Review: Wake - Lisa MnCann (Dream Catcher #1)

Genre: YA Paranormal Fantasy

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 210

ISBN: 9781416974475

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Series: Dream Catcher #1

Read: December 2011

That was a quick and interesting read. I fell right into it. I had it on my shelf for some time and decided to read it now because I simply needed a small book so I can finish my goal of 40 for the year. Now I have just one more to go!

I liked this book because it was interesting. It moved very fast but I think I liked that with this book. Some books drag out and I tend to lose interest. Most certainly with many YA books but this one made me go out and buy the other 2 in the series!

The characters were believable and of course I loved Cable. I wish I would know more about him and I think I may just find out. I especially loved that everyone thought he was the "new guy" when he got himself all shiny and new. There may have been a few things that I wish were more elaborated on but I am hoping that these things come forth with the next 2! As son as I get them in the mail I will get to them since I know I can read them in less than a day. Maybe I can get through them both within the day!

Review: Bumped - Megan McCafferty

Genre: YA Fiction
ISBN: 9780061962745
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 323
Published: April 2011
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Why I read it: Recommended by a friend
Series: Bumped #1
Read: December 2011

Okay so I have no idea on how to rate this. I didn't really like it but I didn't want to smash it against the wall, well, at least not at the end. There was a lot of touch and go in the beginning. It wasn't until the, um, scandal (?) until I kinda started to get into it and to start to understand the jargon. Maybe it is the Mom in me but the language was murder! I know things like this will happen because it always does and I know I use new language everyday and make up my own at points but these things happen gradually and it was gruesome in the beginning but I guess I just answered my own question then huh?

Well, I like the futuristic feel even though it was not too much into the future but who is to say teenage pregnancy for profit can't happen? I'd rather that then trying to flush their pregnancies down the toilet. (That is a whole other blog). I liked the ending and I am sure I will read the next in the series just because I liked the ending....

Review: The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen

Genre: YA Fiction
ISBN: 9780553385595
Pages: 265
Published: February 2011
Format: Trade Paperback
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Read: December 2011

I loved this book. It was so quirky and young and fresh. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy. It has so much youthfulness involved between all the characters regardless of age. It was real (except for one minor thing). I believed everyone and wanted to be there with them all. I read it in one day and haven't been this excited about a book since The Hunger Games.

I can't really pick out which character I liked best because they all were so lovable. I admired Julia for her constant fight and gift and I love how she justified all of her actions. It was sweet. I loved Emily in all her confusion. I loved Vance for being him and keeping his routines and of his awkwardness. I truly can go on. I just felt that even know there was one oddity in the book everything seemed so real and so believable and this book is exactly what I needed to get back into my reading habits!

Review: Major Pettigrew's :ast Stand - Helen Simonson

Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 9780812981223
Pages: 358

Format: Trade Paperback

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Read: Nov./Dec. 2011

Published: November 2010

Work Book club read for November

I am kinda embarrassed to write a review since it took me more than a month to read it. Since my move my commute if 90% less and so my "time" is pretty much lost. I am a busy working Mom nut that should really be no real excuse (even though it is a pretty good one) I love my books and I have to make more time for them. Maybe that should be my New Year's resolution!!!

Anyway, back to the book. I truly loved it. I always like to think that I can always feel young no matter at what age. I love how chivalry still exist (in that world or at least England). I always love inter-racial and inter-faith interactions. It always seems odd to me how people still can't shake the idea of this world-wide melting pot. It is not just American and Great Britain anymore. Many countries are "mixing" and it should totally be embraced! My husband and I are inter-racial and we are just fine about it. We never even really thought about it. I see people and people only! That is how it should be so it was truly a joy to read this book and it is recommended by me to all people of all ages and what-not because it is simply a comfortable read that makes you feel good inside and still leaves a good taste in your mouth.

