Ugh...

I just feel like ugh today... That's all.

Review: A Tangled Web

A Tangled Web by Mercedes Lackey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was short, sweet and cute, and made for a quick read for a boring afternoon. Not much to say about it, but the re-visioning of the Greek gods was interesting, to say the least. I didn't mind seeing more of Leopold and Brunnhilde since they only appeared briefly at the end of The Sleeping Beauty, though I would have liked to see more of how they'd met and fallen in love. Romance, unfortunately, doesn't seem like a very strong factor in the Five Hundred Kingdoms world since most of the books seemed to lack very exciting romances; they keep falling too flat for my liking.

Nonetheless, it was enjoyable.



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Review: Thread of Fear

Thread of Fear by Laura Griffin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I've got notes and more notes, mostly about some things I feel like nit-picking, though not so much about the story itself as much as about the characters... and some of the story. There probably won't be a full review, but I've got a few opinions I can just do a quick blurb on this book. But for now, it's bedtime for me.

Take note, at least there was enough anticipation and suspense to keep me hooked until the conclusion, and it didn't feel tedious; this is always a good thing, though after I have the chance to get my thoughts together, my impression may not have changed much.

Review to come soon.

***

Okay, so here it is. I've got a lot of quibbles with this story altogether. I'm leaning more towards a 2.5 star rating, but the fact that I DID get caught up in the overall premise gave it a good one star. I liked Fiona enough, but a lot about her personality bugged me. She get's half a star. The pacing was also a good plus and with a few things here and there, it gets a whole of one more star. Tallied up: 2.5 stars total. And so that I'm fair, I took off about two stars just for Jack Bowman alone, because I just can't stand him. Normally I like a lot of the main male characters in romantic suspenses, but Jack... *sigh*


The good parts of the book I've already mentioned. The story started off rather slow, but as the case progressed, I got into it and couldn't put it down for good reasons. I didn't have any "I can't wait until this book is over" moments, which is always a good thing. The murder mystery had a lot of promise, basing off of an eleven year old crime and trying to connect it with some present day crimes and some unknown missing persons cases. And I also liked the Forensic Artist angle as well. We've seen all aspects of the investigations surrounding detectives and agents, but I like seeing other aspects of the forensic scene become involved as well (i.e. medical examiners, forensic scientists, crime scene investigators, criminal profilers... the like). And I KNOW that the investigative process usually doesn't include the other branches following leads, doing their own investigations, and interviewing witnesses. But I also realize that these are works of fiction, and the suspense is in the fact that our other branches like to overstep their bounds a little bit, thus effectively putting themselves into danger (a la suspense crime novels).

I'll buy it because it makes for some decent crime thrillers.


And now, my quibbles about the story... a lot of it seemed to have been left out in the cold. And there was a lot of interweaving of story lines that didn't seem to have anything to do with one another. I will admit, I enjoyed the Shelby kidnapping case, but it could have been a whole other book on it's own since it had little to do with the main crime that was being investigated. Then there's Courtney's side anecdote involving Nathan and stuff ensuing... I'm not sure where we were going with that, but if it was supposed to tie into some later parts of the series or other books... well, I'm still confused.

The side characters (even the main culprit) were all bland. Courtney had an explosive personality, which was fine as Fiona's little sister. But we also hint at some sort of mysterious, traumatic past that happened during their childhood... and then it just disappears. Will it show up in the next book? Or are we done with flashbacks?

Fiona was a slipper/doormat/swaying blade of grass combination. I wanted her to be stronger and pursue what SHE wanted for herself. It irked me that she allowed other people to influence what SHE wanted to do with her life. If you want to be a painter full time, go be a painter full time. If you can't let go of the Forensic Artist job, then don't look so pained to have to take a new case every time. I couldn't really tell if she finally ended up in the place where she's finally happiest. Or maybe that was the point of the story. I don't know. Because her constant giving in to taking new cases made me feel bad for her, thinking that maybe she was just someone who had a hard time letting others down so didn't know how to say "no" to them. In the end, I wasn't sure what to make of her, especially when it came to her personal life and it seemed like she really, really just made it a point to let people walk all over her.

Courtney pushed herself into Fiona's life and left messes left and right. I'm all for sisterly love and all, but it's not really healthy for the elder sister to let her younger sister just traipse around getting into trouble all the time without saying anything. This made Fiona meek and a bit of a pushover. And then she goes and let's Jack Bowman into her life so that he can manipulate and manhandle her whenever he feels like it. He lies to her, keeps her at a distance, comes on to her whenever he feels like it, lies to her, leaves her hanging, treats her like an outsider, lies to her, and he makes it perfectly clear that he's really just interested in sex. Oh, and did I mention that he lies to her? A lot?

Which brings me to Jack. Oh... Jack. I decided that he is a Grade A Jack-Ass.

He's pushy. I give him props for being a good investigator and being persistent. Sometimes you have to be persistent. And if he'd just had that trait going for him, then it would have been fine. But Jack goes beyond persistent and just become forcefully pushy... and manipulative. Okay, so I'm fine with him being a bit persistent and manipulative to get what he wants. Women do it all the time.

But then he starts to supply his double standards everywhere.

He needs Fiona to help him with his case so that he can get his big break. This is a cold case and he needs all the help he can get. He misleads Fiona into interviewing a woman who had been victimized eleven years ago; while angry at first, Fiona agrees, but lays down her disclaimer: eleven years ago is already too long ago and we may not find anything useful, these conditions aren't ideal. He wants her to try and sketch the possible suspect anyway. And then the results come out exactly like she'd predicted... so now Jack is disappointed with her. Really?

But that's okay, because he's sexually attracted to her, so let's keep her around for a little longer anyway so he can get his sexual frustration taken care of. And, you know, it's all about sex anyway, because he doesn't really mention anything about her personality or the like... he just keeps looking at her boobs and her butt. That's fine too. Sexual attraction is totally legit.

But now that he's gotten to know her, suddenly he knows what's best for her? He's not happy that she's trying to help him some more? Following leads? Interviewing another witness and sketching another possible suspect? No. He wants her to stay out of the case; this isn't a field for her and she should just go back to her paintings and her art galleries.

