Book Reviews

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) By: Marissa Meyer

Cinder

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) By: Marissa Meyer

Plot:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Review:

This book has been on my to read pile for a while but I honestly kept forgetting about it. However, lately a few blogs I follow reminded me of it and I’m so glad they did.

I like a good fairy tale retelling, but there have been a lot of them recently so the market kind of feels over saturated. This book could have easily been just like every other one, but the futuristic setting, the android and cyborgs, the moon people, really set it apart.

I really enjoyed the world that was created, there was a lot of detail and it was clearly well thought out. There was a history and based on the author’s websites she had reasons for what she did and the way she termed things.

The important aspects of the Cinderella story were included as well. The step-mother was wicked, a “shoe” was left behind, and a few other important things. What I’m curious to see, though, is what will be done in the next books. The series clearly started as a Cinderella re-telling, but it didn’t end that way. There is no Happily Ever After and the girl doesn’t have the Prince/Emperor. Instead there was a twist that wasn’t really a huge surprise.

The book is YA and there were a few very YA moments where Cinder was more worried about silly teenage things and not the big issues. Still it was not overwhelmingly so and never reached annoying.

I’m really curious to see how this series develops and I look forward to reading the next book.

4.5/5

 

Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changeling #1) By: Nalini Singh
Thank goodness for a kindle

Thank goodness for a kindle

Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changeling #1) By: Nalini Singh

Plot:

Nalini Singh dives into a world torn apart by a powerful race with phenomenal powers of the mind-and none of the heart.

In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of “rehabilitation” – the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was…

Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy coexistence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice-cold Psy is very capable of passion – and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities – or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation.

Review:

I’ve read this book before, but I’ve been thinking about it lately and decided on a re-read.

Last time I read the book I wasn’t writing, this time I read it from a different perspective. Looking at it now I loved the world building, there was so much going on in this book and having read several books down the series, it’s obvious that Singh was already thinking ahead.

The Psy are so cold and in control and the concept of them is so interesting. The Changelings are like most other shifters and based on what little was discussed on the humans they’re the same as normal. What was fun and interesting was the fact that they all lived together. There was no moment of ‘holy cow psychics and shifters are real’ moment. It was just accepted and you got to look at what a world with them would be like.

Honestly I could have done with less of the romance because the world was so interesting. The thing is I liked the romance as well and probably wouldn’t want to read the book without it. Kind of like the New Species novels by Laurann Dohner.

I’ve read up until number twelve in this series and I enjoyed the books at varying degrees, none below a three star. The series is excellent and I would recommend it to anyone that like these types of books.

4.5/5

 

You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) By: Felicia Day

never-weird-on-the-internet

You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) By: Felicia Day

Summary:

From online entertainment mogul, actress, and “queen of the geeks” Felicia Day, a funny, quirky, and inspiring memoir about her unusual upbringing, her rise to Internet-stardom, and embracing her individuality to find success in Hollywood.

The Internet isn’t all cat videos. There’s also Felicia Day—violinist, filmmaker, Internet entrepreneur, compulsive gamer, hoagie specialist, and former lonely homeschooled girl who overcame her isolated childhood to become the ruler of a new world…or at least semi-influential in the world of Internet Geeks and Goodreads book clubs.

After growing up in the south where she was “homeschooled for hippie reasons”, Felicia moved to Hollywood to pursue her dream of becoming an actress and was immediately typecast as a crazy cat-lady secretary. But Felicia’s misadventures in Hollywood led her to produce her own web series, own her own production company, and become an Internet star.

Felicia’s short-ish life and her rags-to-riches rise to Internet fame launched her career as one of the most influential creators in new media. Now, Felicia’s strange world is filled with thoughts on creativity, video games, and a dash of mild feminist activism—just like her memoir.

Hilarious and inspirational, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is proof that everyone should embrace what makes them different and be brave enough to share it with the world, because anything is possible now—even for a digital misfit.

Review:

Full disclosure I’m a big Felicia Day fan. For a time I bordered on obsessive. I’ve watched everything she’s done and purchased most of her stuff, still lacking a couple comics. At the height of my obsession I friended her on Goodreads and started reading her reviews. Our relationship soured a bit when I saw that she didn’t love Ilona Andrews as much as I did. So I backed off. I still loved her, but I didn’t hang on her every word. I think this has made our relationship more stable.

