Reading with AngelaRenea

Zoo

7:00 pm 11 December 2013

I am fairly new to James Patterson, and I actually picked this book up for my 2013 ABC challenge (Z for Zoo!). I thought that the premise for this book was a very interesting, if not overdone idea, and I did enjoy some of it, for example the lion scenes, and some of the science (although I couldn't tell if, at any given moment it was real science or fictionalized). But for the most part this book felt like someone woke up at 4 in the afternoon and said 'Crap, my fiction class's final story is due tomorrow! I'll write about... animals going crazy and attacking humans because of pheromones, yea, that'll be great! I need some coffee but I think I can knock this out tonight!" It just felt like it could have been really good, and really interesting, but it just got phoned in. Which I guess makes sense because Patterson seems to just be throwing books at the public without worrying about if they are actually good.

I did not like the main character, nor did I like his love interest. They just were not very likable. To be honest it didn't even feel like they liked each other. It seemed like the chemistry between the two of them was more like, we have a job to do, you don't hate me, I don't hate you, the job is to be in a relationship. There was no affection. I felt like I wasn't given the opportunity to become attached to anyone either. There were arbitrary gaps in the story without explanation. To be honest if this book was a sentence, it would be one really long, boring sentence, without pause, or punctuation. There were many opportunities to have a much needed lull in the action. Without them, the excitement was just not exciting.

This could have been a good book, and should have, but it just really fell short of all expectations. I have a lot of books on my to read list and the time spend reading this book could easily have been spend on one I would have liked.

Frozen

7:00 pm 27 November 2013

I recently got this book as an ebook arc from NetGalley

An adventure right from page one, this book was fast paced and engaging from page one. I felt like a kid on their first trip to the aquarium, wide eyed and staring around at every new and exciting detail! From the beautiful and creatively crafted world, to the mysterious twists that urge you to turn the page! I couldn't put this book down! I also really like the way the book is broken into sections and chapters because it was really hard to put this book down and the sections offered a good breaking point for necessities like eating and sleeping.
The characters are interesting, and incredibly likable, and there was just enough mystery to turn up the excitement for book two.
The only issue I had was that it was a little difficult to figure out the world at first, but in the end, piecing it together added to the experience and only made it better.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and dystopian books!

The Year of the Flood

7:00 pm 25 October 2013

I liked this book a lot more than the first one, and to be honest I liked the first one a lot more once I had the perspective of this book. I really enjoyed the different points of view of Toby and Ren. It was a little bit confusing at first, trying to figure out the timeline and characters, but it really brought the world to life. I thought there was some interesting religious points brought up by the gardeners, but most importantly I think that this book really showed Jimmy/Snowman's character. All of the characters went through similar, traumatic events, and lived through what was essentially almost the end to the human race. I the first book we see Jimmy sinking into himself, and wholeheartedly believing his is the last human on earth. He thinks that there is no way that anyone else could have survived. On the other hand Ren has no reason whatsoever to believe that anyone else has survived let alone Amanda, the one person she reached out to. But she believes that it is possible. Then Toby who is somewhere between the two, she feels like the last person, but she wants to believe that Zeb survived. She *wants* to believe, but she isn't always able. I really enjoyed seeing Jimmy/Snowman from Ren's perspective, as well as seeing his story as seen by others. It shows that he really is just a misogynistic, narcissistic, low life, that has an inflated scene of his own importance and worth.

The Masterharper of Pern

7:00 pm 22 October 2013

I absolutely loved reading about Master Robinton's life. I really liked seeing the whole evolution of this generation of Pern through his eyes. I also really enjoyed the explanation of how Flax came to power, which has always confused me a bit. Portions were frustrating, but only because I think, they were supposed to be from a plot's perspective. An excellent addition to the Pern series.

The Return: Nightfall (The Vampire Diaries)

7:00 pm 20 September 2013

This book was just weird. Really though what did I just read? At one point I just stared at the book and thought 'Huh?' Some of my favorite things were:
Baby Elena angel and her sexual relationship with daddy Stefan
Mutant tree things
Pregnant Caroline wreaking havoc on the whole town
Slutty little girls gluing stuff and piercing stuff
Incestuas demon fox people and a snow globe hideout

What even happened at the end there?