Review: A Mother's Story - Gloria Venderbilt

Genre: Memoir

Pages: 190

Read: October 2011

Rating 2/5 stars

Format: Hardcover Large Print

I watch the new Anderson show and I never knew much about him and when he had his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt on his show, i was very intriged. I learned that his brother committed sucicide right in front of his mother so when I found out that she wrote a book about it I just had to read it. I read it in one day! It was such a quick read but I felt that the book is more for her than for other's. It seemed like a way for her to clear the air, so to speak. It really wasn't about Carter it was more about her and basically justifying actions and so on. When she did go on about Carter and how he came to die it was truly painful to read. I mean like, being a mom and being helpless to your child is just unbearable. How he did is just crazy! He wasn't even planning on it it was just his meds that made him do it and that is even worse. I can understand that if your life was miserable and you had to go (figuratively speaking) but just to do something because your high or because of your head not being in the right place, just hurts more. I can only imagine how much that had to suck for her.

I rating he book with 2 stars because it was simply OK. I mean, I felt that the book was her way of explaining to the world of her life and really not so much about Carter. I think she really wrote it to help herself. Get the weight lifted. But I truly felt sorry and really wished she was right and someone was going to tell her that he will be right back.

Review: The Pirate's Daughter - Margaret Cezair-Thompson

Genre: Historical Fiction
ISBN: 9780812979428
Pages: 390
Published October 2007
Format: Trade Paperback
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Read: September 2011
Book Club Read

This book was up and down to me. It was a nice read but sometimes I was missing something. It needed more and less. Does that make sense? There were times when I wanted more information and then there were things that could have been left out and served no purpose. I loved the whole entwining Errol Flynn and Jamaica. How many stories are set in Jamaica? AND the best part was the Bob Marley was not mentioned until page 300. It was a shock! I thought for sure it would have been mentioned in the title.

This was an interesting read and I am glad I read it. I had to google more about Errol Flynn though (In like Flynn). I knew about him and his playboy life but I had to get a better image of him and I think that the author did a great job with weaving fact and fiction. It was what made the book so interesting. Everything else was mere "meh" but because she wove in Flynn it just gave it more magic. It is definitely a good book club book. It makes for great conversation and it is truly a comfort read.

Review: I am Number Four (#1) - Pittacus Lore

Genre: YA SiFy Fantasy

ISBN: 9780061969553

Published: August 2010

Format: Hardcover

Series: Lorien Legacies #1

Pages: 440

Rating: 2/5stars

Read: September 2011

Did I miss something? I feel that everyone loved this book and even a movie was made from it! I must admit that I read the book and as soon as I closed it I put the movie on. They seemed similar but not like. So many things were turned around and cut out and blah blah. OK this is a book review not a film review nor a comparison but I don't know which one was better. Maybe the movie since I got a visual because I adore Jake Abel!

OK back to the book. I just felt that the characters were so one dimensional. I couldn't really see them and didn't quite understand them. They didn't have much feeling. I really enjoyed the plot and found it very interesting but it didn't make the grade in it's entirety. I am sure I will still read The Power of Six (#2) but this time I won't buy it. I wanted so much more from the book. I loved the whole training scene and really wish they would have put that into the film and I also loved the ending when...well, you know! I really enjoyed the whole idea of the aliens. Who you could only kill them in sequence and of how they knew who would be next due to the markings that they would get and I also love how they can only get stronger when they are all together. Well, we have yet to really see that but I can get the idea.

I can't leave this blog until I mention Pittacus Lore. First I hate how he used that name in the book as well. It is like "liking" your own status on Facebook. It is just something you don't do and I know that Lore is Jame Frey(author of A Million Little Pieces and is infamous for saying -to Oprah no less- that is was a true story but was later found that it was mostly BS). I don't blame him for making pseudonyms for his writings (there are more names) but just don't put your name on the cover and in the book -it's just weird.

