Review: Rebel Angels

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Not bad for book two of this trilogy where we get to start seeing a much darker side to the entire magical aspect of Gemma's adventure with her friends. I don't really have much to say about this particular book except that I really enjoyed how the story is progressing. Of course, there are a LOT of things that made me stop and wonder, such as the naivette of the girls for too easily trusting the wrong people, or so easily turning against one another in tantrums brought out by their own insecurities. There is still that annoying "every woman for herself" selfishness in each of our characters, and yet at the same time, they wish to have a deeper friendship filled with trust and love. It's hard for people to fully trust or receive trust if they can so readily arm themselves against an attack that hasn't happened yet.

But enough about that -- as far as story goes, the progression and the "surprise" twists really weren't as surprising as some might have expected. It wasn't hard to figure out who the true enemy was by the time the first book ended and this is only coming from dozens and dozens of story line progression strategies that you become aware of after reading so many books. Ms. Libba Bray DOES paint very good images and has written the book rather well in terms of style; it's a lot better than a lot of other books I've read lately, so it's a pleasant reprieve from the many books I'm being told to pick up and read with the moniker "Best Book Ever" or "excellent writing style" tacked on by people who obviously don't really read much.

While at first, in book one of this trilogy, I wasn't really enjoying it, I'm glad that things have picked up and I have hopes that the final book will prove that I didn't stick with the trilogy for nothing. For the most part, the good writing kept me going, the interesting descriptions and word usage had me hoping, and at present, Gemma's development is actually pretty nice to see. Moving onto the third book now and ready to finish up this adventure.

The Victorian era is a world that I understand little about, but if it's anything like it is spelled out in Gemma Doyle's world, then I hope I never have to endure something like that in my own life -- makes me glad my time is so much more free and NOT built so much on reputations and the like. It sound exhausting, but it was kind of amusing to watch the character go through all of those traditional activities of the uppity-up high society wealth and their snobbery of lifestyles. Amusing, not that I liked it, but it was fun nonetheless.



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Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The beginning of this book didn't hook me in as I had been expecting from all the praises the book was getting from friends around. But then again, after a run of bad books, I should have known better. Nonetheless, the further I got into the story, the more interested I became with it, which is a plus in number of stars, though the unfortunate downfall was that it starts off rather slowly.

I don't like including summaries in my reviews, so I won't mention anything outside of some character information. The first impression I had gotten about this book was that I didn't particularly find any of the characters likable. They had their sardonic charms, but I couldn't help but to wonder if Gemma Doyle was a naturally dour person since she didn't seem to be able to find ANYTHING she liked at all throughout the first half of the book. She didn't get along with the girls who are all conniving, manipulative and straight out mean (which I'm assuming is what "Victorian" age people are supposed to act like? I don't know, I don't read many books in this era of history.).

As annoying as the characters were, that's not what kept me from getting into the book in the first place -- the story just didn't seem to be going anywhere. We spent a whole deal of filler time getting Gemma from India to London and finally to a more better understanding of what's going on in the magical world (for me, at least). And when the girls form their makeshift Order and begin to bond, THAT's when I actually started to enjoy the story a bit more. And from then on, it just started getting more intriguing.

So as far as the series goes, I'm interested in seeing what else will happen in the last two books of this series. Even though the girls are harsh with words, I can't help but to think that this is what makes strong bonds and friendships anyway, so I actually love how the girls interact with each other (Gemma, Ann, Felicity and Pippa), though there are some points where they DO have their annoying traits resurface, such as Ann's deep desire to be accepted as someone she isn't (a beautiful, privileged girl from a well-to-to family) at the expense of Gemma's irritation. Case in point, when Ann tried to be a different person in front of Gemma's brother, not bothering to be a supporting friend when Gemma had her fight with her brother.

But those character flaws are what makes these girls a little more likable than if we were dealing with four Mary Sues in a row. So I actually kind of liked them at the worst.

Anyway, as slow a start as this book had been, I really enjoyed it overall and will move onto the next book. For one, the reason I kept going in the first place was because the author DOES show a good sense of writing style that is descriptive, witty and smooth. In particular, the organ grinder's monkey just really stood out to me no matter how insignificant the item seemed at the beginning of the book. It's the little things I notice sometimes that makes or breaks a book for me, I guess.



