Poor Little Dead Girls - Poor little not-so-thriller

Poor Little Dead Girls by Lizzie Friend
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

NetGalley ARC.... Sadie Marlowe is an ace lacrosse player from "small town" Oregon who is thrown into the world of the American elite when she is recruited to play for Keating Hall, one of the most exclusive prep schools on the East coast. As Sadie's late mother also attended Keating, she innocently believes that her athletic skilled combined with her mother's alumni status paved the way to her scholarship, but throughout the course of being "kidnapped", drugged, waking with strange bruises and even stranger memories, she learns a whole different side of the story. Billed as both a thriller and YA, I unfortunately would say this novel does not meet either category.

Don't get me wrong, there were some positive aspects of this book: SOME of the characters had a reality to them that was refreshing, the overall plot was well thought out and interesting. Unfortunately for me though, the negatives clung on and I never could quite get over them.

First, foremost and utterly annoying was the "naive small town girl meets the new world of the rich and powerful east coast elite". This concept in itself makes perfect sense; my issue with this is that our supposed small town "hick" is from Portland, Oregon. I admit that I of course take the absurdity of how her hometown was portrayed more personally as a native Portlander myself, but that shouldn't decrease the clear lack of knowledge or research that went into the decision to frame this as her hometown. Throughout the book, references are constantly made to her small town upbringing, her lack of social knowledge through comments like "you really are small town, aren't you", Sadie's assertion that she wore jean shorts to her last school dance, and the reaction Sadie got from "people in Portland" regarding her mom's drug abuse. Sure, Portland is definitely a far cry from suburban Virginia and money means different things in different places, but if you want to portray someone as being "small town" and naive, you should probably pick someplace that is actually small and off the beaten path, rather than a relatively sized city that is by no stretch "cut off" from normal society. Sure, this may be somewhat trivial and your average reader may not know enough to see the incorrect representation, but inaccuracies that are not necessary or justified are a one way ticket to frustration in my reading world.

Aside from the Portland snaffu, there were also other weaknesses that brought this one a bit down for me. First of all, the storyline itself was interesting and well thought out, but the actual construction left much to be desired. Situations were not built enough to cause any suspense, clues were blatant and left nothing to the imagination, and characters were for the most part allowed to develop only to the minimum point needed to make them useful. When finished reading, I unfortunately did not really care much what became of them, as I was never allowed to truly care about them.

Lastly, this novel seriously toed the line on being the YA it claims to be. Sure, the characters were young adults, but the novel is definitely more appropriate for a slightly older audience. I read something previously from the author about this, and she stated she feels like the situations presented in the novel are what normal teens are dealing with and want to read about. While it may be true that it is what they "want" to read about, I don't know if it is necessarily what they "should" be reading about - I personally would not want any mid-teen of mine reading about rich prep school girls having their personal hairdressers sneak booze into their dorm rooms or the "cool" senior boys getting drunk at every dance, all with no consequences.

Overall, an OK read for a rainy weekend afternoon but nothing I would write home about.

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Beautiful Creatures - Not quite a beautiful novel, but at least it's pretty

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5*

Through the much less used perspective of a teenage boy, Beautiful Creatures takes you to a small South Carolina town with the usual mix of suspects - southern belles, holier than thous, intelligent and open minded academics, ecentrics - but also an "underworld" that most people will never know exists. When Ethan meets Lena, he only knows that he is drawn to her for some unknown reason, but has no idea that the new girl in town will not only show him this underworld, but also alter his future and view of his own world in one basic fell swoop.

While an overall engaging and easy read, there are definitely aspects that keep it from being great. First, it is a little slow in places - I found myself doing quite a bit more skimming than I probably should have (and hopefully didn't miss anything good), basically trying to get to said good stuff. Second, I'm not entirely sure I bought Ethan's perspective, as there were a few too many times that I found myself wondering if a 16 year old boy would actually do or say that. However, this one isn't overtly obnoxious because I can see how some of the situations might be influenced by the paranormal elements thus altering how he would have normally behaved.

Not quite a great book, but definitely good enough to catch my attention to continue the series at some point.

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Fifty Shades of Grey - Mommy Porn has a ways to go if it wants to be good

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don't even know where to begin with this one, other than to realize that I can probably skip the summary since I seem to be the last 30 something woman in the world to read this.

First, the writing is to the point of being obnoxious. Not annoying obnoxious, just outright bad obnoxious, which I guess does actually make it kind of annoying. This novel's beginnings as novice fan fiction is blatant to the point of hilarity at points, and I have to agree that a large part of it's popularity lies within the digital revolution that allows readers to indulge in erotic subject matter discreetly. I think the age of the characters and Christian's role as the uber-wealthy young CEO is another huge draw - right along with the picture of the story in my imagination, I couldn't help but picture your typical all-American middle aged woman getting lost in the daydream of being 22 again and finding her own Christian Grey, while also lost in the personal question of what she would do if he ever actually walked through her door.

