Nameless: A Tale of Beauty and Madness (Tales of Beauty & Madness #1) by Lili St. Crow

My Thoughts: 

I bought this book from Kobo just after it was released.  I really liked the premises of this story.  I don't think I've ever read anything Lili St. Crow, i thought i would give this one a try. 

Where do I start with this review?  

There were so many things that bothered me about this book.  First, the author introduces this brand new world of vampires (they are just called something else that I can not remember now) and they are divided into Families.  There are other magical creatures and places mentioned.  My problem with this was that no background story was given, no explanation as to what was what.  What was given as a background was very brief and skimmed over.  The author just assumes that I will know what the new term she came up with means. 

Cami's was a weak character, she was scared of everything and very much sheltered.  Yes as a child she was traumatised beyond normal and that is evident.  I believe  author was trying to portray Cami as someone who suffered a great trauma and she is getting over it but also a strong character.  The thing is Cami never struck me as a strong character, rather the opposite.  She was scared of everything, I expected her to run at any moment.  Her insecurities about her place in family, even though Papa Valtusino and Nico have never said or done anything otherwise.  Which means she is also insecure.  It would have been alright if this happened once or twice in the story and it was dealt with, but rather Cami thought of it pretty much every five minutes which translates to every page of the story.  Bit annoying when you have to read over and over about her insecurity and her place in the Family. 

This was suppose to be a retelling of The snow White fairytale.  However I could not help and notice the similarity between this book's villain and Snow White and The Huntsman character played by Charlize Theron, the evil stepmother.  How both of the characters attained their youth was very similar.  Is this just me???

Last issue I had with this book, NOTHING HAPPENS for the better part of the story.  There was no plot for more than half of the book other than Cami wondering what her dreams meant and going to school.   At the end of the book we see some action happen, nothing serious. 

Overall this was a just not a good read for me and I did not like it.  Writing was not bad, but there were too many things that did not work.  There was nothing happening for the better part of the book.  Weak character and weak supporting characters.  World development non existent and what was there was confusing.  Too tell you the truth I regretted buying this book. 

I give this book 1/5 STARS - HAPPY READING!!!

Venom (Secrets of the Eternal Rose #1) by Fiona Paul

My Thoughts:

I picked up Venom at the my local library last week and started to read it over my lunch hour.  I couldn't even remember what the book was about its been so long since I put it on my To-Be-Read list.  Anyways, I got into the book from the first page and sailed through.  I enjoyed the book and the story line but I really didn't think that period setting, Renaissance Venice, was done well. 

Cassandra (Cass) a rich young women from upper class of Venetian society. Rich and beautiful, also engaged to Luca, another rich boy whom she hadn't seen for number of years because he is away in France studding law.  Cass's friend dies and she is buried in the cemetery near the house that Cass and her aunt live in.  The night of the funeral Cass visits her friends grave and discovers that her recently dead friend's body was replaced by another body.  Body of another women and body bares an X mark on her chest.  As she is running away and screaming from fright, she runs into Falco, an artist.  The story picks from here, Falco and Cass get together to try to solve the mastery of Cass's friend missing body and discovering who the woman with X on her chest is. 

For the most part I liked Cass, she was smart, beautiful, independent, headstrong and resourceful young woman.  Even though she was smart and independent, she doesn't think things through but rather she always jumps to conclusions.  You can tell from the way she behaves, the way she sees the world around her that she was sheltered and that she lives in a world completely opposite of Falco's.  While Cass never is in need of money, Falco had to work to earn money and that is why he does what he does.  Regardless of all the differences, Cass and Falco were good together.  They had a good chemistry.  However I am not sure who I want Cass to end up with Falco or Luca.  I like them both.  We know more about Falco than about Luca.  Luca shows up at the end all mysterious and knows more about murders than he is letting on. 

Story line and mystery was good, interesting and entertaining.  But I felt that not enough time was dedicated to the mystery and crime solving, the story focuses more on relationship between Cass and Falco and Cass's everyday life. 

The only problem I had with this story is the period setting, Renaissance Venice.  At least that is what we are told but there are not a lot of indicators throughout the story that tell the readers that this story is set if Renaissance Venice.  For example clothing, it wasn't described in enough details to pinpoint the exact period.  When I thing Renaissance Venice and men's clothing I think of colorful, flamboyant and so on but I never get this from the book.  Another thing just because the book is set in Venice and few Italian words were used does not make it Renaissance period.  The way people talked struck me more like I was reading a story set in present day rather than Renaissance Venice. 

