Sorry I've Not Been Reading

So anyway, I'm sorry I haven't been reading I've spent the last few days looking after my pet cat who isn't very well (Have you ever tried to make a cat eat a tablet?). So making sure he doesn't get out or in trouble has been pretty much my top priority.

Then yesterday I got a 3DS so I've been playing on that. So unless you want reviews on Asphalt 3D and Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (both really good) I'm not going to be reading or writing for a while.

I will be back though, I promise

Charmaine Elaine =)

Being Human: Chasers by Mark Michalowski

Plot

In the second of the Being Human spin off books, George is approached by his lesbian friends Kaz and Gail who want him to be the surrogate father of their baby. Mitchell and Annie aren't impressed with the idea and George is hesitant, due to the fact that he doesn't know if his werewolf genes are hereditary. Will George accept or decline?

Meanwhile Mitchell has met Leo, a patient at the hospital where he works. They hit it off and end up going on a night out with George and Annie. Leo can see Annie and he also seems to have a few secrets of his own. Why is he after Mitchell and just what is that he wants?

Writing

The writing in this book is okay I've come across this author before as he's written some Doctor Who novels and to be honest I think he's better at them.

The Being Human books all seem oddly distant from the show and you have trouble imagining the characters. Normally I don't find that a problem but this book shouldn't be like that because you've got a connection to the characters before you've even turned to page 1.

Characters

The characters were awful. There was none of Mitchell's sexy bad boy, none of George's rambling and barely anything of Annie at all.

The characters that were made up for the book particularly special and the situation between Mitchell and Leo was slightly altered and used in series 3. I don't really have much to say about the characters, so I'm just not going to bother.

Overall

It's an okay book. It's a lot better than the first which was abysmal but it lacks something that the show has. I'm not sure that this is the author's fault though, it may just be one of those series' that doesn't translate well on to the written page.

I gave this book the benefit of the doubt and 3 stars. I'm only going to recommend it if you're a die hard Being Human fan, otherwise just don't bother.

Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink

Plot


Lia Milthorpe has moved to London in an attempt to better acquaint herself with the prophecy that she discovered that she was a part of in book one.


Lia has to travel to the mysterious land of Altus in order to discover the location of the rest of the pages from the prophecy - the pages that will tell Lia how to end the prophecy once and for all. She has to deal with the mysterious Dimitri and the betrayal of one of the people closest to her. The future of the world rests firmly on her shoulders but will she defeat the prophecy, or will the prophecy defeat her?


Writing

The writing in this book is so beautiful. It's captivating, it just draws you into Lia's world as you will her on in her journey. Also this book has my favourite plot twist of the year. I didn't see it coming at all.

I'm actually having a really hard time finding the words to describe the writing as, for me anyway, it was pretty much flawless. It's definitely one of the best written books that I've read this year.

Characters

The characters have all been intricately created and are beautifully flawed in ways that can only be described as human. I've found that not many books have flawed humans as characters and just have these super amazing lives that are instantly perfect.

Lia is a girl on a mission, she's filled with such strength and determination and she refuses to bow down, no matter what obstacles are put in her way. She comes across so real and so likeable that you can't help but want to read her story.

My only flaw with this book though comes under this category. I adore Lia's twin sister Alice so much and I'd love to see inside her head. Even if it's just one chapter from her POV it would make this story complete. It would give it another angle and it would be so nice to know what Alice knows.

Anyway back to the positives. I'm not going to mention Sonia and Luisa other than to say that they aren't as involved in this book plot wise and I don't want to spoil the plot for others.

One final character worth mentioning is new boy Dimitri. I've got to say I think he's fantastic. I love him.

Overall

A wonderful, absorbing read. It's such a beautifully written book with a strong storyline and I have to admit It's one of my favourites of the and the best supernatural type book I've read so far this year.

I've decided to give it 5 stars as it's such an amazing book and my one flaw isn't that major. I recommend this book wholeheartedly [but read book 1 first] it's a definite improvement on Prophecy of the Sisters. Michelle Zink is fast becoming one of my all time favourite authors, I can't wait for the conclusion of this thrilling trilogy.

