A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard

Ah book two of the series... Once again the cover of this book is lovely.

This book follows Eleanor after the drama of what happened that dark night. Her mother is in the mental institute refusing to believe that her brother is dead. Selling all the stuff in the house for money to pay her mom's doctor bills. Eleanor is just at her wits ends. One day she hears the Hell Hounds coming after her. Fearing for her life she flees to Paris to find her friends. Hoping Joseph, Jie and Daniel can help her somehow.
What frustrates me most about this book is the lack of communication between Eleanor and her friends. There's no talking about Oliver. They just hate him from the start. However Eleanor is never truly honest with her friends. It just drove me crazy. I realize that this adds to the conflicts in the book and helps with the drama. I just got so frustrated with Eleanor being so overly stubborn and selfish. Looking past that point the book was a easy read. It kept the story smooth and got there quickly. It left you with a what now type of ending which works because there is a third book. Not so much that I felt I had to read it right away.

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

The Unexpected Everything was a quick easy read. Some parts were  completely predictable. It didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the book. Andie is a typical type A-personality. I don’t blame her from how she has grown up being in the eye of country. Her dad is a senator whom could be vice president some day. With her dad gone all the time on the campaign trail and her mom gone due to ovarian cancer. She has made her family with her 3 best friends. I wish my friends and I had the kind of adventures and traditions that these girls do. From a scavenger hunt every year to meeting the very next day for waffles when one of them lose their virginity. Life changes very quick for andie when her dad is caught up in a scandal and has to step back from his career. The scandal effect andie's life. It causes her very important summer plans to fall through. So now she is left desperate trying to find something to fill in her summer for her application. It has to be perfect for college. She plans on being a doctor.  Finding a job as a dog walker as a last hope. What she wasn’t expecting was this job to change her life. To meeting Clark, being able to spend time with her friends, reconnecting with her dad. She learns the value of letting things just happen sometimes. 

This book is sweet and a nice reminder that you can't plan everything in life. 

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

This book is another one of my finds back in October. The library had a bunch of books on display and this along with its other sisters in the series were on display. The name caught my eye and I had to read what it was about. A victorian novel with zombies? Alright I will bite and check out all three books then.

We met Eleanor Fitts while she is trying to meet her brother at the train station but a Zombie attack happens. She manages to get into the office of the train station to protect herself from the zombies. When the attack is over she sees a note left to her by one of the zombies. Her brother is in trouble. Eleanor is a strong woman who feels like she doesn't belong. Her father is gone and her mother just wants to hurry and marry her off to someone who had money. Her one true friend is her brother. Knowing he is in trouble she turns to the Spirit Hunters. She knows that they are the only ones who can help her. The Spirit Hunters are a group of three people so different from each other but very loyal. Jie the bad ass chinese girl who dresses like a guy and says what she is thinking. Joseph the leader of the group whom is always well put together and a true gentleman . Then Daniel who is handsome as hell and has a sad past.

When Eleanor meets this group they don't seem to mind her quick wit or the fact she shows she has a brain. This book is full of mystery. It has a nice change to the zombie books that seem to be out lately. It was a nice quick read and kept me trying to figure out clues and what was going on.

Trust me I am lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer

This is another book I had marked on my Kindle to read list from the library. An added bonus for me to read it was the author lives in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. I am all about supporting local authors. Another thing that caught my eye is the cover art to this. I am a very visual person and if a book has a cover that catches my eye then I will look at it. 

Julep Dupree has learned the family business of being a con artist. All of which she had learned from her loving father. Thanks to his instance of her going to school where she can learn how to blend in with the rich, she is currently attending St. Agatha High School. Juelp has secrets. Lots of them from everyone. One is that her real name is not Juelp. Only her dad, her and her mom who left them when she was very little know her real name. Another secret is she has dreams of leaving the family business and making a real life for herself. This means going to St. Agatha and getting good grades to get into Yale. While getting to know Juelp and her style of talking and explaining things it reminded me of Veronica Mars. The same type narrative I experience from the show. Which help me enjoy this book. It reminded me of the show in other ways. From the friend who is great at techie stuff ( her best friend Sam) to the friends she makes along the way without realizing it. When Juelp realizes her day had been taken by someone she starts following the clues he left behind for her. She starts calling in favors from kids from school that she has helped before. This book is a quick read and enjoyable. The mystery is easy to figure out but there is a lot of action and some heart breaking parts. I enjoyed it enough to want to read more of the book series. 