Overall this was a good read.  It was fun, entertaining and intriguing.  I read some reviews that stated that it was dark and bit creepy but I didn't find it that way at all.  Book was well written and there was some good character building.  I am looking forward to book two to see what happened next. 

I give this books 3/5 STARS - HAPPY READING!!!

Book of Shadows (Sweep, #1) by Cate Tiernan‏

My Thoughts:

 

Book Of Shadows was on my list of To-Be-Read for some time now. I came across this book at my local library and it sounded so good. Story sounded good and there were witches in it, all the things that I like. Once I started to read the book and made it through first four or five chapters I knew that this was not a book for me. It was nothing like I imagined. 
 

The idea behind the story sounds great and interesting, the only problem it was not executed right. As I was reading the book I constantly had this feeling that parts of the book was missing. I felt like I was reading a summary of a very long book that was condensed into one hundred and sixty pages. It was rushed and I felt that the author wrote this book in one day. Another issue with this book is that there is no plot. Yes we are told what the story line will be in the description, but the problem is nothing happens. No action to speak of, no conflict, and no villain.

 Morgan Rowland, a sixteen year old who all of sudden discovers that she is a witch and she also has some special powers. Oh and she does not know that she possesses these powers until a new boy moves into town and asks them to form a circle. He and his mother practice Wicca. Morgan joins the circle and OMG she is special and she also comes from a long line of witches.  Beside the fact that all the members of the circle accept the Wicca so readily, without any questions.  Not very believable.   

Of course there is some romance, Morgan is interested in Cal Blaire. But the problem is, so is her best friend. There is some conflict between Morgan and her best friend over a boy – this is the only conflict in the book. As I was reading I hoped that Morgan would get a backbone and stand up to her best friend and others as well and not let people walk all over her. 

 

Overall this was not a good read and I did not like it at all. There was nothing happening, no plot and the ending was crappy. I really do not understand how this book got 4.5 stars on Goodreads. I am giving this book 1 STAR because 0.5 STAR is not available on Goodreads. My library has a whole series of Sweep and I am thinking of giving book two a try, but I have not decided yet. I will give it some time. If you are looking for a fun and entertaining book about witches and Wicca religion, than this is not the book for you. I grant there were some interesting facts about Wicca but not a lot. Everything was grazed over and not a lot of time or effort was put into writing , researching and executing, this is true for Book Of Shadows at least, the plod that was promised on the back of the book. 
 

I give this book 1/5 STARS – HAPPY READING!!!

Blood and Ice by Robert Masello‏

My Thoughts:

 

I bought this book at the used book store some time ago, I forgot I even had it. I was going through my books, trying to organise my bookshelf, when I came across this book. I decided to read it. I really enjoyed reading this book, well for the most part. Only towards the end of the book did I start to get a bit bored but I think that was because I knew where the story was going. Also I had a feeling about its ending. 
 

Journalist/photographer Michael Wilde goes on an assigned to Antarctica. Author takes his time to get to the heart of the story, I think it I was almost midway through the book before anything started to happen. There was a lot of time and effort put into the research of this book, and that is very evident through the writing. I felt I was there in Antarctica, I was able to picture the vast white planes covered with snow. I was able to imagine what it would be like to live there for any amount of time. Call me crazy but this book kind of made me want to visit Antarctica or even the North Pole. I am closer to north Pole lol.

 

It takes some time for the story to take up pace, but I did not mind it. I actually though it worked for this story.. IMO, it would not work if the author rushed the story, or did not take time to set the scene for the readers. Setting of the story was a big part of the story and brushing over it would not work. There were two stories being told here, one from Michaela point of view, present time and his experiences in Antarctica. While another story is story is being narrated, in parallel, about Eleanor and Sinclair. Two characters, lovers, who lived in 1800s and survived Crimea. Towards the end of the book the two stories converge and merge into one. 
 

Michael Wilde and another scientist go out on diving trip in Antarctica, where Michael discovers a body frozen, encased in glacier in the ocean. As the story progress, bodies (yes turns out there are two) are recovered. As the ice melts away, unexpected thing happens that cause some mystery about their dead friends. I do not want to give much away and ruin the story for you. But as the Michael and other were trying to piece together what was happening. 

 

Overall this was a great read and I enjoyed it a lot. But as I already said towards the end of the book, last hundred pages I wanted the story to be done and over with. Pretty much three quarters of the way through the book you could tell what the ending would be and it took the mystery away for me. So by the time I finished the book I was sighing in relief that it was over. Would I recommend this book to others? Definitely, I thought it was great. It was very well written, characters were very much realistic and likeable. World building was superbly done and I felt that I there in the cold Antarctica.

Also I will be looking for more books by Robert Masello.

