Sharp Objects Gillian Flynn Summary: Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille Preaker’s first assignment at her second-rate daily paper takes her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. As she works to uncover the truth, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims - a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming.  After how much I loved Gone Girl, I was expecting a lot from this book, and I was really disappointed. It felt like the author was trying so hard to shock us that it sort of missed its mark, and I wasn’t terribly interested in the story. The ending though, was so awesome that it sort of made up for it a little. She’s definitely great at those.  2.5/5

Sharp Objects

Gillian Flynn

Summary:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille Preaker’s first assignment at her second-rate daily paper takes her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. As she works to uncover the truth, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims - a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming. 

After how much I loved Gone Girl, I was expecting a lot from this book, and I was really disappointed. It felt like the author was trying so hard to shock us that it sort of missed its mark, and I wasn’t terribly interested in the story. The ending though, was so awesome that it sort of made up for it a little. She’s definitely great at those. 

2.5/5

6/6/2013 . 2 notes . Reblog
The Last Little Blue Envelope Maureen Johnson Summary: Ginny Blackstone thought that the biggest adventure of her life was behind her. She spent last summer traveling around Europe, following the tasks her aunt Peg laid out in a series of letters before she died. When someone stole Ginny’s backpack - and the last little blue envelope inside - she resigned herself to never knowing how it was supposed to end. Months later, a mysterious boy contacts Ginny from London, saying he’s found her bag. Finally, Ginny can finish what she started. But instead of ending her journey, the last letter starts a new adventure - one filled with old friends, new loves, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Ginny finds she must hold on to her wits…and her heart. This time, there are no instructions.  I read this months ago, and I don’t really remember much of it, but I do remember being really upset. I had been so excited for this sequel, and I remember being disappointed, and wishing it had gone differently. I wish I could tell you specifically what I didn’t really like about it though. I remember it was pretty readable, and I cared about what happened, I just wanted it to be over. And it was pretty predictable, which I’m never a fan of.  2.5/5

The Last Little Blue Envelope

Maureen Johnson

Summary:

Ginny Blackstone thought that the biggest adventure of her life was behind her. She spent last summer traveling around Europe, following the tasks her aunt Peg laid out in a series of letters before she died. When someone stole Ginny’s backpack - and the last little blue envelope inside - she resigned herself to never knowing how it was supposed to end. 
Months later, a mysterious boy contacts Ginny from London, saying he’s found her bag. Finally, Ginny can finish what she started. But instead of ending her journey, the last letter starts a new adventure - one filled with old friends, new loves, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Ginny finds she must hold on to her wits…and her heart. This time, there are no instructions.

 I read this months ago, and I don’t really remember much of it, but I do remember being really upset. I had been so excited for this sequel, and I remember being disappointed, and wishing it had gone differently. I wish I could tell you specifically what I didn’t really like about it though. I remember it was pretty readable, and I cared about what happened, I just wanted it to be over. And it was pretty predictable, which I’m never a fan of. 

2.5/5

17/12/2012 . 1 note . Reblog
13 Little Blue Envelopes Maureen Johnson Summary: Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket. Envelope 2 contains directions to a specific London flat. The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: find a starving artist. Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/bloke-about-town called Keith go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous - though utterly romantic - results. Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it’s all because of the 13 little blue envelopes. I think I would have more positive things to say about this book if I hadn’t read the extras at the end of it. The interview with the author, and especially the interview with Keith (one of the characters in the book) were so annoying, I just couldn’t like the book very much after that. It is, though, still a cute story and it’s easy to read. I’m going to read the sequel, but it’s just not something I’m going to remember. 2.5/5

13 Little Blue Envelopes

Maureen Johnson

Summary:

Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket.

Envelope 2 contains directions to a specific London flat.

The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: find a starving artist.

Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/bloke-about-town called Keith go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous - though utterly romantic - results.

Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it’s all because of the 13 little blue envelopes.

I think I would have more positive things to say about this book if I hadn’t read the extras at the end of it. The interview with the author, and especially the interview with Keith (one of the characters in the book) were so annoying, I just couldn’t like the book very much after that.

It is, though, still a cute story and it’s easy to read. I’m going to read the sequel, but it’s just not something I’m going to remember.

2.5/5

23/8/2012 . 0 notes . Reblog
Julie and Julia Julie Powell Summary: No summary I had a really hard time getting into this book. The author just really bothered me, and I couldn’t find a way to like her. I liked the story, and I was interested in what went on, once I got past the first couple of chapters. It’s just not anything that will stick with me. Oh, also, like always, I felt super weird about reading something from the perspective of a real person, written by somebody else. (I lent it to my mom so I don’t have my own picture or summary whoops) 2.5/5

Julie and Julia

Julie Powell

Summary:

No summary

I had a really hard time getting into this book. The author just really bothered me, and I couldn’t find a way to like her. I liked the story, and I was interested in what went on, once I got past the first couple of chapters.