I'm Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl by Gretchen McNeil

 I was having one of those nights where I could not sleep. So I went out on the couch and tried to sleep there in hopes it would be more comfortable. Sleep however eluded me, so what do I do when this happens? I find a book to read of course! Okay sometimes I fall down the rabbit hole of Pinterest but not this time. I have this list of books I want to borrow from the Library on my kindle. The title totally caught my eye. So I added it to my list to read some time. Well the time had come my dear friends.

Beatrice is a math nut and has great plans of getting early acceptance into MIT. At school she is only known by the name Math girl. Luckily she has two great best friends whom she had bonded with the start of school back in their freshman year. There is Gabe who is gay and had a tendency to run his mouth at the worst times and there is Spencer. Spencer is a sweet guy who is a very talented artist being raised by his moms. Even though the three have been bullied all of high school Bea has high hopes for Senior year. Bea has a boyfriend to start off the new school year with. First she must introduce Jessie to Spencer and Gabe. A small spoiler is coming up so just a warning. Its nothing you won't figure out in the first 5 chapters yourself though. Once the three guys are introduced you can tell Spencer is unhappy. Then Gabe sings "I wish I had a girl like that." Let me tell you I started laughing out loud. If you don't know the song jessie's girl. Then go listen to it. This song is referenced a few times and I thought it was great.
When Gabe almost gets beat up at school Bea decides to use her brain and come up with a formula to reinvent her and the boys. It works well for the boys but not to well for her. When Jess dumps her for a manic pixie dream girl Beau uses the formula to turn into one herself. It works great. Maybe a little to well.
This book gave me a lot of laughs. I thought Bea constant math was going to drive me in crazy. With the constant putting things into percentages but it worked really well with her character. This book is about trying to change yourself for the wrong reason but realizing maybe change is a good and that you should be happy with yourself.

The Wicked Boy

Back in October I was at Powell's book store ( yes I am lucky enough to live near the different branches of Powell's books.) They had a display of books to read for the Halloween season. This lovely non fiction was on display and the cover totally caught my eye. After reading the back of the book I thought its sounded interesting. I took a picture of the book so I had it down somewhere that I wanted to check this out from the library.
    This story is about a boy named Robert who stabbed his mother in 1895. Robert and his brother Nattie spent 10 days gallivanting around before he was found out. Kate takes us the best she can into what is going on during this time with the country, the way everyone thinks at this time and if Robert did this in defense for his little brother as he claims or if he is a cold blooded killer. There were times I found this book a little dry and boring. I really appreciate things being explained to me but there were times I felt i was just getting a little to much information. She manages to find pictures of Robert and his home. Which I really enjoyed seeing. I did start to skip over the parts that I felt were to much information on things I didn't really care about. However all in all I found this book pretty enjoyable. If you like true crime book and the victorian era in London then this book you should enjoy.

The Bell Jar and my ramblings

I recently had my birthday in the past few weeks. So I made some goals for my self to accomplish by my next birthday. One of them is to read 13 classic novels by next birthday. So I started off with The Bell Jar. A book that has always been on my list to read. I just would get side track my YA books that I have either been waiting for months to read or just have caught my eye. I have to be in a certain mood to read certain books. I want it to fit with how I feel. The Bell Jar is a great book. I am not saying you should be sad and depressed to read this book. It's just something I need to get past and realized I shouldn't always keep my mood from keeping me reading certain books.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was a emotional read. We are taken in to the mind of Ester Greenwood. Ester is in New York were she has an internship for a month along with 11 other women. During this internship Ester realizes she is not stimulated at all over anything. She always had a goal in life and now that she had graduate college and was done there were no goals a head of her. Nothing in her life excites her and she just goes through the motions. We the reader start to follow Esters decent into a major depression. Sylvia takes us in to the mind and gives us the slight understanding of what it is like to be a manic depressive. Which is very hard for anyone to understand if they have never experience it them selves. What makes this book even more emotional is the fact this is loosely based on Syliva's life. She committed sucide after this book was published in the U.K. So the experience and emotion in the book are from some one who has been there in that dark void.

