Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent Review

Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent
by  Anthony Rapp
From Goodreads:

Anthony Rapp captures the passion and grit unique to the theatre world as he recounts his life-changing experience in the original cast of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent.
Anthony had a special feeling about Jonathan Larson's rock musical from his first audition, so he was thrilled when he landed a starring role as the filmmaker Mark Cohen. With his mom's cancer in remission and a reason to quit his newly acquired job at Starbucks, his life was looking up.
When Rent opened to thunderous acclaim off Broadway, Rapp and his fellow cast members knew that something truly extraordinary had taken shape. But even as friends and family were celebrating the show's success, they were also mourning Jonathan Larson's sudden death from an aortic aneurysm. By the time Rent made its triumphant jump to Broadway, Larson had posthumously won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize. When Anthony's mom began to lose her battle with cancer, he struggled to balance the demands of life in the theatre with his responsibility to his family. Here, Anthony recounts the show's magnificent success and his overwhelming loss. He also shares his first experiences discovering his sexuality, the tension it created with his mother, and his struggle into adulthood to gain her acceptance.
Variously marked by fledgling love and devastating loss, piercing frustration and powerful enlightenment, Without You charts the course of Rapp's exhilarating journey with the cast and crew of Rent as well as the intimacies of his personal life behind the curtain.

My Thoughts: I do not read many biographies, but I have to ask myself why after finishing Without You. It was a really great read, at times funny, a lot of sadness, sometimes uplifting, sometimes infuriating, but always honest. Anthony Rapp shares his mother's illness and ultimate death during the time he started with the musical Rent. Anthony is a complicated person, sometimes completely caring and unselfish, but at other times selfish and self-absorbed. He presents both sides of himself, revealing the hidden thoughts felt when someone you love is dying. Having lost my father to a prolonged illness, I was able to relate to some of this feelings- there are times you just want peace and release for your loved one, but when the moment of death actually comes you find yourself taking back the wish. Rapp deals with some uncomfortable subjects in this book- there is family abuse (his grandmother's a piece of work), his bisexuality and the resulting difficulty connecting to his family, and there is one scene of violence with a boyfriend that had me wondering if Rapp had done that to a girlfriend if his friends and cast mates would have been so understanding. This is not the same boy that played Darryl Coopersmith in Adventures in Babysitting, but it is the man that plays Mark in Rent. Rapp is neurotic, funny and heartbreaking. The look behind the scenes at the beginning of Rent were wonderful to read as a fan. And the fact that he was friends with Andy Dick, and that Dick's parents were the ones that outed Rapp to his mom was funny. I might have to watch both Adventures in Babysitting and Rent tonight... but it's all good since I already own them both! Thanks to my friend, Courtney for lending me this book.:)

Without You gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

Say Goodbye Review

Say Goodbye
by Lisa Gardner
From Goodreads:

 Lisa Gardner, the New York Times bestselling author of Hide and Gone, draws us into the venomous mind games of her most terrifying killer yet.

Come into my parlor . . .

For  Kimberly Quincy, FBI Special Agent, it all starts with a pregnant  hooker. The story Delilah Rose tells Kimberly about her johns is too  horrifying to be true—but prostitutes are disappearing, one by one, with  no explanation, and no one but Kimberly seems to care.

Said the spider to the fly . . .

As  a member of the Evidence Recovery Team, dead hookers aren’t exactly  Kimberly’s specialty. The young agent is five months pregnant—she has  other things to worry about than an alleged lunatic who uses spiders to  do his dirty work. But Kimberly’s own mother and sister were victims of a  serial killer. And now, without any bodies and with precious few clues,  it’s all too clear that a serial killer has found the key to the  perfect murder . . . or Kimberly is chasing a crime that never happened.

Kimberly’s  caught in a web more lethal than any spider’s, and the more she fights  for answers, the more tightly she’s trapped. What she doesn’t know is  that she’s close—too close—to a psychopath who makes women’s nightmares  come alive, and if he has his twisted way, it won’t be long before it’s  time for Kimberly to . . .

My Thoughts:  I've  pretty much only read the D.D. Warren books by Gardner, so this was my  first introduction to Kimberly and crew.  Normally I try my best to read  series in order, but last year I learned to unclench a bit and read  freely.  Say Goodbye is an excellent thriller, although the subject  matter might keep some of you away. 

FBI Special Agent Kimberly  is expecting a baby with her husband Mac, when she gets a call about a  pregnant hooker who claims to have information for her.  Soon Kimberly  is on the hunt for a suspected serial killer, unaware that she herself  is a target.  That alone would be pretty tame for a thriller, but  Gardner also throws in kidnapping and child molestation.  Although she's  not graphic, it's never easy to read about young children getting  abused in horrible ways.  Kimberly's story is interwoven with the  kidnapped teenage boy who lives with the serial killer, and Rita, a  tough elderly lady trying to help a young boy who she assumes is from a  bad home.  At almost 90, Rita is pretty amazing.  She works harder than I  do and keeps a much tighter budget than I ever could- plus the  interaction she has with the shop keeper is heart warming.

I  don't know much background on Kimberly other than she has a rough  relationship with her dad (think Sydney and Jack Bristow  from Alias), a tragic past  (mother and sister both killed), and while she has a wonderful husband  in Mac, their relationship is under the strain of her pregnancy.  When  she teams up with GBI agent Sal, there's also the added stress of  dealing with her attraction to him. 

