The Book-Net

Full review to come. I would mark this book as four stars but I would give the ending of the book about ten stars!

Definitely had a little trouble with this one at the start and thought it would only get two stars. By the end things started to go smoother and make more sense. Will most likely still continue with the series. Still definitely LOVE Stephen King anyway.

My full and final thoughts can be find on my YouTube channel, The Book-Net

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfIZyoKWmYg

This book has left me somewhat thoughtless/speechless and I am unable to rate it. Considering that I loved how it made me feel at times but also hated how it made me feel at times, I am I little confused about my true feelings toward it. As I move on from it, I have no doubt that I will realize how much I did in face loved it but I am a little to raw for that at the moment. I do know though that I will never regret reading this book. A true emotional journey.

4.5/5 stars. Really loved this a lot! Not a full five stars because it took me a little while to get into the authors writing style, but once it got going, it never stopped!! WATCH MY FULL REVIEW ON YOUTUBE AT THE-BOOK NET!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU-z-2w4PUw

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‘Poison Study’ grabs your attention right from the back cover description. A young woman, Yelena, is next to be executed in the territory of Ixia. She has been sentenced, by admission, to the murder of her master’s son. Yelena believes she is on her way to be executed but instead she is taken into a different room and given a second chance, a chance that comes with a high price tag. The Territory of Ixia is on a watchful eye for assassins and has a food taster to test all the Commander’s food before consumption. This is Yelena’s high price. The next person scheduled to be executed in chosen to be the next food taster. Yelena must taste the food belonging to a man that has many enemies but she must also watch out for her own. Her victim’s family holds high positions with in Ixia are not happy that Yelena has tricked death, for now.

Yelena’s story was one that has not been heard of often. Her being a food taster was an amazing idea created by the author and was one that was right away intriguing but seemed to fall flat despite the potential. It seemed that this entire book had was a series of great ideas that were not fully executed (pun intended). Yelena’s story of survival, and the character of her caretaker/ commander’s spy Valek make you want to read the book but also make you realize that their characters don’t live in a story they deserve.

The author creates these great ideas but never fully describes them. The lack of detail was greatly disappointing. The glory of books and reading is that we can create the way things look in our minds but we still take a little bit of guidance from the author. It was often easy to forget that Yelena now lived in a castle because no details were given to us about where she lived other then a castle. When Yelena walked down hallways and into rooms, that’s all they were, hallways and rooms. No details or description about size or style. Even Yelena herself has a slightly foggy background story. She was raised in an orphanage run by a man and his son. They treated the children terribly but we, as readers were never exactly told what took place. It was vaguely hinted at torture and abuse but nothing was said, as though the author herself was too timid to write about it. Other small things were hard to get over as well. Lack of understanding about the world the story took place in (government, territories) and random themes that started cropping up in the book from seemingly out of nowhere, like magic and gender swapping, made the story even more shambled then before.

This book is not all bad and it is by far not the worse book there is. In fact you could still say the book is good but a harsh review is necessary because this book could have been so easily amazing. It is tough to read a book where the author has some of the best ideas there are but not all the tools needed to tell the story the way it deserves to be told.

‘Poison Study’ is recommended to the fans of the YA genre. It is a story of a young girl with romance, adventure and maybe even a little magic thrown in there. Perhaps some will not be as harsh to this book and those with very vivid imaginations but even enjoy the task of having to create everything on their own.

Rating: C

*High enough to still read the second book in the series ‘Magic Study’ and hope that what was missing in the first book can be found in the second.

Watch my video review!

http://youtu.be/3afcwJ8ebtw

Cormoran Strike is a private eye and war veteran, investigating the death of a famous, paparazzi plagued super model, Lula Landry. Late one winter night, Lula’s body was found after she fell off her apartment’s balcony. Her brother, John Bristow, believes that Lula did not kill herself, as the police report says, but instead believes that foul play was involved. Strike dives into the case, interviewing everyone who knew Lula to learn the truth about the model’s death.

The book is very much a classic crime novel and a very good one too. Cormoran Strike is a very compelling character. Coming off a recent breakup, and now living in his office, we already have become involved in the potential success of Cormoran’s case. Lula herself can be considered our other main character. Although she is dead the entire book, through interviews given about her we can begin to understand the life she lead, as she tried to keep her personal life private and away from the eyes and ears of the ever present press and paparazzi.

The fact that this is a crime novel helps JK (yes I think its safe to say that it is no longer a secret) show off what she’s best at, character writing. JK, whether in Harry Potter or Casual Vacancy, has an immense talent for writing characters perfectly. Not only does she write characters that we are supposed to love or hate, but she allows us to see the characters exactly as we are supposed to, for whom they are. With out boring us with pages of description, Rowling keeps details short but still packs the book full of quick descriptions and small clues. With only a couple of sentences we can understand their personalities, backgrounds and current moods. She seamlessly weaves in and out many beguiling characters like, Robin, the temp secretary who has a secret love for her job and Evan Duffield, Lula’s heartbroken ex-boyfriend addict. She can do this all by showing us the simple things, like the way people flip their hair when they’re uncomfortable or how they sit and walk that makes us feel like we truly know the person we’re reading about. Also, JK has not given up her love for using unusual names.