When I finished the book it really helped open my eyes more to depression. I know I get down and want to live in bed at times. However I have family and friends whom have suffered deep depression and I feel that this book helped me a little understand how they see life. It scared me a little but it open my eyes to another way to see and experience the world.

Click here to buy the book

The Academy

So I don't know about you guys but I /have signed up for Bookbub. If you have not heard of it then let me tell you a quick overview of it. Its a site that you tell them what books you like. Then they will email you everyday with a list off books (about 5 of them or so) that are on sale or free on kindle. So thanks to them I downloaded the free kindle book called The Academy. I read it one night when I couldn't sleep and now I am hooked on the series.

The Academy is a series with the first book called Introductions. In it you meet the main character Sang. Its a first person perspective, so its all from her view. Sang is a 15 year old girl who has not had a normal childhood. Her father is an electrical engineer that is never home. Her older sister Marie and her do not talk much. Then their is her mother who keeps both her children locked up in the house as much as possible. She constantly tell Sang if she leaves or talks to strangers that she will be raped or murdered. Everyday she remind Sang that the world is a horrible place because of this our poor main character has never had any friends. As school she would just keep to her self. So after moving to a new town, Sang in the start of the book has decide she has to experience the out side world just once. To be away from home for the night. She plans on spending the night in a house that is getting built just down from her. Its when she leaves she meets Kota. Thanks to Kota he introduces her to his family from The Academy. Kota and his family shows our girl what real family and friends are.

I can't help have a crush on all the boys in this book. Sang is a character whom I adore. She is beautiful but doesn't realize it. She is honest and wears her heart on her sleeve. If you are looking for an easy read with character that are easily enjoyed I recommend this book. Its free on amazon right now so it worth a try.

The Academy

again long time no write.

Hello my fellow book readers. Again sorry its been over a year since I blogged about any books. I guess I just felt like that no body has found any of my book reviews helpful or interesting. I finally have come to the conclusion though that even if nobody actually reads this. At least I have records of what I thought about a book. So I am going to get back to blogging about what I think about the books I read. Including graphic novels. So till next time.

Blackberry Pie

Long ago I was trying to find a new easy read series while I was in one of my favorite uses book stores. That is when I discovered Joanne Fluke. Her first book the Chocolate Chip murder had me giggling out loud that I am pretty sure my cat Rogue thought I had lost it. Its set in a small town in Minnesota. Cookie shop owner Hanna has a tendency to find dead bodies. Something that her mom is very embarrassed about. For Hanna who is slightly over weight ( she has to test her cookies to make sure they are good for the public), wild red hair and has to remember to keep her mouth shut. She finds her self in a very strange spot. A love triangle between the towns new good looking cop and the new dentist. This series is a very easy read. I call it a fluff book. One of the added benifits of living in Portland is that Joanne Fluke always starts her book tours here. 

The boyfriend and his mom came with me this time. The boyfriends mom reads her too! So we got to listen to her talk about how this new book and the wonderful recipes in it. Did I mention that all the food that is brought up in the book they have reciepes for? Joanne and her son actual test each one. Plus I got a signed book. 

Yay me! I really do not want to say to much of what is going on in this book because its pretty far in to the series. I will say this Hanna gets arrested. So anyhow I would check out this series. The last selling point I will give you is this. There is a cat named Moishe who is missing one eye and part of his ear. He is adorable and so smart. 

Books to Movies..is this a good thing?