Gardner's books are always  page turners, and this one was no exception.  Each chapter started off  with spider facts (the serial killer is obsessed with spiders) which was  pretty neat.  Say Goodbye had me alternating between feeling a lot less  creeped out by spiders and being a lot more terrified of some of them  (I don't foresee any future trips to South America any time soon).  I  really want to go back and start this series from the beginning.  I was  just in the mood for a thriller, and I'm so glad I finally picked this  one from my pile of tbr books.  I tend to crave thrillers when my life  feels a bit out of control... although I'd probably be better off  reading fairy tales and romance novels.
  
Say Goodbye gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

 The book gets a Midnight Cover Rating of:

The cover is okay, it fits a thriller book which for some reason always have women's eyes on the cover.  Hmm...

Grave Sight Review

Grave Sight 
by Charlaine Harris
From Goodreads:

 Harper Connelly has what you might call a strange job: she finds dead people. She can sense the final location of a person who's passed, and share their very last moment. The way Harper sees it, she's providing a service to the dead while bringing some closure to the living-but she's used to most people treating her like a blood-sucking leech. Traveling with her step-brother Tolliver as manager and sometime-bodyguard, she's become an expert at getting in, getting paid, and getting out fast. Because for the living it's always urgent-even if the dead can wait forever.

My Thoughts:  You know how you can read two different books by an author and be surprised that they came from the same mind?  I've read all the Sookie Stackhouse books, and just assumed Grave Sight would be similar, but it's not.  Harper Connelly is a much different character than Sookie.  She seems wise beyond her years and is, for the most part, very careful.

Harper has an edge that comes from living a rough childhood, and after getting struck by lightning, she can now find the dead.  She has an interesting relationship with her step-brother Tolliver.  I went in thinking that it'd be a Flowers in the Attic kind of relationship, but so far there's no hint of it.  Which was a bit disappointed, but she did have a worthy romantic hook up in this first book. 

I really liked the mystery and the way that Harper and Tolliver were drawn into the lies of a small town.  I figured some of the plot out early on, but it didn't take away from the tension and drama of some of the confrontations. 

I listened to Grave Sight on audio (downloaded from Audible) and it was a fairly good listen.  The narrator lends a maturity to Harper's story, although she sounds older than Harper is described as being.  She had a nice, soothing voice.  I will definitely be continuing this series! I'm looking forward to continuing the story, and seeing what's up with her brother Tolliver and the rest of her family (hopefully we learn Cameron's fate as some point).


Grave Sight gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

Not really my favorite cover, but you can't always have both a good story and a good cover.

Do You Remember Your First Encounter With Hunger?

Do You Remember Your First Encounter With Hunger?  As in Hunger Games?

I still stumble upon book bloggers who are just now getting into the series by Suzanne Collins, or some that haven't read it yet.  Those bloggers normally say it doesn't seem like the book for them.  But you know what?  It is, it is, the book for you.  And you.  And you over there, with the messy desk and runny nose.

Hunger Games is amazing. 

So I want to know, how'd you hear about it?  When did you discover it?

I read Hunger Games when it first came out.  I'm am proud to say that I helped build the band wagon, jumped on it and have been driving it all over the world trying to get people to read it since.  I actually heard about Hunger Games long before I was a book blogger.  Stephenie Meyers, yes the author of Twilight, mentioned HG on her website before it came out.   It sounded like Battle Royale meets The Lottery, so I picked it up as soon as it was released.

Like in Battle Royale, kids must battle to the death, and only one can be the winner.  BR was made into a movie, and later a series of manga.  I'd definitely recommend it, although it's even more violent than Hunger Games.

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
From Goodreads:

 Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language

Of course Stephen King has covered this ground too- in a couple novellas like The Running Man and The Long Walk. 

So even though I didn't think Hunger Games was a unique idea, I was impressed at the dystopian world that Collins created.  Katniss is a fantastic heroine, one that I believe will go down with the Scout's and Elizabeth Bennet's of literary history.  Yes, like in Twilight, there is a love triangle.  But it's not the main focus, and it adds to story and it's never really a full blown love triangle.  Katniss, Peeta and Gale have other things on their minds than just hooking up.  Like surviving.  And while there were Team Peeta and Team Gale people (for the record I was Team Gale), it was pretty tame.  It's possible to like both guys, for instance even though I liked Gale it was mostly because I thought Peeta could do better. ;)

I am so excited for the movie, the previews are amazing.  Tickets are already purchased for the 12:20 showing.  My friend Kim from On The Wings of Books, talked me out of wearing an evening gown, dousing it with gasoline and setting myself on fire to achieve Katniss' girl on fire look.  Most movie theaters have pesky fire codes.  And I'm not trying to die before the movie starts. 

Maybe I'll just wear gray clothes and skip dinner so that I arrive hungry.  Dressing up for Hunger Games isn't as easy as Harry Potter or Rocky Horror, that's for sure. 

The Duff Review

The DUFF
by Kody Keplinger
From Goodreads:

 Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

My Thoughts: My good, good, good friend Courtney was sweet enough to send me the audio book of The DUFF to listen to, and I'm eternally grateful.  It might not seem like it, since it took me months to finally get around to listening to it (mostly because I misplaced it), but I am thankful.

The DUFF is funny, raunchy and sexy.  This books make me realize that I was a nun during my teenage years.  Where was my Wesley Rush?  For that matter, where was my Toby Tucker?  Of course I was a teenager in the early and mid 90's so I'm assuming all the hot smex revolution happened after I graduated in 1995.  Although, I don't know if I could handle a Wesley Rush now, and I'm sure the Hubs would have his objections.

