Miss me? Fortress of Mist & A Pinstriped Finger's...

07.25.13
To start off with I have been a very bad girl, not only have I not reviewed or posted in like three weeks but, I bought a nook and have been playing around with it instead of reading my stack of books.  With one of my books I do not believe that I will be able to write a review, I feel so many different things and opinions that I will have to write a whole post about it.

 A Pinstriped Finger’s My Only Friend

I received an advanced copy of this book for free through netgalley program for a honest review.  This is going to be one of those hard to rate books.  I can tell after reading it that I was too old for the category of this book.  I am going to try and do my best and rate the book on the book itself and not my dislike or the fact that I am obviously not the targeted audience. 

I’ve never had an acid trip but, this is what I imagine what it would look like.  At one point the thumb was trying to give a reason for the trips such as learning a lesson and looking at things from someone else’s perspective but other than a couple of paragraphs about that, there was no other point.  

So we experience one average day in his life then, he is uplifted to an alternate reality.  He slowly realizes that he is no longer in his normal world and while he enjoys some of the changes he decides he would rather go back home.  He goes to sleep and yet again wakes up in another reality, each and every time he goes to sleep, (sometimes even when awake) he travels to another sometimes even more bizarre realities.  Each later reality seems to offer real physical danger and a trophy; he latches on to what he and his thumb see as the only thing to get them out.  SPOILER he does get back home, I do not remember how though.  By this point I was skimming over and zooming through pages just to finish the book.

Some of the worlds did seem to be creative however, this book did not contain any action, definitely no romance, yes science fiction however nothing was latched on to or maintained other than world jumping.  I did not find any deep thoughts, which I think the book might of tried to aim for after the supposed action/adventure.  Book summed up, he jumps from alternate reality to alternate reality with each progressive reality being shorter than the previous reality.  Eventually, after a dim-witted teenage boy’s deep thoughts, he ends up back home.  Any action, adventure, romance, science fiction presented in the book was so nil to be unworthy of being called such.  The writing style did not agree with me either, not that it was bad or contained grammatical errors, I just did not like it.  In the end, I flipped through even more pages than I actually stayed on, I did not enjoy the book.  High school, junior high, and advanced middle schoolers would probably like this book more than me.  A few of the scenes were a little bloody and mildly violent so it’s a give and take with each reader.  Two stars is all I feel that I can give this book.  ☆☆★★☆

Fortress of Mist  Book two Merlin’s Immortals  by Sigmund Brouwer

I received this book for free through the Goodreads first reads program with the intention of receiving a honest review.  I was going to review this book in more of my typical atypical fashion but, I will have to start a little differently on this one.  I finished reading this book over a month ago and on remembering this book I almost feel like it is not a book but one of those books written as book 1.5 after books one and two have already been written.  I did not read the first book in the series before reading the second book.    It felt like it tied up loose ends from the first book  with only a little action in it’s own book. 

In this book Merlin has already finished his triumph against the king and is taking charge of castle and town.  He is introduced to problems that he has to deal with now as being king, and leftovers from being a peasant, like figuring out which religion to take sides with the traditional or the new mystical, keeping the people happy with him leading, and figuring out who his family and the current people in is life are.    Merlin selects people for positions in his cabinet*, is visited by mysterious people from both religious factions, and is forced to march to a neighbor to reinforce his reign.  SPOILER he then wins and does not have to actually force his army to fight.  Then he marches back home and is visited by mysterious people again.  There actually is more to the story than that but, that pretty much sums it up.  I found the book on the short side and I would say grade school to middle school level but acceptable read for all ages.  I just did not find that much to the story so I would only give it a two star rating.  

