My Own Little Corner

I have been having a difficult time coming up with a plot summary, I think it may be because I am not entirely sure there was an actual plot. Okay here is a stab. Luce was sent to a boarding school, Sword & Cross. There she met two guys Cam and Daniel and girls Arriane, Gabbe and Penn. They try to navigate around each other and stay alive. Really that is the best I can come up with.

I firmly believe if the author deleted the three primary characters and made a story involving the secondary characters the story would have been much better. I understand she was trying to make it seem as if Cam was mysteriously charismatic whenever he was actually around Luce, but it just made her feel flaky without actually knowing what she was wanting.

Luce said from the beginning that she wasn't going to talk about her past and the events that lead her to the reform school. Then she talks about it with the first two people she met. Then she again told us she wasn't going to talk about it. Luce really stuck to her conviction by discussing it with both of the guys in the story, Cam and Daniel.

One of the things that puzzled me throughout the entire book was the sweaters. Why if they were in the south in September was everyone wearing either a sweater or a hoodie? There was even one character who wore multiple sweaters at the same time. I realize this isn't a pivotal plot point, but I really got stuck on this detail.

This was a time travel story and what happens in the present and the future to three people, Marina, Finn and James.

I kept thinking I should be more bothered by the solution to the conflict which was given at the start of the story. I am a little bugged that I was not really that bothered.

My biggest problem came from the characters when they had flashes of memory. There was little indication when the memory was over. The paragraph would just continue and you were supposed to see that the memory had finished. A couple of times I did get confused. After a while I got used to it and it didn't throw me for as much of a loop.
There were some stories hinted at without any real expansion. One was a characters death in the future, but there was no detail of why and little detail of how.

I did not like Marina. She was a snob and a snot for a good portion of the book. James had little depth in either time. He let his grief warp him until he had become a monster, but that was his most defining character trait. I really liked Finn, he was a good guy in both times and his experiences didn't change that. Em's personality shift was well done. Her experiences affected her and the damage was plain to see without being overbearing.

The science and paradox were both addressed and realistically enough not to be distracting from where the author was taking the reader.

The resolution made the rest of the story worthwhile. I enjoyed Em's actions and reactions. It showed that despite the problems Em had faced her character was not completely different from when she had been Marina.

For me there was an unfortunate coincidence with some of the character's names, Luke, Clyde and Benji. When I was little I would go everyday with a friend during lunch recess to walk her dog Luke. Ten years ago my sister had a Norwegian elk hound named Clyde. Even as I neared the end of the book every time I saw the name Benji I thought of the dog from the movies. This is no reflection on the author or the story, but I did find it distracting.

Now onto the real review. The book was about Emaline the summer before she went to college.

Things I disliked:
•Theo- the man had unrealistic expectations if everyone didn't conform to them he would ignore and gloss over the moment until others were tired and would just give up arguing with him. I could not figure out why Emaline found him attractive.
•Emaline's father- really he was married, had two children and really should have grown up.
•Emaline's mother and sister not respecting her personal space. Why did the two of them spend all their free time in Emaline's bedroom anyway?
•The sex- Emaline didn't really want to have sex, she wasn't in the mood, but it was expected and easier to just do it than not. It didn't seem like a good reason to be intimate espcially with how young she was.

Things I liked:
•The relationships- Emaline's friendships with Morris and Daisy. The one she had with her boyfriend Luke and how it progressed through the story.
•The distinction between who Emaline viewed as her father and her dad. There was a different dynamic between them and she recognized that.
•Benji, Emaline's 10 year old brother, he had a fantastic attitude and energy. I honestly think he was my favorite part.
•I liked how Emaline wasn't the only character who evolved and had personal growth.

This was my first Cassandra Clare. I really enjoyed the language and the action. There were characters I liked, characters I didn't like and characters I still don't know if I liked. Honestly Charlotte and Henry were two people I do not know what to do with. For some reason I think I would have liked them more if I had met them while standing on my head. Not sure why I feel that way, maybe because we are never really given their motivations.

There were a lot of questions asked that were not answered. I would hope they are going to be answered within the next books. This has made me a little annoyed I don't have the second book on hand to see if any of them were answered.