It seems like lately all the movies that are coming out are about books. Which is great because hopefully it will get people interested in the books. However it breaks my heart when books are made into movies and it is only in theaters for a few weeks. I was so excited about Vampire Academy. The boyfriend even was talked in to watching it. Then bam it was gone. Yes, it was not going to live up to the wonders of the book.

Since it was not in theaters long you know that its not going to have a sequel. Then we move on to Divergent. It was a movie I enjoyed but I had issues with the parts it left out. So I understand that it has to much gore for the younger kids but I felt some key parts were left out. Its like the movie companys are running out of ideas. So thoughts?

The Book Thief

When I found out The Book Thief was coming to theaters I was so excited. I informed the boyfriend that we must go see it. However I am a little worried that he has not read the book. We made a deal that we will take turns picking out books for each other. I can read my choice then the next time he picks a book for me. This also works for him. He currently has picked out I Claudius. Review is coming for that soon. I have him reading The Night Circus. Anyhow back to the point of this. Seeing as the movie is coming out I wanna do a review of this book for you guys.

The Book Thief was a wonderful book. What makes this book so different right from the start is the fact is that Death is telling the story. Death tell us of how busy they are. How one girl seemed to get to Death. Her name is Liesel Meminger. The time is 1939. In case you didn't know its during WWII. Poor kid is in Germany. Liesel is living with a foster family who does care for her but its not the same as being her actual family. She begins to steal books as comfort from the horrors of her life. This book called to me cause I have a thing for WWII. When I started this book I was hooked from the start. Liesel is a character that you just fall in love with. She is a spunky and brave girl. It is because of her I learn of the classes the kids had to go to that brain washes them about Hitler. Its an actual requirement by the government to go. You see through her eyes the horrors of Jews being marched to the camp that is near her. My heart was with her through the whole book. I was at one point in bed with a book light at 3 in the morning refusing to put the book down. I found at times tears streaming down my face. Not even realizing I was crying in till the tears fell on to the book. It hooked me and tugged at my heart strings. I highly recommend this book. Its one of those books that I really think one should read before seeing the movie.

Hello! I am back.

So for months I have been fighting to log back in. I changed schools and it kept trying to sign me in to my school stuff and wouldn't let me sign in. With school I have been so busy that I have not had time to read. However, I have read so many books I want to tell you all about that its not to bad.
Now that I can log back in its back to blogging. I really would like to find a way to get more followers though.
Anyhey. Point is I am back people!

Love Unlisted by Stephanie Haddad

So I downloaded Love Unlisted for free on Kindle because I had read a Stepanine Haddad book before and thought it was a quick easy read. Nothing to fancy but cute none the less. This one however was not up to snuff. It starts off well enough where were meet our main character Grace. Grace is a bit of an odd ball because she has lists. I mean lists for EVERYTHING. Pro/con lists to be exact. From why she shouldn't drink anymore to the perfect boyfriend. Because of these list she has almost lost her best friend and did lose her first love.
  This story is just about a girl who is still dealing with the fact her dad died out of know where when she was just 12. Add to the list that her mom makes her feel unwanted and not part of the family this girl has some issues. Of course you have to have the guy who helps change her. This is where Colin comes in to play. Hes a good guy with and even bigger heart. I just have a few issues with the book. First off I don't like how its just explained to the reader how the list thing even started. I think Colin should know too. I also want to know why Colin makes such a big deal about Grace knowing where he works. This book was a fast read but I felt she rushed it towards the end not really giving the characters a chance to come together properly.
Because of this
D+

I need your help

     Hi to the who ever reads this. I need your help. I went away to this thing called faerieworlds (which is my happy place). I met this author who found out I blog. She is more then willing to hook me up with some books to get more people out there to read her stuff. The problem being is I need more followers before I can ask her to do something like this. So here is my challenge to you. Help me get more followers. Once I get to 25 followers I will do a book give away. Then once I get up to 50 followers I will do another give away and talk to her about hooking us all up for her books to do a give away. What do you think? You up for the challenge? I know this can take months but I will stand by my promise if you can keep up your end of the deal.


