Some not so good ones have come my way but I've got some great and exciting book in the 'to-read' list!
Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was my first book from Laura Buzo and shockingly, the first bit of Aussie lit that I read. After finishing this book, I had to take several huge deep breaths and let out heavy sighs. This story was such a HUGE curveball that I couldn't even have predicted the rarity even in the middle of it because I was lost so deeply! This story made me feel so so heavy in the head and after recalling it, I don't really understand how it did this! The plot is so deceptively simple and 'meh' but I was stupid to be fooled by it. The inside is so deep, I could do lots of digging anytime or at any age that I decide to read it again. This book is a read for a lifetime. Here are some reasons you should read this one.
It starts with our voice of the book- Miss Amelia Hayes who works in Woolworths, is a high school student hopelessly 'in love' with (because I feel it's more infatuation than love) a boy six years her senior, Chris. This story goes through both Amelia's POV and Chris POV through his diary and that's a point I loved. The setting, characters and emotions were real so that I believed that these situations actually happened to those characters!! There's some intelligent, witty, funny and endearing banter going on between Amelia and Chris that is another point why you should read this book. Amelia's a very identifiable character for most of the girls because she reminds us of those high school days when some of us had crushes on the 'unreachable' way older guy whom we couldn't help but find really hot; although a huge difference here is that Amelia actually likes Chris because of his personality, the charm he seems to exude almost effortlessly and his intelligence. Mostly, Amelia loves to go back and forth about interesting issues and out-of-the-way topics (atleast for high school students, I mean can you imagine them thinking anything other than petty or rather naive things?!) like feminism, growing-up, family, love, life and even books and music...
Chris is a uni student with that war raging on in his head about his future. This struggle is so very familiar to most of us as each character has something to give to us or remind us about. It was very enlightening to actually have a glimpse into Chris' head because you've always gotta have both sides of the story and the portrayal through Amelia's eyes (or for that matter, any 15 year old girl's eyes) of her crush is some rosy picture having no idea about what's going on in their crush's head. That uncertainty crushing Chris is a huge point to read this book.
The thing is, young readers get to connect with the book and see what's to come and even though some may not like it because it's real and what life's all about; it still is indisputably a great read. Older readers connect with Chris easily and even can relate with Amelia and that's a bonus; they feel nostalgia and a heavy feeling. Both of the titles are so poignant and true that I can't help but shake my head in wonder for the solid writing from Miss Buzo. There's a feeling of lead over the heart because this is so very close to reality; it is very meaningful and true on one hand and on the other it seems like a normal boring story of a high school student going about her everyday life. There's nothing really outstanding if you think about it afterwards- no excitement, no spiciness, no fairy tale-come-true, nothing out of the ordinary in fact but this is what makes the book so good for some and so boring for others...
A must-read even if you don't like it. I look forward to reading more Buzo.
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Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura BuzoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was my first book from Laura Buzo and shockingly, the first bit of Aussie lit that I read. After finishing this book, I had to take several huge deep breaths and let out heavy sighs. This story was such a HUGE curveball that I couldn't even have predicted the rarity even in the middle of it because I was lost so deeply! This story made me feel so so heavy in the head and after recalling it, I don't really understand how it did this! The plot is so deceptively simple and 'meh' but I was stupid to be fooled by it. The inside is so deep, I could do lots of digging anytime or at any age that I decide to read it again. This book is a read for a lifetime. Here are some reasons you should read this one.
It starts with our voice of the book- Miss Amelia Hayes who works in Woolworths, is a high school student hopelessly 'in love' with (because I feel it's more infatuation than love) a boy six years her senior, Chris. This story goes through both Amelia's POV and Chris POV through his diary and that's a point I loved. The setting, characters and emotions were real so that I believed that these situations actually happened to those characters!! There's some intelligent, witty, funny and endearing banter going on between Amelia and Chris that is another point why you should read this book. Amelia's a very identifiable character for most of the girls because she reminds us of those high school days when some of us had crushes on the 'unreachable' way older guy whom we couldn't help but find really hot; although a huge difference here is that Amelia actually likes Chris because of his personality, the charm he seems to exude almost effortlessly and his intelligence. Mostly, Amelia loves to go back and forth about interesting issues and out-of-the-way topics (atleast for high school students, I mean can you imagine them thinking anything other than petty or rather naive things?!) like feminism, growing-up, family, love, life and even books and music...
Chris is a uni student with that war raging on in his head about his future. This struggle is so very familiar to most of us as each character has something to give to us or remind us about. It was very enlightening to actually have a glimpse into Chris' head because you've always gotta have both sides of the story and the portrayal through Amelia's eyes (or for that matter, any 15 year old girl's eyes) of her crush is some rosy picture having no idea about what's going on in their crush's head. That uncertainty crushing Chris is a huge point to read this book.
