My Amateur Book Review

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

2009-06-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

This is the fourth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Bill takes a back seat in this book. He's off working on his project to create a directory of all the vampires in the world. Sort of like a vampiric white pages I suppose. Besides, Sookie's still pissed at him about the whole Texas debacle.

Thanks to the work of some witches, Eric loses his memory. He is found by Sookie and is taken in by her to protect him till Pam and Chow and figure out what to do. Of course, these aren't just any old witches. These witches also happen to be shape shifters and have a taste for vampire blood. While all of this happens Jason goes missing and Sookies has to deal with an amnesiac Eric and try to find her brother.

With the help of the werewolves and shifters the witches are defeated and Eric gets his memory back. Sookie finds her brother but it's not the best news. A new supernatural being shows up, a fairy.

For those of you who prefer Eric to Bill, you will definitely enjoy this book. There is also a nice surprise for those of you who aren't big fans of Sookie dating Bill.

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

2009-06-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

This is book 3 of the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

Bill is trying to create a database of all the vampires in the United States. He is commissioned by the Queen of Louisiana to work on this project. He lies to Sookie that he has to go to Seattle to work on the project. He ends up being called to Mississippi by his maker who captures him and tortures him.

Sookie finds out from Eric, the Sheriff of Area 5 in Louisiana and Bill's boss, that he'd been taken by the vampire that created him. So, off she heads to Mississippi where she meets Alcide, a werewolf, who will take her to Club Dead to try to find out where Bill has been taken.

After reading the mind of the human who hangs out with the King of Mississippi she finds out that Bill has been taken to the King's house. After saving the life of a female vampire and getting staked in the process, Sookie is taken to the King's house for medical treatment. She is healed magically and injests some of Eric's blood.

Of course she saves Bill's butt and again the book ends with Sookie at odds with Bill for his lack of truthfulness. So far, I think this was the best book in the series. I am excited to read my way through the rest of this series and each book is better than the last.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

2009-06-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

Amazing story!!

This is the story of Anna Fitzgerald who was genetically engineered to be able to provide blood cord stem cells to her sister who has a very rare form of leukemia. However, the initial treatment doesn't do what the doctors and parents hoped it would do so Anna becomes a frequent donor for different things that Kate needs to continue living.

Anna approaches Campbell Alexander, a lawyer, to sue her parents for medical emancipation. This she does in response to her parents asking her to donate a kidney to her dying sister.

This book is full of emotions and elicits strong emotions from the reader. There are twists and turns and more excitement than perhaps you would expect from such a drama.

It's a look inside a family having to deal with the terminal illness of a child. The desperate choices you make and the struggles that other family members experience. This is, in my opinion, a must read.

Skin Trade by Laurell K Hamilton

2009-06-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

I simply can't help my addiction to this particular series. I have devoted so much time and energy to the lives of these characters that I simply can't give up on them.

This is book 17 of the Anita Blake series. In this book, Edward makes a reappearance.

Anita is mailed the head of a Las Vegas SWAT member by a vampire, Vittorio, who wants her to come off her own turf to take him on for a second time. So, of course, off she goes to confront her challenger. While she's getting ready for the trip Edward calls and wonders whether she'd try to go without him.

Anita meets Edward and Otto and they go through Las Vegas kicking bad guy butt.

For those of you familiar with the series and tired of all the humping that has been going on in the last three books or so, this book is much better. There is definitely more plot than sex, though of course there is sex. She has to feed the ardeur you know.

Of course Anita succeeds in killing the bad guy and saving the day. She also manages to tie a couple more weres to herself. Marme noir, the mother of darkness and of all vampires, tries to take over Anita's body again. The usual Anita Blake mayhem.

More action, less sex, great book. I can't wait for the next one.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

2009-06-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

This is book two in the Sookie Stackhouse series.

