Alavi Anan Meem
Love is not the absence of logicbut logic examined and recalculatedheated and curved to fitinside the contours of the heart
“If someone had asked, “How does this compare to kissing Kennedy?” I would have answered, “Who?
My last coherent thought, as Lucas took his time kissing and touching every part of me he could reach and my body arched into his, was: oh... so this is what all the fuss is about.”
And I miss–I don't know how else to say it–I miss both of you.”
The first time Kennedy kissed me, it stood to reason that at the same time, other people were splitting up. And the night Kennedy broke my heart, somewhere–maybe right there in my dorm, other people were falling in love.”
“I'd basically described myself: a quiet, studious bookworm who would go to bed at a decent hour. A non-partier who wouldn't bring a parade of boys through our room, or make it the floor headquarters for beer pong.”
“Choosing to be with you, isn't a difficult decision, Jacqueline...It's easy. Incredibly easy.”
And my personal favorite, “So when do we get to the junk-kicking?”
This just isn't my species of book. Don't get me wrong, I love Robin Hood as much as the next girl, but I'm more into the fantasy sort.
No one really knows 'bout me. I'm Rob's secret, I'm his informant, I'm his shadow in dark places.
This is just another of those books I can eat up in a day. I was gripped while I was reading it. Right from the start to the end. But I won't be gushing about it for a year, or giving it more stars, cause frankly I've come across too many rare gems of books to just freely throw my stars about.
But to be fair to A. C. Gaughen, she has pulled of quite a dishy Robin Hood.
“You are my whole heart, Scarlet. And this is breaking it.”“Let me heal up a bit, and we'll see if we can make his part of ‘so long as ye both shall live' a little shorter.”“I'll keep your heart, Scar,” he whispered. “If you keep mine.”
And Scarlet herself is fierce. “I'm saying that some girls slap, but I have knives.”
And wise. “I know what it's like when you can't get no one to listen to you. When what you say don't matter. I half think every girl knows what it's like to be silenced.”
And sometimes she just breaks my heart. “He takes the guilt and responsibility that others can't. John takes the punches. I just take the hunger, and most times it feels like awful little.”
Having said that, this just hasn't met my expectations. It felt too forced, too strained and stilted at times. Scarlet was unconvincing now and then, and she is too much of a martyr, she keeps relentlessly punishing herself, and I've honestly read enough about tortured souls to last me a life time. It was just plain annoying at times. Rob's merry men John and Much also felt too hackneyed every so often. Even Rob himself was typecast once in a while.
I was keen on the story line, a merry woman is fresh and revolutionary. That is a redeeming facet of this book. And all in all, it was a good debut, but unfortunately not the unforgettable sort.
One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you.
In Insurgent Tris Prior makes a lot of choices—ones that transform her and destroy her at the same time.
THE STORY:
NO LOVE TRIANGLES. This is why I love Veronica Roth's books so badly.
Insurgent gives you that adrenaline rush you get when you're reading a thriller. It was an exhilarating ride, literally tingling with edgy, feverish fun. The twists are many, and all staggering. This book sparkles with drama and danger. Amity. Candor. Abnegation. Dauntless. Erudite. Factionless. They all play their part. And it is epic. Now, I hate the word “unputdownable” and I wouldn't use it if it didn't describe Insurgent so well, but it does. Another word would be unpredictable. (I'm telling you what it isn't, not what it is. I do that a lot.) Veronica Roth's prose is still as gritty and divine as ever. At first I was a total trainwreck of righteous rage because Insurgent was such a far cry from Divergent. Everything I had known and liked in Divergent had been taken away. But then I realized that just because it wasn't the same didn't mean it wasn't special in it's own way, so I gave it a chance and I'm glad I did. (Oh, who am I kidding? I would've read it through even if there was major suckage. I've been waiting for it a whole year!) And yes, there is a cliffhanger. A rare cliffhanger that I know is going to drive me absolutely insane until I can read the last and final book.
