Sometimes Freedom Comes after You go to Hell and Back

Witch and Wizard: The Fire by James Patterson and Jill Dembowski

The Fire, the third book of the Witch and Wizard story, is a story about a sister and brother duo that tries to save the world, one magical spell at a time.  There is a prophecy about Whit and Wisty that says they will prevail over The One Who is the One, the evil world dictator.  This same dictator considers himself deity and wants to control all elements in his war for power.  He has outlawed all music, art, books, anything that could distract you from your current suffering.  In this last book he also has struck all problem children with a “blood plague” that has Wisty sick and on her death bed.  It seems that all that can go wrong has, but to what end?

This being the third book, I have invested some time and money, unfortunately, in this series.  I have read and forgotten most of the details about Witch and Wizard and The Gift and now I am quickly writing as much as I can remember about The Fire before I forget all of these details as well.  Although this series was a quick read, easy to follow and has some fast paced action packed scenes, the characters are pretty well developed, but it is what it is, a young adult book written by James Patterson.  I feel like my writing has gone downhill after reading this book and I also feel that I need to read something that will heighten my intelligence now.  I cannot say that I will continue this series if he decides to write any more, I probably will, but there was a good enough ending to complete the story and not pick it back up, but he did leave it open to where it could continue, let’s hope not. 

I have only read one other book series from Patterson and it is about mutated kids with bird DNA in them.  I read the first few of this series and stopped.  I never decided if I was going to continue, but the last book of the series is about to come out in a few weeks and now that I know it is ending, I’m kind of curious about what happens to these bird kids.  Isn’t it funny how I can dislike a book but if it’s a series I feel like I have to continue to give it a chance, especially if I see an end in sight?  Craziness. 

Have you read this series?  What have you thought?  Keep reading my friends!  

The King Wanted Them Both, but Who Did He Love?

                                                                                                           

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

This was an excellent read. I enjoyed it from the time I picked it up until the last page.  This was my book club pick for the July.  Of course with all book club books, I was on a schedule and had to read every waking moment to get it finished on time, but I didn’t mind.  The first notion that you have to accept with this novel, is that it is just that, a novel.  It was written in 2001and was never said to be a biography or historical document in any way.  This is a novel and you have to read it as such.  I have read some critical reviews that people are upset by the storyline not staying 100% true to historical facts.  Who cares, it’s a fictitious story about real historical people.  In regards to this blog, I will not be talking about anything historical, but only straight from the novel itself.  Ok, I will step down off of my soap box and start my blog.  There are some things in this blog that could be considered spoilers, but if you know any history about Henry VIII, then it will not spoil the story at all. 
I first started this book and thought, doesn’t Henry the eighth behead Anne Boleyn?  I also remembered hearing that Anne Boleyn had six fingers on her right hand, I googled it and I’m not sure of the 100% accuracy of that rumor, but it was out there but not mentioned in the book. 

I enjoyed the book being from Mary Boleyn’s perspective.  It was interesting to see the rise to power that her family received from Mary’s relationships with the King and especially from Mary’s thoughts.  She loved the King and desired to make him happy, but as soon as Anne moved into the spot light, I could see how the King changed.  With Mary, Henry seemed tender, loving, and caring, but with Anne he seemed mean and almost evil.  Anne was potraid in this book as a horrible selfish character that did what best suited her needs and Mary was always putting herself in the best interest of her family.  If Anne did what she was accused of, then maybe she did deserve her ending, but she was a horrible character in this book and I wasn’t at all sad that there was an end to her. 

Another part of Mary’s character that was enjoyable to read is how even though her life did not seem to ever turn out how she expected, she still found love and still enjoyed life to its fullest.  Whenever she was put aside from the King, she was able to go back to her husband, when that didn’t work out, she found that William Stafford had loved her since the first time he laid eyes on her.  She was such a great character that she was well loved and someone was always looking out for her. 

This book was easy to read, fun, and enjoyable.  I would suggest for readers with any literary taste.  Keep Reading My Friends!

When Beauty Dies, What Remains?

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Growing up, my absolute favorite Disney movie was Beauty and the Beast.  I knew every song by heart and even today I own the blu-ray and can sing almost every word 20 years later.  The Disney story gives us background to the Beast and how he became a monster, but primarily the story follows Belle and her journey to the Beast.  Of course with that story being one of my all time favorites, Beastly has been on my to-read list for quite some time.  When the movie came out last year, I was excited and knew that I had to read it before I invested in seeing the movie. 

