Review of Witches of East end

Oh boy, I can’t even begin to describe my feelings for this book right now! I really liked the beginning, the middle dragged a bit, the last half of the book picked up on the mystery and magic but was totally ruined by an epilogue that wasn’t really necessary (and mostly seemed like a ploy to get you to buy the next book) and I’m really confused as whether or not I actually liked any of the characters other than Ingrid and Tyler…..
So I think I have to talk about this book in sections, the first 100 pages or so was mostly about the romance, the mystery was (very) slowly built up during this part and the magic was also slowly built up but even so I liked this part, it was interesting enough to keep my attention and I was really expecting it to pick up quickly but…..
The next 80 to 100 pages was kinda slow and even though they kept building on the romance (a little to much at times) and the magic, the mystery took a back seat for a while (this was the part I decided that I liked Ingrid though, so it wasn’t to bad)
The last part of the book picked up the pace on the mystery and the magic and practically left the romance in the background (’til the last few pages but that was fine) the only real problem with it was that you got a LOT of facts all at once and it would have been nice if they were scattered throughout the book a little better. I loved the descriptions of the town and the different worlds, especially the world with the tree of life, the actual magic was that the words used to describe the spells and other magics really made me see them as though they were right in front of me.
I would’ve given this book a solid 4 star rating on Goodreads except that the epilogue really annoyed me and spoiled the otherwise beautiful ending.

Witches of East end

There is nothing like sitting around on a cool Saturday afternoon, sipping limeade and reading a new book. It especially helps when the book is the first in a new series by an author that I really like, Melissa de la Cruz is best known for her young adult vampire series Blue Bloods (which is the only young adult vampire series out there right now that I consider worth reading) but she also has a series out for adults now called The Beauchamp Family and the first book, Witches of East end is (so far) a fun and mysterious read with a plethora of interesting (if not entirely likeable) characters, I think there might be a couple of which are a little bit cliched but I’ll wait to pass judgement until I’ve finished the book, after all, I’m only 71 pages into a 272 page book! 🙂
I’m also really looking forward to the first book in The wolf pact series which is due out this fall and it stars one of my favorite Blue Bloods characters; Bliss Llewellyn.

Book no. 1

I’ve finished my first book of the year and here is my review for Mary Modern by Camille DeAngelis:

Truthfully I don’t know which of my shelves to put this on, it has elements of science fiction, historical fiction, romance and fantasy. But I think I’ll stick with sci-fi since it is mostly about a clone of a long dead woman. It started out interesting with odd characters and a new romance but quickly changed lanes for a while with a science experiment and some tech-y stuff that made it a bit slow, the action picked up again fairly quickly though and I couldn’t put it down right through until I found out what was going to happen to Mary (who was about the only likeable character and even she had her moments) The end trailed a bit but it was fairly satisfying and I like that Camille DeAngelis left it very (very, very, very) open for a sequel and still managed to close it up enough that if there isn’t one, the reader won’t be left hanging.
I’m not sure yet whether I will reread this one or not, but I think I probably will (and I certainly will if there ever is a sequel) but I know I will look forward to reading this author’s other book.

For my 2nd book I am rereading The widow by Carla Neggers, it’s nice to reread since I already know I like it and I know what happens in the next two books in the series so I don’t have to wonder if my favorite character is going to get killed anytime soon (a very real possibility in these books)

Book goal for 2012

So each year I set a goal for how many books I want to read and then I up the next year’s goal by 5, well in 2011 I met my goal of 195!!!!
But I haven’t ever managed 200 which has always been my “secret” goal so this year I’m going to do it (I have to, it’s 5 up from my last goal :)) I have a strategy all planned out and the first books of the year are sitting on my shelf ready to read. I’m starting with Mary Modern by Camille DeAngelis, the first 5 or so chapters are great but I got a little bored for a while, it’s picked up the pace considerably though and I’m really enjoying it now, the mix of science, history and everyday life is as fascinating as the characters, who just keep getting better and better (with the exception of Lucy, who grates on my nerves a bit as the book progresses) I love that so many lives and times are all bound together in the present, and the gothic feel of the chapter where they are digging up an old grave is reminiscent of my favorite Jane Austin book: Northanger Abbey. If you want to read a description of the book then click on the picture above and it will take you to a page on the author’s website. Happy reading! 🙂

New favorite music video/I love ebooks!

I love this song,
I love it so much I could listen to it for hours (come to think of it…. I have ;))
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Now on to a completely unrelated topic; today was my lucky day!!!! I won two free ebooks which I will review here in a few weeks, the first one will be Malice by Griffin Hayes and here is a short description:
Something unspeakable is murdering the townspeople of Millingham and only seventeen-year-old Lysander Shore knows what it is. A dark shadow that possesses its victims and forces them into grizzly acts of suicide. Lysander knows because he has seen it and he’s pretty sure it saw him too.

Sound interesting? I think so and can’t wait to get started!!

Books you must read!!

I’m currently reading the free preview of Song to Wake to by J.D. Field it’s an ebook available at Smashwords.

Here is the description:

~Sixteen-year-old Maddy Bride starts at a new school in the countryside. She knows she’ll have to deal with sports obsessed rich kids, cliques, and pressure. She doesn’t expect myths from the shadowy past to be taking place around her. Not only are the legends unfinished. They’re starting all over again.~

And this book is GREAT!!! I can’t wait to read the rest, the characters are so believable and the plot is pretty intriguing (and don’t get me started on the descriptions of the settings, all I can say is, WOW)