My Own Little Corner

Years ago there was an art theft that was never solved. Present day Claire Roth was offered an art show if she forged one of the paintings stolen. She had been shunned in the art world due to a past scandal and did not see any other way for her to get her art into the world. The story is told from three time periods, 100 years ago, three years ago and present day. I was not wild about the story told from three years ago. I do realize it was necessary for us to understand where Claire was coming from, but from the beginning you can see that Isaac is a jerk and that it will end badly.I liked Belle's story and thought it could have been longer. I liked how she was almost eager to to defy convention, it seemed to spite anyone who would dare to disapprove. When push came to shove she did not want anyone else to see just how far she was willing to go. I did find the process of forging the painting and everything that went along with it interesting. I also liked when Claire worked on her own paintings. The rest of the book, when the mystery became prevalent, Claire seemed to be naive and as if she was grasping at straws. At one point I found myself speed reading to get past her fumbling. I keep thinking wow in her personal life she can be somewhat stupid.

I got this book as an ARC through Netgalley.Jane's mother died and her father was an alcoholic. She had managed to make one friend in the real world. Instead of handling her grief she escaped into the world online by creating different persona's. The choice of narration was interesting. The entire story is told from online with fan fiction, blogs, IMs, and chat rooms. In the long run this might limit the audience. I have a little experience with some of these things, but I was not completely familiar with all of the language. The voice did take some time to get used to and I did get tripped a couple of times.Jane had three main persona's that we as readers saw. They each had different personalities and interests. As the story continued it became obvious that each personality was a different way for her to deal with everything that was happening in her real life. I did have a problem with her attitudes toward and about school. She was supposed to be incredibly intelligent, but she did not see the value of school. I realize this was just a method of her unconsciously calling out for help, but in the end it came off as annoying.

Kami and Jared were childhood imaginary friends then they met in real life. Jarod was one of the Lynburns who had returned to Sorry-in-the-Vale with his family. With their return weird things began happening within the town and surrounding areas.Ok first what I did like about it. The characters Kami, Holly, Angela, and Rusty. I loved the humor and how one liners would pop out without being expected. I liked how the author was able to explain how the characters had certain abilities. One example is Kami's abilities with self defense.One of my biggest problems was the inconsistencies. The two main characters had been communicating with each other telepathically their entire lives. They knew what the other person thought and felt. At one point Kami actually says, "He had been so safe in her head, her constant companion. Now he had come crashing into her life, a stranger with his own life separate from hers whose emotions were all tied up with hers, someone who she barely knew and who sometimes seemed cruel." (115) Really don't think Jared could be considered a stranger even if they had just barely met face to face.I also had a problem with the flexibility of the relationships. Kami's best friend randomly stopped talking to her. Kami's father got upset when he found a boy in her room, but then he didn't do anything beyond saying he was upset. Kami's mother barely talked to her, she spent all her time at work and the one time she was with her family she only paid attention to Kami's little brother. Kami found the character Ash creepy, but then she was willing to kiss him. Kami and Jared ran hot and cold to each other through the entire book. I absolutely love the cover of this book. I realize you are not supposed to judge a book by the cover, but I think I did. Also I think I should point out that most of the reviews were positive. I really really wanted to like this book. I just couldn't quite get there.

Eight years apart one presidential candidate is murdered and another is kidnapped. Both had been protected by the secret service. The agents protecting them had their lives turned upside down with their inability to protect. Other than that how were they connected?I found the book to be very fast paced and action packed. I had fun with the characters and the situations they got into. I liked that most of the problems the characters had were not because they were stupid and blundered into something that could have easily been avoided.I did find the motive behind the crimes a little convoluted. The killing of the first candidate I could buy as being the result of a warped personality, but then he continued with the kidnapping and the reason behind that just felt a little like grasping straws. There were enough twists and turns for the story to be fun enough that it almost didn't matter the overall motive was far fetched.

Derrick Storm was pulled back into the world of the CIA when a senator's stepson was kidnapped.Derrick Storm is from books written by the fictional Richard Castle that do not actually exist. There is a graphic novel with the character that has been published, which the story makes more than one reference to information the reader was supposed to have gained by reading. I have never been into graphic novels so I did not read it before reading this story. Normally when reading a book that is not supposed to be the first in the series the reader will miss certain jokes or references from the previous books, but authors do not want to alienate people so they generally keep the story moving forward and if a moment from a previous book is mentioned they will either explain or keep the memory brief enough that it doesn't detract from the current plot. The references to the past in this story were just annoying. They were too many to be considered brief and very few of them were actually explained in a way that satisfied.It was almost as if Storm was supposed to be the American Bond without the charisma. Every time he spoke to April I was thinking just stop talking. He couldn't come up with a better line than, "Come up to my suite for a debriefing"? Well I am completely shocked she didn't fall for that.This story could have easily been a much longer book. The characters, ones we were supposed to already know and those we were just introduced to, had no background. This made them all feel like cardboard cutouts. The plot could have been thicker. Instead of getting information about the kidnapping in a report the story could have started with that as an actual seen. It would have given us a better connection to the victim. That is just one example. I felt like I was being told a story instead of reading it. I was just skipping across the surface instead of diving into the water.