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Review: Darkness Exposed

Darkness Exposed by Terri Reid

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I can't say that this is the best book in the series, but at least we finally get some closure on the Police Chief, Bradley Alden's missing/murdered wife, Jeannine. Terrifying secrets are revealed about the "good" neighbors living in Bradley's old neighborhood surrounding Jeannine's death. With Jeannine's ghost remembering certain details of what might have happened to her eight years ago, Mary and her new acquaintance, Ian MacDougal (who is a Scottish hottie professor who also sees ghosts and studies the paranormal in conjunction with criminal investigation) pose as a couple moving into Bradley's old home to investigate Jeannine's death.

I can't say that the mystery was very secret after the first encounters with each neighbor occurs. I almost immediately pinpointed the culprit and found it amusing that the rest of the neighbors gave off even creepier vibes as suspects. Nonetheless, it was still an interesting follow-up to the conflict following Bradley for eight years, finally giving closure to his wife's mystery.

On the side, we are given a not-so-distracting side story involving an arsonist. While the two cases do not tie together, there are certain elements concerning idealism, emotion, as well as the supernatural that sort of (if you really want to make that connection) ties the two cases together (not really, but I try because it makes me feel happier).

Once again, as always, my one favorite factor of the Mary O'Reilly series keeping me in enjoyment is none other than the characters. So even if the plot runs flat, I still really enjoy following the world of Mary and all of her companions. I can't say that I'm a hundred percent in like with Bradley Alden (he seems like standard male hero creation, which is fine and safe), but the rest of the men (living or dead) appeal to me so much more than he does. Mike Richards, the fireman ghost kind of takes a slight backseat in this particular story when it seems he can't seem to follow Mary away from Freeport, so I was a little disappointed. He still gets some book time though, so that's not too bad.

Ian turned out to be a delight to have as a new partner for Mary's ghostly investigations with his studies and knowledge as well as the ability to see ghosts as well. What I'm really appreciating is that the author doesn't try to incorporate unnecessary love triangles; Ian has a sweetheart back home in Scotland and he makes rather clear that he is very much in love with his fiancee Gillian. There is no romantic tension show between him and Mary; for instance, when they kiss each other (while it came as a surprise to me that they did it so naturally without hesitation) in front of the neighbors, they both agree that it doesn't feel awkward because there's no spark (like kissing a sibling; though how many people know a pair of siblings to actually kiss each other on the lips?). HOWEVER, I let that one slip by and just contribute it to the author's need to emphasize that there will be no romantic conflict going on to interfere with the resident main couple. While it's a little forced (because who wouldn't feel flustered around a black spandex shirt wearing Scottish professor with an accent and those darned "man boobies"?) I just appreciate that there seems to be no inclination towards a love triangle. Love triangles are one of the few tropes of romances that I really, really don't care for, even if I'll accept it under reasonable circumstances.

While I still love Rosie and Stanley, there are some points in the book where I sort of wished that they weren't trying to portray the meddlesome, nagging grandparent-types. They became too overprotective of Mary (even if for good reason) but those instances didn't seem to really sit as very significant aside from showing that they are indeed Mary's best friends who care for her well-being. But Mary has enough people worrying about her well-being already without her two best friends trying to talk her out of doing things that they darn well know she won't budge from. I'm just saying, as best friends, sometimes even if you know your best friend is doing something stupid, you know that saying something isn't going to change his or her mind at all. Then again, I guess it doesn't hurt to keep trying and being insistent.

Finally, there's Jeannine whom I really found I liked a lot. She had a great personality, young and witty and I found myself thinking that it was a pity that she was both dead AND Bradley's wife. She and Mary had great conversation and understanding of one another and would have made a very interesting pair (in an alternate universe of Mary O'Reilly fun, Jeannine and Mary would have made a great set of best friends).

