Review: Lover Unleashed

Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



So I'm crying a little inside right now. I started writing a review and somehow clicked out of the box, pressed backspace and lost the whole thing. So, I'm definitely in deep mourning right now. And I'm also trying to remember what all I was saying and what I was thinking. It's a very complicated process.

But enough about that, I am supposed to be talking about the book, not my failings with my mouse pad. Alright, so I love the Black Dagger Brotherhood books. And after a little while of reading things that I do not typically read, I was very glad to get back to something that is within my genre spectrum. (The last book that could have counted before this being The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer also recommended).

So we have this, book number nine of the series and I find that I feel it is very disloyal really to try to review this book without mentioning any of the others. For those of you who have read any part of the series, the story builds on itself in such a way that it becomes almost a requirement to read the other books int he series before you even consider trying to read the later stories.

But, I will try to do just that. As much as I love this book and this series, I found myself a little disappointed. I wanted a little more. Maybe I'm just an action and adventure junkie. There was a little in the book, but it felt a little slower in its pace than some of the others. Mind it had its own surprises and I still love it, but I guess I just wanted a little bit more. even as the book was coming in the last few pages I found myself thinking: Well this can't be right, there has to be more to the story, doesn't there? As I have found, in this book there is not. Which means it is off to book number 10 where there must be more to come. Always more that I shall eagerly read.



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Doing Without

Another month, another set of paychecks.  I've discovered that when it comes to my job, I do not work full time.  I am perfectly alright with that.  As it is I work about thirty hours a week when all is sad and done with early clock-ins and having to stay over to get this or that done or to cover whoever needs help at the register.  And that works out well for me.  Of course it still leaves me very poor, but I'm used to living as a poor person so that isn't really the matter.

However, it does make things interesting living from paycheck to paycheck.  You see, it presents me with this little problem.  That problem revolves around my phone.  My phone is one that is sans contract which is nice for these months when I somehow manage to forget the phone or simply have to put other things before it.  Of course it also means that I have to make due without my phone for the time being.  I find that to be both highly stressful and strangely liberating at the same time.  There is something utterly relieving about not having to worry about calling so-and-so or texting a person back by a particular time.

Of course it also makes you wonder if something is going to happen in the interim.  Will the world fll apart while people are essentially unable to reach me?  I do wonder this one some level, but that just seems silly.  They can still reach me.  I'm obviously still getting online so there are ways.  But we have this conception with phones that that is the only acceptable way to truly communicate with people.  Now not everyone suffers from this particular belief, but unfortunately I do know people who do and I find it limiting.  Yes, I think it's important to have a phone.  To be able to call and text and communicate in that most direct of manners, but at the same time, it shouldn't be what we depend upon.  We have the ability to write for a reason.

Alright, I just had to get that out.  I was thinking about it yesterday after work since I couldn't actually text anyone to pick me up from work.  I had to wait for someone at the store to get off so I could get a ride home.  Which wasn't bad.  I only had to wait for about two hours so it wasn't so bad.

So! Update for the week!  I am still working on Cloud Atlas.  I am about half way through at this point, but given I have the next two days off I should (hopefully) be able to finish it or the other book that I have started working on Raising the Curve.  Not a bad read so far, I'm still very early on, but it is definitely not my usual kind of read.  It's not often that I read non-fiction, but this one is turning out to be very well-written and gives a very interesting insight that I am enjoying.  I'll keep you updated as much as I can!  And for anyone interested in the writing aspect of my life, I am trying to resurrect my writing blog Writing is Life.  I hope that you all have a wonderful day and I'll see you later this week!

Review: The Inventor's Secret

The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I was lucky enough to find this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy at the store where I work this last month. I have never had the chance to read anything by Andrea Cremer before nor have I ever read anything steampunk though the premise itself has always fascinated me. So has alternative history, though that I have at least had the chance to delve into before. Seeing the two aspects combined into one story was simply too much for me to pass up.

Unfortunately, because of how the cover was set up, I had no idea what I was getting myself into all. I had to guide my way was a little teasing blurb that did peek my interest. And so, I proceeded to read, slowly at first, but with an increasing curiosity and fever over the time that passed. I found the be charming and an exciting peak into a world that I am very excited to learn more about. I found the characters to be very real, especially the main character and narrator, Charlotte. While she seems very mature and sure, there are times when, as a person reads, they see that she is still very much a sheltered child.