So Bianca is a great character- she's flawed and normal and snarky. She's a bit oblivious at times, too wrapped up in the drama of her home life to realize what her friends are going through. But aren't we all guilty of that sometimes?  My main problem with it is that it doesn't seem normal for her not to have spilled her secrets to her bff's.  I tell Courtney everything, and when she won't answer the phone, I tell her voicemail everything.  Which works out better sometimes, since voicemail allows me to vent without pause.

The DUFF reminds me of an 80's movie, Wesley would be played by some hot actor, a perfect blend of Rob Lowe's hotness and James Spade's rich boy attitude.  Bianca could be Jennifer Gray or Mare Winningham (did you even know she was a brat packer?  Because she is in St. Elmo's Fire but she's already playing grandmother characters now.  I feel so old), or Ally Sheedy.  Bianca's friends would be played by Demi Moore and Mia Sara.  Soundtrack by OMD, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Cure, the Bangles and Rick Aster.  See how perfect it could be?  Yeah, there's an awful lot of sex for a 1980's movie, but it was the decade that brought up Porky's.

I listened to the audio, which was a bit off due to the long pauses between sentences and paragraphs, but overall it was enjoyable.  A few storylines, like the one with Bianca's dad, and Jessica finding out about her brother, were tied up a little too neatly, but that's really being picky on my part.  Because I love this book, and eventually I will purchase my own physical copy (or at least on Kindle) so I can get my Wesley fix when I need it.

The DUFF gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

It's cute, but it doesn't look like my vision of Bianca, and a pic of a girl rolling her eyes or sipping Cherry Coke would have been more fitting.  Still, it's eye catching and I like it.

Tagged and Bagged

So the blogosphere has been buzzing with this tagging meme...

 Rules
1 You must post the rules.
2 Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the  people you’ve tagged.
3 Tag eleven people and link to them on your post.
4 Let them know you’ve tagged them!

I have to admit I was afraid I wasn't cool enough to get tagged.  So I whined about it on Twitter, and magically got an offer to be tagged by Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity. Now my self esteem is back to it's usual inflated levels.  Phew.


1. What app do you love above all others? Not an app person? What about website?
Honestly I love my Goodreads app.  Last year I really utilized Goodreads to keep a track of all the books I read in 2011, and I loved it.  Part of the reason I wanted a smart phone was just so I could have the Goodreads app.  I also like the Out of Milk app- it has a grocery list, a to-do list, and a pantry list.  You can just scan the barcodes of the food in your pantry in order to know what you already have.  Same thing for your grocery list.  Love it!

2. Describe your dream profession (sky is the limit).
My dream profession would be to run a huge, magical, eclectic bookstore, one that had a cafe and music section, a room full of roll top desks for writers, a stage for poetry slams and there would be used as well as new books for sale. 

3. Appetizers or dessert?
Dessert at home, but I love appetizers when I go out.  A lot of times I like to order one or two appetizers instead of a meal.  My favorites- potato skins and steak fajita nachos.

4. If you could be BFF with any fictional character, who would you choose?
Heather Wells from Size 12 is Not Fat series by Meg Cabot... or Lula from the Stephanie Plum series. :)

5. I say BLUE. What immediatley comes to mind?
Weirdly enough, Blue Hawaii... and I'm not much of an Elvis fan (Buddy Holly is my King!)

6. Favorite song to blast and sing in your car with the windows down?
I am a fan of music, so picking one is hard, but Open Road Song by Eve6 is the first to pop into my mind.


7. What fashion fad makes you hang your head in shame?
One that I went through?  Okay, in the early 90's I bought a bunch of tie-dyed jumpers whilst at the beach.  It was not a good look for me.  I liked them because they were loose even on my pudgy butt.  Such a bad, bad look for me though. Such a bad, bad look for anyone.

8. What are your thoughts on 80s Hair Bands--specifically Monster Ballads?
I am not a fan of hair bands, although I did go through a very big Bon Jovi phase, Slippery When Wet was my first cassette tape purchased and the first concert I went to.  I just associate hair bands and monster ballads with the tiny town in PA where I was forced to move to in high school.  The rest of the world was going alternative/grunge.  But not in Nicktown, PA!  Nope, they liked their boys with perms and unnaturally high screaming vocals.  Leather pants were a must.  But don't get me wrong, I can belt out More Than Words or Every Rose Has It's Thorns with the best of them, and I'll even throw in a Living on a Prayer for free.

9. What is a book you wanted to throw across the room? What is one you wanted to hug?
Recently, Shatter Me, but since it was on my iPod and I listened to it in the car, I was able to resist the urge.  Hug?  I think I did hug Liesl & Po and The Night Circus.  Loved both of them.

10. Imagine you are an aerobics instructor--what song must be on your playlist?
Anthem by Superchick.  Now, I am so not a kick ass chick (unless we're beating each other up with words, and then I'm like a vocab ninja), but this song makes me feel like I can do anything.  My favorite line is:

We don't have time for your games
We have our own goals to score
There are trophies to win
Instead of being one of yours

11. What's for dinner tonight?
Coconut Shrimp- Kroger's had buy one get one free deal going on. 

Bonus: What's your favorite go-to lipstick (including color)
I'm not much of a lipstick girl, but I am addicted to chap stick and lip gloss.  My go to lip gloss is Covergirl's Wetslicks is Sassy.


