hippieed perceptions

I tried to hold off on reading this one for a while, but I ended up caving despite being in the middle of two other books right now.  Bring on the Kate! 

I don't like to review books until I finish a series so I can judge everything as a whole. Part of that is due to books like this. Did I find this outstanding? No. Celaena kind of made me want to slam my head into a wall. And stereotypical love triangle? No thanks. Don't even get me started on Dorian. This was just a weak book for me until it started to center more around the actual competition & insidious happenings over everything else.

However, the ending picked up and I really started to get a feel for what this series can actually be outside of the love triangle side story and simpering about how easy it would be to break out/kill people/looks/guys... I can see Celaena being all kinds of badass and I sincerely hope that my hopes pan out as the series continues.

1. Kristen Ashley 49---Umm, yeah.  I can't quit her.  And she's actually written 49 books?  For non KA readers, I love her but seriously she has written the same book over and over again.  And yet, I still read them. But fair warning.  Same books.  

2.  Karina Halle 27-- I lllooovveee EIT.  Ghosts, skinwalkers, demon possession, creepy clown lady, creepy kid ghosts, dead leper baby peeling off it's skin to play with while crawling up Perry, zombies, etc.  It has everything.  Dex and Perry 4 evah!  

3. Robert Kirkman 18-- Do graphic novels count?  Thankfully I didn't count them one by one or this number would be outrageously high by now.  

4. Tennessee Williams 16--Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Streetcar Named Desire.  Need I say more?  I love Tennessee.  

6. Charlaine Harris 14--Sookie Stackhouse.  Time I'll never get back.  

6. Karen Marie Moning 14--Two words.  Jericho Barrons. 

6. Ilona Andrews 14--And counting. 

9. Kim Harrison 13--Nothing witty here.  

10. J.R. Ward 11-- I made it as far as Torh's book and then called it a day with BDB.  I'm surprised I made it that far honestly. 

11.  Colleen Hoover 11-- I loved Slammed and it's sequels, now I keep trudging through her books determined to love another one of her releases for more than the idea behind it.  One day. 

11.  Jennifer L. Armentrout 11--Meh, I dug most of the Lux series but everything else was average. 

14. Molly Harper 10--I kinda want to reread the Jane Jameson series. I need to check if she has anything else coming out soon. 

15.  S.C. Stephens 9--Kellan Kyle!  Another one that I enjoyed one series and then read everything else to get the dreaded meh.  Story of NA. 

15.  Stephen King 9-- Only 9?  Really?  I need to rectify that. 

So overall thoughts.  I really need to expand my horizons.  I knew that already, hence the NA/Contemporary romance hiatus after my obviously massive binge in recent years.  I'm thinking more horror, paranormal and catching up on my classics as I have the time. But man... 49 Kristen Ashley books.  

Well-written, chock full of zombie gore and the depravity that "humanity" can reach in a state of lawlessness, sad and no happily ever after. It's everything you want and expect in a book about a zombie apocalypse.

But mixed in through that is the story of the love between two women, two best friends--soulmates, determined to stick together through thick and thin, and especially the thin. It's the love and fight these two have for each other that makes this book. This isn't the best zombie related book I've ever read, but everything about Evelyn, Leisel and their relationship with each other is what makes this book worth reading.

"Always together, I promise."

Well that wasn't exactly a disappointment, but I'm not jumping for joy either. I get so excited for these final books to come out and when they actually do I can't bring myself to read them for fear of disappointment. Then I finally hype myself up enough to do it and hello unhappiness. It's a vicious cycle.

So, thoughts on the ending.

"Yay Raffe has grown and changed after thousands of years and realized the error in the thoughts of Daughters of Man so he and Penryn can actually be together so take my wings and we'll build a farm! Woo. What about every single other storyline in the series, all of the unanswered questions, Paige, the locusts, the whys as to exactly why Uriel decided to start the apocalypse? What, you still care about all of that even with Raffe and Penryn? Really? Are you sure, because it's Raffe and Penryn together. Their relationship was surely the only reason you were reading, yes? No? Oh, well..look it's Raffe and Penryn together, kissing, giving up his wings, his Watchers finding freedom to find new Daughters of Men and living happily ever after. Aww, how sweet..."

=X

So, the hubs and I went to San Francisco over the weekend for a kid free vacation.  I needed an book for the flights and I've had Cracked sitting on my kindle for a while so went for it.  I have never been so grateful to that flights from Florida to Cali last for hours and hours and hours because that meant that pesky things such as sightseeing didn't interfere with my reading time.  

I LOVED this series and Meda in particular.  She is literally the perfect anti-heroine.  I wish she were real so I could girl crush on her a little bit harder.  

Anyhoo.  I'm still sucking at the whole forming actual thoughts to go into reviews (i.e. I'm too lazy to think) so I'll keep it short.  This is a YA paranormal sans romance, it's got the whole demons/Templars/God/Angels etc thing going on without being overtly "religious" in nature, it has interesting characters at all levels of good, bad and good & bad in the mix, it is immensely readable and book 3 comes out on the 17th of this month so no miserably long wait for the next one.  So, it really is a complete win/win situation.   Read this series. 

I fail at this whole active reviewer thing as of late.  I'm going to use the husband as an excuse as he came home from deployment recently, so I haven't had as much reading time as before.  But I still manage to finagle time here and there.  And devoted some of that time to this series, which wasn't a complete waste, but I could have found something better.  But I digress.  

This series wasn't TERRIBLE, but there wasn't much to it either.  I had some hope after the first book but everything pretty much fizzled out after that one.  It just became a little too ridiculous as it went on, not enough that I didn't finish it but enough that it was a little laughable when it was all said and done.  