TRIS:
Tris really explores who she is in Insurgent. And Tris is kickass if anyone ever was. In Insurgent, she is still reeling, from guilt over Will and grief for her parents, Andrew and Natalie. She is maddeningly aggravating and reckless, she keeps making the wrong (and devastating) choices recurrently. But in the end she turns out to be a true insurgent.
FOUR:
Four is so intense. I had taken a shine to him in Divergent, but in Insurgent I wanted him. In Insurgent, he still hasn't gotten over what Marcus and Evelyn did to him. He tries to protect Tris, and he's obviously furious when she starts to gamble with chance. He's still as fetching as ever.
TRIS AND FOUR:
As of right in the start of Insurgent, Tris and Four (I don't care if his real name is Tobias Eaton, I'm calling him Four) have finally been together long enough to have a real lover's quarrel, and many more follow. When the going gets rough, Tris and Four get tough. But they soldier on through it all. They really do love each other. There's more romance too, and it's lovely. And sexy.
DIVERGENT OR INSURGENT?
I was introduced to the world of aptitude tests and monitored simulations in Divergent, and because of that it will always have a place in my heart. Also, I've never really liked sequels in a trilogy, because they tend to be irrelevant in the end. Except Insurgent has truth serums and the Factionless, which is fascinating too. And it has lived up to more than my expectations, although it was very different from Divergent. It was obviously hard to decide, but I'm going to have to go with Divergent, because that's how it all started.
Wow. Just...wow. A well-deserved four star.
I love this book. And the cover is exactly how I imagine Kendra. She isn't my favorite witch, but she's definitely up there in the top five. This book literally blew me away. The...strength of feeling is the best way I can think of describing it. The strength of feeling in her words is awe-inspiring. Alex Flinn takes all these corny cliches and turns it into something original. The woman CAN SO WRITE.
This book reads like a thriller, I couldn't stop turning the pages. The story charmed me from the start. I fell for it hook, line sinker, lock, stock, barrel. The KENDRA SPEAKS were like little slices of fairytale heaven. They were the best elements of the book for me. Her retellings were like a fresh breath of air, inventive and amusing and tragic at the same time. Lisette and Emma's story was good too. Every time you think you know where it is going, the story takes a new turn. It kept managing to surprise me. This book was completely . . . bewitching. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
On the whole, I definitely recommend this to everyone who loves fairytales, or a good read. Alex Flinn has indeed done it again.
Yes, there IS a reason as to why Rhine looks like she's in unbelievable agony here. No, she's not high. And, no, it's not because there are red ants crawling all over her body. She's sick. Very. But no, not as sick as she looks.
So I'll admit I wasn't really looking forward to this book. Wither was just painful. Really, I bet I looked like Rhine in Fever when I was reading Wither. My eyeballs felt too big for their sockets and my head hurt like a bitch. And I decidedly DID NOT like Gabriel.The only thing hot about that boy is his name.
Do I like the world DeStefano made? Yes. Why? It's not a very creative reason, no. But it is what it is and right now it's different.
Why couldn't it have gone on longer?!
This was so short and so sweet. But it ended before it barely began. I don't know what this was about, but I never would've guessed that the pretty as a picture girl on the cover would've made it to a “dog dinner.”
Besides, it has been said too many times, “Scars are just tattoos with better stories.”
