Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

If the first book in the series was about survival this one is about rebellion.

I stayed awake past my bedtime to finish this book. I couldn't stop so close to the end without knowing what was going on. Which reminds me of another thing I like about this series. You are Katniss throughout the entire novel, you hear her thoughts and see the world completely through her eyes. In some books you jump between characters, you hear other peoples thoughts, and you learn things that the main character does not know. But in The Hunger Games you are always by Katniss' side. You worry with her when Peeta isn't near by and you don't know what trouble he may be in. You feel her confusion when she doesn't know who is her ally and who is just playing the game. And you feel her anger when she is left out of the plan, and doesn't understand what is happening around her.

This book took a little longer to pick up then the last one. The beginning is a little slow as you live through Katniss' life after the hunger games. The author gives you time to see how much her world has changed and how it was affected by her victory. But don't stop reading because it picks up later, the action and adventure from the first book is back, but this time the stakes are higher and Katniss has more then just her own life and Petta's to worry about.

As everything has meaning now and is more important to everyone, Katniss struggles more then in the first book. She has amazing survival instinct, but has to learn to think of the consequences before she does anything. The world is full of hidden doors, danger, and mystery. Even if she doesn't know it, her best ally is her love for Gale, Peeta, Prim, Haymitch, and her mother.

Great story, 4/5

Buy it at Chapers/Indigo
Buy it on Amazon

I won a book! (It's exciting to me)

Last week I got an email from Random House, the first thing I saw was the subject line, which said winner! My first thought was what did I win? My second was junk mail. I opened the email, and yah! I did win something. I won a book. Turns out last month I entered a contest for a copy of Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close. I had forgot that I entered, which made it even more exciting when I saw I won.

 So today, at 8am no less, the postman knocked on my door. After yelling, just a minute, and running around my apartment looking for something to put over my pajammas, I opened the door to get a brown paper package. I was just in time too, because the postman was tired of waiting for me to find clothes and was about to walk away with my book. But I got my parcel and opened it to see a pretty hard cover copy of the book. I read the description again and the authors bio at the back, and now I'm so excited to get to read it. It's the authors first book, and it I'm thinking she might remind me of Emily Griffith. I'm in the middle of Catching Fire at the moment, but as soon as im done Im going to read this one. I can't wait. I think the fact that it was free is making me a little crazy.

New Release: Natural Order

 This book was released today. The description of Natural Order begins with: "A mother always knows when something isn't right with her son". Joyce Sparks has been keeping secrets about her son John, from herself, her husband, and her friends. She is selling her house and in the process journeys into the past and relives memories of her son. The book spans seventy years, you find out when she was young she was in love with a man who was gay. She looses contact with him, but continues to spend time with his mother after he dies. Soon her world begins to unravel and reveals the consequences of a choice she made years ago.

This book is about an old lady who regrets what she did in her past. She is ashamed and self pitying. As the book progresses and you travel though her life, you begin to understand her.

This sounds like it will be an emotional story, about a mother who regrets the mistakes she has made in her life, that haunt her into her old age.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

When I started this book I knew it was for teenagers so wasn't expecting any profound insight or an in-depth story. In a way I was right, there wasn't any surprise plot twists. It was predictable, but so are most romances. That doesn't mean that is wasn't a great book. I was glued to the story and I loved Katniss' character. The other characters were a little weak, but that was OK because they weren't the focus of the book. 

One of the things I loved about it was the world that Collins created. I know this isn't an unique concept, a dystopian world controlled by the state, but I still thought her world was unique. I know this isn't how it is portrayed the book, but I pictured their world like a flower, with the capital in the center and the 13 districts surrounding it. I liked how each district had its own identity, how the goods that it produced shaped the skills and personalities of the people living within.

I loved Katniss (if you missed it the first time) the book did a great job of letting the reader get to know who she was. Her ability to distance herself from her emotions saved her life. She stayed calm and was able to observe her situation, because of this she learned a lot that she used later to her advantage. She wasn't completely cut off either, she still felt emotions, she just hid them from the public and only let them out in private. Yet this was also her weakness. At times she appeared cold to the other characters, and she hurt people who were important to her. I felt bad for her a times because I understood that she was only trying to protect herself and those around her. She may have appeared cold but it was just her way of dealing with the hard circumstances around her. She is a strong female character, who doesn't like that?

I also like how the book rewarded compassion. It did a good job of saying that when you are kind to others, even if its seems pointless at the time, it will come back later to help you when you most need it.

I thought this was a great book. It gave importance to the qualities kindness, resourcefulness, compassion, and braveness, and made them something you have to have in order to survive. All within the dangerous and brutal war that is the Hunger Games.

