And perhaps that is the case, because "I seen" is not acceptable speech, ever. So perhaps, next time, give your book to someone with great representation of the English language to scour over if you want to skip out on the editing portion of publishing your book.
"I try to eat my lunch, but I'm painfully aware of every move Sahariel makes from me."--See what I mean? That doesn't make sense. I understand what the idea behind this line was, but this is just awkward.
Moving on...the plot, character development, and conversations between characters did not flow. There were some major gaps in the plot. It was not executed well at all. Major things were missing. Eden didn't really adhere to any personality at any given time. All I understood about her was that she was bitchy--all the time. I didn't get any real sense of who she was, what was important to her; her personality just changed to meet the needs of the story, rather than the story meeting the boundaries of her personality. She never questioned why she was able to order Sahariel around. She wasn't ever a part of the Elf world (I was surprised she was an Elf, so good job there!) and sure as hell didn't know how to rule them, but the only training she received was teaching herself how to speak their language? Uh huh...
2 months after Sahariel stops being her personal guard there has been no progress with their relationship because he was gone the whole time.
The attempt at a love triangle failed a bit, mainly because there was no reason for it to happen, and no reason for Sahariel's absence. Not to mention, there was never any confirmation on anyone's part, for both sides of the triangle, of a romance building.
All of the scenes felt forced in this book. Nothing ran together smoothly. It was kind of like a bumpy road. And as a result it was hard to be captivated.
What Queen only has one guard? Especially during a time where her life is in danger...I was glad she got her ass kicked, but there wasn't even a reason given as to why she wouldn't tell Sahariel what was going on.
Overall, this felt like a rough draft. It definitely needs some fine tuning. Would I recommend it? Not until it got a serious overhaul.
Read from December 05 to 06, 2012
Books I have
Fantasy Lover (Dark Hunter #1) by Sherrilyn Kenyon [Spoiler Free]
"You've killed me," She breathed. "Now you have to hide the body."
As I read this, I noticed the writing was not what I would consider to be Sherrilyn Kenyon quality. And then I had to remind myself that this book is old.
I am not a fan of the multiple perspective narration. Especially when it's not sectioned off. It is just confusing. I've yet to read this style done with smooth transitions between characters. And this was no exception. I also dislike when there is a switch between 1st and 3rd person narrative.
Romance is not really a genre I am fond of. But if I want to read something that is not about a dimwitted teen, then I just have to take what I can get with my paranormal/fantasy books. And I was hoping--since I love The Chronicles of Nick, this would have a lot more story than sex. And well...I don't know where I stand on that front. I must say though, I was surprised with the lack of curse words, especially since the sexual content was very descriptive.
I found that the conversations between characters were rather awkward and felt very forced at times. And even in the adult books, the best friend is always the whore. The initial plot was cool, but then the execution was not done with finesse.
I was disappointed with characters and scenarios showing up, just to help move the story in a certain direction, without a real backdrop or adequate explanation for the appearance of certain characters and situations they found themselves in.
I also had issues with the characters themselves. Julian and Grace were often at odds with their character development. Julian, being a Spartan General, shouldn't have been as vulnerable and sensitive as he was, especially at 32+2000 years; at least not to the point that he was. He was coming across much too feminine for my liking with his personality.
Grace was supposed to be a sex therapist, but couldn't get herself to fuck a guy after 4 years? And had only had sex once in her life? Hmm, I hope her clients all got their money back, because you really can't begin to understand things you haven't experienced. It would have been better had she received therapy herself, for the sexual trauma she was suffering. Grace knows Julian two days and she is quite happy to be making out with him and letting him touch her all over the place, it didn't match her character development. But that wasn't her only problem. She had an unhealthy obsession, yet avoidance, with her parents' death. And some serious insecurities. Guys don't find insecurities attractive or cute. They're a turn off. I wish this was a character "flaw" that was dropped. It's annoying.
I wasn't a big fan of the ending. I wasn't a big fan of the whole drama with Aphrodite either. This book was very predictable also. I am hoping as the series progresses that the writing will improve. I have to believe it will, because I have seen evidence of awesome writing by Kenyon.
The thing I liked most about this book was the respect for men. Rather than it being a slam men fest kind of book, it spent a lot of time understanding them, and appreciating them. That doesn't happen anymore. I'm glad there are authors out there that aren't projecting man hating through their work.