Torment by Lauren Kate

Plot

Luce has been moved to yet another school, this time by her 'boyfriend' Daniel. Now in California (not that her parents know this fact) Luce decides to delve into her past [lives] to see if she can come up with answers to the questions that Daniel refuses to comment on and to see whether she truly belongs with him.

Whilst there Luce meets Miles, a boy who is just so sweet and wonderful oh and he's in love with our 'heroine'. Luce feels an attraction towards him, will she act on it?

Writing

I liked the writing, even though the premise is essentially The Immortals but with angels. For the most part the author creates a fantasy world that fits quite nicely into our own. Overall the writing's pretty good but the was something that annoyed me.

The ending. It was confusing, there was too many things happening in such a short amount of time. Lets be honest, you can't have 400 pages of nothing and then expect the reader to be able to understand everything that you've just crammed into the last 52 pages. What happened wasn't set up very well and was rushed.

Characters

This yet another book where the quality of the main characters is surpassed by that of the rest of them. I don't care if Daniel's a blinking angel, if he treated me that way he'd be out the door. Of course though this is a young adult book so introducing Luce, a girl who must have the word 'doormat' tattooed on her forehead because she just lets him get away with whatever. Oh no I'm sorry it's because he's been trawling after her past 1000 reincarnations, that's not romantic, that's stalkerish.

Other than that I love the characters particularly new boy Miles, he's so adorable and has all the qualities of a gentleman. It's just a shame that the only reason he's been added is because he's the obligatory secondary love interest for Luce.

Overall

It's an okay book. I didn't race through it and that's because I found that at times it dragged a bit but it was better than I was expecting.

Okay I know I hated the main characters but then again they didn't seem to like each other either. I also know that I also hated the ending but I'm willing to forgive the author for that. (I know I'm such a nice person.)

3 stars is what I gave it in the end. I enjoyed it (most of the time) but if the first book is anything to go by then this is going to be pretty forgettable. Read it if you want but I suggest you go to the library as opposed to buying it.

The Legacy by Gemma Malley

Plot

In a world where hardly anyone dies and children are outlawed, the world is beginning to fall apart. Truck loads of dead bodies are appearing, leaving the population in chaos.

It's been left down to the Underground to discover what's happening as people turn against them. Can they find out why before it's too late?

Writing

I loved the premise of the Declaration trilogy, what I wasn't a fan of is the execution. The first book grabbed me and I was in awe of it, but sadly with each book the potential wasn't delivered on and if I'm honest it makes me sad to see such potential go to waste.

The author has created a rather convincing world... and then destroyed it by tripping over herself creating sentences and things that don't tally. She hasn't gone backwards with her years and she's decided that World War 2 was a terrorist attack and has even miscalculated the start of WW2 by 3 years. This makes it so difficult to believe in what has been written.

Characters

Once again I find myself referring to the first book, I loved Peter, I loved Anna, their love story engaged me. I wanted them to be together, but more than that I needed them to find happiness in a world that seems to have forgotten what it is.

In this book though the characters seemed distant, unrelatable. Some of them where there only for a few pages, they were irrelevant to the storyline it was just going over things that we had already been told or had figured out.

Overall

The only word I can think of to describe this book is meh. It wasn't bad but it wasn't that good either. I really don't have that much of an opinion on it except for the disappointment I couldn't help but feel.

I originally gave this book 3 stars but the more I thought about it, and the more I wrote, the more I realised that this book just didn't deserve it. With this in mind I downgraded it to 2.5 stars for no reason other than it's half of 5. That's how disappointed I was.

Heaven Sent by Meg Cabot

Heaven Sent

Plot

The final book in the Mediator series sees Suze fight for her love. Paul has finally got Suze (kind of) where he wants her by threatening to send Jesse to the afterlife. So Suze is reluctantly taking mediator lessons every Wednesday afternoon with Paul in order to keep Jesse with her, but Paul seems to have other ideas. Will Suze be able to hold on to her man?

It's a brilliant plot and I think this is the only book in the series that doesn't have a sub plot (mainly because the sub plots tend to be about Jesse and Suze's relationship. Or as I want to call them since all good couples have a name: Juze).

Writing

I think I've already pointed this out but the Mediator series is one of Meg's better series (at the risk of getting mobbed: I wasn't that into The Princess Diaries.). I think it [the Mediator series] is well written and the only reason it underperformed originally is the fact that the books were ahead of their time.