It’s just not anything that will stick with me.

Oh, also, like always, I felt super weird about reading something from the perspective of a real person, written by somebody else.

(I lent it to my mom so I don’t have my own picture or summary whoops)

2.5/5

7/8/2012 . 3 notes . Reblog
Beautiful Amy Reed Summary: (Barcode) from the tiny town where she has always lived to a suburb of Seattle, she is determined to leave her boring, good-girl existence behind. This is Cassie’s chance to stop being invisible and become the kind of girl who’s worth noticing. Stepping into her new identity turns out to be easier than Cassie could have ever imagined…one moment, one choice, changes everything. Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral tinged with violence and abuse, and no one - not even the one person she thought she could trust - can help her now. After how much I liked Clean, I was expecting to really like this one too, but I just couldn’t really get into it. I didn’t care about the story or characters, and even when really awful things were going on, I just couldn’t be bothered. I did like how (like in Clean) it seemed very real. There was an extremely sad ending, which I always love. But that’s pretty much all it had going for it. 2.5/5

Beautiful

Amy Reed

Summary:

(Barcode) from the tiny town where she has always lived to a suburb of Seattle, she is determined to leave her boring, good-girl existence behind. This is Cassie’s chance to stop being invisible and become the kind of girl who’s worth noticing.
Stepping into her new identity turns out to be easier than Cassie could have ever imagined…one moment, one choice, changes everything.

Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral tinged with violence and abuse, and no one - not even the one person she thought she could trust - can help her now.

After how much I liked Clean, I was expecting to really like this one too, but I just couldn’t really get into it. I didn’t care about the story or characters, and even when really awful things were going on, I just couldn’t be bothered.

I did like how (like in Clean) it seemed very real. There was an extremely sad ending, which I always love. But that’s pretty much all it had going for it.

2.5/5

3/1/2012 . 6 notes . Reblog
The Pretty Little Liars series Sara Shepard This series started out really great. It had a good mystery, good characters, and it was just good all around. Not the best writing, but still. Then, it slowly started going down. The characters all became really annoying and rude and everything, then things started happening that just really didn’t make any sense at all. (In a bad way.) The ending was…weird. It worked, but it was just strange. Then it felt like nothing was really solved. Except for Spencer and Melissa’s relationship, which I never really cared about, to be honest. (This is a spoiler) The biggest thing I don’t understand is Emily’s relationship. Was she a lesbian? It bothers me that Shepard pretty much killed off the lesbian, and just made her straight at the end. (This is not a spoiler) In all, it was decent. Nothing I would read again, and I probably wouldn’t recommend it. 2.5/5

The Pretty Little Liars series

Sara Shepard

This series started out really great. It had a good mystery, good characters, and it was just good all around. Not the best writing, but still. Then, it slowly started going down. The characters all became really annoying and rude and everything, then things started happening that just really didn’t make any sense at all. (In a bad way.) The ending was…weird. It worked, but it was just strange. Then it felt like nothing was really solved. Except for Spencer and Melissa’s relationship, which I never really cared about, to be honest. (This is a spoiler) The biggest thing I don’t understand is Emily’s relationship. Was she a lesbian? It bothers me that Shepard pretty much killed off the lesbian, and just made her straight at the end. (This is not a spoiler)

In all, it was decent. Nothing I would read again, and I probably wouldn’t recommend it. 2.5/5

29/11/2011 . 8 notes . Reblog
Fang James Patterson Summary: Fang will be the first to die. Maximum Ride is used to living desperately on the run from evil forces sabotaging her quest to save the world - but nothing has ever come as close to destroying her as this horrifying prophetic message. Fang is Max’s best friend, her soul mate, her partner in the leadership of her flock of winged children. A life without Fang is a life unimaginable. But there will be another… When a newly created winged boy, the magnificent Dylan, is introduced into the flock, their world is upended yet again. Raised in a lab like the others, Dylan exists for only one reason: he was designed to be Max’s perfect other half. To replace Fang. Thus unfolds a battle of perfection versus passion that terrifies, twists, and turns… and meanwhile, THE APOCALYPSE IS COMING. Patterson has his ups and downs for me, and Maximum Ride is a down. It’s been a while since I read the first ones in the series, but reading this one reminded me how much I don’t like them. The two books the series is based off of were pretty good, but the series is bad. The characters suck. I hate the pop culture references, and the things Max says seem like an old man trying to decide what a teenage girl would say. It’s bad. I like the story, it’s readable.. there isn’t much else going for it. I’ll give it a 2.5/5

Fang

James Patterson

Summary:

Fang will be the first to die.

