Drive-By Review: Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

Hello everybody and Happy New Year to you all!

So this morning after sleeping off the New Year's hangover (kidding, I don't drink) I set a goal to finish one of the books I borrowed from the library; not a New Year's Resolution but merely a daily goal I set for myself. I read from the second chapter to the end in one sitting so I was pretty proud of myself considering it only took a few hours.

The book I read was Hot Six by Janet Evanovich, which is the sixth book in the notorious Stephanie Plum series that is still being written today (the most recent is Sizzling Sixteen, which you guessed it: is the sixteenth book in the series).

Because I like to ramble and because I read so many books, I don't actually have time to do a full review of each and every book I read, so I'm going to start doing "drive-by reviews"; however, on occasion I might do a full-blown review on a book if it was just that amazing. Now this book was good but this series is a pretty easy read (considering it took a few hours to read), but "easy read" does not hold a negative connotation by any means.

In these "drive-bys" I will give an excerpt from the first chapter, a couple of sentences on my opinion of the book, and my favorite part(s) of the book. So here goes:

Excerpt: "Truth is, I didn't for a minute think she'd jump. For one thing, she was wearing a four-hundred-dollar jacket from Wilson Leather. You just don't jump off a bridge in a four-hundred-dollar jacket. It isn't done. The jacket would get ruined. Carol was from the Chambersburg section of Trenton, just like me, and in the Burg you gave the jacket to your sister, then you jumped off the bridge."

Favorite parts:

#1 "Munson knocked the two of us aside and streaked down the stairs. He ran the length of the house and out the back door. I was close behind, and Lula was about ten feet behind me. His foot had to be killing him, but he ran flat out through two yards and then cut off to the alley. I took a flying leap and caught him square in the small of his back. The two of us went down to the ground and rolled around, locked together, swearing and clawing. Munson was trying to scramble away, and I was trying to hang on and cuff him. It would have been easier if he'd had clothes to grab hold of. As it was, I didn't really want to grab what was available.

"Hit him where it hurts!" Lula was yelling. "Hit him where it hurts!"

So I did. A person reaches a point where she just doesn't want to roll around anymore. I hauled back and gave Munson a knee in the gonads.

"Ulk," Munson said, and assumed the fetal position.

Lula and I pried his hands away from Mr. Sad Sack and cuffed him behind his back.

"Wish I had a movie of you wrestlin' with this guy," Lula said. "It reminded me of that joke about the midget at the nudist colony who kept sticking his nose in everyone's business."

Mitchell and Habib had gotten out of their car and were standing a few feet away looking pained.

"I could feel that all the way over here. If we get the word that we have to rough you up, I'm wearing a cup." Mitchell said.

#2 "It's his legs," Lula said. "They froze up in a seated position." She pulled a lawn chair off a stack at the back of the garage and set the chair next to the dead guy. "If we put him in a chair he'll look more natural, like he was waiting for a ride or something."

So we picked him up, set him into the chair, and backed away to take a look. Only, when we backed away, he fell out of the chair. Smash, right on his face.

"Good thing he's dead," Lula said, "or that would have hurt like the devil."

We heaved him back into the chair and this time we wrapped a bungee cord around him. His nose was a little smashed and one eye had been jarred closed from the impact when he fell, so one was open and one was closed, but aside from that he looked okay. We backed away again, and he stayed in place.

#3 "Amen," Lula said, and she made the sign of the cross.

"I thought you were Baptist?"

"Yeah, but we don't got any hand signals for occasions like this."

This book, like all in the series, is hilarious and even though they all have the same basis with Stephanie running around getting into shenanigans, they are quick reads and will provide entertainment so don't hesitate to read any of them. The first one was published in 1994 and she's written one a year since then. I will be moving onto the seventh book eventually and I look forward to the next "chapter" in Stephanie's life.

Challenges!!

