Giveaway!

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Silly Hagrid...

I came across this gif from Failbook and had to repost. Too funny!

Review: Chosen (House of Night, Book 3) by P.C. & Kristin Cast

Author: P.C. & Kristin Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Why I read it: Bought it

Summary:

Dark forces are at work at the House of Night and fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird’s adventures at the school take a mysterious turn.  Those who appear to be friends are turning out to be enemies.  And oddly enough, sworn enemies are also turning into friends.  So begins the gripping third installment of this “highly addictive series” (Romantic Times), in which Zoey’s mettle will be tested like never before.  Her best friend, Stevie Rae, is undead and struggling to maintain a grip on her humanity. Zoey doesn’t have a clue how to help her, but she does know that anything she and Stevie Rae discover must be kept secret from everyone else at the House of Night, where trust has become a rare commodity.  Speaking of rare: Zoey finds herself in the very unexpected and rare position of having threeboyfriends. Mix a little bloodlust into the equation and the situation has the potential to spell social disaster.  Just when it seems things couldn’t get any tougher, vampyres start turning up dead. Really dead. It looks like the People of Faith, and Zoey’s horrid step-father in particular, are tired of living side-by-side with vampyres.  But, as Zoey and her friends so often find out, how things appear rarely reflects the truth…

Thoughts:

From the first book I read in the House of Night series, Marked, I was hooked. The language is not hard to follow or understand, and I zoomed through the book in about two days. I do have one major problem though: P.C. & Kristin are extremely repetitive. Things are drawn out and sentences (such as Zoey saying she's "such a ho") are all over the book. The dialogue may be easy to follow, but it's so repetitive that you almost feel like it's a chore to read. 

The characters failed to develop much from the first book to the third. The characters seem a bit stereotypical to me, also. You have Zoey (the leader of the pack), The twins (the shopping-obsessed drama queens who always agree with each other), Damien (the level-headed gay friend), Stevie Ray (the "odd-ball" mediator), and Aphrodite (the spoiled brat). As they get older their attitudes and personalities don't seem to be changing much, and they should be. They aren't maturing like actual human beings. To be honest the only characters I see developing are Aphrodite and Neferet.

Other than these obvious issues, I did enjoy the book, and will read the rest of the books in the series. I enjoy books about vampires and alternate worlds if you will, and Chosen did live up to those expectations. The whole concept of the book is great and the action keeps you interested, so it truly is a hard one to put down. I'm excited to read the next novel in the series, Untamed, because it is one of those series that has lots of twists and turns; you never know what to expect.

Where to buy it:

You can buy this book from Amazon here

*Any purchase made through this link will result in a small commission for me. :)

Why I love YA books

I never realized that I had an interest in the YA genre until I took a look at all the books I have. Usually if it sounds like it will be a good read, I don't really worry about what genre it's in or what it's categorized as. I enjoy many different genres including sic-fi/fantasy, paranormal romance (sometimes), urban fantasy, mythology, high fantasy, and generally fiction.

One of the main reasons why I love YA books is that they are always so engaging. The characters are great and you can actually relate to them. I'm only 22, so usually the characters are within my age range and I can really feel for them and put myself in their shoes. When I read a book, I want to be able to put myself in the story and with most YA stories, I can do that. They focus on real-life issues and struggles and things that REAL people are actually going through.

I love the fact that YA books are easy to read. They don't beat around the bush and, although I've mastered the English language, I'd prefer to not read a bunch of big words and gibberish when you could just simply explain it in a few words. They're straight to the point, which is great. They "speak" to you like a normal human being!



I'm not a big fan of "adult" books because, well, reality sucks! I sure don't want to read about it! :)



...And check out this great giveaway!

Book Review: Happiness...Almost by Buddy Moore

Title & Author: Happiness...Almost by Buddy Moore
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
Pages: 125
Why I read it: Received in print to review

You know, I'd really prefer not to start off my book blog with a crappy review, but here goes nothin'. I received this book from Dorrance Publishing Co. for free, in exchange for a review on it. Let me just say: this book sucked so much that after about 20 pages, I really didn't want to read anymore. Sadly, I'm not one to just not finish a book, so I had to read it all.

The book seemed so promising. The title sounded decent, the synopsis seemed like it would make for a great story. It was not anything I had expected.

[SPOILER ALERT] (As if you were even considering reading it...)

The story begins with an 18-year-old boy named David who is anti-social and doesn't really fit in. He is convinced that in order to find true happiness, he must have a girlfriend. He goes to a church outing (after his mother suggests he go and he "doesn't want to put up her shit") and meets this girl named Brittany on the bus ride. Turns out David's mom asked the pastor to have this chick pay him some "special attention". Who does that?

I mean really, David's dad was practically the only character who remotely had any sense. He thinks it's a bad idea and says it will only hurt David more in the long run if Brittany turns him down or if she just wants to be friends. Well, guess what? She doesn't want to have anything to do with him; frankly he freaks her out a bit because he starts to get super obsessive. He goes on a killing spree and is determined to murder anyone who gets in the way of their "relationship" or who makes her unhappy. And I mean anyone---the mailman, the janitor, even her own father.

And it's not even that these people are making Brittany unhappy, or really interfering with their relationship (or non-relationship in this case). They're just people that she happens to talk to and express her concern for David's behavior. Because he is so obsessed and convinced that him and Brittany are supposed to be together, he doesn't see that she is even freaked out by the situation, and doesn't understand that you probably shouldn't call someone 20x a day if you want them to give you any time of day. He just doesn't get it, which is really the saddest part of the story.

The entire time I'm reading this book, I'm thinking "Seriously? Can it just end now?" We already know what is going to happen in the end, we really don't need it played out for us any further.

This book was just plain difficult to read, and I don't mean in a challenging, intellectual way. I mean it was awful. There was absolutely no character development, and I couldn't really relate to any of the characters throughout the entire book. Even the main character, David---I couldn't relate to and feel bad for him until the last two pages of the book. I know that sounds horrible because he was clearly mentally-ill, but he was flat to me, and didn't have much personality to go along with it. 

Another one of my main issues is that throughout the book, there were entire paragraphs with each sentence start with "He". "He did this," "He did that," for like six sentences long. Seriously? There were no other words that could have started the sentence? There were a ton of over-explanations, with things that I knew were going to happen and it had to be spelled out for me.

I like books that I can get lost in. Books that have a plot. And characters that are actually developed and make a place in my heart. Characters that I can put myself in their shoes. I was definitely disappointed with this story to say the least, and I really hope that the next book from this Publisher will not be so amateur.