In this book Sookie is sort of rented out to the vampires of Dallas, TX. They lost one of their fellow vampires and need help finding him. So, they think that Sookie can use her mind reading powers to read the humans and find out where he went. Sookie finds out that the vampire has been kidnapped by the local Fellowers of the Sun fanatic group. Of course, she's betrayed at some point during the book and injured to the point that vampires have to save her life through drastic measures.

This series is turning out to be pretty good. It's an escape to watch Bill and Sookie's relationship grow as they struggle over the hurdles involved in a human-vampire relationship. At the end of the book Sookie's had about all she can take of the supernatural world that is unfolding around her and asks Bill to give her some time. I think I would be over whelmed by learning in a matter of months that things you thought were make believe were actually real.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

2009-05-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

Pride and Prejudice is one of my ultimate favorite stories every. I absolutely love the characters and the language and the story. For some reason, Seth Grahame-Smith thought this wonderful story was lacking something, specifically, Zombies.

There were parts of this book that I found amusing and others that I rolled by eyes at in exasperation. Elizabeth Bennett is my favorite character in the original Pride and Prejudice. She is witty and intelligent though quick to judge and react to those who judge her. In Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (PPZ) Elizabeth is transformed into an almost cold hearted zombie killer.

I think one of the craziest parts of PPZ was after Darcy's proposal to Lizzy, rather than berate him for his attitude and approach, she physically abuses the poor fellow. However, I will give Mr. Grahame-Smith kudos for his handling of Mr. Collins and Mr. Wickham both of whom got what they truly deserved.

In the end I found PPZ rather amusing. The original story remains more or less intack. In addition, for those of you so inclined, there is plenty of zombie slaying.

Lover Enshrined by J.R. Ward

2009-05-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

This is actually the sixth book in J. R. Ward's Black Dager Brotherhood series. These are by no means great works of literature. However, they do serve a satisfying escape from reality. This is the story of Phury.

For those of you unfamiliar with this series, it's about a house of alpha male vampires who are charged with protecting humanity and vampires from the baby powder smelling Lessers. Basically, the Lessers are servants of this alternate reality's version of Satan, evil incarnate.

Phury is a haunted, self-hating Brother who has a severe addiction to this book's equivalent to marijuana. In the pervious book Phury saved one of his Brothers (Vishious) from having to be stud horse to the Goddess who also happens to be Vishious's mother.

While we are learning the fate of Phury, there is a subplot occuring at the same time. We also learn that the son of "Satan" has been found and brought into existence. All hell is about to break loose. I was also get introduced to the first homosexual vampire I have ever had the pleasure of reading about.

When it really comes down to it these stories are sort of all the same. Tortured, hot vampire saved by extraordinary female. There are obstacles to over come and realizations of their love for each other to come to.

If vampires and romance are your thing you'll probably enjoy these books.

White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison

2009-04-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is the latest installment in the Rachel Morgan series by Kim Harrison. I absolutely love this series. The characters are so real and personable that one really gets caught up in what is going on in the story. Rachel is a former runner for Interlander Security. In previous books she left eh I.S. and became a freelance bounty hunter of sorts. BTW, Rachel is a witch and lives with a living vampire and a family of pixies. She's also the student of a demon named Al who's respect she works to gain during the course of this books so he stops snatching her friends and selling them to other demons as familiars.

Rachel Morgan is so likable because she's always getting into some kind of trouble usually by accident. Her life isn't perfect and she has trouble keeping relationships going for extended periods of time. Her newest infatuation happens to be a ghost named Pierce.

In this book Rachel is hired to help the Federal Interland Bureau capture a banshee, one of the most powerful Interland creatures in existence. Mia, the banshee, has a young child who is not in control of her powers and kills people because she's hungry. Rachel is also trying to remember the events that occurred leading up to the death of her dead boyfriend Kisten.

This books if fast paced and really keeps your attention. Like I said earlier I love the characters because, even though they are fantasy creatures they have very real personalities. Things are happy go lucky and perfect. They each have a past which contributes to who they are now and the hang ups they have in their relationships.

