The Witches of East End by Melissa De La Cruz

Title: The Witches of East End
Series: Beauchamp Family Series Book #1
Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal
Author: Melissa De La Cruz
Published: 2011 by Hyperion
272 Pages
I Got It: http://www.bn.com
I Read It: August 5 - August 7, 2014
I Rated It: 4/5 Stars


Joanna Beauchamp and her two daughters, Freya and Ingrid, live in a quaint coastal town in New York. The three women seem to lead average lives yet they actually harbor a long-standing secret: they are powerful witches who have been banned from using their magic. Over the course of the book events happen that slowly encourage all three women to break the rules and begin using their magic again to unlock a centuries-old secret. 
I really liked this book. I found it to be very reminiscent of Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman which is one of my favorite books of all time. It was a fun, fast-paced and compelling read. Over the past few weeks I had been sliding my way into a reading slump. I was not enjoying anything that I was reading and I was not excited to start anything new. I realized that I was craving something in the paranormal/fantasy genre and this book hit the spot.
I liked all of the characters in the book. I especially enjoyed the three Beauchamp women and I really related to Ingrid. I felt like all of the characters were fully fleshed out and i am excited to see how they will continue to develop over the next few books. 
This book series has been turned into a TV show on Lifetime. I started watching the television show which is actually pretty different from the book, at least it is different from this first book, but the show is still good in its own right. 
I liked the beginning a lot more than I liked the ending. It took a weird spin towards the end that I didn't enjoy. There were too many references to events in the previous lives of the women that didn't get fully explained or resolved which was confusing and annoying. This was especially true in the last 1/3 of the book. 
I am excited to read the rest of the series and to start De La Cruz's Blue Bloods series as well. 
I would recommend this book to fans of witch stories, fans of paranormal books and to both young adult and adult readers. 
4/5 stars

Review: The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry

The Summer I Found You is the story about a teenage girl trying to cope with her new diagnosis of type one diabetes and a teenage male veteran who is learning how to embrace his new life after losing an arm, who come together by using each other as an escape, only to discover through love and struggle that your life is what you make of it. (Synopsis from GoodReads)

Title: The Summer I Found You
Author: Jolene Perry
Publication Date: 2014
Publisher: Albert Whitman Teen
Number of Pages: 
Where I Got It: NetGalley
Dates I Read It: November 12- November 16, 2013
Number of Stars: 3/5
Read For: Review purposes


 
*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

   I love a book that alternates points of view and this book is told in alternating points of view from the two main characters. I really enjoy when books have chapters that switch POV's- I feel like it makes the story move faster and I also feel like I can put more faith in the story since both narrators have a larger chance of being honest and believable. I did fell a lot more sympathy for Aiden/Aidan though- he seemed to be a much more developed and rounded character. I hate to say it, but I also felt worse for him since he had lost an arm. I feel like I know so many people who have diabetes, but I don't know anyone who has lost an arm! Being an older reader of YA, I also feel like I had a harder time relating to Kate. Normally, I can relate really well to my YA heroines, but Kate was difficult for me to connect to. I kept looking at her actions and decisions from the responsible, mature adult POV and silently "tsk-tsk-ing" her for being irresponsible. Kate did feel like a real teenager though and this book felt very realistic and true to real life.
     I liked this story. This was a light but somewhat forgettable read. There was no real action and it can kind of drag for some readers, especially those readers who enjoy fast-paced, action-packed reads. I was very excited for this book because I loved the cover! It immediately jumped out at me and made me excited to read the book. Don't be fooled like I was because the cover really has nothing at all to do with the book. Also, the story is supposed to be about the summer, but it actually takes place during the school year. I was disappointed in this plot point as I love a summer love story.
     As I was reading it, there were times when I wondered to myself if this really was a YA book as it felt more like an adult fiction book. I would recommend this one to older teens, maybe 16-19 or to any teens who may be recently diagnosed with diabetes (or maybe even one who, for whatever reason, have lost a limb).

3/5 stars

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves, and herself, while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love. (-Synopsis from GoodReads)

Title: Insurgent (Divergent trilogy book #2)
Author: Veronica Roth
Publication Date: 2012
Publisher: Harper Teen
Number of Pages: 525
Where I Got It: Nook by Barnes and Noble
Dates I Read It: November 6-November 12, 2013
Number of Stars: 4/5
Read It For: Just for fun!


     I really liked Insurgent, despite being confused out of my mind for the majority of the book. I was so confused at the start of this book that I had to view Roth's blog post: But I Read Divergent A Year Ago! which was super helpful in reminding me how Divergent ended since it had actually been more than a year since I had read it. Once I read her blog post I had to start the book over and re-read the first 40 pages, this time with a little less confusion.

(two pages from my reading journal open to the Insurgent entry)

     The characters were still really awesome and we got to see a continuation of character development with our main cast in this book. I really liked the majority of the characters and I thought that they all fit into their roles perfectly. I was pretty pissed off at Tris at several points in the book, and especially at several of the choices that she made and a lot of her reasoning behind her actions and decisions. She is Dauntless after all, though, so I suppose I can't stay too mad at her for too long. I liked how we got to see the humanity of Tris in this book. She is a Dauntless girl in the middle of a factions war, and yet she still spends a great deal of the book feeling guilty about killing someone who was threatening her life. I appreciate Four for the role that he plays. He does a great job as the male lead. I do hope that we get some more from him in Allegiant. I want to know more about him, his back story and his inner thoughts and motivations. Even though I loved the main characters, one of the most annoying things about this book for me was the secondary characters. Roth included an enormous cast of characters in this book and I found it incredibly difficult to keep track of all of them. I wasn't sure who was good and who was evil and who I was supposed to root for and who I was supposed to thumb my nose at and who was born into what faction and who switched to what faction and why. Too much!
     The pacing of the book was excellent. This is a long book (525 pages) but it passed very quickly and I was genuinely surprised when it ended; I had thought I had at least 100 pages to go! I did read this book on my Nook so perhaps that helped quite a bit with my not realizing how long it was. Despite the actual length of the book, it flew by and I think that this was mainly due to all of the action that took place. It seemed that every time I sat down with the book there was a battle scene resulting in an emotionally heavy outcome. These books are dystopian done well and Roth continues the excellency of the world building. There did seem to be some redundancy of action to me which only added to my confusion at times. I feel like perhaps those extra scenes could have been left out. It was still a fabulous book that I thoroughly enjoyed and I would recommend.
     I viewed the second teaser trailer for the Divergent movie on YouTube last night while G was in the computer room and he watched it over my shoulder and he seemed really intrigued. I think it might have
gotten him thinking about reading the books before I drag him to the movie. The trailers look great so far and I highly approve of the casting for this movie. I can't wait for March!
     Oh, and I decided I'm pretty sure I would be in Amity, even though they do dress like Ronald McDonald.