Review: the Dolphin People - Torsten Krol

Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN: 9780061672965

Pages: 384

Published: December 2009

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Read: September 2011

I am still not too sure how I feel about this book. Maybe I can figure it out buy the time I finish this post. It is about a German family with 2 boys and whose Dad died during WWII so Mom had to marry his brother. They were going to Venezuela to live when the plane crashed and they had to swim to land where the ran into the Yayomi Indians and convinced them that they were the dolphin people so that they could stay with the tribe until they could find a way to escape. When the arrived there they met another German who was an anthropologist who was living amongst them for eleven years. He became the translator and help them create "lie" to explain their behaviors and such.

The story goes on just on how they tried to be one of the Indians and it was a very interesting story and very convincing. I love Anthropology so much so that I got my BA in it! I really do enjoy reading about Indians (more of the Maya but I can settle for others too). I also love to read about WWII so this had the best of my faves so maybe that is why I liked it as much as I didn't know I did! See, I know that I could pin point how I felt about this book after I finished the post! I just had to get it all down so I can sort through it. Just like the Archivist in me!

Review: City of Ashes (Book #2) - Cassandra Clare

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 454

ISBN: 9781416972242

Series: The Mortal Instruments #2

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Read: August 2011

Well, this is the second installment of The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare and it has been so long since I have read the first one, City of Bones so it was kinda hard for me to retrace and remember what had happened. I remembered a few key points like who's who but I got tied at certain pages and just was hoping that it would all come together in the end, in which it did. I am going to have to read the next few 2 books more closely together so I don't lose track of the stories.

I liked the book because it kinda had this adulty-youthful innocence to it. Does that make sense? I mean, I know that these are teenagers who think they know the world (what teen doesn't think that?) but having to grow up quickly under the crazy circumstances. Even know these are teenagers they talk with such authority and reassurance. Whatever I mean it makes sense to me.

Of course I love Jace too and I am glad he is not my brother! He is still up for grabs huh? I mean, I am almost positive that they are going to find out that they are not really related. I mean, come on, what are the building up for? I can read between the lines. It is a destined love! I am just going to have to put the next 2 books up a little on my list to prove my sanity!

Review: Half a Life: A Memoir - Darin Strauss

Genre: Non Fiction
ISBN: 9780812982534 - ARC
Pages: 191
Format: Trade Paperback
Rating: 2/5 Stars
Read: August 2011

To start, I got bored. I feel that this book was probably more for him then for the audience. I liked it and then...like I said I got bored and I do feel kinda bad about it because if it were the other way around I would hates for someone to rate my real life with such a low rating, but I didn't really hate the book. I found it quite interesting...

I should tell you that this book is about a guy who had killed a girl with his car, by accident, when he was in high school. This is 20 years later and he talks about how he lived with the guilt and how it was a process, a long one I might add, of how he came to terms with it. It was crazy of what he had to deal with and of all the ups and downs and the B.S. he had to endure but I still felt that it would have been a great article or essay. I don't really know why I am giving it 2 stars maybe its because I thought it as simply just "Okay".

Review: In Serena's Web - Kay Hooper

Genre: Fiction
Format: Mass Market Paperback

ISBN: 9780553590555

Rating: 1/5 Stars

Read: August 2011

I only picked up this book because I was nervous about the minor earthquake here in NYC that I left my book at work. So when I got home and wanted to read I wanted to read something small and quick. I saw this book that someone had given me and I decided it looked small and easy and it was but it just wasn't a good story. It could have been if there were more details and excitement. It moved to quickly and I feel that there was a lot of parts left out. Serious parts. I just felt like I walked into a major story and was left confused and wanted more. I just don't think it really wasn't much of a read and I felt cheated.

Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

Genre: Non-Fiction

Pages: 345

ISBN: 9781400052189

Format: Trade Paperback

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Read: August 2011 - Work Book Club

I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would. This is about a black woman who had cervical cancer in the 1950's and the doctors took a sample of her tumor and watched as her cells miraculously grew (and continue to to this day). There are a lot of scientific terminology in here but it is not too hard to follow. I loved how Skloot really dug into the family and revealed a real person behind the HeLa cells. The best parts of the book of our when Skloot goes into the past and see the family and of how they felt about what was happening to the cells of their mother/friend/wife/cousin/Aunt etc.