On an end note about the characters, we get to see Sean O'Reilly a bit more too, but still not enough to satisfy my own wants. I'm almost hoping that Ms. Terri Reid might consider making Sean a main player in one of future projects? Just a thought. I don't know why, but despite not seeing much of him, I really do like this guy -- maybe because he's that ideal protective big brother I've always wished for, or maybe because of the fact that he's protective but not too overbearing, or maybe just because he's got a "sibling-evil" type personality wherein, even though he spends time protecting the baby sister, he doesn't hold back from being the jerk that big brothers can be when teasing for good old sibling rivalry fun.

Of course, I must say, I'm thinking that if not for the straight forward, well-paced progression of these short novels, as well as the emphasis on the mysteries and the supernatural, the characters might fall flat for most readers. What I'm starting to pick up is that, while each character indeed possess their own distinct personalities, they also tend to all have the same personality as well. I'm not sure how to explain it so that it makes sense, but sometimes I feel like the characters are too perfect: everyone has the same justice-seeking idealism, good morale, comprehensible and understanding bantering and witticisms, hero-like qualities... I could go on and without certain defining character traits, such as Mary's stubborn ex-Chicago police tough girl pride, Bradley's overprotective male ego ideals, or even Mike the fireman ghost's smarmy and flirtatious charm, I probably wouldn't be able to tell one voice from another.

This particular trait plays in favor of the Mary O'Reilly world as well as becomes a disadvantage. The disadvantage shows in that it cannot quite stand alone as a unique world full of unique people without the supernatural and mystery elements as well as the author's own witticisms to hold it up. I have never read a book (or five books) where almost every character who is significant to the world is completely likable without any annoying, defining character flaws. Bradley comes a bit close to it, but I overlook that for his love line with Mary. Otherwise, everyone in this universe who has anything to do with Mary and her mysteries are almost too perfect to be true. It's a good thing and a bad thing -- the bad being what I've mentioned already. The good thing about how these characters are created: I love all of them (as I've stated time and time again). There's no harm in following a group of exceptionally likable characters; my own preference is that I really don't care for angsty confrontations if they can be avoided, though I know that a lot of people like that emotional tension between characters. But everyone in this universe like each other within Mary's supernatural mystery investigation clique, which is nice and safe. For one, I don't mind it too much just because then we don't take away from the mysteries by including too many unnecessary relationship conflicts.

Still, the world just seems too perfect, but I guess when you're someone who sees ghosts all the time and have to try to survive the murderers in almost every book, no conflicts among the usual round of characters in your clique is probably a good thing. I know, I'm hard to please and can get a bit contradictory, but the ultimate deal is, I still really, really like this series and will continue to follow the books (and hope that Sean O'Reilly gets to be seen more often).



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Review: Final Call

Final Call by Terri Reid

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Immediately after finishing the third book, I curiously jumped into the fourth book. Within four hours, it was finished (yes, I should have been sleeping and now I'm running on about four hours of sleep because I got a little greedy). Was this book better than the one previous to it? Well, I have to admit that it was... but not by too much. However, I gave it a four star rating instead of two like I had the previous.

The mystery of Final Call wasn't anything outstanding. A rude, arrogant, bitchy primadonna stage actress gets murdered and there are so many people who would have been her enemy. At the same time, we also see a separate side story where a reverend who appeared in the last book comes to seek Mary's help because he can't figure out why he's not going to heaven despite being so devoted to the church. It got a little fussy at times, switching back and forth from one major plot to a not so major plot that still got a lot of page time. If the reverend's plot had been downsized a little bit, maybe it wouldn't have felt so stuffy. The thing is, in the first few books, (especially the first book) two separate cases usually ended up tying together at some point. In this book, the two separate cases had nothing to do with each other.

But that's fine, somehow it all still worked out because the character developments were astounding in Final Call. Bradley and Mary come to a hitch in their relationship when we finally reveal to Bradley that his wife Jeannine is already dead and Mary has known since the end of Book Two. New characters are introduced and each have their own little quirks. Mike the fireman ghost, at first I didn't like him at all because he seemed really smarmy; afterwards, I totally adore him because he's always there at all the right times AND he's got an excellent wit about him. Jeannine's ghost, at the very least, is a bit more realistic about what's going on than her husband is and not being a vengeful dead wife who wants to keep her husband for herself; I like that she's created as a good woman who had an unfortunate encounter with death. Finally, the newest addition who feels like he'll be another recurring character, Ian MacDougal has the makings for a likable partner.