 

I give this book 4/5 STARS – HAPPY READING!!!

Touched by the Alien (Katherine "Kitty" Katt) by Gini Koch‏

Touched by an Alien

Katherine "Kitty" Katt series

Book # 1

Gini Koch


Goodreads link

My thoughts:
 

I had this book for some time now, I bought it because I read a review on one of the blogs. Can’t remember which one, it was too long ago. Book sounded interesting and I wanted to read it.
 

Katherine "Kitty" Katt our main female protagonist finds herself in a bit of a strange situation after she kills a superbeing. Superbeing are alien parasites which attach itself to human hosts and can control them. I have to say that I enjoyed reading this book to some extent, but on other hand I thought it was just a lot of fluff. I was expecting a bit more serious sci-fi romance novel. Maybe serious is not a right word, I was expecting less fluff. Some parts of the plot line were good but other were not to my liking.
 

I liked the fact that the story line moved along at a fast pace. For me it just depends on the book that I am reading, sometime I don’t mind if the book is fast paced and there is not a lot of time spend describing the world or environment in which a story takes place. But on other hand I sometimes like when the author takes him/her time is describing the world and characters. It all depends on the book that I am reading.

 

 

There were several things that bothered me about this book. First, the constant use of word “girlfriend”. You go girlfriend! I have nothing against use of this word, but when you use too many times I get annoyed and I roll my eyes. It just became too corny. Second, Kitty ability to discover everything that was wrong with Jeff Martini unit and how they did their jobs. Here she walks and glances around and she is able to tell them what is wrong. She able to tell them that the translation of the book (alien version of where they came from and why) within first hour. Than her ability or premonition on how to destroy the superbeings (bad guys). Third, all A-C (good aliens, Jeff Martini and etc) males are good looking and not as smarts as their woman. Woman are all scientists and thing that all the A-C man are dumb. I just found that some of this was hard to believe and not very realistic. I know that this is sci-fi book but it still has to have bases in reality. It needs to be believable. If you are as a writer trying to write something that most people would think unrealistic or unbelievable than it is your job as a writer to convince the readers out there that this is believable and realistic.
 

Romance between Jeff and Kitty was OK, not my favorite part. It moved way to fast for my liking. I mean Jeff decided that he is in love with Kitty the first minute he saw her and he already told her so. Talk about love at first sight! He told her he wanted to marry her an hour later. Again not very realistic basis for a relationship. Another fact hard to believe is Kitty’s parents who have these secret lives, mother is some kind of secret agent and father is a cryptologist who works secretly for NASA and so on.
 

Overall this was an OK read for me, but just OK. It started out fun and fast paced but I was starting to get bored midway through because I knew Kitty will be able to figure everything out. There were no obstacles thrown in her way. Rather she was able to kick some superbeings ass by playing loud music and hairspray. Will I read book two? Yes I have and I want to see if book two gets better.
 

I give this book 2/5 STARS – HAPPY READING!!!!

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Well

Chris Colfer

The Land of Stories Series

My Thoughts:

I bought this book some time ago and I started to read it on my trip to Disney and I finished it while I was there.  I would read each night after we would return from the parks. 

I loved this book,  it was such great story that I did not want to put it down.  It had everything that I love in a good story.  Adventure, strange new world, secrets, friendship, magic, fairy tales, fairy godmothers, villains and etc.  I was really surprised how well this book was written especially for someone who is a first time writer.  Lets face a lot of YA and some children, but in my opinion mostly YA, are not that greatest of writers.   I should know I read a lot of YA, children and adult literature.  I am not trying to categorise every YA author as "not that great writers" because there are some great writers out there.   Anyways I am getting of track, this book was great, story was awesome full of adventure and as a reader I was never bored.  Story line was well developed and it made sense. 

Alex and Conner, twins, were lovable characters each one in their own way.  They were great, smart caring and funny.  I loved reading about them and their life and adventure into The Land of Stories.  I loved how the author takes us from one fairy tale into another with each chapter.  Story flowed so smoothly, I never once said to myself this makes no sense.   I think I will be adding this to my favorite books of 2013. 

Overall I was very impressed with this story and I can not wait to read next book in the series.  I wonder what kind of adventure will the twins go on next?  If you love reading books about fairy tales and it's characters than you will probably enjoy this story.  Also it does not hurt that this book was written well and some great story telling.   Also I did not know this when I bought this book, but Chris Colfer is an actor from Glee.  I do not watch the show but I know that there are a lot of people who love the show.  So if you love Glee, you might be interested to read something by one the actors from the show. 

I give this books 5/5 STARS - HAPPY READING!!!

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