Can't say much lately. Haven't read anything mindblowing. I may be a smidge burnt out on reading. Couple of two-stars, one three-star, but I wasn't stunned by it. It's getting a little tedious.
Unbeknownst to me, there was a third book in a series (that I didn't even know was going to be a series) by Abbi Glines called the Too Far trilogy. I wasn't blown away, but it was better than some other books I've been reading. For some reason, I woke up one morning on one of my rare days off, and was thinking about the two main characters. I have no idea what brought it on, but there they were. So, on a whim, I re-read the first two novels. Then, that night, I discovered on the Top 100 list on Amazon, that there was a third book! Well, after downloading it (because I'm OCD and can't let a series go un-read, even if it takes me the time it takes an elephant to have a baby [that's 22 months, bt-dubs in case you were curious], I WILL read the whole thing), I promptly read it that night. (Each book was only around 200 pages each, so it wasn't too much.) I enjoy how Abbi Glines switches from Blair to Rush between chapters. It's refreshing and nice not to get too bogged down in the way one character is thinking. Blair, the female character, is of course, super duper nice and sweet and wholesome and of course she has an over-active guilt complex THE ENTIRE SERIES. It's like a yo-yo that is stuck in the dead-mans-walk trick, where she's constantly berating herself about how guilty she's feeling because she is making Rush choose between his self-involved mother and shocking sadistic/psychotically bitchy sister, then she's up again, reeling in her pregnancy and loving life and Rush. Rush, on the other hand, it still trying to smooth over his major faux paux from the end of the first/ like half of the second book where she leaves him and is struggling through her first trimester of pregnancy alone. He's always tripping over himself to make Blair feel loved and make her believe that she's the center of his universe and promising how he's never going to put anything ahead of her again in his life, before he GASP! does something stupid and she gets her feelings hurt and runs away, only to be consoled again by him once he catches up to her. I swear, I really felt like this book was a yo-yo. By the end of it, I was ready to thump them both on their foreheads and make them act like the adults that they are and be parents to the baby and to stop wallowing in their own crap (her case guiltiness for his family drama and his guiltiness for making Blair feel like she wasn't numero uno in his life). I'm glad I read the book, so I can put the characters to rest in my head, but the third book was by far my least favorite. I probably liked the first one the best. I was very generous in giving this book three stars on my Goodreads profile.
I took on a new author: Cheryl McIntyre. On the Top 100, I spotted a book called Before Now. Reading the synopsis, my interest was piqued. After a little bit of further research, I discovered that it was the second book in a series, so naturally, I found the first one called Sometimes Never and had to read that one first. It started out okay.... and remained okay while reading it .... but I found myself skimming some pages, reading dialogue ... then skimming some more inner self-hatred perpetrated by one of the main characters. Okay, so starting at the beginning: Mason is an 18 year old who is very handsome and panty-dropping, but jaded to the whole girls-throwing-themselves-at-him-constantly lifestyle. Enter Hope, the sarcastic, bitchy, I-don't-give-a-shit-what-you-think-about-me girl who instantly catches his eye. They meet, they flirt, and he is convinced he's in love. Cut to the girl, who we find out it a cutter with some serious anger/self-esteem issues. Long story short, the 18 year old (because EVERY 18 year old has his shit together and knows exactly what's he's going to do with his life/knows that he's GOING to marry this girl, no matter what) Mason and Hope fall in love, she overcomes her cutting issue, he overcomes is jaded/anger management problem and they go to college together and end up being engaged before she graduates from college. Now, I quite obviously find this EXTREMELY far-fetched in that 18 year olds are not that selfless that they cut themselves off from the only family they have left, get an apartment while still in high school, is convinced who they are going to marry and help said person over some SERIOUS issue single-handedly. The novella called Blackbird is still following these characters and I skimmed through most of that book. By now, I'm no longer excited to read Before Now because now I know this author's style isn't necessarily something I'm amused by, but alas, I'll read it eventually. Two stars. Definitely two stars.
J.C. Reed's Surrender Your Love.
Great synopsis on Amazon. Probably one of the top 3 most disjointedly-written books ever. I get it. She's probably breaking into writing, didn't have this book fully edited/professionally read. Kudos. Seriously. I know how hard it is to write a book for the first time. I just feel like .. the book wasn't finished. Sure, there was a plot line, climax, ect, but I just feel like it wasn't a smooth journey while reading. Maybe the author had notes stuck in the margins of the book of scenes/ideas that she wanted to add, but never got around to them for some reason? More than a few times, there were references to something that never actually happened. And I kind of feel like .. this is bordering on Insta-Love, but it definitely wasn't the intention of the author, just some scenes forgot to be added that would help pad this attraction between the two main characters. Disjointed is really the only word I had in my head when I finished this book. Maybe there weren't any glaring plot holes, but there was certainly some roads that weren't fully paved and were very rocky. I do have to say, the author is HUGE in the internal monologue of what the character (this book follows ONLY the main female character Brooke. I feel like the author would have done much better with this book and keeping the attention span of the reader in tact if she alternated between Brooke and Jett.) is thinking and feeling and describing her surroundings, but holy jeebus, I was bored of it pretty quick. I find myself reading the conversations but skimming a lot of the dense paragraphs that cover what she thinks. I get it, you are falling in love with this hot guy. I get it, his clothes barely cover how masculine and built his body is. I get it, his eyes are sinful and his smile is sinful and his voice makes your tummy do funny things, but gimme a break here! It was alright. It has a sequel. More of the same. Literally, just under a different title, Conquer Your Love. I'm 55% through the book, and decided to stop so I can surf the web, update my blog, look at Pinterest, ect. Ya get what I'm saying?
I've taked it upon myself to read Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I'll let you know when I finish it 8 years from now...
I'm also re-reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I've read it once, so I'm not committing some type of sacrilege or blasphemy by not reading it in one fell swoop. I'm reading here and there.
I discovered, thanks to Goodreads, a pretty popular fan fiction series called James Potter and the .... I'm entertained so far. The first one is called and the Hall of the Elder's Crossing. It follows James Potter, Harry and Ginny's eldest son and I'm assuming the author G. Norman Lippert will write seven novels that follow him through all of his schooling. All of the books he's written is available on his site www.jamespotterseries.com . I'll keep you updated with that one once I've delved into it fully. I think I only read the first few chapters (up to the night James gets Sorted.)
That is all.
When you are with me, I'm free :)