Saba's twin brother Lugh got kidnapped by the Tonton. Saba vowed she would rescue him. Their little sister Emmi decided to tag along. In the process they fight kidnappers, a drug ring, cage fights, battles, and fires. They make friends with revolutionaries called Free Hawks and former slaves who help them in their quest. The book takes place in the future where the big cities we have today have rusted and fallen. There are small settlements and lawlessness.I had problems with how Saba treated her sister. She is mean to Emmi through the entire book. I did get tired of the attitude. I liked the descriptions and environments the author invoked. The language was a little difficult to get past, but once I did I no longer noticed it. I was unsure about the relationship between Jack and Saba. They like each other and that is plain to see, but Saba did not know how to handle the attraction. I think Jack should have tried to figure out why she was resistant to a relationship. Instead he ran hot and cold. That just confused her more. It began to feel a little yoyoish. I did enjoy where the relationship was at the end of the book.Overall I thought this book was an good book and I liked it and I am looking forward to reading the second book.

This book is a series of talks written or given by Oaks in the Ensign or at Brigham Young University. The book focuses on Christ, how we see him and as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints what we should do about it.As he states at the beginning there is nothing new here. The first chapter is called What Think Ye of Christ? then he builds from there. I felt like I had been looking at a color wheel. We started in one color (or topic) and with the next chapter the colors shifted slightly until by the end of the book it was a couple of colors (or topics) down the rainbow. I thought the progression was cool. I found the addresses uplifting, but because the shift from one chapter to the next was so slight the book was often repetitive.

Most of the book takes place on and aisle named Desire. The main character Jo Ellen believed her mother had abbanoned her when Jo was a child, so there were issues there. At the start of the book Jo had been stalked by someone unknown who sent her pictures that had been taken without her knowledge. Jo decided to go back to her childhood home to try to get a handle on things. The book being a romance of course she met a guy.I found the book a little slow in places. I didn't like that everyone accepted that Annabelle had just left her family when everything she had done before that said she was a good wife and mother. There were characters we were supposed to like that I just could not relate to. I did like Jo and her brother Brian's stories along with thier romances. I never did care about their sister Lexy or what she was doing.

I would rate this a two because the book was just ok. I gave it a three because it did keep my attention. I didn't have to put the book down for awhile, give it some breathing room then come back to it. This book felt tense. It picked up exactly where the first left off, but until the last five pages the characters didn't go anywhere. They didn't have any real growth and the story didn't progress very far. I feel like I could have read the last ten pages moved onto the third book and not missed anything.

Someone recommended this book to me, I liked the idea behind the book, so I was excited to begin it.There was no real connection with any of the characters. They came and went from one letter to another. They had no depth. Other than their troubles with the council and Amos' drinking problems there was very real information given about their lives outside the problems with language.It started out ok, but then as letters began disappearing from the story it felt like the author was trying to hard. The book began to feel like it was work. Then near the end when there were only the handful of letters left I actually had to begin reading out loud to fully understand what was being said. I was no longer inside the story.

I enjoyed this one the best of the trilogy, but then again it covered the best part of Pride and Prejudice. I really liked how Aidan thought through the characters such as why Fitzwilliam was in the army. I liked the tone of the book and felt it did justice to the original.I still don't understand why there are so many random quotes of Shakespeare. The original didn't do that so why did Aidan?Overall I did really like the book.

I received this through good reads giveaways.I actually want to be able to say I disliked this book if only on principle. I just couldn't come up with that much feeling, instead I am rather indifferent. Infidelity, stealing, lying, a shooting, and kidnapping all happen within the first ten pages. The characters treated these things like they were normal and no big deal.Scout, the guy, was more upset that Chantel, the girl, wouldn't sleep with him than the fact that she had shot him. I can not stress this enough-- a woman under any circumstances has the right to say no. If she has said no she should not be ridiculed or insulted for it. Both characters were dwelling on sex so much that there was very little room for the actual plot of the book. Maybe that was why there wasn't one.

I received this through good reads giveaways.I think I would rate this book a 2.5. It got bumped up to three because the cover art is really pretty.I liked the characters Lodie, the Masteress and his Lordship. I liked that Lodie was able to overcome her prejudices so quickly. I had a hard time with the age of the main character. At times she acted like she was thirty other times she acted like she was eight. I didn't find it all that realistic that her parents let her leave home at twelve, if they couldn't afford to go with her why did they let her go look for an apprenticeship two years earlier than normal? It also bugged me that almost everyone was influenced by a word or two. One negative remark about a character and most other characters would automatically condemn whoever the remark was about.It was an ok book. Not great, and not bad just sort of there.

I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters. The airplane that suddenly appears was weird enough to be attention grabbing.At one point, about Chip on of the characters, I did actually say, "Shut up already and get on with it." I just found Chip annoying.I really liked Katherine though. I enjoyed that she was the smartest person and had the most personality in the book.

I had a hard time rating this book. I kept bouncing between 2 and 3 stars.I did find it hard to believe there were this many different neurosis within such a small town along with such a large group where the people had few redeeming characteristics.Rowling is a fabulous writer. I love how everything ties together at the end.I did spend the first one hundred and fifty pages seriously thinking about making a chart trying to keep the characters straight. There were so many characters I was unable to form an emotional attachment to any of them until near the end. By the time the book finished there was one character I felt bad for and another I actually liked.

There is a difference between living a life and going through the motions. Just enduring the day. I liked that Zusak made an entire book about that difference.I also really liked the end. I realize the books do not really have anything in common, but this is how I wanted Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder to end.