Despite the overall bad writing though, I cannot lie that I still felt like there was a magnet pulling me back. Oddly, it was story that drew me in and not the illicit sex, even though the story itself was rather weak and the worst part of the bad writing. I do have to admit that it was definitely fun to picture what I would want my Christian to look like (and then picturing him in the gray flannel pants, yum) but I'm certain I am in the gross minority in that the sex got redundant. Not the scenarios themselves, they were creative and probably the best writing in the entire book, I just think I'm probably not the erotica type. About halfway through each of them, I just wanted to get back to the story, and then found myself wishing there was a more substantial story. A small conundrum that hopefully book 2 will help enlighten a bit.

Aside from the actual content itself, I listened to the audio version of this book and cannot refrain from comment on that - why does every person reading the character of a naive/innocent young woman feel the need to read her voice as though she is a dimwitted airhead? Every book I listen to that has late teens-early twenties female characters seems to be this way, and this one is made even worse by the pathetic attempt at reading her voice as "sultry" and "innocent" at the same time. Note to anyone reading books for audio....air headed "valley girl" is NOT sultry, NOT innocent, and NOT enjoyable! On a positive note, I started the audio of the second book this afternoon, and I'm pretty sure someone else told her this as well because I have noticed a marked improvement. Still not great, but definitely better.

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One of Those Malibu Nights

One of Those Malibu Nights by Elizabeth Adler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A weekend camping trip, and out come the guilty pleasures!

This one is definitely a typical guilty pleasure (or as the BF would say, some good fluff....though he would NEVER call it good, lol!). This book is very lighthearted, even for a mystery, as the the fun, playful human interactions are well balanced with the suspense and intrigue. The interwoven story lines also made this enjoyable, though on a few occasions I felt the number of people who seem to come to the same private investigator, unbeknownst to each other and in relation to the same overall set of problems, was a little over the top and not believable. To the author's credit though, this is fiction so of course there is room for all the creative license one would like to employ, but I am sometimes a bit put off by the moments where I go "really?!" - it just seems to me to be easier to get into a story like this when there is at least some feeling that things going on could actually happen.

The only other thing I didn't love as much about this book was the way the relationship between Mac and Sunny shaped up and played out. We are introduced to Sunny as being Mac's "on again, off again" girlfriend who wanted to get married though Mac is "happy how things are". I won't throw in a spoiler, but will just say that the state of their relationship at the end of the book was a bit disappointing, though not for the normal reasons. This didn't originally bother me when first reading, as I was not aware that this was the first book in a series, but upon realizing that there were additional books, I was bit bummed out. The "on again, off again" and "will they or won't they" scenario is one that has a lot of potential in a series. Yes, it can be somewhat annoying sometimes when the latest book or episode leaves you wondering until the next comes out, but in the end it is one of the great elements that they know will keep readers and viewers coming back, and I think too much happened in this one story that could have been spread out over at least one, if not two, other books that would have added to the desire to read the next one.
Otherwise, a great lazy hammock afternoon read!

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Fluff, Fluff, Deep, Fluff, Fluff - 2012 In Review

The lack of a functioning computer has obviously inhibited my ability to blog or keep up with much on Goodreads, but one 2013 resolution is to fix that calamity!

Despite my ever present goal/desire to put quality over quantity, I was sorely unsuccesful this year - there were a few solid pieces in there but a pretty sizable chunk of the 2012 reading fell into my "Guilty Pleasures" category.

The actual books  fell into a surprisingly broad spectrum, but with the very distinct pattern of succumbing to a "one track mind"!

Clive Cussler - During a 6-week of stint of very low activity while the BF recovered from surgery last winter, he somehow convinced me to read one of the Dirk Pitt books...and I proceeded to read about 15 of them! These books are great for me because I do actually feel like I'm learning something (I know a whole lot more about marine sciences than I ever thought I could, and my bucket list of exotic locales to visit increases with each book). However, the overall cookie cutter plots do get to me sometimes, so I've learned to space them out a bit.

Sookie Stackhouse - I have been a fan of True Blood since the beginning, but it never crossed my mind to read the books until a friend dropped of the first 9 of them in mid-October....I finished those, as well as the 10th, 11th and 12th books on the Kindle, by mid-December. These are so easy to read, (and I think more enjoyable to me because I picture the TV show characters in my mind and Eric is oh so yummy to think about!) but I think they did get weaker as the story went along. I'm very curious to see how the series concludes with the 13th/final book in the spring. My biggest qualm with these books though, is that the earlier ones were written in a way that made me feel like I was reading a YA novel with some sex thrown in. Don't get me wrong, I like YA and read it all the time, but these earlier books seemed like they couldn't make up their mind. It also seems like Charlaine Harris realized this, because the vocabulary, dialogue style and situations became more adult as they went along. That said, there were also definitely some instances where there were so many "big words" that it almost seemed like overcompensation...."I can't seem to fully write like an adult, so I'll thrown in a bunch of words that kids will never understand and that will make it better".

