Thursday, September 29, 2016

How to Meet Boys

Months ago I downloaded a sample of How to Meet Boys on my Nook since it was listed as a book I would like. Since I have been doing some heavier books I thought a light read would be nice and just my luck it as my turn to get it from the library. The story is told from dual points of view.

Lucy just wants to escape her home and her overbearing mother who is obsessed with planning her second wedding. Since her Grandparents needs help at their store she quickly jumps on the idea and heads to a small tourist town with her best friend Mikayla.

Mikayla is eager for her job at a club and to spend time with her best friend. Her first day bicycling to her job she is hit by a car. The driver is super cute and worried about her. Immediately taken by him Mikayla works to get closer to the driver only to find out he is the boy who broke Lucy's heart three years earlier.

Several parts were cliche' and predictable but it was a fun light read.

The Double Edge Sword

Since the local bookstore is closing I am stocking up on books and I was immediately drawn to the cover of The Double Edged Sword.

Right away I like the start, a bit of mystery, along with an interesting character who seemed determined to learn more about his past. Fin seems a bit resentful he was discovered as a small baby and baffled by why he was left. Under the guardianship of a judge Fin's life has always been a bit awkward. Attending two different schools, performing a mysterious task on his birthday every year, and never really knowing anything about his guardian. All that changes in an instant though and Fin finds himself thrust into the unknown along with his two best friends.

Sad to say about half way through I started losing interest in the story. Things got too complicated for me. I do enjoy heavy fantasy books but I like them to start out that way and The Double Edged Sword started out simplistic and stayed that way for a good while. Due to that I am not sure if I want to continue the series or not.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Friday 56: The Double Edge Sword

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.
1. Grab a book, any book.
2. Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 
4. Post it.
5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most Friday 56 post.
Fin walked towards the door without looking backwards, not wanting to look at the Judge dead any more, afraid that he might not be able to remember what he'd looked like alive, but just as he reached the door, he froze.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide

Ever since reading Harry Potter series I wanted to know more about Hogwarts so when I saw Hogwarts; An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide in the Nook store I did not hesitate to buy it.

Overall it was really short, lots of blank pages and pages with just a paragraph on them. Really should have gotten all three collections of stories in one book with just different parts to it. I also did not feel like anything new and exciting was reviewed.

While it was a fun read it was not worth the price and a bit of a disappointment overall.

Tales of the Peculiar

Tales of the Peculiar is a collection of short stories about moral and life lessons for Peculiar Children.

Each story is short around ten pages but still manage to leave the reader fulfilled and not wondering what happened. Like any collection of stories I liked some stories and was not fond of others. My favorite story was about how Ymbryne and Peculiar children came together in The First Ymbryne.

The writing was smooth and easy to understand. I think one could even read the tales without having read Miss Peregrin's Peculiar Children.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Friday 56 - Tales of the Peculiar

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.
1. Grab a book, any book.
2. Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 
4. Post it.
5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most Friday 56 post.
 

Hildy tried to take her sister's advice, but she had never had a living friend.

Sixth of Dusk

Sixth of Dusk is a novella by Brandon Sanderson that is set in the world of Mistborn and Stormlight Archive. I have read Mistborn and part of The Way of Kings. Despite this knowledge I really had no clue what was going on in the novella at all.

All I really got was the island wanted to kill Dusk and anyone else on the island. Thanks to a bird with a talent the trapper, Dusk, was able to avoid death. That is really all I understood. Maybe if I read it more times I would understand more but it was tedious for me to read the first time. A shame since I generally adore works by Mr. Sanderson.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The White Queen

I have read and enjoyed books by Philippa Gregory so when I saw The White Queen on the shelf at the second hand bookstore I had to buy it.

The war of the cousins, the mystery of two young princes locked in the Tower of London never to be seen again yet no body ever found, a roadside beauty, and an ambitious family make up the tale of The White Queen. The more I read by Philippa Gregory the more I want to read by her.

Elizabeth is a young widow who lost her lands during the war when her family chose to support the losing side. Desperate to get her wealth back she appeals to the young King Henry begging him for justice. Taken aback with her legendary beauty the young King not only grants her land back but makes her his queen in secret. So begins the story of a bloody battle between cousins and brothers for the throne.

I did like the take on Elizabeth and while it was clear it was following a chronicle order of dates that are proven a fascinating tale was still put together making me want to keep turning the pages to see the fate of everyone. I did have a couple problem with the writing this time, for some reason (I have never noticed in any other books by Philippa Gregory) much of the writing was poor especially the first half of the book. Lots and lots of use of the word he and she. Many times a whole paragraph would be sentences that all started with he and it did interfere with my enjoyment of the book at times. The second half the writing picked up a little becoming less tedious. I do hope to read more of Philippa Gregory's work in the future.

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Nefertiti's Heart

I am a major fan of steampunk and Egypt so seeing the those two things woven into a book immediately caught my eye. Even more exciting Nefertiti's Heart was a Free Friday book.

Sadly despite my excitement for Nefertiti's Heart I was bored with it and just wanted it to end. Cara drove me crazy I was sort of hoping she would die at the end. I saw no development in her and so many scenes just dragged and it kept feeling like I had read her parts before.

Nathaniel was not much better. I did not care about him or about his quest to pursue Cara. Nate also felt majorly undeveloped and just seemed to be there for a love interest.

Not nearly enough steampunk attributes for me just small mentions of them. Also it was portrayed on Nook as young adult and is not young adult at all, heavy intimate scenes that I did not care for. The writing was boring to me and I wont be continuing the series.

Friday, September 9, 2016

Friday 56: The White Queen


This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.
1. Grab a book, any book.
2. Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 
4. Post it.
5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most Friday 56 post.
 
The White Queen page 56:

Sister, they were pissing in the fireplace rather than leave the great hall - and then the door opened and the king came out looking grim and the king put on his happiest smile and said, "Well, my lords, I thank you for your patience."
 

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Starglass

The local bookstore is going out of business so I went in and bought up a bunch of books. The vivid cover is what made me decide to give Starglass a try.

Terra dreams of life outside of living in outer-space and as Asherah, the spaceship she is on, approaches Zehava, the planet her people abandoned earth for five hundred years ago, Terra grows increasingly restless. Anxious from spending all her time in the dome upon the Ashera Terra struggles to feel normal and accept her upcoming responsibilities as an adult. I was not a huge fan of Terra, she felt extremely flat and under developed for most of the story. Terra did seem to pick up a bit as the story progressed so I feel this is a write getting used to a character a bit. 

The pacing was steady, no part felt slow or fast but I did read Starglass fairly quickly considering how busy I am. Despite not caring much about Terra I do find myself terribly curious about what is going to be Terra's fate so I do want to read Starbreak

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Friday 56: Starglass

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.
1. Grab a book, any book.
2. Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 
4. Post it.
5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most Friday 56 post.

Starglass page 56:
"Like what?" I demanded. "I don't know the first thing about botany."