I Don't Want to Miss A Thing by Aerosmith. It was just (still is sometimes o.o) SO overplayed, to the point where it becomes droning, tedious, and annoying as all hell.

Watch this whole thing, it's only 5 minutes. You will never be able to guess what happens in the end.

The Homecoming by J. Scott Coatsworth

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I'm not sure what to say about this book/story honestly. I think the bottom line is that I was interested in the story, and even the characters to a point, but it was very poorly executed. This read like fanfic as opposed to a polished and published piece, which is highly unfortunate.

So, let's hit come major points:

Premise. Good idea! The major draw was the idea of the human/wolf shapeshifters. Unfortunately the way the story was written relied totally on suspension of belief, as any background information or backstory for this group was saved for the very end of the book. Instead of crafting an interesting story for the wolf group, the author instead opted form "Hey, here's some wolf shapeshifters! Everyone likes wolves! Shapeshifters are popular!" and just ran with that.

Characters. I really liked most of the characters, especially Aldiss. The way he was introduced was great, and really pulled me in. His emotional reaction to losing his lover before the ship took off, and the weight of responsibility he felt once they landed was real, and very well written. Similarly, Hari, the main character on the shapeshifter side was also introduced well (save for a few irregularities). The pack dynamics played into his character presentation and made me interested in how he was going to progress. The downside to both these characters is that while they started out well, after that, they were static and flat. Both made decisions throughout the book that was seemingly random and had little to do with their initially presented personalities. This left me with a feeling of "Well, ok...." every time they did something random. These characters didn't grow at all after their initial presentation, which is sad because there was potential there. :(

Sex. This isn't usually a category I comment on, as it's most often wrapped into the story, but in this story it was just...used kind of oddly. First there was the comments from Hari about how he had fantasies about being with the pack leader, who in the same breath was described to be overbearing and cruel. OK, fetish maybe? There there was the initial meeting between Hari and Aldiss which was just bizarre, and started the breakdown of the Aldiss character. He went from being sad about his lost love, to "Hey, some random guy kissed me and acted really odd, I'm really horny now and want to get in his pants!" Even their first sexual encounter was odd, as soon as they both were physically able, they just fell into bed and started fucking. And that's what it was, the way the author wrote it. No development, no lead up, just a really out of place hard sex scene. Just story, story, story, and suddenly cock! Fucking! Ass pounding! Grunting! Yeah! There was some severe disconnect going on, and overall the sex/attraction between these two characters was the main problem to their development and was what caused their lack of development.

Pacing and Style. Both these were good. The story was laid out well, there wasn't too much down time, and is was smooth. Similarly, the author's style was clean. The writing is what saved this book, but also what contributed to my disappointment. There is clearly skill here, but the execution was just lacking.

Final verdict: While I know this is a short story and not a full length novel, there wasn't any balance between what the intent was ans the length of the story. If you want to create good characters, you have to give them the time they need and develop them over time, not just in their introduction, or keep them out of situations that are going to make them seem inconsistent and unbelievable, because that tanks the story. :(



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Under the Empyrean Sky by Chuck Wendig

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is classic futuristic done right! I really don't know how to talk about this book, especially for those who haven't read much pre-1985 futurism dystopia.

Pros: Great character development and cast of characters. The author really puts in enough time to flesh out the main crew, but doesn't over do back story. There is enough meat to feel vested in their interests, and that really drives this book forward. Secondly, great world development. Readers are given enough information to keep them wondering about the detailed workings of the current class system, and how things are going to change. The consistent writing style and tone contributes to a smooth read with good pacing.

Cons: The only con I have for this book is that I feel for YA fiction (which is what it is billed as), I feel it might be a little out of depth. Not that that is a bad thing at all, just a note. I would definitely recommend this book to my students who are dedicated readers or have shown interested in the genre before, but I feel that they'd have to have some experience in order to grasp a lot of the concepts introduced early on in the book.

Honestly, I'd give this book 4.5 stars if I could, highly recommended!



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Blightborn by Chuck Wendig

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Excellent follow up to Under the Empyrean Sky. If you go into this book worrying about the dreaded "sophomore slump" so many trilogies experience in their second installments, you can let that fear go at the door.

This book, though a squeal, was clearly written with intent. It doesn't suffer from any of the common tropes many squeals do, and instead continues the main story arch while still managing to develop and progress it's own individual story. It didn't have that feeling of being *streeeeeetched* into three books where it really shouldn't have been - there is definitely enough content here, and it's well written at that!

Biggest positive to this book is that the author clearly held some ideas in reserve for this story. You get a little deeper in understanding how the world was set up; the hows, whos, and whats that happened in the past to lead up to the current "big problem," but yet readers don't feel drowned in this back story explanation. It is dolled out in such a way that it works with current story progression, and creates a really fluid read.

The ending, while obviously left open for the third book, still had a nice, tailored edge to it that closed off most of the plot, which I appreciated. I was left wanting more (yes, please!), but also didn't just turn the page and get dropped on my face with a "to be continued."

This is the double whammy of a great story AND a great writer to present it. I really can't recommend this series highly enough, as this is the kind of book that will win over audiences easily.



