Shatter Me - Shatter Me #1

I was not really sure what I was getting into when I picked up Shatter Me for one thing the title turned me off and the description did not have much to go off of. Despite that I am glad I gave it a try since I could not put it down.

Juliette was not how I expected her to be at all. In some ways I found her character unbelievable and in other ways too believable. She seemed to go through bouts of madness and my own personal opinion is that she is crazy in some ways but not others. Definitely not crazy enough to warrant being locked in an asylum. Normally clingy females bother the daylights out of me but seeing as how Juliette had to deal with everything alone for the majority of her life I can understand why she was clingy at times. 

I would like to know more about Adam, I am not fully sure I trust everything about him. He honestly seems too good to be true and I don't like that in a lot of ways. His relationship with Juliette was a bit unbelievable at times and portrayed in what I feel was a clumsy way.

Normally I do not care for the figures portrayed as the "villain" but I thought Warner was well done, developed, and I want to know more about why he is the way he is. 

The writing bothered me at times. The styled jumped around a good deal and at times I had to re-read to figure out what was going on. I did like the style of how writing was crossed out at times, it made Juliette seem more real at times. I look forward to the sequel and learning the rest of Juliette's story.

Austenland - Austenland #1

Having seen the movie I decided I wanted to give Austenland a try. Thankfully I was not disappointed and am still able to enjoy the movie.

Jane was one heck of a character and I highly enjoyed the struggle displayed by her as she grew throughout the story. Obsessed with the BBC Pride and Prejudice she feels she lets it rule her life to the point she hides the DVD behind a house plant. This does nothing to fix her problem though and she just continue to compare previous men in her life to Mr. Darcey. This causes her no end of trouble until she is able go to Austenland and live out her dream of socializing with regency period gentlemen.

Mr. Nobley was certainly a different kind of character. He was hard to read throughout most of the book since he was an actor and hired to flatter the ladies. However it seems at times he went way overboard but I could also see this as him diving into his role fully.

Martin, I did not care for him much he seemed out of place in Austenland. A gardener who breaks the regency rules to talk with the customers, that seems too much of place.  

Miss Charming was my favorite of the female characters and I wish more had been written about her but I can kind of see why she was not given more spotlight since she might come off as annoying.

As for the other cast of characters all of them were unique and well thought out even if they were not a huge part of the plot line.

The writing was elegant and well done. I laughed, got angry, and just thoroughly enjoyed everything Austenland had to offer.

Gathering Blue - The Giver Quartlet #2

I read Gathering Blue out of order because the waiting list at the library was huge.

It was nice to learn Kira's story, she is an awesome character. Strong, dedicated, and willing to work hard no matter the cost. I love how she embraced the way she was born instead of condemning herself to just feeling sorry for her handicap.

Thomas was an interesting character as well and I wish that some of the story had been told from his point of view. While Jo was a young girl I found her unique and inspiring in a lot of ways. I feel bad fro the fate in store for her.

Matt was my favorite and while I knew his story from the third book it was nice to see him before he joined the healing village.

Once again I am not sure I got the allegory that Mrs. Lowry was going for. I did notice a couple grammar mistakes but otherwise the writing was smooth.

Once Upon Stilettos - Enchanted Inc #2

I was happy to see Once Upon Stilettos did not suffer the dreaded sequel curse, I actually enjoyed it more then Enchanted Inc.

I adore Katie she is a strong character who likes to handle things herself though it does keep coming back to hurt her in the end I find it believable. She did not just change overnight like a lot of female characters seem to. The humor was not overkill and serious times occurred to balance everything out.

Ethan was never my favorite character but several times I wanted to punch him in the face for his behavior. He just flat out drove me crazy. I really hope he is in future books less. Instead I would rather know more about Rod's past. I feel like Owen is getting a bit overkill as well but I see why he is mentioned so much.

I loved the added element of mystery to the book and the way Katie was tying to sleuth out the spy. While Katie is clearly no spy she is also very through in her investigations.

The writing was well done and enjoyable. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Howl's Moving Castle - Howl's Moving Castle #1

Howl's Moving Castle was beyond awesome, exciting, well written, enticing, enchanting, and all around amazing. I wanted to read the book because I love the movie.