4 out of 5 stars

Review: Diamonds Are A Teen's Best Friend by Allison Rushby

Nessa Joanne Mullholland, aka Marilyn Monroe's No. 1 teenage fan, is used to moving house. This time, however, she's relocating in movie-star style--crossing the Atlantic on board the Majestic, headed for Paris from NYC. And it really would be in movie-star style if it wasn't for the fact that she's bringing her cringe-fest professor dad along for the ride (Dad's specialization: human mating rituals--need Nessa say more?). Oh yeah, and sharing a cabin that's five decks below sea level and next to the engine room. Still, at least Holly Isles is on board. Yes, really, that Holly Isles--star of stage and screen. Suddenly, things are looking up. Looking a little Marilyn, in fact, because events are strangely mirroring Nessa's favorite movie of all time, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. (-Synopsis from GoodReads)

Title: Diamonds Are A Teen's Best Friend (Book #1 in the Living Blond Trilogy)
Author: Allison Rushby
Publication Date: 2013
Publisher: Allison Rushby
Number of Pages: 107
Where I Got It: NetGalley
Dates I Read It: November 2 - 5, 2013
Why  I Read It: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Number of Stars: 1/5

NOTE: This is an edited review. I had a different review, one that I didn't feel good about. I felt like I was too harsh and cruel and that is not what I started this blog for. I want to be honest, but I don't want to do it in any way that can be construed as mean. After I wrote the review I felt bad about it and it kept nagging at me for days and I had considered changing it. I even talked it over with some people I trust. Today I  read this article and that made it final for me- I was changing it and I was going to make it more positive. I hadn't called the author any names, nor did I personally attack her in the review, it was just mean and ugly and not my style and something that Taylor Swift would sing about. I was not going lie and say that I loved the book (I didn't) but I don't have to point out every single negative thing about it, picking at all of the seams until no one in the universe wanted to read it, and completely ignore the positive either. Rushby is a great author and has great potential and deserves a chance and does not deserve a hateful review. From now on my reviews will continue to be honest, but they will also be kind. I apologize to anyone I may have offended with my first draft of the review. 

     Diamonds Are A Teen's Best Friend is the first book in an e-series revolving around thirteen year old Nessa Mullholland. The book is incredibly short (the nook version I read was only 107 pages) which would make it a good match for reluctant young girl readers. In fact, I read on Rushby's blog that she aimed this book at younger teens.
     The story started out fun and I was really enjoying the main character. It was beginning to shape up like a nice, cute story changing the pace of the recent dystopian and fantasy books I had been reading. I even LOL'ed at one point in the first chapter! The story was not for me, though. I do believe that Rushby could possibly write some books that would hook me in the future. This story has a lot of potential to reach younger girls and pull them into reading; I would recommend it to some of my middle-school girls who are just getting into fashion and who may be reluctant to read a lengthy and intimidating-in-size book.
     Like I said, this is only book one in a trilogy, but I don't think that I will read the other two. It was just not my style.

Review: The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black

     Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown gates, you can never leave. 

     One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.  (Synopsis from GoodReads)

Title: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author: Holly Black
Publication Date: 2013
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Number of Pages: 419
Where I Got It: Barnes & Noble, Huntersville, NC
Dates I Read It: October 26-November 2, 2013
Why I Read It: Pure Pleasure/Halloween
Number of Stars: 2.5/5

     I was really excited for this book. Some of my favorite reviewers gave it a standing ovation, the cover is eye-catching and beautiful, I am a sucker for vampire books and I have always wanted to read something by Holly Black so I thought that this would be the perfect place for me to start reading her books. Unfortunately, I found my first Holly Black book to be a great disappointment. I really liked the idea of the story and the plot sounded really interesting and I was excited for a new take on vampires but the story as a whole fell flat for me. 

     The writing style was the first thing that I found that I did not like about this story. The style as a whole was just...really...odd. It felt unbalanced for the entire book and I found myself confused over several scenes and especially confused over how the transformation from a human to a cold person to a vampire really worked. The first chapter started off great, and it really pulled me in. After that first chapter though, the story went nowhere fast. Despite the plot sounding like it was going to be an action-packed thrill ride, there was really very little real action in the whole story. I felt like I spent the whole time I was reading the book waiting for the action to start. The last 100 pages were a chore for me to get through. It took me a lot longer to read this book than I originally anticipated. I just did not feel excited to jump back into the story at all and I got to a point last night where I wasn't sure that I would be able to complete the book. 

     For me to really enjoy a book, I have to care about the characters. In this book I did not care about one. single. character. In fact, I hated them all. They all seemed really one dimensional. Not only did I not care if they lived or died, but I actually was hoping for one or two of the "good guys" to bite it, just to give a little oomph to the story! There was a sudden love element to the book that, to me, seemed to come out of nowhere and I totally didn't buy it. The relationship felt forced, almost as if Black had to add it to the story once the book was over. Oops, I forgot that teenagers have to have a love story in every single book that they read, let me quick add a crappy one that no one believes. 

     I have heard that yes, there will be a sequel and I have also heard that no, it is a stand-alone book. I can see where there would be room for a sequel, but if there is, I honestly don't think that I will read it. I would like to read something else by Holly Black though since I do hear great things about her. She will be at Yallfest (NEXT WEEKEND!!!!) so I am going to take my copy and hope to get it signed. I also hope to pick up some of her other works while there and I have high hopes that those books will be a better fit for me. 