Now here are the questions for the bloggers I'm picking (and feel free to tag yourself if I haven't tagged you, or just answer in the comments section):

1. What song would you pick for the soundtrack of the book you're currently reading?
2. What drink do you order most at Starbucks?
3. What literary character would you kiss, which one would you marry and which one would you push off a cliff?
4. Forget Zombies vs. Unicorns.  Are you Team Robots or Team Mermaid?
5.  What's the last movie you saw in the theater?
6.  If they were to make a movie out of your life, who would you want play your love interest?
7.  If you could kidnap an author, which one would it be and what book would you have them write and/or re-write?
8. How many books are in your TBR pile?
9. What's the worst job you've ever had?

10.  I want to paint an accent wall in my bedroom Peacock Blue, what color would you recommend for the other 3 walls? :)
11.  What is your favorite board game?


Bonus Question: Are you planning on attending BEA this year?  If yes, are you in need of a hotel room?  Because my friend Kim and I are looking for two other bloggers to share.  :)

So now's my turn to tag!

Courtney 

Kim

Steph

Andrea

Jac

Kai

Lily Bear

Midnyte Reader

And you!

The Friend Request Review

The Friend Request
by Alex Ford
From Goodreads:

 Alex Ford’s Dark Comedy. Have you accepted a 'friend request' when you should have clicked ignore? Do you really know all the people listed as 'friends' on your Facebook page? What if somebody from your past assumed the identity of someone from your present, so they could get close to you? What if they wanted to get close to you, just to hurt you - again.

David Andrews’ life is going well. With an imminent promotion at work he’s content in his job. His girlfriend is gorgeous and looking at the amount of friends on his Facebook page he’s very popular too. So, when he sees a friend request from a Barry Taylor, he doesn’t understand why it makes him so nervous, he’s not sure he even recognizes the name.

Eventually he forgets all about it, until the day he is forced to remember a past that was erased from his memory by a terrible accident. Little does he realize that all the information on his Facebook page might make him a little too vulnerable, especially to a sociopath like Barry Taylor, who is intent on destroying David’s life – for a second time. This leads David, with a little help from his friendly shopkeeper, on a journey of revenge and self-discovery.

My Thoughts:  Do you know how many free books I've downloaded for my Kindle since I got it?  Probably dozens upon dozens upon dozens.  How many have I actually read?  Like, three.  I'm happy to say The Friend Request is one of them.  No, it's not a spectacular book, but it wasn't bad.  It was like watching a dark comedy on BBC.  I quite enjoyed how Barry was able to manipulate so many people just through the powers of Facebook.

It gives me hope for when I go all Revenge on someone someday.  Seriously, are ya'll watching Revenge?  Because it's awesome!

Not that Barry has a good reason for revenge, in fact his motivations are as shallow and full of flatulence as he is.  But it is nice to know that I can conquer England and be named Queen if I simply learn to make a good cup of tea, because that's all it takes for Barry to ingratiate himself with David's friends and co-workers.

I almost didn't finish with this book.  I'm not even sure why I started reading it other than the fact that the premise sounded good even I take for granted that no one is all that interested enough in me to Facebook stalk me.  But I'm glad I stuck with it.  It's not the most brilliantly written book in the world, but it's entertaining.  The obsession with Facebook is brought to light (seriously, how many of you have checked your Facebook today before reading this blog?), and it's handled with humor.

It also made me realize that I post some dumb status updates on my page.  And nothing is sadder than when I post something wonderfully witty or snarky and people can't be bothered to even click "like".  It messes with a person's self esteem.

So, The Friend Request gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

Shatter Me Review

Shatter Me
by Tahereh Mafi
From Goodreads:

 Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

My Thoughts:  I listened to Shatter Me on audio, which might be why it was hard for me to enjoy this book.  The narrator, in what I'm assuming was an attempt to capture Juliette's character, was over the top and emotional, to the point of shrill at times.  The constant crossing out of lines (which you hear but obviously don't see since it's audio) grated on my nerves.

You know that line in the Harry Potter movie when Hermione is explaining all the things Cho Chang felt whilst snogging Harry, and Ron says it's not possible for one person to feel all those things at once?  Well, he could have been talking about Juliette.  She feels for everyone, she wants to care for everyone, save everyone, and recycle.  Al Gore would probably be happy to adopt her, which would work because he doesn't seem like the hugging type anyway.

Fortunately either the narrator calmed down, or Juliette did, because about halfway through things got a little better.  I really enjoyed Warner, except Juliette's constant "I'm nothing like you" arguments got kind of old.  I'm kind of rooting for Warner, not to win Juliette from Adam, but just to turn her to the dark side.  Darth Vader Juliet would be much more interesting. We get a lot of anti-heros in YA fiction, but we're thin on the ground with anti-heroines. 

So, plot wise, Juliette is locked up because her touch kills.  She spends her days and nights in her cell alone, and I kept picturing the video for Melissa Etheridge's Come to My Window when the actress Juliette Lewis is going crazy, drawing on the walls and, like Shatter Me's Juliette, scribbling and crossing out, scribbling and crossing out, scribbling and crossing out.  See, I can do it too!

Anyways hottie Adam shows up, and Juliette is all crossing out over him.  Turns out he's from her past, and why he's drawn to her is just as mysterious to me as it is to Juliette.  Yeah, I get it, she's extremely unselfish and bent over backwards to help the same school mates who shunned her.  But honestly, I just felt that all of those instances of unselfishness (she misses a field trip to let some other snotty girl go, she claims to be cheating on a test in order to save yet another classmate even though her parents punish her severely, etc) just made Juliette seem a bit pathetic.  Holding doors open for people, that's a nice gesture, taking a beating for a class mate that would just as soon spit on you is over the top disturbing.  But once more it show's how caring Juliette is!

