Thursday, June 28, 2012

War Dances

War DancesWar Dances by Sherman Alexie


I really liked The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, very cool and the fact that he's a local author gives him bonus points in my book. Well, this book wasn't really my style.

The poetry was kind of cool, but there was a lot of swearing in this book. The short stories just didn't grab my attention like I had hoped. This is one of those books where I really wanted to like it, but I simply did not.

Very talented dude, just not a big fan of this one.

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Friday, June 22, 2012

The Calling (Darkness Rising, #2)

The Calling (Darkness Rising, #2)The Calling by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I pretty much have the same to say about this book as I did the first one except I'm not feeling it as much. Seriously, nearly every creature that has been in a fantasy or paranormal young adult book in the last few years is mentioned in The Calling. Hmm, maybe they haven't mentioned vampires yet, but I would not be surprised if that would pop up in the next book.

I don't mean to discount the authors originality, there certainly is a creative element that stands out from the others that makes me like it. But I will say that when the third book in the trilogy comes out next year, I'm going to be hard pressed to remember the first two clearly.

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Gathering (Darkness Rising, #1)

The Gathering (Darkness Rising, #1)The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's like all of the last few years of fantasy and paranormal young adult books all combined into one. Still liked it though! Certainly left you hanging in the last book. Thankfully I had the second book at the ready. Won't be so lucky with the third since it won't be coming out until 2013.

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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A Rogue By Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels, #1)

A Rogue By Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels, #1)A Rogue By Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More like 3.5 stars.

If I had to pick two words that were overused in this book it would be, "more" and "adventure". How many times can you hear a word before it loses it's meaning?

This book had it's good parts, it's predictable parts, and a few eye rolling parts. Overall, it was a good book but I don't know if I will read the next book in the series. I don't often care for books where the female character keeps thinking she is not worthy, she is not beautiful enough, "why me" attitude? It's fine to a degree, but sometimes a book can overplay that weakness in a woman and it takes away from the story as a whole. I've read books who have played that pity-me-violin-tune way more than this book but thought I would point it out anyway.

I would still recommend this as a light read to those who enjoy historical romances.



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Monday, June 11, 2012

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)Cinder by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmmm. Not overly impressed by this book. I'm a big fan of young adult science fiction/dystopia, but this one, I dunno, maybe a little too much cheese factor for me. It was also a little bit predictable which seemed perhaps a little too juvenile. I'm being picky, but I just can't put my finger on exactly why it wasn't a hit with me.

The story follows Cinder, a cyborg (part human, part robot) who lives with her step-mother and step-sisters in New Beijing. Yes, very much like Cinderella except in the future and she likes one of the step-sisters. Anyway, there is a plague that is killing scores of people around the world. In order to find a cure, the government has started a draft for the cyborgs to be guinea pigs to find the cure for the disease. Cinder pushes her step-mother too far and her step-mother volunteers Cinder to be a plague-curing-subject. Cinder of course doesn't want to but when her sister contracts the plague, Cinder realizes it is her duty to help her sister anyway she can.

Cinder discovers many secrets within the empire and that the Lunar queen (yes, as in the moon) wants to marry the emperor so that she can rule the world. Cinder befriends the emperor who does not know of Cinders real identity. He likes her but Cinder knows that this is a match that cannot be made. Meanwhile, many people are searching for the long lost niece of the Lunar queen who is the rightful heir to the Lunar throne but of course the queen wants to find her first and eliminate her. It just all sounds so corny to me. I don't know how better to describe the book, to make it sound more appealing. It is a little cheesy.

This was a book that didn't hold my interest throughout all of it. I could go a day or two without picking it up. But to it's credit, there were also pages that I flew through trying to figure out what was next.

It is good enough that I will read the other books in the series when they come out...but that is along ways away.

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Friday, June 1, 2012

Match Me If You Can

Match Me If You Can (Chicago Stars, #6)Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Awesome book! I loved every single one of the characters, all so perfectly written. Annabelle was so cute and quirky but solid. Heath, what a hunk! Bodie, love that he's so secure on the outside but such puppy on the inside. I thought I would dislike Portia, but she's so human I totally dug her. Each character evolved so much in the book. It was great watching each person's quirks fall apart and lead them into discovering who they really were and where they had screwed up.



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