I also loved the contrast between the ages. I had a good laugh due to it. And it was also thought provoking at times. Like, how much society has evolved--and not necessarily for the better.
Read from December 06 to 08, 2012
Books I have.
After Ever (After Ever #1) by Jillian Eaton [Spoiler Free]
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars.
I hope it's a long walk from the parking lot to the resort. That would teach Girlfriend #3 not to dress like a hooker.
Very unique story! I've read a lot of books about the afterlife, but the plot to this one was something else. I had to laugh at zombies being in the afterlife though. There was plenty to laugh at in this book. I liked how it was written. I liked Winnifred
Sam and Win kind of came across as the same character to me. I understood he wasn't supposed to take her shit--which he really didn't--but their attitude read almost identical to me. The only difference was that Sam wasn't nearly as bitter as Winnifred.
It was also very predictable and really could have used a better editor.
But the story flowed well, it was fast paced, and I think it set up the sequel rather well. I'm curious to see if the reason Winnifred's dad can see her, is what I think it is. I couldn't put this book down. It kept me up into the wee hours of the morning. But it was worth the read.
Read from December 08 to 09, 2012
Books I have.
Marked (The Wolf's Den #1) by Aline Hunter [Spoiler Free]
A very quick read. You will find that you will not care for any of the characters. There is little to no character development. There are four perspectives that you will read from. Chloe and Jackson being the main focus and then Rachel and Declan being set up for the sequel, I believe. The problem is that both Rachel and Chloe's stories are relatively the same.
Chloe is supposedly going against her nature with how things go down with Jackson--but, that's hearsay, because her current behaviour is all you ever know in this book. You don't meet the 'before Chloe'. Now, Rachel, on the other hand; the way she responded to Declan is how I expected Chloe to respond to Jackson. And quite honestly, I would have enjoyed Rachel's story better. She just seemed like an edgier version of Chloe.
Chloe was boring. The only things I liked about her were when her wolf was involved. Chloe as Chloe was just not what I like in a character. Now, I couldn't tell the difference between Jackson and Declan. They read as the same character. Not good. Again, boring.
There were also a lot of typos in this book.
As for Chloe's back story...a 22 year old not only living with her grandparents, but ultimately answering to them like a 15 year old? That put me off a lot. I couldn't picture her as an adult so I was deeply disturbed by the graphic sexual nature of this book.
As for the sex. That was the only thing that had anything working for it in this. It wasn't just missionary. Hell, it wasn't even just vaginal. My only gripe was the use of 'sex' in place of 'vagina'. Now, normally I would be all over that, because it comes across as prudish--which let's get this straight: you have no business writing a sexually graphic novel if you're a fucking prude--however, Hunter proves to you that she is not scared of the word vagina, nor is she scared of the other vulgar terms for it! And she earned my respect there.
But as you can probably guess, most of the effort was spent on the sexual content in the book and not the story. The story was half-assed at best. It wasn't even really explained in a manner that could leave you hanging on a cliff to know more. It was just BLAH, and you're left feeling like you couldn't give a shit either way, really. Am I even remotely lured to read the next one? No. I might if I stumble on it. But since romance isn't really my thing, and this was all romance and no story, probably not.
December 11, 2012
Blood and Feathers (Blood and Feathers #1) by Lou Morgan [Spoiler Alert]
3.5 stars
The beginning was really good. I was sucked in immediately. The first page even made me laugh.
I loved Mallory. He hit her! (I don't condone abuse for either sex, but it is nice to know that not just women get away with it in books!)
The plot behind this book really could have used some work. It was a fantastic idea. There was also some awesome writing done in this. But, you really didn't know what was going on. It felt like I was riding a spinning top at times, that somehow found itself flying off a speed bump.
The structure was terrible. I don't have a problem jumping between character perspectives--when it is done with chapters, so you know who you're reading about. And how it was done in this book wasn't confusing in the sense that you didn't know whose perspective you were in, but that you didn't know enough, or then learn enough, about the character you were reading about. Mallory, Gwyn, Vhnori, Michael, and Gabriel were all perfect examples of this. I think that it would have read smoother had there been back stories for them earlier in the book, so you had a feel for what they were thinking and doing.
