The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan - 5 stars

This is book 3 of the Percy Jackson Series. This is also one of the series I wish to complete this year. I gotta say these books just keep getting better the more I read them. I love that they are so engaging and so fast paced. It is so easy to lost in Percy's world, among these God's and monsters. I am so glad I decided to read this series this year. I have not been disappointed yet.

In this installment We meet some new characters as they go on a quest with Percy and Grover to rescue Annabeth and a goddess in chains from the clutches of the those intent on destroying Olympus and everything that has to do with it. Percy makes some more enemies along way.

This installment was really fast paced as the plot thickens and the story draws closer to the prophecies that revolve around Percy. We get some interesting new twists in this plot line surrounding the Oracle yet again. One thing that I really enjoy about this series is that nothing comes easy to any of our characters. Everything has to be worked for. There is always something their to hinder their progress and they proceed to overcome the obstacles. I was so engaged with this one and the characters that I was sad to see it end. There were also some pretty good feels with this one.

I really like watching these characters develop as the story progresses. I have say that Percy is no where near as annoying as when he first started out. We also have some new characters introduced into the story that rubbed me the wrong way in the beginning, but as the story goes on I was able to understand those characters. I am not entirely sure about all of them yet, but I am sure it will be made clear soon enough in the upcoming books.

I can recommend this book to anyone. Does not matter if you are teen or adult it is a great series and should be experienced by everyone. Great series so far and I look forward to the rest of the series.

Wordle Me This

Ok so again from The Reverie there is a post on "Wordle me this" where words are supplied and you use them to write a poem. So I thought I would try my hand at this. So first, here are the words that were provided.

storm
liar
noise
bitter
rampant
thief
lurks
redemption
exposed
consumption
caverns
vestige
revival

And here is what I came up with for this one. Please be gentle. LOL

As a storm rages
a bitter thief lurks
in the caverns of my heart
dispersing its bitter venom
my heart is exposed
while this thief relishes
in it's consumption

The Fire Sermon - Francesca Haig - 4 stars

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This book is a YA dystopian. I don't read a lot of dystopian but this one sounded interesting so I decided to pick it up and give it a try because the concept was different from most. I am really glad I did because I found the story very engaging and fast paced.

In this story we have a world of Alpha and Omega. Alpha are the strong people and Omega are considered the weak, dead ends, and poisonous. When children are born they are born as twins, one boy and one girl. One will be born Alpha and one will be born Omega. Alpha babies are born perfect and beautiful while Omega babies have some type of deformity. As they grow in the family eventually they will have what they call the split when the omega baby is pushed out and sent away to a refuge belonging only to the Omega community. Cass is born the Omega and Zach the Alpha, neither have any deformities except for the fact that Cass has a secret that Zach tries to expose. The Omega people live in Segregation while being oppressed by their stronger counterparts, the Alpha. In the beginning, as babies, the Alpha and Omega will live together, but in the end they will die together as well. This world is dependent on Cass and Zach, which will overcome?

I thought the plotline was so different in this dystopian story. I also found it to be fast paced and very engaging from page one. Rather than having a dystopian Government who oppresses it's people you have a group of people who oppress a weaker group of people. I love the concept of twins being born with one weak and one strong. I also love the connection between them that if one is in pain and dies, the other one is also in pain and dies. I think the imagery was also good, because of this, the world building is done very well, very visual.

As for the characters I think they too were developed well. I have a complaint though which kept this from receiving 5 stars. I found our protagonist rather whiny and I did not see a lot of growth in her until the very last chapter of the story. She was born Omega and was oppressed and pushed out sure, but let me tell you she showed her weakness too well. She played the poor pitiful me too well. I would have liked to see her much stronger by the end of the book. I mean she had 3 or 4 different people telling her she was much stronger and much more important that she thought and it was still not enough for her to see it herself? There will be a sequel to this one and I hope to see Cass grow by leaps and bounds. I really like Kip a lot. I feel like his personality was much better and he would stand up and fight more for injustice than Cass would. He knew he was dealt a rotten hand and he worked with what he had.

Like I said, because of the lead protagonist I could not give this book a 5 star, but it is very worth reading and I recommend this to anyone who likes YA dystopian, post apoc and even sci fi could enjoy this book. Very different and very enjoyable. I look forward to the next in this series.

Cycle of the Werewolf - Stephen King - 4 star

I received this book from a dear friend on BookTube as a gift. I have not read or seen this book for 20 years at least and as soon as I opened the packaged I dived into the book and read it. Wow such a great story with great illustrations that make the story even more exciting.

In this book the author tells the story about a werewolf by way of the moon as it cycles through each month. Each month a tragedy transpires in a pattern of events and the townspeople are terrified. Even though the cause is obvious, no one really wants to come out and say accept for Marty that is.

