Book Reviews Archive - Page 77 of 79

Venom by Joan Brady: Book Review

This book is so complicated, I don't even know where to start with a synopsis. David Marion is an ex-con who receives advance notice of a hit on his life. He escapes and learns that a mega-corporation, UCAI, was behind it. At the same time, Dr. Helen Freyl, who has a complicated past with David, learns that UCAI is trying to get their hands on a patent she holds on some honeybee venom and they'll stop at nothing to get their hands on it. Let me say first of all that I received an ARC of this book from the publisher for review. This is a sequel to Bleedout, which I haven't read, but there was a pretty good explanation of what had happened previously, so I don't think I necessarily needed to read these in order. Helen was my biggest problem. I could not bring myself to like her at all. She was a spoiled rich girl who treated the whole thing like a game until she realized that her own life might be at stake. I can't remember how many others had died at that point, but it was enough for me to think that this was an amazingly self-absorbed woman. She had to be at least firmly into her twenties to have her doctorate, but she tended to act more like a teenager. "Oh, let me smoke in this guy's car just to see if he'll say anything." "Oh, let me order the crazy-expensive caviar at this restaurant just to see if he'll say anything." She just liked to push her boundaries and see what she could get away with. She was a tiger while she was pushing away at someone, but the moment that someone pushed back, she was a thoughtless mess of need. I guess…

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Book Review

Most of you have probably already read The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, but it's my very, very favorite book right now and has been for a while. Liesel Meminger is a ten-year-old girl living in Nazi Germany and being sent to live with foster parents when her younger brother dies. This is the first time she comes to the attention of Death, our narrator. This is also the first time she steals a book. It's entitled The Grave Digger's Handbook. She learns to read using this book, and she begins to feel the power of words. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll keep the rest of this vague. She continues to steal books, she lives, she loves, she endures more loss, and she somehow manages to surround herself with shining souls in a world that is being lost to the dark. I would give this book more stars if I could. I was trying to tell my husband how fantastic this is and I was reduced to a stuttering mess of, "So good...power of words...just...you know... so good...I loved it...she just, you know...I mean...I loved Papa...did I mention that I loved this book? No, I mean, I really loved it." That's how I feel, staring at this big, empty review box, trying to find the words to say why everyone has to read this book that I loved. Just read it. Good enough? Also, this is marketed as a YA book. In all honesty, this is a book that anyone could revisit time and again at different stages in his or her life and pull something different from it every time. Don't be put off by the YA label. I promise you, you'll regret it if you dismiss this as a book for teenagers. It probably actually…

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale: Book Review

As luck would have it, the day Dashti enters the service of a lady is the very day said lady is bricked into a tower for seven years to learn obedience. Dashti goes along with her to keep her company and take care of her. Between fighting off rats, Lady Saren's torpor, and the unsettling attentions of Saren's two very different suitors, Dashti has her hands full. And that's just the beginning. I love Dashti. She grows so much in this book! She starts off a simple girl from a simple way of life, unquestioningly following the laws of the land, and she becomes a strong woman, confident in herself and her abilities. The book is really Dashti's diary, so it was interesting to see her thinking and even her writing style change as she grows into herself. Dashti's is the most obvious transformation, but Lady Saren quietly undergoes some drastic changes. She starts out a weak, irritating, ineffective girl who seems to be nothing but a chain around Dashti's neck, but sometime when you aren't looking she becomes something... more. This is my first time reading Shannon Hale, and if this is any indication of the rest of her work, it won't be my last. I sat down to get started on this before spending a little time on the computer, and the next thing I knew I was finishing it. Seriously. One sitting. There was one part that started to drag just a little bit, but somehow a book about two girls in a tower became a page turner. I enjoyed how Dashti's "voice" changed as she changed, and I'm very impressed with Hale's skill in pulling that off. I was thrilled to read a young adult book with a strong female lead and no love triangle in…