Excuse me? First, you drag her into your case when she's adamant about staying out of the law enforcement scene. Then you make her uncomfortable by trying to sleep with her. And then you decide that maybe you're "da man" after all and you need to keep your woman away from the dangers of law enforcement? Where the heck does he come off making those decisions for her in the first place anyway? You're just the guy who wants to sleep with her because she's got a luscious ass and big boobs. You have no say over her life, so even if she wants to put her life in peril by following up on a few leads that might help your cold case investigation because you couldn't think about those leads, you have no right to tell her to stay put.

And the lying! But I'll be frank. Maybe Fiona should have been a bit more forthcoming about how she feels about people lying to her. If she didn't like it, she should have said so since to her, lying comes too naturally with police officers. And when he lied to her the first three times, maybe she should have just walked away. Instead, she lets him continue to lie to her, continue to omit information, and just lets him get away with it.

At first, I figured, you know, it's not a big deal. You guys are working on a professional level and the lying is just standard "this is a confidential case" type of deal. And about his personal life, it's really none of her business anyway. But then he started getting personal and the lying continued into their personal interests and THAT was where I just... well, I planked.



SPOILER PARAGRAPH
And then there's more lying, not more than mere moments after sleeping with each other. And while we know and even Jack knows that he's hurt her feelings by being a lying sack of shit, he still waltzes right back into her life like nothing happened and he's all macho alpha male who saves her life and takes care of her while she's recovering... What the heck? Where's the groveling and the redemption? When did Jack even confront his feelings for Fiona? Because as far as I read, his interest in her was two things: 1) Professionally as the best Forensic Artist known; and 2) sexually because she's hot and has big boobs. So I'm stumped with this relationship.
SPOILER PARAGRAPH OVER


Anyway...

Now that my rant is finished... well, I guess as far as the subject matter went, I DID enjoy the book to an extent. If I didn't get all headed up, I probably wouldn't have much to talk about. Needless to say, I admired Fiona and her talent and skill. I admired her on and off independence. But I don't really admire her personal life much. And I just didn't like Jack.

I have plans to read the rest of the series, which, to be honest, I'm only reading because I'm interested in the Tracers series and these two books are prequel-like books that lead into Tracers. But this particular book left a lot of things open-ended that I hope get addressed in the next book... though I'm sure won't happen since it would be a bit out of place.

Hate me and my review, for I like happy endings and relationships that I can actually understand. And is it really too much to ask for a couple where the partners respect each other enough NOT to be Jack-Asses about it?



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Review: Thread of Fear

Thread of Fear by Laura Griffin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I've got notes and more notes, mostly about some things I feel like nit-picking, though not so much about the story itself as much as about the characters... and some of the story. There probably won't be a full review, but I've got a few opinions I can just do a quick blurb on this book. But for now, it's bedtime for me.

Take note, at least there was enough anticipation and suspense to keep me hooked until the conclusion, and it didn't feel tedious; this is always a good thing, though after I have the chance to get my thoughts together, my impression may not have changed much.

Review to come soon.



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Review: The Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Yea, I really, really enjoyed this one. This is probably one of the better of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, though I've noticed that we get a lot of hit-or-miss with this particular series. I'm glad I love the world enough to continue following it even with a book here and there that tank pretty badly.

I DO appreciate the humor and found myself laughing out loud on various occasions throughout the book. I also appreciate the fast-paced-ness of the story progression, although there was a point where it felt like the story went from Plot A to Plot B and became a totally different story with the same players. Nonetheless, it wasn't aggravating enough to turn me off. I loved the characters created, though with so many of them running around, I found that it was hard to relate to one or another without feeling detached. If not for their personalities, the story line, and the humor, I'm not sure how well the characters would have stayed with me.

I so, SO, want to just go through and highlight every line in the book that I found hilarious. I know that some people might not find certain things funny, but I get amused really easily by simple things. For instance, the idea of seeing Siegfried running from his Shieldmaiden of Doom (even if the event is only narrated as an occurrence in the past) and mentioning that the Gods were probably just moving the same girl in a ring of fire around the lands... I found that ticklishly giggle-worthy. And the Wise Beast Bird -- Oh, I LOVED her!

There has never been one Godmother in this series so far I didn't like, and so I really, really loved that Godmother Lily had such an explosive personality. She was awesome and funny and resourceful all in one package. And Rosamund was a fairly competent heroine I enjoyed following through the book.

The only qualms that I do have about this book were the romances, which seemed a bit flat. Then again, in the end, they didn't really bother me all too much anyway. Aside from that there were moments of corny dialogue that even I had to wince at, and there was a slight detour in my attention somewhere (even if I don't really remember at what point), and like the rest of the series, we do suffer from some "conveniently placed resolutions" scattered among the story line, though in this case, I didn't mind them as much since they were plot points that showed up in the later stages of the story rather than being used to force the story progression.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book a lot. I'm a sucker for laugh-out-loud, and coupled with great prose, concepts, and decent plot progression and well created characters, I'm sold up and down.



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Review: Love Me to Death

Love Me to Death by Allison Brennan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I didn't enjoy Love Me To Death as much as I had expected to, but then again, maybe I'd been expecting too much considering all the great reviews I'd seen about this book. I'm going to chance that this isn't the type of book for me; nonetheless, it was well written with a great concept and story line. The characters were great as well, but at the same time, they seemed really detached from the story itself up until the halfway point. For me, it was like watching a bunch of actors trying to figure out how to settle into their characters naturally, and for the first half of the book, they just felt hollow and absent. Because by the end of the book, I've grown an interest in some of the side characters presented and am considering reading some of the other Allison Brennan books featuring a Kincaid.

Anyway, the mystery wasn't as predictable as I thought it was, which was a pleasant surprise. But the main culprit also didn't lend any shock value for my reading experience. The romance was sweet, but it also bordered on being slightly dull as well since both Lucy and Sean are the typical main female and male coupling you would see in most stories. Where I didn't really care for the characters at the beginning (their significance seemed narrated and told more than felt), by the end of the book, Lucy grew on me as did Kate and some of the side characters. I still don't care too much about Sean Rogan, but that's okay.

This is a good book for a quick crime mystery.



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Review: How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You

How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You by Matthew Inman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I got interested in this cute little picture book because of the "How To Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting To Kill You" poster I found on Pinterest that probably came from this book. It was cute and funny, especially since my one of my best friends and I are always joking about how her cats are trying to kill her, but choose not to do so since that would mean they have no slave to boss around. So instead, they choose to torture her by making her life miserable:

You know, sitting on her nice clean clothes the moment they come out of the dryer; rub against her perfect outfit the moment she's ready to leave the house; batting cat litter all over her floor immediately after she mops; planting their lazy butts on her (and her guests') laps with no regard to the fact that we might have to get up and pee soon; and generally spying at her from the top of shelves and giving her guests a heck of a heart attack by darting out of the room, or in front of a walking persons' path.

