Saturday, July 30, 2016

Book Review - Among Thieves - John Clarkson

Hello my bookish friends! I am really excited about writing this review for several reasons; 1) This lovely book was sent to me by the author himself. 2) This was the first or second book I actually received from an author. (I know it's late by the time I post this) 3) This book review is long overdue. Life has been kicking me in the butt lately, so once again I'm sorry for the delay.
The book that I will finally be reviewing is "Among Thieves" by John Clarkson. I created a twitter account dedicated to blogging and book related things. So I happened to stumble upon John Clarksons' page (@jclarksonauthor) and I tweeted him and several tweets and DM's he sent his book my way.
I was so excited to get my hands on this book. All he wanted was an honest book review in return. This was the first book I would get in the mail and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. When it finally came I was jumping with joy. It was so beautiful. I loved the cover and how it felt. This made me super anxious and happy to finally read.
Even though I was super excited for the book, I didn't read it right away sadly because I had a huge tbr shelf I had to attend to. But when I finally got around to reading it I was A D D I C T E D. I read it everywhere I could, from the train to and back from work. It was a fairly large book to carry around but I made sure I had it with me where ever I went.
The story is about an James Beck, an ex con whose friend turned to him for help. He learns that the men she is running from are very dangerous and he will need the help of his gang in order to win the war. It's an action pact book and every page will have you on the edge of your seat.
I loved the way it was written and I felt like it flowed freely. Normally I don't like reading books that have slang in them but I actually enjoyed reading this book. It was a fairly fast reading to get through.
My favorite character is James Beck, the main character of course. The way he was described and the things he has done to help his friends. For some odd reason when I was reading I pictured Jason Statham as Beck. I think that's why I loved James so much.
I could go on and on about this book but I know I have to cut it short. Let's get on to the rating; on Goodreads I gave this beauty a solid 5 out 5 stars. I believe this book deserved it and I highly recommend this book to everyone. It was one of the best written action books out there. Thank you John for the book and thank you again for reading my blog.
Don't forget to follow John Clarkson  on Twitter @jclarksonauthor

Friday, July 22, 2016

Book Review - Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Hello and welcome to my blog! I have finished yet another book and I'm ready to write this review. I'm pretty sure people love free things, free food, free clothes you name it and people will gladly take interest. I happen to love free books. Books can be very expensive and to get them for free can be life changing. So I'm thankful for friends, family, authors, websites, and publishers who make my day by giving me free books.
My aunt "let me borrow" [we know I won't be giving it back] Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and I was in no rush to read it since it wasn't on the top of my tbr (to be read) shelf. I have a huge shelf of unread books that I need to get started on. A good friend of mine recommended I read Gone Girl and I kept putting it off. Every time I saw her, she would bring up the book until finally I finally gave in and decided to read it next. She was super excited and she highly recommended this book. She also notified me that there was a movie based off the book. So my goal after reading Gone Girl was to watch the movie.
I started this book on my train ride to Connecticut and I couldn't put it down. This book had me on my toes for more than half of the book. It was everything my friend said it was. It made me of thinking about how crazy people really are. I have yet to watch the movie but my parents said the movie was really good, can't wait to see.
Now for the rating, on Goodreads I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to a friend or anyone asking for book recommendations. Thank you guys again for reading my blog and come back soon.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Book Review - "Loss of Reason" -