If you haven't read this series, I strongly recommend it. This book was yet another great addition to Kim's collection.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

2009-03-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I picked up this book because I watched the movie first. I get curious like that some times. When you read the book you often find more things about the characters and plot than what is portrayed in the movie.

This book is about a little boy named Bruno who is moved from his home in Berlin to a house just outside the fence of a concentration camp. This story is told completely from the perspective of this nine year old child. He's a very naive little boy and doesn't really comprehend all that is going on around him.

The way the book is written is really cute. The author writes Hitler's title and the name of the concentration camp the way that Bruno thinks he hears it.

During the course of the book Bruno goes exploring and stumbles across another little boy on the other side of the fence. They begin talking and form an unlikely friendship through the fence.

In my opinion, this is a superbly fantastic way to come at such a sensitive subject as the Holocaust. To see the atrocities through the innocent eyes of a child is to see everything through a completely new lens in the telescope. This is one of those books that I will be walking around with forcing on people no matter their typical genre. I hope this becomes a classic and everyone comes to read it.

breaking dawn by Stephenie Meyer

2009-03-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

I really didn't enjoy this book. Definitely not the first half. It took me a while to get through it. I kept losing interest and reading other books along side.

I don't really feel the same about Edward as I did during the first three books. I mean I knew he was kind of wishy washy and would give Bella what ever she wanted but what happened in this book was a little crazy. The second half was a little better but it took so long to get there.

This is the culmination of the story of Edward and Bella. A child results in their union and it nearly kills Bella in the process. Edward just stands by and watches. Jacob is the one who is outraged and thinks that Edward is an idiot. Personally I am siding with Jacob on this one.

The second half was a little bit better once the child is born and Bella is transformed into a vampire. Of course the Volturi make another appearance. Bella and Edward make it through the threat of their daughter's life by the skin of their teeth. Everyone lives happily ever after.

I found this book in particular a little outlandish and overly dramatic. It felt like pulling to teeth to get to the point and I really hate that when I'm reading something. I kept putting the book down and reading other stuff.

I simply found the first three books to be better thought out. This felt really rushed to me in regards to getting to the end of the story despite the fact that the book is extremely thick. It sort of felt like Bella just had to become a vampire and the author just needed to throw in some kind of plot twist.

Highlander in Her Bed by Allie Mackay

2009-03-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

I picked up this book because of the title. I have a serious thing for Highlander romance novels.

This was ok. After a while you read enough of these that they become sort of redundant.

In this one the male character Alexander Douglas is wronged and murdered by a member of the MacDougall clan. The MacDougall steals his bed and his bride. So, Alex cuts a deal with the fae and becomes a ghost and haunts his own bed.

A little less than 700 years later the female character Mara McDougall it trying to start up her own tourist business. While she is in England she finds out that she has been left a giant castle with a giant fortune. Then she buys the giant bed that happens to be haunted by the giant Highlander.

They fight for a while. Then they fall in love. Then he almost fades away. Then he gets to make a wish with the fae again. Then they live happily ever after.

This was an ok book. There were parts of it that were funny and entertaining. I wasn't sitting on the edge of my seat with excitement wondering what was going to happen next or anything though. It was pretty predictable as to what was going to happen next and I could guess all the twists and turns.

Alex & Me: How a scientist and a parrot uncovered a hidden world of animal intelligence - and formed a deep bond in the process by Irene M. Pepperberg

2009-02-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

I found this book just sitting on a shelf in an air port book store. After reading the jacket and because of my interest in psychology and animal behavior I just had to pick it up and read it.

This is a very touching story about an African Grey parrot called Alex who was the focus of an animal behavior study looking at animal cognitive abilities. In the past it was thought that humans were unique in our cognitive ability. Through extensive research scientists are beginning to find that some animals have the same cognitive abilities as young children. Alex was one of these animals.

Alex came to be able to determine complex cognitive abilities such as different/same. He new color and numbers and was able to do some simple math problems such as addition and subtraction. Irene was also working on phonemes with Alex and he was able to recognize verbal sounds such as 'ch' and to sound out words.

