Friday 56: The Spiritglass Charade

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on 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 recent Friday 56 post. 

The Spiritglass Charade page 56:

I sat upright, my heart thudding. "La societe. They love the UnDead, they know all about them . . . and you're a member, aren't you?"

It all made sense: how he had so much power and control here in Whitechapel among stronger, meaner, older men then him . . . how he knew about me, including that I was a vampire hunter. . . .

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door was not nearly as interesting as Anna and the French Kiss.

Lola drove me crazy, I get that the author wanted to write about a unique girl who was struggling to learn about herself but I just did not like Lola. I am not sure if it was the writing that made Lola come off as annoying or if she was just that immature. Heartbroken at fifteen by the boy next door Lola struggled to move on after the neighbors moved. Instead of embracing who she was, a girl with a unique way of looking at life Lola searched for someone to make her feel accepted. Thus Lola found Max and what a nightmare Max turned out to be.

Without a doubt Max is the reason I kept reading the story, I wanted to see him get a good solid punch to the face. Twenty-two and a total control freak Max is without a doubt one of the best written male characters I have ever seen. I loathed Max even though I did not like Lola I kept screaming at her to dump him as I read.

Cricket was different like Lola but did not come off as annoying just desperate which again was believable. A smart guy who was into inventing Cricket had a hard time connecting with people and never got over his crush on Lola but was unable to act upon it to due to his family having to move. At times Cricket was clueless and other times too smart. I think this was due to Cricket getting caught up in his own world too much at times.

The writing was well done but the main reason I finished was my hope of seeing Max getting a punch to the face. I was not overly fond of the story being in the United States and not Paris, that had been one of my favorite things about Anna and the French Kiss. I did like seeing familiar characters as side characters and they actually fit well with the story. Despite not enjoying Lola and the Boy Next Door as much as I had hope I do plan on reading Isla and the Happily Ever After.

Paris

Paris was not at all what I expected it would be. I like historical books so I have been eager to read one of Edward Rutherfurd's works. While Paris was not bad it just did not work for what I enjoy in a story.

The characters were all well thought and written exceptionally well, at times I felt like I was standing on a street in Paris watching the characters. However I did not like how the story jumped around so much. I can get used to many character point of views in a book but the time hopping threw me and I constantly had to flip back through the story to check I was recalling the right characters. Around the half way point I just stopped flipped and finished Paris by skimming it.

My other complaint was some of the characters that were just mentioned briefly sort of just disappeared (to be fair I could have missed them while skimming) and I wanted to know more about them.

All in all Paris is not a bad book just not a book suited to my tastes.

Anna and the French Kiss

Normally I do not go for pure romance but I am so glad I gave Anna and the French Kiss a try it was a delightful read.

I loved Anna, she was one of the most believable characters I have ever seen. As a seventeen year old teenager she goes through a variety of moods and not all of them are pleseant. Terrified of living in Paris Anna hides in her room until some fellow students literally force her out to see Paris. Slowly Anna adjusts to life in Paris and attempts to learn French. Over time she gets to be better friends with some of her fellow students and eventually best friends with St. Clair. Unfortunately for Anna she slowly starts to fall for St. Clair who has a steady girlfriend.

Since everything was told from Anna's point of view you never get into the mind of St. Clair however from his actions it is clear he struggled with how to handle relationships in his life. Like Anna St. Clair seemed like a real person. One with problems, who made wrong choices, and who struggled with life at times.

One of my favorite parts was the intimate parts were PG13 and below. The writing was also lovely with a nice flow to it. The story moved along at a nice pace giving neither too much information or too little. I would love to more work by Stephanie Perkins.

Friday 56 - Anna and the French Kiss

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on 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 recent Friday 56 post. 

Anna and the French Kiss ebook 56%:

"I think maybe, possibly, vaguely remember hitting the snooze button." I jabber to cover my mortification. "Only I guess it was the off button. But I had the alarm on my phone set, too, so I don't know what happened."

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

The Lost City of Z was very different from most books I read and I am glad I gave it a try.

The legendary Fawcett who ventured into the Amazon Rainforest several times did not reappear after his last expedition in 1925 and to this day no one is one hundred percent sure what happened to Fawcett. Mr. Grann explores Fawcett's life, expeditions, and writings to work at piecing together this legendary mystery. 

While the writing was good at times I had issues with the way the chapters flowed. The Lost City of Z started out with a bang then slowed down a good deal before picking up. I do understand background information was needed however Mr. Grann wrote about things such as buying camping gear for his expedition which seemed unneeded. 

