Because after all, there are only 4 or 5 weeks in a month, and I read a lot. Plus, some books I read don't deserve a post all of their own.
Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase was a really good novel and a quick read. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was a little too Princess Diaries to be considered truly original. Now, I have no idea which one came first, but the story lines are quite similar. Girl living in the States gets visited by a royal from some indistinct country that no one has ever heard of, and they tell her she's royalty. The difference is that Sam (The main character in this novel) isn't a princess, just a duchess. Regardless, she inherits lands and lots of money and finds a man. It's all very cliche, but I love these cliche happy endings!
Trick of the Eye by Jane Stanton Hitchcock did not end up being as good as I expected it to be. It was a painfully slow read for me. The main character is a trompe d'oiel so there's a lot of emphasis on details about paintings and furniture and whatnot that just made the read go by too slowly for me. The actual plot was actually quite interesting for the most part, but there were too many points throughout the story that I just wanted to stop reading. The story was just all over the place and too unrealistic. My feelings about the story kept changing between negative and positive throughout the story, and it wasn't until the ending that I was 100% sure that I did not like this book. It was a painful read, the plot wasn't always clear, the characters were too eccentric, no emotions were evoked in me, and I just didn't like it. Definitely don't recommend it.
The Gathering of Waters by Bernice L. McFadden also gets a negative review from me. I guess that's what I get for picking out random books from the virtual shelves of the library without any prior knowledge of the author, reviews, or a recommendation. The narration was the first thing to throw me off. The story is told by a spirit in the first person, but also from an omniscient point of view. And the awesome blurb that hooked me into reading this story? It had barely anything to do with the actual story. We don't even get introduced to those characters until about three fourths into the story. I don't even think this book can be called a novel. It's more of a collection of stories about people whose lives are interconnected in one way or another. A better blurb would be something along the lines of "The evil spirit of Esther affects lives throughout Mississippi and sets tragedies in motion in the lives she comes across" since the story pretty much started and ended with Esther's spirit wreaking havoc throughout the world in all kinds of ways. It was a really quick read, written as if it were for a child to read, although the content is definitely best kept away from children, with more than enough mature content in its pages. Once again, I don't recommend it.
Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder had me hooked from the first chapter. It delivered all that it promised in the blurb and more. It takes place in a dystopian society called the Inside, where people are divided into scrubs and uppers. Scrubs are the lower class, subjected to almost animal-like existences, while the uppers supposedly live a life of privilege. Everything is well regulated, and grouped nicely into groups of tens and anyone who dares do anything not planned is reprimanded by the Pop Cops, or worse, fed to the Chomper and recycled. So when Trell gets sucked in to a crazy quest to find the Outside, she ends up leading a rebellion against the Travas and changes everything about their lives. I loved this story. It's pretty much like all other dystopian novels, but hey, they're good novels. I paid $7 for the sequel and that's a ton of money for a Kindle book, so you know it's a good story. I definitely recommend it.
And here's Outside In by Maria V. Snyder. The only reason I didn't give these two their own post is because I ran out of weeks in June! You think that after everyone was freed from the Travas the world would be a better place. Nope. Now the people are struggling to find a new system that works. You can't leave the uppers on comfortable computers while the scrubs keep doing the dirty work. So now scrubs aren't working anymore and the Committee, 19 members, one from each of the Upper Families and one from each sector of the scrub levels, is struggling to figure out how to make the system run smoothly. Trella is tired of the politics so she bails on the Committee and begins exploring the Expanse that they found, revealing at least 5 more floors that the Insiders hadn't known about before. Trouble really starts kicking in when an explosion occurs and eventually Outsiders start trying to come Inside. So now Trella has to find a way to free the people from the Outsiders rule as well. Not to mention deal with her own love life and the significance of having figured out who her mother is. It was an amazing story and it kept me reading the pages even when I should have been doing other things, like walking. Definitely recommend!
These and the other books I've posted about have been my June books. I can't wait to open the pages of the books I plan on devouring in July!
Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder had me hooked from the first chapter. It delivered all that it promised in the blurb and more. It takes place in a dystopian society called the Inside, where people are divided into scrubs and uppers. Scrubs are the lower class, subjected to almost animal-like existences, while the uppers supposedly live a life of privilege. Everything is well regulated, and grouped nicely into groups of tens and anyone who dares do anything not planned is reprimanded by the Pop Cops, or worse, fed to the Chomper and recycled. So when Trell gets sucked in to a crazy quest to find the Outside, she ends up leading a rebellion against the Travas and changes everything about their lives. I loved this story. It's pretty much like all other dystopian novels, but hey, they're good novels. I paid $7 for the sequel and that's a ton of money for a Kindle book, so you know it's a good story. I definitely recommend it.
And here's Outside In by Maria V. Snyder. The only reason I didn't give these two their own post is because I ran out of weeks in June! You think that after everyone was freed from the Travas the world would be a better place. Nope. Now the people are struggling to find a new system that works. You can't leave the uppers on comfortable computers while the scrubs keep doing the dirty work. So now scrubs aren't working anymore and the Committee, 19 members, one from each of the Upper Families and one from each sector of the scrub levels, is struggling to figure out how to make the system run smoothly. Trella is tired of the politics so she bails on the Committee and begins exploring the Expanse that they found, revealing at least 5 more floors that the Insiders hadn't known about before. Trouble really starts kicking in when an explosion occurs and eventually Outsiders start trying to come Inside. So now Trella has to find a way to free the people from the Outsiders rule as well. Not to mention deal with her own love life and the significance of having figured out who her mother is. It was an amazing story and it kept me reading the pages even when I should have been doing other things, like walking. Definitely recommend!
These and the other books I've posted about have been my June books. I can't wait to open the pages of the books I plan on devouring in July!