 (Books to be given away will be determined when goal is met)

Take Me There by Susane Colasanti

First off sorry for slacking on the book reviews but would you believe I have not gotten to read a book all summer? Seriously summer school sucks! Okay now that is out of my system. I have had a stack of books from the Library that is way over due and wanted to read at least one of them before I returned them. So out of my stack I chose Take Me There. 
     This book is broken up in three different point of views. Rhiannon, Nicole and James are all friends. Each of them have seem to have a problem that they are going through.

   Rhiannon has just been dumped by her first real boyfriend and she is heartbroken. Reading her thoughts and how she handled the break up remind me of when my high school boyfriend broke up with me. She handles it as any young teenage girl does. With denial, questions and wondering how/when the pain will end. 
      
       Nicole is Rhiannon's best girlfriend. This girl has her own sense of style and has a total artist soul. She is the opposite of Rhiannon. Where Rhiannon is so organized you can chalk it up to OCD, Nicole can't even keep track of her ipod charger cord. She broke up with her boyfriend Danny and no one knows exactly why. Let alone Danny who is still head over heels for her. She has a huge crush on her Math teacher that no one knows about and there is something about her past that she wont tell anyone. Even her best friend. 

    James is your typical guy who is dense to his own feelings. Where girls he goes out with can see he is madly in love with Rhiannon it takes him a bit to get there on his own. Super computer smart and a little geeky he makes the perfect best guy friend for Rhiannon. They click well even if they both don't realize it yet. 

The cool thing about this book is its only in the time span of a few short days but you get to see things from all three points of view. Its not confusing how she goes about it. Its even labeled in each chapter who it is and what day it is to help you out. This book brings me back to my high school years and not in a bad way. Its realistic I think how everyone handles things and the way they all band together to get the mean girl. I think this would make a cute movie actually. 

  So if your looking for a quick simple read that brings you back to school. This is a good book to do that

grade is  B plus

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (book 2)

     

     Have you ever had a book that your read and it gets your pulse racing. When you finish it your whole body is full of the extra energy that you have no idea what to do with? All the while screaming at the fact you can't read the next book in till MARCH 2013!! No, seriously I have to wait till then for Requiem to come out.

  Delirium is the first book of this series. If you have not read it, well I recommend you do. It's a great book about how love is a sickness. How scientist have found a cure for it. Here is the Goodreads synopsis of it. Go head. Click on the link. Sounds interesting right? Now go click on Delirium and get the book. I can wait................
Was pretty good, huh? Okay well now you are caught up and ready to read about Pandemonium. If you haven't read it yet then do not read anymore. I'm not joking because just below this will be a BIG spoiler for the first book. Just a fair warning.



    We find Lena in class sleeping and dreaming about her past. Were she tells us in short burst how she made it in the Wild. The story goes back and forth from the present to the past. I really enjoyed this because it kept me wanting to know more of what was going to happen. Poor Lena is still trying to deal with the fact that Alex is dead. My heart just aches for her because not only has she lost her love but the whole reason for leaving was because of him. Now she has to start this new life with out him. There are times in the book where Lena is ready to give up. I honestly don't blame her. No matter what she does Alex is in the back of her mind.

  Then comes in Raven who rescues Lena and nurses her back to heath when she finds her dying in the Wild. Raven is a tough young girl in her early 20's.She seems to be the ringleader of the Invalids. Not all the Invalids mind you. Just a small little group of them. She also seems to be the one to name people their new names once they come to the Wild and shed their old lives. There is a whole slew of characters that I enjoyed getting to know. Tank, Blue, Coin, Rat-man, Sarah and then there is Julian. Sweet Julian who is the martyr for the "cure." Who's own father is willing to risk his life for the sake of the cause. I really like Julian. As I learn about how evil his father is, I just feel for the poor guy. I even feel for him when he starts to fall for our girl Lena. Which is not the best idea since she is still trying to heal from Alex. Who knows? Maybe these two love birds can make it.

