Review: THE HANDMAID AND THE CARPENTER by Elizabeth Berg

The Handmaid and the Carpenter tells the story of the relationship between Joseph and Mary of Nazareth.  While fictionalized, it is based on the Biblical account and historical records.  Of all of the things written around the circumstances of Jesus’ birth, not much is said about how Joseph handled the situation.  Think about it…the girl whom he is betrothed says she is pregnant by holy spirit.  He had to have wrestled with doubt over her story, yet, he married her anyway.  Imagine how his family must have felt, how the people in the town must have gossiped.  Remember also that Joseph and Mary were teenagers who lacked perspective and maturity. 

This was a beautifully written story which really delved into two enigmatic characters from history.  Regardless of religious beliefs, at its heart is a story about trust and whether you ever truly know the one you love. 

Overall, I give The Handmaid and the Carpenter…

Plot – 3 bookmarks

Character Development – 3 ½ bookmarks

Love Story – 3 bookmarks

Historical Accuracy – 4 bookmarks (to the extent which is it possible, the story is well researched.  The major error I found was Jesus’ birth date.  While Berg got the year correct, he wasn’t born on December 25^th but sometime in October.  She also had to fictionalize some of the characters for sake of the story.  Understandable and well done.)

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Hili Yalon (Mary), Bar Paly (Naomi), Eyal Podell (Joseph)

Review: GREEN-EYED DEMON by Jaye Wells

The third book in Jaye Wells’ Sabina Kane series might be my favorite one yet.  Flanked by sexy mage, Adam Lazarus, and her demon minion, Giguhl, Sabina heads to New Orleans to rescue her kidnapped sister, kill her evil grandmother and save the world by preventing a full on war between the vampire race and the mage and fae races.  No pressure or anything. 

I think what I liked best in this book was the growth in Sabina as a character.  Up until this point, she was mostly tough, angry and snarky.  In Green-Eyed Demon, Sabina learns to tap into the emotion of love.  She begins to realize that her days as a lone assassin are over and she is now part of a team.  She has close friends, a sister and Adam… 

Speaking of Adam, his character also gets a chance to shine.  We see how tough and brave he is.  For two and a half books, Adam has waited for Sabina to mature into a person capable of forging a romantic relationship beyond just sexual.  It was wonderful to see him rewarded for his wait. 

As with the other books in this series, the plot is a rollercoaster of action.  There are some fun fight scenes, culminating when Sabina finally faces her grandmother. 

Green-Eyed Demon is scheduled for release on March 1, 2011, but is available for pre-order through Amazon now.

Overall, I give Green-Eyed Demon…

Plot – 4 bookmarks

Character Development – 4 ½ bookmarks

Love Story – 4 ½ bookmarks

Fight Scenes – 4 bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Emma Watson (Sabina), Sean Patrick Flannery (Adam), Cady the Demon Kitty (Giguhl), Jean Marsh (Lavina)

Review: HUSH HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick

When sixteen year old Nora Gray meets the mysterious and seemingly dangerous transfer student, Patch (stupid name, I know), she is not sure whether to run toward him or away.  Patch is a fallen angel whose greatest desire is to become human.  Unfortunately, Nora is standing in his way.

Before I read this book, I checked out some other reviews.  Many of them talked about how Hush Hush is a rip-off of Twilight and panned it accordingly.  However, I think this is a grossly unfair comparison.  First, I have to question the people reviewing it.  Twilight drew in a huge reading audience, many of whom were not big readers.  This is a good thing, but it also left many readers seeking another series which could replicate their Twilight experience.  When it doesn’t, they are disappointed.  The other issue with some of these reviews is that it is unfair to judge every YA paranormal romance against Twilight.  So what if both of the leading men are dark and dangerous?  Couldn’t this be more about teenage girls looking for the bad boy that they can tame?  I read a lot of YA and this good girl/bad boy theme is pretty heavily used.  That doesn’t make it a bad thing, it just means that not every author out there is trying to pattern their books after Twilight. 

Okay, that said, I tried to read this book with an open mind, forming my opinions off of this story alone.  I have to say, I liked both Nora and Patch.  Nora is a gutsy, inquisitive girl with an inner strength.  Patch fully admits that he is not a good guy.  He really isn’t.  However, the evil in him is a part of his character progression.  I wasn’t crazy about V, Nora’s best friend.  I thought she was vacuous and ditzy.  She constantly behaved like an idiot in front of boys.  If she were my friend, no way would I take her on double dates. 