We have all heard about HeLa cells but no one really ever thought behind it and really, who would have if it is not truly linked to us? I mean, now, reading the book, it seems like it is linked to everyone as a whole because of the things that come from it. All that research being conducted on so many different things gave cures and better insights to diseases and so on. HeLa cells have a enormous impact on our lives as a whole without us even knowing and Skloot's book finally gives life to what is such a great scientific history,present and future to us all!

Review: After the Moment - Garret Freymann-Weyr

Genre: YA Fiction

Format: Small Hardcover

ISBN: 9780618605729

Pages: 328

Published: May 2009

Rating: 2/5 Stars

It seems like very few people are giving this book a 2 star rating but I just couldn't get through it. I was bored and felt somewhat disconnected. I just felt like it was too drawn out in the beginning and just took forever to get to the point of it all. The very beginning (titled: A Few Pages) was so inviting that that is what kept me motivating to finish and yet I still couldn't. Maybe it is just my adult mind wanting and expecting more but I just thought that it fell flat and took me a long and hard time to finish something that seemed so simple.

I was bored.

Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan

Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307477477
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 340
Published: June 2010
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Okay, there are so many mixed reviews regarding this book and I can totally see why. First it won a Pulitzer Prize and is a National bestseller so many people had high hopes. Second it was simply just a good read, not amazing just good. People I have talked to about this book said they didn't like it and that they didn't like the mixed stories but I liked that about it. All the characters were woven together and time was going back and forth and where many said they couldn't follow it, I sure had no trouble at all.

I can see why it got so much praise and awards because of her style and intelligence but I still feel that there was something missing. I loved how some of the lives were intense and glorious but there were other stories that I just wanted to pass by but I guess that's what makes a good story. I mean, we are reading about peoples lives and how they all come together in one way or another (especially in NY) so to say that some lives are more interesting than others, in an understatement!

I loved the whole rock star, punk age thing and I loved how everything turned out. These were rebel teens who are now parents and have settled into a more suitable life. I don't know how to put it into words but it totally makes sense in my head!

Review: Mockingjay (Book #3) - Suzanne Collins

Genre: SyFy/Young Adult/Fiction

Pages: 390

ISBN: 9780439023511

Published: August 2010

Series: The Hunger Games #3 - Final

Rating: 4/5 Stars

First, it is a sad day that my beloved series has come to the end. The only thing that hold me together is knowing the movies will be out beginning in March 2012. Of course I am not alone in saying that this was not the best in the series. I thought it would turn out the same but differently. The ending was just boring and did nothing for me. (I love you Gale!) There were parts where I was just so excited and then I thought I knew what was going to happen and then....nothing. I predicted a lot of moves and saw what was going to come but there was just some parts that I was just left feeling empty and kinda sad that it happened the way it did for those of you who read it, I am sure you felt the same on some pages).

The very worst part of the book was the children at the end. I felt disgusted and wrong but I guess that is what had to be done, but still I felt horrible reading it and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

But my favorite characters are of course Gale and Haymitch and where I am supposed to love Peeta I just couldn't believe he was so true and genuine. I guess that's just my personality. I had my ins and outs with Katniss and just figured I better just leave it be because you can either love her or hate and I just can't figure out which side on I am on. I also couldn't understand Annie but I don't blame her for anything and of course who couldn't fall in love with Finnick??!!

It was a great series and I haven't felt this much love for a series in...well, never! SO thank you Ms. Collins for a fantastic journey and I will see you at the movies!!!

Review: Catching Fire #2 - Suzanne Collins

Genre: Young Adult SiFi fantasy

ISBN: 9780439023498

Pages: 391

Series: The Hunger Games #2

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Published: September 2009

Talk about a cliffhanger! Jeez!! It is going to be a sad day when I finish out this series. This was by far my fave thus far. I hear reviews about Mockingjay stating that it is really good but not as good as the first 2. I left it home so it is going to be a horrible commute home. But I will be happy when I crack open that spine to the final book in the series.

