Kari

Is it weird that I laugh so much reading Sandford's books. Especially now that Virgil and Lucas are working together. Their insults to each other are top notch. A great read as usual. I am sad that it doesn't look like there will be anymore standalone Virgil books, but at least he didn't disappear completely. And at least Lucas didn't get shot this time.

I think James Patterson is losing the Alex Cross vibe. The story felt rushed and anticlimactic. To read my full review go here: http://tinyurl.com/4gyjs7t

I know that these books are much beloved and considered at this point children's classics, but I just couldn't love them. And it's not that they're written for younger kids. I have no problem with Harry Potter & I love Gregor the Overlander, but maybe I'm just too much in need of happy endings in kids books. And Mr. Snicket constantly reminds us that these books are not happy ending books. At least he's honest about that. I both love & hate the way so many words are defined in the book. Hate because it gets tiresome when I already know the definitions. It breaks up the pace of the book for me. I love them because thinking as a parent this is a great way to introduce words that kids might not know and define words in a fun and easy to incorporate way.

I do also love the ‘back story' of Lemony Snicket. I love how Daniel Handler created this character and made this entire story to explain why Lemony Snicket is writing about the Baudelaire children.

I'm not saying these are bad books, I just could love them and don't have much desire to finish out the series. Maybe Emma will love them!

I know that these books are much beloved and considered at this point children's classics, but I just couldn't love them. And it's not that they're written for younger kids. I have no problem with Harry Potter & I love Gregor the Overlander, but maybe I'm just too much in need of happy endings in kids books. And Mr. Snicket constantly reminds us that these books are not happy ending books. At least he's honest about that. I both love & hate the way so many words are defined in the book. Hate because it gets tiresome when I already know the definitions. It breaks up the pace of the book for me. I love them because thinking as a parent this is a great way to introduce words that kids might not know and define words in a fun and easy to incorporate way.

I do also love the ‘back story' of Lemony Snicket. I love how Daniel Handler created this character and made this entire story to explain why Lemony Snicket is writing about the Baudelaire children.

I'm not saying these are bad books, I just could love them and don't have much desire to finish out the series. Maybe Emma will love them!

A bit better than the book, but still pretty bad. Of course, Patterson has to make the most money so instead of this being a graphic version of the first book it takes off after the first one so you have to have some knowledge of the story before you read this one.

Eh. It was okay. The one thing that I don't like about these types of books is the way that the girls with short hair look like boys and sometimes it's just hard to keep them straight. The story was a bit different, but that's okay.

This is another foray into same-ness.

There is a husband who has witnessed the death of his entire family. The children who are children, but think and speak like adults. One is intuitive beyond belief. There is just the same-ness.

I found myself skimming over much of this book. It was just kind of boring. That is literally the first time I've ever said that about a Dean Koontz novel. But it's the truth. It was good creepy at first, but then it just started to drag. So sad.

I really didn't like this book nearly as much as I did the first in the Bone Island Trilogy, Ghost Shadow. I think it's because I didn't like the characters. Sean was annoying and I didn't care for anyone in Vanessa's crew. It was bizarre to me how excited they were to be going back to the island where their friends were killed on minute and then sad and scared the next. This one was also a little too supernatural for me. The writing seemed off compared to the last one. I guess I just didn't really care for it at all!

This was my first Heather Graham book and I really enjoyed it. It was full of the rich history of Key West and the story was fun and wicked.

My gripes? The ghost stories she tells in the book, particularly the one about Robert the Doll were quite inaccurate. Not sure why she felt she had to change them, they're quite spooky enough.

My other one was simply at the end you know you who the killer is simply be process of elimination yet she continues to write as if you haven't got a clue and then reveals the killer quite some time later. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who figured that out.

But it was entertaining, quick and just a little spooky!

I liked the haunted house aspect of this last book in the Bone Island Trilogy. It was quite a quick read and much better than the second book. I liked Liam and Kelsey and I loved that Bartholomew got his ending too.

The mystery of this book was trying to figure out what the mystery was. I was not entertained. sigh

Though the characters are all teens, save for Dr. Karsten the book doesn't necessarily read like your average YA book. Kathy Reichs does not believe that teens are dummies and holds nothing back. Technical and scientifically accurate it is simply a teenage version of Tempe's exploits. And I loved it!

This is going to be a really short review because all I have to say is this: I kept thinking ‘she can't be this stupid,' over and over again, but in the end she was that stupid.