My other issue was some of the details were a bit too intense for me. While I knew the Amazon was deadly I had no clue so many things could kill you and most of them are insects. At times I was gagging reading about what various insects were doing to people and pack animals. 

I do not want to spoil anything so I cannot say much about the story but the story of Fawcett was well presented and Mr. Grann does come up with a strong idea of what occurred to the legendary explorer. Since it is two mysteries in on Mr. Grann also makes sure that ample time is given to the mystery Fawcett was chasing, the legendary City of Z.

Will Poole's Island

Unfortunately I found the most interesting part of Will Poole's Island to be the back cover. For some reason it seemed like I was constantly waiting for the story to start and the next thing I knew I was at the end of the story.

Will did not really stand out to me. It just seemed like Will attracted trouble due to being restless but Will never knew how to get out of trouble and relied on Squamiset to get him out of trouble every time.

Squamiset was an interesting character, I wanted to know more about him and the Indian practices he partook of. One thing did really bother me despite Will asking Squamiset questions he never answered any. The biggest one how Squamiset knew who Will was.

The other thing that bothered me was despite Will having an older brother the family servant was named his guardian upon the death of his father. That just seemed a bit out of place.

Well done writing and smooth flow to it. Just the story line did not appeal to me as much as I had hoped it would.

Friday 56 - The Lost City of Z

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on 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 recent Friday 56 post. 

 

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon ebook 56%:

 

Brooding day and night, Fawcett hatched various half-baked schemes- to mine nitrate in Brazil, to prospect for oil in California-in order to raise money for his expedition.

Ogre Ogre - Xanth #5

Ogre Ogre is another pun filled tale taking place in the land of Xanth.

Smash is half Ogre and half Curse-fiend but he considers himself an Ogre. Finding himself at the Magician Humfrey's castle Smash receives an answer for a question he does not ask. Baffled Smash agrees to travel with Tandy as protection. Their travels across Xanth cause the group to grow and Smash finds himself surrounded by girls he feels the need to protect. Since Smash considers himself an ogre and ogres have little intelligence you see Smash second guessing himself a good deal along with Smash wondering if he is thinking clearly on how to handle situations. 

Tandy is half nymph and half human whose magical power is to throw a tantrum. Despite her ability to protect herself a demon torments her relentlessly so Tandy seeks the help of the Magician Humfrey. After staying in the castle as a guest of the Magician Tandy is set out with Smash despite her protests. Since little of the story is told from Tandy's point of view it is hard to know what she is thinking but you do see some growth in her as a character. Tandy learns courage and caution alike.

Ogre Ogre continues the typical style of previous Xanth books in being written in pun with lots of descriptive details. 

Angelbound - Angelbound Origins #1

As much as I liked Angelbound I ended up having some issues with it at times.

Myla is a totally awesome heroine and takes no nonsense from anyone. A Quasi Demon with Fury as her trait makes her the perfect warrior to keep bad time souls out of heaven and the not so perfect person to be considered a slave of the ghouls. The rebellious side of Myla constantly keeps her in trouble and getting in trouble for not obeying the ghouls who rule purgatory.

Lincoln is one of my all time favorite male characters. The High Prince of the Thrax Lincoln totally embraces his birthright of hunting demons. So when Myla and Lincoln stumble upon each other it was intense. Determined to do what is best for the Thrax and not shake up Purgatory Lincoln works at being diplomatic while trying not to show his open disgust at the Quasi Demons.

The writing was lots of fun to read, I was constantly second guessing myself right up until the end. Every time I thought I had something figured out a new occurrence had me rethinking my conclusions which I loved. Another thing I enjoyed no love triangles or even a hint of one which was refreshing.

Some downsides to Angelbound the mother was poorly portrayed at the start so she came off as badly written, it was not until the middle or so that it made sense the mother is way she is. Angelbound ended oddly, at least in my opinion. It was nonstop action and then the last couple chapters the action just disappeared and died down which seemed odd and out of place since it did not fit with the rest of the story. I am guessing Christina Bauer did not want to end on an action intense cliffhanger but that lowers my desire to go out and buy the second book as quick as possible. Racism against different species was also handled a bit funky at times, that is all I can really say without giving spoilers.

Despite my complaints with it I thoroughly enjoyed Angelbound and do want to read the next book in the series.

Friday 56: Will Poole's Island

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on 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 recent Friday 56 post. 

 

 Will Poole's Island paperback book page 56:

The gaol cell was dark and reeked of mold. The only furnishings on the straw-covered floor was a fresh round of elm, most likely sawn from the same stout trunk felled to make Natonck's chopping block.