There is also a decent amount of action in this book.  There are several “bad guys” who are after Nora for different reasons.  It makes the story interesting and suspenseful.  I am really looking forward to reading the sequel, Crescendo. 

Overall, I give Hush Hush…

Plot – 4 bookmarks

Character Development – 4 bookmarks

Love Story – 3 ½ bookmarks

Action – 4 ½ bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Kay Panabaker (Nora), Emile Hirsch (Patch), Toby Hemingway (Elliot), Dianna Argon (Ms. Green)

Review: AMERICAN VAMPIRE by Jennifer Armintrout

This was such a fun book!!!!  If you read my blog regularly, you will know that I’m an all inclusive vampire lover.  American Vampire is an excellent addition to my vamp book collection.  It will be released on February 22, 2011, but can be pre-ordered on Amazon now. 

When vampire Graf McDonald gets lost driving in rural Ohio, he inadvertently finds himself literally stuck in the small town of Penance.  Penance, Ohio is a town trapped—for the past five years, no one can enter and no one can leave.  In addition to the freaky isolation phenomena, there is a monster on the loose, referred to as It, who is picking the town folk off one by one.  Graf isn’t sure which is worse—the monster or the hillbilly citizens who would be sure to come after him with torches and pitchforks

Jessa is known as the Penance “town slut,” due to her continued affair with her married high school sweetheart, Derek.  After Graf saves her life from the It, she reluctantly allows him to stay at her farm house.  Theirs is a tenuous alliance at best—Graf buying time before he eats her, and Jessa hoping that his ability to enter town will lead her to the key to getting out of it. 

I absolutely loved the chemistry between Graf and Jessa.  Many books try to do the snarky love/hate thing, but few pull it off as well as Armintrout.  Graf’s inner dialogue is hilariously funny with perfect timing.  Jessa is a lovely balance between country bumpkin and intelligence.  Best of all, Jessa doesn’t take Graf’s crap, and refuses to be treated like dinner. 

American Vampire is a mystery, a romance, a comedy, a paranormal horror…all of the things I love in a book. 

Overall, I give American Vampire…

Plot – 4 ½ bookmarks

Character Development – 4 ½ bookmarks

Snark – 5 bookmarks (funny without being annoying)

Love Story – 4 ½ bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Alicia Silverstone (Jessa), Thomas Gibson (Graf), Chris Hemsworth (Derek), Jim Parrack (Chad), Jamie Pressly (Becky)

Review: DANGEROUS LOVER by Lisa Marie Rice

When Jack was a homeless teen living in a shelter, he met Caroline, a rich girl who volunteered with the homeless and was not only beautiful, but kind to him.  She represented all of the good in the world and he because infatuated with her.  When his alcoholic father dies, he sets off on his own, eventually taken in by an Army colonel and adopted. 

Fast forward twelve years.  Jack has lived a dangerous life in some of the roughest corners of the world as a private security guard and executive in his adopted father’s company.  When his father passes away, Jack settles his unfinished business, sells the company and returns to the town where Caroline lives.  When he finds her, she is no longer wealthy.  Her life has been one tragedy after another.  Now, she is alone and in dire straights financially.  Over a Christmas where they are trapped in her home by a blizzard, they fall in love. 

Aside from the love story, there is another plot involving blood diamonds.  Part of Jack’s loose-ends that he needed to tie up involved him going to Africa, busting up a diamond smuggling ring and making off with $20 million in stones.  The nasty, jealous man that he lifted the stones from is out to hunt him down.

I guess this was an okay story.  It has lots of potential, I just think it never quite lived up to it.  This is an erotic romance, but the sex scenes were repetitive and uninspiring.  There was little dialogue which made the love story implausible.  The blood diamonds were interesting, but took a backseat to the romance storyline.  Caroline was boring as a character.  I would have liked to have seen a bit more personality.  Same with Jack.  He didn’t talk much and was too serious.  The ending of the story was very abrupt and left way too much open-ended.  This was an entertaining book, but don’t expect to get too much out of it.