Irene struggled to be taken seriously in the area of animal behavior both because of her gender and because of her ideas regarding parrot cognitive ability. She ran into several obstacles in the thirty years she worked with Alex and the other parrots she added to the research program. In the end, Irene was able to statistically prove several cognitive concepts that were originally thought only to be possible by humans.

I loved this book. It is a wonderful recount of Irene's struggles and triumphs. There are both funny and sad stories that are shared with the reader. If you like psychology or animal behavior I think you will find this book very interesting. If you're into biographies I think you'll enjoy this story as well.

Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True Love

2009-02-17T15:07:00.000-08:00

I came across this book on B&N.com. I don't remember what I was looking for I think I might have just searched belly dancing and found it that way.

This is a biography type book about the author's use of belly dancing to heal from a failed relationship.

I thought this was a very good book. The book is well written and contains both very poignant and very funny pieces throughout.

Anne is part Lebanese herself and in between belly dance classes and performances she tries to find the perfect man. In particular she has dreams of finding the perfect Lebanese man. After three failed dating attempts with Lebanese men she finds love in the place she would least expect it.

I love the author's writing style. It's very down to earth and she really bares herself through her writing. It's so important to be able to laugh at yourself and the unfortunate events that happen and the author has the ability to do that. This also comes through in her story telling style.

I think my most favorite episode in the book was when she got upset at the photo studio when she realized that her pictures had been doctored. They had attempted to fix the belly dancing belly that she had worked so hard to get. This after a proposition from the photographer which caught her off guard and created its own little bit of drama when she shared the proposition with a fellow belly dance class mate.

This more than a book about belly dancing. This book is about finding healing in places you might not be expecting it. It's about being human and the many twists and turns that occur in life both good, bad, and absurd.

Even if you aren't a belly dancer, I suggest you pick up this book and give it a good reading.

Tumbling Through Time by Gwyn Cready

2009-02-03T19:28:00.001-08:00

Here is another Gwyn Cready novel. I think this might be her first one. It shows too. This one definitely wasn't as good as her Seducing Mr. Darcy novel.

First, it kind of starts awkwardly. Persephone had gone back in time at some point in her future or something. She'd written a book starring "Phillip" Drummond, a privateer captain, as the hero in her novel and had some how disrupted his ship and his life in the process. So, Drummond asks a gypsy to weave a magic spell and bring Persephone back into the past.

Persephone has a love interest in the present named Tom. Tom finds out about her time travel adventures and tries to help her solve the mysteries that arise in the course of the book. Tom eventually gets himself caught up in the time travel business and gets sucked into the 1700s along with Persephone.

Now, Tom and Drummond look exactly alike. Mostly because Drummond is supposed to be Persephone's creation and is insipired by Tom. They realize that they can use this to their advantage to defeat the French in the war going on between England and France. Tom, pretending to be Drummond gets himself flogged and nearly killed by the French who manage to capture the ship. At the last minute, Persephone is able to cataplut them back to their own time via the magical venue that had been set up by the gypsy.

The book ends awkwardly as well. There's not necessarily a happy ending. There seems to be the promise of one though. The resolution that is generally found in romance novels is lacking in this book. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that the whole book is set up a little awkwardly. There is a lot of jumping around and pieces pop up that seem to come out of nowhere.

Overall, this book was ok. I'm glad I read the Darcy book first because I probably wouldn't have read any more of Cready's stuff had I read this one first.

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

2009-01-24T11:32:00.000-08:00

This is one of the between numbers novels of the Stephanie Plum series. This is a new release and the most recent novel of the Stephanie Plum series.

Stephanie Plum is a less than adequate bounty hunter who is always getting herself captured or blowing up her car. I'm not really sure exactly how many cars she has blown up or gotten destroyed in the 14 books and three between the numbers books in the series but it happens a lot. In this book she manages to have her most recent car destroyed by raccoons.