As for our recurring characters: Stanley and Rosie just keep getting better and better. Sean O'Reilly is an awesome big brother and I bemoan the fact that we don't get to see more of him. I mean, send a good looking Scottish young gentleman who is also a professor my way and you will be my favorite big brother in the world. Really. And while I'm not a big fan of romantic angst, I think our couple needed this separation, which will hopefully finally bring about some closure in the entire thing -- Bradley needs to move on, Jeannine needs to move on. It's just too bad that Mary had to get caught in this family dilemma just because she fell in love with the jerk.

So this time around, even if the story wasn't the best and the two cases seemed a bit messy, the characters of the Mary O'Reilly universe really made up for all of it. I'm a sucker for well-written characters with good development and progression. The story was also okay, so everything just fell into place wonderfully.



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Review: Dead until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1)

Dead until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1) by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I'm starting to wonder if I'm even capable of liking any books that are popular with everyone else. Of course, I have to admit that Dead Until Dark did start out with a good concept and a good set-up. The world of the Sookie Stackhouse series is a little hard to buy into, but I got through that initial suspension of disbelief because of the pacing of the story's development.

Sookie Stackhouse almost immediately introduces herself as a telepath, calling her talent a disability, and walks us quickly into the new alternate universe where vampires have announced their existence to the world. We get to see a lot of true-to-form prejudices and realistic reactions of the people to a type of being way different from humans. And so the world of this series is set up rather well... it's not the best concept, but I can live with it.

And then when the murder mysteries began, I was intrigued...

However, we quickly take a backseat with the murder mysteries in favor of Sookie and her romance with Bill Compton, the vampire. While I appreciate the realistics of human nature in dealing with Sookie's relationship with Bill, I really think I could have used a little less of their romance and a little more of Sookie helping to solve the murder mysteries. Because after the third or forth bedroom scene (which was not conservative, mind you) I started to get a little bored with the Sookie Stackhouse life. Was her entire being really based around the romance she had with Bill the vampire? It sure seemed like that was all she cared about. I mean, I'm glad that Sookie is a tough cookie and can stand up for herself when it matters; but she still managed to let herself be pushed around by the man she loved.

Of course, it also doesn't help her own personality that she's also quite wishy-washy with that hot-cold personality. It irked me a little that she seemed to get angry or jealous at Bill for a LOT of trivial things. And it also irked me a lot that she constantly referred to herself as stupid and uneducated, but then she turns around and condemns other people for indirectly implying that she's stupid and uneducated. Her mind frame had a lot of contradicting ideals which made me not quite care for Sookie as a person. Finally, her romance with Bill really doesn't have that feel of love to it more than it actually feels like lust; she becomes quite attracted to a lot of the other good-looking men in the story and even has thoughts about sleeping with them as well even after claiming how much she's in love with Bill.

Call me old-fashioned, but I hardly think it's appropriate for anyone to have thoughts about sleeping with someone else if you're with someone already whom you claim to be devotedly in love with. Then again, maybe I've misinterpreted some things in there, because a lot of the story seemed like filler that I read through and didn't quite commit to memory or anything.

Overall, I thought the book was fine, but not really as great as most have given it praise for. I mean, really, slap one of those Harlequin for romance novel covers on this one and it wouldn't really make much of a difference. It just so happens that this one is based in a paranormal alternate universe with an insignificant murder mystery to keep use curious.

Will I read the next book? Maybe. I might pick it up just to see if it handles the murder mystery a little bit better. For one, the other name that this series goes by is the Southern Vampire Mysteries, and thus, I expected more mystery and less... well, I don't mind a little bit of romance or a smut scene here or there in books; this particular book had a LOT of circling around those very elements (the latter being quite emphasized on). So it wasn't exactly my favorite book, or even one that I would care to come back and read. Then again, it wasn't like it was altogether terrible, so it has its positives.