Characters

As always Suze is a delight to read about, the scrapes that she manages to get herself into can be a bit far fetched but I think that's part of what makes her so much fun to read. She's never been anything but a normal teenage girl with an extraordinary talent and she's one of the few female leads that manages to retain her own identity even when she's with her one and only.

I guess that brings me to Jesse, he's perfect. I have found myself wanting to be Suze more than once, just so I can have Jesse. He's the perfect gentleman and in a way I think he's every girl/woman's ideal man. After they've dated a bad boy or two first, naturally.

The other characters are brilliant too, they all fit perfectly in their descriptions, in some cases they could have had a bit more depth but that's just me nitpicking.

Overall

This is the perfect ending to a brilliant series. It's got everything it needed but most of all it has its happy ending. Is that the most important thing? No but it's good to know.

I gave this book 5 stars. It completely made up for book 5 and it's definitely my favourite in the series. I recommend the whole series to you. The only negative is no more Jesse. *grabs a box of tissues and heads off to a corner to sob uncontrollably*

Grave Doubts by Meg Cabot

Grave Doubts

Plot

In the 5th book in the Mediator series, there isn't as much of a plot as with previous books and the part that would normally have seen our heroine, Suze Simon, kicking some ghost butt well -um- didn't. Did this disappoint me? Yes it most definitely did. One of my major loves when it comes to this series is the fact that Suze can defend herself -and others- and she tends to do so.

In other news Jessie, the ghostly hottie who lives in Suze's bedroom, is being off with Suze leaving her feeling more than a little disappointed. Matters in Suze's love life become even more complicated with the arrival of a new guy at school. A new guy who is none other than Paul Slater, the villain of book 4. Who is he exactly and just what does he want with Suze?

Writing

The writing is classic Cabot style. I find that the Mediator series is some of her best writing. The characters are vivid and believable, the book is nicely paced (something Cabot doesn't always get right) and she doesn't make it too serious (a down fall for a lot of Young Adult Paranormal Romances right now.) It's a holiday read, I would personally take it down to the beach and read it on the prom (except it's blooming freezing.)

Characters

I love the characters in this book, I loved them when I was 12 and this series was written by Jenny Carroll and I love them now (nearly 8 years later). They've stood the test of time and I think if I read this book in 5 years time I'd still love them then. In this book though most of the character development goes to Paul. Jesse takes a back seat (disappointingly), I think it's because this book is more of a set up for the next one.

Overall

I'm giving it 3.5 stars, not because I thought it was a bad book, in no way is this a bad book, it's just that it's not as good as the others in the series. I still highly recommend it (but read the first 4 first) and I hope you enjoy them.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Plot

Tally Youngblood has 3 months until she can become Pretty but if it was that simple the book would be boring. So at the beginning of her final year of being an Ugly, Tally meets Shay, a fellow Ugly, but Shat refuses to become society's idea of what's acceptable.

So when Shay runs away a week before she has to become Pretty, the repercussions go straight to Tally who is told that if she wants to become Pretty, she will have to go after Shay and bring her home. Can Tally betray her friend for the life she has spent her existence craving?

Writing

I really liked this book. The writing drew me in, it took a few pages for it to do so but once it had me I was completely hooked.

The author has created a future that I could see clearly in my head. I felt as if I was a part of the story. I realise that this book is the ultimate portrayal of of 'it's what's inside that truly counts' but the author has made the fact that if we don't realise this soon, quite a sinister occurence will happen. However in a world that's filled with vain people I don't see how the message is a bad thing.

Characters

I adored Tally and I could completely understand her dilemmas and why she chose to do what she did. Her voice was truly believable and she stood out from a lot of other main characters of the books I've recently read. Her strength and determination to correct mistakes that she made is admirable.

Shay is another amazing character. She's so strong and she knew what she wanted and she went for it whole heartedly. The sad thing is definitely the way she ended up. I wouldn't have wished that on anyone but definitely not her.

The majority of the other characters were good too but there were good too but there were a couple of duds (the most notable one for me was David. I really wasn't too keen on him.) The characters definitely made me feel that the book could have gone on for longer.