The Hunger Games - Yes, I succumbed. Primarily because Dad found the first 2 books a yard sale and dropped them off for me to borrow. This is one trilogy that I LOVED....and then the love waned. All 3 books were entertaining, but by the time I got around to Mockingjay I just did not appreciate it as much as the first 2, which were relatively equal though I enjoyed The Hunger Games a bit more than Catching Fire. My issue with Mockingjay was that it was just too simplistic - convince girl to be symbol of rebellion, send girl into ONE firefight and tides change, throw in a few other not-so-memorable things, send her to the capitol, tell her to kill the president, end of story. Nothing was in depth at all with this book, so I felt more like I was reading cliff notes instead of the novel itself. And as Stephen King said....the name Katniss really is stupid :)

When all was said and done though, I did meet my 50 book challenge for year.....56 and counting!

Sunday's at Tiffany's

Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Nothing too monumental to say on either side of the fence, but a nice and easy afternoon lounger. The characters were likeable and made the imaginary plot aspects seem like they could really happen, in that girly and romantic, guilty pleasure sort of way.



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Picture Perfect

Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have only read a few Jodi Picoult books but they never cease to please me. This was a thrift store score that I hadn't heard of and didn't know what it was about, and it did a great job keeping me guessing.

The story centers on Cassie and Alex, an intelligent but naive anthropology professor and a Hollywood star, and their "fairy tale" love and marriage. They seem perfect and say they are "made for each other" but in reality have a troubled and abusive relationship that no one would believe if they actually did tell anyone, without actually seeing the proof.

Through the storytelling, you feel as though it's autobiographical, as it seems so knowing and insightful that you wonder how anyone could make this up. I also found myself cheering for Cassie and Alex to make it, despite him being abusive. You get to know the good in him, the damaged childhood that he truly seems like he wants to overcome, that he truly does love her, and you want to say "give him one more chance, maybe he really won't do it again..." when you know logically that you should be telling her to run for it. Picoult's imagination and formidable skills at weaving an amazing story make you feel as though if, having never been in an abusive relationship, you are given a while new insight and appreciation for the situation, and why even the strongest of woman have had difficulty leaving such situations. It is an eerie feeling - there were so many times that this novel made me incredibly uncomfortable admitting what I was feeling about what was going on but never able to stop reading. I have never hesitated for a moment to help a friend get away from an abusive situation, but also never had nearly so clear and idea of how they may have felt as I do after reading this novel. Once again, Picoult asounded, intrigued and educated me.



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Marked

Marked by P.C. Cast

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I borrowed this book after a friend spoke over and over again about how she found it "far superior" to the Twilight Series, in terms of it's depiction of modern teenagers.



I did enjoy this book, but it definitely falls into my "Guilty Pleasures" category...books that do not require much thought, rather the ability to let go of thinking in the name of juvenile imagination for a few hours(and a few hours is all you need for this short, very easy read). The best way I can describe this read is that the author's had some great ideas and approaches(new spin on vampires/vampyres, first person of a teenager that is written in part by a teenager etc) but they went too far with most of them.



The biggest of these for me were being bombarded by "totally's", "like's" and OMG's, the overkill of pop culture references, and the way religion/spiritualty was approached. I can handle some of the airhead and text speak, knowing that it is often the case with teenagers, but a little restraint would have gone a long way in creating a little more depth and respect for characters. The repeated pop culture references came across to me as though they were trying way too hard to make their alternative version of the world seem like reality but without being very creative about it...Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Garth Brooks are all vampyres? Come on. If you're going to use pop culture references such as that, use some restraint. Yes, more restraint. You don't need to randomly drop names of very well known stars to get your point across, rather the point coming across to me is a lack of creativity. And, while I appreciate that they attempted to bring the elements of spirituality into the vampyre story, it came out as judgmental and convuluted often times(Zoey constantly degrades the fanatical "People of Faith" but they way she speaks about what she thinks of as "slut" behavior reminds me of the way I'd imagine a good church girl would, based on her own description of the church folk...). I did enjoy though, the mixture of the pagan, Wiccan and Cherokee traditions.



Hmmm...it kind of seems as though I didn't like this book! In reality, I don't think it's a book of superior quality in any way, but as I said before....if you're like me and need some "guilty pleasures" once in a while, this fits right in.





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Barefoot

Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There are a few things. I would have improved about this book, overall I really liked it.

The three main characters, Vicki, Brenda and Melanie, were great women to get to know in this story. The 3 drastically different worlds they were coming from made for an intriguing dynamic, espcially when you read about the close quarters of the Nantucket cottage they share for the summer. It was heart wrenching to read about Vicki's battle with cancer, exciting to learn about Brenda's fiascos, and saddening to hear about Melanie's recent ordeals, and heartwarming to see their situations change and have happy endings.

That said, I did feel a little lost at times from the jumping around between each woman's internal dialogue, and the abruptness of some of the story lines. Vicki's story is the only one that seems fully realized; Brenda spends the summer going back and forth, and then, just like that, her story seems resolved. Melanie, after coming across early on as a bit whiny and "junior high" ish, seems happy for the first time in what comes across as years and then abruptly takes what I think is the "easy" way in the end. I would have loved to see a more rounded story in the end, rather than what seemed to me was a hurried wrap-up to a story that began with more thought and inspiration.





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