Review: Fifty Shades of Grey

Title: Fifty Shades of Grey
Author: E.L. James
Genre: Romance
Series: Book 1 in Fifty Shades
Pages: 356
Release Date: May 25, 2011
Publisher: Vintage
Summary: When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

This book is intended for mature audiences.(via Goodreads)

My Rating:

| Goodreads | Amazon | My Goodreads Review | 

There are so many reviews that sing this books praise, and just as many scathing reviews that tear it apart at the seams. This is neither of those. I did not enjoy this book, so much that it took me 5 years to work up the willpower to finish it. It was not the sex scenes that made this hard. I am not squeamish. I just had trouble with the astoundingly poor writing. I went into this book with high expectations, having been recommended to me by a huge number of people. I was very excited because many of those people were inspired to read (something that they do not normally do much of at all) by this book. I spent a few months picking away at it until I eventually filed it way on my long term hold shelf. 5 years later, rejuvenated, I picked it back up determined to finish it and get it off my currently reading! I did find it easier to stomach the second time around. Perhaps it was because I went in with realistic expectations, or maybe it just gets better as you go, but I finally finished the book. The verdict is in: it was better than I originally thought. I found myself interested in Christian Grey, the broody millionaire (billionaire?) and his thinly veiled past. I can understand the reason that many readers found this book alarming, fantasizing an over controlling significant other. I do think that this story walked the line of choice and abuse, but I think that at the end of the day it was honest in walking that line, because many of us find ourselves walking that same (or similar) line. I have never experienced a BDSM relationship, and would not disrespect that lifestyle in making judgments about the, excuse the pun, shades of gray that entails (or doesn't). I had much more of a problem justifying the terrifying fastness and intensity that these people fell into this story, the vast number of 'oh my's and the impossibility of ignoring the fact that this is a published Twilight fanfiction. 

Overall I gave this book a 2 star. While I did not like this book, in fact I disliked it, it is not the worst book I have ever read, and I think that it says something about it's merit as a book that it inspired people who have never read a book in their life to power through three of them in a week! 

{{BONUS}}

I also, being a crazy person,  finished second and third book in this series (never leave a series hanging!). This series defiantly peaked in the second book. I think that I defiantly had a real interest in the story, maybe not 532 pages interested, but a solid 150 pages. There was a more realistic balance of story and sex scenes, and the characters became more 3D, and grew out past blow up sex dolls that E.L. mashed together. I think that the entirety of the third book could have been summed up in a few chapters in book 2. E.L. was defiantly feeling pressure to deliver sex scenes with now fully flushed out characters, which resulted in a truly horrifying group of chapters. I ended up rating book 2 with 2 stars and book 3 with only 1. 

{{END BONUS}}

Do you think this book walked the line or crossed it? How do you feel about books that inspire people to read, even if they may not be your favorite book?

Review: Grumpy Cat

Title: Grumpy Cat, Volume 1
Author: Ben McCool
Genre: Comic
Series: Book 1 in The Misadventures of Grumpy Cat and Pokey
Pages: 104
Release Date: February 16th 2016
Publisher: Dynamic Forces
Summary: Dynamite proudly presents the comic book misadventures of Grumpy Cat, featuring "The World's Grumpiest Cat" and her brother, Pokey! With her ever-present pout and sassy disposition, Grumpy Cat has won the hearts of people everywhere. Now, her unbearable cuteness and infectious sourpuss are featured in an all-new, all-sensational collection of comic stories, sure to make fans of all ages laugh! If you love the memes, the videos, and that irresistible scowl, then get ready for the wildly fun antics of Grumpy Cat and Pokey!(via Goodreads)

My Rating:

| Goodreads | Amazon | My Goodreads Review | 

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley from Diamond Book Distributors, so thank you very much to them! 

This was not quite what I expected, although after revisiting the NetGalley page it made more sense. It is actually classified as 'Children's Fiction'. I was expecting more of the ironic internet meme type of Grumpy cat, where this was a very juvenile, Grumpy cat who actually reminded me a lot of Garfield. There were a lot of stories in this comic and I think it would be perfect for a young reader maybe in the 8-12 range. For me, however, I found it a little bit tedious. The art was wonderful, and had so many different feels that really brought the stories to life. I probably won't continue on in this series, but I would recommend young readers consider picking this up!

