Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Title: Dark Places

Author: Gillian Flynn

Publisher: Broadway Books

Release Date: May 05, 2009

Source: Purchased

Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.

Since then, she had been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.
Who did massacre the Day family?

My thoughts: 

When I read my first Gillian Flynn book, I knew that I had just entered crazy town. I read Gone Girl first because I really want to watch the movie (even though I haven't yet) and as soon as I finished it I knew I had to read her other books! I picked up Dark Places immediately after I finished Gone Girl and, in my humble opinion, it's even better! 

Dark Places takes place in the present and in the past from two perspectives. 1. Libby Day's perspective in the present about fifteen years after the murder of her family. 2. Ben Day in the past, mostly on the day of the murder and sometimes a little bit before that. Ben is accused and convicted of murdering the Day family so his perspective in the past of what happened that day is very interesting and had me on the edge of my seat! I wasn't sure what to believe about who committed the murders. Which is good because the reader finds out everything at the end, thank God! 

Libby is an okay character. And I say only okay because she is one of those annoying people who is help back by her past and she just won't get over it. I know that sounds harsh but I come from the perspective that no matter what, you can always open a new door and choose a new path for yourself. Libby let's the murder of her family control her for at least fifteen years. If she really didn't want to be bothered by crazy murder fanatics trying to solve the mystery than she should have changed her name and moved to Canada. But I digress. 

The story was crazy though! As much as I liked Libby's story, I was on the edge of my seat during Ben's chapters because I just had to know what happened to him and that crazy-ass girlfriend of his! And I would have never even imagined the ending! 

Now lets talk about the movie (did you know they are turning this into a movie too!). Did you also know that Charlize Theron is playing the part of Libby Day!?!? Talk about the worst casting ever! While reading the book I could tell that a lot of what held Libby back was that she felt like she never grew up. She is supposed to be a women in her thirties but she still looks like a teenager.  Barely over five feet tall with a baby face and the same red hair she had as a child. And here comes six foot Charlize Theron who is well into her forties playing a women who is supposed to still look like a teenager. She is exactly the opposite of Libby Day. So I'm very interested to see how this is all going to work out.

Dark Places was absolutely excellent! I can't wait for the next book that Gillian Flynn writes! She is definitely on my auto-buy list.

Review- Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Title: Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Author: Maria Semple
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Release Date: January 01, 2012
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Bernadette Fox has vanished.

When her daughter Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for perfect grades, Bernadette, a fiercely intelligent shut-in, throws herself into preparations for the trip. But worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Ms. Fox is on the brink of a meltdown. And after a school fundraiser goes disastrously awry at her hands, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces.

Which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together an elaborate web of emails, invoices, and school memos that reveals a secret past Bernadette has been hiding for decades. Where'd You Go Bernadette is an ingenious and unabashedly entertaining novel about a family coming to terms with who they are, and the power of a daughter's love for her mother.

My Thoughts: 

100 page evaluation: Where'd You Go Bernadette is definitely a different type of book. A narrative broken up by emails and hand written letters and notes.  I liked it at first but then it started to get a little slow.  Bernadette let's too many little things bother her to the point of obsession. It's a little bit annoying. And I thought by 100 pages the story would have progressed more than it already has. Still interested to see how it ends and what the rest of the book club has to say about it.  

As you can see, Where'd You Go, Bernadette was a book we read for book club a couple of months ago.  I don't know why it has taken me so long to write a review for but here we are, months down the road and I'm just now writing it. When it's all said and done, I can say I have never really read a character quite like Bernadette. In both a good and bad way. She takes everything to the utmost extreme. For example, she promised God that if He let her baby live, she would never create art again to the extreme that she wouldn't keep up the house and roots and dirt were literally coming through the floor boards. She also hated all the other mothers at her daughter's school to the point that she had a feud going with some of them. So the whole book was pretty weird and she didn't even go missing til almost the end of the book.  

Elgin, her husband, was also very weird. Doesn't pay attention to anything that's going on with his wife or his family. Did he even realize his house was falling apart? As soon as something goes wrong in his marriage, he has an affair with a woman at work and, shocker, gets her pregnant. Let's his teenage daughter talk them into taking an outrageous trip to Antarctica. All the characters in Where'd You Go, Bernadette are so weird. It's just a weird book all around. 

If you don't mind reading a book from all different perspective, from emails, IM chats and written notes than you might like this book. But beware, the characters are weird and extremely outrageous.

Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Landline
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date:July 08, 2014
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.
That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

My thoughts:

100 page evaluation: I like the book so far even though I definitely don't like it as much as Rowell's other books.  It took me a little while to get into it partly because it's a little slow in the beginning and partly because I don't like when girls have guys names. And the main character's name is Georgie. She's also not a very like able character. So far she is very selfish and she only thinks about herself and her career. I'm hoping that by talking to Neal in the past that she can change some of her ways and think about the needs of her husband and their children.

My thoughts after one hundred pages weren't all that different after I finished the book. Landline was still a pretty good read just not up to the level and enjoyment of Rowell's other books. I appreciated that Landline was a nice change-up compared to all the other YA books that I normally read because it tackled the subject of a marriage that was on the brink of failure which is not something that I normally read.

My problems with the book are actually just problems with the characters themselves. Georgie is the type of girl that I wouldn't really like in real life and I definitely would not be friends with her. She's the type of girl who is usually only friends with guys. As a married woman she has this inappropriate and unreasonable friendship with a guy/co-worker. Throughout the entire book I was thinking to myself that she needed to do her husband a favor and put some major boundaries on her relationship with Seth. Georgie was so selfish throughout the whole book and couldn't even see that her husband had basically given up his life and career to raise their children while she focused on her own career. So I could definitely see why Neil was on the edge of leaving her.

Throughout the whole book, Neil was my favorite character. He was supportive and he tried his best to be understanding. I was totally on Neil's side the whole time and I just wanted to punch Georgie in the face.  But overall the book was pretty good and it ended with closure. If you're a fan of Rainbow Rowell I definitely recommend Landline just know that it's not up to par with her previous novels.

Review: Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Title: Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Author: Jamie Ford
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: January 27, 2009
Source: Library
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship - and innocent love - that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel's dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice - words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

My Thoughts:

I love historical fiction and I really wish I took the time to read a lot more of it. I had the opportunity to read Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet because it was chosen as one of our book club reads! It’s a story that takes place in the eighties when the main character is getting older and it takes place, in flash backs, to WWII when the main character is a child navigating the world as a Chinese American with a Japanese American girlfriend.

Henry is about twelve years old in the early 1940’s and goes to a private school where he is picked on simply because he is Asian. There is a huge prejudice against the Japanese at this time because of Pearl Harbor and even though Henry is Chinese he is still lumped into the same group as the Japanese and bullied all the same. Henry soon meets Keiko, a Japanese American girl his age and they become fast friends. But soon the persecution of the Japanese becomes strong in Seattle and her family is forced in an internment camp. Even though they are determined to keep in touch and keep their friendship alive, it become inevitable that they can no longer keep their communications going.

I loved the characters in Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. They were so real and believable. Since this story is definitely character driven most of the time, great characters are essential. I also believe that a Chinese American boy and a Japanese American girl who are the only two Asians in their school would create a strong bond and stick together. I also love how this story explored what it means to be American and another nationality. Are you one more than the other and when is it time to become one more than the other. I found the dichotomy between Henry and his parents interesting and how they pushed him to be as American as he could be but wouldn't afford Keiko the same luxuries.  I could only imagine that WWII was a very difficult time to live through.

I loved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet for the sheer fact that it shed light on a topic that Americans like to forget. Although it was a little slow in the beginning, I would definitely recommend it to history lovers.

Review: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Title: Vicious
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Source: Library
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, betrayal, and superpowers, set in a near-future world.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.

My thoughts:

Before all the hype started to grow for Vicious I knew I wanted to read it. I read Schwab’s The Archived and immediately fell in love with her writing style, knowing that I would read pretty much anything else that she wrote. So when I heard about Vicious I was all aboard and got it from the library as soon as it became available to me.

Here’s a basic run down of the story. Eli and Victor are college roommates and best friends. Both are fairly smart and have bright futures ahead of them. Eli discovers that one can attain “extra ordinary powers” or become an EO through a near death experience. So Eli and Victor force themselves into near death experiences to become EOs. Without giving away any spoilers, 10 pass and the two are mortal enemies and Victor has made it his mission to take Eli out!

Almost every single character in this book is a terrible person. They almost have no redeeming qualities. Eli is out trying to fulfill what he believes to be his “God-given mission” and is just doing absolutely horrible things. Victor wants to do horrible things to Eli in the name of vengeance. Never a good reason. I think my favorite character is Sydney because she really struggles with right and wrong throughout the book. She has this innocence about her that, even though it doesn’t make Victor change his mind about anything, it really makes him take a good hard look at what he’s doing. And with everyone doing absolutely terrible things the whole time, it was refreshing to read from her perspective at times.

