Tag: recommend

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The Forgotten Garden: Kate Morton

When I got to the last page of this book and read the last word, I just sat there.

What a gripping story and oh my how tragically depressing. But it wasn’t tragic in a terrible don’t want to read it kind of way, but in a tragic you wanted so bad for the ending to change kind of way, but alas no. From the first few pages you are told the ending, you just didn’t know why the ending was what it was. It was a very well crafted and well written mystery that slowly unfolds.

This was not a short read, 560 pages, but I enjoyed it.
It spun throughout the book 3 time periods and 3 different (yet the same) stories.
Each were gripping in their own way, but by far Eliza and Nell’s stories were the most intense.

The only thing I didn’t like was the ‘present day’ storyline of Cassandra was a bit boring in comparison to Eliza and Nell’s stories. I found myself skimming Cassandra’s story (but of course feeling for her in her own tragic life).

Anyways, totally recommend this book and will give it 4 stars.

Summary:
Kate Morton’s The Forgotten Garden takes root in your imagination and grows into something enchanting–from a little girl with no memories left alone on a ship to Australia, to a fog-soaked London river bend where orphans comfort themselves with stories of Jack the Ripper, to a Cornish sea heaving against wind-whipped cliffs, crowned by an airless manor house where an overgrown hedge maze ends in the walled garden of a cottage left to rot. This hidden bit of earth revives barren hearts, while the mysterious Authoress’s fairy tales (every bit as magical and sinister as Grimm’s) whisper truths and ignite the imaginary lives of children. As Morton draws you through a thicket of secrets that spans generations, her story could cross into fairy tale territory if her characters weren’t clothed in such complex flesh, their judgment blurred by the heady stench of emotions (envy, lust, pride, love) that furtively flourished in the glasshouse of Edwardian society. While most ache for a spotless mind’s eternal sunshine, the Authoress meets the past as “a cruel mistress with whom we must all learn to dance,” and her stories gift children with this vital muscle memory.

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The Bride Collector: Ted Dekker

I guess my biggest problem with this book was that I just didn’t connect with the characters.
It all seemed a little gorey, a little insane, a little disjointed, but not with enough backbone to leave me happy.
The love story switched up on me and I was just really unimpressed.
But that said, I did read the whole thing and I didn’t wish I had that time back. I just didn’t really think it was that great.

So do I recommend it? … that’s the question I guess.

I’m giving it 3 stars and I’ll give it a tenative recommendation. I mean, maybe you will like it?
But if you like books like this (thriller, serial killer, etc) and you like Christian fiction, I would go more with BoneMan’s Daughter, which was a way better book by Ted Dekker.

Summary:
FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he’s picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extraordinarily gifted.

It’s there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person’s life when she touches the dead body.

In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise’s help. In an effort to win her trust, he befriends this strange young woman and begins to see in her qualities that most ‘sane people’ sorely lack. Gradually, he starts to question whether sanity resides outside the hospital walls…or inside.

As the Bride Collector picks up the pace-and volume-of his gruesome crucifixions, the case becomes even more personal to Raines when his friend and colleague, a beautiful young forensic psychologist, becomes the Bride Collector’s next target.

The FBI believes that the killer plans to murder seven women. Can Paradise help before it’s too late?

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Re-Read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn

I just re-read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn since the Eclipse movie is coming out tomorrow and I am headed to a Twilight Marathon at our local movie theater. It’s going to be so much fun! 🙂

Anyways, I just had to say that I once again got sucked in.
I wish I knew what kind of crazy voodoo magic Stephenie Meyer has that causes so many people to become so absorbed in her stories. I want that! I wish I had a story like that to tell.

Once again, reading those books I feel destined to write.

Anyways, if you haven’t read the Twilight series and you like fantasy books, go for it! Don’t just not read it because of the hype.
If you’ve already read them and are going to see the movie, re-read Eclipse! But then again if you re-read Eclipse you’ll re-read Breaking Dawn and POSSIBLY the entire series. You will get sucked into their world for sure.

That’s it. I just thought I should keep you updated with what I’m reading, even though I’ve already read them both.

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The Forest of Hands and Teeth: Carrie Ryan

Okay, LOVED this book!

It was all end of the world meets 28 days later, but with less gore and a lot more tragic love.

I really enjoyed this book and was totally into it and didn’t want to put it down. I actually will always have fond memories of this book because I read it on our road trip to Tuscany and my husband kept getting irritated that I had my nose in my book -er- Kindle instead of staring at the majesty of the Alps! 🙂

Anyways, the book was fantastic and totally recommend it with 5 stars!

Summary:
Mary knows little about the past and why the world now contains two types of people: those in her village and the undead outside the fence, who prey upon the flesh of the living. The Sisters protect their village and provide for the continuance of the human race. After her mother is bitten and joins the Unconsecrated, Mary is sent to the Sisters to be prepared for marriage to her friend Harry. But then the fences are breached and the life she has known is gone forever. Mary; Harry; Travis, whom Mary loves but who is betrothed to her best friend; her brother and his wife; and an orphaned boy set out into the unknown to search for safety, answers to their questions, and a reason to go on living. In this sci-fi/horror novel, the suspense that Ryan has created from the very first page on entices and tempts readers so that putting the book down is not an option. The author skillfully conceals and reveals just enough information to pique curiosity while also maintaining an atmosphere of creepiness that is expected in a zombie story. Some of the descriptions of death and mutilation of both the Unconsecrated and the living are graphic. The story is riveting, even though it leaves a lot of questions to be explained in the sequel.

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The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: Stephenie Meyer

Obviously any Twilight Series reader knows the ending of this book.

It’s no mystery.

When I was reading the author’s reasons for writing this short novella and her thoughts on it, I was struck by her saying that in the end, she so desperately wanted Bree to live. She wished more than anything that she could keep her alive, but that was impossible. Her story had already been told in Eclipse, the ending written years ago.

I doubted that in such a short book, I would feel the same. I figured her attachment came from personally writing the character. Yet I read the book with an open mine and in the end – I did indeed feel that same rush of desire for her to live. As I neared the end of the book, I was sad because I know how her story ended. (I was also quite attached to Diego as well)

Was it the best book I’ve ever read? Nope. But it was a nice afternoon read (it’s less than 200 pages – a novella)

It also got me wanting to re-read Eclipse, which I guess was the entire point!

Here is an awesome thing, from now until July 7, 2010 you can read the book for free at www.breetanner.com

Pretty awesome 🙂

Amazon Description:
Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits. In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

I’m a little iffy on what star rating. I’m biased because I love the series… soooo… what to give it….

okay, I’m going to give it 4 stars just in honor of the series (make sure to read after Eclipse) and recommend it.