07.08.13 Love Bites & From this world

I have been bitten by my babies before but never like this before. We had let out our little badass, (he hates all his brothers), and did not realize that my baby's crate was not latched shut.  He walks up to me says hello and says I love you Mousey!  Moose precedes to show Grizzly how much he loves him by biting him.  Unfortunately, I had just taken off Moose's halter for a brushing, so I was trying to hold Moose off by his head and Grizzly with my other hand.  My hand had slipped and left Moose and went straight into Griz's mouth.  We got them separated, and I immediately cussed. My hand hurt like crazy, I had two bite marks, not punctured, on top between my thumb and second finger and an actual deep but small puncture on the webbing between my thumb and second finger.  We slipped an ice pack in the towel around my hand to help numb the pain.  My stomach was so twisted up that I was trying to run to the bathroom.  I made it about 20 feet before I hollered at my mom I was going to pass out.    I have never felt that nauseous or faint before.  As soon as I laid down on my bed I felt better, sat back up almost passed out, and laid down again.  My baby then came and sat on the bed with me and told me he loved me by licking my face.  My mom said my reaction was just from severe adrenaline/pain rush.  Actually my hand was not in that  much pain because there was so much pain that I was numb did not feel any medicine.   This made being a cashier very painful and I had to check people out with one hand for two weeks.  This happened on the first of June and just now I have regained full flexibility in my hand.  I still love my puppy and they have not had a brotherly fight in a long time.

This book review is, of course, provided courtesy of Goodreads first reads program, provided free for a honest review.

                                                From This World
                                                  Daniel Adsett

This book follows Vikram around as he tries to come to terms with isolation vie aliens.  It's not very sci-fi heavy with only some talk about the aliens (which came out fine I just wish it was introduced earlier in the book as I found myself skimming ahead frequently to find more about the aliens).  Human beings are social beings.  Or are they?  What happens when aliens only approach groups of human beings, would you want to be approached?  If not, the only way to avoid them is to isolate yourself from any contact with a single human being.  Vikram is a teenager who describes his life to us through journal entries describing what little interactions he had before the aliens came and how his life is affected afterwards; a forced almost exiled like life.

I really could have done with or without reading this book, I am left feeling neutral.  I can see this book really resonating with some people with his intense feeling of loneliness mixed with paranoia.  While most people could sympathizes with loneliness it’s the paranoia that is hard to contend with.  When Vikram talks about his love of Marilyn I thought “oh, god please do not tell me he is serious”, after every talk with her he reinvisions the encounters into how she loves him, even after something as simply as saying hello that she was looking to talk with somebody and make friends.  Before he would meet her he would envision her devoting her self endlessly to him, actually meet her, she gives off zero hints or talks of undying love and he then proceeds to look at her as being in love with him.  I think he was slightly unhinged and was unable to understand social interaction before the aliens came anyways.  The book does do a good cover of what could happen to the planet if most of the humans were gone, could we survive in our current lifestyle, what stereotypes would be most likely to survive.  Vikram’s feeling of intense loneliness, sometimes delirious loneliness, and all around craziness are vivid, believable, I can almost experience them myself when I read them in the book; this is most likely to happen if you have experienced it yourself before though.  Vikram was not emotionally capable of living in a heightened state of awareness due to hiding from aliens while combined with survival instincts, and a mix of vulnerability and strength.  He chose to hide from the aliens but could not mentally stand being isolated.  Spoiler Vikram cracks.  I was not attached to any of the characters in the book, I did feel the emotional range exhibited, and enjoyed the prose which was wonderful.  While I did not feel drawn to the story; I found it mildly interesting, or characters; while well developed did not leave me feeling anything, I felt the writing was enjoyable enough that I would look forward to reading something else by Mr. Daniel Adsett.      ☆☆★★☆

Cha 1 yr anniversary, Pale Horses

Dang it I am feeling sweeps deprived.  I have not one a single sweeps, outside of Goodreads, since my free trip back in July 2012.  I also have not won a Goodreads book since the beginning of May.  I know that I have a stack of books to read and review already but, I am missing out on some awesome free books in the meantime.
I am going to try to write more as always but, this time I am actually setting some goals down.  While I hope to post a book review with each post for posterity's sake I am going to post once a week whether or not I have finished reading and written a review.  Since it sucks working 5-6 days every week and still not even coming close to 40 hours a week I changed my availability to always have Thursdays off.  So I can write a post every Thursday, have one day where I can schedule appointments, etc..., and now I will always have that one day to count on having off.
Today it has been one year since our little girl Chanel died and tomorrow will be six-months since Duke left us.  This makes it extremely sad for my mom and me.  Duke has been with me for almost half of my life and from my memory what seems like my whole life.  Li'l Chanel was so vocal and energetic you always knew she was there making you happy.  She devoted her whole doggy life to making us happy and always had to be with a human.  Le Gur.    picture of little girl below