The novel is a perfect crime story that will keep you guessing till the end and will leave you shocked with the final outcome. Characters are incredibly dense and the situations they are in seem incredibly real. Like her most recent book, Causal Vacancy, it seems that JK has used aspects of her own life to help her tell this story. With Causal Vacancy being reminiscent of her life before Harry Potter, the story of Lula Landry and her friends, being followed and having their privacy taken away, could be seen as eerily similar to her new life after Harry Potter.

A highly recommendable book, great for being passed on to all lovers of crime dramas. This book is for both the modern crime watchers that always have their TVs set to hear the newest verdict, but also for the old crime lovers who enjoy a classic Agatha Criste novel every now and then. Read the book and see if you can solve the crime before Cormoran Strike.

really, 4.5 stars

Check out my video review!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYjWRT2Voyw

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT! It's almost worse than the time Jacob feel in love with the baby.

My first note would just be that I would really prefer to give this book 3.5 stars instead of only 3.

This is a tale of a witch, whose mother made a deal with a warlock to save her before she herself was killed for being a witch. This book was almost a bonus book, with multiple stories inside it. We meet Elizabeth a modern witch, quietly practicing on her own and selling her herbs and ointments at local markets. She meets a young, eager girl who she decides to tell her stories too.

Elizabeth tells the story of her immortal life through multiple memories, each focusing on the threat that she is forever facing, the warlock her mother made a deal to. I enjoyed reading the different tales told because they all took place during distinctly different time periods. The stories each have the same issue; Elizabeth is struggling to find out what kind of witch she is and what kind of witch she can be. She came to power under the guidance of a warlock, who believes that Elizabeth is supposed to be with him now, but he usages his power for dark things, which Elizabeth does not agree with her. The book leads to the ultimate struggle between the witch he wanted her to be and the witch she wants to be.

I liked this book right away. I liked that Elizabeth took me to a tale of her past right away during the time when she became a witch, and when people were hunting for witches. The Warlock Gideon was an interesting character and I first was instantly intrigued to. But it seemed that the author didn’t give me the whole reason as to why I wasn’t supposed to like him. I was told he did dark magic, and yes a couple of scenes didn’t help is character, but he did save Bess (Elizabeth as a child) and showed her the power of magic. Elizabeth spends the rest of her life trying to run away from him and although I learned that she didn’t want to be with him (and therefore she shouldn’t have to be with him) I didn’t think the author gave me enough reasons to hate him as much as I was supposed to.

The different decades were my favorite part of the book, from the witch trails to living in London during the time of Jack the Ripper and her time during the First World War. My interest wasn’t lost in anyway during the book but it did become very predictable and I think I lost some of the excitement because of that. Elizabeth was immortal and lead very interesting lives I just wish it hadn’t been as easy for me to see what was going to happen. The intrigue I had for the different decades was definitely the main selling point and Elizabeth was a character that I did find myself to be very fond of. I still would recommend this book to others. What I liked helped out weight all the problems I had with it, making myself still think very positively towards it.

I was pleasantly surprise by how much I enjoyed this book. Actually, I loved this book. This isn’t your classic aliens-take-over-the-world-and-girl and-boy-fight-against-those-said-aliens story. Close, but still completely different. Instead, girl does get taken by aliens (literally, Souls implant themselves in humans’ bodies and erase the humans, taking over the bodies as their own), and has an alien Soul implanted in her body but refuses to go away with out a fight.

Okay, what? Let’s give you a little more clarity then that. So, Melanie has been captured and like all humans who are caught, is implanted with a Soul. The Soul is now the owner of the body. Any evidence of the past human should only be their memories. Melanie is different, her memories are there but she is there also as well. Wanderer, the implanted Soul and new owner of the body, is not alone like she should be; Melanie is there like an unwanted imaginary friend. Although Melanie can no longer control her body she can talk to Wanderer, aka Wanda, and show her different memories which eventually makes Wanda sympathetic to her plight.

This book as two main characters, Wanda and Melanie and although they share one body we get to know each of them through their internal conversations. Melanie shares her stories and memories of her brother Jamie and boyfriend Jared. Because Wanda is connected to Melanie’s memories she feels the same love Melanie has. They become friends and, Wanda leaving society and almost becoming a traitor to her race, run away to find Jared and Jamie.

The rest of the book is full of adventure. Can Wanda and Melanie work together and trust each other? Can they find Jamie and Jared? Will the Seekers (Soul police) continue their search for Wanda after realizing that something has gone wrong with her implantation? And what does the future have for Wanda and Melanie, can they continue to share one body?