Maximum Ride is used to living desperately on the run from evil forces sabotaging her quest to save the world - but nothing has ever come as close to destroying her as this horrifying prophetic message. Fang is Max’s best friend, her soul mate, her partner in the leadership of her flock of winged children. A life without Fang is a life unimaginable.

But there will be another…

When a newly created winged boy, the magnificent Dylan, is introduced into the flock, their world is upended yet again. Raised in a lab like the others, Dylan exists for only one reason: he was designed to be Max’s perfect other half.

To replace Fang.

Thus unfolds a battle of perfection versus passion that terrifies, twists, and turns… and meanwhile, THE APOCALYPSE IS COMING.

Patterson has his ups and downs for me, and Maximum Ride is a down. It’s been a while since I read the first ones in the series, but reading this one reminded me how much I don’t like them. The two books the series is based off of were pretty good, but the series is bad.

The characters suck. I hate the pop culture references, and the things Max says seem like an old man trying to decide what a teenage girl would say. It’s bad.

I like the story, it’s readable.. there isn’t much else going for it.

I’ll give it a 2.5/5

8/10/2011 . 11 notes . Reblog
Brave New World Aldous Huxley Summary: Aldous Huxley’s tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a “utopian” future - where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment. This book, in my mind, had sort of an arch of interestingness. It started out kind of boring, and it was hard to get into. Then I realized what was going on and I got very interested, and breezed through the middle. But then it started getting to the end, and it got so boring. I was skipping pages, and forgetting what I’d already read, and I didn’t care. I barely even know what happened at the end because it was so boring, it took all I had to get through it. It does have an interesting message, because I think this book has found a way to stay more relevant than many. It does seem like something that is still a possibility for our future, which is always a good element, but I’m big on endings. That’s the impression you’re left with. So, even though it did have a lot of good points, I have to give this one a 2.5/5

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley

Summary:

Aldous Huxley’s tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a “utopian” future - where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.

This book, in my mind, had sort of an arch of interestingness. It started out kind of boring, and it was hard to get into. Then I realized what was going on and I got very interested, and breezed through the middle. But then it started getting to the end, and it got so boring. I was skipping pages, and forgetting what I’d already read, and I didn’t care. I barely even know what happened at the end because it was so boring, it took all I had to get through it.

It does have an interesting message, because I think this book has found a way to stay more relevant than many. It does seem like something that is still a possibility for our future, which is always a good element, but I’m big on endings. That’s the impression you’re left with. So, even though it did have a lot of good points, I have to give this one a 2.5/5

3/10/2011 . 7 notes . Reblog
Thirteen Reasons Why Jay Asher Summary: Clay Jensen doesn’t want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her. Then Hannah’s voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes - and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death. All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his small town… …and what he discovers changes his life forever. I know that a lot of people really love this book and say it changed their lives or whatever, but I’m not seeing it. I hate both of the characters, I really do. Hannah’s really stupid most of the time, and throughout the whole thing, I never really understood why she killed herself. It felt like it was leading up to some big reason, then it never did. Then Clay is just…ugh. I hate his comments, I hate how everyone is all like “ooh, Clay. Clay is so perfect, blah blah blah”. This just wasn’t realistic at all, and had I read it when I was suicidal, perhaps it would have made me not want to kill myself, if only because I would worry about being as stupid as Hannah. This is a great format, and it’s very readable, so I’ll give it a 2.5/5

Thirteen Reasons Why

Jay Asher

Summary:

Clay Jensen doesn’t want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her.

Then Hannah’s voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes - and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his small town…

…and what he discovers changes his life forever.

I know that a lot of people really love this book and say it changed their lives or whatever, but I’m not seeing it. I hate both of the characters, I really do. Hannah’s really stupid most of the time, and throughout the whole thing, I never really understood why she killed herself. It felt like it was leading up to some big reason, then it never did. Then Clay is just…ugh. I hate his comments, I hate how everyone is all like “ooh, Clay. Clay is so perfect, blah blah blah”. This just wasn’t realistic at all, and had I read it when I was suicidal, perhaps it would have made me not want to kill myself, if only because I would worry about being as stupid as Hannah.

This is a great format, and it’s very readable, so I’ll give it a 2.5/5

6/9/2011 . 8 notes . Reblog
Cloaked Alex Flinn Summary: I’m not your average hero. I actually wasn’t your average anything. just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all. It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission. There wasn’t a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I’ve ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Keys. Don’t believe me? I didn’t believe it either. But you’ll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got Cloaked. I read Beastly a while ago, and while I really didn’t like it much, I did really love the concept. So I thought maybe her other books were better and it was just a fluke that Beastly was the popular one. So I got this one from the library, and quickly found out it was not a fluke. This book is even worse than Beastly, which I seriously was not expecting. My biggest problem with it is how predictable it is. After the first chapter, you pretty much know what is going to happen. And the main character is oblivious about the obvious things for far too long. Also, he’s too perfect. He’s like Bella Swan. He’s made to look imperfect, but just ends up being more perfect because of it, which is so boring. This book is very readable, which is it’s only redeeming quality, really. Well, I guess it’s also a great concept. So I’d give it a 2.5/5

Cloaked

Alex Flinn

Summary:

I’m not your average hero. I actually wasn’t your average anything. just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all.