Next up a goodreads firstreads program won book: won in exchange for a fair review

Pale Horses: a Jade de Jong novel 

by Jassy Mackenzie

Okay, I finished reading this about a month ago so some details are not as fresh.  I have not read any of the previous books and did not need to either.  We are introduced to Jade, as a tough, smart, but still sensitive women and her investigation business.  Following along Jade, and then another troubled woman, we are slowly introduced to the case and make connections between each woman.  Who killed the female skydiver?  Jade follows along the woman’s path investigating her business and her father and seems to remain a step ahead of the police.  We are familiarized with both rural and city of South Africa, which I have never been to, a glimpse into the everyday life of it’s citizens.    The action and suspense slowly unravels with hints and tidbits until we reach the end of the book with unknown assailants stalking or assaulting Jade at almost every turn. 

Here’s the hitch to this book though; after reading most of the book and down to the last 50 pages, and starting on the big reveal I realized that you only had to read the beginning of the case and the last 50 pages or so for who done it.  The who-dunnit is first introduced as a viable murderer and reason and then is not investigated until the very end of the book and while I did enjoy reading the book I kept on waiting for her to investigate that line of thinking.  It was the most obvious and once I reached that conclusion the ending was very downhill.  Also, when revealing who the actual murderer was and how it happened it was just magically revealed without any supporting evidence or thought just like walking through the park and bam a flying murderer fell through the sky.  We are not given anything or any reason to believe that she is correct except for the fact that the villain does confess.  After reading this book, I felt it was pointless for me to have read the book in the first place.  I did enjoy the descriptions, characters, and everything about the book except that blatantly the plot sucked.   ☆★★☆☆

06.06.13 Spending money & Force of Habit

I am thinking that goodreads doesn't like me anymore, I am really behind on reading and reviewing, because I have not won any books in a month.  I am reading way more than I was a year ago bu  nowhere near as close to the amount that I read in high school and college.  I love my dvr, I record most shows and channel surf live between watching the show and listening to music and then watch them again straight through without any distractions.  This takes up a good amount of time, right now I am watching WWE, i generally watch this on dvr only so I can fast forward through all the crap and get to the matches.  I have borrowed a game from a coworker for my 3ds, it's the first 3d game I am playing on my new system.

I finally gave in and bought some new tires for my car.  My father told me I need new ones in January and I managed to put them off this long that he said I have to have new tires or increase my chances of an accident.  Thankfully, my two back tires are worn but it will be a while before I have to replace them.  I also FINALLY bought a new mattress!  I have been suffering so bad in my current rundown dilapidated mattress.  I had flipped it, turned it,  bought a mattress foam cover, and piled numerous blankets and comforters over it and I still woke up in physical pain.  I put off on buying it until I new if I was moving away to school because it would be pointless to buy a new mattress for only four or five months use.  I decided to downsize, and now that I have put my new mattress on my old bed I see just how small it really is.  I do not know how Tori and I are going to fit together at night.  Hopefully my back will get back to normal and my side will stop spasming.  On a side note, I received my passport in the mail so now I can win an international trip, if i'm lucky.



Force of Habit by Cash Peters

I received this book on Goodreads firstreads giveaway program for an honest review.

My first impression, come on, what about a ninja fighting nun doesn't look good?

The book’s premise is what happens when a perfectly devote nun has a secret past?    I read this book over a month ago and am overdue for a written review.  Obviously my memory is not as sharp as when freshly read but some time has passed and I can rehash the overall feeling of the book as compared to an endorphin rush from finishing a book.

We are introduced to Sister Madeleine and other various members of the nunnery.   The reader is thrown into the world and the action and introductions seem to be done by the fly of our seats.   Sister Madeleine is made the trust and sole heir of a multi-billionaire’s fortune and assets.  She considers it her duty to a former friend, to investigate his death, and goes against her vows and flies to the immoral land of Los Angeles dragging a failing nun in training along for the ride.  With secret organizations trying to overtake the world, we get a look into Sister Madeleine’s past and the link between the two.  Who was her friend howard really?  How will a sister who’s been in a convent for forty years handle the world’s technological advancements?  Sister Madeleine has a can do attitude, a crack sense of humor and great physical prowess for a senior citizen.  This book was an easy read, it took a little time, since we started mid-action, to catch up and every part was enjoyable and quite hilarious.  I believe I will be on the look out for more books in this series or by this author.   ★★★★★.  I am willing to read this book again (which says something to me) and was left with a smile after I finished reading.