Overall, I give Dangerous Lover…

Plot – 2 ½ bookmarks (Could have been more if the ending had been better.)

Character Development – 1 ½ bookmarks

Love Story – 2 bookmarks

Sex Scenes - 1 1/2 bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Rachael McAdams (Caroline), Chaske Spencer (Jack/Ben), Aaron Eckhart (Sanders)

Review: A LESSON IN PASSION by Jennifer Connors

Ginny is a career focused woman who could use a boost in her love life.  As she embarks on a vacation, a well meaning friend gives her a stack of romance novels to read.  Ginny makes fun of the books, but after encountering the vacation from hell, she ends up reading them out of boredom.  After a freak accident, Ginny finds herself smack dab in the middle of a romance novel, set in medieval Scotland.  Her snarky inner dialogue about the hunky hero is funny, and Ginny decides to play along with the plot until she can figure out how to get back home. 

There were things I liked and things I didn’t about this book.  The first part describing Ginny going on vacation and having a bunch of bad things happen seemed to go on too long.  It also was written very “telly” rather than showing the action to the reader.  This got better once Ginny woke in the romance novel setting.  Here, the writing was funny and entertaining.  Ian, the hunky Scottish laird, was super stereotypical, but he was supposed to be, and that was part of the fun.  I didn’t completely buy into the romance between he and Ginny though.  Hot or not, a 21^st Century woman would have trouble with his chauvinistic ways. 

The ending was also a little quick, but the cliffhanger is meant to build suspense for the next book in the series, A Lessons in Forgiveness.  The book could have benefitted from a professional editor, but it’s not bad for a self-pub.

Overall, I give A Lesson in Passion…

Plot – 3 ½ bookmarks

Character Development – 3 bookmarks (Thought Ginny was a tad disrespectful of the social morays of the time period.)

Love Story – 2 bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Rachael Bilson (Ginny), Ben McKenzie (Ian)

Review: HERE LIES BRIDGET by Paige Harbison

Bridget Duke is the most popular girl in school, but is also the very definition of “mean girl.”  When a new girl, Anna, comes to school, it seems everyone falls under her spell of kindness.  Suddenly, people stop worshipping her and putting up with her crap.  Frustrated and powerless, Bridget ends up dying in a car accident.  She “wakes” to find herself in limbo where she is forced to literally walk in the shoes of those she has wronged.  Now, her redemption rests in the hands of five people who would rather she go to Hell.  Is it too late to make a last impression? 

Bridget is seriously mean.  I had a really hard time in the early chapters finding any redeeming qualities in the character.  She lies, cheats, blames other people for her wrongs, criticizes her friends and is absolutely horrible to her stepmother who is trying hard to forge a relationship with her.  While incredible annoying for the first part of the book, Bridget’s characters has nowhere to go but up.  While Bridget’s journey is extreme, there are some valuable lessons to be learned from her. 

Overall, I give Here Lies Bridget…

Plot – 3 bookmarks

Character Development – 4 bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Dreama Walker (Bridget), Hunter Parrish (Liam), Andrea Bowen (Anna)

Review: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME by Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables is one of my favorite books of all time.  I’ve been wanting to read his other famous work for a long time, and finally have gotten the opportunity. 

In the heart of Paris is the Notre Dame Cathedral.  In the cathedral lives the Archdeacon, Claude Frollo and his adopted son Quasimodo, who was found abandoned on the church steps as an infant because of his extreme deformities.  As an adult now, Quasimodo is the ringer of the bells, a job which has destroyed his hearing.  When a beautiful Gypsy girl, Esmeralda, comes to the square to dance and perform with her trained goat, she captivates the men who watch her.  When she meets a military officer, Phoebus, she believes herself in love with him and falls for his promises.  Phoebus is attacked and assumed dead, and Esmeralda is arrested for the crime.  As she goes to the gallows to hang for the crime, Quasimodo snatches her up and hides her in the cathedral, claiming Sanctuary.  Esmeralda is not completely safe within its confines, as Claude Frollo’s lust for her threatens them both.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is all about people not being who they appear to be.  Obviously, Quasimodo’s deformed head and body is hiding a pure and loving soul, but this duality extends to almost all of the characters throughout the novel.  Esmeralda presents as a beautiful and bewitching Gypsy girl, when in reality, she is the stolen daughter of a French nun.  Phoebus seems to be a handsome and gallant officer, yet when he finds Esmeralda going to the gallows for mistakenly being convicted of his murder, all her has to do is step forward and show himself to be alive, but he is too cold and selfish to do so.  Claude Frollo is the man of God who is driven mad by his lust for Esmeralda. 