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Review: Twilight

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



EDIT 3/2/2012:
Okay... I couldn't do it. After finishing half of the book, I found myself setting it down and saying that I would come back to it later. Later ended up being about three weeks later and when I picked it back up, I was a little reluctant to continue reading it. Why? I'm sure it had a lot to do with the fact that I really just didn't want to go through another two hundred pages of this never ending forbidden love.

Bella loves Edward, Edward loves Bella, but they're trapped in this somewhat flimsy "We can't be together because of obvious reasons" forbidden love drama. And yet... they STILL get together even if just to hang out and see each other and be together and NOT make-out. I mean, they're together, but they don't admit that they are officially together. But Bella DOES refer to him as her boyfriend even though they aren't official because Edward's afraid that he'll somehow lose his senses and kill her.

I say: "Just turn her into a vampire already! It'll solve all sorts of problems, really." But who am I to judge the logic of the Twilight world, right?

Maybe I couldn't finish this book because of the main female lead. I DO have issues liking a story line if I don't like the characters. I once did drop an anime series (yes, I watch anime too) because I couldn't find one likable character. And the story line didn't fair too well either.

The story line of Twilight isn't much better. Well, let me rephrase that: The story of a normal high school girl falling in love with a god-like vampire boy is something that I could probably buy into. However, three hundred pages (because that's how far I got) of a girl mooning over her forbidden love that was reciprocated anyway... I couldn't take it anymore. This story could have been edited down to around a hundred pages and maybe I would have been a little more forgiving. Or if the adventure started somewhere earlier on in the first book, I would have had a reason to keep reading. But as I was told, after Bella and Edward have their mutual affections not quite acknowledged by each other, some villain will show up and well... apparently that's when it starts getting interesting.

Okay... Well, why didn't we get the villain and the intrigue to begin with. At the very least, incorporate the villain somewhere in the beginning so that I have SOMETHING to look forward to. While I like the occasion romance story (since I'm a sucker for rom-coms and romantic dramedies all around) I don't mind a story being based off of just a pair of lovers getting together. But it should at least be interesting... and written well. If the narration were at least witty, then I could follow it a little better and have better thoughts of Bella.

But no. I don't like Bella for her personality, her wannabe emo drama queen tendencies, her complete dedication to letting her entire life revolve around Edward every day, 24/7, and her lack of witticisms. She is JUST not an interesting person to follow. And her tendencies to be arrogant where she shouldn't be about her academics, about the rest of the peanut gallery going to high school with her... Because this is a case of creating a dull character who is actually the most appealing character in the story just because every other supporting character is created to be even flatter than the main character. No one else in the story has a personality either.

And so, to all of those people who recommended Twilight to me, bugging me to read the book before I judged anything... Twilight is totally NOT the "Best Book Ever". Case closed. At first, before even reading Twilight, I didn't really have much thought about it aside from, "I'm not interested in the vampire genre." Now, after attempting to read it, my impressions of it have gotten even worse. I probably would have been better off just leaving it alone.

However, I DO repeat, that I DO understand where the appeal lies. I get the story and I get cult following. What I DON'T get is how people can say the words "Best Story Ever" or "Best Book Ever" without batting an eye. I mean, sure, it's a cute little love story, based off of the most cliched trope in all romances: a poor, under-appreciated Cinderella girl meets her perfect, worship-worthy Prince Charming. And that's all it is.

And that's pretty much all I need to say about it. I'm sorry I couldn't give a more fair review by finishing the entire book then making my opinions... but I just couldn't find it in myself to pick the book back up and knock out the rest of it without hitting my head with the book a few more times.

First Impression from 2/6/2012
Before anyone starts jumping down my throat about my unfair judgement, let me start by saying that this is sort of like my "Pre-test" to reading Twilight. This is the "First Impression" opinion; the future still holds many possibilities to whether or not my opinions change. And you know what? I'm entitled to first impression opinions too. In the future when I've read and decided whether or not I actually enjoy this book (or even the entire series), THEN we can let the "I told you so's" commence. Until then, bear with me because I DO have lots of opinions.

For as far as I've read (probably just chapter one), Twilight reminds me of something painfully embarrassing about my own past: my first couple attempts at writing my own stories.