05.18.13 grad school & 'average american marriage'

  So I was accepted into a grad school only it was for part time and I have to be a full time student because of international school requirements.  This would mean that I would be taking one class per semester possibly two for my major and I would have to sign up for for enough classes after that to be full time.  I would have to pay almost 8 grand a year to only take two class requirements.  This also means that I would have to go to school for almost 3-4 years instead of 2-3 years.  I am more than ready to move out of the house, finish school, and get a good job unfortunately that does not seem to be in my immediate future.  I rejected my first accepted school because I found out it was way more expensive than I thought, 50,000 grand, and  I am not willing to take on that much debt ever.  I chose me next set of schools with a much lower total cost.  This is why I balk at the extra money spent to continue school longer than necessary.  When I asked, the school told me that I had did really good in my interview and everything else except I am missing the experience which is why I was only accepted as a part time student.  They realized that I would need to be a full time student but, wanted to tell me how good I did and where I ranked among the applied students.  This was really nice and I wish more schools would tell you this instead of just yes or no.
  p.s.  I totally seen the new Star Trek:  into Darkness thursday morning midnight with me mum!

  Two reviews today.

the average american marriage

  by:  chad kultgen

I received and uncorrected proof from Goodreads firstreads program.  I am unsure of what this is; if it is fiction, or biographical, I believe it’s fiction based on real life.  There are coarse language and sex scenes so this book is definitely not for everyone.

I did actually enjoy reading this book.   In this book we explore the life and marriage of supposedly an average American guy.  I would like to add to that though as being an average American guy with kids.  We are walking through his lack of sex with his wife, to not giving a fuck about his kids (this is his language), to sex with himself; an altogether boring life.  That is until this changes; it’s an average guy so of course it’s the sex that changes not the kids.  He is bored with his life, barely manages to put up with his kids, and can not resist the new temp who happens to be about 22 and super hot.  Finally, he experiences real emotion with the women in his life and must pick between the two women guaranteed sex once every couple of months to years or unguaranteed sex everyday. 

I had no clue what I was getting into with this book I just read the blurb.  I did like it.  I felt that every part in this book was believable a guy not wanting kids to a woman who doesn't give a crap about her husband.  Every situation was described with brutal honesty.  The sex was not vulgar or pornographic but, given as a descriptive fact of life.  I hated so much of what each character did, this made it real life, just because most people expect some upstanding character does not mean they will get it.  In the end, I hope that most men are not like this character though, he is too much obsessed with sex with anyone, doesn't ever care about his kids; he is alive but not living.

★★☆★★  I did really enjoy a fresh perspective from a guy but, I would prefer not to read so many sex scenes

Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

This is the second book in the Kate Daniels series.

This is an urban fantasy book set in Atlanta.  I read book one over a year ago and loved it but, did not remember any characters from it so this was a refresher book.  I love the premise of this world, a world where magic and science clash unable to operate in each other’s presence.  To be able to utilize a magic spell and when cast it the magic fizzles out makes it hard to beat up bad guys.  Kate must find a missing witch while watching over herself and two stray kids.  She must find a way to stop the Celtic God from entering this world and doing general God things like kill or enslave all humanity.  Kate is unable to see who is good, bad, or even gray with her chasing the tail of a cross-god worshiping morally ambiguous witch.  It is awfully hard to fight someone when you do not know who you are chasing after all.  Kate plays around with the lord of the pack, constantly taunting the lion into rescuing her. 

If I did not have such a love affair with sleep I would have read this in one day instead of two.  It is a high paced exciting and surprising ride which will lead you to your closest library or bookstore hoping your car sputters to a stop and you can jump on a magic carpet for the rest of the way.  I will be picking up the next book tomorrow.  I loved the hyenas and felt they were the perfect combination between animal and human.    I felt the book was enough of an introduction to newbies to read without the first book and remind followers tidbits from the first book.  I have to say that I was not expecting almost none of what happened in the book with surprising turns, wicked fights, and emotional scenes something for everyone surround by a magical ball of kick ass action.