 I know I've made it sound like I hated the book, but I did think it had it's interesting points.  I was intrigued by Warner, and adored Adam and his little brother.  The ending went places I wasn't expecting, and I found it quite compelling.  I don't think I'll continue with the series just because I really don't like Juliette.  I can guarantee I won't listen to the next book in the series on audio (seriously the narration reminds me too much of my own drama club rehearsals back in high school).

A lot of the writing was truly beautiful, it was just too much.  And Juliette never just walks across a room, she is flung, she is propelled, she is shot out of a cannon by a demented circus monkey on a long journey to revenge across the room.  She doesn't just love Adam, she is shattered by him, she is thrust into the heat of a thousand burning suns at the mere thought of his touch, she is broken and then pieced together with drippy hot love glue.  Did I mention that the word shatter is way overused? 

There is a certain amount of hotness in the fact that Juliette's touch kills but she can touch Adam and their smexy scenes were pretty intense.  The author (and the characters) don't go too far, but at least there is chemistry between Adam and Juliette.

Lots of people/bloggers love Shatter Me, but if you're looking for the next Hunger Games, I can't recommend this book.  It does have a touch of X-Men in it though, so it might interest you super power lovers out there.

Shatter Me gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

It's an okay cover, but in the world of amazing YA covers this one just doesn't stand out to me.  I do give it props for being mostly white, which is a nice change from a lot of the others out there. 

What My Best Friend Did Review

What My Best Friend Did
by Lucy Dawson
From Goodreads:

From Lucy Dawson, author of "His Other Lover," comes a smart and chilling look at the shadowy side of friendship.
For Alice, life's a bit too boringly grown-up lately--weekends at weddings and baby showers; celebrating friends' transitions to a life she isn't quite up for yet; and a sweet, stable boyfriend she suspects she's outgrown. So when she meets Gretchen for the first time, it feels a bit like falling in love. Gretchen, with her air of impulsiveness and intuitive style, is that rarest of treasures: a true friend who knows how to have fun. Plus there's Gretchen's gorgeous brother, Bailey, who might turn out to be exactly what Alice needs. Before she knows what's hit her, Alice's brilliant new best friend is turning her world upside down--seemingly for the better.
But Gretchen has a dark secret, which, like a time bomb, won't stay hidden forever. The explosion may teach them both more than they ever wanted to know about how female friendships can go frighteningly wrong.

My Thoughts: What My Best Friend Did was a total impulse buy.  I'm still a member of Doubleday even though I long ago fulfilled my membership requirements because they still have the occasional awesome sale on hard back books.  This book was bought in one of those buying sprees where I find my cart filling up magically.  On it's own.  Honestly.

So of course, like most impulse books purchases, this book was lingering on my TBR bookcase (no longer content with just a single shelf or two, it has taken over an entire large book case).  Thankfully I'm taking my 2012 tbr challenges seriously, reading books off my shelves or my kindle back log.  I picked this one because I just love the cover and the title is definitely intriguing.

Sadly it didn't quite live up to my expectations.  Alice as a main character is pretty unlikeable.  She's mean to her nice, albeit boring, boyfriend, and she flings herself into a friendship with Gretchen and a relationship with Bailey, Gretchen's brother, with all the maturity of a YA character.  But What My Best Friend Did is not a YA novel.  

I almost gave up a few times, but once the book gets to the back story of Gretchen's mental illness and we begin to get hints that the latest episode with her was not as it appears to be, I was sucked in.  I might not like Alice too much, but it was hard not to yell in horror at some of the things Gretchen did to her.  Plus, even though I've just said I don't like Alice, she was refreshingly flawed.  She gets caught in lies, she makes mistakes, and she has a toxic female friendship.  Which is probably why I don't like Alice, she's just a bit too much like me. ;) 

The ending did surprise me a bit, and while I thought it ended when it should have, I kind of wanted to stick around for some of the fall out.  This isn't a book I'm dying to share with my friends and fellow book bloggers, but it's a fairly quick read in the vein of a very toned down Single White Female.

Another thing that makes me hesitate to recommend this book is the way it deals with mental illness.  In some ways its a perfect look at manic depression, but it might offend some people by the way the mentally ill character uses her illness to manipulate others.  I think it does bring up an interesting argument, how much can be attributed to mental illness and just plain old bad behavior? 


What My Best Friend Did gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

I love the colors, and I'll probably just keep the book to decorate my yellow shelf (yes, some of my bookcases are organized by color).

Partials Reveiw

Partials
by Dan Wells
Expected Publication: 02.28.2012
From Goodreads:

Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with partials--engineered organic beings identical to humans--has decimated the world’s population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. The threat of the partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to the disease in over a decade. Humanity’s time is running out.

When sixteen-year-old Kira learns of her best friend’s pregnancy, she’s determined to find a solution. Then one rash decision forces Kira to flee her community with the unlikeliest of allies. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and partials rests in her attempts to answer questions of the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar Galactica, Partials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question--one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability, and our only hope for survival.

My Thoughts:  First you should know that I am already a fan of Dan Wells.  His John Wayne Cleaver series that starts with I Am Not A Serial Killer, pretty much has cemented me as life long fan.  I'm not quite ready to go Annie Wilkes on him, but our literary relationship is getting to that level of crazy.  Fortunately for Wells and my other favorite writers I don't live out in the country and I'm actually quite lazy.  And my Hubs and friends would totally turn me in for any reward money if I ever actually kidnap any authors.