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . . But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? (-Synopsis from Goodreads)

Title: Fangirl

Author:  Rainbow Rowell
Publication Date: 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Number of Pages: 433
Where I Got It: Barnes & Noble, Huntersville, NC
Dates I Read It: October 22 - October 25, 2013

Number of Stars: 5/5
Read it For: Pure Pleasure!

I've been listening to a lot of Paramore lately, and one song of theirs has this lyric in in that makes me think of this book: "Some of us have to grow up sometimes, and so if I have to I'm gonna  leave you behind." This is the ultimate book of what it is like to grow up and leave your childhood self behind. This book is so amazing because at one point in our lives, we, all of us, have this happen to us. This transformation can be extremely detrimental when first we realize that it has happened. I was very impressed with the way that Cath handled growing up and transforming into an adult. She does so through grace and a maturity that I am envious of!

I loved this book so much I can not describe it with words. I found so much of myself and the things that I have been going through present in this book. There are so many positive aspects of Fangirl, I will never be able to cover them all in this one review. But lets start with the first wonderful thing about the novel: the characters. Each and every character in the story is fully rounded.  Rarely do I ever discover a novel in which I adore every single character; usually I despise at least 2/3 of the characters in a novel. With Fangirl though, I felt like the people in this book were my actual, real-life friends! I was able to identify a lot with our main character, and even some with her twin sister, Wren, and even with her eccentric roommate Reagan! Even if you yourself can't find a specific character to relate to, the best part about this book is that if you are a reader, then you can identify with the overall theme of the book. Reading Fangirl will make you recount your own experiences with those books that formed the reader that you turned out to be. It was apparent throughout the entirety of the book that Rowell herself is a huge reader. She captured the magic of the experience of reading a story perfectly!

The writing in this book flowed very well. I would sit down for my nightly one-hour allotted reading time and get lost in the flow of the story and end up reading for three (oops). Dialogue between characters is always difficult. It's difficult to read and it's very difficult to write. The dialogue between characters in this story felt very natural and was never distracting.  I am so excited to read more books by Rowell (and, like I mentioned in my #FridayReads post for this week, I get to go see her at Yallfest in less than TWO WEEKS!). 

The plot was amazing as well. It was honest and never boring and, for me at least, 100% relatable. The story was set in Nebraska (where Rowell lives) but it could have been any town USA. I actually imagined Cath's university as the school I attended (go Spartans!).

I cried when this book was over. It didn't have a sad ending, far from it, actually, but I cried because it was over and because I didn't have any more of Cath and Wren and Levi and Regan to read about. This was one of those books that when it was over (and after I was done crying), I thought to myself: "damn! I wish that I'd written that!"

I would never hesitate to recommend this book. I would recommend it especially to high school seniors about to go to college. I wish that this book was around when I left for college. I also would recommend that 20-something girls who have that love of reading experience this book. I think that we all can relate to Cath's resistance to leave behind beloved characters from our youth (helllllloooooo Harry Potter!). Give this book a shot, I doubt that you will be disappointed!

Review: The Monstrumologist

The Monstrumologist is the story of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthrope, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters.  In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real.  But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.
(- Synopsis from Goodreads)

The book is written as the diary of William James Henry who has recently passed away in a nursing home at the age of 133(!). Mr. Henry has no family to claim his belongings and so his journals are given to a local author of strange events. The Monstrumologist is the first three volumes of his journals.

Title: The Monstrumologist
Author: Rick Yancey
Series: The Monstrumologist (Book 1)
Publication Date: 2009
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 434
Where I Got It: Books-A-Million, Concord, NC
Dates I Read It: October 13-21, 2013
Number of Stars: 4.5/5
Read For: Halloween!

This book was a delight to read, especially this time of year with Halloween right around the corner! Halloween is my favorite holiday and now that I am past my months-long reading slump (huzzah!), I knew I was ready for a good, captivating, and spooky book to get me into the spirit of the season and boy did I ever pick a good one! The Monstrumologist was not only a spooky story, it was also an engaging tale of the human condition. I savored this book right down to the last page. Yancey has a gift for keeping his reader entertained through the entire ride. There was so much about this book that I liked but most of all I loved how flippin' gory it was! There was monster blood and pus and flesh eating and severed limbs and all of my favorite things! At times it was increasingly difficult to believe that this was a book aimed at young adult bibliophiles! This is because of the gore, yes, but more so of Yancey's elaborate  yet eloquent, writing style. The novel is set in 1888 and much of the language and verbiage of the book reads as a novel of this era would.  I feel like it could be over the heads of younger readers and would hesitate to recommend it to anyone in their early teens (and younger, of course).  
I am not one to be easily scared by a book, especially a book about monsters. Ghosts? Yes. Demons? Oh hell yes. Monsters? Not so much. That being said, this book really spooked me out! I attribute this fact to Yancey's uncanny ability to world-build.  The setting was very believable and realistic. If you are good at suspending your disbelief while reading, like I am, then you can really find yourself believing that monsters do exist! 
The only complaint that I could have about this book is that it was a tad bit too long for me. I thought that some of the scenes were a little overdone and that maybe 50 or so pages could possibly have been shaved off. This is only book one of a trilogy and I am very excited to read the rest of this series! The next book is The Curse of the Wendigo which excites me more than the Anthropophagi that we were dealing with in this book; I'm a little more familiar with Wendigos from my days of Charmed watching! (The season one episode The Wendigo is my favorite episode of the entire series!)
If you are looking for a super spooky Halloween read then I can't recommend this one enough!

Review: Ender's Game

Earth has been twice attacked by alien forces known as "Buggers". In response the government has started training children as warriors to defend Earth in the event of another attack. Andrew (Ender) Wiggin is the third child in his family and is the only one drafted to prepare for war as a student in the Battle School located on a ship that orbits the Earth. Ender is a natural leader and he advances quickly which isolates him from his peers. Soon the survival of Planet Earth rests solely in Ender's young hands.