There is always enough craziness going on in the Plum novels to keep one entertained throughout the book and reading so you find out what happens next. This book is no exception. There is plenty of adventure, excitement, and crazy happening in this book to keep you turning the pages.

This time Stephanie is trying to catch Martin Munch who failed to appear for his court case after hitting his boss in the face with coffee mug and walking out of his job with a magnetometer in tow. Munch has fallen into cahots with a large scary supernatural bad guy who wants to take over the world by altering the weather patterns. There are monkeys, raccoons, and a six foot tall possibly supernatural bounty hunter who's trying to get into Stephanie's pants at every possible opportunity. Of course Ranger and Joe Morrelli make appearances. Stephanie manages to get herself kidnapped twice during the course of the book by the dark scary bad guy with his own supernatural powers.

I really like these series because Stephanie is a real woman who faces real issues in her life. She's got the attention of two men and isn't sure if she's ready to settle down with either of them. She's not very good at bounty hunting but doesn't really have the skills for anything other than a warehouse job and bounty hunting pays the bills. Besides, we wouldn't be half as entertained is she was still working in the factory business.

I definitely chucked out loud several times at the goings on within the book. These are the types of books which really take you away from your own problems and entertain you with the bumblings of another individual trying to make it through the curve balls that life throws at you.

If you like mystery type novels with a twist then I really recommend these books for you.

eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

2009-01-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

This is the third book in the Twilight series. I think of all the books so far in this series, this is the one where I got truly hooked and had times where I struggled to put the book down.

In this book we find Edward still off valiantly trying to stay away from Bella to protect her. She is trying to rebuild her broken relationship with Jacob who is a werewolf.

Just as she's starting to put the pieces back together with Jacob, Edward comes back into the picture. Well, after Bella has to make an emergency flight to Rome to stop Edward from permanently taking himself out of the picture then Edward comes back to Bella.

The rest of the book is Bella trying to convince Edward that becoming a vampire is what she really and truly wants. Jacob spends the entire book trying to get Bella to realize what a mistake she's making and telling her how much he loves her and how much he knows she loves him back. Edward has moral issues over turning Bella into a vampire so decides that the only way he'll agree to it is if she marries him. For various reasons Bella is hugely anti marriage though she finally gives in toward the end.

Of course you have to add some tension and suspense in there and Bella is once again being hunted down by a vampire who wants to kill her. So, the Cullen family and all the werewolves have to work together to protect her.

The end of the book was particularly of interest to me and was really hard for me to stop reading. Bella realizes that she actually does love Jacob. I recognized and empathized with the feelings that Bella went through. However, because of the Christian monogamous society we live in and because vampires and werewolves are mortal enemies, she can't be with them both.

I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to get started on the fourth book to see what happens next. I love the emotions and struggles that go on with the characters. I think I might read some of the other stuff that Stephenie has out.

A Stroke of Midnight by Laurell K Hamilton

2009-01-09T20:47:00.001-08:00

This is the fourth book in the Meredith (Merry) Gentry series.

Unlike her Anita Blake series, Hamilton starts this series without any pretense of this being a smutty supernatural series. Merry is a fae princess in line for the throne of the Unseelie court. The only way to become the Unseelie Queen is to prove that she can have children by becoming pregnant.

In this book Merry is back in Fae after an assassination attempt on her life. She starts having sex with all the guards and the magic, that had previous been disappearing over the last few centuries, suddenly return to the Fairy Mound.

In Hamilton's books, all the men have big schlongs and all the sex is magic. A serious let down for those of us having average sized, mortal, non-magical sex. However, particualrly with the Merry Gentry series the sex has BDSM undertones. Which is always great.

I also liked the fact that the diety in this series is a Goddess. In this book the Goddess begins to speak more and more through Merry and wants to bring the Fae earth back to life. Merry is a descendent of fertility gods and is the perfect vessel through which to accomlish this goal.