Yes, we love her cats, but we still think they're evil. It's a nice little twisted world out there.

So when I saw this book, I thought it might be cute to check it out. I even contemplated buying it as a gift for her... (in fact, I still might). But I found this as a library check out e-book, so decided to check it out for free.

The stuff in here was generally humorous, amusing... some of it was laugh-out-loud funny. Some of it, however, I kind of rolled my eyes at. The Bob series was a little... well, again, some of it was funny and the rest of it was kind of meh. And then some of it was kind of disconcerting rather than tastefully offensive.

But that's the whole point of humor anyway, right? You can't always make everyone laugh and you can't always please everyone. And not everyone understands what you find funny while at the same time, you don't always find what others find funny... well, funny. Case in point: I have a dry sense of humor (which probably doesn't show much of the time) that I feel no one understands, save for some friends who are just as corny as I am.

Nonetheless, I would give this a "This was cute and funny" rating. In other words, 3 stars cause I liked it, but not much more than that.



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Review: Irish Mist - Sean's Story

Irish Mist - Sean's Story by Terri Reid

My rating: n/a



Well this is a pleasant surprise. A VERY pleasant surprise.

The word on the net is that Sean O'Reilly gets his own story and series... unless I've misunderstood something here. I'm not an avid fan or reader of the Mary O'Reilly mysteries, but I HAVE enjoyed the first six books immensely as well as the entirety of the little world and the characters.

Sean O'Reilly happened to be one of my favorites (despite what little appearances he's made) and I had secretly hoped Terri Reid would make him the main character in one of the books. I guess I get my wish fulfilled... and then some.

Unfortunately, I haven't read it yet since I'm trying to cut back on book buying for the time being (I've already reached my budget limit this month, and yes, $0.99 is still money). And as much as I've enjoyed reading the Mary O'Reilly series, even just $0.99 for a 25 page short story is a bit much, though I'm not opposed to spending the money at some point, just not now.

Ack... we'll see. My goal is to spend less money on books and discipline is important right now...



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Review: The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Added 5/17/13: I don't have much else thought up to refine this review more, but at the end of the original review post, I've added some notes I jotted down while reading The 5th Wave that I wanted to share.


Originally written on 5/9/13, a brief post:
I'm leaning more towards 4.5 stars, but that's only because I haven't quite had time to entirely process the ending yet -- I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. And I have a few quibbles about certain parts of the book that may have made my mind wander a little bit.

Nonetheless, this book was certainly an intense, fast-paced, magnificent read that had me grasping for the next chapter and then the next and the next continuously. I couldn't put it down and there was not a moment of boredom to be had.

If no one's been following my updates, I will repeat how much I loved the characters. Cassie is so much kickass and badass female main character rolled in with all of her character flaws and sardonic survivalist 'tude that I had tons of fun following her POV. Ben has a similar voice to Cassie's, but after the initial introduction of his character, I found I was able to pick him out better. As for Evan... well, he's totally charming and hot and so much awesome, just like Cassie.

There were quite a few predictable points that I'm not sure whether or not were meant for the reader to pick up on right away, such as Evan's identity and what the 5th Wave ended up being. But what made them great despite their predictability would be the fact that the suspense building up to the big reveal balanced out just fine.

I'm usually pretty bad about writing reviews in general; and I'm worse off at writing about books that I "OMG, I can't put this book down cause I love it so much" worship. The Hunger Games was a book I couldn't think of anything to write about (also, I'd read that book before I stumbled upon Goodreads), and The Archived from the beginning of this year was another book I couldn't think of how to express me love for.

So I may or may not come back to this later on and add more thoughts, but for right now, these are my random brief opinions.

***

Added 5/17/13:
I like how everything unfolds as Cassie recounts both her present survival dilemma while including some brief flashbacks into the past. Without a massive informational dump, she recounts incidents associated with previous Waves as they apply to her current situation, and then she moves on. I love how sardonic and dark her personality is -- that she’s not a hundred percent anger and melancholy; that she still has a sense of twisted humor to go with her ass-kicking, gun-toting survivalist task. At the same time, she still exhibits the ideals of a normal teenage girl (carrying the essentials of toiletries along on her trek because, even if she is to die on this journey, she would still rather be squeaky clean); but she also knows what essentials she cannot go without as well as some “just in case” essentials (like the matches for in case she needs to set something on fire or blow something up).

I also like that she’s not immune to being paranoid about the people around her. She’s got major character flaws that make her more or less human in the face of extinction. She hates that everyone had gone on a big stink about the alien invasion with all their own theories. She tries to play it cool as if she doesn’t care, but in reality it’s freaking her out. And then, when everything goes to hell on her, she moves on because she knows she has to move on. She hesitates to kill when faced with a possible enemy, but when the time comes down to it, she automatically lets her survival instincts kick in by pulling the trigger. Her main plight is to survive long enough to find her brother, Sammy... which essentially just boils down to, “find Sammy and take him back” without any concrete plans of the entire process. This is what makes me love her so much, if only because she knows what she needs to do even if she doesn’t know exactly what she actually needs to do. Make sense? Probably not.

And here's a second set of jotted notes:
There’s always that moment in the book when something happens unexpectedly... and in an “Oh my God, I did NOT expect that” sort of way. Even if it was just something small and might have even been insignificant to anyone else. And at that point, somehow, you know that if you weren’t already hooked by that book, then you are now; or, if you were already hooked, you’re even more so than before.

When the second part “Wonderland” started, I spent the entire time trying to figure out who this new POV was. I mean, I figured out pretty quickly that this person was not Cassie anymore and that we were maybe being introduced to a new player in this apocalyptic world; but no names were given, only the 1st person account like this was some sort of private journal. I was prepared to find out who this new person was, granted, a part of me didn’t really care because his narration and Cassie’s narration only had a slight amount of difference in tone and voice. His narration was slightly more cynical and apathetic while Cassie’s was more realistic and “let’s kick some ass”. They both have the same sense of dry sarcasm with an undertone of dark melancholy (seeing as how the world is being decimated even as they both narrate their parts and billions have died).