No spoilers, but the ending is definitely what made Vicious so good for me. It was very satisfying! If you’re a fan of Schwab’s other book I would definitely recommend reading Vicious!

Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Title: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Author: Robin Sloan
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Girous
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Goodreads, Amazon

Global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, young love, and the secret to eternal life — mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore. The Great Recession shuffles Clay Jannon from his web-design drone job to night shift at Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. Curiously, few customers come in repeatedly and never buy. Analysis reveals astonishing secrets ...

My thoughts:

I heard about this book a little while ago and ever since I read the synopsis I knew I wanted to choose Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore for book club.  An independent bookstore that never closes, some kind of conspiracy going on with the patrons who only borrow books and never buy and a mystery that I was convinced would have me on the edge of my seat.  

Even though it was good and it was fun to read, it just wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be.  After reading the synopsis, I really thought that the patrons were going to be spies and that they were passing secret messages back and forth in the books they were borrowing.  But as it turns out, these mysterious patrons are trying to solve the secrets of the universe a.k.a. the secret to physical immortality.  These people in this cult are literally scrambling around, decoding all these books in the hopes that they will find some kind of code or recipe for a concoction that will grant them immortality.  

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is an adventure that was pretty fun to read.  Clay, the main character, and his quirky group of misfit friends set off to help Mr. Penumbra uncover what he has been searching for for many years.  Conveniently they have unlimited resources that allow them to travel to New York City at a moments notice and also allows them to get their hands on all the technology that they need.  By the end, when he happened to have connections to a librarian that got him what he needed, I felt that he was a little too lucky.  I liked the characters but I felt their only purpose was to help out Clay and Mr. Penumbra. They didn't have any depth and they were very static throughout the whole novel.  

Overall, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore was a fun book to read and very appropriate for the book club. And hey! The cover of the paperback is pretty cool! It glows in the dark! I give Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan 3.5 stars for being entertaining and fun.

Review: Red Rain

Title: Red Rain
Author: R.L. Stine
Publisher: Touchstone
Find it here: B&N, Goodreads, Mysterious Galaxy
Source: ARC from ALA

Travel writer Lea Sutter finds herself on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, the wrong place at the wrong time. A merciless, unanticipated hurricane cuts a path of destruction and Lea barely escapes with her life. In the storm’s aftermath, she discovers orphaned twin boys and impulsively decides to adopt them. The boys, Samuel and Daniel, seem amiable and immensely grateful; Lea’s family back on Long Island—husband Mark and their two children, Ira and Elena— aren't quite so pleased. But even they can’t anticipate the twins’ true nature—or predict that, within a few weeks’ time, Mark will wind up implicated in two brutal murders, with the police narrowing in.

My thoughts: 

I grew up reading R.L. Stine. He writes such great horror that I couldn't get enough of him when I was in elementary school and junior high.  I read as many Goosebumps as I could and then moved on to the Fear Street novels! Looking back now they're probably pretty cheesy but R.L. Stine definitely installed himself as one of the great middle grade horror writers! So when I heard that he was writing a horror for adults, I knew that I absolutely had to read it!

The basic plot of Red Rain is that Lea is a travel blog writer and she goes to a little island off the coast of South Carolina. While she's there, a hurricane hits and she ends up taking home twin boys whose parents died in the storm.  When they get to Long Island, horrible things start happening and the whole town goes a little crazy. Even though I really enjoyed the story, it's not a mystery to try and figure out what's happening or who is killing people.  It's revealed right in the beginning who the twins really are and what their intent is. I enjoy a good horror novel when I have no idea who is behind the murderous and anyone who jumps out could be the killer! But there is still a twist in the end that's revealed which I didn't realize until I was almost finished with the book.

Even though I really liked the book I didn't like that the murderers were these twelve year old twins.  I understand that they're pretty unsuspecting and that the adults in the novel would never have guessed that these innocent looking boys are killing people but I thought it was just kind of weird.  And I didn't like their accents.  They were supposed to be these white boys with blonde hair and blue eyes but they sounded Jamaican! So that kind of threw me off! I also didn't like that the story changed from so many perspectives. That's just a personal preference though.

Red Rain is a great horror novel to read around Halloween time! I give Red Rain 4 hearts because even though the story was a little weird, it still has all the blood, guts and gore that I'm looking for in my horror novels!  

Review: A Discovery of Witches

Title: A Discovery of Witches
Author: Deborah Harkness
Series: All Souls Trilogy #1
Publisher: Penguin Books
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

My thoughts: 

I remember thinking when A Discovery of Witches came out that I absolutely have to read that book because it sounds so amazing! It was getting rave reviews and I love books that deal with witches and magic. So why did it take me so long to finally read it!? I have no idea but I'm definitely kicking myself for not reading it sooner! 