This brings me to the conspiracies. They were clever--but they were not executed well. Alice goes to hell, and when she gets there, who is there to be her guide? Rob! Who the fuck is Rob, you ask? Oh, you know, her ex-boyfriend, AKA Abbadona! Oh, wait, you don't know, because he was never once mentioned before in the book! He just shows up suddenly, and voila! He has some kind of past connecting him to Alice that you know nothing about. And then it goes off about him lying about something...But you don't learn what that was all about either. That annoyed me royally.
Then there was Florence. What was the point of dragging her into some wayward plot? I honestly hadn't given her a second thought since she disappeared. Maybe because there was so much other stuff going on, but more likely due to the fact that she never came across as suspicious.
And as for Gwyn? The only hint I got that there might have been something going on there, was because of the very few instances that Alice mentioned she couldn't quite trust him. Otherwise all the shit that tied him to it, came out of nowhere. That is not what I would consider a twist...I would consider it a "What the fuck?" or a "How did you even put that together?" I also didn't think that Gwyn was portrayed as being horrible enough to deserve losing his wings throughout the book. The only real shitty thing he did was kill another Angel, and that, you didn't learn until almost the end of the book. And that wasn't the reason given for the loss; pride was. You literally had no idea that Gwyn and Florence had their own agendas. And that was a problem.
There really needed to be back stories for a lot of the characters; especially Mallory, Vhnori, Gwyn, and Rob/Abadonna. Even Alice. You never really learned anything about her in this book.
What I did like however, was Hell. It was very interesting. I liked the descriptions of how things worked and what things looked and felt like. I also liked how the angels behaved, with the lack of morals. I liked Mallory's explanations for everything to do with how the angels lives worked.
There was no romance! Well unless you count Vin and Sari. I was completely shocked. This is the second book I've read without it, and let me tell you something: I didn't miss it.
You might be thinking, considering all I mentioned above, that this book was horrible. It wasn't. If the structure had been better, and the character development/conspiracy development would have been handled better, this would have been an easy five stars. Definitely looking for the sequel.
Read from December 09 to 11, 2012
Books I have.
Darksiders: The Abomination Vault by Ari Marmell [Spoiler Free]
"Creation is quite impressionable. Everyone leaves a trail of their actions. And everyone, however wise, however powerful, however immortal, make mistakes.
All it requires is patience to wait for them. And you'll find no one, in all Creation, quite so patient as Death."
The writing was phenomenal. However, at times, the descriptions of places got a little out of control. Even though it was written beautifully, it ended up pulling me out of the read, and then irritating me. There were more than one occasion where I wound up skipping ahead to get back to the story. But make no mistake, you will see the scenes as intended by Marmell, right down to the cracks in the pavement.
Rather long, random tangents were also undertaken throughout the book.
These gripes are easily forgiven because of the amazing writing, plentiful action scenes coupled with the impeccable world building.
It was a fantastic read.
Read from December 11 to 13, 2012
Books I have.
Snow White Blood Red (A Grimm Diaries Prequel) by Cameron Jace [Spoiler Free]
I got this book for free and I have an older version--so mine had errors. But I read that those have been fixed, so no need to complain about them.
I am in love with the idea behind this series! And this prequel was awesome. I am certainly eager to read further into this new world of fairy tales.
I found a lot of this short story to be humourous. It was nice. And it definitely gave me a preview of what to expect from Jace's writing. Let's just say, I am looking forward to reading the next one.
Oh, and can you say beautiful cover? Because, yeah, that is initially what caught my attention for sure.
Read from December 13 to 14, 2012
Books I have.
Between (Between #1) by Cyndi Tefft [Spoiler Alert]
*This is a book I did not finish*
*This is a book I did not finish*
This was just gross.
Check List
* Insta-love... Check
* Greek God/Adonis male... Check
* "I couldn't tell where I left off and he began" (Or some other variation)... Check
* Unnecessary love scenes that go no where... Check
* Insecure, forgettable main character... Check
I am confused. Someone help me out here. Why are the male love interests always described as looking like a Greek God? Have you seen the sculptures? They're not very attractive.
Yuck, there is nothing sexy about a Scottish accent. There is also nothing sexy about a kilt. Hairy legs...skirt...on man? No, thanks!
