Pages & Prose

Writer, wife, and mother. Diet Mtn Dew, books, RPGs, & Stephen King sustain me. I like video games, deep thinking, & belly laughs.

Nightshifted

Nightshifted - Cassie Alexander 4.5 only b/c in some places it was rather confusing. At least for me. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

More to come.

The Immortal Rules

The Immortal Rules - Julie Kagawa Took awhile to get into but once I did it was worth it.

More to come...

Fifty Shades Darker

Fifty Shades Darker - E.L. James Meh...

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L. James The story of Clumsy McBlushalot and the Enigmatic man is terrible. There really is no story. I'll give it 1.5 to 2 I think. If you want a beautifully written BDSM themed novel go read Comfort Object by Annabel Joseph.

Very, very vanilla. I skimmed the sex scenes, they were boring. There was no blushing from this girl (except when the MC made a fool of herself).

The Real Real

The Real Real - Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus A fun read, though not for everyone. I liked it.

The Mists of Avalon

The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley I've read this many times through the years and I love it just as much each time.

Thoughtless

Thoughtless - S.C. Stephens I'm not sure how I feel about this one right now. I'm still digesting...

Beautiful Disaster

Beautiful Disaster  - Jamie McGuire This review can be viewed at Pages & Prose

This is the story of a completely dysfunctional, co-dependent, unhealthy relationship, but I couldn't put it down. As someone who has been in a very similar relationship (though my Travis had less of a temper/could go longer than 5 minutes without beating the crap out of someone), the story hit a chord. HARD.

Abby's back story annoyed me. It's stupid, but I guess she had to be flawed in some way. The timely arrival of dear ol' Mick seemed out of place, but gave the author a way to show the obsessiveness & craziness of Abby & Travis's relationship.

I also thought Abby was wishy-washy at the beginning before they fell in 'love'. It made me want to tear my hair out. Parker was annoying, America was a screaming harridan and a good friend make up your mind! Do you like him or not? Do you want them together or not? Don't go back and forth!, Finch cracked me up (he was one of my favorite characters), Travis was crazy, their relationship was, indeed, a disaster, and I enjoyed Travis's family. The writing was okay.

That said, I'll probably read it again.

UPDATE July 2013: I did read it again last month!

Fast-Tracked

Fast-Tracked - Tracy Rozzlynn I found Byron annoying; he cried way too much. I actually liked Avery (and still kind of do...I wonder about his motives). Ms. Rozzlynn is a talented writer, though there were quite a few back story/flashback sections that I just skimmed through. Overall, though, this was more entertaining than many other so called 'lauded' dystopian novels.

More to come

Black Dawn

Black Dawn - Rachel Caine Black Dawn was okay. Full of action & exciting, but...I kind of find Shane annoying. Am I the only one?

Comfort Object

Comfort Object - Annabel Joseph You can read this and my other reviews at Pages & Prose

This book moved me. The characters and the growth they each showed was obvious and well written. Since its an erotic novel, explicit language peppered the dialogue and graphic sex scenes happened throughout the story, but, in all honesty I almost skipped over the sex to see what was happening to the characters emotionally.

Comfort Object is the story of Nell, a submissive who does not enjoy pain, but enjoys submitting, and Jeremy, a bonafide dominant who gets a little too much joy out of humiliating Nell (in my opinion). I cried while reading this book. Literally, I bawled like a baby, waking my husband up and everything. He found it amusing that I cried so much while reading an erotic novel, but it spoke volumes to me. If I cry, that means it pulls at my heart strings, which means, in my opinion, that it's awesome.

What made it better than many novels is the writing. The plot is great, the characters are fully fleshed out and change over time. Jeremy, especially, grew quite a bit and, I have to admit, even though he was a real jerk at times, I still liked him. I understand why he acted the way he did. I also understand Nell and her motivations. Ms. Joseph was able to get that across with no problem.

Really, Comfort Object is superbly written. Ms. Joseph can write emotionally charged and overtly sexual scenes with exceptional skill. I don't think I've read an erotic novel where the author could do both of those things so well. I plan to read more of Ms. Joseph's work.

Insurgent

Insurgent - Veronica Roth I think I may actually like this one better than Divergent. I really enjoy the facts, the logic, all the information. Especially the medic information.I have a feeling that I'm something of an Erudite. ;-)

The beginning was slow for me, but the pace picked up around chapter 4 or 5. After that I couldn't put it down. I must think on my review before I write more.

Perfect Chemistry

Perfect Chemistry - Simone Elkeles I read this book in one sitting and it was amazing. Brittany is a pretty awesome heroine, though she did have her silly moments telling Alex to apologize to the artist...really?. As someone who has worked with the physically and/or mentally disabled, I loved her care and adoration of her older sister. I loved Shelly and I like how the family problems attempted to work themselves out toward the end.

Did I mention that I loved this book? ;-)

Untitled Downside Ghosts

Untitled Downside Ghosts - Stacia Kane Hurry up! I can't wait much longer!

*Still anxiously waiting...1 more day!!*

Unwind

Unwind - Neal Shusterman Must think on this before I review. I found it both disturbing and thought provoking. And i loved it, present tense and all.

Nevermore

Nevermore - Kelly Creagh Well, where do I start?

Currently reading

Always Watching by Chevy Stevens
The Never List by Koethi Zan
Wide Awake by Shelly Crane
When She Was Gone by Gwendolen Gross
The Cellar (The Cellar, #1) by Natasha Preston
The End of Always: A Novel by Randi Davenport
Outside - a post-apocalyptic novel by Shalini Boland