Sophie is a one of a kind character and I doubt no matter how many books I read I will come to find someone just like her. Determined to do her duty as the eldest Sophie never complains about the life her step-mother Fanny choose for her and bears the responsibility because she is the eldest. No matter what Sophie does in her life she does it with a flair and her own style. No matter what happened I was cheering for Sophie the entire time. Even better Sophie never rolled over and cried like many female leads seem to.

Howl, I do not think a few words can give Howl justice. While he is arrogant, self-centered, vain, a coward, and childish something about his charm that I cannot help but like him. One of the most powerful wizards of the land I would have thought he would maintain a strong sense of duty to himself and others but I was totally wrong. Howl is only interested in himself and being able to woe as many young girls as he desires.

Micheal was a bit of a surprise since he was apprenticed to Howl I expected him to be a bit like Howl but that was not the case. Hard working, dedicated, intelligent, and a bit self conscious was pretty much what Micheal was made of.

Calcifer is just awesome, a scary fire demon who made a contract with a wizard. I would have loved to see a bit of the story from his point of view. No doubt Calcifer knows things that no one else knew.

While all the relationships between the characters were well thought out, believable, and interesting my favorite relationship was Sophie and Howl. Both came off as stubborn people who refused to change to make the others life easier. At times I want to punch them both in the face for the way they were acting towards each other.

The writing was lovely, believable, and enchanting. I did not notice any grammar mistakes but I was highly adsorbed in the book so if they exist that is most likely why I missed them. I most definitely want to read more of Mrs. Jones work.

The Widow's Protector - Fitzgerald Bay #4

For some reason I did not care for The Widow's Protector as much as I thought I would. While I really enjoyed the first and third book in the Fitzgerald Bay series the second and fourth book were both let downs for me. Since the overall plot is pretty close to the same for all four and the theme of figuring out who killed Olivia is key in all the books I believe the writing is what turned me off. Each book is written by a different author.

Fiona was an interesting character, it was nice to see a female lead know what she wanted and do what she could to make it happen. Despite her husband dying she embraced God and moved on with her life and with raising her son Sean all the while with her best friend Hunter supporting her. I enjoyed how she came to realization of how she felt about Hunter.

Hunter was a pretty generic character but despite that I wanted to smack him at times for upsetting Fiona. Just because he could not get over the guilt of Jimmy, Fiona's deceased husband, dying in a fire he had to continue to push Fiona away and hurt her.

The clues about the mystery with Olivia were a bit more subtle then suddenly shoved in your face. I just did not care for the execution of it at all.

I saw a few typos and bag grammar in The Widow's Protector but the writing style just was not cutting it for me overall.

The Kill Order - The Maze Runner 0.5

I definitely did not get what I was expecting when I read The Kill Order and it was not in a good way either.

Mark seemed a bit cookie cutter to me and since the story was told entirely from his point of view he got boring quickly. Add in the fact that the majority of characters were going crazy from the Flare little chance was left for Mark to grow.

My biggest issue was the amount of gore, blood, torture, and disgusting parts. Throughout the majority of the book Mark got the stuffing beat out of him and yet he was able to keep going despite not resting, eating, or getting medical treatment. I get that he was running on adrenaline for a lot of the fights but surely that would not last for days.

The only reason I kept reading was I wanted to know more about the origins of WICKED and not much was really shared sadly since Mark was not part of the WICKED group. All in all The Kill Order was a huge let down.

Full House - Full #1

Full House was not really what I am used to getting from Janet Evanovich. I have read several of her books and liked all of them. While I did not dislike Full House it is just different from other books she has written.

Billie came off as a totally normal mom with two kids dealing with a divorce while trying to keep a sense of normality for her children. She was very stubborn, independent, and all about the rules. Well until she meet Nick that is.

Nick did not strike me as the typical rich kid who could have anything he wanted growing up. Instead he seemed to rebel against his parents and do basic things for himself like cooking. I did find it odd how quickly he became attached to Billie though. Maybe it was her no nonsense attitude that had him falling for her.

Deedee was a very different sort of character and I liked the parts with the light humor she added to the story. Her younger brother Max was far more interesting. A genius who was ignored by his parents and had no clue how to deal with being so smart.

All in all I liked the book well enough to read more of the series.

The Detective's Secret Daughter - Fitzgerald Bay #3

The Detective's Secret Daughter was a wonderful read. Action packed and fast paced for the entire book.