Having grown up in the catacombs only surrounded by other children, there are times when Charlotte's ignorance of how the world works and how the relations between men and women can be, become very evident while, at other times, she can be seen as nothing less than a bold and daring young woman more than capable of taking care of herself and ready and willing to take charge at a single moment's notice. The other main characters have their own vibrance and secrets. Some that we see and some that we remain utterly ignorant of as Charlotte herself begins to see the world in new ways.

I can say without a doubt that I am very much looking forward to the following books.



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Girl's Gotta Do

So I have decided that I want to try and work on writing some book reviews.  As anyone who has read this blog has seen, there is one already up on the very popular book The Fault in our Stars by John Greene that I wrote after I finished reading the book last week.  At the moment, I am slowly (slowly because I keep slacking off and getting distracted) reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell as well as an Advanced Reader Copy (that is no longer advanced as the book did come out in April) The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer.  I am hoping to have at least one of them done by the end of the week so that I can write up a review for it.  Regardless of if I do or not, I am hoping to get into the habit of writing at least one post a week with updates as well as any new little tidbits that come to mind.

In this case, I can actually give an update about my own writing.  I am very proud to say that one of my story ideas, an old series actually, has decided to start cooperating with me giving me a project that I can actively work on.  In this case, it's actually series that emerged from the very first year that I was a part of NaNoWriMo.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it stands for National Novel Writing Month.  It takes place every year in November.  Through the month, those taking part make a pledge to attempt to write 50,000 words.  It adds up to about 1,667 words a day.  It can be a lot of fun pulling together people from all over the world.  I am very proud to say that I have been taking part in since 2009.  And if I'll be honest, I love telling people about NaNoWriMo.  I talk about it, probably every chance I get.

We all have our passions.

I guess you could definitely say that books are my passion.  It doesn't matter if I am reading them or writing them.  I have loved books from the moment I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone all on my own.  It was the proudest moment of my life.  Or, at least, it was certainly one of them.  From that moment on, I could even fancy that I have a touch of an addiction.  That might be considered a bad thing by some people, but my way of figuring is that it is far healthier than something like alcohol or drugs though I've no doubt there are some who would disagree with me in that matter.  I accept that as a simple fact of life and that we should all agree to disagree.  I don't plan to change my opinion and I think it would be rude of me to try to force my opinion on any other person.  Debating them respectfully is another matter entirely however.  That kind of thing, now that is fun.

But for now, I think I have babbled quite enough for the night.  For now, I shall bid you all adieu and I hope to have a book review for you all by the end of the week.  Until then, I wish you all very well!

Review of The Fault in Our Stars

Possible Spoilers:

I heard a lot about this book and originally I refused to read it.  I wanted nothing to do with it because I did not want to read a book that would make me cry and from everything that I had heard about it, I believed that it would do just that.  I can say, now that I have read the book that I did not cry.  I had moments where I might have felt the urge to tear up, but nothing that I read pushed me over the edge.

Yet, given how much I have been told people love this book and all the hype and emotion attributed to it, I find that I do not feel the same way int he least.  I'll admit that there were parts that moved me.  Lines that made me feel something stir inside me either through sheer brilliance or through sentimentality.  But, overall, I was extremely underwhelmed by the whole book.

"Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway.  That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway. Don't you believe in true love?" (pg 61)

When I read that quote for the first time, I had to read it again to my roommate simply because to me it was that brilliant, I felt in that moment that I might be able to fall in love with the book.  I felt like, in that moment, it might be worth it to travel through the pain and the suffering.  And maybe if it had been Isaac telling the story, I might have been able to.  But it was Hazel.  And I have nothing against her.  She had moments of utter brilliance.  Moments when she is so inherently human that I can't help but want to meet her and listen and smile as she talks with Augustus Waters and Isaac and her parents or any other person.  Of course she also has moments where she is a normal teenage girl and I want to strangle her so really it depends on the scene.

And yet as I read on, I found the book lacking.  There was something about it that I still can't quite put my finger on.  Some might blame it on a lack of fantasy or adventure which, I will grant, is what I usually read, but I'd like to think that I have more pride than that.  No, it's more than that.  In this slice of life, these moments of tragic time that are shared, I simply felt something lacking.  I wish I could explain it, but I can't.  And for a moment, towards the end I was going to rate the book far lower than I have.  But during those last three pages, for a moment, John Green gave me something that made me give him a little credit.

