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: 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: Transformed

Title: Transformed
Author: E.V. Fairfall
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 273
Release Date: January 1, 2014
Publisher: Silver Stag
Summary: Thea, all-mighty Mother Earth, only had one rule to follow above all else, one promise to keep to her brother: never take a human form. She would've kept that promise if it weren't for Brice. He's handsome and confident, but above all he's merciless.

He's also a hunter who has tormented Thea for years. She believes if she could teach Brice compassion, she might finally be able to save her creations and herself from his savage ways. Then she meets Chamber: another hunter.

She soon finds herself fascinated by−and torn between−the two boys: Brice and Chamber. Lost within a torrent of human emotions, Thea starts to lose who she is as she falls in love with the one thing that she's always hated: a hunter… a human.(via Goodreads)

My Rating:

| Goodreads | Amazon | My Goodreads Review | 

I received this book as a free ebook from the author in exchange for a honest review, so a big thank you to E.V. Fairfall for this opportunity!

The cover is what initially caught my eye with this book, but it was the plot that drew me in! This was a very unique idea that I've never seen before in young adult books. It's a story of a not-so-young girl: Mother Earth.

I was initially a little bit frustrated with Thea because she went from being this ancient being who has seen so much, to being a stereotypical teen with a crush, but as the story plays out I saw that it was very much part of the character development. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, because dress it up however you like, she was very typical of YA protagonists, but it helped the story along and set up for a delicious plot twist!

I loved the way the romance was handled between Brice and Thea. I was, again, a bit concerned but the wonderful way it was written I feel like when things went bad, I could feel it just as though I was being hit with a bag of bricks, much as I imagine Thea did. It was a nice illustration of how things can go bad so fast. 

I did have one complaint, the time did not seem to flow quite right. I found myself flipping back to see if I had missed something, or feeling like I had missed a chunk of time. Nothing huge, but enough that I noticed it a few times. 

I particularly enjoyed the mythology, can I call it that, in this. The back story of Thea and her brother and how they interact with a sentient Earth. Even though they are titled 'Mother Earth', 'God', 'Earth' I got more of a 'God' feel from the Earth. I liked the fluidity of the whole thing. 

It was a wonderful, well written, interesting book that kept me on the edge of my seat on more than one occasion! I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys books with spiritual fiction in it, or someone who enjoys light fantasy and contemporary books. 

What is your favorite fictional religion or religious mythology?

Review: Once

Title: Once
Author: Anna Carey
Genre:Dystopian
Series:Book 2 in the Eve Series
Pages:354
Release Date: Jan 1, 2012Date
Publisher: HarperCollins
Summary:When you're being hunted, who can you trust?

For the first time since she escaped from her school many months ago, Eve can sleep soundly. She's living in Califia, a haven for women, protected from the terrifying fate that awaits orphaned girls in The New America.

But her safety came at a price: She was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America.

Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past--and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future. When she discovers Caleb is alive, Eve attempts to flee her prison so they can be together--but the consequences could be deadly. She must make a desperate choice to save the ones she loves . . . or risk losing Caleb forever.

In this breathless sequel to "Eve," Anna Carey returns to her tale of romance, adventure, and sacrifice in a world that is both wonderfully strange and chillingly familiar.(via Goodreads)

My Rating:

| Goodreads | Amazon | My Goodreads Review | 

Part two in a pretty typical YA dystopian series.  I enjoyed this book marginally more than Eve but it still did not really wow me. I expected something more, although like book one, I'm not sure what that was. 

It was a pretty typical second book, like I said. I still enjoyed the unique setup for the first book of schools where girls are groomed to be breeding stock, but that's where the uniqueness is pretty well over. Even the fact that in book one Eve was pretty useless in the wild and it was not one of the unbelievable stories where the girl is all of a sudden able to do all manner of things, doesn't follow through to this book. The straight forward love interest morphs into a love monster (that's what I'm calling it. I do not apologize. It's not exactly a love triangle but it's something where everyone inter connects). 

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this book. It was OK. The back story was pretty interesting, and it was, like book one, a quick read. The change of setting was nice, and I liked seeing the City of Sand. 

To be honest that's about it. I did like it, and will finish the series, but It didn't wow me. I think it would appeal to someone new to YA, who hasn't over read these plot lines. 

Review: Eve

Eve by Anna Carey
Eve on Goodreads


I have been eyeing this book up in Books-A-Million for over a year now, and I finally read it! I have to say it was not what I expected, but it was still really good.

This book is a dystopian young adult book with a love story incorporated into it, so while this is a very unique dystopian young adult book with a love story, it is still a snowflake in a blizzard, which unfortunately means, that not a whole lot of this book really stuck with me. That being said, I will be continuing this book because I think there is a lot of potential in this series.