★★★★★

04.14.13 Great Hunt R. Jordan.

  Wow my sweeping is out of control.  Okay, not really just my list of sweeps books on goodreads is.  I have such a massive amount of books to read and review, and review the books I've already read.  I really have to slim down my list of books to read and my sweeps list.  My mom and I just took a run around the house with each of our bullies.  We had one runner for the vehicle, one runner for bushes to hike on, one runner to run down humans like bowling balls, and the rest just did some running.  Our mommy bully took to running after everyone after all she is the one in charge.  I swear that Moose, is not really an english bully but some type of Jack Russell, he takes off like a bullet and can run around our house before we even get to one end.   At the end, we ushered them inside the house, turned on the air, and put a fan in front of the frothy one.  After drinking water, Tori showed her gratitude to us by laying down splayed chest, ears perked, and a happy panting tongue.

I am trying to write some good reviews, to keep the spoilers down to a minimum when I  can but still show the enjoyable writing.  I look forward to anybody dropping some hints on how to better my review writing.


Review of The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

originally typed  03.28.13

The great hunt   Book two of THE WHEEL OF TIME

The hunt for the mythical horn of valere

This book is an immediate continuation in the wheel of time.  Only about 2-3 weeks happen between book one and two.  Although this book is part of a series I felt that it could be possible to read this as a stand alone but do suggest reading book one first.  All the characters that made it to the end of book one continue on in book two.  Nynaeve, Egwene, and the new edition of Elayne are on their way for training in Tar Valon to become fully trained Aes Sedai and to help the ta’veren accomplish their quests.  Rand and Perrin continue to hunt the horn of Valere to see who they really are, and to help Mat, to prevent him from dying.  They bring along new characters such as the Seanchan, The Amyrlin Seat herself, Princess-heir of Andor, and old characters as Moraine, Loial, and Padan Fain.

The three Aes Sedai in training, continue to grow in power and knowledge in their training but, ultimately leave because of their close connections to the three boys.  After all, how could they let anything happen to the boys when they could possibly stop it from happening?  Rand struggles to find out if he really is the dragon reborn or some false dragon put up by Tar Valon.  Perrin slowly succumbs to some of the pleasures of his yellow eyes while struggling to find out more about them.  Mat wants to sever his connection to Shadar Logoth.  Each person in their own way contributes to the “hunt” for the stolen horn of Valere.  With the Dark one’s henchmen stealing it out of the clutches of Aes Sedai by some even darker character than experienced before; the boys leave with a small army of their own chasing after the foulness of darkfriends.  On the way, as is typical of the last book, the boys are split up, and eventually united making strange acquaintances along the way.    But what will happen when the darkfriends decide to use the boys hearts’ (Nynaeve and Egwene) to draw them into a trap and a new enemy.  What will happen when the horn of Valere is blown to summon the heroes of old; a battle to spread across all of the land. 

I did enjoy reading this book however; I felt that most of the three boys traveling apart was almost a waste of space.  Way too many pages were devoted to not exploring the newly old discovered way of travel, and following the darkfriends.  Yes, there were some parts which did lend themselves to the story such as new legends learned of the dragon reborn form the Aiel, however most were not important.  New strengths and weaknesses were shown in some of the characters which would set the scene for the next battles and books.  The inevitable battle at the end was quite brief but, as is found out in the book is because THE Dark One is not actually destroyed just sets his plans back further.  The ending of this book does give me hope for the rest of the series though  Due to what I consider some unnecessary traveling and long winded writing I still believe this book good to read so I give this book a ★★☆★★.  

04.01.13 Bullies & "Moon and Beyond"

So I cried myself to sleep  the past couple of nights.  I could't help it.  I have been thinking about Duke and Chanel.  When each one of my babies died it took a piece of my heart away.  Chanel has been gone for almost nine months and Duke has been gone for almost four months.  Duke has been there for most of my life, how am I supposed to operate without him in my life?  Chanel, a.k.a noises, was always around being vocal about it whether it was snoring away, or snorking after us when we left the room.  I think about how wonderful all of my bullies are and it makes my heart ache with love and my face cry with the thought of all Duke and Chanel will miss, playing in the snow, Christmas Ham, snuggling in bed with me in the morning.