 
Title: Ender's Game
Author: Orson Scott Card
Series: Ender's Saga (Book 1)
Publication Date: 1985
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Number of Pages: 324
Where I Got It: Target, Mooresville, NC
Dates I Read It: June 10 - June 16, 2013
Number Of Stars: 5/5
Read For: The Movie's Coming

The first thing that I noticed about this book is how Ender (and really all of the children in the book) thinks and speaks older than a six year old should. At first it was overly distracting for me but as I kept reading I realized that there is so much pressure on the children in this novel.  The children are not allowed to be children- they are expected to be and forced to behave like small adults. Once you can accept that this is the case for children in the future, you can really start to appreciate what these characters have to endure, Ender especially. This kid has the patience of Job; he is constantly bullied and betrayed and yet he perseveres each time. His brother and sister, Peter and Valentine, get their own subplot a little over halfway through the book. I loved this story line as it was very advanced for the time that the book was written-they used the Internet!
All of the characters in the book were very well written. The emotions were raw and exposed through this entire book. Card has a gift for getting readers to feel empathetic even towards some of his most despicable characters. Everyone in this book has a motivation and everyone else knows how to play on those motivations to manipulate.

I am not normally a huge fan of science-fiction books and that is why it has taken me so long to read this book. Confession: I probably would have never read this book if it was never made into a movie. I am so glad that I did get to experience this one, though. I was surprised how how beautifully it was written. It has everything that I look for in a book: excellent character development and a beautiful writing style. Normally I don't care to read about intergalactic warfare but this book was highly engaging. I was blown away by how real it felt. The technology is very accurate so it is hard to believe that this was published in 1985. This book is the grandfather of today's ever popular dystopian fantasy fiction.

Another thing that did trip me up as a first-time reader of science-fiction, there was a lot of battle strategy and political talk which was very difficult to decipher at times and the descriptions of the battle arenas were hard for me to picture. Some of the terminology was way over my head and difficult to pick up and picture. This can become distracting and can interrupt the flow of the book but it is not too hard that it would cause one to give up on the book. If I can make my way through it and enjoy it as much as I did, then surely anyone can do it!


Probably my favorite part of the book is the setting. For seven years I lived in and went to college and graduate school in Greensboro, NC which is where Ender's family lives! Card also lives there and is somewhat of a local celebrity. I also loved the Battle School. As I pictured it in my head while reading I kept picturing it as Serenity from Firefly!


This book was a fun, violent, exciting, action-packed vision of the future with a twist ending that will knock your socks off. I recommend this to everyone who likes to read and I hope that people will read this before the movie so that they can fully experience the ending the way that I did. Five out of five stars!

Review: The Fault In Our Stars

Hazel Grace Lancaster has Cancer and even though she has been taking a miracle drug that shrinks the Cancer cells for years, she is still dying. Wanting her to interact with other people, her mother forces her to go to a local Cancer survivor support group. Here she meets a new friend, Isaac and a new love, Augustus, Gus, Waters. The book is Grace and Augusts’ story of falling in love despite the fact that they both suffer from a disease that will ultimately kill them.

Title: The Fault In Our Stars
Author: John Green
Publication Date: 2012
Publisher: Dutton Books
Number of Pages: 318
Where I Got It: Target
Dates I Read It: June 16 & 17, 2013
Number of Stars: 4/5
Read It For: YA Pick- June 2013

I have wanted to read this one for a long time. I've been hearing amaz-ball things about it and it seems that every blog I read and every YouTuber I watch has read, loved and reviewed this book. I am 100% in love with John Green. So, I quit waiting around for the paperback to come out or for the library to get in a copy so I did something that I rarely do- in the hopes of this book being as amazing as everyone kept telling me that it would be, I bought a hardback copy! Last week my mom, my aunt and I went to the beach for a week and this was one of the books that I took. In fact, this was the one book that I read entirely while at the beach (I also finished Ender's Game and started Tell The Wolves I'm Home). I was able to read it in two days partly because it was a YA book which means not as long as an adult fiction book and partly because it was really good. It wasn't the mind-blowing, change-your-life, read-a-million-times book, but it was pretty damn good! As a warning, I'm going to include "spoilers" throughout this review so if you've not read it yet and you want to go into it with fresh eyes, then stop reading now and go pick up your copy. 

So we have a few select characters and I loved each of them. What was so amazing about the characters is that they were still real kids at heart despite these awful diseases that were claiming their bodies. They played copious amounts of video games, they watched copious amounts of mindless television, they dealt with annoying and overbearing parents, they fell in love and they got their hearts broken. I was pretty blown away by the dialogue between the characters. Several of the reviews that I either read or watched for this book also mentioned that the vocabulary and the manner of speaking that the teenagers used was pretty distracting and very unrealistic. Despite the fact that the way of speaking was not entirely true to life, thanks to John Green’s genius, it was still really well done and beautifully written. Another thing that I was somewhat disappointed in was Hazel’s lack of character development. Every other character in the book developed in major ways throughout the course of the story, yet Hazel didn't seem to join any of them and she remained somewhat flat for me for the duration of the book. Hazel was a difficult protagonist for me because she was very likable but she wasn't very believable, especially towards the end. She was confronted with so many dilemmas that I thought for sure that she would grow the most and I was very disheartened when she developed the least. One thing that I adored about this book was the fact that unlike in most YA novels, the parents were not just background figures but they were actual characters in the story themselves with actual plot lines and secrets of their own. Augustus was himself until the end. He was a fully developed character from the beginning and it will be hard for any female reader to not fall in love with him. Isaac was very endearing. If I ever lose my sight I hope that I can take it as well as Isaac does. In typical teenage fashion, he was more preoccupied with a break up! Peter Van Houten is the author of Hazel’s favorite book. I love when writers write about writers. Though we don’t get a great deal of interaction with Peter, he remained true to character and was douchy til the end, yet as readers we can’t fault him for it and I ended up liking him very much.

I really enjoyed the story and french-a-llama if I didn’t cry! I’m grateful to this book because it made me very grateful for what I do have. It was beautifully written and the pacing was well done. I loved how it ended; it was foreshadowed that the book would end this way throughout so I was expecting it (both the events as well as they stylistic choice to end it where he did). At its heart this is a story about falling in love and what it’s like for a teenager to be in love with a dash of disease and death thrown in. Despite what I thought going into the book it is not a book about death or dying or disease, but about living, however brief it may be. It’s about finding yourself or in the case of some of the characters, re-discovering yourself.

