Tag: goodreads

Out of the Box Blogs

Black Widow Forever Red by Margaret Stohl

Les

Let me start by saying this book isn’t my usual genre, it is more Kar’s style than mine. However, that being said I told you guys that I read ANY book that catches my attention. Well this one caught it my attention.

I feel like I owe you guys a little background on me. I may be a nerd, but I do not read comic books. I am just not cool enough for that! So I knew nothing of the Avengers, or any other comic book people, with exception to Batman or Superman. Oh and Spiderman, but these only from TV. Any way Kar gave me a 1 1/2 hour lecture on who the Avengers are and all of their stories before dragging me to the most recent movie, which I owed her since I drug her to see 50 shades. HA! Poor Kar!

Ok so with the little knowledge I have I was interested in this book, which dun, dun, dun, has the Avengers in it. This is about the Black Widow Natasha, and two teenagers. It starts with action, then calms down, them throws you back into it full force. I also must say I have read Margaret Stohl before and love a lot of her stories. This one is no different. I loved it.

The main characters, are all different. Natasha is a secret agent for the S.H.I.E.L.D. government agency, and works with the avengers. She is hard and does what is necessary to survive and save the world.  She is also damaged as is Ava. Ava is a homeless teenager, who is bitter, lonely, and always looking over her shoulder. While Alex lives with his mom and is lively, but always getting into trouble, he likes to fight.

Ava’s dreams lead her into a world she thought she escaped, and all her bitterness to the front. Together they all must work together to fight the bad guys. But can they do it?

Well you will just have to read it to find out!

I love how it tells from each persons perspective and the interview parts with Natasha in between the chapters. She is kind of a smart ass.

I feel like I have been choosing great books lately, and I hope my luck holds. I really think Kar should read this one and tell you her thoughts.

Peace out

Les

Books, Reviews

Rock Redemption by Nalini Singh

Karen

I have been reading Nalini for years so when Netgalley offered me a copy of this book for an honest review I almost fell out of my chair, but I looked at it like any other.

This was my favorite of the Rock Kiss series. The book opens with a big emotional situation and it’s like a car wreck, I knew I was going to be bad but couldn’t stop. That was the hook, and at this point I had to know how she was going to build this story. Then you had the push and pull where you wanted to protect Kit, because of what Noah did, but at the same time you wanted to help Noach because he was so broken and the best way to help Noah according to him in the book? Kit. I don’t know if I agreed with him, but like Fox said who am I to say what he should do to fix himself. I was completely immersed, couldn’t put the book down, and felt like the story was well paced, well put, and written to perfection. The romance I felt was one of the best parts, not hurried so we would have a build up with the characters. I enjoyed that it took a little longer and they didn’t jump into bed right after they saw each other again. Loved it! Loved it! Loved it!

This book will be available on October 6th.

Books, Out of the Box Blogs, Reviews

The Duff by Kody Keplinger, do you think she sold out with the movie?

Les

First, sorry for my late post. Yesterday wasn’t a good day.

So let’s get started. This is one of my all time favorite books, I have read it more times than I can count. As it turns out I absolutely love Kody Keplinger. I read all of her books, except the young tween book she wrote.

Anyway, for those who haven’t read the book, Bianca is a senior in high school, and lives at home with her dad. She is smart, bitchy, and always negative. I do not like her. Enter my favorite character, Wesley, he is rich, smart, a man whore,and a loner. His parents are never home so he does what he wants. These two meet at a teen club, where Wesley wants Bianca to talk to him, so he can hook up with one of her two hot best friends. She tells him to go away, but he asks her to cooperate and not to be upset about being the “DUFF” (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) in her friendship. She throws drink, and boom she hates him. Oh! Did I mention Wesley is a jerk.

So life goes on she and Wesley  get paired on a class project and things get better and better from there.

Ok, the movie is a far cry from this book. Don’t get me wrong if I separate this book from the movie it is enjoyable. However, knowing that it was tied to this  book killed my dreams of seeing it played out on the big screen. The characters in the movie are nothing like the book characters. They only similarities between the two are the names of some of the characters. My opinion is that Kody didn’t fight for enough say in this movie. Her book is 4 to 5 star material, the movie 3 star at tops, and only if you don’t know it is tied to the book.

So if you have only seen the movie and not read the book, please do yourself a favor and read it! You will see what I am going on about.

So here is the question. Did Kody sell out? What other authors do you think sold out for a movie deal?

Peace out

Les

Out of the Box Blogs

The Big Review

Karen

I have three books to review and I’m officially stuck. Easy you think, right? Not really. One I loved, one I hated and I falls right in the middle. What’s the big deal? Allow me to explain. You see any good review I read always does the following: (1)provides a clear opinion on a book (2) with a understanding of the story ,(3) without any spoilers. Sounds easy? It’s not. Problem one, when I love a book I want to go on and on about every character and how they were integral parts of the story, how they affected the plot and the outcome. Damn broke rule number three. Okay but isn’t that why goodreads made that great little spoilers button? Sure, but I don’t have one of those. So cut out the important parts, keep the integrity of the story so readers understand, oh yeah and make sure everyone knows it was kick ass. Lots of exclamations points only get you so far!!! Sorry saying this was awesome over and over just doesn’t cut it anymore..

So what about the bad reviews? Same rules but now your actually criticizing some ones writing, and potentially convincing others not to read it. I have always held to the belief that I should be honest, but there is a line between honest and mean, and you never want to cross it. This is especially hard with small indie writers, while I don’t mind offering critique, basically telling someone I generally disliked there book can be harder than you think when someone has 5 reviews total on there page. And then on the other hand, if they are a well loved author, prepare for the backlash. I can still remember my first one star, it was a Y.A. author that was popular, whoa watch out! After I started getting some negative thumbs down I was pissed, I had worked hard on that honest review and it seemed that some people were just not liking it because they loved the author (and hadn’t even read the book, hey I loved them too but this book was not up to par) not because it was a badly written review. But then I did a total readjust on my attitude, I had to remember, I just said something bad about an author they liked, hey that’s they’re way of expression too. I always now make it a point to read all types of reviews and try to concentrate on how people are expressing themselves. It takes a lot of courage sometimes to say bad things.

The in between. Ugh this is the hardest to write. Sure I can go to amazon and goodreads and throw up three stars, but write a comment? This is where I struggle. But I recently read something an author wrote and I’m taking it to heart, they pointed out that reviews with good and bad points in them are the best kind because you learn the most from them. So I’m working on going back and writing an actual review, pointing out what I liked and disliked WITHOUT SPOILERS (so bad at that) so people can make up they’re own minds.

I know this isn’t an official review, but sometimes you gotta vent.