Incarceron

 

Since I am having problems getting books from the library due to massive waiting lists I went to the local second hand shop and browsed. The lovely cover of Incarceron instantly drew me into grabbing it. 

Honestly I do not even know where to begin with how bad Incarceron is. The story jumps around, words are introduced that are not explained. It is great if an author wants to use their imagination and add words to their story but include a glossary or at the very least a footnote explaining the definition of the word. Even having finished the story I still do not know a good definition of what some words mean. 

Claudia is a spoiled rich girl who knows nothing of life except to be pampered and handed anything she wants. The only person she fears is her father who is the warden of Incarceron. Finn cannot recall his life before waking up in the cell and crawling into the light. He has an odd tattoo on his arm and those in Incarceron revere him as a starseer. 

The writing was a mess with the story jumping around everywhere, characters had almost no growth or if they did it did not really fit into the story. Since I had nothing else to read I kept on with Incarceron but it is one of the most disappointing books I have read in a long time. 

Gilded Cage

 

Gilded Cage is the first book in the Dark Gifts trilogy. Since Covid has hit I am struggling to get books from the library I happened to see Gilded Cage on the home page as one the librarian recommended and it was available to check out. After reading it I see why it was available for check out.

The idea behind Gilded Cage sounded so intriguing and original in a a way. Modern world with a small percentage of people who have skill and normal people having to serve ten years as slaves since they lack skill. My biggest complaint with Gilded Cage was for a trilogy the story has way too many points of view occurring. Everything jumps around so quickly and nothing is really revealed to keep the story moving forward. I have read high fantasy that deals with a lot of characters and I do enjoy that but with this style of writing and such a short series it flat out does not work. I feel like I was unable to get to know any of the characters, get a good grasp on the plot, or even really care what happens to most of the characters.

I did check out the second book last night because I wanted something to read before bed but I am not sure if I will continue with it or not. 

The Diplomat's Wife

 

I had no idea The Diploma's Wife was technically the second book in a series. That said I did not struggle to understand the story and while I may have grown closer to the characters in the story I do not feel like I missed out on what happened due to not reading the first book.

Marta works for the resistance and to save her best friend she shoots a Nazi. In return she is shot and taken prisoner for questioning. Refusing to give up information Marta sufferers brutal treatment at the hands of the Nazi's until she is rescued by some American soldiers who take her to a camp for the liberated. Determined to find her way Marta slowly works on getting better and to her shock is reunited with the American solider, Paul, who saved her from the prison. Feeling all is finally going well in her life Marta once again loses her sense of security in an instant when she is forced to leave the camp and travel on her own towards America. 

I really liked the story but at times chapters seemed a bit mundane. Those few chapters I did sort of skim until I got to more of the meat of the story. With twists and turns things caught me off guard and I appreciated the writing style that was smooth yet mostly entertaining. 

Butterface

 

I randomly choose Butterface from my nook library. I am not sure if it was as old Free Friday or a freebie I downloaded at one time. 

 I will admit the cute cover drew me into the story and so did the idea of a plain Jane accepting who she was and dating the hot cop. While the story started out like it might go that way it took a very different turn. I did not enjoy how Regina constantly ran herself down it was tiring to read about how she felt too ugly to be with someone who was not in her class of looks. It was also annoying how everyone constantly seemed to talk about her lack of a lovely face. I do not feel like that happens in real life at all. Around the half way mark the story really started to change and the plot pretty much disappeared as hot and steamy scenes start to appear. At this point I just started skimming the story.

Really the best part for me was the cute cover.