Overall

This is a genuinely good book that makes you realise what could happen to the world if our current obsession with beauty and looking perfect continues.

I gave it 4 stars, it's well thought out, well written and it offered a good premise that was delivered on. It also had some brilliant plot twists that I didn't see coming. If I'm honest a knocked a star off because of the slow beginning and the fact that I didn't like one of the most important characters. Other than those little niggles I definitely think people should buy this. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I recommend it whole heartedly.

Shadows: A Dark Touch Novel by Amy Meredith

Plot

The story centres around 15 year old Eve Evergold, a normal girl who lives in the Hamptons.

Mysterious things are happening in Deepdene, teenage girls and women have been going mad, babbling on about shadows being everywhere and it comes down to our beautiful, funny and perfect heroine to save the day (whilst not ruining her designer clothes of course)

That's pretty much it plot wise, unless you want to add the side game of counting how many times these girls say a designer brand.

Writing

It's quite a simple writing style. It made the book seem like it was for younger readers but some of the actions of the characters contradicted this (alcohol at 15 anyone?).

I also feel that because of the simple writing style the premise suffered, there were meant to be some frightening bits but I just didn't feel hat way, I kind of wanted to laugh. I know that's cruel of me.

However I did like the climax of the book. It had a nice pace and a couple of surprises.

Characters

I detested the characters with a passion. They were rich, spoilt, vain, shallow, immature and a whole host of other things that my poor head hurts too much to point out.

The main character Eve is particularly annoying, she suffers from all of the above except on top of all this the author feels the need to constantly point out that although Eve has an AmEx and loads of designer clothes, she is clever, she's not shallow, that she's more than a pretty face. Note to author: Don't tell me this, prove it to me with the characters actions.

Overall

In my honest opinion thisbook is pretty bad. It's hands down the worst book I've read all year (so far that is). I'm having a pretty hard time thinking of positive things to say about it.

I gave it 1.5 stars, the ending saved it from being my first one star review of the year. I personally wouldn't recommend it and I don't approve of a bunch of 15 year olds having alcohol at a party, they're 3 years too young (6 in America).

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Plot

The plot of this story is simple. It's what might happen to someone in a coma, how they feel, what their existence might be like, when all they've got left is one decision, whether to live or whether to die.

The person who has to make this choice is seventeen year old Mia. One single second has changed Mia's entire life and has forced her to tread the boards between life and death.

The majority of the book is memories as Mia goes through her life deciding if she should stay

Writing

This book is really beautifully written, it's so emotional as you go through Mia's journey with her, and if you're anything like me, willing her to live.

I love how instead of chapters we rejoined the story at random points during the day. The book takes place in a little over a 24 hour period which is essentially: the lead up, the event and the aftermath. More than anything this is a story of love and loss. It's a story that needs a huge amount of emotion or it won't work, if you didn't get the emotion it would be a pointless exercise to read, thankfully the author gives us the emotions of everyone in spades.

Characters

There's only one character who truly matters in this novel and that's Mia. If you hate Mia even for the smallest of moments then the premise of the book falls apart, because if you aren't with her then what are you doing? Personally I adored her, she's so adorable and her love for her family, her friend, her boyfriend and her cello are all things that add depth to her and make her seem like an ordinary teenager who has suffered from extraordinarily bad luck.

Overall

A flawless book that made me cry it felt so real to me. I devoured the book, it only took me two hours to read it, and I couldn't help but wish that it could go on forever.

It's a five star book for beauty and the fact that I'm still thinking about it now. I can't help but feel that this is a new favourite of mine.

I got the image off Google, no copyright infringement is intended

The Haunted by Jessica Verday

Plot

In the second book of this trilogy the reader finally starts to get some answers - but not until page 300.

Abbey returns from her Aunt's house, where she has been staying to get over the revelations about her boyfriend Caspian at the end of the previous book, to give a speech about her deceased best friend Kristen.

Once home Abbey tries her best to ignore Caspian but the inevitable happens and she finds herself back in Caspian's arms (if you've read the first book you know what I mean.) It was an obvious plot twist that I didn't appreciate the way it was written.

Something I didn't like about the plot was the lack of Kristen. The whole series started with Kristen's disappearance and the first book was filled with memories but in this book there's nothing. Caspian has replaced her, I just find that so unrealistic.