It's ridiculous that she's this intuitive, powerful witch who can't see that the people around her are lying to her. It's insane that these thing happen and she knows that they're probably not good and she tells no one until it's too late.

She's just stupid.

This review is for books 1-5.

This is what one might call the graphic novel for book lovers. The whole idea is that books fuel the world. That people can come together to all love a book, think about a book and that will fuel the magic that the world is lacking yet needs. But there's this group of people who age incredibly slowly and they control the world by controlling the literature that the world is exposed to and they'll do whatever it takes to get that control.

I think.

These books have a lot going on and mostly at times I feel slightly confused. Still, they are exciting and, well, graphic. The only one I had a hard time with was Leviathan. All that Moby Dick talk bored the heck out of me. Not a fan.

But if you love books this could possibly be the best series of graphic novels you've ever read.

This girl's idiocy knows no bounds it seems.

When she goes to Practical Magick and David asks her who she can trust and she replies that she can trust herself. Her own instincts told her to run when Cal mentioned people who wanted to meet her. Her own instincts told her to get out of his secret room because the vibrations were bad, yet she thinks Hunter is ‘misguided'. Any information anyone gives her she takes as they just don't know even though they've been witches their whole lives and she's been one for a couple of months. She's an idiot. During the chapter where she meets with David and Hunter I thought, finally, she's going to get her shit together....but no.

But truly, the line that made me laugh out loud was when she said, ‘I'd always thought of Jenna as being kind of needy and dependent on Matt.' That is a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black.

Awful things happen and the entire time I couldn't help but think that if she'd just listened to her instincts she would have avoided this whole mess and still have found out all about her birth mother & father. I just can't feel sorry for her, or think she's brave or smart because she's none of those things.

But now, because of all of this revelation business I'll have to keep reading so I know what happens.....sigh

So here's the thing. For the first third, maybe half, of the book I wanted to punch Meghan in the face. On the way to Tir Na Nog Ash kept telling Meghan that they could not be together. That Mab could possibly kill him if he were to declare his love for the half-Summer faery/human. At this point, she has spent some time with the fae and she knows how things work. So when they arrive at Mab's castle Meghan just doesn't seem to get it. She spends nearly the entire time there whining about why Ash isn't talking to her. And when she finally does get to hear from the prince he's cold and uncaring (BECAUSE HE HAS TO BE TO PROTECT BOTH OF THEM) she goes into some horrible despairing coma and doesn't want to live anymore.

I get it. She loves him SO MUCH that she just can't function. She's a teenager and that's the way things are at that age. Everything is the end of the world. But for god's sake please stop whining!

The other thing I'm over is the whole love triangle thing. Every YA book has got to have some love triangle nonsense in it. And it's not even just that there are two guys who are crushing on the same girl. She loves them both. Every time.

No me gusta.

But I'm torn because despite her whining the story is interesting. I don't understand why no one in the story (except, I suspect, Ironhorse knew) knows what Meghan is. I'm not sure if I'll finish the series. There are some good points, but there's irritating things too. Maybe those things will be resolved earlier on in the next book so that I don't have to spend half the book hating Meghan.

Ugh. I just want it to end already. By the time the next book comes out I will have forgotten everything from this one! I love the mythology, but Luce is definitely not one of my favorite fictional people.

Ever is still the most annoying character in YAF, but I tell you what, I've hated Haven since the first book so this book....better than the last ones.

Whenever Ever says she knows she's doing the right thing you know she has made the wrong decision and unfortunately, she says this a lot. What bugs me most is that she always thinks that she knows better than the guy who has had 600 years of life experience. She's so self-righteous it drives me insane.

Although, I will give her this...she has changed a bit for the better in this book. But really, I think it is Alyson Noel's writing that voices Ever so annoyingly. Since the book is in the first person there are too many conversations she has with herself that just grate on my nerves. That and the usage of the word ‘gawd'. Gawd awful or gawd, shut up.

And Haven, oh Haven how I hate you so. And not the she's so bad she's good kind of hate, the villain you love to hate, but just a character I flat out hate. She was idiotic and snooty in the first book and now she's just flat out crazy and ridiculous. The clothing and makeup descriptions are just waaaaay over the top. Are you kidding me?

