This is the book Twilight wishes it could be. It is a vampire love story as it should be. It is full of gore because after all vampires are dangerous blood-sucking undead creatures who just happened to have been human at some point. There is danger, intrigue, romance, blood, and stakes. There is no going out in the daylight because when there is then there is smoldering, burning flesh, and a pile of ash.
AND THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO SPARKLING!!!!!
Tana wakes up in a bathtub after a party and all the other teens at this party are dead. The only other souls (or soulless) left alive (relatively speaking) are her pain-in-the-ass ex-boyfriend and a vampire who she feels drawn to save even as she is terrified of him.
Along the road to a Coldtown there is blood (it is after all a vampire story), mystery (who is this vampire and why isn't he trying to drain all the blood form Tana's still living body?), and betrayal. But there is also romance. And this is the least sappy romance I have ever read. And I loved it.
Very well written and fresh even while it might feel familiar because it follows years and years of accepted vampire lore.
Take a trip to Coldtown, you won't regret it.
(Finished December 27, 2014)
I love books. I love everything about them, how they feel, how they smell, the way they welcome you and take you everywhere and everywhen. Here I share my thoughts on books I read as I read them. When I started this Blog on Jan. 17, 2013 I moved all of my posts about books here from another forum going back to 2011.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Friday, December 26, 2014
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
As in Eleanor & Park Rainbow Rowell creates characters who feel broken in some way. But she does it in such a way that draw you and make you cheer for them to win.
In FanGirl you meet twin sisters Cather and Wren. They are freshman in college. Wren is confident, sassy and outgoing. She wants to try being a person apart from her twin even if they are going to the same college. Cather is an introvert who is having a hard time leaving home and being apart from her twin.
The girls have a mother who walked out on them when they were 8 and a bipolar father who did his best to raise the girls on his own.
Outward appearances can be deceiving and sometimes those who seem the most put together are the ones falling apart in the worst way. And how we see ourselves isn't necessarily how others see us.
What Rainbow does so well is write in such a way that you feel like you are in the skin of her main characters. Healing, honest, heartbreaking.
Cather is such an amazing young woman and it takes her a long time to figure out her worth. Along the way you will fall in love with her.
(Finished December 26, 2014)
In FanGirl you meet twin sisters Cather and Wren. They are freshman in college. Wren is confident, sassy and outgoing. She wants to try being a person apart from her twin even if they are going to the same college. Cather is an introvert who is having a hard time leaving home and being apart from her twin.
The girls have a mother who walked out on them when they were 8 and a bipolar father who did his best to raise the girls on his own.
Outward appearances can be deceiving and sometimes those who seem the most put together are the ones falling apart in the worst way. And how we see ourselves isn't necessarily how others see us.
What Rainbow does so well is write in such a way that you feel like you are in the skin of her main characters. Healing, honest, heartbreaking.
Cather is such an amazing young woman and it takes her a long time to figure out her worth. Along the way you will fall in love with her.
(Finished December 26, 2014)
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride By Cary Elwes, Joe Layden
Cary A.K.A. Westley isn't a writer, he is an actor but that doesn't make this book any less enjoyable. In fact it adds to the charm. The pages are peppered with blurbs by his Princess Bride cohorts.
From his casting in the roll of poor farmhand turned pirate Westley As You Wish is a peek behind the scenes and it was wonderful to get the glimpse.
Everything about this book is a pleasure. Even the dust jacket is wonderful. There is printing on both sides.
Cary shares the details on the training for the sword fight, the hard time he had keeping a straight face working with Billy Crystal, and the amazing way Rob Reiner ran the show. The parts about Andre the Giant are very moving.
That this movie was a project of love to all those involved is clear, most of the cast and crew came on board as fans of the book and found it an honor to bring it to life in movie form.
A little on the saccharin side but not unpleasantly so.
(Finished December 23, 2014)
From his casting in the roll of poor farmhand turned pirate Westley As You Wish is a peek behind the scenes and it was wonderful to get the glimpse.
Everything about this book is a pleasure. Even the dust jacket is wonderful. There is printing on both sides.
Cary shares the details on the training for the sword fight, the hard time he had keeping a straight face working with Billy Crystal, and the amazing way Rob Reiner ran the show. The parts about Andre the Giant are very moving.
That this movie was a project of love to all those involved is clear, most of the cast and crew came on board as fans of the book and found it an honor to bring it to life in movie form.
A little on the saccharin side but not unpleasantly so.
(Finished December 23, 2014)