Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015

[zena]

The Prince Who Loved Me by Karen Hawkins

I only read to chapter 7 and won't be reading any further.  Horrible.  Horrible book.  This is pretty much how the story began...

The main character meets the prince out in the woods.  He asks for her name but she refuses to give it to him. He gives his name in hopes that she will give hers in return but she still doesn't.  He isn't so perfect either.  He doesn't tell her he's a prince.  He is living in the house (castle) of a well known man who is going to throw a ball.  So the main character goes home and she has 2 step sisters who heard rumors about the ball and of this prince and how they would love to kiss him if he was handsome.  The main characters doesn't tell them that she had already met him and that they kissed.  She played nonchalant on the outside but inside she is overwhelmingly in love with him.

Anyway, I stopped after the mom comes down the stairs swinging her arms in the air holding an envelope that is the invitation to the ball.  So as she's coming toward the girls, she's all excited, "Girls!  I've got great news in this envelope!  I can't wait to share it with all of you!!!!  You will be be soooooooooo excited!!!!"  Not word for word of course, but pretty close.  One daughter starts jumping up and down excited just like her mom but her mom shoots her down by saying, "Calm down daughter.  You must be lady like and sit quietly."  I was like...WTF?  You just got her all excited and now you expect her to sit calmly?  The daughter does it though with her hands on her lap and all and quiet as a mouse.  Then the mom looks over to the step daughter (the main character...th e one who met the prince but he didn't tell her he was the prince and in which they kissed after only having met for like 5 minutes), and says, "OH...your dress is so ugly. Look at that stain."  The MC says, "It's all I have."  The mom says, "You need to go change right now.  I can't have you wearing that in front of me."  The MC says, "Okay.  Let me go change..."  I'm like...WHAT?  Mom, you just came down the stairs swinging the envelope in your hands in the air like a crazy lunatic all excited like you were about to explode and now you'd rather pay attention to your step daughters ugly dress?  NOT REAL.  And very stupid.

Sometimes I wonder how these books get so popular but then I realize the average reader is not a college graduate or English major or anything near that. 

I'm not having good morning if you ask.

[zena]

Oh...btw, in the book above, the MC is 24 years old.  She acts like my 13 year old daughter.

[tRouBLe]

Have you seen some of the movies that were made from books?  I find that they're normally disappointing and not as I imagined.

[zena]

Most movies made from books are never that great.  The only book to movie that I found was great was Ender's Game.  I am planning on watching Sense and Sensibility (with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet) again so we'll see how that goes.  It's been a very long time and I pretty much just saw the last 30 minutes of it.  The book was just okay so this will be interesting.

[tRouBLe]

I agree that most movies aren't as good as the book.  If you thought the book "Sense and Sensibility" was ok, hopefully you won't be disappointed in the movie.  I wasn't too impressed with it.

[zena]

We'll see.  When I saw the 30 mins piece, I loved it but I was also much younger then too.  The author's writing is always great just like her other stories.  The beginning was very interesting but the rest was bland.  It became a very boring book.

[zena]

Funny.  There are so many authors and writers out there but I can't seem to find a good book. 

[zena]

Do you like young adult books? I just finished one called Scorpio Races. Couldn't stop thinking about it for days.

What is it about?

[zena]

I'll give it a shot.  Thanks.

[zena]

Finished The Scorpio Race by Maggie Stiefvater.  Here's my review on goodreads:

It was okay. Why they'd race mysterious horses that come from the ocean to eat them is beyond me. World building wasn't done very well. Couldn't tell if they were in the past (found out they weren't when cars were mentioned later on), present, or future. Couldn't tell what island they were on because it was never mentioned. If Thisby is a made up island, it would be nice to know the history behind it, like how it became an island, and distance wise from it to the mainland. Character development was a mess. The double first person thing didn't work. Puck and Sean's first person were exactly the same. I had to make sure I read the chapter title to know who's POV I was reading from. There was very little substance in the characters so it was hard to feel for them.

[zena]

I started to read a post apocalyptic book about a surrogate young mother written in first person but I just couldn't get past the vernacular.

The Maze Runner had funny vernacular too (which I did find a bit annoying) but the author was able to write it in a way that was bearable.  Although, I still find it unbelievable that just after 2 years in the maze, the boys lost proper English.

Anyway, I also want to make it clear that when I read, I'm doing it for the enjoyment, and not to dislike an author or someone's recommendation .  If a books is truly of good taste, I will state it.  I'm not here to pick and choose, although, I do realize that I do have a personal preference with writing style/voice, etc., but I'm not really picky.

I just started reading a book from Stephen King, and I kid you not, it's very well written and entertaining and it's such a relief to find a good book like this.  I'll post more on it once I finish.

[zena]

Finished, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King.

Enjoyed it.  It was a well needed book after reading so many not-so-great books.  It wasn't a fiction and I'm still staying away from non-fiction but I was curious about what King had to say about writing so I gave in.  I found the book to be interesting and educational.  The first half of the book he talks about how he grew up and how he got into writing.  I totally feel for him because I struggled similarly.  I cried too when his wife cried when they finally learned they'd make enough money from his writing to not worry about food or where to live or how to pay for a doctor's visit.  I love the humor.  Especially during this conversation when he got his first big break from I believe his novel, Carrie: (not word for word)

"Did you say forty thousand?" King said to his agent.

"Four-hundred thousand."

"Can you repeat it?" King asked.

"Yes, four-hundred thousand dollars.  A four then five zeroes after it; then a dot, then two zeroes after that."

LOL!

[zena]

Have you read Fun Home by Alison Bechdel? It's a graphic memoir, not unlike Persepolis, but very unlike Persepolis. I just recently finished it. Would like to hear your take.

Thanks for the recommend.  I'll keep this in mind when I do read memoirs again.  Currently I am still obsessed with the fantasy and sci-fi genres.  And, to break that down even further, I'm digging apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic more than anything else.  It is totally a phase right now, for I'm pretty sure one day, I will be sick of it.

[zena]

Finished, Splendour Falls, by Susanna Kearsley.  My good reads review: It was too slow moving and there were too many people involved that I couldn't connect with any of them. I couldn't get myself to accept that people died just for some ancient diamonds. I liked the historical stuff but wish there was more written on it.

Currently reading, City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare.  I've read another book by this author and didn't like it very much but this seems to be written a little better.  I'm only a few pages in so we'll see how it turns out.  I'm really hoping this one is much better.  Daughter recommended.

[zena]

City of Bones was okay.  I liked the idea but I'm not big into vampires and werewolves.  I already knew this book was about vampires and werewolves because daughter talked a lot of about the book and the movie.  I've also seen the movie.  Saw it before I read the book.  I thought the movie was much better than the book.  In the book the teens were very snotty and they jumped every time someone walks into the room or calls their name and they're not aware.  At one point, the author wrote (not word for word), Clary leaped to her feet and was so jittery she couldn't sit down anymore.  This was after she learned who her father was, a father she never even knew.  Also, the dialogues were annoying. They were pointless.  I did enjoy the fight scene near the end.