Anyway, I'll be sporadic for the next few weeks still before said husband gets back into a full work schedule.  Tis one of the few times in my life where I'm not upset to have my reading time cut back, lol. 

I've been reading at any spare moment the last couple of weeks trying to get this series done before the husband got home from deployment.  No time for internet but I managed to get 13 books read in less than 2 weeks.  Priorities. 

I'm pleasantly surprised with how strong this entire series was.  Even the books that I didn't absolutely love were still incredibly entertaining. I chalk a lot of that up to Rachel.  She was real even despite being incredibly frustrating with her cluelessness at times.  Her (and Trent's) character growth throughout the series adding that extra touch to making this series work for me.  I love strong female characters, but I also love strong female characters who have no clue how strong they truly are at first and have to grow into themselves.  When it's done right like this, it just adds layer upon layer to the character's story arc. 

Anyhoo.  As a whole, I loved this series.  Some books were stronger than others as per the usual for a series of this length, but the overall impact of this series was awesome. 

This was loads better than Dead Witch Walking, not just in story line and characters but also in the general feel to the writing.  I was a little iffy going into this book because I just did not understand the hype to this series after finishing book 1 but I finally started to see glimmers of why so many love this series so much.   I can't wait to see more out of Rachel.  And Trent.. I think I'm going to like him.  

Let us picture the year 1847.  Now let's picture a not quite pretty, not rich, highly opinionated and devout women who values freedom and independence, who also carries a stout refusal to settle for anything other than who she wants as a husband?  And a said future husband loves and respects her because of her brash opinions and willingness to speak her mind? The gall.  

I freaking loved it.  

It apparently doesn't matter how disappointed I have been in recent KA books, if I see one I just can't stop myself. It's a vicious cycle that I just don't see ending. How can I not give the person who brought me Luke, Joe and Tate a chance? Anyway.

This one wasn't bad. If you love KA unconditionally, you'll love Joker. Hell, even I loved Joker every time he got in the vicinity of Travis. I don't even like babies, but hot tattooed bikers with babies?

The rest of the book, eh, it was good but it was the issue that I have had with the vast majority of KA's latest. It is the same story, different people. She knows what works and she stays there, which isn't really a bad thing because it makes her fans happy. My issue is that the characters that I obsess over aren't being topped with her new books. These books are decent, but they aren't even close in comparison to KA guys that I started with. I read these books and would just rather quit and re read older books instead.

I really want something NEW from KA. Even if she sticks to the same general genre, I want a freshness from the characters that we just are not getting.

I've started and stopped this a million times since high school, but I'm determined to actually finish it this time around..

Hello Mad Rogan.  

Honestly, going into this book after this massive Ilona Andrews readathon, I wasn't expecting much.  I kept thinking that how it just isn't statistically possible to enjoy every single book I've read by this duo.  And yet, here I am regretting every moment of the last couple of weeks of reading these books knowing that I now have to wait to continue on with this and the Kate Daniels series.  Why did you do this to me people?  I can't even.  

I see great things out of this series, Nevada in particular.  As much as I love Kate, Nevada provides a kind of freshness with her character.  She isn't a trained killing machine with a deadly bloodline with slightly stunted ability to form connections. She genuinely loathes and regrets the actions she is forced to take to save herself, her family and her city. Her level of empathy for people, even for people are do not deserve that empathy, just adds to her character.  That fact provides an even greater level of intrigue as we watch Nevada learn to navigate the life she has been thrown into both professionally and personally with Rogan.  I can't really say that she is better or more interesting than Kate, but she is incredibly different from her and also from Rogan that it just creates an entirely different dynamic to the story.  As for Rogan..well he is the complete and dangerous antithesis of Nevada.  Theirs is a relationship that I cannot wait to see unfold.  It is going to be great. 

I cannot wait for October.  

My book order finally came in.  All of the Edge books and Burn for Me. Perfect timing.  I'll resurface in a few days..

Mrs. Danvers takes no shit.  And I love her for it.  

I never once thought that when I picked this book up, I would end up loving the "villain" of the story.  How can one not love a character like Mrs. Danvers though?  Such mettle, such spunk.  She definitely took the old adage to not get angry, get even to heart, and then some.  

Rebecca is just straight up classic, gothic noir.  It's a beautifully written mystery, with life and intrigue breathed into every aspect of the story.  Even something as seemingly inconsequential as an unnamed narrator provides a wealth of information about the story itself.  Never knowing this character by anything other than the second Mrs. de Winter lends itself to fully allow us to grasp the depths of her insecure naivety about her situation at Manderley, as a wife and stepping into the shoes of the beloved Rebecca.  It adds an even greater level of suspense to her situation as we try to suss out what is going on at this house, but never quite being able to fully see the entire picture.  It also adds a perverse sense of pleasure as you watch the plot unfold, leading to an abrupt end to that naivety and eventually take control of her title, no longer being unnamed but rather becoming the Mrs. de Winter because of that.   The experiences of the second Mrs. de Winter coming to terms of life in the shadow of Rebecca, the twists and turns that were are varied as the road that led up to Manderley,  that ending...just everything about this book lends itself to an incredible read.  

I'm unsure where people see the romance in this book, though.  The second Mrs. de Winter was a naive girl who fell in love with the handsome, rich older man who held a passing fancy for the complete antithesis of his late wife.  I can't help but think that was the point to leaving her unnamed though.  This wasn't her and Maxim's love story.  In some odd kind of way, it was Mrs. Danvers and maybe a little bit of Manderley's itself.  After all, when Mrs. Danvers decided to get even, we see where she went with it. 

But I digress.. I guess that is why books such as this can stand the test of time, some people see a romance coming to bloom, others cheer the sociopathic (and maybe a little overly obsessive?) housekeeper.