This book follows Eve, a young girl who escapes from her 'school' where she learns they are preparing girls to be baby machines, and teaching them to fear and hate men. I think that that is a really interesting idea, that has some really great ties to today's society.

I really enjoyed the fact that Eve was not a special little flower who everyone loves and dotes on at all times, but is also not a hard core Katness Everdeen type character who kicks some butt, and scares everyone, while being emotionally unavailable. I found her very realistic, and it actually really broke the mold in that respect.

Ultimately, however, it did read like any number of first books in post apocalyptic dystopian worlds. Luckily the second books are always the best!

My review on Goodreads

Review: Marked

Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

**This review was originally posted on Goodreads**

I had heard about the House of Night series books a lot, and thought I'd give them a try, although I admit, I really did not expect to like them all that much. That being said I thought that this book was really well written, and laid out. 

I particularly loved the matriarchal society that P.C. and Kristen Cast have designed and the very unique way in which they write the vampyres. This is not your run of the mill vampires are scary, but these ones are not all bad story. It presents vampires as more of a secret society. 

It isn't a book for everyone, but It reminds me of the popular television show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in the way that it takes normal problems that teens and young adults would be going through, and makes them into supernatural or magical issues. 

There was a slight(ok, not so slight) undertone of feminism in the book, but it was not irritating, or overpowering. It did not overpower the plot as many of the feminist themed books tend to do. I am pretty sure that there were also ties to Wicca but I am not 100% on that as I am not familiar with that group. 

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought that I would and honestly the thing that held me back from 5 stars was the language. It was clearly trying to be 'hip' and 'cool' but came off childish, unrealistic, and to use a lame word, lame. That combined with some of the choices Zoey made were frustrating, however I guess that's just part of her character. 

Overall I think that this book would appeal to a wide variety of readers, including those looking for a romance, and those looking for something with a little bit more plot to it. I recomend that you give this series a chance!

Marked on Goodreads

My review on Goodreads

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: Dead to the World

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

**This review was originally posted on Goodreads**

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

This is book 4 in the Sookie Stackhouse books, and I thought that it was about to par with the third book, and quite a lot better than the first two. I guess I'll take this moment to mention, in case you haven't seen my reviews of the first 3 books that before I decided to read this series, I watched all 6 of the currently aired seasons of True Blood, so my opinion of this book is obviously not what it would have been had I read the books first. 

The book begins with Sookie at a new year's eve party where Sookie makes the sad, but circumstantially impressive resolution not to 'get beat up' this year, even if this means spending less time with Bill. I was actually really proud of Sookie for this, and in the long term (books 1-4) the author way she handled Sookie and Bill's relationship. I admit that in the first few books I assumed that this was another whisk-me-away, I-am-nothing-without-you stories where, the treatment of the leading lady by her love interest makes me cringe at it's presentation as a beautiful story. This does not seem to be the case though, because this book (as far as the relationship aspect of it) read to me like a healing, moving on story. I particularly liked the scene in which Sookie morns the loss of her 'one partner status' because I think that it is something that a lot of people don't think about until they, or someone they know are put in the situation. She had fallen in love with Bill, and slept with him, and I think she believed that they would end up getting married (pending legal changes) and that was that. I liked the very real pause she had when she slept with Eric, and the little internal debate about her own self image, because I know quite a few people who have had one of those moments.

Even though I enjoyed Sookie being with someone other than Bill, I'm not sure that I liked it being a memory wiped Eric. Somehow it felt a little bit shady her starting up a sexual relationship with someone who had no idea who he, or anyone else was (but I guess it's a little bit less shady because he obviously wanted to have sex with her before, during, and after his memory was wiped...). 

I actually was able to enjoy the mystery aspect of Jason's sorry line, even though I already watched the show, because I guess it just didn't click with me where he was because of the differences throughout the show I just assumed it was different. I was a little disappointed in the way that his captivity ended though, because Jason running through the wood shouting about werepanthers was one of my favorite parts of the entire show, but I have hopes that it might happen in the next book. 

I continue to be disappointed because of the lack of sub plots in the books, because as far as the series went I felt like Sookie and Bill's collective story lines (and to be honest, their separate ones) were the weak link. 

I think that this book was better than the previous three, at least partially because it seemed to be structured better, with a more easily followed plot. Reading this book felt a lot more natural, and less like wading through muddy water that the previous three. I feel confident that I could have enjoyed this book without the crutch of the show to help me figure out where I was at some points. 

