I had to pick a childhood book for my 2016 Reading Challenge with the Machalo group, so this one wins. Why? I have it memorized. It was required readiI had to pick a childhood book for my 2016 Reading Challenge with the Machalo group, so this one wins. Why? I have it memorized. It was required reading for me according to my children so that they would go to sleep at night. Something about the repetitive wording would lull them off to dreamland.
When I realized that I had to read a biography for my reading challenge with the Machalo chicks this year, I was like, "No, please God, No!! I hate biWhen I realized that I had to read a biography for my reading challenge with the Machalo chicks this year, I was like, "No, please God, No!! I hate biographies! Just strike me down instead! Take my first born child!"
Okay, maybe that was a little crazy. But, you know what's crazier? Scientology!
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And, the weird thing is that she doesn't even talk about the alien part of the religion. Yet, it still comes off as bat-shit crazy - along with being an extremely dangerous cult.
This book will make you so angry that you will want to kill Tom Cruise with a roll of cookie dough. (It makes sense if you read the book... not that you need to make sense. This shit is bat-shit crazy.... plus, remember the jumping on the couch thing? Yeah, cookie-dough related murder is less crazy than Tom Cruise.)
The abusiveness of this "church" is scary. They are seriously dangerous to anyone who comes in contact with them and I hope that more and more ex-members get up the nerve to speak out against them. It seems like they are often afraid to do so, and even Leah was pretty soft in her language. I'm just really glad that she was able to get out of it and is helping others who are going through the same thing.
On the other hand, there is a lot of money to be made in starting a "religion" like this. Your average Scientologist is in for a half a million dollars by the time they make it to the top of bullshit mountain. Cha-ching!
I'm not even going to rate this book. I hated it so much, but the writing is amazing. It takes a truly gifted writer to take you inside the mind of soI'm not even going to rate this book. I hated it so much, but the writing is amazing. It takes a truly gifted writer to take you inside the mind of someone this twisted and vile. I would swear that Nabokov himself must have been a pedophile to be able to write such a convincing diary of the mind of one. It truly read like a first-hand account. It's disturbing. So disturbing that I had a bit of a hard time sleeping last night. And, that is a sign of an amazing author. That is why it is considered a classic. And, that is also why it was banned. It's too convincing.
If you don't have to read it, I would never recommend this book to anyone for leisure reading. I would only recommend it to someone interested in becoming a writer, or someone studying literature.
For the rest of us - those who read for pleasure - stay the hell away. Run away, far away!
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* I read this book as part of my 2016 Mac Halo Group book challenge: "read a banned book".
Publisher: Okay, we need the perfect book cover for this story. It's a historical romance novel set in England.
Cover AThis is what MUST have happened:
Publisher: Okay, we need the perfect book cover for this story. It's a historical romance novel set in England.
Cover Artist: How about this?
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Publisher: No, no, no. That won't work at all. This book is all about a journey that our couple is taking together. They aren't laying around. They are traveling through the English countryside. There is a lot of information about the places they pass through, the history and the architecture.
Cover Artist: How about this one then?
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Publisher: No, no, no. That's not it either. There needs to be something that shows the angst of our couple as they are both stuck in circumstances beyond their control and both see themselves in a distorted manner. Through their journey, they start to heal each other and find redemption in their love story.
Cover Artist: Aww, sounds like maybe a more artistic approach is what you are looking for.
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Publisher: That's all wrong. There is also a big historical aspect in this story. Each town they visit has historical significance from the War of the Roses or the Napoleonic War. There are amazing and colorful stories told throughout the book, with quite a few local ghost stories thrown in.
Cover Artist: Hmm, okay, history & ghosts. How about this one?
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Publisher: No, no, no. That doesn't even show us the beautiful romance between the two men. It's a love story that builds slowly as a friendship first, developing over time as they get to know and appreciate each other.
Cover Artist: Okay... wait, what? Did you say two MEN? I finally understand what you need.
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Publisher: Perfect!!! Print a million copies!
This book was read for the Mac Halo group book challenge: Pick a book for the cover. [image]...more
E.T.A.: So, I watched the movie today online. (It's everywhere). If you saw the movie, you still don't know the book. Totally different! The movie is E.T.A.: So, I watched the movie today online. (It's everywhere). If you saw the movie, you still don't know the book. Totally different! The movie is even more like the Hunger Games, but it doesn't scratch the surface of the book. It also is not true to the book at all. Even character names were changed. Read the book instead! ;-) **************************************** (Back to your previously scheduled book review):
Holy Massacre, Batman!