This brought me to think: I guess there’s a difference in the way you see the future’s outcome when the human race is near extinction. He had lost his entire family and almost died from the plague so he had nothing left to live for; in turn, everything became a pessimistic soup of self-woe. Cassie, on the other hand, still had a brother to search for, and so despite her knowledge that she might not make it alive, she was intent on keeping her promise to find her brother; given that situation, she had a reason to keep her going.



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Review: The Crossing Places

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



My main issue with this book, I think, was the third person, present tense narration. It somehow made the story and its characters seem a lot more impersonal and harder to relate with. I like the idea of relating archaeology with a modern crime mystery, because aside from being a sleuthing reader, you also learn a few interesting things about history and culture. As I'd already mentioned in a status update, the only parts of the book that actually caught my attention were when we were investigating the little girls' kidnappings and when Ruth explained about some archaeology facts. Outside of that, the more personal sides of the characters seemed... well, tedious, and I found myself being hard-pressed to really care.

So this book wasn't terrible, but I just didn't really care for it much. It was written well despite the present tense usage, but it just wasn't for me.



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Review: Reboot

Reboot by Amy Tintera

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a very strong, decent debut for the series and the author, and I was hooked almost immediately. A fast paced read, simple and straight forward with a butt-kicking female main character who "saves the day" over and over again by being her kickass self.

I'll have to admit, while I'm a strong advocate of balance among genders, I can't say that I don't get a little more excited by the main female character being the stronger, more badass of characters in the story. That Wren was supposedly the strongest of the Reboots because of how long she was dead before coming back to life, and that it clearly shows to be true through actions and NOT just as a narrative description made this book one of my more favored ones of the dystopian/YA genre so far.

Like I've mentioned in other reviews before, the main female character sometimes plays a very hefty hand in making or breaking my love for a book.

As for Callum, he was just so darn adorable and sweet. I would love for him to start kicking ass too, but really, as long as he maintains his adorable sunshine and rainbows attitude, I'm going to enjoy having him around. It doesn't fail my observations that the main male character is typically a dark, stoic, strong, and very alpha-MALE personality. It's not that I don't like those either (I love them when they're hot and caring and respectful and the perfect Mr. Perfects), but they DO get overused and boring, and so when you get a male character like Callum who just radiates sunny days (or even like Wes from The Archived who's more comedic and optimistic cuteness than tall, dark and strong) they stand out a lot more, in my opinion.

I love both types of guys (when written right), but you have to admit that the same formula of couple-dom (strong man protectin' his woman from everything in the world) can get a little overused. So I liked the couple chemistry and dynamics in this particular story quite a bit (also one of the reasons why The Hunger Games was one of my favorites). It's not that I always want a dominant female to a beta-male -- I enjoy a good, well balanced alpha-male with an equally strong female who can hold her own with or without him, just as much.

Of course, character description isn't the only thing that makes a book good. The plot and concept were equally enticing -- just the concept alone was a hit for me: Reboots being people who have died and come back to life because of a KDH virus that somehow restarts your entire system, body and mind. We draw a whole new line with this "walking undead" premise, seeing the "zombies" from their point of view rather than as the brain-dead, flesh-eating monsters that are normally seen in traditional zombie movies and the like. Instead, despite death and being raised back into the living, Reboots still live and feel like normal human beings. No matter how much Wren opposes the idea that she has human emotion, you can see almost immediately that she feels the same things that normal humans would feel: pride, arrogance, anger, indifference, fear, joy...

The pacing and writing was well done; the underlying conspiracies and broken government devices were explained decently. The ending was rounded out very well.

I am looking forward to seeing what Wren would do for herself, however, since she'd lived as a Reboot drone, then chose to defy HARC because of Callum. Nothing she's done so far contributes to "what does Wren want" and has mostly been influenced by other people. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, because it propelled the story forward, getting it where it needs to be. (It might be too early of me to decide, but just due to the characters alone, I might like this one more so than I liked The Hunger Games.) The only downfall is that the world seems a little underdeveloped, still, and I hope that more things will be addressed in the next books to come (I'm going to assume that this will be a trilogy, as is the norm for almost all the YA fantasies out there now).

Reboot was a nice, fast-paced read, action-packed with few to none dull moments. There were a few traits and quibbles here and there that seemed to fall short for me, but overall, I enjoyed the book a lot and look forward to the next book in the series come 2014.



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Review: Naked Edge

Naked Edge by Pamela Clare

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I'm trying to formulate the right things to say about this particular installation of the I-Team series, because I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the entire story, plus the ending. The "feel" of Naked Edge just wasn't as... stimulating as the previous books. Hard Evidence was intense and exciting, Unlawful Contact was emotionally stimulating and full of suspense and "Wow"-ness, and Extreme Exposure was the thrilling introduction to our I-Team world... but Naked Edge seems a little more tame in comparison. I'm not saying it wasn't good; I'm just saying I didn't get "that excited feel" from it that I got from the previous books.

Am I being a little unfair? Maybe, but that's why I'm trying to sort through my thoughts first before saying too much.

So... review to come.

***

Okay, so it didn't take THAT long to formulate my thoughts, so here they are: Beware a couple spoilers here and there, though I tried to hide all the ones I felt were important.


I hadn't quite expected to bullrush through Naked Edge this quickly; however, it seemed that once I got through a certain point in the storyline, there was no turning back. This pattern has been no different from the rest of the I-Team books I've already red. Granted, I probably should have been sleeping instead of reading, it's not like I ever listen to my "one more chapter, then sleep" mantra -- especially if that mantra lasts about twenty chapters. So there's no doubting that Naked Edge is a book that lives up to the awesomeness that follows suit with the I-Team series.

However, I'm floating on 4 stars for this fourth installment of the series for a lot of reasons that I can't entirely pinpoint. While the plot was a good one, the crime thrill intense, and the romance sizzling and emotional... all of it had this feeling of, well... falling slightly short. Maybe this is an unfair projection of my own expectations in a comparison with the previous three books. Maybe I wanted it to surpass the previous book too much because I really wanted to jump into Katherine James' turn as the strong, badass main female character. Or maybe... I'm too much still in love with Julian Darcangelo (with Marc Hunter coming up in a tight second) that the "rock jock" boy Gabriel Rossiter didn't even stand a chance unless he really stood out (and I mean really, really stood out).

But this wasn't entirely due to characters.

