Forever Dystopian

Meh, it was just okay for me. I've wanted to read Maggie Stiefvater for awhile and thought that this would be a good one to begin with. But, I felt that the narrative, though original for YA a bit boring. It involved a romance, but it didn't develop till near the end of the novel. Plus I couldn't understand why Shawn and Puck liked each other anyway, there was no real build up in my opinion. Stiefvater is an excellent writer though and I will pick up her other novels, but, The Scorpio Races just wasn't for me.

Amazing, heartbreaking and I loved it.

4.5 stars. Really good. Full review to come soon :)

Like a Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan film in the form of a book. An absolutely divine Valentine's Day read. I absolutely adored it!

What an amazing story! Heartwarming, Gut-wrenching and beautiful. Full review to come soon.

3.5 stars. This book was good. I definitely want to order for my library to go in the teen romance section. The audio was decent as well. I did have issues with some of the male voices, but overall not a bad job. The story was well written, but the romance was a little sappy for my personal taste. I've never read a "romance" book, so I'm glad I tried it out. If you like teen romance with an beautiful setting, check this book out!

2 stars. Sadly, I had multiple issues with this book. It only got good within the last 10 chapters or so. Formal review to come.

Good story. I'm conflicted because there were elements that were just so-so but overall it was good. Nice description--especially of food-- and character development. I liked it.

Not at all what I expected. Most of my assumptions were wrong, which I enjoyed very much. Judith, as a character was complex and fascinating. It was interested to read her thought process, especially when very little dialogue was spoke from her. I highly recommend and I will be looking for what Judith Berry offers in the future.

In an effort to read more adult books (more on this in a later post) I have recently started an Adult Book Club at my work. The first pick being the above novel. I was immediately taken by the premise, as were many of my fellow book clubbers. What’s not to like: Iceland, death, murder, mystery just to name a few. Remind you of anything you’ve read before? As I began to read I was taken in by the scenery, it became a character in and of itself. A perfect backdrop to the dark premise that takes place throughout the novel and a perfect winter read. Agnes, our main character (as well as another character named Fridrick) is sentenced to death for the grisly murder of two men in the dead of night. Authorities look at it as a shut and close case of a woman scorned and a greedy thief taking his revenge. But what this story teaches us is that people are anything but cut and dry and thatthe circumstances surrounding these murders are as complicated as the lives of each character. I won’t got into the details of this story but suffice to say that Agnes as well as the lives of those she meets are forever changed when death's door comes knocking. While the story certainly lends itself to Larsson comparisons, I believe it only to be superficial. Yes, it is set in Iceland. The language, setting and character names certainly make this known to the reader, though not in a difficult way. Hannah Kent creates a story that is easily understandable and only uses names and language to indicate place and parentage. Yes, it involves a murder. But in this novel’s case it is only a backdrop for Agnes to tell her story and is not a “who done it” type of mystery since we are privy to the basic facts surrounding the murder and well as the people involved. As I was reading it though I felt it had more in common with the situations described in Truman Capote’s true crime class, [b:In Cold Blood|168642|In Cold Blood|Truman Capote|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1365125582s/168642.jpg|1940709]. In Capote’s work you are dealing with a psychology of two murderers. Why they did it, who they are and the town is as much of a character in this work as well. Both end in an execution. Both discuss the complexities surrounding the relationships of what is means to be truly evil. Highly Recommend.

I always figured that I wasn't a fan of paranormal romance, specifically of the vampire persuasion. But, I have to admit that this series by Richelle Mead is really making me reconsider. I read [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361039443s/41865.jpg|3212258] by Stephanie Meyer back during my undergrad and was not impressed. I think that Mead is a much stronger writer. Rose was much more fleshed out during this second go around and I really loved the progression and build up of the Strigoi attack and the imminent threat of danger throughout the entire novel. A solid second work. Can't wait to read the next one!

Insurgent was a great second novel by Veronica Roth. It was action packed and dealt with many of the dystopian ideals that have captured recent YA Fiction as of late. A thrilling read. Highly recommend!

I really liked it. Highly recommend.

Very funny. I loved it :)

Fantastic books, I enjoyed it very much. Highly recommend it it :)