I was just sitting here thinking, "hmmm what could make this year more fun than the last?" Then I thought about a challenge!! I'm going to do being two. The 2011 Debut Author challenge and my own challenge of 30 Books in 365 Days. Hopefully I'll be able to accomplish these tasks, while still maintaining good grades, keeping up with my blog and the blog world, also graduating high school!
Now the 2011 Debut Author Challenge is hosted by The Story Siren. (cool name by the way) The challenge consist of reading a minimum of 12 YA/MG books. The authors of these books must be making their debut with publication in 2011. This challenge begins on Jan. 1, 2011, which is today in fact so Happy New Years! It ends on Dec. 31, 2011. If you would like more info on this challenge or would like to join click HERE.
I already have 4 of the books pick out for this. They are:
For January- Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
For February- A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford
For March- Clarity by Kim Harrington
For April- Enclave by Ann Aguirre
When I get the rest picked out I'll make a new post with all of them.

Finally 30 Books in 365 Days is my own challenge. I want to try my best to read 30 books before this year is over. My first book is going to be Nightshade: Book 1. Now this challenge it doesn't matter when the books are published or anything, just as long as I read them in 2011.

Evermore Review

Evermore: The Immortals

Synopsis:
After a horrible accident claims the live of her family, 16 year old Ever Bloom can see people's auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone's entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way  to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school--but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.
Damen is gorgeous, exotic, and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head-- wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is--or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

My Thoughts!
This book was pretty good. It's wasn't as good as everyone made it out to be, in my opinion. I like the whole "immortal" thing, which had nothing to do with vampires! Hah! It was also funny how Damon kind of made fun of the idea, that Ever thought he was one. I felt thought, the beginning was a little prolonged. Most of the juicy action parts didn't come until near the end. I hope in the next book we get to learn more about Damon's past. This book was very vague with his and Drina's past. Like why did she turn so evil? How did he fall in love with her? Just things like that. Overall, the book was good and I would recommend anyone who like a good paranormal, coming of age, and romance series!

Cover Revealed!!!!

Ok I know I get behind a lot in the whole "blogging" world, but I just noticed that the cover has been revealed for City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments)!!!! It looks so freaking awesome!! I can't wait to read it!! But darn my busy life, I still haven't managed to finish City of Glass and Clockwork Angels! Urgh! Hopefully my friend will hurry up and give me back my copy of City of Glass!
Anyways...Drum roll please!!!.............

Ta Da!!

I really like it! 

The Lovely Bones Review

Hello readers,

Well I am officially one step closer to my 50 book goal as of a few minutes ago. I finally finished The Lovely Bones which in all honesty lives up to its name, and then some. I will try not to mention much about the plot but in the first paragraph of the book you find out the main character is murdered. So I was a little skeptical how the book would hold my attention throughout my read-through seeing as it told me all the details (including the murderer!) within the first paragraph or so. But it definitely kept my attention. There wasn't a dull moment.

To give you a taste of the book, here's the first paragraph:

"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. In newspaper photos of missing girls from the seventies, most looked like me: white girls with mousy brown hair. This was before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail. It was still back when people believed things like that didn't happen."

I felt that the book was pretty detailed about certain things without being overly meticulous in the description of certain things, which I really enjoy in a book. The time period helped give a special setting to the book and the way Susie narrated made me feel like I was sitting with her and she was reading it to me. I think the author (Alice Sebold) told it like that on purpose, but if not, more power to her.

The place where Susie is stuck, which she calls the "Inbetween" (between Earth and Heaven) is heavenly in that she doesn't age (as the characters do in the story, she stays exactly the same as the day she died) but the people she meets and friends she makes still do kind of earthly things. She talks about going to school, except she "could run through the halls yelling and nobody would care."

I don't want to give a too in-depth review because it might spoil some things (or I may have already, in which case I'm sorry). There is a lot to love about the characters; there are quite a few main characters that progress the story after Susie dies. Her father, Jack; her mother, Abigail; her younger sister, Lindsey; her younger brother, Buckley; her grandma, Lynn; and her killer, Mr. Harvey (who is played by the amazing Stanley Tucci in the movie adaptation, and who subsequently got nominated for an Oscar for his role).