Like I said earlier the dialogue was somewhat distracting as it was very unrealistic for teenagers to engage in conversation the way that these characters did. John Green’s writing style is all his own which is to say exceedingly sharp and engaging. What really amazed me in this book was how well he wrote a female protagonist, he did it better than many female writers! Having read Will Grayson, Will Grayson (and loving it) and now being impressed with this novel, I started researching Mr. Green online and I discovered his YouTube channel that he does with his brother, Hank, called Vlogbrothers and if you've not experienced this yet then you have been missing out! I encourage you to leave my blog and stop reading my review and go to watch his videos right now. That’s how good they are! He also does a series called CrashCourse in which he explains significant events in history and literature and science in a humorous and relatable way! After you've watched all of the Vlogbrothers videos and come back here to finish the review, I now encourage you to leave again to go see CrashCourse. And speaking of leaving the blog and going to watch other things I wanted to include Elizzebooks review of the Fault in Our Stars because she is able to capture John Green’s writing style perfectly:

The story was set in Indiana which really didn't matter to me, this was a story that could have been set anywhere in the US and it still would have rang true. The theme is universal and everyone can relate whether they be a Cancer patient, survivor, teenager, or someone in love. At one point in the novel the characters get to go to Amsterdam and I didn't like this part of the book while I was reading it, but after finishing the novel and reflecting on it, this was actually perfectly done. Amsterdam was the best setting for what happens there and it was an amazing crescendo for the characters to climb to before the end of the book.

I am very glad that I finally joined the bandwagon and read this book and I encourage you to as well. There is something that everyone can get from it. It wasn't as earth-shattering as I had hoped, thus the only 4 stars, yet it was terrifically done and beautifully written and it did invoke an emotional reaction from me.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."                     –William Shakespeare from Julius Caesar

Review: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

So, reader, I bet that you are wondering to yourself if I have already given up my resolution one month in and again fallen off the blogosphere, but actually, I just kinda fell off everything- literally! Since Sunday night I have had a severe case of Vertigo and it is just as scary as the Hitchcock movie! I woke up Sunday night/Monday morning at 1:00 AM feeling like I was being sucked into the ground, I sat up quick with a gasp and promptly fell over and felt a strong urge to vomit. Which I did for the next two days. Finally yesterday after having fallen down twice and feeling that I will never again be able to walk or drive without risk of a public drunkenness or DUI charge, I sucked it up and I went to the doctor where I was given two medications and strict instructions to not drive any more and to just stay flat on my back until the medication kicked in and the world stopped spinning madly on. Well, I can do the no driving thing, and I'm more than fine with missing some work, but I'm not one to just lay on my back all day. So, I sat up and I finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay which this post will be a review of and I read all of The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie which I will hopefully have a review of soon.

(This song represents my life this week)


Looking at a computer screen, believe it or not, is somewhat difficult for me as it brings on dizzy spells, so I will most likely be very brief in this review which will be difficult because this book is a beast!

Title: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Author: Michael Chabon
Publication Date: 2000
Publisher: Random House
Page: 640
Where I Got It: Used at The Last Word in Charlotte, NC
Dates I Read It: January 26, 2013 - February 7, 2013
Number of Stars: 4/5
Read For: 2013 TBR Pile Challenge (February Selection)


This is the story of Josef Kavalier who is living with his family in Prague in 1939. Oh, did I mention that he is very Jewish. Yeah, that means he needs to hit the road and get outta Dodge, and quick. Josef has been taking lessons with a master of the art of escape- Mr. Kornblum who agrees to assist him in escaping the country. Through a series of near-miss escapes from different countries Josef finally makes it to New York City where he finds his cousin Samuel Clayman. The two bond quickly and decide to begin making a new form of entertainment known as "comic books". The two have a real talent for this medium and soon their ace hero, The Escapist, is blowing up. The story follows the two young men over the span of almost three decades, through marriages, lost loves, World War II, children, wives, and much more.
This is a book that demands a lot from the reader. It demands an exorbitant amount of focus, time, attention and emotion. It is all at once the story of the burgeoning comic industry, romance, suspense, survivors guilt, LGBT issues, WWII, Holocaust, magic, and the immigrant experience. Let's start with the characters who drive this story. Josef (Joe in America) is at the heart of the novel. I would consider Joe to be the main character, but the character whose story I was the most interested in was Samuel (Sammy). Sam is a lonely boy when we first meet him and I had figured out his "secret" about 100 pages in, I just kept waiting for  him to reveal it like a sleight of hand. Rosa was the girl at the center of the boys worlds. She was an artist herself who eventually made comics for women readers. She is the love of Joe's life though in these redolent novels the hero doesn't always end up with the girl and for the majority of the book I was fascinated to see if Joe would ever fulfill his full destiny and end up with Rosa. Chabon includes many expanded (sometimes for pages on end) inner revealings of each of the three main characters which while at times these revelations could be somewhat dauntless they really revealed the inner consciousness of the characters and made them into some of the most authentic characters that I have ever experienced in all of literature. Also astonishing about the characters was that there was not a single one that I resented or found any dislike for which, Reader, is very rare for me. They were too real to hate and through those long interludes of thoughts Chabon makes his readers cherish his characters as if they were beloved friends or family members.
I kept hearing one of my favorite book podcasters, Michael Kindness from Books on the Nightstand rave about this book so I placed it on my TBR list years ago and never thought to really get around to it (it's 640 pages- I was scared!) until Roof Beam Reader hosted the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge and I knew I had to knock this one out in 2013 and added it to the list. I'm so glad that it's not still sitting in the pile and that I have experienced this amazing adventure.
The prose was spectacularly written and it is no wonder to me that this novel won the Pulitzer. The tone of this book ranges from exciting and sweeping to dark and it ends with a twinge of nostalgia that I would have expected from the poetic duo. The plot was engaging which surprised me as I do not care for comic books at all. I was a little hesitant about reading a book surrounding the genre, but this is a readable book even for those  of us who are comic book neophytes. The story drifted a little bit for me when one of our heroes enlists in the war. During this part I felt that the character development came to a screeching halt. The character that this selection of the book focused on made decisions and actions which were not believable to me based on the past 300 pages that I had journeyed with this character. Had it not been for this one section of the novel I would have given the book as a whole a full 5 out of 5 stars.
Like I said at the start of this review, this book does demand a great deal from its reader, so this is not a book that I would recommend to just anyone. However, everyone that I know that has read it has loved it. If you have the time and the energy to maneuver this book, I do not believe you will finish it feeling disappointed.