I think Miss Smith must have hired a 5 year old to come up with this book. It made no sense.

The Fury (Vampire Diaries, No 3)

7:00 pm 17 September 2013

I liked this book a little better than the previous two, but was frustrated by the lack of crazy Stefan. I thought it was a lot less than it could have been, but maybe I missed the age where you can appreciate these books.

Dark Reunion

7:00 pm 17 September 2013

This book was a bit interesting I guess. I still am having trouble with the whole 'Elena, you are perfect and every guy wants you!' thing. I liked the ghost though. I'm just not that into these books.

The Struggle

7:00 pm 16 September 2013

This book was quite as frustrating as the one before. It's one redeeming quality was that it was short.

The Awakening

7:00 pm 15 September 2013

Ok, so I started watching the Vampire Diaries TV series for a few friends and my sister, and I really liked it! So I got really excited when I found out that they were a book series before they were a TV show, and of course I hunted them down. I was pretty disappointed because this book was by far different from show and not in a good way. I found Elena irritating, self centered, selfish, and annoying. I couldn't get into the book.

Hidden

7:00 pm 12 September 2013

I thought that this book was irritating. There were some things that I liked about this, but I found the characters to be frustrating, selfish, and exactly what they have been 'fighting' against this whole time. After 10 books they hold grudges, and refuse to believe that people change, or can make life changes, or choose good even if they haven't always. Zoey was the most irritating of them all. She acts so self important and in charge when really she did not contribute much at all to this book. I think it's time to wrap this series up. Like 3 or so books ago.

Destined

7:00 pm 10 September 2013

The ending of this book is what saved it. I think that I've reached the point in this series that I just want it to be over now. I'm sick of the 'bull poopie'. I was never a kid who swore, but I think if I had read these books, I would have been just so that I never sounded like Zoey. I was frustrated that Cast doesn't seem to be able to write anything about relationships unless there is some kind of love triangle going on. I also am fed up with the poor characterization. Her characters go from bad to good to bad faster than I don't know what. We have Aphrodite who was the villain of the first book is now one of the gang. Stark flip flops from dog lover to rapist to guardian and then abusive(ish) boyfriend to perfect. Kalona was a warrior, then a rapist, then the villain, now trying to be good guy daddy of the year? Nope. It would be OK if the characters of these people were not being slung all over the place. How about the twins? They seem like completely different people in this book. And Damien has morphed from someone with his own personality into Jack 2.0 or something. We had a super feminine gay and he died. You can't just morph the other gay into a super feminine gay now too. Finally I've had it up to here with the spoilers. I get that everyone knows about Lord of the Rings, it's one of those things. But as someone who has not finished True Blood, I'm sick of these books ruining things. I know it's just small stuff, but come one? Why would you ruin stuff? Write your own story! Enough with the pop culture references. You don't need to shove your opinions down the reader's throat. OK you like Sookie Stackhouse better than which ever vampire series you talked about in the last book. You do NOT need to call the author stupid. I'm quite fed up with these books.

Awakened

7:00 pm 9 September 2013

This book was a little bit darker than the previous books. Zoey and Stark decide to stay on the island of Skye for a while until news of Jack's death reaches them from Stevie Rae, who has become the high priestess of the House of Night. Things are becoming serious with Stevie Rae and Rephaim, and we find out Kalona is not really bound. Sadly, at Jack's funeral pyre, Neferat starts trouble and all seems lost until Nyx shows up. She forgives Rephaim and allows him to become human at night. Once Nyx leaves Nepherat twists what she said to her advantage and Zoey and the gang leave for the tunnels.

I was a little bit disappointed by the fact that Zoey excused away Stark's abusive behavior in bed right at the end of the book, even though I am going to assume that it was Kalona controlling him. I am not a huge fan of Stark's character in general because I do not buy into the whole 'I was dark and it wasn't my fault' at the same time as 'I am that person I just have to choose to be good' he tried to rape that Becca girl, he probably raped other girls, and even though it was probably not him this time, it fits his character.