I love the whole aspect of the story that there's all these family secrets and the fact that Diana does not want to be a witch and choose not to participate in all these witchy things.  So she run to the opposite of witchcraft which is facts, history and studying things that have evidence.  She is super smart and doesn't let anything get in the way of her studies and research.  She is also very determined.  She has a tough time coming to terms with notions that she could possibly be the chosen one and that her magic and relationship could bring about the biggest change known to her supernatural kind.  

Matthew is such a great character and one of my favorite vampires of all the vampire books that I've read. He is such a gentleman and deeply rooted in old fashioned chivalry while being very fierce and protective at the same time.  He is the ideal vampire. And he's smart and sexy to boot.  Even all the side characters were really great! They all have their own very unique personalities and while I was reading some of the vampires, I truly believed that they had been living for over a thousand years! The characterization in A Discovery is Witches is phenomenal! 

I love that A Discovery of Witches is a mix of supernatural creatures instead of focusing on just one. If witches can exist why not vampires? Even though it is a pretty long read, it is richly detailed and very interesting.  I give A Discovery of Witches 5 hearts for finally portraying vampires how I always imagined them to be.  And can I say new book boyfriend? Most definitely!

Review: Succubus Blues

Title: Succubus Blues
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Georgina Kincaid #1
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

Succubus (n.) An alluring, shape-shifting demon who seduces and pleasures mortal men. Pathetic (adj.) A succubus with great shoes and no social life. See: Georgina Kincaid.

When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical?

But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid's life is far less exotic. Her boss is a middle-management demon with a thing for John Cusack movies. Her immortal best friends haven't stopped teasing her about the time she shape-shifted into the Demon Goddess getup complete with whip and wings. And she can't have a decent date without sucking away part of the guy's life. At least there's her day job at a local bookstore--free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can't.

But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle's demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won't help because Georgina's about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny...

My thoughts:

I have a lot of love for Richelle Mead and it borders on developing into fangirl/stalker tendencies. She has a special place in my heart because she freakin’ created Dimitri, my ultimate bookish crush! But the Vampire Academy series were the only books that I had read by her and with a least a year in between the Bloodlines series releases, I knew I needed more Richelle to hold me over! Thank God for my friend Thuy @ Nite Lite Book Reviews who told me how amazing the Georgina Kincaid series is! It has everything I love about Mead’s writing with some really hot sexy times thrown in!

A lot of times the internal dialogue of main female characters really starts to annoy me and grate on my nerves halfway though books. But Georgina is so entertaining! I can see why this six book series is really popular because she is a really likeable character! She also just seems to have the worst luck and not everything goes her way. These are the types of characters and stories that I like to read.

I loved almost all the characters in this book! We already covered that Georgina is awesomeness! Seth is just so adorkable in all his geek glory! I wanted to just eat him up! I love characters that don’t realize the effect they have on other people. Seth doesn’t realize how hot he is and even though he has a lot to learn about relationships his small gestures go a long way.

Even though I liked Roman a lot, I could just tell that he was too good to be true! There were some pretty steamy sexy times between Georgina and Roman that were just crazy! But I always got the feeling that there was something that he was hiding. He was a really great character and brought a surprisingly enjoyable love triangle into the mix!

Richelle Mead’s Georgina Kincaid series has the potential to be one of my top ten favorite series! I hope the rest of the books don’t disappoint. If anything they can hold me over in between Bloodlines book and keep me satisfied until her new Age of X series comes out! I give Succubus Blues 5 hearts for being amazing and giving me a love triangle that I actually liked!

Review- Warm Bodies

Title: Warm Bodies

Author: Isaac Marion

Publisher: Atria

Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Source: Purchased

R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, noidentity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and stragely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

My thoughts: 

At first Warm Bodes really confused me. What I thought I knew from the synopsis was wrong and from its classification in the horror genre, I thought it was going to be scary. It's definitely a very gory book! The whole concept is that zombies cannot remember their lives from before they’re infected. Even though they don’t have any memories left, they live together in family like communities. They take care of the elderly and the children and the men go out hunting for fresh meat and bring it back. The story centers around R who has discovered he can see and experience memories of his victims if he eats their brain which is how he falls in love with one of his victims’ girlfriends.