Review: Naked Came the Leaf Peeper by 12 N.C. Authors

Naked Came the Leaf Peeper arrived in my mailbox when I returned home from visiting my parents at Christmas. I had not previously heard of this book so I wasn't sure what to expect of it. I was still reading Anna Karenina so I put it on my TBR shelf and didn't think about it much until I was cruising twitter and saw the book mentioned by my favorite bookstore in the whole world: Malaprop's.  This book was apparently written in celebration of the bookstores 30th birthday. It was collaboratively written by twelve North Carolina authors as a farcical take on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larrson.
The book is a who done it murder mystery set in Western North Carolina staring a liberal and environmentally friendly girl named Garnell Lee Ray who we learn is in the business of creatively offing people, specifically people who are greedy and people who have murdered her parents. After offing one man using a BRP (for those of you not from the greatest state in the USA that stands for Blue Ridge Parkway) overlook and a potato gun our heroine returns to her campsite and is shot in an assassination attempt  but survives thanks to a binder clip and some duct tape. Suddenly her cover is blown and she's on the lam, but people in Western NC aren't who they appear to be and we're not sure who Garnell can trust.

Title: Naked Came The Leaf Peeper
Authors: Brian Lee Knopp, John P. McAfee, Susan Reinhardt, Tony Early, Gene Cheek, Wayne Caldwell, Fred Chappell, Vicki Lane, Tommy Hays, Alan Gratz, Linda Marie Barrett, Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle
Publication Date: 2011
Publisher: Burning  Bush Press of Asheville
Pages: 190
Where I Got It: Christmas gift from family member
Dates I Read It: January 21 - January 26, 2013
Number of Stars: 3.5/5
Read For:  No challenges, just for fun!

I did enjoy the heck out of this book. I'm not sure that anyone who is not from North Carolina would fully appreciate the full effect of the novel. The novel is basically a love story to the land that is Western NC. It is gorgeous and it is plentiful but it is also in danger. Being as beautiful as it is, naturally developers drool over it and yearn to slash and burn and build (mostly huge housing developments for the wealthy). The book was written in a short-storyesq style where each author got a chapter and had to go on what was previously written to finish out the story. The character development was spotty and shifted somewhat in each chapter, which is to be expected. The characters were credible though. They were human, and as it is set in Western NC, many of them were true to form of the people that you meet there. Sometimes overly stereotypical each character perfectly fit the role that they played and even the most vile of the vile characters (in this case, a Republican politico from Raleigh) plays his part with humor. You knew who the true villains were and the character delineation was very direct.
The story itself was a campy mystery. Each chapter threw a major surprise that topped the one in the previous chapter. It was almost as if you could feel the wink wink, nudge nudge playfulness that each author had with one another. In the end everything came together, albeit in an extremely silly way, and one of my favorite North Carolinian's-  Doc Watson, saves the day. There was one plot hole that I couldn't quite grasp: there are two dancing girls who are aspiring dancers who decide to do a theatrical haunting of haunted places. They appear and have a pretty large part in the story, and then seemingly disappear without fulfilling their role to completion. As the book ended I found myself wondering what ever became of them as the two were not mentioned again in the book.
The writing was light, simplistic and fun and this is a book that you can read in a day. Had it not been for a lot going on at work, I would have. I actually read it in about 2 sittings and I was able to read the majority of the book Saturday morning. The rhythm changed from chapter to chapter, again as to be expected. I could almost pick out the chapters that were written by the two authors that I had read before, Vicki Lane and Fred Chappell. The story satirizes each person in turn and even the town of Asheville that boasts a tagline of "Keep Asheville Weird." The book was itself very weird, but super enjoyable to read. I do not think that I would recommend it to anyone who is not from North Carolina, but if you are from here, especially if you are from, or have ever lived, in Western NC, this is one you shouldn't miss.

Review: Follow the River by James A. Thom

Image from National Parks Service

Follow the River is the fictionalized story of the true tale of Pioneer woman Mary Draper Ingles who survived a raid on her village one sunny summer day by Shawnee Indians only to be kidnapped by the warriors, along with her sister in law, neighbor and two sons and one unborn daughter (she was 9 months pregnant). The Shawnee warriors take the captives all the way to Ohio where they continue to inflict torture on the captives. On the way there Mary gives birth on the forest floor, hops back on horseback, and keeps on trucking through the backwoods. Finally, right before winter Mary decides enough is enough and starts walking back to Virginia via the New River with a blanket, a dress and an old Dutch woman she thinks might be named Ghetel. Smart plan. Very well thought out. So, with almost 1,000 miles to go and the weather plummeting into the teens at night Mary begins the long walk back home by following the river.

Title: Follow the River
Author: James Alexander Thom
Publication Date: 1986
Pages: 406
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Where I got it: Used from Amazon
Dates I Read It: January 18 - January 21, 2013
Read it For: Book Club
Number of Stars: 3.5/5


I enjoyed this book. I hate to say it, but it really was a page turner. I had to know what was going to happen to ole' Mary. Even though I knew that she made it back home I had to know HOW she was going to do it because, honestly, I would never have thought she'd be able to. The story, though it is a fictionalized account of a true event, was very unbelievable and I think that Thom may have taken several liberties with his telling. The story seems almost fantastical and just when the worst is about to happen some kind of primitive trail magic appears for the two women and they are given a little boost to keep them going for the next hundred miles or so. Since there are no official records of what actually took place on the journey back, Thom had to use his imagination to fill in the gaps and the dialogue that happened on the trip. Many times in sleet and snow the women would cross the river up to their waists deep and how did they NOT get pneumonia or hypothermia and die? Towards the end of the novel Mary is literally naked having lost her shoes and dress to the elements and climbs a mountain in a snow storm. Though this is a true story, you do need to suspend your disbelief quite a bit and just go with the flow (pun intended). I read this book so quickly because I just honestly did not believe that they could survive a winter in the mountains with a blanket and each other only for warmth. The trials and tribulations that these two women experience is nothing short of remarkable, both the actual event and the story itself. The hardships and dangers and fears that they had to endure just to make it to freedom. Several times the women are driven mad with starvation and turn on each other. Mary had a husband to return home to, but what was Ghetel aiming for? The book is worth a read if for nothing else, just to gain an appreciation for modern advancements and for a warm home and clothes!