I enjoyed that there were two main characters that I could love. Although they had the same body, they were very clearly written as two different people. I also enjoyed that this novel wasn’t just a romance between a boy and a girl during an alien take over. All of our main characters had love interests but they were always aware that there were bigger things to be mindful of. I especially loved the character of Jamie. Melanie and Wanda’s love for Jamie (Melanie’s brother) is what separated them from another female lead from our authors other novels. The boyfriend Jared was not the most important person in the world. There was Jamie and there were all the other members of the small human resistance that become very important to Melanie and especially Wanda. Love is important in everybody’s life but it doesn’t only have to be romantic love, plutonic love is just as important and can be just as strong. Both Melanie and Wanda were strong female leads that I appreciated and both came to learn that both kinds of love are equally important, a strong point that I think lacks in other YA novels.

The book may seem confusing in the beginning as you start to learn about the situation with Melanie and Wanda, but it does become easier over time. And once the novel gets going, it doesn’t stop. It's about survival, courage and love. It’s an easy book and a quick read and definitely an entertaining story. I absolutely loved it; I came to really care about the characters and enjoyed the pace of the book. If you’re like me and enjoy reading books that are a little under your reading level from time to time but get annoyed by how young the characters can be, I recommend this book. It’s the perfect mix of a quick pace YA novel but staring characters that are more mature then others. Well done, Stephenie Meyer and I’m sorry I judged you from your past books. I will never do that again.

For me, Stephen King did it again. When I first started reading him, I expected scary, spooky stories full of blood and death. The first novel I choose was The Stand. The blood and death part, true but I never found it scary because of supernatural things, I found the possibilities of the situations happening, scary. The same is true for Under The Dome. There are no vampires living in an old house, or giant rat bats living under a factory, but the idea that what happened is possible, is frightening. The Dome part of the story might be unbelievable but what happens once the Dome is in place couldn't be more plausible. Very eerie.

Normally when you read a book you’re rooting for the good guys to succeed and save the day, and even though I of course wanted the good guys to see them selves out of the Dome, the person I really found myself thinking about was the bad guy, Jim Rennie. There were many parts when the good guys’ safety and prosperity was far from my mind and the only thing I cared about was the utter destruction of Big Jim. He is the epitome of the untrustworthy politician. He is the reason even good politicians have bad rap sheets because his is so big it looms all over the rest of them. He is a terrible person and a terrible politician but he is awfully good a getting a crowd going and using a bad situation to make a good situation for himself. I could go on about my hatred for this character but I need to stop to make sure I give Stephen King the correct amount of credit needed for making such a loathe worthy character. Very impressive.

This book isn't only for classic Stephen King fans, and for people who think he's to scary for them shouldn't run away from this book either (or be turned off by its size). Anyone who enjoys small town life, and likes local politics (or hates local politics) this book would be a good choice. I could almost picture myself reading this book for one of my political science classes in college discussing the tools that different politicians use in order to gain power. Very interesting.

There are many characters, and it can seem hard at first to keep up but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the time and effort it took to read it was well worth it. This book is great to read and pass on so you can discuss it with someone else. And if you don’t know anybody else who’s read it, you can always wait till the mini series comes out. Very exciting..

I really enjoyed this book. It's not one that I would normally pick up so I loved the fact that the pace was quick and I could get into it right away.

I enjoyed always trying to keep up with it. The book is written in a way so that you believe (the reader) you might know the whole story but then once you've made up your mind about what's going on, some new piece of information comes that changes everything.

The book seems like the classic story of a wife going missing and the husband being the suspect but it's much more than that. It gave great commentary on situations like this that happen in the world today and largely points at the media's involvement and influence over these high interest cases. I personally have never enjoyed the news shows that basically convict someone before the information is in (Nancy Grace) so I really loved the way the book uses the media as a character on its own.

I give the book four stars because it kept me reading the whole time, lots of twists and I think that it is really a book that almost anyone could enjoy.

Anna Karenina is a grand epic tale that literature readers love and search for.
The story mainly caught my attention because of its themes of love, romance, and adultery and also because of its many past and upcoming adaptations.

The book was exactly what I was hoping for and I loved it. It was seemingly long and boring during some points of the book but as an avid reader of many classics this isn't something that's new to me, I often expect it, and just like the cases of the other books too, the long slow parts are still worth it in reading the whole book.

Anna Karenina grabs you right away with the blossoming romances between Vronsky, Kitty, Levin and Anna, but also with the dismantling love between Dolly and Anna's brother Stiva. The romance of the people grabbed me in this book just as much as the initial love of the romance of Russia. Throughout the book we come to many different places in Russia, in society and the country, and learns the positive and negatives of Russia, and Russian society. It was truly moving reading it and I think what I really enjoyed when the richness of the characters (I am counting Russia as a character too). Not all the characters were my favorites but even my favorites had their own faults making them so much more human to me and adding on to the reasons I wanted to continue to read about them.

My favorite parts were definitely the parts because Anna and Vronsky. Many things were in the way for Anna and Vronsky to make a happy romance, not just Anna's current marriage but also of the burden that society puts on them and their love. Although it was supposed to be hidden it was very clear that they were not left alone. Anna and Vronsky’s romance ends in a very different way compared to Levin and Kitty’s. Both relationships actually face some of the same issues but their places in Russia could be considered a major factor in the story’s endings.

I absolutely recommend this book to those readers who love classics, romance, criticisms and discussions of society and stories that when finished feel truly rewarding.