This is a very quick and engaging read from start to finish and can be read in just a few hours. I love the illustrations in the book because I feel like it adds so much more to the story. I almost felt like a little kid again flipping back to the picture when I read about what the picture was telling. The author paints a story that is quick and to the point with this one. Not like werewolf stories of today with all the glamour.

I think had this been a longer novel, our characters would have been developed a lot better with some more backstory, but I have to say I still really enjoyed Marty who is of course our child protagonist. I think that he is still one of those very memorable characters despite not having a lot of development.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves King or loves engaging quick werewolf stories. Or maybe someone who likes graphic novels as well. Either way I don't think readers will be disappointed by what they read with this one and I am pretty sure most King lovers have already read this book.

Tuesday Talks - Should Authors provide the books for review?

Absolutely yes. I feel like if the Author approaches the reader and asks them to review their book then they should be the one to provide the book whether it be paper form or e-book form, either works. It seems like simple etiquette doesn't it. There have been a couple of times when I was approached by an author and they thought I should buy that book. That does not work for me.

The way that this can differ is if the reader approaches the Author. If the author is self published then they are responsible in letting the reader know if they can or can not provide the book for review. If they can not then the reader should be courteous enough to either buy the book or walk away from the situation.

If a reader really wants to review books there are other ways to do just that. Websites like Net Galley and BookLook Bloggers can provide that service. Net Galley provides e-book format for their review books, and BookLook Bloggers have the option for either. So there are always resources available for serious reviewers.

If you would like to be a part of Tuesday Talks please come join us on Good Reads by joining the Tuesday Talks Group. We would love to hear rom you. You may also watch the vlog version if this discussion by clicking here.

Ask the Dark - Henry Turner - 3 stars

I received this book through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This is a debut novel of the author and I was a little hesitant about that at first. This is a mystery and also classed as YA, but I am not sure as to why it would be YA because the language used in this books was pretty bad.

In this book we have a boy named Billy Zeets who has been less than perfect in the eyes of those in the community. Billy does not have a clean record, he has been know for stealing and trashing the community he lives in. He does make a promise to do better and not revert to the life he once lived. That was before he stumbles upon a crime and he makes it his mission to solve the crime in his small town.

I was a bit confused by this book being classed as a YA since it read more like an adult book. I say that mostly because of the language. Normally bad language does not bother me but in this book the language at times was a bit over the top for me with all of the cursing and it put me off a little bit from really enjoying the story. I love a good mystery, but I don't feel like I got that with this book since you know at the beginning of the story pretty much what is going to happen. The only mystery was really figuring out who did and I have to say it was pretty predictable and not really a surprise. I felt like that hurt the story a lot. Despite my issues with the story I found it was an engaging, fun read simply because we have an unlikely hero as the protagonist of the story.

I did find that Billy grew on me despite his use of a few choice words constantly throughout the story. I think he was developed ok, but I think a bit more backstory would have really benefitted the story a lot. I did not really find much connection with any of the other characters in the book. I thought the speech/accent of our protagonist was written very well and gave him more character.

I really cant class this book as a YA mystery and I don't think people should go into it thinking it is. There is some mystery to the story, but it is very much an adult book IMO. If you like a mystery but more on the fun side rather than serious, then you may like this book. I was on the fence about what I wanted to rate this book since I had some issues with it. I decided that since it was pretty engaging and fun I would rate it a 3 star. I think that is pretty generous.

11/22/63 - Stephen King - 5 stars

I just read this book as a reread for the reread along that I am hosting for March, 2015, and I have to say that I enjoyed it just as much this time as when I read it 2 years ago. I would keep it the same exact rating as well. This was such a pleasure to read again and visit with these unforgettable characters. The story rich in both plot and characters, everyone should read it at least once.

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Review from February 25, 2013

Again I was nothing but pleased with yet another King Novel. And again the characters were created with such life and vitality. I fell in love with so many of them. And all King fans know that he is the master in character development. In this novel my favorite would have to be Jake.

I found this is a very thought provoking story. When I first started it, I felt envious of Jake for being able to see his home in early years. The smells and the sights, the newness of everything. Then the further I read made me do a lot of thinking. What would I do? What would I sacrifice? Would I really change history if given the chance? Would I risk the possibility of catastrophic events due to changing the past? I can simply say, even though my heart would say yes, my head would not.

My beliefs are that everything happens for a reason. I know some people would not agree with that and some would, either way these beliefs are mine. And I felt each of Jake's struggles with this throughout the entire novel. This story will make you feel every emotion that you could possibly feel. You will be consumed from the first page to the last. King wrote it brilliantly with the perfect blend of mystery, danger, and a love so rich and deep it is almost overwhelming.