If you feel like the Hunger Games was way too sweet, touchy feely, and gentle - this might be more your style.
If you wanted more kids in the arena, more sick & twisted mind games, waaaaay more blood guts & gore - look no further.
If you wondered what it would be like if all 42 kids grew up together, knew each other, and trusted each other before the Hunger Games - your answer lies within this book.
If you wished that you had the POV's of Cato, Clove, Rue, Foxface, along with their backstories and their brutally detailed deaths - gotcha covered.
If you thought of how much different things would have been if they'd been given guns and there were no game-maker toys to kill them, only each other - it's all here, baby!
So, the first bit is a little hard to get through because it can be a bit confusing with so many characters. Especially since they have tough names that includes their last names. I mean, for me they were tough. There were no Joe's or Sue's. And, there are 42 of these suckers - ouch! That is a lot of names to keep straight. But, the good news is that once the 'game' gets underway, it really starts to flow. And, it is epic. So unbelievably brutal and disturbing. But, also so many times when it's poignant. I'm just amazed at how deep this book was able to go into the character's minds when there was so much action and so many people. It really is an amazing piece of work.
Also, Suzanne Collins totally plagiarized! There were parts of the story that were absolutely exactly from this book. For instance, there were announcements in the morning and evening of who was killed, they were constantly narrowing down the playing field to herd the kids closer together, and there was a part where they instructed one boy to set two fires with young wood so that it would smoke as a signal and then they would use a bird call to find each other. Copy much?
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I read this book, not only because I wanted to and it was epic, but also as part of my 2016 Reading Challenge with the MacHalo chicks: Read a book that was made into a movie.
I had to give a 1-star because I literally hated this book. But, I also have to say that I'm not being fair by giving it a 1-star because it wa[image]
I had to give a 1-star because I literally hated this book. But, I also have to say that I'm not being fair by giving it a 1-star because it was well written and would probably be a favorite among people who like this type of story and don't mind lengthy descriptions of every. f-ing. thing.
[image] omg!!! The room was fucking beige! That's all I need to know!!!
So, as I mentioned, this book was a buddy-read with the awesome peeps at the BBB group. They made it almost bearable because many of them felt the same way as me about the book, and suffering with another person makes it better somehow.
The story is about a guy named Locke who is a thief. He has absolutely no conscience, although you think he might at one point. He steals from the rich, but doesn't give to the poor. He murders, he tortures, he punches old ladies in the face. (You think I'm kidding on the last one? I'm not.) But, we are supposed to like him, I guess, and root for him when he gets screwed over by another thief. That's a little tough for me because I believe in the old sayings: "live by the sword, die by the sword", and my favorite: "Lie down with dogs and you're gonna get fleas."
[image] aww, who's got cute little fleas? you do!
So, I wasn't a huge fan of the main characters.
And, I wasn't a fan of the pages and pages of descriptions that made me want to get a gun and shoot myself in the head.
Then, there was a bunch of time-jumps. I am not talking about alternating past/present chapters, although that was part of it; but also time-jumps within the time-jumps. It was the "Inception" of time-jumping. We got to read about something that happened, then we backpedaled to an hour earlier to read about how and why it happened. Then, we were 10 years in the past. Now, we are learning something about some other people in another time period - called an interlude (should be called infodumplude) - between many of the chapters. Just settle the fuck down, people! Start your story from the beginning, and tell it to me in a cohesive manner. Sheesh!
Finally, I thought there may be a saving romance angle when it was mentioned that Locke had a lost love. How cool, I thought! She might show up at some point and save the day (also dressed-up and part of a con). But, no, don't get your hopes up. This girl never shows up. She, I guess, is a teaser to make us read the next book in hopes of meeting her. Frankly, I don't want to meet her that badly. I'll pass.
[image] I have a colonoscopy scheduled that day......more
It's time for me to say what everyone else who read this is thinking: What the hell, Anne Bishop? Four books and not even a kiss? You're a sadistic woIt's time for me to say what everyone else who read this is thinking: What the hell, Anne Bishop? Four books and not even a kiss? You're a sadistic woman!