Basically this is how it adds up: I take a basic plot and add an ideal heroine to it. Along the way, that ideal heroine ends up becoming more and more Mary Sue to the point that even I start to become annoywed with her. In fact, I keep adding on self-claimed traits that make absolutely no contribution to the story outside of bolstering my Mary Sue into a bigger Mary Sue. While I'm at it, I make said Mary Sue into a self-proclaimed loser... however, due to all of the other descriptive factors about her, we are pretty hard-pressed to believe half of what she says about herself. In essence, she has become the resident high school drama queen despite the fact that she has nothing to throw around about dramatic woes. She's the pretty, smart, misunderstood girl with a heart of gold; but in reality, she's got a nice family, people willing to get to know her, and she's really not as individualistic or alone as she keeps claiming, and honestly NOT that witty either.

For instance, Bella's little cheek about the high school kids of Forks not understanding sarcasm. This is a little snit that would have had more conviction if it had come from someone who was naturally sardonic to begin with; however, so far in her own narration, I have sensed no colorful or creative witticisms. In fact, she's really just telling things as they occur, making a comparison here and there, every so often that seem like an attempt to be witty, but ultimately just end up being flat analysis. If there had been some sarcasm intended in any part of her narration, I must have missed it completely, or just didn't understand it all (my bad).

At best, she seems pretentious and extra-emo-wannabe (which I don't condemn her for because she IS a high school girl after all and we've all been through that phase). At the very least, could she have been written a little more in style rather than on such a bland first impression?

What else can I add? Oh yes. Writing style. Simple, straight forward, yet unattractive and almost too monotonous. Once again, very much like the way I used to attempt writing my own stories -- like I had a stunted vocabulary or something like that.

Bella Swan is an extremely one dimensional character for all I can see right now. It's probably unfair of me to judge her so prematurely (only one chapter into the book), but the fact that she seems to have a lot of qualifiers for her own personality versus how she really sounds versus how she sees herself... it makes it hard to know in which direction she's supposed to eventually develop. She sees herself as an outcast, takes no pleasantries with her mood, attitude, or looks, but almost has an air of feeling like she's the one being singled out when in fact she's the one shoving people away. In terms of character, I'm already not liking her.

HOWEVER, to the benefit of the story itself, I have to admit that it's quite intriguing already. Its only downfall is that it's written with a style very akin to someone at third grade vocabulary level. Short descriptions, using the same expressions and words, no analogies, no words worthy of imagination... Random tidbit information that does story progression no good, but at the very least, they are brief and so you forget about anyway (which makes it kind of unnecessary and you wonder why we need to know about each and every class Bella is attending throughout the day). But the story's idea isn't bad; the premise is attractive enough that its gotten my attention for the next scene or the next chapter to come.

Why is Edward Cullen so hostile to Bella before he's even met her? What's up with the entirety of the high school who seem so curious about Bella? Most of all, already knowing the premise of this story line, what ends up drawing a vampire to Bella when he starts off the very first chapter resenting her very being, repulsed by her presence, and simply angry that he even has to breathe the same air as she does?

For the most part, I have enough of an interest in the story line to continue on with this book. At least I have an idea where it's going and where it will end up. I just want to know what happens to get it there. Unfortunately, it's the character of Bella Swan as well as the writing style that's got me conflicted about how well I'll be able to follow the rest of the story. Nonetheless, after this first chapter, I'm going to be adding this book to my reading list permanently. I'm a sucker for romance anyway, and so if the story develops ideally, then at the very least, I've got a nice romance and a possibly interesting story to follow.

After all, there HAS to be a reason why so many people are so in love with this entire series, right?

I realize that my opinions might seem rather harsh for only having read one chapter. And I realize that people might think that I'm not interested in giving Twilight a fighting chance either. And I admit openly that I really DID start reading this book with the intention of fully NOT enjoying it. Yes, I was looking for faults, which conclusively resulted in my finding of so many of them. Call it bias or call it an anti-popular trend streak I have, but whatever it is, this is exactly how I felt about the beginning of the book.