Kat was strong and steady, there's no doubt about that; but a little part of me couldn't help but notice that her dignified, conservative personality also made her a little bit of a pushover. I mean, sure she had what it took to survive in this world and could kick butt if she really wanted to... but the fact was that half the time her dignity made her walk away instead of getting that "in your face" kind of spunk that I think most journalists really have to rely on in order to get anywhere. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it just seemed to make Kat a bit too docile. And maybe that's just her charm and I'm not feeling it because I've overdosed myself with I-Team novels to the point where the feelings of awesome, expectation, and fear of disappointment (as well as a heavy dose of "staying up too late to read and thus very sleepy and blurry") are intermingled too closely together.

As for Gabe... I'm not sure what to make of him. He started out as the standard "dickhole" who was painted as having no interest in romance or love and who only thought with his nether region appendage. Which is fine, because I like the tradition "good girl melts the playing bad boy's heart" angle in a lot of other romances. Which is why I feel like Gabe doesn't stand out very well (from the previous two heroes, that is), and why the romance didn't really entice me as much -- it was a little too safe. When you find out that Gabe's got his own dark secret and learn the truth of it all... well... to be totally honest, I felt for him and I could see how what happened in his life could change him. I mean, come on, we were totally expecting a depressing past to explain away why he's such an uncaring manwhore, weren't we? I saw it coming the moment he started spouting all of his "no room for love in my life" crap. But while I could see the reasons and I could feel for him, it just didn't really "move" me. Don't get me wrong, Gabriel is a strong, respectful, and wonderful good man and makes for excellent hero material; he risked his life many times over to keep Kat safe and alive (then again, so did Julian and Marc for their respective leading ladies).

I guess that I'm just still too much in love with Julian, continuing to fall for Marc, and I'm starting to think that no one else will stand a chance against them, which... Oh my God, just made me wonder if I really have a thing for "dangerous, badass" men. Because Julian Darcangelo might have been one of the good guys all along, but he's got that "living on the edge" attitude that makes you excited, while hiding his great big softie tendencies from the rest of the world: he's the softy, sexy Teddy Bear in a Box. Marc Hunter did live on the edge, breaking multiple laws, and running as a fugitive for an entirety of a book, but also shelters that deep down respect for people and softness for his loved ones while trying to play off being a dangerous asshole: he's the handsome Goldenboy in Uniform. And those underlying traits of edginess in both of the men make them all the more enticing. Gabriel was just a standard good man with asshole tendencies, an underlying good heart, and a dark past; too many complications mixed together, but in the end, just your standard cliche of a broken hero and predictable.

But I'm getting off the point.

Like I said, it wasn't just the characters that didn't really appeal to me this time around (they were standard and they were safe). The story itself, while intense and meaningful to an extent, was a bit tame for what I'd been expecting of an I-Team thriller. It seemed too cut and polish for a murder/crime mystery/thriller, it was pretty predictable in terms of the main mystery key players and the main crime events, and it seemed that not as much investigation went on as much as information was just handed to our team players. Yeah, Kat did her end of digging and antagonizing the city, but the rest of the investigation seemed to have been done by either Julian or Marc so that Gabe and Kat (with their combined knowledge and expertise on the subject) could just piece everything together. If this wasn't the case, then I'm must have missed something in my ravaging hunger to finish the novel, but this is what the story felt like. Kat did her fair share of investigation, but a lot of times, she really was just waiting around for information to be released to her by the people who would rather see her broken body at the bottom of a ditch.

There were some parts of the story that struck me as a little slopping, especially towards the ending, which seemed to drag out a bit too much, significant as it might have seemed. On top of that that, also at the conclusion, I felt that our main "villains" were also kind of sloppy and lent little credence to how hard they tried to cover up their crimes. It wasn't hard to figure out as soon as they were presented, who was the mystery culprit this time around. Especially the main murderer who seemed comically evil at best. I DID appreciate the coyote's symbolism in Kat's dreams and spiritualist beliefs, because it lends an element to this particular I-Team book that the rest of the books didn't have. I also swooned lots at the continuous appearances of Julian and Marc as well as those moments of budding bromance between our men, including Gabe's addition to the loving banter of the boys. I must say though, the bodyguard angle at half-point in the story was a good twist, even if it added onto the running standard of cliches compiled in this particular book.

Anyway, I won't say that this was a terrible story. The action and the intensity was still there; there was a nice emotional kick to it, and I DID like Katherine James just as well as I expected to like her. The romance was sweet and sizzling as per usual, and I spent my sleep time devouring the entire book up to the finish. So, as I stated, there's no doubt that I enjoyed it despite all of my misgivings mentioned above. It just wasn't the best I-Team novel to date and didn't have much of a break through feeling for me. The story itself wasn't as stimulating, and the romance was a little less unique.

Anyway, after finishing Naked Edge though, I have come to the realization that, as much as I want to jump into the next installation, I'm going to hold off for a while. Sometimes, no matter how good something is, a little too much could be detrimental. Also, I've about reached my monthly book spending budget (and it's only the beginning of the month), and I figure it might be a good idea to let that obsession I have with Julian Darcangelo and Marc Hunter fade a little before proceeding onto the next story -- you know, so that we can give the next hero more of a fighting chance to win my heart, if you know what I mean. My apologies to Gabe and the "rock jock" god's fans out there -- Gabriel Rossiter and the romance with Katherine James just didn't really do it for me.



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Review: Naked Edge

Naked Edge by Pamela Clare

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I'm trying to formulate the right things to say about this particular installation of the I-Team series, because I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the entire story, plus the ending. The "feel" of Naked Edge just wasn't as... stimulating as the previous books. Hard Evidence was intense and exciting, Unlawful Contact was emotionally stimulating and full of suspense and "Wow"-ness, and Extreme Exposure was the thrilling introduction to our I-Team world... but Naked Edge seems a little more tame in comparison. I'm not saying it wasn't good; I'm just saying I didn't get "that excited feel" from it that I got from the previous books.

Am I being a little unfair? Maybe, but that's why I'm trying to sort through my thoughts first before saying too much.

So... review to come.



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Review: Unlawful Contact

Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



If I loved Kara McMillan and Tessa Novak, I absolutely adore Sophie Alton. To be totally honest, Sophie really hadn't been much of a presence in the previous two books (whereas Tessa's presence showed from Extreme Exposure), so I hadn't really had much expectation going into it. So imagine my delight when so much freshness was weaved into Sophie's story as we followed right alongside this intense, suspense filled, emotional thrill-ride of a crime-investigation mystery case. I have no doubt that Pamela Clare puts a lot of heart behind her creations and the fact that the I-Team world connects all the characters from one book to the next without taking away from the main story at hand is a wonderful experience that I'm glad I chose to continue following.