First things first, I don't like love triangles. One of two things happen. One of the three in the triangle is a douche and you wonder why anyone finds them attractive. The other scenario ends with you feeling bad for someone. This book ended and I felt bad for someone. I liked both of the guys, in fact they were the best part.

The society was very well organized and very clean. There was no real reason given for why it had started breaking down, if it had happened before and what they were going to do about it. I guess that will be information covered in the next two books. It just left me with a feeling of dissatisfaction.

Due to the flow and the fact that I did like two of the characters I bumped the rating from 2.5 up to 3.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lance trying to get money went into a cursed castle and got stuck.

I am really unsure what I was expecting, but I can definitely say this wasn't it. I found the description interesting, but from the beginning I wondered what is happening. I couldn't figure out why Lance had a sword, bow and arrows on him from the first page when he lived in a world of smart phones and handguns. Then we met the girl Marigold, who hadn't spent a lot of time with other people for six-hundred years. The author tried to have her language be from that time period. The idea was good if she had managed to keep it up. The language became sporadic.

There were holes and inconsistencies throughout the story. The author would tell us something then write herself into a corner and then she would have something happen which would contradict the rule established. She was shoveling dirt into the holes and hopping we wouldn't notice. Sorry I noticed.

I did enjoy the flow and ease of the story.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Allie and four others were dragged through a book into a land where she was declared queen and told they were destined to save said land.

For the first half of the book I kept thinking with a few modifications it would have made a better children's or preteen story. Around the halfway mark things began to get more graphic and I decided the children's book idea had flown away.

There were enough stereotypes to be off putting. Among them were the popular jock who was mean to everyone he believed was beneath him and told Allie she was his girlfriend because she was going to be queen. Another was the pretty girl from the real world who relied only on her looks and expected everyone and everything to flock to her and do her bidding.

I did like Allie's attitude towards the other creatures she met throughout the story. She was respectful and tried to get to know them. She didn't just expect everyone to bow to her just because she was the queen.

There was a major plot point I did not like. These people got sucked into a book and the memories of them got erased from those left in the real world. The only one who really seemed bothered by this was Allie. She was the only one who was actively trying to get home. Everyone else just accepted it and moved on. From the beginning they made lives for themselves in this weird land. I thought, well so much for family love and friendships.

Okay, so first things first. Ms. Rowling is absolutely fantastic at details. She has a true talent for being able to put small things into the story without making them obvious and later have them be pivotal.

I did get stuck more than once because my imagination kept putting a fedora and trench coat on Strike. He was never described that way, but the picture just kept popping in. I think it was the tone of the story.

I think the story was realistic to what a real detectives life would be like. There was a lot of talking, traveling, talking, trying to get a hold of people and then talking to them. It was boring for a good portion of the book. I was almost three hundred pages into it before I got into it and wanted to know what was going to happen next.

I love this world Ms. Robb has created. I love the family she has formed and the relationships they have with each other. That being said there wasn't a lot of that in this story.

There wasn't as much humor as there is normally, which is a drawback. I chalk the deficiency up to this being one of the in death mini books. There wasn't time to go into any of the in depth character she usually uses. The rest of the story felt a little like running on a treadmill, productive and still you don't end up going anywhere.

Hansel and Gretel has never been one of my favorites. I think it might come from the concept which consists of potential cannibalism of children. Go figure. I did like Robb's version of the kids and how smart they were though.

My favorite character in this series is Gabriel Dean. I do find him attractive. I feel I must say he is much cuter in my head than he is in the TV show. His feelings and thoughts toward Jane is one of the things about him I like the most.

The switch between listening to what happened to Mila and what was happening to Jane was interesting, especially since we weren't fully told who Mila was until near the end of the book. I understand the forced sex trade is a serious subject and is a real problem. I am sorry to say this book did not give me more sympathy towards the victims. Not sure if that is a reflection of my personal apathy which I should probably work on or if it is a reflection of the writing.

One thing that does bug me is Maura. Honestly if there is a male character in the story she flirts or more with him. The biggest personality trait she was given in these books is a libido. She is a main character in a multi-book series she really should have a little more personality.