"Okay, maybe I'm not such a shitty writer. But I can't pull my ideas together, Van Houten. My thoughts are stars I can't fathom into constellations." (pg 311)

But as much as those two lines, those sweet moments as well as any others I could find and name for you in the novel gave me hope, I still feel that, in a way, John Green is kind of like my own Van Houten.  Not in that he is some drunk who I can't get a straight answer out of.  Not in the least.  But rather, I feel like there was so much more here and that I missed something.  That there was something missing that should have been there that could have made this book great.  Or perhaps, I simply fail to see what so many others love so much about this book.

Glory of Reading

So, for those people who know me, they'll know that I love to read.  I have loved to read for years.  I actually didn't like reading when I was little.  They they started teaching us how to read in kindergarten, I had a lot of trouble with it. I can actually that in first grade I actually got a grasp on the whole concept, but that doesn't mean that I wanted any of it.  I was more happy just playing around with my brothers and friends or watching TV and movies.  I liked dreaming even.  No, my love of reading didn't come until about fourth or fifth grade.

My mother had started to read the Harry Potter books to use out loud.  She would read a chapter, sometimes two, a night.  It was our favorite part of the night honestly.  At least, I know it was for me.  We were on book three or four when I decided that I wanted to read the first one.  We had already gotten through it, but I wanted to reread it.  I had already enjoyed the book once after all, I was certain I would enjoy it again.  Three days later I had read my very first book.

To some people, the might not be a big deal, but to me it meant everything.  For the first time, reading wasn't a chore that I had to do for school.  It was something that I could take pleasure in.  A point of joy and pride.  And so, I found another book and another.  Sometimes they were silly nonsensical books.  Sometimes they were books that changed my perspective of how I read or thought or even wrote when I started probably a year later.

And I can't say that I remember a time in between.  A time when I had to learn to love reading.  The moment that I found pleasure in it, I was lost.  And it's progressively gotten worse depending on a person's opinion.  Honestly, I don't think that such a thing is really so bad.  There is something very liberating in reading.  It teaches us.  Every person takes something different away from each book.  Every book gives us a new perspective of the world.

Of course there are those people who say that they just don't like to read.  They aren't readers.

I've always found that hard to believe.  I rather like the saying: "Anyone who says they don't like to read hasn't read the right book."  I guess that's just the very biased opinion of a bookworm.  It's like with any hobby or great passion as the case very clearly is.  We just can't believe that other people can't love the things that we do as much as we do.  It simply seems utterly unfathomable to us.  So we came up with the wonderful phrase: "To each his own."

It's nice.  It's catchy.  It's an annoyed way to end an argument.  Even a preemptive way to end an argument.  Usually how I use it actually, far more preferable than actually going through the comment.  But I've gone off track.  I'm actually really good at that and I need to stop that kind of thing.

I was talking about reading.  The beauty that is reading.  Some would say that reading as much as I do is an anti-social behavior.  Likely half of my life is taken up by reading.  I have actually been admonished for it in the past.  Teachers were concerned I was not socializing enough and told I could not have any reading at school that was not school required for two weeks.  It was a failed experiment.  Some of us are not very good at socializing.  We're not built for it just as some are not very good at sports.  Some are not very good at math or science.  We all have different skills.

It's what our world is built of.  It is the way that we humans are.  I suppose that is where our phrase to each his own is based from.  As annoying as the phrase is, we also have to admit that not everyone can be the same.  And what a dull world it would be if we were.  We are not all meant to be the same.  And I think reading can show you that.  Reading is a way to escape true.  But it's also a way to study people.  Through books we see different perspectives, different motives, different worlds.  Nothing is ever the same.

Books preserve heritages.  They can be used to tell the truth or perpetuate a lie.  Books are simple.  No matter how complicated the plot.  No matter what the twists and turns, it is always the same.  You might be able to find something new with each reading, but you're not wondering if what you're reading is true or not.  Even non-fiction.  What you read each time is perspective.  A perspective forever preserved in time that you are being allowed to see in its entirety.

What could be more glorious than that?