A 5/5
Buy it on Chapters/Indigo
Buy it on Amazon

I'm Reading The Hunger Games

Everyone was right, this book was awesome. I've been seeing it everywhere and hearing so many good things that I had to read it for myself. The only reason I didn't read it sooner, was that I don't like young adult novels. I did the same thing with the Twilight books. I had heard so many good things, but didn't want to read what was classified as a YA book so I kept putting it off. After the movie came out I decided I would watch it, to decide if I was going to read the books or not. I liked the movie and thought the books were worth a try. I bought the second one first in soft cover, and ended up staying in bed all day and reading it in one sitting. I think I only got up once to eat something. Honey ice cream if I remember right. I finished the book that night, it took me eight hours. Right away I got the last two. They were still new releases so I had to suck it up and buy the hard cover editions. I loved those also.

The Hunger Games trilogy reminded me of that. Not because they are similar stories in any way, but the experience I'm having. So, expect a raving review shortly.

New Releases Aug 22

Here are two new book that are coming out next week. I might post again later if I find some more.


Kathy Reichs has a new book coming out that is part of her Temperance Bennan series. She is the producer of the T.V series Bones, which is based this character. I've only seen a few episodes of Bones, its  a crime, mystery show. The few times I did watch it, it was pretty good.
In this book, Flash and Bones, a body is found beside a race track in a barrel .It looks like there might be a mystery surrounding the city's Race Week. Twelve years ago a young racer and her boyfriend went missing, could this be one of them?  The FBI was involved at the time, but ended dropping the case. Dr. Brennan has multiple theories, and the case becomes even more interesting when an employee of disease control prevention goes missing as well. This is the fourteenth book in the series.




Terry Brooks has a book coming called The Measure of the Magic: Legends of Shannara. I've never heard of this author before but he's been writing fantasy books for three decades.  This book is part of the Shannara saga. If you haven't read any before you probably wont understand what is going on. This book seems to focus on the prehistory Shannara, I don't know if this is a country or a world, but I will tell you what the book is about in case you are familiar with the series.
The survivors of the Great War have been living safely in a valley protected by magic for four hundred years. Now the borders have been breached and predators have got in. When the old Knight of the world dies he gives the staff to a young tracker, Panterra, who must protect them from evil. But what stands in his way is a merciless figure who is determined to to have the last black staff and the man who yields it.

Now You See Her by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

I just finished reading Now you See Her by James Patterson, and I can't wait to write the review; the book was great.

It's about a successful lawyer named Nina Bloom. When she hears about a case involving a man about to be sent to death row, she is compelled to take it. She gets on the first plane to Flordia because she knows for a fact that the man is innocent. The reason she is so sure is because she has a secret, one she has kept for 18 years....

The minute I picked up this book on a train ride home, I couldn't stop reading it. I know I say that a lot, but its true. I was caught up in the story after the first pages. The book starts several years in the past. Nina was a nice, normal, young lady on spring break, when one mistake changed her whole life. I was immediately pulled into Nina's story, first I had to find out what happened on her trip that ruined everything, then when everything seems safe a new adventure starts. The action never stops in the book, chapter by chapter new problems arise for Nina. She spends the whole book either running from danger or fighting back. She is a smart independent women who won't rest until justice is served. Even the villain was a well written character. He was cunning and sly, I hated him as much as Nina did. When he showed up in the story I almost didn't want to keep reading because I was afraid for Nina and what he would do next.

I don't have any bad things to say about this book. The story line kept me constantly engaged, and at every point in the book I wanted to know what was going to happen next. The only problem I had was that I read it so fast that it almost seemed short. It was an e-book version so I don't know how long it was, probably average sized. I
This book definably gets a 5/5 from me.

Buy it on Chapters/Indigo 34% off Now!
Buy it on Amazon

The Help Movie

The movie based on the bestseller The Help is now in theatres. I read this book a few months ago and it was one of the first reviews I wrote for this blog. If you've read the review you will see that I loved the book. I thought the characters were interesting and funny. It managed to take a very serious subject and make it light hearted and fun, all while conveying an important message.

I've found three articles online, two praises the movie, the other feels it is historically inaccurate and does a poor job of recreating the time period. Here are the articles..

The Help is Faithful to the Bestseller by Leah Rozen

Movie Review: The Help by Laurie Fundukian

Bestseller Novel The Help needs Help with its Homework by Lynn Crosbie

Let me know what you think. Did you enjoy the book, or did you find its inaccuracies ruined it.

Top 10 Books You Can Buy Right Now

Not many great new releases this coming week, so instead this is going to be.. The new releases I missed in previous weeks.. post.

I can't believe I passed right by these books and didn't tell you about them. Well I regret that now, because these books are doing great, and people are talking about them. Here they are....