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I mean, come on! I'm all for the slow-build of a romance, but this is going too far! We need to start a petition or something!
Oh, but Meg's so innocent and Simon's a wolf. I don't care! They are totally in love - get to it!
The other problem I had with this book was that there were too many POVs. I want more of what's going on in the Courtyard and less a bunch of other people who are just going to die anyway and break our hearts! Don't make me care about something that you have no intention of letting me keep! That's just wrong. Why don't you just start handing out dying puppies or m&m bags filled with raisins?
The good news is that there is finally some revenge on the HFL. But, I would have liked to see them suffer a little more, or at least get to read more about their demise rather than a later mention that there was mysterious lightning and people died. Give me some details! Bring on some bloodshed!
As part of my 2016 reading challenge with the MacHalo group, I needed to read a book out of my comfort zone. Alien smut, which seems to be popular aloAs part of my 2016 reading challenge with the MacHalo group, I needed to read a book out of my comfort zone. Alien smut, which seems to be popular alongside monster porn for some reason, is definitely out of my comfort zone. I was hoping that at least it would deliver in the humor department, and it really did.
We begin our story on an alien spaceship where our hero, Georgie (a girl), is being held in a cell with a bunch of other kidnapped women, waiting to be taken to another planet for sale... or maybe as food.. .they aren't really sure. They are in a cage with a giant gerbil water bottle type of thing, a bucket, and a bunch of alien rapists who will rape them if they make a sound. Yeah, it kind of sucks...
Luckily, their spaceship has mechanical problems, so they dump their cargo - the girls - onto an ice planet with plans to maybe pick them up later. Georgie is the one who gets sent out to investigate their surroundings, only to meet an indigenous creature, who is a male. He decides Georgie is his mate, so let the mating begin!
And, now we get to what alien-smut is about - the smut. But, it wasn't all smut. There was a lot of humor along with it.
"You ever see Star Wars? The original ones?"
"Don't tell me----"
"Yep. It looks like we landed on fucking Hoth. Except I see two itty bitty suns and a huge-ass moon."
"Not Hoth," Liz yells. "It was the sixth planet from its sun, and I don't recall it having a moon."
"Okay, nerd," I call back to her. "We'll call this place Not-Hoth then."
And, they do. The planet is from then on known as "Not Hoth".
[image] Summer in Hoth
And, we all remember what was on Hoth, right? right? The Tauntauns ... .white creature that Han Solo cut open and stuck Luke inside of to keep warm... (If you don't know what I'm talking about, just unfriend me and get yourself a copy of The Empire Strikes Back dammit!)
[image] Hmmmm, Tauntauns have tails and horns... Our Ice Planet Barbarians have tails and horns...Throw a smurf in with a Tauntaun and we may have an origin story here...
So, our alien hero decides to take Georgie back to his cave and keep her forever. Or, at least until she dies trying to give birth to a giant blue baby with horns...
"To be fair, I thought he couldn't make me pregnant if it was interspecies sex."
"A Great Dane can still make a Chihuahua pregnant," Liz points out. "Guess which one you are."
Yeah, that's gonna leave a mark...
And, guess what? Our blue barbarian happens to have a tribe full of men with no women waiting back at the cave. And, our human female happens to have a spaceship full of women, but no men, shipwrecked on Not Hoth. Wow! The fortuitousness of this situation!!
It is almost as epic and fated as the meeting of chocolate and peanut butter for the first time!
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So, all in all, cringing sex scenes with weird alien aside, this book was pretty entertaining. I don't think it's for everyone. (Please, my innocent friends, stay away from the book. Drop the book and go watch The Empire Strikes Back instead.) But, for the jaded, the crazy, the reader who needs a little extra oomph in their smut - this is a beautiful story.
Teen angst - check. Insta-love - check. Super-hot guy falls for the outsider girl - check. Horrible adults, including parents who are way more immature tTeen angst - check. Insta-love - check. Super-hot guy falls for the outsider girl - check. Horrible adults, including parents who are way more immature than their kids - check. High school stereotyping and bullying - check. True love at 16 - duh!! checkity check check
Okay, so I don't have much patience for books like this. I mean, come on! What kind of disappointment are we setting our teen girls up for if they think these kind of things happen? Ugh!