Things really moved quickly between Aiden...and I'm sorry but I forgot the main character's name, already. (That speaks for itself.) I am never a fan of insta-love, but usually there is some ridiculous lightning strike or soul-tug involved; that is not the case here. It's just all of a sudden in your face for no apparent reason. It annoyed more than it usually does because of this.
Main Character, whose name I still cannot remember, can't decide whether she is worth Mr. Adonis' attention or not. She compliment fishes by throwing out that she was too fat to run. Then gets upset with the prospect that Mr. Perfect may not want her kisses...What the hell?
Am I the only one who was annoyed that Aiden kept her from heaven without due cause? Was this something that was explained later in the book? I only made it to Chapter 15 before I couldn't subject myself to this bullshit anymore. I was wondering if he kept everyone from heaven to go on pointless memory visits, or was it just Main Character?
It wasn't that the writing was horrible...(which let's face it, it was) it was that the level of emotion didn't add up to the circumstances. At all. There wasn't any character development or proper story building. Even the world building was rather diluted. If the memory casting was supposed to be used to fill in the blanks about the characters, it failed miserably for me. I still can't remember Main Character's name. Oh and Main Character had an awful case of the giggles. I thought she was supposed to be college aged...but I thought of her as a twelve year old who had no business getting naked in a lake with a male anything, let alone some ugly Greek God Scotsman.
As for the memory casting...that got old...really...fast. It was boring. I didn't really learn anything about the characters from it, other than Aiden did some fucked up shit right before he died. And it explained why he was a Transporter. That's it. The rest of it wasn't even good romancing. I mean, who the hell would memory cast themselves kissing another girl? Was that supposed to be our drama fix? I just found it repulsive, tacky, and completely unnecessary. It was just flat and boring as hell. I skipped a lot of it, and by the time I hit Chapter 15, it was still going and I said "fuck this".
Read on December 15, 2012
Flutter (The Discover #1) by Melissa Andrea [Spoiler Alert]
2.5 Star Rating.
I wondered if I would ever again have a single thought that didn't ultimately end with her.
She was my curse.
In the acknowledgements at the end of the book, Andrea thanks her friend Lilly for her editing help. Now, you will notice that the spelling, wording, and punctuation used in the acknowledgements is actually far better than the rest of the book. Why is that?
I actually wondered--and had to check--if English was a secondary language to Melissa. That's how bad this book is.
Here, hear, their, there, they're, your, you're, to, too, then, than, were, and we're, were common problem areas. You will notice in the book description, 'too' was used instead of 'to'.
See, seem, and seen, were also, surprisingly, troubled areas.
Guy seemed to be confused for gut...and I suppose that could be explained away as a typo; however, that was one of three or more errors on a single page. This book was riddled with spelling errors.
To be honest, I'm not convinced Melissa ever read this book before deciding she should publish it. For future reference Melissa, you really should. Spellcheck does not work for when a word is spelled correctly, but misplaced, as noted with 'gut' and 'guy'.
I was going to get nit picky with lava being a liquid, however, I suppose, depending on what it is doing, it could be a solid or a gas, too.
This was a rather unique story line that really could have gone somewhere. It wasn't terrible, in fact, at times I was completely engrossed.
The romance was incredibly redundant, and this book ultimately had very little progress from the beginning to the end.
The sense of time felt off at times. Some of the scenes seemed to take maybe 2 hours of a day, but somehow ended up being a whole day, just because.
There were a lot of contradictions. One of the most notable was when Sara was complaining of having no energy. She claimed she couldn't even make her bed, but then, immediately, went out to run for miles with Andres and then have a session of Mauy Thai, which is extremely vigorous. How does that correspond with being weak as a newborn, exactly?
The character development really needed some tuning up. In the case of Scott--the boyfriend; who came from where exactly?--it was non-existent. He was just kind of thrown out as an after thought to put a damper on things between Sara and Adan. Come to find out, this character really did exist in the story. I was a bit thrown by this development, as well as a few others throughout the book, because it seemed to me that there were a few inconsistencies with how this book was being delivered. There was an over abundance of information, plot and character development from when Sara and Andres emerge from the ice. This goes on for a great portion of the book. And then all of a sudden, you get a slapped together, half story with little to no plot or character development for the senseless side drama that is Sara and Scott. You get a half assed understanding of what is going on with Sara, what her responsibilities are now, and no understanding of what the rules surrounding her and Adan are in place for, or even what they are. Yet, you get an overly dramatic prologue that tells you next to nothing about what to expect from this book. The epilogue was rushed and really did not shed light on what to really expect from the next book, except some more redundant romance. I don't know that I can go through that again.