There comes a time in a series where you really can't think of anything else to say about the awesomeness of the next book or the next. You just know that it was an excellent read and that you loved it just as much as you love what's going on in the entire series, book after book after book. And you know that you can't wait to get your hands on the next book (which I have already done despite having tried to tell myself that I would try to wait it out and finish other books in my possession... so much for trying to disciplining my book binges...)

Character-wise, none of these books have ceased to make me love each and all the characters created, newly introduced and the like. Sophie was yet another strong, independent and kick-butt heroine, and just as Tessa had been shown in Hard Evidence, Sophie had her own unique character quirks and flaws (although she DID come dangerously close to being perfection as a strong heroine, but I give her leeway since she's so sweet and smart). Marc Hunter... well, he's pretty freakin' hot and it kills me how vulnerable he came out to be despite his strong, tough exterior. I love that Pamela Clare isn't afraid to paint her men and women with an equal brush -- that both genders have the same compulsions for emotional breakdowns just as well as standing strong.

My only nitpick with characters is that they're always so beautiful and well sculpted. But being that I enjoyed the romance, the story, and the character interactions (as well as the guiltily pleasurable sizzle) I've decided not to care that the women are petite and beautiful little things while the guys are sporting bodies of Greek gods. In fact, I think I will continue to enjoy these lovely fantasies, thank you very much.

As far as the story is concerned, I'll have to say that this one is by far the most emotional, stimulating one (of the three books I've read so far). I hadn't been expecting the books to get better and better each time, but having one of the main characters at the heart of the entire investigation, connected so deeply and personally, was a big heart-tugger for me. While I adored Sophie Alton and she stood on her own as the main heroine, Marc Hunter was really the star of the show and you could feel yourself feeling for him at every step from beginning until the satisfying and heartwarming (and I hope these books will always have them) end.

Of course, he's no Julian Darcangelo, and for reasons that maybe only I will ever understand, I'm kind of still in love with the half-Italian former agent, current vice commander. These two boys give a run for your money, but I'm still fawning over Julian enough to pick him as my favorite main hero of the I-Team storyboard so far, even if Unlawful Contact was the better of the two plots in this I-Team world. So I'm glad that Julian got to be his hot-ass awesome self in this book even if he was just a supporting character -- he still makes me squeal whenever he gets a scene.

And as much of a presence as Katherine James has been since Hard Evidence, I'm very ready to jump into Naked Edge and read through her turn at main heroine goodness now. So... so ready to be delighted for another couple hours.



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Review: The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I'm leaning more towards 4.5 stars, but that's only because I haven't quite had time to entirely process the ending yet -- I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. And I have a few quibbles about certain parts of the book that may have made my mind wander a little bit.

Nonetheless, this book was certainly an intense, fast-paced, magnificent read that had me grasping for the next chapter and then the next and the next continuously. I couldn't put it down and there was not a moment of boredom to be had.

If no one's been following my updates, I will repeat how much I loved the characters. Cassie is so much kickass and badass female main character rolled in with all of her character flaws and sardonic survivalist 'tude that I had tons of fun following her POV. Ben has a similar voice to Cassie's, but after the initial introduction of his character, I found I was able to pick him out better. As for Evan... well, he's totally charming and hot for a non-human, non-other, cold blooded hunter.

There were quite a few predictable points that I'm not sure whether or not were meant for the reader to pick up on right away, such as Evan's identity and what the 5th Wave ended up being. But what made them great despite their predictability would be the fact that the suspense building up to the big reveal balanced out just fine.

I'm usually pretty bad about writing reviews in general; and I'm worse off at writing about books that I "OMG, I can't put this book down cause I love it so much" worship. The Hunger Games was a book I couldn't think of anything to write about (also, I'd read that book before I stumbled upon Goodreads), and The Archived from the beginning of this year was another book I couldn't think of how to express me love for.

So I may or may not come back to this later on and add more thoughts, but for right now, these are my random brief opinions.



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Review: Heart of Evil

Heart of Evil by Heather Graham

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I hesitate to file this book under suspense or thriller because it just didn't seem that way. My updates pretty much tell it all about what I thought of this book:

1) It started off extremely slow with too much world building and story set up. This is book number two in the series and we shouldn't still be on world building at this point. Normally I don't mind a little bit of world building depending on how much I need to understand of the world. But this is a contemporary setting with paranormal elements. I don't think I needed to know all that much about the lives and the personalities and the lineage of all the Donegal Plantation re-enactors unless it was important to the plot, because in the end, they didn't seem all that significant anyway. In fact, a slow reveal of each person's tie to the plantation would have been much more appreciated rather than some information dumps.

And as I had mentioned: It's not like I psychotically NEED someone to be murdered within the first five minutes of the book, but to go on for approximately 100+ pages without a prominent death makes me question the murder mystery's significance. It's a little sad (and disturbing, maybe) that when someone finally died, I actually let out a sigh of relief -- especially since we all knew that Charles Osgood was going to be the murder victim since Chapter 1. His death and the planning of his death got dragged on for so long that I really didn't feel any shock or surprise or much of anything when his body was discovered.

2) For the life of me, I could not make myself like Ashley Donegal. She was a selfish, weak, frustration, entitled woman. And, while I hate to spoil anything, this is a plot point we expect anyway: I think she should have had to fight to win Jake back, especially after realizing that he's not really a scary freak to speaks to ghosts since she sees her ancestor clear as day. There were some points where she might have redeemed herself in my eyes, but somehow, those moments didn't make me like her anymore than I could have.

3) Why are all the women in these books so freakin' beautiful? I mean, I'm not against having beautiful people in fictional settings regularly (goodness knows, I read enough YA fiction to realize that every girl and boy is hot or sexy or pretty or cute). And this is a fictional world after all, so we get free reign to decide that our main characters are freakin' beautiful. I get all of that, so it's fine with me. But, goodness, do I need to be told over and over and over again just how beautiful and elegant and classy Ashley Donegal is? Do I need to be told that Angela is a freakin' Disney princess toting a gun like the best of them? (I mean, while it's pretty badass -- a Disney princess toting a gun, that is -- is it necessary in a mystery novel to constantly remind the readers that your characters are all freakin' beautiful? Maybe I'm just bitter.