The characters were the most frustrating part of the book. I was so angry at Mary. Why in Hell would you choose right before Winter to try to escape and walk 1,000 miles in the mountains?! I know that it was a dangerous situation being a captive, but my God, woman, wait a few months and save yourself from almost freezing to death MANY times! Ghetel was a stubborn woman who only thought of how hungry she was and was a miserable traveling companion for both myself and Mary. Talk about gripping and moaning the WHOLE trip. Had I been Mary, I sure would have turned right around and left her with the Indians! Mary's husband was no better, he only half-assedly tried to ransom her back and failed miserably at that (Mary was able to ransom family members back after she had hauled her ass through the woods and almost died). She should have dumped him flat. She was the stronger of the two and he was driftwood. Upon being reunitd with her, he found himself disgusted at how emaciated she had become and was hung up on the fact that she had probably been "ruined" by the Indian men. This is after he watched her being kidnapped and ran for the hills basically saying "save yourself, woman!" She's sure got herself a real winner there. As I was reading, Mary continually reminded herself that she was making this awful journey to be reunited with him. She would have been better off becoming a Squaw. The only character I could tolerate was Mary's young son Tommy who braved the kidnapping, braved the captivity, showed some spunk, and eventually became a Shawnee Warrior high up on the totem pole.

The story is not the best writing one can hope for, but I didn't expect it to be. Whenever a character speaks dialogue, Thom writes it in what he believes would have been their "accent" (Mary is from Ireland and Ghetel is from Germany) sparing no typical lingo that would be expected. It can be difficult to decipher some of the phrases. The grammar is poor and Thom would have benefited greatly from an editor or two. However, with my many gripes about the book, I did enjoy it enough to give it 3.5 stars and I have told all of my friends and co-workers about the outrageous story of Mary Ingles and encouraged them all to read the book as well. The book is not for everyone, but if you're in the mood for a survivor story to top all survivor stories with a little bit of capricious storytelling mixed in, then this is the book for you!

Review: 1984 by G. Orwell

I wanted to read 1984 right after reading The Handmaid's Tale, which I did. I must say that I enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale much more than I did 1984. I was more impacted by The Handmaid's Tale. Maybe because it was told from a woman's point-of-view which made it more relateable to me, maybe it's because I didn't read 1984 pre-1984 so it didn't impact me as much as it could have, maybe I just preferred Handmaid. Whatever the reason, I did enjoy 1984 in and of itself.

The story is set in 1984 (dur) and is told from the point-of-view of Winston Smith who, like Offred, can remember what it was like before "The Great Change" happened.  Winston lives in Oceania where Big Brother is always watching him. Literally. Always. Oceania is ruled by a form of government known as Ingsoc (which sounded like a morbid kind of Communism) where all the members of "The Party" must always follow a set of rules which includes things like hating traitors and thought criminals who may be against Big Brother. Winston is himself a Thought Criminal: ruh-roh for Winston. On the first day that we meet Winston he begins writing in a diary (which is forbidden) about how much he hates Big Brother (which is super-duper-uber forbidden). Winston works for the Ministry of Truth in the Records Department which means that he spends his days re-writing the past and making every event that has happened thus far in history match up with what The Party wants it to be. Since Winston has memories that go back to his childhood and the time before, he knows what is going on with The Party and he loathes being a part of the cover-up. "And only yesterday, he reflected, it  had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it." Over the course of the book Winston meets another rebel named Julia whom he falls in love with. Together they seek out a secret underground of anti-party people called The Brotherhood. Thinking that he has discovered a link to The Brotherhood Winston and Julia place their trust and lives into the wrong hands. This misplace of trust leads Winston and Julia on a path of being arrested, tortured, forced to turn on those they love the most and brainwashing. There is no hope for a bleak future for the people of Oceania just monotony, rule by an invisible Big Brother, and an ever-changing past which the residents won't remember anyway.



Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell
Publicationn Date: 1948
Pages: 328
Publisher: Signet Classics
Where I Got It: Gift from a relative
Dates I Read It: November 11 - November 21, 2012
Number of Stars: 3/5

Plot:  4/5
What I Liked:
The plot seemed like something that could definitely happen in the future. I read somewhere recently that A. people are getting much dumber, so honestly it would only be a handful of people who would even notice that the world was becoming a robotic, brainwashed nation, the rest of us are on the couch watching Jersey Shore with our heads in the sand. And B. that by the year 2050 every single thing that we do in a day will be recorded on video camera. How long before the cameras start barking back orders to us? The plot was pretty slow to start with, but it was still bearable and you could tell that something big was brewing. It was compelling and I found myself wondering what would happen to Winston and Julia.
What I Didn't Like: I didn't like a section near the last-half of the book which is a selection from the Brotherhood Book. It was dry reading and boring and even Winston noted that there wasn't anything of any new importance in it. Other than that, it was a quick and enjoyable read with lots of action, especially towards the end of the novel.

Characters: 3/5
What I LikedThe characters were honestly written. Winston becomes a fully developed character over the course of the book. The characters were flawed, which gave them more credibility and made them more reliable. Winston is a character that you cheer for, you want him to win, and through him, you gain a hatred for Big Brother.
O'Brien is also well written, so well written and so believable  that I had to re-read the ending with him, just to be sure that what O'Brien was saying and what he was doing was really happening.
What I Didn't Like
I didn't like Julia. I'm sure that I was supposed to, but I didn't care for her at all. I resented her nativity. Julia was young enough that she couldn't remember a time before, so she accepted the Party for what it was, but she still didn't care for it. She had an air of indifference around her, especially when Winston was attempting to engage her in conversations about how it was before the Party took over, and how could she honestly NOT remember Oceania being at war with Eurasia just 4 years earlier?