Everything I learned about Sara in this book was terrible. She was a liar, immoral, selfish, cowardly, hypocritical, senseless, irrational, idiotic, and temperamental. I could understand her reactions to how she was being treated, and even agreed with them at times. But I just couldn't get over, or justify, how she was handling her own affairs. I really wish things with Scott would have gone differently. She didn't deserve the route he took. He should have humiliated her in front of everyone. She deserved nothing less.
Sara also had a problem with being able to breathe. It became cheesy, and then dreadful. These scenes between Sara and Adan were also made boring by how often they occurred, without progression, and how drawn out they were without progression.
How many times did it need to be said that there was a connection between Sara and Adan, or Sara and Her Wolf? Really? Get on with it.
And my personal favourite. What, may I ask, is innovatory?...Here's your answer:
English
Adjective
innovatory (comparative more innovatory, superlative most innovatory)
Producing new ideas or products
I believe, the right word you were looking for, was inventory.
Oh, and as for the time spinner...what is that? There really needed to be some time spent on making these things known to the reader, rather than just throwing things in there for random explanation. If you're going to introduce things, you need to have a good reason for it being there.
Read from December 16 to 19, 2012
Books I have.
Immortal Grave (Dark Betrayal Trilogy #3) by Nichole Chase [Spoiler Alert]
I finished! I finished! It only took me forever, and I wanted to stop reading this, but I read the first two and I just had to finish it.
So I lost all respect for Ree, Roland, Paden, and Nichole Chase with the whole Ree/Roland fiasco. Yeah, I don't know what message you are trying to send to young readers...but cheating is never something to be taken lightly and easily forgiven.
"She let Roland kiss her, but she would never love soemone the way she loved Paden." So you know, that made it okay. Totally fine. Sure, Ree spent a good portion of the rest of the book feeling guilty about it. But that wasn't good enough for me. I also did not see how kissing someone else equated to making a bet with someone? I'm not saying I think Paden wasn't in the wrong there, but it certainly was not on par with what Ree did. Not even close. Paden made a bet that ultimately stated he couldn't have a problem with Roland for trying to kiss Ree. No where in that bet did he say she had to, or would. That was all her. But then she goes on to blame Aphrodite for her bad decisions. I found it disgusting that Paden was expected to roll over and take one for the team.
He looked at her with large, blue eyes, every inch the nineteen year old he appeared to be. What does that even mean? It's actually a contradiction.
Oh, Ree becoming an instant badass? Didn't fly with me.
Paden was quite the little bitch in this book. He was most certainly not manly.
So, I skipped a lot of this book. And it still took me forever to finish it. I didn't want to read it. It took me all day to read fifty pages. And even tonight, trying to finish it, I was sidetracking myself almost on purpose, just to avoid it. But I really want to read something else, so I made myself skim read the rest at the very least.
And what I read annoyed me further.
The last battle was lame. Three books lead up to nothing. The last battle should have been epic! Why wasn't it epic? The whole thing with Roland and Paden lasted longer than the last battle! I was furious, it wasn't worth all the time I let this book sit instead of reading something else! Three books led up to Ree losing her virginity right after people on the island were massacred. What a way to be put in the mood. Actually, I didn't like the message being sent with that. If you're going to lose your virginity, you don't want any other influence deciding your actions, except your own. Not to mention, how fucking tacky. I did like that it was thought about by the author, because Ree and Paden kind of argue about it afterward. That whole scene could have gone anywhere else in the book...so why there?
Sometimes Ree acted like an adult, had adult things to say--but only when she was talking with the Gods, really. Otherwise she acted like a child and only had ridiculous things to say. Her personality didn't add up to a lot of the ways she handled situations. She acted out of character more often than not. It was...well you know what. I don't want to say the word I was going to put there. I know Nichole is probably proud of this book, and there is no need to be mean.
But I am so glad this is over. It was extremely predictable with how it ended. Except, even then I am irritated. Rather than having Tristan own up to his actions, he just takes the easy way out. Yeah, there were some really awesome messages being sent out in this read.
