The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I thought this was a great book.  It's kind of a "Most Dangerous Game" meets "Lord of the Flies" meets "Running Man".  Can't believe I found the concept so enjoyable.  I'm interested to see how they can make it into a PG-13 movie.  The brutality of teenager running around killing each other is bad enough, but in the violent ways most of them die is not going to be pretty.



Looking forward to the second book, but I must pace myself.  I think if I try to read the three books back to back to back I'll have a bit of an overload and I may not be as happy with the outcome.



I stayed up till the wee hours three nights in a row to finish this.  Good strong heroine surviving through continuously difficult circumstances.  You go girl!



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City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I liked this book the least of the series.  Granted it's been a while since I read City of Glass, and I remember being completely gung ho on the series itself, but I apparently forgot a lot of what happened.  Oh well.  What I liked the least about this book was the undying, world altering, will conquer all love between Jace & Clary.  Alright now, I get it, please stop teasing my gag reflex.



And seriously, the book was over 400 pgs.  I think you could have knocked 10 off the 'final showdown'.  It was getting a little long in the tooth.



I hope Clare can move beyond Jace's insecurities, it's getting to be a little bit of overkill and makes it hard to see him as the bad ass shadow hunter when he's constantly questioning himself.  Considering how they left the end of this book the next one should be interesting, but it also appears that it will be dragging some bits of a tired storyline with it.  Sometimes I think it's best to let sleeping dogs lie. Maybe I shouldn't have read this book right after reading The Hunger Games.



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The Restorer

The Restorer by Amanda Stevens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked this book because it's similar in tone to the Charlaine Harris' 'Grave' series before it got creepy with the step brother and sister having sex thing.



Amelia Gray is a graveyard restorer who has the misfortune of being able to see the dead.  Her father can see the dead as well and he has supplied her with a code to live by involving how to not 'deal' with the dead.  This code is challenged as she becomes involved in a murder investigation and has to work with a haunted police officer who she is freakishly attracted to.



I liked this book because of the environment it took place in.  I love the south and Southern culture.  I also enjoyed learning a bit of the history of graveyards, grave stone symbols and their uses.  I also liked the darkness of the novel itself.  The heroine is not a Becky Bad Ass slayer of ghosts.  She's a lonely woman who likes to be left alone and if she can slay ghosts or send them to their final resting place, she doesn't know how. 



The book opens up all kinds of mysteries to be addressed in later books.  I look forward to learing more about the secret society that several of the characters seem to be members of.  It was mentioned heavily in this book, yet played no part in the mysterie's resolution, so I'm thinking it will be touched on more in the series.  It will also be interesting to see how the author deals with the daughter and mother that haunt the detective.  Is it a personal issue that he has to deal with to banish them or what?  Maybe the book's title will have a sort of double entendre and Amelia will restore him as well. Also, I hope the author goes a little more into the dead wife's history and the voodoo element that was touched on in this book.  Oh, and please build up Amelia's personality.  Although the series is meant to be a little dark it would be nice if she developed some interesting personality quirks, she's a little flat and it's difficult to see how Devlin could be so attracted to her unless it's pure chemistry and the fact that he can pull energy from her.  Oh the things I want to know....



The more I think about the book the more I  like it.  It was a different change in pace from some of the books I've been reading recently.



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Review: Where She Went

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a good follow up to it's predecessor, If I Stay. It's a story of grief and the different ways people deal with it. If I Stay was told though Mia's perspective and Where She Went was told though Adam's perpective. There were times I felt so incredibly sad for him because you know that he never got to grieve the loss off of Mia's family and spent most of his time in limbo because he had no outlet for his pain, anger and frustration. One word Adam, Therapy.



I love books I can read in a day, and I'd been looking forward to reading this one. Good way to spend a Sunday.



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Review: Tempest Rising

Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler




Similar to Sookie Stackhouse in regards to the lead character being 'mostly' human and bumbling her way around a super natural world and being a supe magnet. Not a bad start to the series. It did throw pretty much ever creature in the super natural world at you though. And, I'm not sure I would have taken Jane to the super natural epicenter just yet. I think it would have been neat to build up to it and make it more of a third book in the series kind of build up. I'll read the next book and see what direction the author goes to see if my opinion changes.



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Review: Blood and Chocolate

Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I thought it was a good werewolf tale. Better read for the older end of the YA spectrum. Although I didn't find the book great it was worthy of the read. I read it in one sitting. I'll definitely watch the movie to see how they dealt with some of the storyline.



It's basically a story of young love, jealousy, learning how to let go and celebrating the things that make you unique.



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Review: Bayou Moon

Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


kidnapping, battle, battle, strange beasties, battle, battle, sex, protestations of love, battle, sex, big battle, misunderstanding, re-unite, holy crap he's rich! Happily ever after.



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Review: City of Ghosts

City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I do really like this series, but of the three this is the book I have the most complaints about. Mostly due to the 'mystery' storyline and because I do not think that some parts of it were adequately cleared up. But otherwise that one beef, I love the underlying story and romance angle. Chess is a mess and through out the books her drug use has escalated. Mostly in this book because I think she knew she did some horrible stuff and didn't know how to deal with the consequences so she liked staying numb.



I look forward to the next book and hope that maybe she attempts some self actualization. Maybe some Church sponsored therapy or something... I would think pretty soon she's going to hit bottom and require some medical attention. If not, I'm sure it will still be an entertaining ride.



I have to give the author credit for having a lot of passages and quotes I re-visited and highlighted. Considering the topic of drug use and addiction I'm impressed that she can add an element of dark, dark comedy to Chess's predicaments.



This series is about as addictive as the drugs that Chess is popping.



Again, I love Terrible!





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Review: Unholy Magic

Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Love the main character! She's a fantastic mess. Hopefully one day she gets her shit together.



I have to say I love the 'love triangle' as well, although it's not much of a 'triangle'. I never thought I'd root for an enforcer, but I'm pretty sure I'd be crushing on him too. I'm a little emotionally invested in the outcome between Terrible and Chess. I think he has one of the best protestations of love I've read in a while. It's one of the passages I went back and revisited once I finished the book.



This book contained a lot of fantastic quotes too. Considering the topics touched on I never would have thought I'd find some parts of the book so funny.



This series is definitely not for the squeamish. The withdrawl scene alone is enough to keep you sober. Also the violence in this book has definitely escalated to more of a horror type genre.







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