The thing is, young readers get to connect with the book and see what's to come and even though some may not like it because it's real and what life's all about; it still is indisputably a great read. Older readers connect with Chris easily and even can relate with Amelia and that's a bonus; they feel nostalgia and a heavy feeling. Both of the titles are so poignant and true that I can't help but shake my head in wonder for the solid writing from Miss Buzo. There's a feeling of lead over the heart because this is so very close to reality; it is very meaningful and true on one hand and on the other it seems like a normal boring story of a high school student going about her everyday life. There's nothing really outstanding if you think about it afterwards- no excitement, no spiciness, no fairy tale-come-true, nothing out of the ordinary in fact but this is what makes the book so good for some and so boring for others...
A must-read even if you don't like it. I look forward to reading more Buzo.
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My rating: 2.8 of 5 stars
I recently got into horror after becoming an Experiment in Terror fan and began gobbling up or atleast looking for similar books from the genre. I was waiting for Antigoddess from Blake but decided to finally read Anna Dressed In Blood to get familiar with her writing. I was excited because of the reviews and my expectations of it being original but obviously these weren't met. I did find some other interesting points about the plotline and some characters but they couldn't really carry the book for me into the 'great-book' land.
The story is from Cas' POV which seemed interesting at the beginning but didn't carry (or wasn't carried) through the book. Cas seemed the lonely 'broody' guy type and this I had to grimace at (because I thought Blake was going for something different but here she did the classic mistake of building Cas as 'hot' and the usual desirable guy with 'secrets') Cas' mother was the same- started out great then crashed down (which you realise, seems to be the theme of the book....) Their relationship was very growing sometimes and other times was completely opposite to the usual vein. The bond with his father wasn't really explored and very conveniently placed only to explain the villain's character or his agenda (which was also not very impressive or really believable...) Until the revelation of the villain, everything seemed predictable and I hated, absolutely loathed that Blake established a 'romantic relationship' between Cas and Anna (WHY would she do that?! That was almost blasphemous!!! If only she could have painted Anna in a different way, I would have loved the book! It had so much potential but as she kept on adding elements, I kept on face-palming...)
Anna could have been great in a whole way but because of that romantic thing happening, she was lost... She had so much scare factor and grit that I loved half of her but then Cas ends up liking her which was very obvious because of the constant weird feelings of Cas regarding Anna and I was tired of rolling my eyes in the end... *huge sigh*
I hated Will from the start, was tolerating Carmel (hated the name) and liked Thomas and Morfran, felt exasperatingly endearing towards Tybalt and had a love-hate relationship with Cas and Anna....
Others might like it for the fluffy romance, gritty horror and gore and a somewhat but not entirely original story.
I hope Antigoddess is better.
The story is from Cas' POV which seemed interesting at the beginning but didn't carry (or wasn't carried) through the book. Cas seemed the lonely 'broody' guy type and this I had to grimace at (because I thought Blake was going for something different but here she did the classic mistake of building Cas as 'hot' and the usual desirable guy with 'secrets') Cas' mother was the same- started out great then crashed down (which you realise, seems to be the theme of the book....) Their relationship was very growing sometimes and other times was completely opposite to the usual vein. The bond with his father wasn't really explored and very conveniently placed only to explain the villain's character or his agenda (which was also not very impressive or really believable...) Until the revelation of the villain, everything seemed predictable and I hated, absolutely loathed that Blake established a 'romantic relationship' between Cas and Anna (WHY would she do that?! That was almost blasphemous!!! If only she could have painted Anna in a different way, I would have loved the book! It had so much potential but as she kept on adding elements, I kept on face-palming...)
Anna could have been great in a whole way but because of that romantic thing happening, she was lost... She had so much scare factor and grit that I loved half of her but then Cas ends up liking her which was very obvious because of the constant weird feelings of Cas regarding Anna and I was tired of rolling my eyes in the end... *huge sigh*
I hated Will from the start, was tolerating Carmel (hated the name) and liked Thomas and Morfran, felt exasperatingly endearing towards Tybalt and had a love-hate relationship with Cas and Anna....
Others might like it for the fluffy romance, gritty horror and gore and a somewhat but not entirely original story.
I hope Antigoddess is better.
My rating: 0.5 of 5 stars
No. Just. NO.
God, I should have known what I was getting into when I picked up this book, but I expected I would turn out to be wrong. I guess I was right about my apprehensions and I didn't think it could be worse. That's my only excuse.
Reasons why you shouldn't read this book:
There's so much sexual innuendos and reference going on that either you're gonna puke or you're gonna be totally turned off from sex (AND before you think it impossible yes it can happen, I can vouch for it and I'm a healthy believer in sex but reading this can even put me off!!!!)
THIS WHOLE BOOK IS ABOUT SEX! For some that may feel like a jackpot but hate to sour your soaring excitement, reading this nothing short of torture. The guy just hops from bed to bed and whines. The girl wants to do all this but is made to appear 'romantic' and uses the 'guide' to serial-date after getting dumped from a three-year long boyfriend. There are so many MANY references to sex and they play with vibrators in the shop FOR GOD'S SAKE!!! I dunno about you but I was staring at the screen in horror! They're high school students for CHRIST'S SAKE!! How deep could their knowledge be, about all the things mentioned in the book ????? That's too unbelievable.