Did you ever pick up a book, only to find it's geared for a completely different age group?

Review: Beautiful Creatures

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Genre: Yong Adult
Series: Book 1 in The Caster Chronicles
Pages: 563
Release Date: December 1, 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Summary: Is falling in love the beginning . . . or the end?

In Ethan Wate's hometown there lies the darkest of secrets . . .

There is a girl. Slowly, she pulled the hood from her head . . . Green eyes, black hair. Lena Duchannes.

There is a curse. On the Sixteenth Moon, the Sixteenth Year, the Book will take what it's been promised. And no one can stop it.

In the end, there is a grave.

Lena and Ethan become bound together by a deep, powerful love. But Lena is cursed and on her sixteenth birthday, her fate will be decided. Ethan never even saw it coming.(via Goodreads)

My Rating:

| Goodreads | Amazon | My Goodreads Review | 

This review was originally posted on my Goodreads, and may contain spoilers to this book. 

I picked this book up because I saw the trailer for the movie. Not because the trailer 'wow'd' me but because if it is good enough to be made into a movie I'm willing to give it a chance (plus I have seen so many books destroyed when they are made into movies that I do not judge books by their movies). To be honest, though, this book did not wow me. there were a lot of things that had potential but it just did not follow through. 

First of all it ended up being a romance, but the narrator is a male. This is something I found interesting because most of the times these type of books are from a female perspective. Second the actual basis for the plot was interesting, not the best I've read, but interesting non the less. Unfortunately I felt like it was not handled well. 

Overall I thought that it felt like another post-Twilight mess. (Please do not mistake me, I loved the Twilight series -minus the first book- but in the wake of Twilight's popularity there were a lot of books with basically the same plot put out and they are mostly a mess.)In fact I found myself seeing parallels to the Twilight series the entire way through. The main difference being that the role of Bella was filled by Ethan. 

Example: Ethan meets Lena who he is instantly drawn to. He cannot get him out of her head even though she insists that she is dangerous. He finds out he is a supernatural Caster(much like a witch) from a family of Casters who all have different gifts and who might hurt him, but accepts this overly easily. He doesn't care and they spend a short period of time together at their high school happy. Then a bad supernatural Caster comes along and tries to kill Ethan. Luckily Ethan’s Amma(?) is easily deceived even though she is constantly said to be very powerful. Ethan loses a fight with said villain and almost dies but luckily due to what Lena is she saves him. 

Which sounds a lot like:
Bella meets Edward who she is instantly drawn to. She cannot get him out of her head even though he insists that he is dangerous. She finds out he is a supernatural vampire from a family of vampires who all have different gifts and who might hurt her but accepts this overly easily. She doesn't care and they spend a short period of time together at their high school happy. Then a bad supernatural vampire comes along and tries to kill Bella. Luckily Bella’s well meaning father is easily deceived even though he is the Chief of Police. Bella loses a fight with said villain and almost dies but luckily due to what Edward is he saves her. 

It wasn’t bad enough that I will read the second book in the series, and the last few chapters were pretty good, but it was mostly a disappointment. 

What book did you feel got a lot of hype but ultimately fell short?

Review: The Gods of Mars

The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

**This review was originally posted on my Goodreads**

I know I said that I probably wouldn't read any more of these books, but I can't just leave a series hanging. 

The Gods of Mars was interesting. I thought that the religious aspect of traveling down the river to what the people of Mars/Barsoom consider to be Heaven only to find hatred and corruption was interesting. I think that this speaks to a deeper fear that we all have- fear of the unknown. More specifically, fear that we have incorrectly placed our faith in an unknown and it turns out to be entirely wrong. 

However yet again, I found the idea of this main character setting himself above the entire world. He finds a race of black Martians who are either evil, or ignorant and need to be educated by the Virginian slave owner. It is starting to stand out that Burroughs is more than a little racist. As I've said in a previous review, I do understand that this book was written in a different time, and there is a completely different historic context to it, but it is entirely out of control. Not only that, but I found the portrayal of women thus-far to be quite offensive. I think that there was a good idea under all of the ignorance, but found it hard to enjoy the book, and impossible to feel for the main character. But that's just me, there are many people who love these books and they have obviously stayed popular through out the years.