Blogger Recognition Award

I was nominated by Marie at Pages to Explore for the Blogger Recognition Award. Thank you Marie, so nice of you to nominate me!
The Blogger Recognition Award was originally created by Eve at Edge of Night. A big thank you to Eve for coming up with the awesome award. 

Here are the rules:

• Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to. Do some digging if you must! Find those blogs. You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you. (I know I need to nominate more people I just do not follow many blogs and have little time to find more to follow.)
• Write a post to show off your award! Give a brief story of how your blog got started, and give a piece or two of advice to new bloggers. Thank whoever nominated you, and provide a link to their blog. List who you’ve nominated in the post.
• Make sure to also attach the award itself! (You can do this by right-clicking, saving, and uploading the image above).
• Comment on each blog and let them know you’ve nominated them. Provide a link to the award post you created.
• Provide a link to the original post on Edge of Night. That way, anyone can find the original guidelines and post if needed, and we can keep it from mutating and becoming confusing!

 How I got started:

While I have always been an avid reader keeping a record of books I have read over the years never occurred to me until I started talking to Marie who introduced me to her blog and Goodreads. After some time writing reviews for Goodreads Marie started to urge me to form a book blog. Finally in Fall of 2014 I took Marie's advice and began to work on the blog. While I still have a lot to learn about blogging I am having a ton of fun doing it. Thanks to reading other blogs I have found many wonderful books and look forward to finding many more over the years to come. 

Tips for other bloggers:

•  Do not be embarrassed to say what you really think of the book. Not every book is going to be liked by everyone. Even if the book is super popular and was not your style do not be afraid to be honest.
• Do not stress over posting, if you are busy with real life take a step back from the blog if you need to. People will understand.
• Venture out and make friends through blogging! Clearly you already have something in common with people who maintain book blogs!
• Be creative and make your blog yours, while you can listen to constructive criticism go with what feels right for you in the look of your blog. 
• Enjoy your time blogging! 

My Nominations:

Alica @ A Kernel of Nonsense

Yvonne @ Socrates' Book Reviews...
 Fredamans @ Freda's Voice

Sandra @ Writing with a Texas Twang

Legend - Legend #1

Legend was not what I thought it would be at all. Normally this is a good thing but not in this case.

I totally fell in love with Day's character. Refreshing, interesting, and entertaining I was disappointed every time Day's point of view came to an end. While Day's actions were predictable I did not find that overly annoying.

June drove me crazy, I could not stand her attitude or the superiority complex June has. Wealthy and privileged June has no clue about the real world and loves the attention the Republic lavishes on her as their prodigy. Blind to what is occurring in the world June talks big but does not seem able to hold her own when it really matters. I got to dread it when the story moved to June's point of view.

The plot was not bad and the pacing kept things moving but I predicted everything that occurred in the story. No surprises to catch me off guard or twists where I was like oh my gosh I did not see that coming. All in all not a horrible book just one I consider average. If I have time I would consider reading the sequel but it is nothing I have to rush out and get right now.

The Night Circus

I absolutely loved The Night Circus, I cannot put into words how much I loved it. From the first page to the last I was hooked. It is unlike any book previous book I have ever read and I doubt I will ever find a book like it again.

Despite a large array of characters I feel like I got to know all of them well and I fell in love with all of them. The writing is some of the most elegant and lovely I have ever read. Everything was balanced just right creating an amazing story.

Even though The Night Circus ended stunningly I would love another story with some of the characters that were more side characters moving center stage. I doubt that will happen though. I am just such awe over it that I am not even sure how to describe how magical The Night Circus truly is.

Friday 56: Angelbound - Angelbound Origins #1

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

 

 

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on 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 recent Friday 56 post.

 

Angelbound Ebook page 56 (I was unable to figure out 56% on the ebook):

"Stop right there." Cissy raises her hand shoulder height, palm forward. "The answer is kiss him, kiss him." 

"You didn't hear the question." 

Cissy turns to me, her blonde ringlets jiggling. "What is the question?"

Senator

I have been wanting to read a good mystery for awhile so when I saw Senator on Free Friday on my Nook I decided to give it a try.

Everything started out with a bang, the popular Senator Jim O'Connor finds a dead reporter in her apartment. Things quickly fall apart for Jim as it appears more and more that Jim is the killer. The beginning pulled me in but the story line quickly moved to a bunch of fluff and got super slow. If not for the fact I wanted to know who the murderer was I would have stopped reading at around the half way point. 

Sad to say I am still on the hunt for a good mystery.