But, I do admit that I really liked the character of Levi. And, who wouldn't? He was written as the perfect boy. Super good-looking, understanding, compassionate, totally hates the 'popular kids' and prefers the 'weird ones', all while feeding deer in a meadow and taking care of his cancer-ridden father. Plus, he is a super-genius. Oh, and a music virtuoso. I love this kid!
And, our girl, Aria, (how convenient that she has a musical name for the musical boy?) is an artist, a pregnant teen who refuses to tell anyone who the father is (nobly, of course), and only has one friend - her geeky guy-friend with OCD. Sigh.
The book was also super angsty. These kids had every single bad thing going on in their lives possible. It was like several After School Specials at once.
What did I like? Well, there is a lot of talk of artists, which is interesting if you are an art person. The boy character was homeschooled. I homeschooled my sons, so there's that... It wasn't hard to read, or offensive. ...That's all I got. Oh, it sounded like Aria's hair was cool. Although, for a girl who didn't want to be noticed, having brightly colored hair that is shaved on one side is not the best way to go about it.
I read this book as part of my 2016 MacHalo Reading Challenge: Read a book that someone else picks. (My friend who picked it out loves the sweet YA romances. It's not her fault, it's me. I'm way too cynical for books that are supposed to evoke feelings and such.)
In the past year, Dublin had transformed from an everyday urban dwelling with a touch of magic to a chillingly magical city with a touch of normal.In the past year, Dublin had transformed from an everyday urban dwelling with a touch of magic to a chillingly magical city with a touch of normal.
Old-school Fever fans should be extremely happy with this book after the last two in the series. It has that feel about it that seemed to have been missing in Iced and Burned. We get Mac's POV, but we aren't only angsting over Barrons too much. The main focus isn't on their relationship, like in Burned. I would say that the biggest focus in this book is Dani/Jada, and everyone dealing with her grown-up form. And, luckily, we get Dancer back, who does a great job of trying to get the group to see that they've been unfair to Jada, who has lived in hell for the past five years alone only to come back and have everyone hate her hardened form. They didn't consider what she must have been through to become "Jada", just that they were disappointed that she wasn't 14-yr old Dani anymore.
Dancer said: "She wants to be Jada, I'm fine with it. She wants to be Dani, I'm fine with it. Quit looking at it like Jada killed Dani. Figure out how to appreciate both sides of her personality...
Your rejection of Jada stems from how guilty you feel about what happened to her and that's all about your hangups, not hers..."
Although, I wish he wouldn't have helped Ryodan by opening his eyes about this because I'm not on the Dani/Ryo ship in any way. Ryodan is a complete and utter asshole. He's overbearing, rude, and completely unconcerned about the feelings of others. I don't understand in any way how anyone can find anything attractive about his personality.
My reasons for hating Ryodan:
First off, he breaks the rules of the Nine and tells them "tough shit" basically, all while hurting Christian's family. He cannot care less about how his actions in this case are hurting so many others because he wants to play and experiment with turning others into whatever the hell he is. Why? So he can turn Dani/Jada....probably against her will. But, isn't that sweet and caring? Besides, what about the extent he went to during the fire for her? NO. It is all still selfishly motivated because he considers Dani his possession. And, "he isn't going to let anything happen to something that belongs to him." (His words)
Later, he purposely doesn't disclose where Kat is when her long-term boyfriend comes to him for help because she's been missing for weeks. He has even been checking the dead every few days to make sure she's not one of them.
Mac:"you need to let him know somehow that she's all right."
"Because it's not fair," he mocked.
"Because there's no need to inflict suffering if you can prevent it."
"He'll brood, he'll pine. She'll return. He'll get over it."
Dick!
I seem to remember when Dani went missing for a very short time and he went ballistic. But, only his feelings matter to him - no one else's.
And, let's not forget what he did during the fire to prove a certain point to Dani..(view spoiler)[ Cutting open Shazam in front of her face when she was obviously having a breakdown? Having a temper tantrum while a girl was so distressed that he sends her into shock? Maybe he wouldn't have been burned so badly if he hadn't taken the time to do this. (hide spoiler)]
Plus, his entire treatment of Mac is deplorable. If my husband's friend talked to me like he talks to her? He wouldn't be seeing my husband anymore. Ryodan's a disrespectful asshole to both Barrons and Mac by the way he treats her.
I can list more times when Ryodan is a complete douchebag, but then I would have to quote absolutely every exchange he has with anyone in the book.
[image] So, STFU Ryodan!