***

Anyway, aside from those main three rants, I'm really not too disgusted with this book. I know, it sounds like I feel otherwise, but truth be told, there were a lot of moments that I actually enjoyed some of the goings-on of Heart of Evil. It was a good ol' murder mystery surrounding some paranormal happenings. And to be honest, I really like the historical aspects of both Heart of Evil and Phantom Evil. The murder mystery itself wasn't too bad either, if slightly sloppy and predictable.

Finally, for a book full of ghosts, I didn't really feel much of a chill as I did for Phantom Evil. I'm fine with that since I'm not drawn to horrors or the like.

I like the Krewe enough and will probably continue on to read the next two books in this first set of Krewe of Hunters books: Whitney and Jenna are both on good terms with me, so I'm interested in their parts of the series coming up in the next two books.



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Real Ink vs E-Ink

I was perusing Goodreads today (as I do every day) and came across a particular book: It's a Book by Lane Smith

And excuse me as I climb on top of a brief soap box that many people may or may not agree with. However, to start off, here is a short history of my foray into reading and book-worm goodness:

I've always been a reader. When I was younger, I openly admitted to fellow students that I planned to read every book found in our school's library, starting from authors whose last names begin with an 'A', and moving forward. Whenever I visited the public library with friends, a running joke was that they would randomly select a book (whether they had personally read it themselves or not) and tell me that it was a fantastic read and that I needed to give it a chance. By the time we were finished with our day at the library, I would leave with a nice sized stack of at least five or more books to finish within the next two weeks.

Books have always drawn my attention. I like to walk through book sections of most stores, looking through titles, admiring illustrations, reading summaries, flipping through pages to read excerpts here and there. Even if I never buy anything, I still get some sort of addicted kick out of being around shelves and shelves of books. My friends know better than to take me to a book store if we're on a tight itinerary -- I can easily spend upwards of two to three hours just looking at different book titles and trying to decide what I want to buy and what I don't want to buy. To quote one of the reviewers of the Goodreads' community on the It's a Book page:

I like walking around, basket on my arm, adding to it any item that catches my fancy. I like agonizing over which of my carefully selected books will be going home with me as I weigh my wants against what my meager bank account will allow me to have. I love the feel of books, the smell of books, the covers of books. I love turning pages. I love seeing what others are reading.

-- Amanda from the Goodreads' community

Those words absolutely describe my life as a bookstore lurker for the past ten or more years since the first time I could drive myself to a bookstore and could afford to buy a book for my own personal bookshelf.

I'm a huge fan of books, stories, reading... etc... If I can get a lovely, exciting, fantastic story out of the written word, I'm more than ecstatic.

On a side rant, I'm still fighting a different silent battle against those who don't seem to understand my love for books, for the the delight of leisurely reading, for the ideals of immersing oneself into a fictional paradise presented entirely through words... People don't take me seriously when I tell them about my bookworm tendencies. People don't think I actually mean it when I tell them that I'd rather curl up with a good novel any day rather than going out and partying it up. And when I'm found reading, my attention caught up in the current fictional world I'm reading about, I get disturbed constantly -- Okay, let's make this unmistakably clear: When someone like me is entranced in a good read, for the love of everything that's true, DO NOT DISTURB! You'll either get ignored or you'll elicit an irritated growl from the beast. I'm serious.

The one scenario I've been coming across a lot lately is a particular co-worker who likes to throw this phrase at me whenever I'm reading during our slow time at work: "No time for reading, time for rocking!" And then when I ignore her, she'll do what she can to get my attention in the form of, "Did you hear me? No time for reading, time for rocking!" When she finally gets my attention and I'm all, "Yea, I heard you." She somehow gets around to, "Geez, you're in a bad mood tonight."

No, no. I was in a stellar mood. I'm not angry at anyone, but you just ignored the big ten foot aura that very clearly says "DO NOT POKE THE BEAST". That aside, I know what her stance on reading is anyway-- she's told me before that she doesn't read, that she gets her entertainment from movies. So to her, it's a strange phenomena that I love to read more than I like watching movies. To her, reading is no fun, it's boring, it's not exciting. And so on more than one occasion, she's more than demanded that I try watching certain movies and it frustrates her when I told her I haven't seen some of her favorites. We could say that her love for movies is similar to my love of books.

But to be honest, I live on the motto of: "To each their own." And yet while I never said anything to her about her own personal interests, I've gotten silent scrutiny more often than I would like to receive about my love for reading.

***

But anyway, the above side rant is something for a different day -- it's an ongoing battle that'll sit at stale mate forever because I'm not sure anyone who believes that "books are boring" will ever understand a bookworm's fascination with the written word.

Back to the big ol' E-reader versus Hard copy books debate, shall we?

Where was I even going with this?

Ah, yes. I'm a fan of books. I buy books like some women buy shoes or purses. It's my addiction. My current bookshelf houses 147 paperback and hardback books, some of which are anthologies and some of which are multiple books compiled into volumes. It was a big struggle for me to finally sit down and go through all of my books one day and eliminate about fifteen of them for one reason or another and take them to the Friends of the Public Library as a donation. And yet, after sitting down and making inventory, I still had 147 books in my possession and I still managed to find more books to add to my collection.

But here's the kicker:

I AM a proud owner of a Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch. To add insult to injury, I'm also in the midst of considering a Kindle Fire HD.

Why do I bring this up?

From reading a select few reviews of It's a Book, I came to realize something that I've always known: That there are still people who reject the E-reader for the sole reason that they think it'll force the various forms of hard copy books into non-existence.

From just reading the various reviews, it seems that this book points out something quite disturbing: that a person who enjoys the convenience and "nifty" gadgetry of an E-reader is thought of as akin to a jackass who will never understand the pleasures of holding or flipping through the pages of a "real book" on printed paper and bound. There's a very distinct undertone of teasing hostility against those of us who have found and enjoy the benefits of owning an E-reader. It almost sounds like we're being stereotyped into one specific category of un-sophistication -- that the hefty weight of a bound tome is much more good and mighty than an electronic "nifty gadget" of convenience. That a hard copy paper back is a "true" book while the E-reader is the "anti-book".

