Showing posts with label Amanda Hocking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amanda Hocking. Show all posts

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Skipping to a review or two...

Hello there! I know I said I'd post photos this week but I'm not feeling all that great and I don't have anything truly memorable to show... But I did read two more books and I want to review them now.
If you haven't read the books below beware my reviews might** contain SPOILERS.


Wisdom - By Amanda Hocking
American Vampire - By Jennifer Armintrout




First I finished the latest Vamp book by Amanda Hocking called Wisdom. It was even better than the previous books and I can't wait for the next one which is set to be published in July. This book seems to be Alice's journey towards the Title...Wisdom. She really is starting to lose that whiny quality that teens always seem to have in YA novels. It's not untrue of teens, just a fact of life and a normal part of growing up. What grown woman doesn't have those moments in her past? Anyway, this book continues the crisis of the last book and the possible continuing of the tearing apart of their vampire family. In the previous book we found out that Mae's grand daughter is dying and that Mae wanted to turn her and Ezra did not. As in most vamp worlds, child vamps are evil uncontrollable abominations usually killed upon others finding out they exist. Mae turned the child, Daisy, and they are now living in Australia with Peter. The great thing about this book is that it has started to tie up some of the plot lines that have run through the course of the series. Some in messier ways than others and some are left until the 5th book. (I assume) Alice seems to be growing up and is starting to see the life that is before her. Now that she is a vampire, there is time for pretty much anything and she needs to start living instead of merely existing. While Alice seems to be growing, Jack on the other hand is staying almost exactly the same. He's still jealous of Peter, he's still immature, and he doesn't seem to be growing with Alice. Although since he's a 40 year old vamp already, should he grow more or is this just who he is? It just seems to me that the author may be changing Alice into a person more suited to be with Peter than with Jack. If that happens, I wouldn't mind reading a spin-off about Jack finding his true love IF he manages to start evolving. Mae's evolution hasn't been great. Although that, in my opinion, is where the author sent her and not an opinion on the quality of her journey. From the start you could tell that Mae had a very overwhelming desire to continue to be a mother in all forms of the word. I just hope she is finally going to find some peace and stay with Ezra! At least 3 months until the next book... can't wait! 3 Clovers!



The second book I read this week was American Vampire. I completely devoured this book. I started reading it at 7:30pm and finished at10:45pm. I am a speed reader but I did manage to read almost every word. It took me a bit to get into the book but like her previous vamp books, once I was hooked there was no putting the book down until I was done. I HAD to know what was going to happen. And thankfully the major plot line DOES get resolved although I was entirely shocked at how that came about. This one has a vampire on the way to his sire's 4th of July party when he gets thoroughly lost after hitting a button on his GPS turning all the words into Spanish.... Although I do wonder why a 44 year old vamp still doesn't know Spanish. Anyway he is passing through some random small town in Ohio and sees a gas station he's hoping to get a map from. Turns out the place is closed down and abandoned. He runs into Jessa there, a local woman running from IT... a beast that has been terrorizing the locals for 5 years now. It seems the town is stuck and isolated from the world. No one can enter and no one can leave... Except Graf the vampire did so what happened? I wasn't too keen on Graf and Jessa hooking up for almost half the story because they just don't seem to fit. Plus while I like imperfect heroines... I didn't like her that much. But the story and characters grew on me to the point where this was one of the most refreshing reads I've had in awhile. Maybe I'm too gullible but I didn't see the plot turning the way it did. I'm doing my best now to NOT try and guess the endings so that I can really enjoy my books. And this one rocked. Now I need to go pick up a physical copy for my shelf. 4 Clovers!

Ta ta for now and Happy Reading!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Photo Friday

Today is Photo Friday so I'll throw a couple pics in before I get down to chatting. These are a couple of my newest Pocket Dragons and my personal favorite. Pocket Dragons are collectible depictions of friendly dragons in various situations. They were designed by Real Musgrave and his wife from 1989 to 2005 when they retired. They were based on black and white drawings he did in the 70's. There was even a tv show that ran for 52 episodes. I got into collecting them when a friend showed me them on a website. I was instantly hooked by their adorable little faces. My best friends and my husband have purchased all my dragons for me, and some big help from my mother-in-law on Ebay! I have 14 currently in my possession and TEN more on the way! My first two came from my best friend in the world. He's awesome. :)


This is the Dragon called "Hat Box Hideway". Isn't she adorable? I hadn't seen this one before and it came complete with it's unique hat box style original box so I snagged it!



This is "Believe in Dragons". I love it because it's not only got 3 dragons but a book too! I have no idea where this one will go since it's bigger than any of the ones I currently have. I think I'm going to have to make room in one of my glass cabinets for them soon!


This is the dragon that got me into them in the first place. She's called "But Dragons Don't Wash Dishes". Tee hee.... At the time that I saw this one it was almost impossible to get me to do dishes. I hated them with a passion. Even using the dishwasher was a chore I detested. I didn't mind all the other chores but for some reason dishes were more abhorrent than anything else on my list! My wonderful husband bought her for me last year. And the funny thing is, I don't mind dishes nearly so much anymore. Now washing the toilets on the other hand....!


This week I've started Amanda Hocking's "My Blood Approves" Series. I believe it's a young adult series and it's kind of similar to Twilight but I haven't seen any sign of werewolves yet and I'm on book 3. But there is a love triangle and it is set in high school. While there are many parallels to be drawn between the two series, I have to say I prefer this one. It could just be the over exposure of Meyer's work and the endless comparisons to Harry Potter that I find ridiculous but who knows. I really enjoyed the first book and it hooked me pretty quick. The main character is likable enough but I do find her to be tedious at times. I want to kick her and tell her to fight more for what she wants. I think my favorite character so far is her little brother. His story line hasn't been too surprising but it has been great. I can't wait to see what happens to him.


I usually pick my books based on which cover snags my interest and then secondly the storyline. Having over 2,000 books in the house necessitates a different selection process. While I love having so many choices it can be hard to narrow down what to read next! I gravitated to these books because of the lovely covers. There are many new books coming out this year that are just as eye catching, if not more so. I'll do a post soon on my picks for best covers expected this year
so far.


That's it for this post. Ta ta for now!