Danielle Steel - Happy Birthday  Kelley Armstrong - Spell Bound     Preston & Child - Cold Vengeance
      

                                                                                                                                 

Patrick DeWitt - The Sister Brothers       Brad Thor - Full Black       Linwood Barclay -The Accident

Jennifer Weiner - Then Came You    S.J Watson - Before I go to Sleep    Barbara Delinsky - Escape   

                                            

Charlaine Harris - Dead Reckoning

           You might just find your next great book in this list.
           Happy Reading.

The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

Anyone who knows me, knows I hate horror movies, what they might not know, is that I like horror books. My favourite authors are Dean Koontz and Stephen King. So when I saw this book at the store with the creepy boy sitting on the stairs I had to get it.

The book started off strong. There is a brutal murder, and it focused on the police officer assigned to the case, and the hypnotist he contacts to speak to the survivor. The murder involved a mystery killer and I finished the first few chapters quickly, hoping to get clues on who the murderer was. I have to point out to anyone who wants to read this book that the beginning is a little disturbing. The events surrounding the murder were graphic, and the mindset of the murderer was sadistic. 

The thing I didn't like about this book was that the focus changed. I felt as if there were two different story lines going on, the first one (the murder) seems to disappear and the rest of the book is focused around a completely different crime. Yes, the main characters were the same, and the crimes related, but I still felt like I was reading a different story. I lost interest around the middle of the book and had to force myself to get through it. The three characters, the hypnotist, his wife, and the detective, all follow separate paths and the story jumps between them. At one point you jump back in time 10 years, this the point I was wondering where the story was going, but don't worry, it all makes sense later on.

Closer to the end, the story really picks up. All the stuff I found boring in the middle of the book comes together, and starts to make sense. The characters, who had separate story lines before, all joined together. At this point I couldn't stop reading. I read the last third of the book in two days, where the previous two thirds took me over a week. Because of the ending I'm giving the book a better rating then I would have, it all comes together nicely and makes the slower parts worth it. If you were looking for a horror book, this isn't it, but it is a good mystery/suspense novel.  In the end this gets a 3/5 from me.

Buy it on Amazon
Buy it on Chapters 45% off!


P.S On a completely unrelated note, at one point in the book they ate reindeer meat at Christmas. That made me sad, poor Santa's reindeer :(

If you like YA books, you will love this weeks New Release

There is one book that is getting great reviews this week. It is a young adult book. I dont read many teen books but I know that a lot of people out there enjoy them. This one is named Michael Vey: The Prisioner of Cell 25. This book is the story of Michael Vey, a 14 year old high school student with Tourette’s syndrome. What makes Michael unique is not Tourette's but that he has special powers. Electirc powers. With the help of a cheerleader, with powers of her own, and his friend, Michael investigates how they became they way they are. In the process they attract the attention of a powerful group who want to control these powerful children, and the world.

I've read reviews that praise this book, and say what a great read it is for both children and adults. Most of them have read the book in just a couple of days. If you love YA books check this one out, it doesn't sound like it will disapoint.

Gods Behaving Badly is Becoming a Movie

I read today that a book I read last year, Gods Behaving Badly, is going to be turned into a movie! It's always exciting to see a book you enjoyed become a movie, because you get a chance to see someone else's vision of the book. I'm also excited to see it come to life, I just hope that the movie is as funny as I remember the book was.

It was a while ago I read it, so I cant review it properly, but I do remember how creative the author was taking the personalities of the Greek gods and transporting them into modern times. It was amusing to read how much trouble the Gods were having in our times, and how they dealt with the lack of belief in the world.

The one thing I remember from the book that really made me laugh, was that the biggest skill to have in the after world was being a good scrabble player. Apparently when you have entirety in front of you, scrabble and boardgames are a very important time waster.

The movie also seems to have attracted a large amount of stars, which makes me hope that it will be a good movie. Christopher Walken is playing Zeus! Other big stars with roles are Sharon Stone and Alicia Silverstone. Another actor I like, but am not sure if he's well known, is John Turturro. Who I know from Transformers and Mr. Deeds. He's playing Hades, who I think is a perfect fit; he's a funny guy.

I am excited for this movie, and anyone who hasn't read the book yet should check it out. It's a great read and not that long if your pressed for time.

I just Want a Cheap Book!

I found a deal online today that was offering five dollars off Kobo books. Since I buy lots of books an online, this deal is the perfect time to stock up. Unfortuanaly, it seems that several publishers have restricted the use of promo codes on their books! I tried to buy The Kid by Sapphire, Now you See Her by James Patterson, Before I go to Sleep by S.J Watson, and Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner. All of them turned me down. The worst part is that they all have different publishers.

  Thanks alot publishers, for restricting the way other people can sell your books. If you want, you can try the promo for yourself. It's OLAUG11, good luck!