I honestly don't know why I read these books! But now, there's only one left so I have to finish. ;)

This is one of those books that I generally steer away from. Books I label ‘socially conscious' books. I don't even think that's a real term, but it's always what I think of when books like this. To me it means that this book is about something we should know about. Like reading about current events. Or, books Oprah raves about. If Oprah is raving about a book I know I probably don't want to read that book. Oprah and I do not have the same taste in books.

But at a book club meeting with women I love and respect they all unanimously voiced their love of The Kite Runner and one mentioned it was a great audiobook listen because then you weren't stumbling on the unfamiliar words and names. I like to listen to books when read by the authors also, and this one was. I was also made more curious after I discovered that Khaled Hosseini grew up in my hometown after moving to the States and even graduated from the other high school in our district. So I set aside my prejudices about socially conscious books and checked out the audiobook from the library to listen to while I crocheted.

I did not love it.

I don't even understand why people like this book. The main character, Amir is one of the most irredeemable, disgusting protagonists I've ever had the displeasure of reading about. I was literally disgusted with him. It made my stomach roll and at times I would exclaim in frustration because I just wanted him to shut up. Are we supposed to learn to like him? Have sympathy for him? What is the point of creating a character so far removed from human decency? I kept waiting for the moment when he would step up and atone for his past behaviors, but that didn't happen! AND EVERYONE KEPT FORGIVING HIM! He was treated as ‘poor Amir' as if these things had happened TO him, when in fact he was the catalyst for ruining the lives of so many people who loved him. And even in what should have been his great moment of redemption he once again proves to be a coward and useless. When he should be a protector, he instead terrifies and then kneels idly while screaming instead of attempting to get help. Waste.

The book dragged on for me with repetitive moments like when Assef is telling Sohrab to put down the slingshot. It went like this:

“Put it down.” “No.” “Put it down.” “No.” “Put it down!” “No.” “Put it down!” “No!” “Put it down!” “No!” “Put it down!” “No!”

I almost went crazy in that moment.

Then there were the times when he would say something like:

“I have something important to tell you. It will change your life. It may be too late.” “What is it?!” “Well, it may be too late.” “What do you mean?” “I will tell you, but it may be too late. Would you like a cigarette?” “No, thank you.” “Let me ask you first, why do you want to know?” “It's personal.” “But why do you want to know?” “I have my reasons.” “But why?” “It's personal.”

Wasn't it painful reading that right now? That's how I felt. You may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm really not.

But all was not terrible. I loved reading about the Kabul in the 70's. I loved getting that glimpse of Afghan culture and traditions. I enjoyed when Amir and Baba moved to the States and settled in the Bay Area reading about places I had been, like Lake Elizabeth and the Berryessa Flea Market, staples of my childhood. I could clearly picture the stalls at the flea market and imagined Amir and his father maybe passing by my childhood home on their way back to Fremont. I did love some of the characters, Hassan and Ali, of course, Baba, Soraya and her mother....but in the end it wasn't enough.

Tori is starting to get on my nerves. Mostly because of her inability to respect the boundaries of her friends. The interjection of “teen-ness” in this book is more noticeable than it was in the other books, but I suppose I'll still continue to read the series just to know if they ever find out what made them Virals!

I found myself kind of bored reading this one. I was surprised by Meg's predicament and maybe it's because she was only slightly involved in the story that I didn't find myself as engaged as the other two books.

omg I loved this book. Very similar to Delirium, but so much better. Delirium reminded me too much of the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, which I loved. Matched was so much more organic, natural. You could see the world moving in this direction, this world becoming reality. It was science fiction minus the science. There were still emotions, sacrifice and deceit. I loved it!

Really, really similar to Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. Everyone in Delirium who has been cured is basically ‘bubbly' just less fun. Creepy and sad and slightly predictable. Not as good as her other book Before I Fall, but still a good, good read.

Another Eve and Roarke book. Different methods of murder, but the same formula as usual. There was the beginning part of the story that took place in Ireland and I was excited for something different, but that only lasted a chapter or two. Oh well. Still a good read though.

I'm just going to say it. I don't like Dick Grayson as Batman. I want him to be Nightwing and I want Bruce Wayne to be Batman! end whiny kid rant

I'm not entirely sure then if I didn't care for Life After Death because Grayson was Batman or because I just didn't like it. Thinking about it now I realize how this volume is basically other people playing parts they never should have played. Batman & Black Mask, both impostors!

There was a bunch of stuff going on and things were confusing at points and then it would drag for a bit to the point where I was almost bored. Too bad.