Archive for the ‘ Reviews ’ Category

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the first time - and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.




Rating: ★★★★★

Cover Art: Loving the mirror-esque quality of the cover, even in paperback – this fits in with a few quotes from our main character. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t have a fondness of girls in dresses on the front cover – nothing special about that.

Review: 

I had a difficult time putting this book down, which is the main reason for giving it 5/5 stars.

If you love the style of writing and enter the character through this style of writing, you will love this book. It captures you from the start. As soon as you enter Juliette’s mind, you can imagine as if you are there with her though the entire story. There are sentences throughout the book that are crossed out in Juliette’s mind, and therefore on the pages, and replaced. I found this to be a unique feature that has a certain realism to it – how often do we “edit” what we say to each other or to ourselves? The use of metaphors can be a little much at times, however. I did not find it to be overwhelming, but that aspect will bother a few readers. I found the metaphors helpful in describing what Juliette was seeing/experiencing, even though it may seem unrealistic to think like it is written.

As for the characters… Juliette is difficult to relate to at times, even though you’re basically inside her head. However, she was interesting to get to know. A broken past because of a power she cannot control [very X-Men]. The first interactions she had with Adam were fun to read and unique, considering how long it had been since she had basic human contact. I pictured Adam as Clark Kent [keeping with the whole comic book hero theme, I suppose], looks-wise, not personality. His personality, to me, fell a little flat, but maybe there will be more character development in the next book. The journey with him through the story is interesting and when you get their backstory, you can appreciate why they fell for each other seemingly quickly [or I might just be a hopeless romantic]. I absolutely loved the character of Warner, the “villain” in this story. He reminded me of Eric Northman [who is super hot!… ahem], from HBO’s True Blood, minus the fangs and thirst for blood [hmm, no comic reference there]. You can definitely see more to this character than what he appears as to his soldiers.

The story is slow to move on, but the development is so great, it’s like you are living in the world Mafi created. There are a couple of action scenes, but for this first book, it is mainly setting the story and introducing the characters. I cannot wait for the next book in this series, hoping it will be just as enrapturing  as this one was.

~C

2012
03/05
CATEGORY
Reviews
TAGS






1 comment

Untamed by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Life sucks when your friends are pissed at you. Just ask Zoey Redbird – she’s become an expert on suckiness. In one week she has gone from having three boyfriends to having none, and from having a close group of friends who trusted and supported her, to being an outcast. Speaking of friends, the only two Zoey has left are undead and unMarked. And Neferet has declared war on humans, which Zoey knows in her heart is wrong. But will anyone listen to her? Zoey's adventures at vampyre finishing school take a wild and dangerous turn as loyalties are tested, shocking true intentions come to light, and an ancient evil is awakened in PC and Kristin Cast's spellbinding fourth House of Night novel.




Rating: ★★★★☆

Cover Art: Like the rest of the series, the cover is striking. I like how it doesn’t show the vampire’s face but rather her tattoos.

Review:

[This is Book 4 in the House of Night Series]

I enjoyed this book of the series much more than the last two. Like the first book, it was filled with new and interesting concepts to the vampire life and history. Although there are a few noticeable repetitions and instances of slang and poor grammar, Untamed contained parts of the story that made it so that these mundane annoyances don’t really matter when you’re reading the book.

The development of Aphrodite and the introduction of new characters to the story are the main reasons I liked this book. Before now, characters have been flat and predictable (and sometimes stereotypically offensive~). Hoping this marks a positive turn in the novels to come.

Of course the book ends just when some action occurs… Definitely will be picking up Book 5 from the library soon.

~C

2012
03/04
CATEGORY
Reviews
TAGS





Leave a comment

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

alternate text

Success can be achieved by understanding and remaking our habits. Award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg explores why some people, companies, and communities never achieve real transformation, while others remake themselves almost overnight. He takes you to laboratories where neuroscientists create and extinguish habits as though flipping a switch. He tells the stories of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and civil-rights hero Martin Luthor King, Jr., and shows how habits were essential to their success. You'll go inside Procter & Gamble, Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, and a riverboat casino, where implementing "keystone habits" can earn billions. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to becoming more productive, exercising regularly, tapping into our reserves of creativity, building revolutionary companies and social movements, conquering our most stubborn vices, and, ultimately, achieving success is to understand how habits work. As Duhigg notes, "Transforming a habit-or a life- isn't necessarily easy or quick. It isn't always simple. But it is possible."