I would really only recommend this book to someone who enjoyed the first one. There are so many better science fiction books out there, you would be much better off picking one of those.

The Gods of Mars on Goodreads

My review on Godreads

Review: City of Bones

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

**This review was originally posted on Goodreads**

There has been a lot of hype about this book lately and I noticed that it was being made into a movie so I figured I would give it a chance.

I think that there was an interesting, well thought out plot, with a unique world in here somewhere, and if you scrape off the poor romance, Mary Lu's, and stagnant characters you might be able to catch a glimpse it.

Some of this book was wonderful and the detail was great, with interesting and as I've said, unique ideas, but then there were the scenes that just overstated things, or restated them. I feel like some of the times there will be a well written passage, and then Cassandra Clare would just cut and paste it later on in the book. I found a lot of the writing poor if I'm perfectly honest.

Another problem I had with this book was that just about every character was impossible to like. Clary and Jace were quite irritating and I could not ship it. I couldn't get involved in the 'love story' which overwhelmed the whole book, so it made reading this hard. Alec was irritating and irrational. At one point Clary met him, then he hated her. I had to flip back to the previous page to see if I missed something, but no. No, he just hated her. No reason. Isabelle was similar, although she started out with some potential (I guess). I think that most of this book could have been edited down to the first half of a book (the boring- get used to a world half). 

Because I am a crazy person, and I can not just abandon series, I will continue on in this series, but I really do not recommend this book to anyone, and it blows my mind how many people are completely obsessed with it.

City of Bones on Goodreads
My review on Goodreads

Review: Dracula

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Sometimes a classic is just like a really old rich guy in a cape hitting on someone else's girlfriend, and that's the impression I got from Dracula. As anyone who is my Goodreads friend already knows, it took me an incredibly long time to read this book. It was actually on my currently reading shelf for a very long time (like 3 years) because I just could not find the drive to read this dusty old book when there were so many books I actually wanted to read. I recently started reading Stephen King, however, and he mentions that his book Salem's Lot was heavily influenced by Dracula so I pushed through and finished it.

I did not like this book. I thought it was slow, and boring, and honestly disappointing. There was very little of Dracula, and instead page upon page of pointless love triangle (octagon?). I think the whole thing just went on forever and then ended very unsatisfactory. 

I am glad I read it, however, because I now feel like I have a much better understanding of the vampire genre. I understand why so many vampire books are romances, and why there is always a love triangle. It has always bothered me, but I do now understand why. I think it's hilarious when people attack Twilight when this book read more like a cheesy romance than a horror. 

I was also not a huge fan of the style the book was written in. I've never really liked reading journals or letters and this book was comprised of mostly that. 

If you liked books like The Vampire Diaries, or The Sookie Stackhouse books, you should go out right now and get this book, but if you're more like me, and are tired of boring sappy stories about girls that everyone wants, skip this book. I 'm glad I read this, but mostly for the experience of having read it, and the context it brings to other books, but then, I've never been big on classics.

How do you think the classics hold up to their reputations?

Dracula on Goodreads
My review on Goodreads

Review: Living Dead in Dallas

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

**This review was originally posted on my Goodreads**
**This review contains explicit spoilers for the book.**

I think I should start out by saying that I was introduced to the True Blood show before I even knew about any of the Sookie Stackhouse books, and so I already had a picture of these characters, as well as opinions of and attachments to some of them. So I found it very upsetting when one of my very favorite characters was found dead right at the beginning. Although we had not seen much of Lafayette in the first book, I had hoped (due to how important he was in the show) his role would pick up, but I guess not.

I thought that this book was a little slower than the first one, and found the maenad confusing and a little juvenile. She just sort of skipped into Bon Temps, throws a few orgies, kills a few people, then shrugs her shoulders and tosses her hair with a painful 'oh well, I have to go somewhere else now' type goodbye worthy of a flirty 13 year old talking to a crush on AIM, and flounces right back out of the series leaving Sookie, or rather Bill and Eric, to clean up the mess. It felt like a cop out ending if there ever was one. So you found the villain, and they killed someone, and they attacked you, leaving you for dead just to send a message, what are you going to do next? Answer: watch her dance off into the woods like a crazy person and do nothing. In the sarcastic words of my 18 year old younger sister 'Cool story, bro, tell it again.'