Each book in the Fitzgerald Bay series is about a different member of the Fitzgerald family. The Detective's Secret Daughter focused on Owen who is a police officer in the community. All the Fitzgerald's are family oriented and family comes first so when Victoria shows up with her nine year old daughter and Owen learns he is the father sparks fly.

Victoria was an inspiring character, while I get that it is categorized as an Inspirational read nothing with Victoria and her faith seemed unbelievable or overbearing. One thing after another kept occurring at the Sugar Plum leaving Victoria scrambling for the truth. Unlike women who just fling themselves upon a man for an easy answer Victoria's stubborn streak came out and she continued to move on relying on herself.

Despite The Detective's Secret Daughter being about Victoria and Owen other characters did show up. Including Keira and Nick who seem to be doing well. Even more exciting for me was the scene between Merry and Douglas. It is nice to know what continues to happen to the people in the previous books.

For the fans who want to know more about Olivia and why she was killed never fear a new exciting clue is presented in The Detective's Secret Daughter. Despite the clue I still have not figure out the killer

The writing was smooth and I only saw one typo near the end. At first I was weary of The Fitzgerald Bay series since each book is written by a different author but I like seeing the big picture come together with so many different writers working together. I eagerly look forward to reading the fourth book.

Son - The Giver Quartlet #4

I liked and disliked parts of Son. The first and third book were my favorite parts and while I understood the need for the second book I was not overly fond of it. In a way I sort of related it to Plato's The Cave, which was not one of my favorite reads.

The first part of Son has Claire living in The Community and is basically a retelling of the Giver from a different point of view which I adored. It was nice to get some questions answered about Birthmothers and how that process worked.

Claire was an amazing character, I loved how she just started stumbling into her own realizations. Jonas had the Giver to help him and Claire in a sense had no one. While she did learn about her son Gabe she still could not depend on him for advice since he was a toddler. The other part I enjoyed immensely was seeing the Community's reaction to Jonas leaving. I had imagined what had happened several times to the Community once Jonas left so it was nice to have some of those gaps filled in.

Once Claire left the Community that is where thinks started to go downhill for me a bit. I just did not overly enjoy reading about the time she spent in the fishing village. Maybe if it had been shorter I would have enjoyed it more.

The third book is where things really picked up for me. I loved the story moving to Gabe and Jonas. Things started with Jonas only fitting they end with Jonas. Plus I always adored Gabe so it was nice to what kind of young man he grew into.

Like all of Lowry's books the writing was lovely and elegant. I really enjoy the style of writing and the well done editing.

I do not want to ruin anything for anyone but the Trademaster was awesome and I love the arc that played out with him.

The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science

The Killer of Little Shepherds was nothing like I was expecting. This was more like two books in one, the story of the serial killer Joesph Vacher and several intelligent individuals who ushered the age of forensic science into existence.

The Killer of Little Shepherds was written from two points of view, the chapters switched between Vasher and his travels to the scientists trying to standardize the birth of forensic science. Later after Vasher was apprehended the two points of view began to merge and were discussed together in the same chapter.

Vasher was a brutal serial killer and as such The Killer of Little Shepherds dose have parts that are gruesome and gory. Yet Starr does an amazing job showing that Vasher was human at times as well. Starr does a wonderful job including parts of Vasher's life that show he was a capable individual able to think coherently and thus know he was committing a crime when he did kill or attack someone.

The writing was smooth, well thought out, researched, and displayed in an easy to follow format.

Black Ice

I was super excited to read Black Ice and I turned out severely disappointed. In my opinion a good thriller leaves me on the edge of the seat genuinely fearing what will happen to the characters. I never felt this for any of the characters in Black Ice.

Britt has the potential to be an awesome character but she never lived up to it in my opinion. She always seemed to take the easy way out and while she was better then Korbie who drove me insanely crazy any time she spoke. Shaun and Mason did not cut it as characters for me either. They just did not seem believable.

The love story aspects bothered me as well. It was not believable and seemed to be forced in for some reason.

The plot was a nightmare in my opinion. I like surprises in thrillers I read and this one had none for me. I had everything figured out not too far into the book. I hoped I was wrong at times just so the book would get more exciting but I was not.

Despite my complaints Black Ice does have a redeeming quality for me. I love the writing style. Fitzpatrick has a distinct style that I enjoy reading.