The third book was better. I think one of the best things about this series is each book as a different narrator. The first three books mainly dealt with Gen. In this book he was barely in it and the scenes he was present he was aloof and didn't actually say much.

From the reports that Sophos was missing in previous books I was curious what had happened to him. I am not completely sure I was expecting this story to be from his point of view. I enjoyed his descriptions of what had happened to him after his disappearance.

Throughout this series I have wanted a map. There are so many neighboring countries mentioned I have wanted to look at something to make sure I have the picture right in my head. The war discussions do get a little long without actually saying anything, but overall I did enjoy the book.

The stories are fun and imaginative. They are antidotes in the lives of the characters. There was no real story connecting them all together.

I did not like certain characteristics Mary Poppins possessed. Her acid tongue, I believe children's questions should be answered. I think they should feel comfortable enough to ask anything and not get a brush off answer. Mary Poppins refused to answer anything the children asked. Mary Poppins spent half of the book looking at herself just to admire one part after another of her wardrobe. It became tiresome after awhile.

My favorite characters were John and Barbara. I really enjoyed the chapter devoted to them. I believe that is why I felt so bad for them when they reached their first birthday and lost the ability to hear the language of the wind.

Kate wanted to go to India with her Aunt and she made a deal with her mother. The only way she was able to make it was with the help of a childhood friend Henry.

I really loved her last book. I even bought multiple copies and gave them to people. I think that might be why I had high expectations for this book. I also think that might be why my rating isn't higher.

I really liked Kate, Henry and the maid Alice. They were the only characters I did like. The rest were mean, cross, or flat. I have a hard time seeing parents purposely being mean to their children. I know it happens in the real world, but I think it is overall the exception or at least not consciously done. At least I would hope so. In this book it seems as if the mothers are actually out to get their children.

One of the main images in the book is a bird in a cage and how it isn't free. I began to feel like I was also in a cage and hemmed in. I could see this as good imagery in the writing, but I also did not enjoy the sensation.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Chloe and her mother, Amanda were interior designers whose clients began dieing during the holidays. Amanda decided it was their duty to figure out who the killer was.

From the beginning there was laugh out loud humor with the introduction of Lady Chablis the male dog and his kidnapping ways through the end with Amanda being upset about Chloe's underwear. The humor was clean and vastly entertaining.

There was one thing that really bugged me. I am good with pushing your families buttons. I am aware it happens and is often expected. My problem came when every time Amanda and Chloe were in a scene together one of them would do something to annoy the other one. It was something different
almost every time. Examples include Chloe having dirty glasses and Amanda commenting on Chloe being single.

The mystery was well thought through. There were clues from the start, but it wasn't completely obvious who the murderer or the motive was. I was pleasantly surprised it took me as long as it did to figure out who had done it.

Sookie Stackhouse, a psychic, was excited about meeting her first vampire. Then women within her town began to be murdered.

I honestly feel as if I have arrived late to the party by not reading this sooner. I am unsure if I should have accepted the invitation. It also felt something similar to peer pressure convincing me I should read this. I am feeling the same about the rest of the series.

I found the main character Sookie to be inconsistent. She had been reading people's minds her entire life. At one point a cop is trying to get a rise out of her by graphically describing different sexual acts, but a few chapters later she is not sure how a basic position such as being on top would work? Yep, I found that completely believable. She had no idea what she wanted and she didn't know if what she ended up with fell into the category of a good thing.

The "love" interest did not have an actual personality. The extent of characteristics we were given was his being a very possessive vampire. He wouldn't tell her anything about were he was going, where he had been and what he was doing.

There were two characters I did like. Gran, she only wanted Sookie to be happy and to have fun in life. I also liked Sam. Even though Sookie was with someone else he had her best interests as his main concern. I liked how he took care of her when she was worried about her boyfriend.

The one interesting part of the book was the murder mystery. However, the murders were secondary. Once in awhile it would be mentioned that someone else had died, but we weren't given any real clues about who might have done it. Then when Sookie confronted the killer it was basically because she blundered into it.