It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission.

There wasn’t a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I’ve ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Keys.

Don’t believe me? I didn’t believe it either. But you’ll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got Cloaked.

I read Beastly a while ago, and while I really didn’t like it much, I did really love the concept. So I thought maybe her other books were better and it was just a fluke that Beastly was the popular one. So I got this one from the library, and quickly found out it was not a fluke.

This book is even worse than Beastly, which I seriously was not expecting. My biggest problem with it is how predictable it is. After the first chapter, you pretty much know what is going to happen. And the main character is oblivious about the obvious things for far too long.

Also, he’s too perfect. He’s like Bella Swan. He’s made to look imperfect, but just ends up being more perfect because of it, which is so boring.

This book is very readable, which is it’s only redeeming quality, really. Well, I guess it’s also a great concept.

So I’d give it a 2.5/5

20/8/2011 . 14 notes . Reblog
Inkdeath Caroline Funke Summary: Ever since the extraordinary events of Inkspell, when the enchanted book Inkheart drew Meggie and her father, Mo, into its chapters, life in the Inkworld has been more tragic than magical. The fire-eater Dustfinger is dead, having sacrificed his life for his apprentice Farid’s, and now, under the rule of the evil Adderhead, the fairy-tale land is in bloody chaos, its characters far beyond the control of Fenoglio, their author. Even Elinor, left behind in the real world, believes her family to be lost - lost between the covers of a book. Facing the threat of eternal winter, Mo inks a dangerous deal with Death itself. There yet remains a faint hope of changing the cursed story - if only he can fill its pages fast enough. As I’ve said before, I really don’t like this series very much. It really said something when two of the main characters died, and I didn’t care at all. That being said, the last book in the trilogy pleasantly surprised me. It was a very very good story, and it had wonderful plot twists, and everything fit together beautifully, but I still just don’t like it. I hated that I knew from the moment that Farid was brought back to life in Inkspell that nobody would stay dead, and I hated that I was right. In a book series like this, main characters have to die. And okay, I liked the way Farid came back, but I really don’t believe anybody else should have. I guess I’m just not a fan of a happy ending, and that’s what this whole book was leading up to, and it was very obvious. I also didn’t like any of the characters. I didn’t like any of the good guys, or any of the bad guys. I thought they were all obnoxious and even their good qualities were annoying. There were minor characters that I might have been able to like, but I couldn’t keep track of all of them anyway. I think this is a good series, and I understand why people like it, but I definitely won’t be reading it again, or watching the movie. I’d give this a 2.5/5

Inkdeath

Caroline Funke

Summary:

Ever since the extraordinary events of Inkspell, when the enchanted book Inkheart drew Meggie and her father, Mo, into its chapters, life in the Inkworld has been more tragic than magical.

The fire-eater Dustfinger is dead, having sacrificed his life for his apprentice Farid’s, and now, under the rule of the evil Adderhead, the fairy-tale land is in bloody chaos, its characters far beyond the control of Fenoglio, their author. Even Elinor, left behind in the real world, believes her family to be lost - lost between the covers of a book.

Facing the threat of eternal winter, Mo inks a dangerous deal with Death itself. There yet remains a faint hope of changing the cursed story - if only he can fill its pages fast enough.

As I’ve said before, I really don’t like this series very much. It really said something when two of the main characters died, and I didn’t care at all. That being said, the last book in the trilogy pleasantly surprised me. It was a very very good story, and it had wonderful plot twists, and everything fit together beautifully, but I still just don’t like it. I hated that I knew from the moment that Farid was brought back to life in Inkspell that nobody would stay dead, and I hated that I was right. In a book series like this, main characters have to die. And okay, I liked the way Farid came back, but I really don’t believe anybody else should have.

I guess I’m just not a fan of a happy ending, and that’s what this whole book was leading up to, and it was very obvious.

I also didn’t like any of the characters. I didn’t like any of the good guys, or any of the bad guys. I thought they were all obnoxious and even their good qualities were annoying. There were minor characters that I might have been able to like, but I couldn’t keep track of all of them anyway.

I think this is a good series, and I understand why people like it, but I definitely won’t be reading it again, or watching the movie.

I’d give this a 2.5/5


8/8/2011 . 2 notes . Reblog