But there is another story line here, you say? It's got a much better resolution to it, you say? Well, yes, you would be at least partially correct. Sookie is hired(bullied) into helping Bill's boss, Eric's friend find his kidnapped 'brother' from a crazed religious group called the Fellowship of the Sun, because an ancient, remorseful, child molesting vampire want's a buddy when he commits suicide to escape the guilt (and gain redemption?). I wasn't sure if I felt bad for this guy because he was thoroughly brainwashed to the point of stupidity by the Fellowship of the Sun, into thinking that this was God's will, or something like that, or not because he was a self proclaimed child rapist. 

But wait, you say, that's not the whole book! There is the wonderful, and romantic love story between Sookie and Bill! Now that you mention it, I do remember a deeply disturbing, and borderline terrifying relationship between the two of them. The entire book, while trying to show the deep love and devotion these two had for each other, was littered with alarming passages about Bill's controlling nature, and outbursts of rage. My favorite is when he demands that she take off Eric's shirt (given to her because her own was ruined in a vicious attack) because he could not stand to see her wear Eric's clothes. Other's included hastily brushed away bursts of fear from Sookie, and borderline rape, when Sookie, badly injured, does not feel up to sex, but Bill insists until she finally agrees. It almost played out as a what not to do for relationships, although their eventual split up at the end of the book makes me wonder if the author wrote it as a bad relationship (I hope so!).

Overall I didn't really like this book all that much, but I would recommend it to someone who liked the Vampire Diaries books, or Beautiful Creatures. I will probably finish the series, but it will most likely take me a while.

Living Dead in Dallas on Goodreads

My review on Goodreads

Review: Dead Until Dark

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

**This review was originally posted on my Goodreads**

**This review contains explicit spoilers for this book** 

Before I start, I think it's important to say that I watched True Blood before I read this book and so it somewhat colored my opinion of the characters, and events, that being said, I didn't care for the first season of True Blood so I went into this book hoping that it would be better than the show, but not expecting much. 

I was not overly impressed with this book, although it did have it's moments. Right off the bat I found Sookie to be irritating, but I can't quite place my finger on what about her irritated me. It could have been her un-modest self introduction of her own looks that just rubbed me the wrong way, or the way that she calls her telepathy a disability. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand that she was trying to show that she did not consider this a gift, but to call it a disability is uncalled for in my opinion. Whatever the reason I just found her frustrating from the start, but I can't think of a book that I've read about telepath, and I found the concept interesting. Unfortunately, the story begins with Sookie meeting Bill, the vampire. I enjoyed the first few pages of their meeting, which was not full of the cliche love at first sight or obsession before they even speak. She was justifiably intrigued by him because as a vampire, she could not hear his thoughts. I also enjoyed a story starting out with our leading lady saving the male love interest. 

The story was set up as a mystery, but because I saw the show first I already knew who the killer was, so I can't speak on the suspense (although that story line is kept fairly well on screen, and I enjoyed the suspense there). I was very unhappy with the portrayal of relationships in this book. The thing that made me most upset was the fact that, on the night her grandmother died (or perhaps her funeral? I can not remember) Bill thinks it is a good idea to comfort this distraught young girl, by having sex with her for the first time, and her first time for that matter. Now call me crazy, but I do not think that when a person loses their grandmother, and only parental figure, and is grief stricken, it is a good time to make them make those big decisions. It is not the time to try to move the relationship to 'the next level' nor is it the time to make decisions of virginity. I know that if I were in Sookie's position I would have felt extremely taken advantage of, although perhaps not until after the fact, and Bill, being incredibly old, should know better. I also cringed at nice-guy-Sam-Merlotte. I was very upset at the way that the author brushed aside Sam mascaraing as a dog and watching Sookie undress. To be honest that one thing that I will take away from this book was how distressing it was reading about Sookie's relationships, because on top of the large events I mentioned, there was a terrifying aspect to her relationship with Bill that stemmed from his controlling and jealous attitude towards her, and her feeble objections to being treated like his property and then content acceptance of it all. 

I would recommend this to people who liked the Vampire Diaries books, or someone looking for a quick romance-mystery for a vacation of something, but not to someone looking for a good mystery. The book had it's moments but overall it left a bad taste in my mouth and the desire to read something with a healthy relationship.

Dead Until Dark on Goodreads
My review on Goodreads