I'm not the type to be pretentious and hate everything that's popular. I've been on the Harry Potter bandwagon, the Hunger Games tent... so I'm not averse to popularity. And yes, I DO admit that I've had my criticisms of Twilight, prejudged before I've even read or seen the movies. I'm not a fan of vampire genres outside of the original Dracula novel, and have always had issues with weak female leads (of which I've heard so much from others, seems to fit Bella Swan's description). BUT, I'm willing to give this series a chance to change my mind because I don't want to be told that I can't judge a book before I've even had a chance to experience it.

And so, come what may... Maybe by the time I've gotten to the heart of Twilight's conflict (which I've heard doesn't even quite come around until Book Three?), I'll be fully engrossed with the entire world and the story. Maybe I'll even come around to like Bella. But for now, in this present, this post is exactly how I feel about Twilight: my pre-judgement and my "only-one-chapter-in-impression-so-how-dare-I-pass-judgement-so-quickly" first impression opinions.



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Review: Good Tidings

Good Tidings by Terri Reid

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Two books, one author, three days. It would probably only take about a day to read these short and cozy mysteries by Terri Reid, but I typically start off my reading day nearing the night (since I'm third shift and that's the time I'm awake) and then finish it sometime after the new day has come around. I must say that these books are quite satisfying -- at the very least, I'm turning pages wanting to know how the mystery is solved.

Of course, these ARE pretty short stories from what I'm used to reading, so I'm not surprised that I've been finishing them up so quickly.

The second book of the Mary O'Reilly paranormal mysteries takes our two main heroes all the way to Mary's home city of Chicago in an investigation of an infant snatching. The deceased six year old big brother of the kidnapped infant is Mary's "client" this time; he is Joey Marcum who was able to remain by his family's side after death as his little brother's guardian angel. In this case then, little Joey makes for a pretty good spy in finding out what's going on around his brother and the infant snatchers and what they're doing.

We also get some insight into Mary's near-death experience as well as learn more about Bradley Alden's past. There's some forwarded romantic development as well as a lot of nice and warm moments among the O'Reilly family.

For starters, the writing style seems to be progressively getting better and better. I'd chance to say that the author could still use some editing as I've caught a lot of consistent grammatical errors and awkward word usage. But overall, just like the first book, it was a fun mystery experience. Good Tidings, however, wasn't as good as the first one despite having a more refined format and I think there was a little too much being slopped together from the kidnapping case and then moving into a drug/murder conspiracy. The transitioning felt a bit awkward, but it still managed to pull through.

What I'm loving about the Mary O'Reilly series so far is really the characters and their developments. I love Stanley and Rosie with a passion -- these two side characters are created as very witty, very loyal, yet brutally honest best friends to our heroine. I also like seeing the few side ghostly story arcs that take place so that we know that Mary doesn't simply attract all the crazy encounters that lead her into murder cases, kidnapping cases, rape cases (can I use the word rape in these reviews?)... the like. We see that there are some ghostly visitors who just have a simple unfinished matter that needs to attend to and then they can move on and be at peace.

While I'm continuing to enjoy the series, I didn't quite care for this second book as much as I had enjoyed the first one. And so here's hoping that the third one is just as gripping.



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Review: Loose Ends

Loose Ends by Terri Reid

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I feel like I just opened up this book on my tablet and started reading it not long ago. Before I realized what was happening, I was 50% finished and still wanting to continue reading. In that instant, despite the "newbie writer" feel that I get from the way this book was written, I knew that this would be a winner.

As stated already, in my first and only update, I love a good mystery and I'm a sucker for ghostly mysteries. So the summary of the story line really hooked me in already and I became curious. It also helped that this is one of those self-published cheap buys going for the "this won't even put a dent in my savings account" price. So it wasn't like I had much to lose just buying it and reading it out of curiosity. (AND I needed something to recover from my failed Twilight reading attempt.)

Aside from the mystery and paranormal/supernatural aspects of this book, I think what I found I liked as well were the characters. Mary O'Reilly, being an ex Chicago top police officer turned private investigator was already a great back history to go with for a strong female protagonist. And from day one of this delightful mystery, this young woman kicked butt (not literally). Despite there being a tall and handsome Police Chief introduced as a good "Knight in Shining Armor" to help her out, a lot of times, Mary managed pretty well on her own; none of that damsel in distress stuff. Mary O'Reilly was created to be a strong female lead and the author delivers.