Read from December 20 to 23, 2012
Life After Death (Infected #3) by Andrea Speed [Spoiler Free]
Book One
"If you'd ever really loved me at all, you'd stop killing yourself."
I really enjoyed this read. It took me 3 days just to get through the first book of this book. That would be thanks to having three days of Christmas--not because this book was terrible.
I really, really, liked the message that came along with this. Moving on after a loved one has passed away. Beautiful. I love Andrea Speed's writing style. It is extremely captivating. So much so, that I actually took this with me to read on the down time during Christmas festivities.
I love how things do not just fall together. You are taken on a very vigorous journey to get from one place to another.
I was a little sad that there was so little involvement of Matt, because he is one of my favourite characters and I figure if I can't have Paris, then why the hell wouldn't I be able to have Matt? Oh well, Dylan will suffice, mainly because he was very sweet.
Loved the whole ecstasy scene. Had me laughing my ass off, literally out loud, while I was oh the phone supposedly listening to my friend ramble on about something or other. (See...captivating)
Book Two
"So? There's no one here but us foxes."
"I'm a lion"
"We're all predators here"
I enjoy the band drops! Like My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult. Takes me back to the days of my youth! (I might also be a bit bias since I live in Everett...just maybe.)
"I think all people who are way too obsessed with other people's sex lives are hiding something." I agree.
Awh, the way Roan treated Matt was sad to me. He really didn't need to embarrass Matt by calling him out like that just because his boyfriend was being an ass. That made me dislike Roan just a tad.
I really enjoyed the twist with Holden's dad! I didn't anticipate that...at all. So, yeah....props, props, props!
Ah, and the end to a rivalry. I like that Andrea isn't afraid to add or drop characters that make her books interesting. She has a great way of bringing in new people to replace other's that I really liked. I am so addicted to these books.
Read from December 23 to 28, 2012
Here (Here Trilogy #1) by Ella James [Spoiler Free]
"I shot you!" I blurted. "That's a dart!"
"But I can give you food and...rocks. I collect rare rocks. Mountain rocks!"
This book had me, literally, laughing my ass off at times.
However, Milo is a horrible name--for anyone! I kept seeing her as a stray dog or mangy cat/kitten thing...not a person. I'm thinking the roles were wrong in this book.
"Kind of roman" Thank you...for at least switching it up just a tad, instead of 'Greek God' or 'Adonis'...even though, Romans...Greek...so similar in looks...meh.
There was some crazy shit, that wasn't entirely explained, going on at Annabelle's. I'm hoping there is some more elaboration on what happened with a certain statue, in the book to follow.
I noticed that Milo didn't have much of a relationship with her mother. Not only that, but there wasn't any real interaction between the two. Sure, her mother was a workaholic, but Milo, herself, never really commented and hardly complained about the lack of motherly involvement in her life.
She also wasn't very concerned about her withdrawal from her friends, nor did any one of her friends care that she was distancing herself from them. I found that odd. Especially considering the time frame of these events. I think had this whole scenario played out over a longer period of time it wouldn't have bothered me so much. But it was rather sudden.
And here we have it folks! A decent reaction to learning something out of this world! It's a pity that it flopped due to Milo being totally okay with everything, up until this piece of straw that apparently broke the camel's back. It didn't help that the straw was what Gabe/Nick was, rather than what he could do.
There were a few editing issues--more than I typically let slide, but not so many that I wanted to throw a dictionary at James too badly.
One being that Ursula transformed into Ariel "down stairs" while restraining a certain someone. 'Too' found itself being confused for 'to' on occasion. And there was 'thorough' turned into Thoreu or something like that, it was rather impressive.
Anyway, the story itself was pretty damn good, considering its simplicity. James was able to throw a monkey wrench in what I thought was going on, on a few occasions. In fact, if what I suspect will be going on in the next book is correct...I thought that was where this book had been headed. I was wrong.
But I found for the most part, since Milo knew she was being an idiot, I didn't hate her as much as I tend to hate characters that act like her. I also enjoyed that Mr. Mysterious stayed mysterious for a decent portion of the story! I will happily read the next book, and am now looking forward to the Stained series.
Read from December 28 to 29, 2012
Books I have read.
No comments:
Post a Comment