  All I can say about the ending is wkohowehfoiewjrifwjeiofjewjfjerkjeiwjriewjfjweio!!!!! The ending is what got me all keyed up in the first place to write this blog. I mean I kind of knew what was going to happen but I will be honest with you. I cheated. I was on the last two pages. *says in a very small voice* I looked at the bottom of the last page before I finished reading the second to last page. *looks away sheepishly*

So now that is out in the open I would love to hear what you think about it.

I'm giving this book a big fat A!

Two Lines: A Novella

Two Lines A Novella is a short story by Melissa Marr. Eavan lives her life by following two very simple rules. Don't kill anyone and don't have sex. Doing both of these things in the same month will lead her to turn into a Glaistig. The very last thing Eve wants. As Melissa draws us in to Eve's world I can't help but get a little confused. Eve is hunting down a mysterious man who is drugging women. I never did figure out why she started hunting him down in the first place or if she hunted other people down before. This short story seemed a little hard to follow with everything. Once you get half way through it starts to flow better. Its a quick easy read for a cheap price.




C plus

e-books

I don't know how you feel about reading e-books. In all honestly I have been against it for years. There is something about having the book in your hand. Seeing the beautiful cover of the book. Being able to loan the book to someone. Even the smell of a book that an e-book can not replace. I also fear that with e-books the printed word is going to up and die away. That generations from now will look at books in awe. 
My main reason for finally giving in to getting one is the fact that there were short stories by authors I love that I could not read unless I gave in to this new founded thing. I blame Melissa Marr actually for the whole thing. She has short stories for the Wicked Lovely series that I really wanted to read. So I downloaded the kindle application for my phone. The problem with this though is I am a semi fast reader so I felt like I spent more time touching my phone to flip the page then actually reading. So yes, I ended up getting a kindle. Which I do love. I will not stop buying books as I love going to used book stores and finding new reads. The whole purpose of this little story is that if you do have a kindle, Amazon has a great thing of 100 books for $3.99 or less. They change it every month so this is your friendly reminder to have a look at it. 
Well that is all. I will have a new review of a short story by Melissa Marr just because it seem apropos with this. Amazon's deals

50 Shades of Grey by E L James

50 shades of grey is a very controversial book. I had not even heard of it till I found it on Goodreads and thought it sounded good. Then my sister made the comment of how she is reading it and how it was pretty steamy. Now my sister who hasn't read a book in 2 years and the fact she is excited to read the series got me wanting to read it. Then the next day I heard on the radio how they wanted to pull the book of the shelves because of the smut. Well after that I had to rush home and order it off of Amazon. Honestly after reading it I don't know what the big fuss is about.


Anastasia Steele is getting ready to graduate college in Vancouver, Washington. She is a virgin who has never touch her self or really has even had a real boyfriend.  Her bestfriend/roommate needs her to go interview some billionaire. Enter Christian Grey. Grey is so good looking that everyone women seems to want him. Yet he has dark secrets that very few people know about. 


Grey's dark secrets is he is in to bondage,dominance and submission. Sorry if I am ruining the book for you guys but that is all it is about. There is more sex in this book then actual story lines. What story line that is in the book I do like. Ana is funny and stubborn. Sometimes I want to kick her in the butt with some choices she makes but she is still learning. Greys character is as he says "fifty shades fucked up." What the reader gets to learn in this book about him, I would agree. That is one of the main things that will keep me going to read the other two books. I wanna know more about Grey's past.  I also like the fact once again the book is in my home area of portland/vancouver and even Seattle. I don't think the author did as horrible right as some people have been posting. I also do not think it's a five star book.   People have over reacted to this book. I don't see why they want to pull this book off the shelves. There are worse movies and books out there on the shelves. I think people need a book to over react with. If you want a book with lots of sex then this is your book. I think if it had a little more story with a little less sex the book would be better. As it is I give it a C-

http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Shades-Grey-Book-Trilogy/dp/0345803485