Book Review: The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Córdova

Well, What Can I say this was my second go round and I still love this book and I'm so glad that I decided to reread it sooner than later.


This book follows Tristian who learns that he's a Merman and while internally freaking out also thinks why couldn't he be something less girly like a werewolf. I like his sense of humor in face of learning that he's something not human.

But of all the creatures in my mom's fairy-tale books, she had to go and be the girliest? Come on!

I feel like he came out on the chill side of things while learning what he was but he still had the right amount of WTF is happening here panicky feelings. Overall I feel like he was just excited to learn about his other side of the family and connecting with them.

Then there's Kurt and Thalia who are a brother and sister duo who kind of helped him with his journey into this new world. Kurt is stiff but likable and I feel like he has a dry sense of humor. While his sister Thalia is just so interested in everything in this new environment and is slightly adorable in her innocence where this new environment is concerned at least.

There there's Layla who is Tristian's best friend from childhood and she's stubborn and loyal and won't quit until she finds out what's going on with her best friend.

Now she and Tristian have a "will they or won't they" type of vibe going on, BUT this leads to some irritating and oh please STOP conversations and actions which I felt was the worse this book had to offer and the only thing that really irritated me about this book.

There are some other characters I liked, but I'll let you met them yourselves but they were all very interesting their own right.

Overall I felt like this was an excellent start to the journey Tristian is on. We get to spend time with him, his family and his friends and see what drives him forward and many seeds were planted that I'm excited to see grow. I loved the author's writing style. Her turn of phrase and descriptions were poetry like in this book and I just wanted to highlight everything and I look forward to seeing how it all turns out.

The magic hums in my veins, wanting to be released, craving water the way I also crave air, and I wonder if one of those needs is ever going to be greater than the other.

This review was originally on my Goodreads so if you want to follow me over there feel free since I don't seem to post regularly over here:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2580135-ke-sha

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".

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".

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.

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.

Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

This book follows Mark Watney an astronaut who is one of the first to walk on Mars and will be the first to probably die there. An unexpected dust storm comes he get injured and his crew is forced to leave him thinking he is dead but he miraculously survived. Not that it will do him much good being on Mars with a very limited food supply.

So in the synopsis on the book it says its a mix between Apollo 13 meets Cast Away and they should add the fact that this guy is FREAKING Macgyver (If You Don't Know Who That Is, I Weep For You) on Mars.

THIS IS Macgyver in action:

Need I show more? I think not.

If you wish to continue with the Richard Anderson (He Played Macgyver) theme then you can cross him with Jack O'Neill (Have You Not Seen Stargate either? The Horror. I Weep For You More) if only because of the space and actor connection.

First Off I loved Mark. Even though he's in this difficult (Understatement Of The Year) situation. He manges to keep a sense of humor. There are moments of course where he can't help it but he refuses to let the darkness swallow him whole. He tries to hold on to hope no matter what.

And for fear of spoilers I can't say much more other then this is VERY fast paced there is always something going on and there's not really any dull moments. Unless of course you're not a Math/Science person. There are points where he's explaining stuff and I barely get it but it didn't ruin the enjoyment of the book for me.

All in all I gave it 5/5 Stars and For full disclosure I got this book for review in exchange for honest review from "Blogging For Books".
http://www.bloggingforbooks.org/

I hope you guys go get this book and read it and let me know what you thought if you've read or if you plan on reading it anytime soon.

Book Review: Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

This book follows Britt. One day while she and her friend Korbie on their way to Korbie's parents vacation home in the mountains, it starts to snow unexpectedly. They get trapped on the road and decide to try and find shelter... which they do. But, the people who occupy the cabin are wanted fugitives and take them as hostages.

So let me start out with the pros of this book... Amazingly, I do have some.

1) The cover: I love it
2) I liked the writing style.
It was fast paced read in the way of a train wreck: you can't tear your eyes away from it. Those are basically the only nice things to say about this book.

Now for the cons:

The main character Britt, is a self-proclaimed daddy's girl, who expects the men in her life to do everything for her. It's quite annoying.

Britt is the absolute worst - I mean, she spent more time thinking about her love life then anything. I mean, it's not like she even really had one considering the fact that Calvin (her ex) who she kept dreaming about dumped her 7-8 months prior. I'm not saying that he's not going to rescue you but you need to be realistic. In between day dreams of Calvin, she begins falling for Mason - one of her kidnappers and I'm just like >_< How can you be so ready to start your life with this other guy and yet be oh so in love with this guy who you've known for a day and who kidnapped you and don't give me anything about "Stockholm Syndrome" okay because I think it takes more than one day to manifest and a whole lot more personal time with your kidnapper.

Don't even get me started on Korbie (who is Calvin's little sister and Britt's best friend), who I give the title of the Stupidest Character in this book and believe me that is quite the achievement considering all the stupid people in this book... Which is everyone. There is not one smart person.

Then there are the kidnappers: Mason and Shaun.

Let's start with Shaun, who may be one of the least stupid people but that's because he may be more unstable than stupid.

Then there's Mason who is Britt's quote-unquote love interest... Though with the way she was drooling over Calvin and flirting with Shaun, it's hard to find a guy in this book who is not Britt's love interest. Mason is just so stupid - which is nothing new. The most that I can say about him is that he runs hot and cold with Britt but considering he's a kidnapper and he can act pretty much anyway he wants, there's really not much I can say about him... Except that he seems to like Britt but he's trying to force himself not to like her. There's more going on underneath the surface but see, the thing that we should all remember is - Britt, he's a kidnapper so him liking you in a romantic way might not necessarily be a good thing for various reasons...

There is more that I have to say but I can't without having spoilers... so, I'll probably leave a link to my Good Reads so you can read my spoiler review(Whenever Its Up) if you wish. I gave it 1 star in the end and that's being nice.

GoodReads Link:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2580135-ke-sha
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Bonus:

She talked about wanting the old Mason back more then she wanted Calvin when Mason was being cold to her.
*My eyes are rolling out of my head*