Set in modern times, Kyle Kingsbury is handsome, rich, popular, had it all in the ninth grade.  He was going to the dance with the hottest girl at their exclusive private school.  He was royalty at his school, with potential to be voted Prince of the dance, he had it all and he knew it.  He knew he could get away with anything that he wanted.  Of course the story picks up when he picked on the wrong outcast and she cast a spell on him, he now has 2 years to meet someone who can love him without his good looks to remove the spell. 

I enjoyed the book to a certain extent.  I thought maybe the book was written in 2000, the very opening scene is a chat room discussion with mythical characters, which I know that no one has joined a chat room, except pervs and 10 year olds in at least 10 years.  When I saw that the copyright date was 2007, I thought, dang, this author did not do her homework.  The interspersed online chatting throughout the book was a poor choice in how to get the story to keep moving. That almost in itself ruined this book for me. 

It was a cute book, but I’m not sure I will read anything by this author again.  This idea was great, it just needed to be written a little better.  I went to Books A Million after reading this book and picked up Cloaked by Alex Flinn, no worries, I put it back on the shelf. 

Have you read Beastly?  What did you think?  What was your favorite Disney movie growing up and would you like to see it turned into a Young Adult movie?  Keep Reading my friends!

Who Do You Trust When You Can't Remember Anyone?

Before I go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Another book club read.  This is the August book chosen by Sam Taylor.  It is a British novel about an amnesiac that whenever she goes to sleep, Christine cannot remember what happened the day before or even 20 years before.  She wakes up “today” and is learning about her life and from her husband and a young doctor that wants to complete research on her rare condition.

My absolute favorite thing about this book was how it was written.  The audience starts the book on “today” and as she learns about her past from her husband Ben and Dr. Nash she is disturbed by how she is unable to trigger any memories of her day to day life or how she is unable to remember how she got to be like this.  When she meets with Dr. Nash he gives her the journal that she has consistently been writing in for a few weeks now.  If she misses a day, that would be a day lost forever.  As we read her journal with her, the audience is learning all about what’s been going on and her flashes of memory that have been documented in her hand writing.  Although she does not know who she can trust, as the story continues and we return to “today,” Christine understands that maybe she should trust no one but herself.  This was an intriguing journey of an amnesiac that had to start over every day. 

I enjoyed this book very much.  It was a fast pace book that was suspenseful and had great twists and turns throughout the book.  I enjoyed how Watson kept us on the edge of our seats while we discovered Christine’s life along with her.  What a great read.

There is not a whole lot to talk about with this book, I don’t want to give any spoilers.  It was easy to me to guess what was going on, but I still enjoyed the ride.  This book did not take very long, I guess I read it over the course of a week, but I had a little more time this last week than usual. 

I would absolutely recommend this book to any adult readers, there is some language sprinkled throughout, so I wouldn’t recommend to anyone under the age of 17 or so.  But to each his own.  Happy Reading!

Anyone Normal is Ugly

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

I loved this book.  From the very beginning to the very end I enjoyed the journey that we went on with Tally.  I loved how she introduced us to the uglies and the pretties.  Uglies starts with Tally completing a “trick” that no Ugly has ever completed before.  She went to a Pretties party.  She really went to find her long lost best friend Peris who not so long ago was ugly too.  Since he moved to New Pretty Town and became pretty himself, she has been lonely and just wanted to see him.   During this trick she meets Shay.  Shay isn’t satisfied with the status quo and is not excited about surgically becoming pretty like society has deemed necessary.  This starts the domino of Tally’s life when all she ever wanted was to become pretty and live her life the way she is supposed to.  The question becomes, what are they changing when their patients are under the knife?     

Ok, so now I’ve lost all of my readers in my intro paragraph.  Here’s the deal.  The book was very good.  As my readers know, I love young adult fiction and this was sci-fi –ish, which I love as well.  Therefore, with all of the times I saw other bloggers praising this book, I decided to read it and I’m glad I did.  Of course I got it from the library, but the next book in the series was unavailable and I bought Pretties, the second book in the series at Half Price Books (love that store!).  I plan on getting the rest of the series from the library and of course I will keep you posted on how they are going. 