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Cover Art: Interesting concept of the hamster wheel. Does what it is supposed to – show what the book is about.

Review:

This ARC was sent to me by Random House through a GoodReads FirstReads giveaway. Now, I’m not one to normally pick up a non-fiction book over a fiction, but I must say that this was a fascinating read. The author writes in a way that is understandable despite all the facts and history intertwined with the stories he tells within the book. This is definitely not a self-help book, as I first thought it to be. There is no chapter on “how to change” your habit(s), which the cover of the book misleads the reader to believe. [I just realized that the publishers must have changed the cover. Originally, the book was called “The Power of Habit: Why we do What we do and How to Change it.” (Which is on the cover of my copy) Now, the newest, and most likely, the published edition, is called “The Power of Habit: Why we do What we do in Life and Business” – much more appropriate, I’d say.]

Not only was the information about the Habit Loop informative, but I found the stories that went along with the facts even better. Duhigg worked stories about large companies, historical figures, and individuals into his book to show evidence of a claim: that habits are controlling much of what we, society, and businesses do. He touches on Starbucks, Proctor & Gamble [company that distributes Febreze], and Target – delving into the reasoning behind big decisions such as where to put fruits and vegetables in a grocery store.

It was slow to get through and I had to be in a certain mind-set to want to read this. Definitely is not for everyone and at times it was slow, and either too informative, or not informative enough. I wanted to know more about the science behind the habits, and it seemed Duhigg only touched the surface of that. Although, the science-y part isn’t for everyone, so I can understand his reasons for that. Also was not a fan of the repetitiveness and jumping from one story to another and back again. Have to admit, it isn’t going to change my life, but it made me more aware of these things we call “habits.”

~C

2012
03/01
CATEGORY
Reviews
TAGS


Leave a comment

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

alternate text

Cinder wouldn't fit in at a formal ball, anyway. Even if she did find dress gloves and slippers that could hide her metal monstrosities, her mousy hair would never hold a curl, and she didn't know the first thing about makeup. She would end up sitting just off the dancefloor and making fun od the girls who swooned to get Prince Kai's attention, pretending she wasn't jealous. Pretending it didn't bother her. Although, she was curious about the food. And the prince did know her now, sort of. He had been kind to her at the market. Perhaps he would ask her to dance. Out of politeness. Out of chivalry, when he saw her standing alone. The precarious fantasy crashed down around her as quickly as it had begun. It was impossible. Not worth thinking about. She was cyborg, and she would never go to the ball.

 

 

Rating: ★★★★★

Cover Art: Love the typeface of both the title and the author’s name. The simplicity of the red slipper and cyborg foot/leg is brilliant.

Review:

Cinderella wasn’t exactly my favourite fairy tale growing up. Delicate girl, overpowered by stepmom and stepsisters, fairy godmother… etc, etc.

Cinder, however, has taken the classic tale and weaved unique, bold elements into the story creating something completely unique. Really. Who would think to make a potential princess into a cyborg?

Cinder is not like Cinderella at all [I’m talking Disney-created Cinderella], of which I’m totally glad about. Cinder is strong-minded, independent, and didn’t need a fairy godmother to kick her in the proverbial pants to get a move on! Although there are features of the original Cinderella in the book [not-so-nice stepmother, stepsisters, a ball, chores, and a prince], I don’t feel that it restricts the story at all. Marissa Meyer has already taken the story down a much more winding, twist-and-turning, kind of path. It is set in a post WWIV Earth with hovercrafts, a colonized moon, and androids [and not the type that malfunction and try to gauge out your eyes!] Prince Kai is a character that was created just to have fans flutter after him. I loved reading the scenes that took place between him and Cinder and I’m hoping that his character will appear in the rest of the story. The book is creative, capturing, and has amazing characters.

With 4 books to the series, each one introducing a new fairy tale character, I’m patiently waiting to get my fairy tale-turned-futuristic-fantasy world fix. [Lies! I definitely dislike the long wait, but what can you do?]

And if you really thought a fairy tale based book was not going to have a predictable ending, where were you when all the stories ended in “and they lived happily ever after”?

~C

A fairy tale is a fairy tale — If the shoe fits…

2012
02/26
CATEGORY
Reviews
TAGS



Leave a comment