The best part of this story was seeing Jada develop and struggle to find herself in a world that stood still while she was out in a battlefield. It was also nice to have Dancer back, and to see Christian's development. There is a cliffhanger that should make the next book really interesting too.
All in all, this is the happiest I've been about a book in this series for a long time. Now, it's just waiting for another year for the next one...
Fan-girling! Except... it's over now. And, no awesome epilogue. Give me a glimpse of the future, I'm begging you!!
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This series has been an increFan-girling! Except... it's over now. And, no awesome epilogue. Give me a glimpse of the future, I'm begging you!!
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This series has been an incredible journey. I love Laurent so much! He is beautiful, cold & detached, devious, and deadly. The perfect man.
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Here is my Laurent: [image]
And, Damen. He is so good and honest, with moral character and that kind of stuff. That's okay too, I guess.
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Here is my Damen: [image]
Huh, what do you know? I happened to find two ab-guys for my pics.. Oh well, what can you do? After all, the Akielons dressed in very little clothing, so Damen was always displaying his abs. Something that Laurent would make fun of:
When Laurent found Damen upset: Damen: "You aren't going to offer me one of your gaudy Veretian handkerchiefs?"
Laurent: "You could use the clothing you're wearing. It's about the same size."
Where is this Akielon place? How can I get there?
At the end of the last book, we see Damen leading Laurent's army into his own country and being discovered as the missing prince. This was going to be an awkward situation. And, it was. Honestly, I wasn't happy with all of the battle scenes and traveling from place to place. But, as soon as Laurent and Damen started interacting again, it got good. As always. This series is so good!
I don't want to give too much away because this book is just coming out. But, if you liked the first two books, you will love this one. And, if you haven't read the first two books, you need to.
This book was read as part of my 2016 challenge with the Mac Halo chicks. (I totally would have read it anyway! ;)
The Handmaid's Tale meets YA Dystopia. And, without all of that silly depression and despondency that comes with The Handmaid's Tale. There is hope inThe Handmaid's Tale meets YA Dystopia. And, without all of that silly depression and despondency that comes with The Handmaid's Tale. There is hope in this one. YA style hope, meaning there is a boy involved, but still, it was much better than I expected it to be. Because, love-interest or not, our heroine is more interested in being free than chasing a guy around.
My ma taught me one thing from the beginning. My body is mine. My own. No one else's. Just because someone thinks they have rights to it, doesn't make it true.
You go, girl!!
But, Aya/Clover is fighting an uphill battle because she lives in a world where girls are simply a commodity. They are auctioned and sold to the highest bidder and have to live as his possession until they either give him a son, or he gets tired of them. After this, they are resold, as used goods, over and over again until they die.
Most girls understand that this is their lot in life and do nothing but hope they can get the best possible master husband.
They've forgotten, or maybe they never learned, that their worth is not determined by how much a man wants them.
Well, it's a good thing this is fiction!!! We never are taught that in this enlightened day and age!
[image] Freaking media! Always setting the bar just a little bit higher!
They are sent to prisons camps to be groomed and sold to the highest bidder. Aya is caught in the wild and sent to one of these places where she is renamed Clover. Considering she was living free beforehand, she is a premium, organic, free-range, meat girl who may be able to produce children, unlike those factory farm girls. She should get a good price. But, Aya/Clover doesn't want to be sold so she does crazy things to get out of it. Like getting beat-up so her face is messed up, or acting like a raving lunatic on stage.
That's right. This society is so screwed-up and dystopic that they parade these girls across the stage and the men rate them. It's crazy, right? right?
[image] pedo bear approved...
Aya's whole goal is to get free and get back to her wild mountain living where she left behind some young cousins. She intends to keep them safe from the auction block and to live her life on her own terms. Crazy females, right? Thinking they should be able to live freely and not be sex slaves. Bitches be crazy!
This book is very fast-paced and entertaining. I wouldn't say that it's the most original dystopia ever written, but it has a better underlying message than most. It also doesn't have Aya starting some revolution against the government and being a special snowflake. She is just a girl trying to keep her and her family free. No super-powers, no magic, no most-beautiful girl in the world, no extra strength or brains - just a normal girl. I found that refreshing.
This book was read as part of my 2016 reading challenge with the Mac Halo chicks: Read a book that has been on your TBR list for over a year. [image]...more
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