Truly, Madly by Heather Webber: Book Review

Lucy Valentine has lost the family ability to match people based on their auras, and can now only find lost objects. After some negative publicity, Lucy finds herself in charge of the family matchmaking business for a few weeks. Not realizing what she's getting herself into, she offers to try to find a new client's lost love, then asks the PI in the upstairs office to help her out. Sparks fly as soon as she walks in the door. I'll get my complaints out of the way first. Some of the situations Lucy finds herself in felt very contrived. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll leave it at that. I also saw a lot of the small surprises coming, and I definitely knew what the big surprise/solution at the end was going to be. Overall though, I had a lot of fun with this. It's been a while since I've read a chick lit kind of mystery, and I realized that I've missed it. Lucy was a lot of fun, as was her family, but I have to say that I'm glad Dovie isn't my grandmother. I would die of embarrassment! Sean was hot in all the right ways, but in a personal preference, I wish he wasn't a retired firefighter. I love a man in a uniform, but that doesn't extend to firefighters. Lots of stories there. The chemistry between Lucy and Sean was maybe a little too instant, but that was part of the fun. How many times have I used the word fun in this review? Too many! But that's the best way to describe this book, and I recommend it for a nice little break between heavier reads. I'll be looking for the next book in the series! Total disclosure: My aunt won…

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson: Book Review

Fisherman and WWII veteran Carl Meine is found dead and tangled up in his fishing net one morning. At first glance it appears to be an accident, but the sheriff looks a little closer and starts to wonder. He soon arrests another fisherman, Kabuo Miyamoto, for murder. Against the backdrop of the murder trial, Guterson explores the roots of the conflict that led to the accusation and the lives of the witnesses in a series of flashbacks. Gorgeous. That's really the best word to describe this book. It's just gorgeous. I normally tear through books pretty quickly, eager to know what happened, but this time I found myself reading slowly, savoring each elegant yet sparse turn of phrase. I still wanted to know what happened, but that was secondary to the beauty of the language. Within this story, San Piedro Island becomes almost as much a character as anyone. The isolation, beauty and harshness of island life has shaped the islanders to become a breed apart. They are often silent, self-reliant, and careful in their interactions with each other. It's hard to avoid someone who becomes an enemy when you both live on an island. Set in 1954, the islanders are still feeling the effects of WWII. A lot of the men are veterans and the Japanese residents were shipped off to an internment camp. Feelings between the communities can occasionally flare up, even nine years after the war's end. The flashbacks to the war and the internment camp were mostly what interested me. I don't know why I love WWII novels, but I do. I was surprised to realize that I had one in my hands with Snow Falling on Cedars. One of the main characters, Ishmael, is a WWII vet who lost his left arm in the war.…

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review

Deirdre meets Luke at an audition one day. They play some amazing music together, and by the end of the day, Deirdre is more than a little infatuated. But Luke isn't the only stranger appearing in her life. All kinds of weird people and events start surrounding her, and it's obvious that Luke has something to do with it. First of all, can I just say that I don't read all that much YA, but I am sick to death of the inevitable love triangle. Sick of it! Lament was a little more low-key than others I've read but it was still there. I remember it being hard enough to get one guy in high school to like me. Now girls have to aim for two or feel like losers?!?! C'mon. Let's do something attainable here. Aside from that, I enjoyed this. I had a decent idea as to what Luke's story was going to be, and it frustrated me a little that super-smart Deirdre was being so clueless about it. But I did enjoy the give-and-take of Deirdre's relationships with Luke and her best friend James. Sure, they rode to her rescue a few times, but she rescued them too. Deirdre and Luke were pretty good characters, but I loved James! He's such a smartass, but underneath all that he's a very caring, understanding guy. Mostly he just cracked me up though. Deirdre and Luke enjoyed playing old ballads together, and I liked that this book had a similar feel to it. That said, the ending might leave some readers dissatisfied, but it stayed true to that ballad history. It also left room for the sequel, Ballad: The Gathering of Faerie. I have that waiting to be read too, and I have to admit that I'm more than ready…

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani: Book Review

Valentine Roncalli is turning 34 years old, she lives and works with her grandmother, and she's single. She's pretty happy though, until the day her grandmother tells her that the family's custom shoe shop is in financial trouble. Now she finds herself trying to find a way to save the business she loves as she juggles a budding relationship with a hot new restaurateur. I think my expectations for this were skewed by the first few sentences of the book. It begins, "I'm not the pretty sister. I'm not the smart sister either. I am the funny one. I've been called that for so long, for so many years, in fact, that all of my life I thought it was one word: Funnyone." So I thought I was in for a funny book. It wasn't. Valentine stays entirely too stressed out to really be funny. Not that I blame her--she has a lot on her plate. It just wasn't what I expected from the setup. Also, I should probably be ashamed to say this, but I don't really care about shoes. I know, I know! But that's me. So all the descriptions of the cute shoes with the perfect fabrics and darling embellishments were lost on me. The food sounded divine, and I loved the part when Valentine and Gram take off for Italy. I'm ready to go back! They spend time in Tuscany and Capri, and the author's descriptions of both were beautiful. I didn't get to go to Capri when I visited Italy, but I did want to. Now I'm thinking I need to convince my husband that we should go back and spend time south of Rome. I don't think he would need much convincing! I may not be girly about the shoes, but I am loving…

Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix: Book Review

***SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK, FOUND*** Found ended with Jonah and Katherine latching onto Chip and Alex as the two boys were sent back into their own time period. Sent picks up there. The kids find themselves in fifteenth century England, where Chip and Alex find out that they're royalty. Many plots are afoot and the boys' lives are in danger. Jonah and Katherine, with JB's help, try to keep them safe. Eh. I think Found was so good because I was interested to find out what exactly was going on. Now that I know, the sequel wasn't that great. I saw potential when I found out that the boys were The Princes in the Tower, but really the book just fell a little flat. Jonah was dense and annoying. He would overhear subtle, barbed conversations and then had to get someone else to give him a recap of what had been said in plain English. I know this book is written for the pre-teen crowd, but I think they would have gotten it without the "translation." There are ghostly "tracers" roaming around, showing what was supposed to happen if time hadn't been messed with. I actually followed that pretty well, but then Jonah got confused thinking about it and took me right along with him. Confusion might have been a normal reaction, but it wasn't worth it at the risk of confusing the readers. It might just be me. I'm much older than the target age group. I'll probably read the next one, just to see if this one was the exception rather than the rule in the series. I am left thinking that there were 36 kids on that plane. How many books are there going to be?

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson: Book Review

The narrator of The Gargoyle (I'm pretty sure we never learn his name) begins his story with a horrific car crash that leaves him burned beyond recognition. He hasn't lived the best life: he's selfish, addicted to drugs, and a porn star. His beautiful, sexy "friends" take one look at him after the accident and never come back. But one day a woman, Marianne Engel, shows up in his room. He's never met her before, but she knows things about him that he's never told anyone, and she claims that theirs is a love going back seven hundred years. I'm not entirely sure what I just read. This was a group read this month for one of my groups on GoodReads. I'm dying to go over there and see what others have to say, but I try very hard to write my reviews before reading other reviews or discussions. I want my thoughts to be my own, and I'm afraid that sneaking a peek somewhere else will change my own honest feelings. For what it's worth, here they are. I really, really, really liked this, but there was a lot going on and there's still a lot left for me to think about. Don't you hate it when you know your review is never going to convey everything that you're thinking and feeling? That's what's going on here. Marianne is a character that I won't forget anytime soon. She's a gifted carver of gargoyles, a gifted linguist, a gifted storyteller, and a woman with infinite love to give away. She teaches the cynical narrator about the true meaning of love through a series of stories about her friends, and a long narrative about the first time they met and loved. He sees what she means when she lives what she…

Lamb by Christopher Moore: Book Review

There are roughly 30 years of Jesus's life that are unaccounted for. Oh, there's the one story about him teaching in the temple when he was 12, but other than that, he was born and then he started his ministry around the age of 30. Christopher Moore has fun imagining what exactly Jesus--or Joshua, as Moore chooses to use the Hebrew name--might have gotten up to in the in-between years. I know what I'm thinking but I'm having trouble finding the right words. I think if you're going to be offended by this book, the title will turn you off right away. And that's obviously okay. But there might be a few people out there like me, who are thinking, "I'm pretty open-minded. I think I can handle it. But I do have lines that I don't want to have crossed, and Moore could cross them easily." I was okay with what he wrote here. Joshua is still absolutely the Son of God, without sin, sent to save mankind from our sins. That is never questioned. If it had been, I would have had to put the book down. But he does have fun, love, and learn from people from many countries and religions. That's the best I can do as far as the is-it-offensive-to-Christians thing. On to the good parts! I loved Biff! I wanted to reach into the pages and smack him upside the head a few times, but usually when that happened another character stepped in and smacked him for me. He was a horny, cheerful smartass who could teach dogs a thing or two about loyalty. He spends his entire life following Joshua around and trying to make sure that he stays out of trouble. He can always get Joshua laughing when he falls into a…