A Sun Summoner is discovered! Ravka is saved! And Alina, our Sun Summoner, (they are as rare there as an honest politician here) is whisked away from everything she has ever known. Sounds familiar? It is. Once in Os Alta, (where the Grisha live) she is taught by Botkin and Baghra to harness her powers, which is apparently beyond belief. And then there's her new mate, Genya, a Tailor. (I fell for Genya. By the end, I wanted to kill her and make out with her. But not necessarily in that order.) Alina misses her best friend Mal, but she's starting to fancy the Darkling. But while the Darkling and Alina are off having sexy times, Mal is biting his nails off and worrying himself stiff. Let me break down the Darkling, Alina and Mal. Alina: If someone in Ravka is called the Darkling, then I imagine Alina would be called the Weakling. A Sun Summoner sounds too...lively...to be her. If anyone was expecting a paragon of chick spunk, Alina isn't it. She's a nobody. She is the “nothing special” disenchanted creature personified. Not your typical kick ass heroine at all. She seemed a little on the kiss ass side, to tell you the truth. And here's the two men in this luurve triangle. (This one's relatively scalene.)Mal: He is so goddamned perfect and thoroughly sexy in his drunk on kvas and his girl tumbling ways, I wanted his flawless head on a stick right away. Fellow orphan turned best friend, He Who Leaves Swooning Grisha In His Wake (okay, not really.) But I'll have to confess that it was the sexed-up Darkling that I wanted, not the beddable Mal. Darkling: The Darkling, really? (Will he ignite into flames in the sun? Does he bleed mystery and smell like brimstone? He sounds like he rides on the Nazgûl's Hell Hawks and has a few of them Horcruxes stashed away somewhere.) But more ad rem, is he dark and does he brood? Yes. Is he clichéd? YES. So much yes. Will you still fall for him helplessly? Sadly, yes.(And the end felt too slapdash and lackadaisical and slipshod. No, those are not words I've just made up right now.) “The stag had been showing me my strength-not just the price of mercy but the power it bestowed. And mercy was something the Darkling would never understand.” Alina seems to have a very Dumblebore-ian appreciation of mercy here. It really is a decent book though, and to be honest I feel quite guilty for not liking it better. I think the Hype Bunny killed it for me. Millions of [b:Divergent 8306857 Divergent (Divergent, #1) Veronica Roth http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327873996s/8306857.jpg 13155899] fans fell for it, too. To have someone like Veronica Roth say, “Unlike anything I've ever read.” for your book! I expected more. Alina Starkov(a) couldn't be lesser like Tris. She wasn't even Tris Lite. And Mal isn't the first or the last best friend some girl falls in love with. As for the Darkling, he's just a Sapling of true evil. (See what I did there? -ling? No?)All in all, not haunting, but not spiritless either.
While I loved Smug Dimples and Prosecutrix Pierce, I just don't know about Meth Lab Rylann and the Twitter Terrorist. I was expecting something...more from Julie James. This just didn't live up to my expectations. But I think that was because I was hoping for another dishy FBI agent, not, well, not El Twitter Terrorista.)
I'm a huge fan of Julie James, I've read all her books, and their trademark trait is awesomeness. Something About You absolutely blew me away, but A Lot Like Love and About That Night didn't come as close as I would've wanted it to the perfection of the first book. I've been waiting, anticipating this book for some time now. And while this is everything I want in a creditworthy romance read, it just didn't have the Julie Jamesiness I was hoping for.
There's London Above―that's where you lived―and then there's London Below―the Underside―inhabited by the people who fell through the cracks in the world.This is my first Neil Gaiman book, and I doted on it. All the time I kept thinking, “This is so fascinating. Bloody hell, all this while everyone's been hounding me to read Gay Man's books and I just didn't listen!”Reminiscent of [b:King Rat 68498 King Rat China Miéville http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312030792s/68498.jpg 1870961], I was intrigued by the idea of Neverwhere, even though I've never been to London. Reading the book, you just know that Neil Gaiman's is a British bloke. It was incredibly absurd and gloriously strange. I loved the very ordinary Richard Mayhew and even Door, but I've got a special place in my heart for The Marquis De Carabas and his not so charming ways. The only ones I didn't like were Croup and Vandemar. Also, I never would've guessed that the Angel Islington was behind it all along. That shocked me. Anesthesia and Hunter broke my heart. I even found that bit about the sewer canals gripping (not dripping. I hope you don't see what I did there, it's lame.) Neverwhere's pulled off what [a:Clive Barker 10366 Clive Barker http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1200469782p2/10366.jpg]'s [b:Imajica 567704 Imajica Clive Barker http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333844729s/567704.jpg 1371342] couldn't. I loved Neverwhere more than [b:Coraline 17061 Coraline Neil Gaiman http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871014s/17061.jpg 2834844], which is generally thought as rotten judgement on my part by everyone. I'll admit that it could've turned out into a cornball dark fantasy at it's tawdriest if it wasn't for the decent writing and the impressive story.