Anyway, my husband bought this book for me after a particularly horrible day at home with my daughter. The terrible twos have hit hard in our home and I believe my daughter has evolved into a monster. After a lovely BLT and my demon spawn laid to rest I started reading. The world was instantly better.

If my parents were liberal and not conservative Christian I could have been Felicia Day. Totally. We’re like totally the same. It’s awesome.

She loved Anne of Green Gables growing up. ME TOO!

She was homeschooled growing up. ME TOO!

She’s neurotic. ME TOO!

She took violin lessons growing up. Um… I took piano lessons and only for like six weeks because my parents couldn’t afford it. Kind of the same, right?

She is really good at math. Yeah…about that. My mom told me that girls weren’t good at math and science. I guess we aren’t the same.

*Sigh* Oh well.

Still, this book was so great and made me feel like I wasn’t alone. Which is weird, because I’ve never thought about feeling alone because of my geeky likes. I know that I can get on the internet and find all kinds of forums with people talking about my fandoms, I just never do for some reason. The one forum I post on I still agonize before every post afraid I’ll say something stupid and people will attack me.

Back to the book. I loved getting a glimpse into Felicia Day’s life. She could have very easily name dropped all the famous geeks she knows or talked exclusively about games, but she didn’t. She came off as humble, hard working, nice, and really funny.

5/5

 

tl;dr

LOVED IT!

When a Beta Roars (A Lion’s Pride #2) By: Eve Langlais

When a Beta Roars

When a Beta Roars (A Lion’s Pride #2) By: Eve Langlais

Plot:

How degrading. Stuck babysitting a woman because his alpha said so. As Pride Beta, he has better things to do with his time, like washing his impressive mane, hunting down thugs for fun, and chasing tail—sometimes his own if his lion is feeling playful. But his babysitting job takes an unexpected turn when the woman he’s assigned guard duty over turns out to be his mate. A female threatened by an outside wolf pack.
A woman he wants to call his own. A mate who doesn’t fall for his charm. Usually Beta’s leave the roaring to the Pride’s alpha, but in this case given his level of frustration, he might have to make an exception. And if anyone doesn’t like it, they can kiss his furry tail. Rawr!

Review:

So much action! From the first sneeze all the way to the end so much was going on, I really loved it.

Arabella and Hayder made a good couple. She’d been beat into submission and he showed her that not all men are horrible.

This book did not paint werewolves in a nice light. The last book it was more calling them dogs, but this book made them out to be just horrible. Felt really bad for Arabella for having to deal with them.

I liked this one a lot more than the last and can’t wait to continue the series.

5/5

The Trouble with Magic (A Bewitching Mystery #1) By: Madelyn Alt

the trouble with magic

The Trouble with Magic (A Bewitching Mystery #1) By: Madelyn Alt

Plot:

Antiques-shop clerk Maggie O’Neill was a little weirded out when she discovered her new boss Felicity was a witch. But when Felicity becomes the suspect in a local murder, Maggie must enlist Felicity’s Wiccan friends for help–and discover her own spellbinding talent.

Review:

The title really should have been The Trouble with Magick. This is not a supernatural book, this is a Wiccan cozy mystery. There’s a huge difference. If you’re looking for magic spells and flashy supernatural fixes then you’ve come to the wrong place. All the magic that is referenced in this book is based on Wiccan beliefs, magick. It’s possible in the next books that changes, but nothing in this book seemed out of the realm of what Wiccans believe.

Set in a small town that is apparently ruled by the Catholic Church, at least that’s how it feels, there’s a lot of bigotry against people with different beliefs and evidently the Wiccans are the only ones that are able to think with open minds. That turns out not to be true in the end and, I’m not sure if the author intended this, Maggie ends up being as close minded as those she is judging.

The killer seemed fairly obvious and I got tired of Maggie trying to force the clues to fit who she thought it was, she was more than a bit pigheaded. Also, for someone that spent a lot of time driving around in her car thinking she didn’t learn a lot.

She currently has two love interest, a police officer and another Wiccan. The police officer comes off as a bigot but for whatever reason Maggie is still really into him. It turns out that he was more than he seemed, but the book just kind of threw that at you at the end, so I’m left wondering if Maggie is a reliable narrator. The second love interest is the nephew of a librarian Maggie knows and uses to get info from, he also apparently was in the military but learned nothing about guns.

It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but the book was alright and I plan on at least reading the next in the series.

3/5