On the positive side this book had a brilliant climax, it was only a few pages long but it had tension, excitement and a truly inspiring twist.

Writing

In the last book the thing I loved the most was the writing and you'd think with another 467 pages of it I'd be positively delighted, but I wasn't. I opened the book and I was in heaven but the core of the book changed from grief to undying, eternal love and it wiped away the most human angle of the story for me.

Also i found the pacing to be really odd. Abbey just suddenly accepted Caspian when a more gradual approach (in my opinion) would have worked just as well if not better.

That doesn't mean I hated the book and the writing, I didn't, it just means that in my head I wanted it to go in a different direction.

Characters

First of all I still don't like Abbey and Caspian and with Kristen's memory practically erased, I was expecting to say that the characters awful and I spent my time wishing that I could dig ahole, throw them in it, and leave them there forever, but two things happened:

I adore Ben, in book 1 he had potential and in The Haunted it's realised. He's so cute and geeky and he loves onion flavoured crisps (Me too! Monster Munch are amazing!)

The other reason is an interesting new arrival called Vincent. I can't say much about him but I think I'm in love with him.

Therefore it's all good on the character front.

Overall

It's another solid read. Although I didn't like every aspect of the book and I was really critical of its flaws, I can kind of see where it's going and it could either equal a blinder of an ending or a bit of an obvious one. I still prefer book 1 though.

In the end I decided to give it three stars (as opposed to the 2.5 that I wanted to give it for the majority of time I was reading it.) because it had a brilliant ending that redeemed it a bit. I'd recommend it but there are as few swear words and some quite sexy scenes in there so maybe not for younger teens.

I got the image off Google, no copyright infringement is intended.

The Hollow by Jessica Verday

Plot

There isn't really much of a plot to the book and in a way that's not the negative thing that it probably should be. The book focuses on Abbey, a girl who has just lost her best friend Kristen. Kristen has vanished from the bridge near Sleepy Hollow cemetery. While Abbey is at the memorial service she sees a mysterious guy in the distance. This guy turns out to be Caspian, a guy who seems to appear around Abbey a lot. Thats about as much as I can tell you without giving anything away.

Writing Style

The writing style is beautifully descriptive and in that sense it reminds me of Michelle Zink's prophecy of the Sisters. As much as I liked the writing it had its flaws as descriptive as it was, it was lacking where it really needed description. At the end of the book all I knew about Abbey was that she had black curly hair, she liked to make perfume and that she wasn't tall enough to reach the bottom of a bin. The same has to be said of all the characters. Though this has it's advantages because, as the reader, you have pretty much free reign to imagine what the characters look like.

Characters

The characters are, for me, believable. Kristen is definitely my pesonal favourite. All you know of her is from memories and diary entries and that's precisely why I like her. In my opnion it's Kristen's story because her death is at the heart of everything, she's the one who started these chain of events, even if it was unintentionally.

Abbey is a beautiful character who is filled with such sorrow that sometimes it overwhelmed me. I love her quirky hobby, it's nice to see a character like her who isn't into poetry or art.

Caspian (whose name reminds me of Narnia #4) is really hard to explain although I do think he's a bit of an idiot.

Other characters in the book aren't really worth mentioning as they are just a means to an end. None of them are really fully developed.

Overall

Overall I'm not entirely sure what to make of this book. It's beautifully written but there feels like there's stuff missing. I would recommend the book but only because I think it's one of those books where everybody sees it in a different way. The story is beautiful and I love that about the book. So many stories have a different variation of the same plot but this is different.

I can't help but wish that there was more to it though, something was lacking but maybe these issues will be resolved in the next book, The Haunted.

I'm going to give it three stars for some awesome description and some characters that stay with you after you've put the book down.

I got the image off google. No copyright infringement was intended.

Welcome

I guess I'm starting this blog because it means I can combine two of my great loves.... reading and writing.

I love to read and I read many books, I sometimes review them so now I've decided to review them as I read them on this blog because I like to share my opinions.

Feel free to read them and comment and maybe even suggest books I should read/review. I'm currently reading The Hollow by Jessica Verday so logic dictates that this will be my first review on this blog.

Until I've finished my book....

Toodlepip,

Charmaine Elaine.