So how excited was I to see that Dan Wells had a new dystopian YA book out?  If your picturing me running around the house screaming like a crazed 1960's Beatles fan, they you win a doughnut (oops, sorry, all out of doughnuts, but feel free to treat yourself).  Wells is, after all, the author who created a popular literary sociopath (with a nice supernatural twist).  Honestly I like John Wayne Cleaver better than Dexter (book Dexter, not Showtime Dexter), and he's almost tied with Hannibal Lector.  So I was pretty much on board for any dystopian tales Dan Wells wants to turn out.

Partials was not quite what I expected.  The first half of the book went a little slow for me, but it was dealing with the set up of this particularly dystopian world.  I didn't immediately love the main character, Kira, like I did sociopath John in IaNaSK, but that probably says something disturbing about me.  And I did like the plot of Partials, I just think the set up could have been done in a prologue similar to the opening quote used in the book (which was awesome, btw).

About halfway through the book, when Kira and crew capture a Partial, was when the book finally grabbed me.  Samm (the Partial) was a great character, and brought a new angle to the what the readers, and Kira, were previously told about Partials.  Basically Partials were engineered to be super humans by the government to be the ultimate solider.  Of course it's no surprise that their treatment by the hands of our government is less than cozy.  You almost can't blame them for wanting to kill off the human race.

And because it's a dystopian novel, some things are quite what they seem, and some characters aren't who you think they are.  Some of the twists I saw coming, one I'd already known about so it's not like I had my Nancy Drew sweater set on, and a few that I really didn't see coming.

Things I loved: the society left behind after the disease devastates humanity is truly a melting pot.  Since no whole families have been left intact, the survivors have all banded, and bonded, together.  The Hope Act in the book- basically saying that all women 18 and over have to try to get pregnant as often as possible in hopes of saving mankind and giving birth to a child who will be immune- would make for a great book club debate.  Especially when there's talk of lowering the age to 16.  I think there is a good reason dystopians are dysfunctional and not perfect utopias, I don't believe that it's humanly possible to have a society where everything is fair and everyone is equal.  There will always be those in power, there will always be those that learn to make their living off others, and there will always be people who want personal freedom.  The society Kira lives is deeply flawed, and whether they mean well or if they're blatantly lying to the masses, is for us to discover.    I also really liked the friendships that Kira has forged, and every one of her friends has their strengths and also their weaknesses, just like Kira herself.

Things I loved not so much: Kira's skills in medicine and science despite her young age actually doesn't bother me.  It makes sense in a world where there's not a lot of distractions that you could cram a whole lot of learning in at a younger age.  What I didn't like was Kira's arrogance.  She just assumes that she's capable of coming up with a cure to save the babies, and she puts her friends at grave risk in her pursuit.  Of course, she has a point, what's the point in living if there's literally no future?  But still, it was a bit grating in the beginning.  And I thought the book got off to a slow, clunky start, but other than those two things, I enjoyed the book.

Partials is the first in a series, and it left me with just enough questions answered, and just enough new questions raised to keep me invested in future books.  Their are side characters that I care about, contrary Haru, joker Marcus, pregnant Isolde, and Partial Samm.   Overall I think it's a worthy novel for lovers of dytopias. And be sure to read I Am Not A Serial Killer, which is sadly a phrase I've personally had to use a few times to clear things up with new friends.

Partials gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover or Partials gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

I think the cover immediately gives you a heads up that some dystopian shiz is going down.

Disclaimer: The books that I receive are either purchased by me, given to me by either the author or publisher, or borrowed from Around the World ARC Tours in exchange for an honest review or won by me in a contest.  All opinion, snark and wit are my own.

Computer Stand and Plans

So I recently moved.  I'm still in the major unpacking stage, and while we moved from a large apartment to a slightly larger house, my mom now shares the space with us.  Fitting in the things we used to have was difficult.  The Hubs sacrificed his mammoth corner desk, but appropriated my simple small desk.  We really don't have room for another desk unless I squeeze it into the bedroom, but I don't like to be shut off from the world when I'm online, which is often. 

My mom spent a lot of time in the hospital and rehab, so I got inspired by all the nurses and doctors that use computer stands.  After searching on Amazon I found one that fits my needs and it came today (thank you Amazon Prime!).  So here it is:

It's super mobile and I can use it anywhere!  I'm particularly looking forward to the next Readathon in April, so I can sit on the couch or bed and blog/tweet whilst reading without moving a muscle.  It doesn't show up well in the picture (taken on my phone and artfully set so you can't see all the boxes cluttering up the new place), but the desk is dark cherry wood, not black like it looks in this light. 

And don't be impressed by all the shelf space you see behind the new desk, I'm still unpacking my thousands of boxes of books and the shelves in the living room will be color coordinated again once I'm done. 

I am proud to say that I've culled my books somewhat, donating several boxes of books to Goodwill so far, with another full box ready to go.  Four large bookshelves and two small ones should really be enough even for this book hoarder, especially since I own both a Kindle and a Nook (although the Hubs has taken over ownership of the Nook Color, which he will rectify come May when he buys me the Kindle Fire for my birthday :). 