Speaking of the movie, which I saw several months ago before reading the book (I had no clue there was a book when I saw the movie), I thought that the movie was well written and superbly cast. It was directed by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, King Kong, District 9) and I felt that he did a pretty good job at staying as true to the book as possible. However, the book spans almost a decade after Susie's death whereas the movie spans only a couple of years after her death if I remember correctly. Also in the movie, I felt some of the characters did not get as much backstory as they did in the book. I do realize it's difficult for a book to be adapted into a movie because the people working on the conversion process have a lot on their shoulders (dealing with the fans of the book and staying true to it, while trying to create a good movie experience) but with this movie, I think they made it as good as it could be.

For those of you who have seen the movie or plan on seeing it before reading the book, you will know what happens for the most part, but you will be missing out by not reading it. The characters are not as fleshed out in the movie as they are in the book and the story goes quite a bit deeper into the lives of the others, whereas the movie doesn't really explore them.

Overall, I give The Lovely Bones a solid 8 out of 10. It's a great read, but it's not my favorite book of all time, mostly attributed to the fact that I read thrillers, murder mysteries, and the like. This book definitely has some thrilling points and there is a murder, but there's not much mystery being that you are told who kills the main character early on. I felt that the book was more about love and the compassion Susie has for her family, as well as the compassion they have for her, and the difficulty with having to let people go after death. It is a great read for book clubs (I believe it was on Oprah's list at one time) and is geared more for women; however, I think it is a classic in and of itself and would recommend it to anyone who loves reading just because it is a truly interesting read.

Thanks for reading and be sure to comment! Also be sure to pick up this book if it sounds like something you'd enjoy!

Holiday

I hope all of you had an amazing Christmas!! If you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope you had a fantastic holiday!! I hope you got everything you wanted! Oh my sis got a Nook! I'm suppose to get more soon. Yay! My parents said they didn't know I wanted one so they are going to give me the money to get it! I'm so excited!

My Gifts:
Gossip Girl season 3
Bones season 5
Dollhouse season 2
Smallville season 9
Jumper
The Day After Tomorrow
A Nail Kit
A Makeup Kit
$50 Starbucks gift card
A shirt
Money
Turtles
Shaving Cream/Razor
 RoadTrip (which is a thing to hook my iPhone up to my car)
A Holiday in Handcuffs
Of course CANDY!!!

In my hometown we actually got snow on Christmas Day for the first time since 1993! We got some serious snow too!! It snowed all through the night and into the morning! It's so beautiful. I, however, have not even been out in it yet!!! But I'm trying to convince my grams to go out with me. So I better go get dressed very warm!! I hope everyone else is having fun also!

Update- reading Evermore. It's good so far. I'm only on page 68. Haven't really had time to read since I've had all these DVDs calling my name!! Hah!

Happy Readings to All! (Or Happy DVDs to All)

Personal Demons Review

Do you guys remember me telling y'all I won the ARC of Personal Demons, well I just now got around to reading it and finishing it. Hah! Yay me! Next, I'm starting Evermore: The Immortals.

Synopsis: (back cover)

Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She has spent years keeping everyone at a distance--even her closest friends--and it seems as if her senior year is going to be more of the same...until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can't seem to stay away from him.

What she doesn't know is that Luc is on a mission. He's been sent from Hell itself to claim Frannie's soul. It should be easy--all he has to do is get her to sin, and Luc is as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn't stand a chance. But he has to work fast, because if the infernals are after her, the celestials can't be far behind. And sure enough, it's not long before the angel Gabriel shows up, willing to do anything to keep Luc from getting what he came for. It isn't long before they find themselves fighting for more than just Frannie's soul.

But if Luc fails, then will be Hell to pay...for all of them.

My Thoughts:

Have you ever read a book and thought, this would be so much better if it had a different author?!? Well that’s what I thought throughout this entire book. I did not like the author’s style of writing at all! It was really annoying. Of course it was her first book, so I’m cutting her some slack. It did end up getting better towards the ending.

It really pissed me off that we didn’t get any of Gabe’s POV! The author never even gave him a chance. It really wasn’t a love triangle at all. It was more of Luc and Frannie with tidbits of Gabe, here and there. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t made up my decision about who I like the best. The readers don’t get a chance to get to know Gabe, like we do Luc. So it’s really an unfair advantage. 

Rate: 3/5

Happy Readings to All!