Prose 4/5
What I Liked
For a classic, this was a very readable book. It flowed well, it was linear, and the story moved at a good pace. Orwell is a magnificent writer, and after reading 1984 I am now very interested in reading Animal Farm. Orwell is able to give a voice not just to his characters, but to their emotions as well. Much like the Party, I was able to tell what a character was feeling just by the way Orwell described a movement, or a behavior. Orwell is able to capture an exorbitant amount of thought, feeling, emotion, etc. with very few words.
What I Didn't Like
There wasn't a whole lot about the prose that I can say anything negative about. The only thing that slowed the flow of the book for me was the section that was from the Brotherhood book. I, personally, just got bogged down by it. Other than that though, I thought that the book was written flawlessly.

Memorable Quotes:
"War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength."
"At the sight of the words I love you the desire to stay alive had welled up in him, and the taking of minor risks suddenly seemed stupid."
"Anything that hinted at corruption always filled him with a wild hope."
"I hate purity, I hate goodness. I don't want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone ot be corrupt to the bones."
"No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred."
"She had become a physical necessity, something that he not only wanted but felt that he had a right to."
"The birds sang, the proles sang, the Party did not sing."
"Down with Big Brother"

Recommended For:
Science-Fiction/Fantasy Fans looking for something a little deeper
English Majors
College-bound students
High School Students

Final Thoughts:
While I enjoyed the book, it wasn't exactly what I thought that it was going to be. I enjoyed the story, I found value in the cautionary tale that warns us of an unforgiving future. Though the events didn't play out in the year 1984, they weren't too far off either. The possibility of a government that controls our every movement is just around the corner I believe. When that time does come, I do hope that we have renegades like Winston and Julia and The Brotherhood out there fighting against the powers that be.

Review: The Handmaid's Tale by M. Atwood

As you know now from reading the first post on my new platform here, the reason I decided to journey back to the blog world was on account of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. This book had such an effect on me. Had I read this book at any time when there wasn't an important election taking place (I literally finished it the day that Obama was elected for a second term), an election that could shape women's rights and freedoms for years to come, I don't think that it would have gotten under my skin quite as much as it did. Having been written in 1986 and forecasting a future where women have absolutely no rights (they aren't allowed to read, Heaven forbid this ever happen), I thought that  the book was starting to come true. We had disgusting men who are not doctors who think that they know what's best for women's bodies- sounds a lot like the commanders!

Offred is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead in the (near) future. We are lead to believe that this place was once Maine but ever since humans destroyed the world with too much pollution (that sounds familiar) women have become sterile and the population is dwindling. Somehow the population has to grow and so those in charge, The Commanders, begin a regime of oppression and male-dominance. First, all of the women's finances are taken from their control and given to the next male of kin, then people are fired from their jobs and the government takes over (all of this happening after a renegade group of "Christians" slaughter all leaders of the US government and tries to play it off as an Islamic Terrorist Attack ) Families are torn apart, women with viable ovaries are dragged into brainwashing camps where they must learn to be complacent and to live as the Old Testament states that they should. Spewing out Bible verses that only support their side of a situation, the commanders toss all females who can't have children into a dreaded place called The Colonies where the people spend their days cleaning up toxic waste. This situation seems pretty bleak to Offred (who is a piece of property named after her commander, a man named Fred, so in sum she becomes known only as the property Of Fred) who longs for her husband (who's most likely dead), a daughter that is used as leverage to get her to behave, and a best friend who committed a gender crime by being gay. Is there any way for Offred to escape this horrible situation?



Title:The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Publication Date: 1986
Pages: 311
Publisher: Anchor Books
Where I got it: Used at Goodwill
Dates I read it: November 4-9, 2012
Number of stars: 5/5

Plot: 4.5 
What I liked:
The story was engrossing to the max. Like Offred, the reader has many questions that they are yearning to get answered. The story moves along fast-paced despite the monotony and boredom of Offred's life. I liked the feminist spirit that Offred held onto despite the camp that she was subjected to and despite the life that she must now lead.
What I didn't like:
I didn't like a turn that it took around the late-middle of the book. I will be vague so as not to give anything away, but there is a time in the book when Offred is allowed to leave the house at night for an event, and it seemed out of place to me. The costumes that are required dress code at this event seemed odd and disproportionate to the rest of the story.
I obviously didn't like the male-dominance of the society, but that was the reaction that I was supposed to have.

Characters: 5
What I liked:
I liked all of the characters for the role that they played (that does not mean that I liked all of the characters). Each character fit perfectly into their own little niche and served the purpose that they were meant to. They were all fully formed and I felt like I understood the motives each had for doing what he/she did.
I liked Moira most of all. Moira is a feminist, free-spirited lesbian who does what she has to to survive and break free of the life that is being forced on her.
What I didn't like:
There wasn't a lot I didn't like about how the characters were written. Like I said they were fully formed and believable  I trusted the narrator, because her honesty was so raw she put herself in danger by revealing her thoughts and desire and I felt I had no reason to be suspect of her.

Prose: 4.5
What I liked:
The prose was difficult at times, but once I got a rhythm going, I found that I could keep it going. I felt like I came to a point where I understood Offred and I understood how she was narrating, but it did take some time.
I noticed as I was reading it, I was reading it in my mind in a voice that I didn't recognize (does that sound weird?). Usually I just read but with this, I felt it echo in my head in the way that I imagined Offred's voice probably sounded.
What I didn't like:
I struggled with the narrator's voice at several points in the book. She does not use quotation marks and the prose is often blunt. I found myself several times having to re-read a section to fully comprehend what was happening.

Pulled Quotes:
Don't let the bastards grind you down.
I am not your justification for existence.
I feel like the word shatter.

Recommended for:
-I know that this book was banned in many high schools, but that this could be a great book to read with an honors or an AP high school English class.
-English majors in connection with a Womens and Genders Study class
-Feminists
-People who will be here in the future

Final Thoughts:
To say that I was impressed by the magnitude of this book doesn't mean anything. If the government must step in and rule our lives, the first thing that needs to happen is that everyone must be required to read this book as a warning about how truly awful our futures could be if we don't shape up NOW!