My favorite character in the book is Tally.  I loved how she was such an incredible character that has all of these great attributes and she cannot see them for herself.  David comes into her life and shows her all of these great abilities that she has and how she can use them for the greater good and she can hardly believe it herself.  I enjoyed the relationship that developed between David and Tally.  He was sweet to her and got to know her even though she couldn’t understand why he would even care with her still being ugly.  Of course disarray takes place and they are separated from family and friends and their relationship grows stronger during this time.  When the crap hits the fan, will he want to stay with her?  I guess we won’t know until the next book.  Keep Reading my Friends!

REM had it right, It is the End of the World as we KNOW IT!

The Island at the End of the World by Sam Taylor

The song that comes to mind after finishing this book is “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”  This is a post-apocalyptic journey about a family surviving in the wild after the world as they know it was destroyed by a flood.  Eight years later everything in this perfect world that Ben, the father of this family, is compromised as a stranger is washed up on the shore of their island. 

This book was a first for me.  I have never read a published book by a person that I know.  Sam Taylor is a member of the Olive Books Book Club and married to Kathy, a charter member of the club.  So, I was excited to finally read one of his books.  I have to be honest, I am so glad that I liked the book, because I would be horrified to either tell him the truth that I didn’t like it or lie and tell him I liked it.  Thankfully it was an excellent read and the characters were well developed and the plot was complex and riveting.  I loved how the story was written from several perspectives.  I enjoyed Finn’s inner voice the most.  At first it was very hard to read Finn’s perspective because it was written like a ten year old would write it.  Everything is very phonetically written and so my eyes did not want to read the word that was meant to be read, but instead my brain wanted to read the correct spelling of the word.  During part 2 of the book, I missed Finn very much.  I longed to read his innocence that was lacking from Alice’s point of view.

The book was divided into two sections, up to part 2 we have a father and his three children living life.  They have chores and daily projects that must be completed in order for the delicate balance of their lives to stay that way.  In part 2, two stories collide and the truth comes out, but not necessarily for the betterment of the island and its inhabitants.    

Within the story, Sam would have no ending to his sentences, especially as the story concludes.  I enjoyed this because no ending to sentences, created suspense and the need for the reader’s imagination.  I didn’t know what the character was thinking and therefore I had to fill it in with my thoughts, which can be a crazy place to get the missing pieces from.   

At the very end of the book, I have so many questions.  I want to ask Sam what his thoughts are about the ending.  What really happens?  No worries, I’m not going to give spoilers, but next time I see him, I’m going to make sure that I ask him what happened, I have only one big question, and I guess I can believe whichever way I want, but I want to know what he intended when he finished the book.  What was the ending?  Also, am I the only person that is highly disturbed that Will shows up, he knows his relationship with the last surviving family, yet…disturbing. 

Go buy Sam’s book The Island at the End of the World or any of his other great novels.  I have already received The Amnesiac, and I can’t wait to get it read.  Keep Reading my friends!

Harper Connelly Mysteries Part1

Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

First word that comes to mind is, BORING! It took me 2 weeks to read this book, just because I didn’t want to read it after I started it.  The main character Harper Connelly has a strange ability to sense when she is near dead people, she developed after being electrocuted by lightning.  The story is an interesting idea, I have not read any books with this concept before but it was just not developed well. 

Harper travels with her step brother Tolliver who is a strange character that I think the audience is supposed to relate to since there is not a lot to relate to with Harper, but he falls short on a loveable character.  Plus their relationship is a little weird, I thought at any moment they were going to jump into bed together, thankfully that did not happen.  I have read most of the Sookie Stackhouse books by the same author, but where Sookie is a fun loveable character with a strange ability, she is relatable and well written, Harper is boring and uninteresting. 

The reason I read this book in the first place is because I borrowed the second and third book from a friend and I’ve had them for years. I am working through my borrowed books and thought, this will be a fast read before the next book club book.  Well I was wrong, it was not a quick read and I never got to the book club book.

Well I am not going to go into any more detail about this book because it just is not worth my time.  But true to character, I am going to try and read the borrowed second and third book of this series, if I don’t get to it, no lost sleep will happen.  Keep reading my friends!