Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Book Review: The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

First off the cover.
I have much love for it.
It's simple and intricate all at once.

Now on to the story.
From the first sentence.
When the words,

   I didn't stop giving hand jobs because I wasn't good at it. I  stopped giving hand jobs because I was the best at it.

are said I was hooked.

 The main character is a roll with the punches type. Which considering her life is not surprising. She's currently pretending to be a psychic so when this woman, Susan come to her saying has a haunted house what she initially see's as an easy "pacify the rich woman with too much time on her hands and make easy money" job may turn out to be all too real.

 This is a short story so I don't want to say too much except I ended up really liking it and the way she spun the story keep pulling me in and kept me guessing long after the book was over, but there were a few mishaps along the way and even opened ended stories need certain thing fleshed out.

This was my first Gillian Flynn book and I'm definitely looking forward to my second.
                                           
 In the end I gave it 4/5 stars and for full disclosure I got this book for review in exchange for honest review from "Blogging For Books".



Saturday, October 31, 2015

Book Review: Armada by Ernest Cline

Now where do I begin?

 This book follows Zack Lightman who is a gamer and pop culture enthusiast. In this world there's this game called Armada a popular online flight simulator in which the players must protect earth from alien invaders.
  One day while looking out the window in class he see's a flying saucer just like one the invading aliens use in Armada. No he's not losing his mind like he think he his. The aliens are all too real and his skills in the game Armada are about to come in handy.

 I loved Zack his thought process is sometimes how I think. Relating situations to things seen in movies, TVShows, and what I've read in books. I also really enjoyed the relationship he had with his mother.
 Despite things they were really close and it was nice to read about.

  "You can do great things. She looked me in the eyes. You know that, right? 

 I felt thought that besides Zach most of the other character's didn't get enough screen time.  I mean I liked them well enough from the brief time we get to spend with them. It's just so much stuff happened in such a short amount of time. I felt like it should have been drawn out a little more and It definitely should have been a longer book.

 Then of course there were the 80's pop culture references everywhere. I heard a lot of people were annoyed by this but I didn't mind them I understand why the main character was attached and it made me nostalgic sometimes. Other times I didn't know what he was talking about it but it sounded interesting enough for me to go look it up and occasionally add things to my To-Watch list Lol.

Also some of the technical details for the ships kind of bogged things down for me. Would have been nice to have some sketches occupying each explanation.

Overall I really enjoyed this novel. There's potential there for a sequel, but still works as a stand alone. Definitely think this would make an awesome movie if done CORRECTLY. There's so much more I want to talk about, but I don't want to spoil anyone.

In the end gave it 4/5 stars and For full disclosure I got this book for review in exchange for honest review from "Blogging For Books".

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Book Review: More Than This by Jay McLean



Even now just thinking about everything that went on in this book makes my emotions exhausted.

Lets start with the plot.

On Mikayla prom night she discovers that her boyfriend of four years and her best friend since the fifth grade has been sleeping together behind her back for two years. On the same night she discovers this she meets Jake who see's everything go down and he ask's her if she would like to go to his school prom with him.

This book takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. So many life changing things happen to Mikayla in one night.

This book has two points of view Mikayla's and Jake which I like. I like knowing which each person in the relationship is thinking through out the book..

Mikayla,
So much happens to this character that I'm surprised that she isn't catatonic through the whole thing. Thank god she has Jake, he is as cliched as it might sound "her light in the darkness" watching their relationship unfold as you on edge wondering what could possibly happen next. No matter what happens she keeps on going and you have to admire her for that.

Jake,
He's not perfect. Sometimes he got frustrated because of her mix signals she's giving which stemmed from her own insecurities about not being good enough for him and also wondering if she had the right to be happy in the wake of the tragedy that as befallen her. I liked Jake and at first I though he was going to be "too perfect" which can be irritating in and of it self but he had some stuff in his past that crops up as well as his jealousy issues. Although they both had that at times. He never stopped fighting for them and I loved that about him.

I love Jake's circle of friend who just welcome her with open arms and who we'll apparently see later with their own books. I especially look forward to seeing what happens with Logan who I just felt for since he was the only single one and he was feeling like a 7th wheel plus you can just sense some turmoil going on with him under the surface. Also Lucy who was her Book Buddy was just adorable and sassy.

Now there is a LOT of drama in this book, some may to much but I quite enjoyed although once in a while I was like could you give the characters a break. Sometimes I got really frustrated with Mikayla but I calmed myself down by reminding myself about everything that had happen to her in such a short time.

It was fast pace and never boring and so much stuff went on and I don't want to spoil anything for you so I wont say much except this is a journey you must take yourself.

I gave it 5/5 stars overall.

Full Disclosure:

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.




Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Book Review: One Death, Nine Stories by Marc Aronson & Various Other People



This books follow nine different characters' stories that are affected - some small, some huge - by the death of a boy named Kevin.

We see a person who has never heard of Kevin, someone who only knew of him, old friends, current friends, new friends, and family.

"Could he have imagined the ripple effect it would have?"
-Pg.100 HC

We see people mourn and reevaluate their lives, even though they didn't know him.

As with most books with short stories, I feel like you're always going to like some stories better then the rest. However, the fact that it all ties together and follows many stories yet, at the same time one story, was really intriguing.

We glean information about Kevin in most of the stories - like pieces of a puzzle. We learn who he was and how life shaped him. Dead at 19 and some can't bring themselves to accept what is going on.

I loved some stories, liked others and only thought one or two were meh. I didn't hate any of the stories.

This book showed how far reaching death can be. Especially in this age of internet and social media.

"How does one deal with a friends death?" A brothers death? A child's death?

"He deserved a life. And who doesn't make mistakes? Just Once? Everyone makes mistakes. Just once."
-Pg.51

I didn't like all of the characters (one in particular) but at the end of the day we learned more about Kevin which was kind of the point.

""You used to work there?"
"Yeah".
"What happened?"
"Lots"."
-PG.133


I can't really say much without getting into spoiler territory. Which would be easy to do, since this is not only about how many people can be affected by one death or how people deal with death - there's also the mystery of how Kevin died. It was very ambiguous although I feel like after getting a few pieces of the puzzle you can put it together fairly quickly.

In the end I gave this book 4/5 stars. I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.