      For several of my previous and future blog posts will be from authors that sent me their work. In this case I was sent two books by a company, Full of Books. I stumbled onto their Instagram and I liked their account so I checked out their website. I saw that they had a section for writers, so being curious I clicked it. It was a submission section; reading more into it, they were accepting writers for their blog! I was super excited but scared at the same time. I didnt know if I would qualify for the position, but I applied anyways. I don't remember if it was a day or two later, I received an email from Full of Books saying congratulations. I was so happy and to add to that they were going to send me books to review. Now for all of you that do know me or even have read my past posts, I love books and getting books the author or company their selves. They sent me a list of books that I could chose from and from the list I chose "Loss of Reason" by Miles A. Maxwell and "Hell is Empty and All the Devils Are Here" by Mark Rounds. To make things even better, one  was signed.
      I didnt know which one to start first, so I just went for the smaller book and save the larger book for last. So it was "Loss of Reason" was going to be my first read. I grabbed this book while I was on the train and I do enjoy reading on the way to work or elsewhere. So with an open mind I started to read. I had to re-read the first two pages and I couldn't get into the book. I don't know if it was me or just because I could not get into the book. It wasn't that the book was boring or horribly written, I just don't know why I couldn't get into the book. Maybe it was because I've been in a reading slump? Maybe I was just really tired ? I don't know what it was.
      I wasn't going to give up so quickly, so I put away the book and tired another time. I was so determined to finish the book and write this review. I picked it up and started to read. Then it hit me…. again! I just couldn't get into the book. I have beat myself up about not finished books I started but I couldn't get myself to finish it. I believe that it was too much going on at once and too many people all at once in the beginning. I thought the characters weren't introduced properly and I got confused often. The book was interesting, well at least the plot was. But the way it was executed was done poorly.
      When I write reviews I hate when it's a negative review. On top of writing negative reviews, I hate not finishing books I started. This was very disappointing for me. I feel bad for just writing this right now. But I have to be honest and give MY opinion of the book. I wouldn't recommend this book to my family or close friends but I would recommend it to my friend at work, maybe he'd like this book. I gave it two chances and I couldn't get into it and I'm sorry about that.
      For the rating, I'd have to give it 2 out of 5 stars. From what I read I believe that this deserves the rating I gave it. I just want to thank Full of Books for sending me these books.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Book Review - Come Away With Me - Kristen Proby

             


      I didn't buy this book on purpose, I just went on a buying spree on the kindle app. It was free and the story line happen to be a one that I would be interested in reading. When I did buy it, it was sitting on my kindle reading list for a few weeks even a month or more. It wasn't on my top to read list and I didn't even bother to try to read it. But I wanted to mix my reading list up from books I actually own and books I have on my kindle app.
      
      So when I was looking for something new to read, I opened this book and read what it was about since I tend to forget what I buy. After reading the story plot, I started to read. As for any new book I start reading, I take it with me everywhere I go. Before I knew it I was half way done and I was pretty shocked at how fast I was able to read this book. 

      Kirsten Proby paints an almost perfect fairy tale modernized with more realistic elements throughout the entire book. Luke Williams and Natalie Conner's love developed into something so perfect in the writers and readers world. Honestly a lot of books along the romantic/erotica genre follows similar storylines and traits, in all which makes them very prodictable and boring in my opinion. Even though I am a sucker for romance and great sex, I do get bored of the same story line over and over again; the only thing making them different from one another is the names and places. The norm for eroticas today goes as follows; there is a rich guy who is drop dead gorgeous and he is a ladies man. For the females, she's independent and she happens to fall into the wealthy guys life and they have their share of drama and great sex. I guess in order for the story to be amazing, they'd have to be written with their own unique taste and direction. 

     Regardless of tear this story had its own take on the relationship between Natalie and Luke. My opinion on this story was awwww probably the entire book; because as I said before I am a hopeless romantic. With that said, I really enjoyed reading this book and learning more about each character. 

      I actually learned that this book is part of a series, "With Me in Seattle". They have a total of eight books and the last book is a novella. I am even more excited to read the entire series. I just hope the story isn't dragged out for no reason. But I felt hat the characters were portrayed very nicely and they were easy to picture. I loved how independent she was and she was able to have a job and be on her own without any help from a male figure. I enjoyed reading about her and her job as a photographer. Now with Luke; at first I did not like him and how he was introduced. When he was insinuated he seemed to be a cocky guy who believes everyone wants to take his picture. But as you read more into the story, you learn why he acted the way he did when he was first introduced to Natalie. 

       I don't want to spoil anything for anyone that wants to read this series but overall I know this will a series that I will love and will continue to read. Now onto the rating, on Goodreads I gave the first enstallment a solid 5 out of 5 stars.  Simplly because it kept my attention from the first page to the last page. The romance kept me intrigued nd wanting more. Don't even get me started on the erotic scenes, let's say it left me wanting more. So with that said the book deserves a 5 out of 5 stars.