I’ve never seen the Disney movie of this story, but I assume they must have completely bastardized it in order to make it acceptable for children.  This book is a tragedy in every sense of the term. 

Overall, I give The Hunchback of Notre Dame…

Plot – 4 bookmarks

Character Development – 4 bookmarks

Love Story – 3 bookmarks (There is not one central love story, yet love/lust is one of the central themes of the book)

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Andre the Giant (Quasimodo), Marion Cotillard (Esmeralda), Tom Hardy (Phoebus), Geoffrey Rusch (Claude Frollo)

Review: POPULAZZI by Elise Allen

All schools have a social hierarchy of popularity.  Cara and Claudia at the bottom of theirs!  When Cara’s family moves to a new school district between sophomore and junior year, Claudia sees it as an opportunity for Cara to use her anonymity to reinvent herself and climb The Ladder.  The idea…date her way to the top.  At first, Cara is skeptical of the plan, but Claudia is enthusiastic and persuasive.  When Cara meets Archer (Theater Geek) on the first day of school she decides to make him her first target, but soon finds herself falling for him for real.  When his affections are not returned, Cara re-dedicates herself to the plan. 

Most of the plan to snag boyfriends and climb the popularity ladder, involves conforming herself to fit in with different groups.  Archer sees what Cara is doing and is disgusted by her calculating.  As she progresses, it is obvious that her new friends do not like her for herself, rather only for thefake self that she projects. 

The story is about being true to who you are and forming real friendships based on honesty.  While slightly predictable, this was a fun, entertaining read.  My only complaint is that I was reading this in e-book format and the last several pages were cut off, leaving me hanging just as it was getting good.  Obviously, this was not the author’s fault, just a technical error, but still very frustrating. 

Overall, I give Populazzi…

Plot - 3 ½ bookmarks

Character Development – 4  bookmarks

Moral Lessons – 4 ½ bookmarks

Dream cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Molly Quinn (Cara), Jodelle Ferland (Claudia), Dev Patel (Asher), Jackson Rathbone (Nate), Anastacia Baranova (Trista), Seychelle Gabriel (Ree-Ree), Alexander Gould (Robert)

Review: TWISTED by Laurie Halse Anderson

After committing an end of school year prank where he graffitied the school, seventeen year old Tyler spends his whole summer vacation working off his community service by doing back-breaking labor.  The punishment did more for his muscles than anything and he returns to school his senior year a whole new person.  Armed with the new physique, he attracts the attention of his dream girl, Bethany, the sister of the school bully and the daughter of his father’s boss.  When unfortunate events at occur at a party, the police, the school administrators and his classmates are quick to assume that “troublemaker” Tyler did it.  The result leads to alienation at school, mistrust at home and torment from bullies.  Through it all, Tyler must learn how to take responsibility for his actions and become an adult. 

Laurie Halse Anderson has a talent of finding the right voice for her characters.  She writes about deep subjects, yet she does so with humor and sarcasm.  Twisted definitely upholds this tone.  Issues like suicide, sex, alcohol, violence, bullying and family problems are handled realistically, without becoming too depressing.  The character of Yoda (nicknamed due to his Star Wars obsession) provides comic relief and is a great support for Tyler. 

I also liked the family dynamics of the book.  The sibling relationship between Tyler and his freshman sister, Hannah, is refreshing.  While they have disagreements like all siblings, they love and support each other fiercely.  It is a nice break from the stereotypical sibling squabbling that is prevalent in many stories.  The relationship development between Tyler and his parents is at times heart-breaking, yet hopeful in the end. 

Overall, I give Twisted…

Plot - 3 ½ bookmarks

Character Development – 4 ½ bookmarks

Moral Lessons - 4 bookmarks

Dream cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Jared Keeso (Tyler), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Yoda), Jodelle Ferland (Hannah), Sara Gadon (Bethany), Ed Westwick (Chip)