I would still recommend this book to people who enjoyed the Vampire Diaries series and Beautiful Creatures, but I think that this one would appeal to a wider range of people (if they could get past books 1-3, or they didn't mind reading books out of order).

Dead to the World on Goodreads
My review on Goodreads

Review: Club Dead

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

**This review was originally posted on Goodreads**

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

I liked this Sookie Stackhouse book better than the previous two. I liked the relationship between Alcide and Sookie, maybe because they didn't just jump into it declaring their love from the get go. I don't really enjoy Bill as a character and even less so as one half of Sookie's love life. I think that he is a fictionalized image of an abusive, and controlling relationship. 

This book held my attention much more so than the previous two, and didn't seem to drag on quite as much.I continue to enjoy that 'unique' southern voice that Sookie brings to the story. It isn't apologetic and careful like so many books these days, afraid to offend anyone. It feels closer to what people from small towns thoughts would be.

I will continue this series at least until the next book, although this is not one of those series that just scream to be finished. I will probably eventually finish them, but I'll most likely need to take a few breaks. 

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed The Vampire Diaries books, or the Beautiful Creatures series. Even though this is shelved/categorized as a mystery, I would not recommend this as a book to someone who is looking for a mystery. I also would probably not recommend this to anyone looking for a "serious" read, for lack of a better term. It was a little bit on the cheesey side, with some 'guilty pleasure' aspects to it. 

Overall though this was not a terrible book, and there are significant improvements from books one and two (mainly, the fact that it got away from the unassailable couple of perfection trap). 



Club Dead 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

Review: The One

The One by Kiera Cass

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

** This review has some explicit spoilers in it**

This book was not as good as the first one, but much better than the second. I really liked that the back and forth between Aspen and Maxon came to an end pretty early on. As I've said in my review of The Elite, I was not a fan of the love triangle. I still found the love story plot a bit tired. Maxon was selfish and obnoxious dating 3 people at once, although I do know that is the basis for this series. The thing that got me though was the childish games that America and Maxon played with each other. Who cares who says I love you first? Page after page of back and forth monologues about how she loves him but can't or won't say it unless he says it first, and then the arguments over who should say it! For Heaven's sake just someone say it and be done with it!

As far as the political aspect, I thought it was amazing! I liked the way the northern rebels' story line played out and I absolutely loved the scenes with the Italians. This book had a feel that danger was right around the corner, but unlike the previous book, it felt important, and worth the risk. 

I also really enjoyed seeing the family dynamic in the Singer household and was genuinely sad when the father died. I did not, however like the 180 Celeste's character pulled. I think she started out too extreme and had to come too far too fast to make it believable. I did like her after said unbelievable character change. 

I think that the ending was rushed and a little bit of a cop out, but I saw it coming. Too much setup had been laid out for the Aspen reveal not to touch on it, and the king had to die to tie this up nicely. I didn't see the queen's death coming though, and was upset about that. I really liked her, she seemed like quite a lady. 

If someone liked the first two books, I think that they would really enjoy this wrap up of the series. 

The One on Goodreads

My review on Goodreads

Review: The Elite

The Elite by Kiera Cass

**This review was originally posted on my Goodreads** 
** This review has some explicit spoilers in it**

I didn't like this book as much as I liked the first one and I think that that was mostly due to the Aspen story line. It just did not appeal to me at all. It was predictable from the first chapter of the first book that this kid was going to show up and mess things up, and honestly I'm a little tired of this dramatic secret love triangle story line where the leading lady tries to explain away why she is messing around with two or more men. To be honest, I didn't even find Aspen that likable. So because that was a major story line in this book, it just didn't seem as good.

I loved Marlee and even though I had already guessed what was coming, I was so sad for her when she got caught with Carter. I thought it was a very moving scene when America was fighting to get her, although I'm not sure what she thought she was going to do.

I liked that the political aspect took more of a forefront than the previous book, and thought it was very interesting reading about Gregory Illéa, and the situation in present day Illéa. When her father seemed really interested in the diary, and I found the whole rebels with books scene very suspicious.

I think that in this book Maxon's character started to seem all over the place. I've said that I didn't like America was messing around with Aspen while we were lead to believe how much she cared about Maxon, and I found it equally irritating when Maxon put on a show of complete devotion to America while being secretive about the other girls. I thought that this whole mess was made even worse by the touching revelation in the closet about how Maxon is beat by his father. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a nice scene, but it just seemed like a plot twist to me.

I could have ignored a lot of those things if it wasn't for the terribly arrogant scene where Maxon humiliates America in front of Kriss, and then leaves with her, just, it seams, to get back at her.

If you liked the first book, I would recommend reading this one, if only to get to the last book in the series.

The Elite on Goodreads
My review on Goodreads