I hate spending time reading about the plot of a book on review sites - just tell me, Did you like it or not?

Monday, May 26, 2014

The Dark Planet

The Dark Planet (Atherton #3)

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This trilogy finished with a happy ending ... yay! A little bit unbelievably, yes, but I was willing to ignore the craziness of the denouement because most, if not all loose ends were tied up. Although, it doesn't come outright and say what happened to Cmdr. Judix. I love tied up loose ends. They make me happy and feel complete.

For a kids' book, this is nicely done. Simple plot, lots of adventure and excitement. And there are dragons AND spaceships involved! What could be better?

I will probably recommend this trilogy to my 11-year-old. I think she'd like it.

Kudos to Carman for not swearing in the book. Kids don't need to read - or hear- that stuff.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Serendipity

Serendipity (Only in Gooding #5)

336 pages 
Published Nov. 1, 2010 by Baker Publishing Group

Monday, May 12, 2014

Time to downsize

As I am coming up on my 1-year anniversary of this blog, I have realized a few things.

First, there's a lot of spam that comes with creating and writing a blog. It sucks. I try and ignore it.

Second, not many people read my blog. And that's OK. I do it not for the fame (obviously), but for an outlet for my semi-creative side. I'm not a good writer - I like things short and sweet. But I do love to read and recommend/condemn books. And this is a great forum to do that.

Third, because of the above two things, and because I am going to be VERY busy the next 7-8 months with a move and a new baby, I am going to be downsizing the number of posts I publish. I am thinking one per week will be sufficient to balance my desire to write and my need to take care of family.

I will keep publishing. My blog will stay active and simple. It will still provide my opinions on books. It just won't be as often.

Just think - now you'll have more time to read books!

And after you've read all those extra books, if you would like to submit a review for me to publish on this blog, I'd be happy to oblige. Just send me the text and title and I'll do the rest.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Forbidden

Forbidden

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3 stars


410 pages
Published Jan. 24, 2012 by HarperTeen 
 
 
What irked me about this book was that it was a total knock-off of Twilight, complete with the truck that almost squishes the main character, and the forbidden love, and end scene where the girl is saved at the last minute by the hero.

That being said, the book didn't suck. Maybe because I'm one of those people who liked Twilight. I'll probably read the next in the series, just to make more Twilight comparisons and to indulge my closet romantic side.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Kissing Shakespeare

Kissing Shakespeare

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352 pages
Published Aug. 14, 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers 
 
Not a fantastic book by any stretch of the imagination - just because you are writing about Shakespeare does not make your writing automatically great.

I was bugged, like others, that the vast majority of the book was focused on how the main character - Olivia/Miranda - needed to "bed" Shakespeare as the only possible way for him to avoid joining the Jesuit brotherhood and thus never writing his plays.


The book reads like there was no way Shakespeare could make up his own mind without the sex. All that work-up and stress was allayed with one sentence towards the end of the book. Nothing had needed to be done by the main character. This really negated the whole purpose of the book - changing Shakespeare's mind, when in one sentence, he did it himself with no help from Olivia.
Lame.

The only reason I give this two stars is because of Olivia's decision regarding whether or not to jump in the sack with Shakespeare.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Independent Study

Independent Study (The Testing #2)

Published Jan. 7, 2014 by HMH Books for Young Readers
I finished reading this book weeks ago, but couldn't convince myself that it needed a review immediately - there were other books that were more worthy of my words and attention. Not to say this book was BAD, it was just kinda meh. But I liked it mostly.

Confused, yet?

Yeah. I am, too.

This novel built a bit on the first book, but not too much. There were some well-written suspenseful parts - being trapped in an airtight container comes to mind - and some not so well-written parts.
There was no sex and mild-to-no swearing, which bumped it up to a 3 star rating from my original 2.5.

I haven't decided if I'm a-gonna read the last book in the series. I am not super invested in the characters - so if the author wants to "kill off Tris," it wouldn't break my heart.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Rivers of Fire

Rivers of Fire (Atherton #2)

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I picked this up immediately after finishing the first book in this trilogy, The House of Power, because I liked that one so much.
This one didn't disappoint. It was nice and short, too, which was perfect. I don't know if I could take anymore Cleaners mayhem.
It was a great adventure book, with flavors of Jules Verne rippled generously throughout.

There are some gruesome deaths and some themes that might disturb little ones, but I can recommend this book to kids older than 8.

I will likely pick up the third book to complete this trilogy, but honestly this book wraps up the story of Atherton pretty well.