I had stated earlier that this book gave me that same feeling that amateur writers often give me. Let me rephrase this description:

I used to lurk the forums of Fictionpress.com and Fanfiction.net regularly a couple years back. These are both places for amateur writers (some not so amateur) who didn't have the means of publishing, but just wanted to share their ideas with the online community. I used to be one of those before I realized that I'm just NOT a good writer despite having so many ideas for some possible good story lines and characters. A lot of the work uploaded onto these two sites are typically like "impulse" stories. One of these people come up with a cute idea, writes a short story about it and then uploads it for all to see. And so what I'm saying is, a good percentage of stories seen on these websites are typically the raw, first draft version -- there has been no editing outside of catching a few punctuation and grammatical errors here and there. Sometimes this particular story has only ever been read by the author alone before being uploaded.

So the writing style is usually straight forward, to the point with little description, no drawn out narrations, and sometimes random scenes that you wonder about. It's not the best format every, and a lot of paragraphs could have been lengthened for more detail or combined so that the form didn't look so choppy. The rest of the story was based a lot on dialogue as well, more so than narration (a lot of "he said" and then "she said" and then "she said again" repetition in conversations). This is how I felt about Loose Ends when I started reading it. The flow of scenes was a little awkward wherein when a scene changed, I didn't realize it. Sometimes it took my a bit of thinking to realize who was talking. For instance, when we introduce Mary O'Reilly, one moment she's in her kitchen pondering about the headless soldier haunting her, the very next paragraph she's in bed hitting the snooze button on her alarm. There had been no signs of scene transition and I had gotten a slight case of confusion, wondering if she'd dreamed the whole headless soldier thing.

However, the chapters were short, the details were to-the-point, and there was no unnecessary prattling in narration. And as the book continued on, I found that it didn't matter how the format was put together; short chapters were nice, random scene changes transitioned better within each chapter, and our main character was really growing on me. By mid-book, all I cared about was the story, the characters and how everything would turn out in the end. Granted, as most mysteries usually go, you pretty much figure out who the culprit is by then as well and you're really just trying to get to the end to see how our heroes finally figure out the truth; also, in the case of Mary O'Reilly, we also get a chance to see how she manages to find REAL evidence to put our criminal away. As the summary goes, "a ghost's word just doesn't hold up in court" or something like that.

The process of which Mary goes through her investigation, utilizing her ghostly sources as well as the living sources and tying everything together was rather refreshing. And it was good that she was able to move through all of her investigation like a pro (she was an ex cop after all). Unfortunately, there are points where we head a little too far into standard Mary Sue territory and Mary O'Reilly seems too perfect to be true... and then she either blunders something or shows those defining character flaws and we are back on track.

Paranormal genres are already quite hard to handle because they don't sit very well on the reality scale. A reader's suspension of disbelief is truly tested on these types of stories and if done properly, you've got yourself an excellent telling; done wrong and that impression is forever lost because the reader won't be able to get passed that first "supernatural" occurrence enough to buy into the rest of the story line.

So Loose Ends, in this aspect, does a great job drawing the reader into both the ghostly aspect as well as the mystery. To conclude, the character of Mary O'Reilly was also quite witty and there were two specific scenes in the entire book where I actually laughed out loud. Frankly, Terri Reid pretty much won me over with her female lead actually deducing that walking into her basement alone knowing that someone is out to kill her wouldn't be a good idea because she'd "seen the movies." I have always made fun of horror movie girls for walking right into the killer when she really should have gotten reinforcements or ran away. So when Mary decided to call the Police Chief rather than out-stubborn her own common sense with her ex-cop strong woman pride, I gave a little cheer. I'm not saying that the girl isn't allowed to be the strong woman ex-cop, but I'm saying that at the very least, she wasn't stupid about her situation, which wins more points than trying to be independent and strong (not that I'm above creating that stubborn independence in some of my own female leads).

As short as it was (with some of the shortest chapters I've ever read) this book hooked me from beginning until the end. And well, now I'm off to find the rest of the Mary O'Reilly mysteries.



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