There are many reasons why I liked this one a tad better than the first: I love how the really bring in more people and give more personalities to the one we already have grown to love. There is a better understanding of the Capitol. The most important, is the rise of the people.

I hear people saying the are "Team Peeta" and "Team Gale" but I am like Katniss, and I just can't choose. I love Peeta for his poise and vulnerability and I love Gale for being strong and forgiving. In a perfect world, can't she have both???

I will start Mockingjay tonight in hopes that I can deal with the devastation of an ending the my most beloved series!

Review:The Hunger Games #1 - Suzanne Collins

Genre: Young Adult SiFi Fantasy

Pages: 374

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 9780439023483

Series: The Hunger Games #1

Rating: 5/5

What was I thinking?? I brought the first 2 books because I trusted my fellow readers and when Mockingjay (the third in the series) came out, I went ahead and pre-ordered it. I kept putting it off and promising myself I will get to it but never really doing it. Then, I moved and I let someone borrow my next read and I read it so quickly that I needed something to read and this series was just sitting there begging to be read. I figured it was a YA so I should fly through it but that is an understatement. I truly love it and I am about 39% (according to GR) through the second installment, Catching Fire. I just can't believe I waited this long. I truly and absolutely loved the first and I can feel I will love the rest of the series.

This was and is such a crazy read. It's a little harsh because of all the killing and deaths for a YA but I guess it is simply age appropriate. This is a sick sad society where they put 24 people who are between 12 and 18 years old, into an extreme environment where they are to fight to the death and the last one standing is the victor. there are 12 districts and 2 are chosen at random to take part in this madness, one male and one female, for each district. So the only one who would really kinda know each other personally are the two from each district. Well, once the games begin, boy do they begin!

This is such an intense quick read that I highly recommend to all ages about 15 years-old.

Review: Chef: A Novel - Jaspreet Sungh

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 256

ISBN: 9781608190850

Published: April 2010

Rating: 2.5/stars

I really do love book on India and surrounding countries. There is so much history and culture there and I have tackled many books on them but if I didn't I would never be able to really follow this book. Jaspreet Singh writes as if everyone who reads the book knows the things he speaks of like certain foods, and phrases, and clothing. Anything really.

It was a nice story with it's many twists and turns but nothing that really stood out. I think that if the writing was more written in a little more precise understanding then I would have loved it more but I really do appreciate that it was not written like that because then it takes away from it's culture and it's uniqueness. Do I make any sense? I read the book. I liked the book. I just didn't love the book. I did enjoy some talk about the wars and the cooking but I didn't really need to read the recipes.

My biggest complaint may seem like it is the writing but it's really not, it is more about how I just didn't fall in love with it. That may be one of the reasons but it truly is just how I wasn't entirely drawn in by it. There is a lot more to this book but I don't have really uch to say about it.

Review: Where She Went (#2) - Gayle Forman

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Pages: 264

ISBN: 9780525422945

Series: If I Stay #2

Rating: 4/5 Stars

It took me some time to read this but for personal reasons only. I think I would have read this is a day if I had the opportunity. It was a very good read. It was interesting to really understand the minds of the young couple, Adam & Mia. There were time when I just couldn't believe the decisions that they made being as young as they are but I guess it can happen. I really liked the book just the way it was. In the beginning I was a little angry because I thought it was going to end entirely different but it ended perfect and I couldn't ask for anything more.

The first book in the series, If I Stay was more about Mia and her thoughts and this book, being the second in the series, was more about Adam. It was nice to think that in such height and weight of the story it still turned out to be very touching.

Review: 1916 - Morgan Llywelyn

It was a good read but I don't have much to say about it. I found it was very intriguing and it was interesting of how this one guy went through so much like surviving the Titanic, Bloody Sunday, and the Irish Rebellion but it was also very coincidental. I mean, maybe that did happen to one person but it was hard to believe but it is a book right? Maybe I should have read this book after I finished school because it took me so long to read it and I was just not as focused as I should have been. I still think I would have gave it the same amount of stars but I think I would have more to report.