I know a zombie love story sounds really weird but this story was done so well. It could have very easily been really bad. R keeps his victim’s brain, kidnaps his girlfriend and as he experiences more and more of his victim’s life, he get a burning need to become human again. But is love enough to bring back someone who is completely lost to the infection? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
The most fascinating aspect of this book was the zombie community. They are ruled by these zombie like elders called bones because they’re literally so old they are practically only bones. The foundation of this community is not really addressed but it would be fascinating to know more about it. There was also something mysterious going on with the Bone elders that I would love to know more about.

Of course, like most good books, it’s being made into a movie! The cast has already been chosen and it’s set to come out in the summer of next year! I think it’ll make an interesting movie!

Fangtastic Friday Read-Along (1)

This week's Fangtastic Friday Read-along is hosted by the awesome Ashley @ The Bookish Brunette.  This week we read chapters 1-6 of Rhiannon Frater's Pretty When She Dies.

1. After reading through Amaliya's 'awakening'... So realistic and freaking horrifying right? *shudders* What are your reactions to such a vivid scene?

I really appreciate an author who is bold enough to tell you how it is and Rhiannon Frater is just that author.  She wants her readers to know the reality for her character and the world that she has created.  When authors are too vague they can sometimes leave too much for their readers to fill in for them and they may not grasp the horror or the fear that the character is going through.

2. I know it's EARLY on, and we've only gotten a glimpse of him, but... In YOUR opinion, the man who made Amaliya into a vampire... friend or foe?

As of right now, it seems like Amaliya's life is only for his amusement.  He knew that because of her strength of character and what she's been though in the past that her transformation and early years as a vampire are going to be different than the others he created.  She's like his pet project. 

3. Amaliya's family are some PIECES of work aren't they??? While I HOPE no one has a family as freaking crazy nuts as hers... We all have a few nutjobs in our family tree right? Tell me about a crazy member of YOUR family... Or a time when you thought, "Please, NO... I am SO not with them!"

OMG I can't answer this question, my family sometimes reads this blog! And it would be just my luck that they happen to read this post! Honestly though, I've never been completely embarrased of my family.  They have been known to act crazy when they drink too much, but never to the point that I would want to separate myself from them.

4. Pete... Awww, Pete... He confesses his unending love for her, then everything goes to hell in a hand-basket! Who is/was YOUR Pete? Did you have a guy who was hopelessly in love with you for years that you never even knew about?

Aww, I love Pete too and I felt so bad for him.  I don't think anyone has ever harbored a crush on me for years and years or anything like that, but there was a guy in my french class in high school who would propose marriage to me at least a couple times a week.  Each time he did it, he would give me a new reason of why we should get married.  It was kinda cute.  

5. Have you started connecting with Amaliya? What specific instance stands out the most for you? (hopefully you are LOVING her hardcore by Chapter 6!)

I really do like Amaliya.  Even though she has her soft spots, she tough as nails and she's not letting anyone take advantage of her!  But I already knew that going back to her family was a bad decision and I was hoping that she would just take off without returning the truck.  Her dad could have gone and found it himself.  With her family's track record, there was not way they were going to be accepting of her. 

Review-Sloppy Firsts

Title: Sloppy Firsts

Author: Megan McCafferty

Publisher: Three Rivers Press

Rating: 5/5

Find it here: Goodreads, Amazon

Blurb:

"My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don't they realize that Hope's the only person who keeps me sane?....I don't see how things could get any worse."

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate is gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy-and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad's obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany's lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

My thoughts:

Sloppy Firsts is a prime example of why I started a blog. Throughout this book, Jessica is having trouble sleeping so she goes on night runs. While I was reading this I kept thinking that this reminded me a lot of another book I read where the main character goes on night runs and then she breaks her leg (not really a spoiler). Then sure enough, Jessica breaks her leg. But no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn't remember anything else about the book or how it ended from the first time I read it.

I loved this book both times that I read it! The main character, Jessica Darling (awesome name), has just had her life turned upside down when her best friend Hope moves away and leaves her to deal with her teenage life problems on her own. She's left at school to deal with the Clueless Crew (her other friends that she can't stand) and her middle school ex-boyfriend who still harbors feelings for her.

Sloppy firsts is set up in journal style and is all about Jessica's ramblings and observations during her sophomore and junior years in high school. I loved the witty humor and the smart rhetoric through the story. I literally found myself laughing out loud while reading and finding my roommate startled my sudden outbursts. Even though Sloppy Firsts is an adult fiction novel, I believe it could be enjoyed by young adult readers as well.

Sloppy Firsts is fun, hilarious and definitely a series I am glad to own.