There's so much sleeping around going on that even those in the profession would blush reading about it... and this from high school students. 'Nuf. Said.
Anyway, maybe I might be repeating some of the stuff but that's what stuck with me from the book... I was disappointed, to say the least.
God, I should have known what I was getting into when I picked up this book, but I expected I would turn out to be wrong. I guess I was right about my apprehensions and I didn't think it could be worse. That's my only excuse.
Reasons why you shouldn't read this book:
There's so much sexual innuendos and reference going on that either you're gonna puke or you're gonna be totally turned off from sex (AND before you think it impossible yes it can happen, I can vouch for it and I'm a healthy believer in sex but reading this can even put me off!!!!)
THIS WHOLE BOOK IS ABOUT SEX! For some that may feel like a jackpot but hate to sour your soaring excitement, reading this nothing short of torture. The guy just hops from bed to bed and whines. The girl wants to do all this but is made to appear 'romantic' and uses the 'guide' to serial-date after getting dumped from a three-year long boyfriend. There are so many MANY references to sex and they play with vibrators in the shop FOR GOD'S SAKE!!! I dunno about you but I was staring at the screen in horror! They're high school students for CHRIST'S SAKE!! How deep could their knowledge be, about all the things mentioned in the book ????? That's too unbelievable.
There's so much sleeping around going on that even those in the profession would blush reading about it... and this from high school students. 'Nuf. Said.
Anyway, maybe I might be repeating some of the stuff but that's what stuck with me from the book... I was disappointed, to say the least.
My rating: 1.23 of 5 stars
I was really hoping that this book would be good but this just sits somewhere between average and 'meh'... Robyn Carr sets up a really fluffy cozy world with somewhat realistic things (like babies being abandoned on the porch and such) happening to disrupt the flow only for the sake of drama and to forward a romance. The first book is about a widowed nurse who has had enough of the LA Trauma Centre and is looking for some quiet after the tragic shooting of her husband. After coming to the rural small town of Virgin River in California she is very skittish because of the huge change of lifestyle, the grief of her husband's death crushing her and the strange Doctor who has hired her for the nurse's job but doesn't really seem to want her there.
As life goes on, she comes to fall in love with the town, the people like Doc Mullins, all those old ladies and begins to have a special place for Jack, the retired Marine, living in the town and basically taking care of it. In this book, Jack is portrayed way too good to be true, caring, devoted, perfect and all round desirable and it's only int he progressive books that we learn about his flaws.
Carr's writing is really normal and disappointingly average and I can't figure out anything really worthwhile to care about; about which I feel sorry...
A light contemporary romance with way too much babies happening and the unrealistic element of an infertile woman having a baby, the town and the people; the atmosphere and the something almost 'magical' fluffiness of the whole book and Carr's writing style can't help but make you feel drawn to the series.
As life goes on, she comes to fall in love with the town, the people like Doc Mullins, all those old ladies and begins to have a special place for Jack, the retired Marine, living in the town and basically taking care of it. In this book, Jack is portrayed way too good to be true, caring, devoted, perfect and all round desirable and it's only int he progressive books that we learn about his flaws.
Carr's writing is really normal and disappointingly average and I can't figure out anything really worthwhile to care about; about which I feel sorry...
A light contemporary romance with way too much babies happening and the unrealistic element of an infertile woman having a baby, the town and the people; the atmosphere and the something almost 'magical' fluffiness of the whole book and Carr's writing style can't help but make you feel drawn to the series.
My rating: 1.22 of 5 stars
Virgin River was nothing really interesting but I always like a story about women that have been abused and how they cope with it so I was just a little curious about Carr's take on this and again I was disappointed. I guess I should be used to the Disappointment but... Preacher always seemed like a mystery and a closed off man and maybe I hoped this book would finally show me the award winning author that is Carr but then I was always told that I expect too much.
Another fluffy romance read and here I noticed, Carr blurs one romance onto another (at least the stirrings of the next one and sometimes the entire romance) because of which I become so confused and have no idea which book I'm reading.
Unrealistic plotlines and breezy reads are what you're looking for then this is for you.
Another fluffy romance read and here I noticed, Carr blurs one romance onto another (at least the stirrings of the next one and sometimes the entire romance) because of which I become so confused and have no idea which book I'm reading.
Unrealistic plotlines and breezy reads are what you're looking for then this is for you.
My rating: 1.21 of 5 stars
I wanted to sigh really heavy even during reading this book. I dunno why I keep reading the series but it feels so sadly defeated to leave a book or series midway especially if the author bleeds the sequel's story into the prequel halfway and half as much of that sequel. Jack's 'mother hen' tendencies were prominent some light humour and boring romance was thrown in and there's Whispering Rock all done. There are multiple points of view starting out this one and instead of simplifying or complicating anything, they are just plain confusing!!
I wish I could like Carr's writing style or the plots but I give up *humiliated sigh*
Well for those of you who like your romance and coziness come forth and stomach the series...
I wish I could like Carr's writing style or the plots but I give up *humiliated sigh*
Well for those of you who like your romance and coziness come forth and stomach the series...
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