And frankly, as a self-proclaimed bookworm, I'm a little offended by those implications. I LOVE my E-reader. I love the idea of more of the written word being made available in more convenient forms. I love that sometimes I don't have to carry a particular book around from one place to another in order to make sure I can continue reading from where I left off on that particular copy. I love how convenient it is to carry around a library of 52 books and be able to pick and choose which one I would like to start reading, all within one little thin package of Barnes and Noble Nook. I love that I can access my e-book libraries (yes, count'em, plural) anywhere where there is internet available (so yes, the death of internet will probably mean a total nervous break down for me).  I love that I can set my E-reader down while I eat and read at the same time (because I like multi-tasking), because this is something I've never been able to do with a paperback book.

Most importantly (for a hermit and an introvert like myself), I love that I don't have to leave my home just to go buy a book that I desperately want to own; it especially works out for me as a night owl and 3rd shift worker and there is no bookstore open but you still want to get that new release at 2:00 A.M. and start reading it.

But my love for E-books and E-readers in no way takes away from my love of having a solid, paper printed, bound book in my hand. I still have my shelf of 147 paperback and hard back books. I just added onto that collection less than a month ago. I still find pleasure in seeing each different cover of each book, their illustrations, their colors, their feel and their smell.  I still love going to a bookstore and flipping through pages and glancing at randomly chosen excerpts to assess whether or not I'll enjoy the book based on a paragraph or so of Chapter 17 of such and such book.  Admittedly, this is something you CANNOT do with an e-book since the online community provides you with what excerpts it believes you should see, and sometimes not enough of it.  As I've already mentioned, I can easily spend hours in a bookstore and leave with nothing but a bookmark, just one book, or nothing at all.  And while I'm at it, an e-book doesn't allow you to just show someone the cover of your book when asked the question: "What'cha readin'?" which is an inevitable question by people whether they really care what you're reading or not.

I'll admit that it has been a long time since I visited the library for reasons of "browsing" for a random book or stack of books to take home. I'll admit that I really like the idea of being able to conveniently borrowing e-books from the e-book section of our public library online. Sometimes, some of us just don't have time to take a purposeful trip to the library or the book store to browse for hours (not that I wouldn't still do it, mind you, but priorities take... well, priority, you know). And so I opt to browse the internet for new book releases, random book recommendations, anything that catches my eye, and make a note of them. At a later time, when I have time, I'll check that book out online (all I need is a summary and maybe an excerpt or a sample) and decide whether or not this book might be worth reading (or owning).

In my own personal opinion (which I hope in no way influences anyone else's preferences), my love for books lies more or less with that particular book's reading worth and value: the story line, the writing style, the world it creates, the excitement it can convey... Whether I'm reading a "real" book or an e-book, all of those elements don't change. I love holding a "real" book in my hands and flipping through pages just as much as I love setting my Nook on the table and moving through each page with a quick tap while my hands are preoccupied with other activities. In the end, I still get the same experience from the story I'm reading and to me, it doesn't matter whether I'm reading it as an electronic product or a printed product.

I admit that it would be sad if our future ends up seeing an extinction of printed ink in a bound tome format.  I grew up with printed books and libraries.  I feel like every child should experience having a real book in their hands and being able to flip through the pages and enjoy said experience.  My dream is to own a large personal library with walls and walls of shelves filled with books.  But I also don't think it's wrong to have a "nifty gadget" of convenience for those of us who have found and enjoy the benefits of owning an e-reader, or who have discovered the advantages of an e-book library.

So what if some people feel like an E-reader is a just a trendy gadget following along with the times.  I honestly believe that smart phones and I-Phones are part of that "Hey, look at me and my nifty gadget" group, the same goes with tablets and I-Pads -- I've never held much affection for them.  I think they're neat and pretty awesome from a technological stand point.  I've owned a tablet which was eventually given to my brother who found better ways to put it to good use.  I've spoken to many people who think that a smart phone has too many functions than is really necessary because, to them, they really only need to be able to call and receive calls; even texting is a new luxury they could care less about.  While I appreciate all the quirky apps and cute little internet friendly convenience, how often do people even use a smart phone to it's full potential anyway?  Just as often as people use their e-readers, maybe?

We live in an informational age filled with new technological advances; I feel like the e-reader has done what it set out to do rather than just being a pretty new electronic device for everyone to fawn over: it allows a level of convenience for people who love to read, but don't want to carry around several books to weight down their purses or back backs; especially travelers who can't afford to carry 52 actual real books in their luggage (you know, weight and size restrictions and such on a plane and all...).  This is something I used to do before I got an e-reader -- I would actually carry two or three books with me wherever I went just in case I got bored and I wanted to read something, and for the sake of having at least two books to fall back on if my primary book didn't catch my attention very well.  Now, I need only carry my e-reader and sometimes I even still carry one paperback that I'm interested in.  My moods don't always account for my reading moods.

To a point, it's much like an mp3 player or an IPod, which are also devices created for the sake of convenience -- rather than trying to cram a million CDs into your car for a long road trip and having to switch them out often, rather than selecting specific CDs to listen to on those (now outdated) CD players while you work or hang out, you now have a nifty device that can hold upwards of hundreds and thousands of songs you can choose from in a small "nifty gadget."  For people who love listening to music, these things are convenience utopia... much like for those of us who love to read, e-readers are the epitome of convenience.

I repeat once again: "To each their own."

But it does weigh heavily on me whenever E-book lovers are dismissed as just "jackasses basking in the trendiness of technological gadgetry" because we are assumed to be people who are into these new "nifty gadgets" for the technology alone and just aren't sophisticated enough to enjoy holding a "real" book in our hands and probably don't know what a paper bound tome looks like either.

So... Okay, who's being the pompous jackass now?

Review: Phantom Evil

Phantom Evil by Heather Graham

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



3.5 stars

I've had time to mull over the story and think about what it was that worked and didn't work for me, and honestly, while the book is enjoyable and I did like it, it wasn't an amazingly captivating experience. Nonetheless, it gave exactly what it set out to give: an intriguing mystery and crime thriller wrapped around history and ghostly happenings. In fact, the premise of ghosts and history intermingling really is a device that interests me a lot. Not to mention I even wanted to jot down names of the real serial killers mentioned so that I could read up on them. This kind of thing fascinates me to no end.

In conclusion, the story is well written and the characters are well-created. For anyone interested in paranormal crime stories such as this, it'll be an enjoyable experience. Although as far as the mystery aspect, it was actually fairly predicable, and some of the dialogue could get kind of preachy. Otherwise, it was a decently good book.



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