Εμφάνιση αναρτήσεων με ετικέτα 3 stars. Εμφάνιση όλων των αναρτήσεων
Εμφάνιση αναρτήσεων με ετικέτα 3 stars. Εμφάνιση όλων των αναρτήσεων

Τετάρτη 25 Απριλίου 2012

There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones

Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers
Publication Date: 14 Oct 2011
Series or Standalone: Standalone
ISBN-13: 9781595545404
Format: eBook
Pages: 314
Websites:
Jenny B. Jones - Official Site
Jenny B. Jones - Blog
Jenny B. Jones - Twitter
Jenny B. Jones - Goodreads


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Blurb:

Grief brought Finley to Ireland. LOVE WILL LEAD HER HOME. 

Finley Sinclair is not your typical eighteen-year-old. She's witty, tough, and driven. With an upcoming interview at the Manhattan music conservatory, Finley needs to compose her audition piece. But her creativity disappeared with the death of her older brother, Will. 

She decides to study abroad in Ireland so she can follow Will's travel journal. It's the place he felt closest to God, and she's hopeful being there will help her make peace over losing him. So she agrees to an exchange program and boards the plane. 

Beckett Rush, teen heartthrob and Hollywood bad boy, is flying to Ireland to finish filming his latest vampire movie. On the flight, he meets Finley. She's the one girl who seems immune to his charm. Undeterred, Beckett convinces her to be his assistant in exchange for his help as a tour guide. 

Once in Ireland, Finley starts to break down. The loss of her brother and the pressure of school, her audition, and whatever it is that is happening between her and Beckett, leads her to a new and dangerous vice. When is God going to show up for her in this emerald paradise? 

Then she experiences something that radically changes her perspective on life. Could it be God convincing her that everything she's been looking for has been with her all along?

                                                        ____________________________

There you’ll find me is a book about loss and searching for God. Actually, it’s not only about that, it’s about many different things; it touches up on the topics of love, friendship, bullying, family, depression, anorexia, redemption etc. This could be considered both a positive and negative thing. Negative because, well, how much can you cover of each topic if you’re going to mention all? You’re bound to make a mistake or overlook something important. However, there didn’t seem to be such a problem in There You’ll find me, or at least, none that I noticed. Although, to be perfectly honest, I would prefer less topics because I sometimes felt like I was in information overload mode.

There were other instances in the book when I would enter overload mode. I found the book was full of people offering Finely a piece of guidance or wisdom, not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but it sometimes felt too much.

As for Finley, there were times when I really disliked her and that is because she could turn into a total bitch when and if she wanted and hurt others with what she said. Also, she tended to see what she wanted to see, not what was really happening. There were so many times she would get mad at poor Beckett (not that he was always right) for something that was obviously not his fault and she would doubt the obvious, that he cared. There were times when I wanted to shout to her: “He’s chasing after you every opportunity he gets, he does everything for you and he sticks up for you… why are you so stuck in your ways and blind to the fact that he actually cares for you?”

Also, if you’re looking for something original this is not a book for you because it deals with a story that has been told many times before. I can’t really say it was an exact copy of other books dealing with love between an everyday girl and a celebrity, but there’s only so much you can do with that concept.

A couple of things I really, really liked about this book were the cover, I think it’s what drew me to it and made me pay attention to it in the first place, and the fact that the story begins with a kite and also ends with a kite. I love when stories begin and end with the same image or a similar situation.

Challenge(s): 2012 eBook Challenge

Source: ARC Review Copy from NetGalley

Τετάρτη 29 Φεβρουαρίου 2012

Courtney Crumin and the Night Things (Vol.1) by Ted Naifeh

Publisher: Oni Press
Publication Date: 28 May 2003
Series or Standalone: Series (Graphic Novel)
ISBN-13: 9781929998609
Format: eBook
Pages: 128
Websites:
Ted Maifeh - Oficial Site
Ted Maifeh - Blog
Ted Maifeh - Twitter
Ted Maifeh - Goodreads


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Courtney Crumin Series Order:
Book 1: Courtney Crumin and the Night Things
Book 2: Courtney Crumin and the Coven of Mystics (6 Oct 2003)
Book 3: Courtney Crumin in the Twilight Kingdom (22 Sept 2004)
Book 4: Courtney Crumin's Monstrous Holiday (31 March 2009)

Blurb:

Courtney's parents have dragged her out to a high-to-do suburb to live with her creepy Great Uncle Aloysius in his spooky old house. She's not only the new kid in school, but she also discovers strange things lurking under her bed.

___________________

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things was a fast, interesting and entertaining read. This edition in particular contains the four individual issues of the comic and is the first of four volumes.

The narration is a combination of Courtneys inner thinking processes and a goblin called Butterworth who lives in the woods and feeds on human flesh.

If you’re into dark, eerie graphic novels you might enjoy this one. The artwork works well with the story giving it a dark and gothic feel.

I enjoyed it, although I wasn’t blown away by it. I will be definitely reading the rest of the series since I found Courtney’s little adventures entertaining.

Challenge(s): 2012 Ebook Challenge

Source: ARC Review Copy by NetGalley.

Δευτέρα 20 Φεβρουαρίου 2012

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: 15 Nov 2011
Series or Standalone: Series
ISBN-13: 9780062085481
Format: eBook
Pages: 338
Websites:
Tahereh Mafi - Official Site
Tahereh Mafi - Blog
Tahereh Mafi - Twitter
Tahereh Mafi - Goodreads


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Shatter Me Series Order:
Book 1: Shatter Me
Book 2: Unravel me (~5 Feb 2013)
Book 3: Untitled (~ Nov 2013)

 Overview:

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. 

__________________

So much hype surrounded this book and the description was so promising but there was something that just didn't work for me.

Tahereh Mafi has a rare talent with words and there were many beautiful expressions and images in Shatter Me. As well as some very sexy scenes in the shower *wink wink*.

The characters felt a little distant to me, I couldn't really relate to any of them. Juliette was portrayed as a tough girl in the beginning, but she did not live up to that characterization. There came a point in the book where she would cry in every single chapter. Not only that, but she was always trembling, shivering and wobbling. It became so frustrating. She definitely did not seem like a tough girl to me.

Adam...well, i don't know. He was nice but again I couldn't really "feel" him. I couldn't see him as a real person. I had the same problems with Warner. And there is this other person who enters the picture later on in the book (I don't want to spoil anything so I won't reveal a name) who presents such a poor and underdeveloped story that screams out that it's false. However, he manages to get everyone to do exactly what he wants. Everything just seemed so convenient in this book.

I wanted to like Shatter Me becasue the story was very interesting and promising, because the writing was so beautiful and so unexpectedly out-worldly and because I was so excited to finally start reading it. I kind of lost my excitement somewhere on the way.

I gave it 3 stars because of the writing. Tahereh Mafi really has a natural talent when it comes to words. I would love to see more of her work, perhaps something other than Shatter Me becasue her writing really impressed me. But who knows, she might pleasantly surprise me in Unravel Me.

Challenge(s): 2012 eBook Challenge