I'm not sure I like America Singer, she was sort of blah. Here's three words for you that describe her: Insecure, immature, icing. Yes, you read that right. America Singer is a mixture of sugar and butter.)
Will I read the sequel? I just might. It's like The Bachelor, you know you hate it but you'll end up watching it anyway.
The Night Circus is a magical circus that appears only at night. Within its tents, illusionists, fortune-tellers, and rival magicians entertain audiences, a blend between Hogwarts and Neil Gaiman's surreal worlds.
In 2012 I considered myself a ‘connoisseur' of immersive prose xD, and was immediately drawn to the world of The Night Circus. Morgenstern's lively descriptions, coupled with imaginative illusions and a diverse cast of characters, really got me. Surprisingly, it was the absence of a conventional plot that heightened my appreciation for the novel. While others enjoyed plot-driven narratives, I found myself hooked on the language, emotion, and unique perspective offered by Morgenstern. Though the novel ultimately offers a tidy resolution, I liked the comfort that comes with such closure back then.
Reflecting on past debates over the merits of storytelling, I've come to realise that while a strong plot and well-developed characters were typically considered essential by my friends, I appreciated the cinematic appeal of “no plot” books more, a genre that The Night Circus has been criticized for falling into. Its appeal lies in its exploration of the blurred lines between fantasy and reality. The vague dreamlike quality of the narrative and the characters mirrors the nature of the circus itself, sparking an interplay that my inner child likes. In Erin Morgenstern's whimsical prose I see echoes of my own fantastical daydreams from childhood. Like Tolkien's early language inventions, or Carroll's absurd logic, Morgenstern's prolonged “world-play” holds my attention with its intricate ‘nonsense' imagination like all childhood inventiveness.
I LOVED THE TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE.
This wasn't nearly as good, and a whole lot weirder. I loved the end, though, but the whole time I was reading the book, I had this sense of...anticlimax. Maybe I was subconsciously comparing it to The Time Traveller's Wife, and it just wasn't measuring up. This book was awful and weird and Niffenegger overload. I mean, even The Time Traveller's Wife was slightly...overkill. So...two stars is all I can manage for this one. Definitely a disappointment.
Romance novels, much like sitcoms, provide a comforting familiarity that makes them easy to devour. They serve as a personal favorite literary indulgence, akin to a gentle laxative, effortlessly propelling me through their pages. When faced with more demanding reads that linger in my mind, these easy-to-digest romance books offer a welcome respite, ensuring my reading habit remains intact.Anna and the French Kiss was good for a debut novel. After all, the genre is chick lit, so if there were too many cliches in it I have only myself to blame for picking the book up in the first place. The writing was good, the dialogue was (sort of) cute, Anna was a likeable heroine, but (unlike everyone else, apparently) I didn't fall for St. Clair face first into a French carpet. Her second book, [b:Lola and the Boy Next Door 9961796 Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2) Stephanie Perkins https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358271832l/9961796.SY75.jpg 7149084], really blew me away, it was fantastic. Anna is nothing compared to Lola, and Cricket will make you literally swoon. Rarely do I find a reflection of myself in the stories within these pages. That is not their intended outcome, romance novels first and foremost, are relied on to transport readers to worlds of love, passion, and happily-ever-afters. However, in Lola, a creatively eccentric and independent teenager on a journey of self-discovery through complex relationships, I did catch a glimpse of myself.