My future blog plans:
~Catching up on reviews, but Partials by Dan Well should be up this weekend.
~Posting a giveaway of a signed copy of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (once I unpack that box, although thankfully the box is clearly marked).
~ Thinking about hosting a Stephen King read-a-long because for Valentines Day the Hubs got me this:

 So I thought maybe I'd do a read-along of these three books, since they'd also qualify (at least for me) for my Baby Read Me, 1 More Time challenge.
~Right now, I'm going to curl up and watch this:

 Found this at our beach house over the summer, while the movie was still in the theaters.  I assumed it was in Spanish, so whilst I snagged it I never bothered to check it until the other night.  Loved the book, and I'm finally ready to give the movie a try.  So wine, Valentine's chocolate (also given to me by the Hubs, along with a beautiful vase of roses and a pretty purple flower that I don't know the name of.  And a balloon.  The balloon is important.  I love balloons and wish people would give them more often.  No, I don't have a helium addiction.)

So what are your immediate plans (blog or otherwise)?  Let me know if the Stephen King Read-A-Long interests any of you.

First Comes Love Review

First Comes Love
by Katie Kacvinsky
Expected Publication Date: 05.08.2012
From Goodreads:

 Like his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan, a girl always searching for what's next, seemingly unable to settle down, is the exact opposite: full of light and life. On the outside, they seem like an unlikely couple. But looks can be deceiving and besides, opposites attract. What starts as friendship, turns into admiration, respect and caring, until finally these two lone souls find they are truly in love with each other. But staying in love is not as easy as falling in love. If Dylan and Gray want their love to last, they're going to have to work at it. And learn that sometimes love means having to say you're sorry.

My Thoughts:  Aside from the names of the main characters (both Gray (male) and Dylan (female ) were too artsy when put together for my tastes), First Comes Love was an enjoyable read.  Gray is still dealing with his twin sister's death- and by dealing with  really mean totally ignoring it and building up walls around himself, when he meets free-spirit Dylan.  She's fun, quirky, and annoys Gray at first.  Yet like a book worm in a really old musty volume of Shakespeare plays, she burrows her way into his life. 

Despite a few missteps by both of them in the beginning, the build a genuine friendship, one that is especially beneficial for Gray.  Expect a bit of the ice to chip of his heart- and probably yours too.  From friendship comes love, but it's a very realistic growth, and it never feels forced.  Well, Dylan is forceful, but it's in a good way since Gray would still be moping around Arizona, probably in a puddle of his own sweat.

Speaking of Arizona, I have yet to understand why anyone willingly lives there.  I believe sweat should be the result of effort, not just simply walking the 10 feet front the front door to the car door.  Every book set in Arizona that I have ever read has convinced me that my chubby butt is never, ever, ever going to be moving there.  Of course, it makes for a good setting and gives the characters something to talk about, like Gray instructing Dylan how to survive the heat.

My favorite chapter of First Comes Love is the date Gray takes Dylan on, per her request, to all the places his sister had loved.  There was a sweetness to the day that had me crying.  In a good way.  It's the beginning of Gray realizing that he has to start grieving.

The POV alternates between Gray and Dylan, which confused me a bit in the beginning since I couldn't remember if Gray was the girl or the boy.  That's completely my fault, since I like the name Gray for a girl and normal readers should have no problems unless they have weird mental hangups like I do.  There is some language and some hot smexy smex towards the end, but it's not overdone and doesn't wander off to the land of Hustler.  Gray and Dylan are older teens, he's 19 and she's at least 18, and they're both smart so the book doesn't enter into the land of Teen Mom either.

The book ended on a better note than I thought it would.  I kept thinking of Sweet November, that movie where a free spirit, Charlize Theron, rescues uptight dude, played by Keanu Reeves, only to announce that she's dying.  Thankfully the author didn't go there either.  Dylan and Gray do encounter very real problems in their relationship due to their differences, but no one has to get cancer and die at the end.

(Spoilerish)
Dylan's actions toward the end of made me mad (almost to the point of book throwing, but since it was a borrowed copy I was able to overcome the impulse by reminding myself that books can get damaged that way), but by the very end she redeemed herself a bit for me without her character being compromised.

First Comes Love gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

 It was a nice break from all the thrillers and dystopian novels I've been reading recently.

The cover of First Comes Love gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

I like it, but Dylan does not look like that, and I can't stand when the cover models have the wrong color hair.

Disclaimer: The books that I receive are either purchased by me, given to me by either the author or publisher, or borrowed from Around the World ARC Tours in exchange for an honest review or won by me in a contest.  All opinion, snark and wit are my own.

February 14: Top Ten Books That Broke Your Heart A Little

The Broke and the Bookish host Top Ten Tuesdays and in honor of Anti-Valentine's Day, we're suppose to pick the books that left us heartbroken, so here's mine: 

February 14: Top Ten Books That Broke Your Heart A Little 

The Broke and the Bookish host Top Ten Tuesdays and in honor of Anti-Valentine's Day, we're suppose to pick the books that left us heartbroken, so here's mine:

Kate's broke-my-heart book montage

Kate's favorite books »

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1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott- I think Jo not ending up with Laurie was my first real book heartbreak.  It still bothers me to this day (although having Gabriel Byrne play the Professor she does marry in the Winona Ryder movie version helped a little). And Beth's death was sad too, not just Jo and Laurie not getting married.

2. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling- Just like Obi-Wan had to die for Luke to become a better Jedi, I guess Dumbledore had to die so that Harry would be able to defeat Voldemort. But it still sucks.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling- Okay, I was prepared for the death of my favorite characters, but to start of with Hedwig and to take Fred too?  What the heck, J.K.?!  I was willing to give up Tonks and Remus because at least they went together, but I'll always be shocked and heartbroken over Fred.  Why not Percy?  He was such a wanker!