So, even though I decided that the University would be too expensive and already considered them gone, I am going with a phone interview so as to not waste the money and effort we all put into this; myself, my teachers, and my mom.  I am patiently waiting for NDSU and UW to respond to my applications.  There was one chink in the admissions process for UW, which is the systems fault.  Apparently one of my recommendations was not received but, since it is the responsibility of the student to know if anything is missing, I did not know.  How is it possible for me to know that the school did not receive something; the only way for me to know if the school has not received all of my material is if they tell me I am missing something.  Thankfully, the university still will consider my application even past deadline.  Next step is for me to put in an application for my passport.

I have to go to work today, surprise.  Unfortunately, my bullies are telling me that I should stay home.  Just how are they telling me this; in dog speak?  My 'whine' baby, Grizzly, is whining at me along with his bubby Brutus.  They are taking turns whining at the air, both wanting attention, love, and freedom.  Oooh, now they are whining in unison.  I seriously have the cutest bulldogs ever.  Whenever I figure out how to put in pictures I will put some on here.  I am in love with my dvr.  it automatically recorded Doctor Who when I was at work. TGID (Thank Goodness I have Dvr).  I finally gave in and bought myself a new ds, this time it's the new 3DS, more to come on this.

Now it is book review time.  I won this book through Goodreads first reads giveaway program.  I am definitely happy that this was my first win also.  I am asked to give a review whether it be good or bad.

03.19.13 (originally started)

 The Moon and Beyond by John E. Siers

Oh, gosh where do I start?  It took me forever to read this book.  This is neither a good thing nor a bad thing in and of itself.  Every time Siers threw in some facts pertaining to the world around at Deep Space Research, it made my mind spin with fascinating thoughts.  How did this world get this way?  Is this believable? Oh My irreligious Gods could we ever go down this path?    For example, P.E.T.A did get laws in place against not only abuse but pet ownership and slaughter.  People had to get licenses to keep their pets, suffer very stiff fines, and were not allowed to euthanize or put down animals which led to a massive influx of cats and dogs, even rabid packs.  Could P.E.T.A ever get laws into place for this and would consequences not be thought out beforehand?  I felt most of these ideas were well-thought out and did not pick sides.  The only scenario that irked me was when the classic line was thrown out “I’m not pro-life, I’m just anti-murder” which clearly shows a major pro-life anti-choice side.

A secret space mission’s goal is to not only fly to the moon but live on it.  Now this is not just any secret government program but a secret program from the government.  In this book not only do the people want to live on the moon but, they possess the technology to do it.  This book does seem exciting and with a slow and steady pace nothing boom, just happens, and there is not a point where the writing is dull or tedious.  The reasons for the program are strong ones and well-thought out which is why everyone joins in the program.  There were a lot of surprises throughout the book which kept it entertaining.  The book is written about the interesting parts and informative parts and does leave out a lot of time between each chapter.  Each chapter was written in stages and storyline;  gathering people, building the ‘moonships’, preparing for moving and settlement of the moon,  and Earth vs. Moon.   I did wonder about some things that happened between chapters but, not enough to stop reading or ponder on it.  The one thing I wish about his book was another part or two in perspective of the U.S.. When thinking over all of the interesting parts in this book such as mining asteroids, I feel that it’s based on what we now as humans consider as possible for the near future.  This makes the reader feel good when reading about.  This is not a book for the everything ends happily genre; which I hate.  The author is willing to kill of some characters or something necessary for the crew instead of making it a sugar-coated candy unicorn where the fight is strong enough to draw a sweat but, not strong enough to kill anybody.  All the characters you loved or hated, while on earth we were learning about each character but, once on the moon each and every character in the book had depth, meaning, and made you love or hate them. I absolutely hated Sen. Blackthorne and loved Mike and believe everyone else will too. 

A few people do hold common sense and compassion but the rest of society is @#% out of their minds.  Eye-opening, thought provoking; I will definitely be reading the next books in the series.  ★★★★★