While I like a good sex scene, Hamilton does sometimes over do it. The rhythm of her books tends to be sex, hint of plot, sex, hint of plot with more sex than actual plot. It sometimes makes you wonder where it's all going. The Merry Gentry series hasn't quite reached the train wreck stage of the Anita Blake novels (which I keep reading because like a train wreck I just can't stop looking).

What I do really like though is the strong female characters who are generally kick ass. The sex scenes, if too numerous, are hot if unrealistic.

There is a murder that takes place in the book and the whole premise of the book seems to be the investigation of said murder. Merry allows the human police to come into Fairy to investigate with science and to foster relationships between humans and Fae. The book ends somewhat awkwardly with the revelation that someone committed the murder in passionate response to being dumped however these is this vibe that something is missing and there is more to it that what is revealed.

Other than that there really isn't much else other than sex going on. However, Merry orgasms and some fairies get their wing.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyers

2008-12-31T07:17:00.001-08:00

I picked up this book because I heard everyone talking about it. It felt like the next Harry Potter series. This is the first book of the series where we are introduced to Edward and Bella.

After Edward saves her life by stopping a moving van, Bella knows that there is something different about Edward. So, she starts asking around and finally figures out from a story she is told by her friend Jacob who lives on the nearby reservation that Edward is a vampire.

Bella lets Edward that she knows he's a vampire and through this secret they begin to form a friendship and then to fall in love with one another. Of course things can't just go well and three vampire strangers show up one day. One of them decides the start hunting Bella.

Edward sends her away with some of his family members and takes the rest of his family off to hunt the vampire who is looking to make a meal out of Bella. The vampire finds Bella and Edward is forced to fight him for Bella's life. After Bella is safe once again, Edward decides that the best this for Bella is for him to live elsewhere and try to make her forget that he ever existed.

While obviously fantastical, I thought this was a great story. Also, despite it being a book for teen I really enjoyed the book. It really sort of bordered on being an adult book. Which sort of seems to be the trend in some of the books written for teenagers these days. I don't think this is a bad thing, I think we tend to shelter our children a little bit too much.

I would definitely recommend this book. Especially if you are into vampire stories.

Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready

2008-12-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

I found this book just by perusing the book shelves at my local Barnes and Nobles. I picked it up because of the title.

I really love the story of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

In this book, the main character Flip is taken into a book of her choosing by a masseuse with special talent. There are two rules to the massage. 1) One cannot imagine something in the book that did not happen in the book. 2) One cannot visit the same story twice. Flip imagines herself having an affair with Mr. Darcy as a character who was never in the book in the first place. Subsequently the entire story is turned upside down and the book itself begins to change. Enter Magnus Knightly, the hot austere male main character who also happens to be an Austen scholar. With the help of Magnus and the masseuse, Flip is finally able to set everything right. The story of course ends with its inevitable happy ending.

For the most part I found the character's very enjoyable. There is Flip's ex husband who is the predictable ignorant narcissistic pain in the ass who tries to poke his nose into Flip's business where it doesn't belong. Flip and Magnus engage in some witty banter. The romantic cliches are kept to a minimum. Flip herself comes across as this accident prone braniac who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time or simply saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Magnus is the overly serious literary scholar who finds the protagonist perplexing.

If you like romance novels with spanking references in them you won't be disappointed in this book. A short and mild spanking even takes place in the course of the book. The author tries and almost succeeds in putting Magnus across as a dominant male. There is something missing though and I can't completely put my finger on it.

In conclusion it wasn't a bad book for a romance novel. It's something fun to read when you don't want to have to think too much about what you're reading.

Welcome!

2008-12-27T22:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my book review blog. I read many books during the course the of the year. Some great, some not so great. I always thought about having a place to talk about and write down what I think of the books I read. So, I started this blog.

I'm going to try to read an eclectic collection of books throughout the year.

If you have a book to suggest please feel free to do so. I'm always looking for good authors and new plot lines.

If you are a budding writer and would like me an amateur's review of your book I would love to help you out.

Hopefully my book review abilities get better as I go along with this endeavor.

Let me know what you think!