4.  Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz- The end of this novel slays me, but I still love it.  I listened to this on audio and had to pull over on the side of the road because I was crying so hard.

5.  Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin- do not, I repeat, do not get attached to the characters in this series!

6.  The Green Mile by Stephen King- I think this book lead to my first sinus infection because I cried so much.  I was a walking ad for Visine and Kleenex for a week after reading this book.   

7.  The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis- the scene with Aslan going to the stone table to sacrifice himself still makes me weep, a dozen or more re-reads later.   

8.  One Day by David Nicholls- the end stabbed me through the heart, literally.  I still haven't been able to watch the movie.

9.  Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins- I was really, really, really, super unprepared for the death of a particular character.  

10.  Chances by Jackie Collins- Okay, I know this is a weird pick for me, but back when I was a teen I read Jackie Collins instead of doing drugs or getting STDs.  When Lucky loses her mom, and then years later Marco, it broke my heart.  So yeah, there was lots of sex, violence and glorification of sex and mob violence, but it tugged a bit at the heartstrings.  Maybe I should read a Nicholas Sparks novel... 

I'm sure there will a dozen more books that I'll end up wishing I'd added to the list once I look at everyone else's link!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Happy Valentine's Day, hope Cupid's aim has improved!

Buy yourself some chocolate and curl up with some Mr. Darcy (or your favorite literary boyfriend).

Stolen Review

Stolen: A letter to my captor
by Lucy Christopher
From Goodreads:

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.

My Thoughts: Very interesting premise, and I liked how the Australian landscape acted like a character. The ending is satisfying without being neatly, and unrealistically, tied up. I was expecting more violence on the part of the kidnapper, but the creepiness of his history with Gemma was an unexpected bonus. And although I said the ending was fairly realistic, I found the character of Ty not to be.  I found his treatment of Gemma too... old-fashioned?  I find it hard to believe that someone who be mentally unfit enough to kidnap someone to make them love them, and someone who is physically capable of, erm, "relations", would be okay being friends.  Saying that, I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much if Christopher had written the story the way I thought it would go. I also like the butterfly on the cover, a bit of a nod to The Collector by John Fowles.


 Stolen by Lucy Christopher gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The Vanishing Game Review

The Vanishing Game 
by Kate Kae Myers
Expected Publication 2.14.2012
From Goodreads:

Jocelyn's twin brother Jack was the only family she had growing up in a world of foster homes-and now he's dead, and she has nothing. Then she gets a cryptic letter from "Jason December"-the code name her brother used to use when they were children at Seale House, a terrifying foster home that they believed had dark powers. Only one other person knows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn's childhood crush and their only real friend among the troubled children at Seale House.
But when Jocelyn returns to Seale House and the city where she last saw Noah, she gets more than she bargained for. Turns out the house's powers weren't just a figment of a childish imagination. And someone is following Jocelyn. Is Jack still alive? And if he is, what kind of trouble is he in? The answer is revealed in a shocking twist that turns this story on its head and will send readers straight back to page 1 to read the book in a whole new light.

My Thoughts: Okay, I know it's still early February, but I'm officially claiming The Vanishing Game as my favorite read of this month!  It's rare for a YA book to really shock me by it's ending, but Myers pulled it off brilliantly.  There are clues along the way, but I was on the wrong trail most of the book. 

Jocelyn is an amazing character- she's smart, a survivor, and brave enough to tackle the horrible ghosts of her childhood in order to find out what happened to her brother.  The flashbacks showing Jocelyn and Jack's upbringing- from their crazy mom to their fellow foster kids in Seale House, are heartbreaking.  But my favorite part of the book (besides the ending), was Jocelyn and Noah's relationship.

In a complete breath of fresh air, Jocelyn's relationship with Noah seems to build slow, even though now that I think about it the timing was probably over only a few days.  But it feels like a slow build, and it creates some nice tension between the two of them.  Jocelyn's girlhood crush on Noah is tempered by the fact that the last time she saw him he promised to kill her if he ever saw her again.  And he does attack her when he first sees her, but in his defense he didn't recognize her and she was doing a creepy/stalker routine instead of just going up to him and saying hi.  Noah is not a perfect young man, he doesn't sprout poetry at the drop of the hat and he doesn't sparkle or have fey blood, he felt like a real leading man and not just fantasy.  There might not be a Jace or Edward in your future ladies, but there are Noah's in this world. 

Another aspect that I really enjoyed was getting to see some of the other residents of Seale House in the present, especially Dixon and Beth.  I honestly could have read an entire book based just on Jack, Jocelyn and Noah's years in Seale House.  Although a lot of the creep factor of the house is explained at the end, I'm still curious about all the kids that might have passed under it's roof. 

The book is also full of riddles and codes, which while I admit that I personally suck at them, it' great to see books aimed at girls showing girls enjoying math, and not just English and Art. 

I officially moved yesterday, and I managed to read The Vanishing Game amidst much personal drama in my life.  It was a wonderful escape from the endless packing, stress, and sore muscles from moving.   That's a mark of a good book- one that's able to completely capture your mind.

The Vanishing Game gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover of The Vanishing Game gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

I like the double image of the house, and the differences are open to interpretation.  I thought it fit the book pretty well.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this arc through Around the World Arc Tours in exchange for my honest opinion.