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The Harvest by Chuck Wendig

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Excellent ending to an excellent story!

As always, Wendig executed this coup de grâce with a finesse not often seen in modern writing. Most of all, I was very pleased with how all the characters were handled - they were not static at all, and instead grew and changed with the progression of the story. They were multidimensional, real for their setting, and a joy to read. Additionally, I have to congratulate the author for crafting a 100% COMPLETE story. It made sense all the way through, and there weren't any huge plot holes or dangling ends, which usually ruins an otherwise good story for me. As I said in the second book's review, Wendig obviously had a very clear intent in regards to the pacing of these books, and it really served him well in this last installment.

The only negatives I can comment on is that 1) I again feel that the style and maybe a bit of the content is pushing the upper edges of the YA audience base, and 2) the level of action was somewhat ramped up to such a consistent level that I missed some of the "ups and downs" that could have been used to drive the story forward more effectively (for me), and to be honest, that's being a little nit-picky. Not much negative to say when that's the best I can come up with!

Bottom line: solid series, expertly written, well thought out and executed. This is the kind of writing that will make you go search out other works by the author, because after a trilogy like this, you know this isn't a fluke. READ THIS!



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So, today I spent some time updating my LJ book reviews so that they are in-sync with my Goodreads page. I back dated them all so they would be in the right order, and it was only 19 book reviews since January (less then one a week), but apparently this was just too much for LJ and they suspended my account and flagged it as "compromised." Super!

I was supposed to get an e-mail from them stating what happened and what I should do, but since it was completely in Russian, gmail wouldn't accept it as anything other then spam. Which, I mean, that makes sense! lol Finally pulled it out in bits and pieces and put it through Google Translate. I have to give props to whoever wrote it though - their grammar must have been spot on as the translation didn't hiccup at all. I had posted "large number of records containing questionable links" (goodreads is now questionable?) and needed to verify that I was I, chance my PW, all that jazz. The page I found to help you not get iced again suggested removing all that "questionable content" but...I dunno. I use LJ mostly for that.

So, yeah. I've had this LJ for over 11 years with no trouble, so suddenly having it show up as frpzen freaked me out!

I wanted to go through my tags today and organize and clean out ould ones, but now I'm scared that just might be too much activity for the servers to handle! :O

The Wall by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3 stars. Usually this means that a person moderately liked a book, and I did moderately like this one, but 3 stars after my review of the first book in this series (5 stars) is so much of a let down. I raved about Book 1, sat down and read it in 2 sessions, then immediately started looking for the second. The first book left me wanting more in a great way. I was engaged in the characters, immersed in the story, and the whole package generated a drive in me to move forward. I can't stay enough good things about that book!!!

Unfortunately, Book 2 is *not* Book 1, so let me focus in here. One of the things I praised highly in the first installment was the author's ability to encapsulate a moderately complete story within the first book. The overarching story was also well developed, and that's what led to the desire for the second. This book on the other hand, did not contain it's own plot, but rather served simply to give some background on the Survivors camp (limited at that), developing the main pairing, and the last 10 pages were used to set up the final book. That's it. This entire book could have been condensed and edited down to a short prologue on Book 1 and a preface on Book 3. There was zero need for The Wall to garner it's own cover and publication, except for the fact that it forced this series into the coveted trilogy.

I am still looking forward to the third book, simply as answers to those posed in the first. Past that, I hope that modern authors take a look at the framework of works past; trilogies, series, loosely related collections, etc, (Such as Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern or Tower and the Hive series) and see that works within a series still have to be complete in their own rights, because this new trend is becoming quite the let down to those of us who sit down to read a book - not just a stretched out fluffer for the next installment.

For now, I am going to let this one sit till I have the time to come back to Book 3. I've lost that rush and pull that a good author leaves me feeling. While I do care about "what happens next," I've lost the urgency I had to find out now - it will be there when I get to it.



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The Woodlands by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I set this as my "currently reading" book about a week ago, but didn't have time to actually sit down and start it till last night - and now I'm done. Spectacular book. Well written, the teenage love wasn't overly trite, plot line was consistent and kept me wanting more. Best of all, though this is the first book in a series, this installment actually contained its own subplot. The author showed the seemingly rare skill of being able to craft a story within this book, yet still weave it into the larger, overarching story of the series. Highly recommended, and I look forward to rading the next part of the series!



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Celtic Viking: Historical Romance by Lexy Timms

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This book wasn't poorly written, but it also wasn't a book. This was a very long, very drawn out prologue. The entire "book" consisted of introductions for the two main characters. This surely cannot be classified as a romance novel, as the two don't even meet to the end of the book! Yes, you heard right, the books ends with the two MAIN characters meeting. Then it's curtain call.

I am to understand that this is probably a trilogy, since I'm assuming that there will need to be plot somewhere, but the only way these books would be worth reading would be if the author actually put them together and made them into one book. Just because your story has a beginning, middle, and end doesn't mean you publish them as separate volumes. No one wants to sit down and read an introduction that's been passed off as a book. :(



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