I did feel bad, however at the ending where Zoey finds out he mother is dead. It was such a bitter ending to that story line, that Linda would just be coming around (even if it is just because she caught him, and not because of the way he treated her children) and she goes and dies. That being said I am really glad it was Linda and not the grandmother!
It was also a little darker because of the random bestiality that showed up there at the end. I'm not talking about Stevie Rae. What was with that White Bull sex scene? Nope. Just nope.

Burned

7:00 pm 5 September 2013

This book was a bit different than the previous 6. The pace was a little less fast, however it still had the urgency. Zoey's spirit has been shattered by Heath's death, and she is trapped in the Other world until she can literally pull herself together. Unfortunately she only has a week to do it before her body will die and she will become something terrible. The council tries to decide what should be done about the whole situation, but once again Neferat manipulates the situation. Once she knows what has happened, she sends Kalona's spirit into the Other world after Zoey to prevent her from leaving. Stark, with Aphrodite's and Darius's help heads to the ancient island of Skye to seek the help of it's ancient queen. Stark undergoes a ritual to become a shaman and Zoey's guardian which will allow him to enter into the Other world after her. Once there, he must convince Heath to leave so that Zoey will come back and save the world! Meanwhile in Tulsa Stevie Rae picks up where Zoey left off with two guys (one the lead Raven Mocker who Killed Dragon's mate Rephaim). She invokes the two Bulls personifying Light and Darkness because of one of the (terrible) prophetic poems their new poet gives her. However Dallas finds out about her new crush(?) and chooses darkness, which changes him into the second red vampyre. Luckily for everyone Zoey pulls herself together and her and stark make it out of the Otherworld alive, but not before a showdown with Kalona that ends in Nyx making Kalona give Stark a piece of his immortality!
There was more feelings in this book, but don't let that fool you, it was still an action packed book!

Tempted

7:00 pm 2 September 2013

Zoey's confusion about Kalona comes to a peak in this book when the group of kids bands together and chases him and Neferat to the ancient seat of power in the vampyre world, you guessed it, Italy! With the help of Aphrodite's visions, Stevie Ray's pack of red fledglings, and Erik's.... jealousy? Zoey her friends, including the ever human Heath, head overseas to stop Kalona and Neferat from declaring themselves Nyx incarnate and her consort and taking over the Vampyre world in order to start a war against the humans! But Zoey's not so sure that Kalona is all bad. Her hesitation ends when she is called by her imprint to Heath just in time to see Kalona kill him. Too late to save him, Zoey throws her whole spirit at him and he falls from the cliff. A thrilling continuation of the previous 5, and I am looking forward to the next book!

Hunted

7:00 pm 31 August 2013

Another great book from P.C. Cast about Zoey and her fight against evil. This time the fight is against Kalona, an ancient immortal of Cherokee legend, and his twisted offspring the Raven Mockers, brought back from captivity by Neferet. The group is hiding out and preparing to try to take them down, but Zoey is plagued by dreams of Kalona that make her think there is something more about him. Unfortunately, Zoey's multiple man troubles have caught up with her again. Heath follows her to the hideout and has a run in with the overprotective and jealous Erik resulting in Zoey being mortally wounded! In order to save her Heath allows her to drink from him, solidifying their imprint once again, and then she is rushed back to the House of Night. There they find the now red-fledgling Stark attempting to rape the women of the House of Night, who Zoey promptly picks up where she left off with. (So that brings us back to 3 guys again, 4 if you count Kalona). Action packed and full of drama!

Untamed

7:00 pm 29 August 2013

After loosing all three of her boyfriends, and for a time her friends, this book is about Zoey coming into her own and becoming a high priestess. After winning her friends back with the help of Aphrodite, who we are now to forgive and forget that she was 'evil', Zoey meets yet another boy who has a dog (GASP!). Who she promptly falls for and declares her soul mate after a whooping 3 conversations and death scene kiss. This books is the first book that seems to be transitioning the characters into adulthood, we see Cherokee legends, Grandma Redbird, some nuns, and an ancient Vampyre leader.