Review: Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart (great, but also not)

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Goodreads rating: 3.5 stars

 

Blurb:

From the author of the unforgettable New York Times bestseller We Were Liars comes a masterful new psychological suspense novel--the story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge.

Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.
Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete.
An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two.
A bad romance, or maybe three.
Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains.
A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.
A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

 

Book content warnings: graphic murder descriptions, suicide

Summary in a quote:

"She didn't know if she could love her own mangled, strange heart. She wanted someone else to do it for her, to see it beating behind her ribs and to say, I can see your true self. It is there, and it is rare and worthy. I love you."

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1. The plot and structure. 

The only other book I've read by E. Lockhart is the forever glorified We Were Liars so I had some idea coming into this book that not all would be as it seemed. True to form, this author takes to heart the whole subverting expectations endeavor. This novel is told in reverse chronological order which essentially results in the reader knowing what the consequences of the actions are before knowing the actual actions.

I have semi-mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it made it a bit confusing to read and you have to keep a really steady timeline in your head. On the other hand, it fits the whole theme and vibe of the novel perfectly. 

Seriously. This is a real peanut butter and jelly moment.

I'm going to keep it vague to avoid spoilers because this is E. Lockhart we're talking about! Basically, we get to dip inside the world of someone who wants to be loved and accepted and is willing to do whatever it takes to reach that goal.

With the backwards chronology, we can see her slow descent into the consequences of her decisions so the emphasis is placed more on her own mentality, the steps she's taking, and how they lead her to where she ends up at the beginning of the book. I think, as readers, we're trained to place focus on the large, life-altering events and not so much on the quiet moments in between. In my opinion, those quiet moments are just as or even more important as those large events (of which there are multiple in this book).

I will say that some of the plot points themselves were a little far-fetched and strange. I loved how Jule dealt with the issues, but how they came to her attention were questionable.

To sum up: love the plot structure in the end but not all of the actual plot. Great pie, not a great filling.

 

“For anyone who has been taught that good equals small and silent, here is my heart with all its ugly tangles and splendid fury.”

 

2. The characters. 

I'm going to be honest here and say the only character I found interesting was Jule.

The other characters were necessary, of course, but they didn't do much for me, even though the author attempted some fleshing with the more important ones. They all just felt like stepping stones for Jule which, intellectually, I appreciate (aiding in this whole desperately searching for acceptance theme), but emotionally, it didn't do much for me in terms of holding my attention and gaining my investment.

 

“The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”

 

3. The romance. 

This was interesting to me. At first, I really didn't like that there was a romance involved at all. There are so many interesting things going on so I resented the page space given to this strange secondary plot.

Towards the end, I was faced with this whole intellectual/emotional pull again. It's a great way to explore this acceptance that Jule craves because in United States society at least, romantic love is prized as the highest form of happiness and acceptance.

Realistically, though, it just felt like this extra little bit on the side that wasn't really integral. It's a nice romance and all, but it's in that weird space where there's simultaneously not enough and way too much page space allocated to it.

 

“She believed that the way you speak is often more important than anything you have to say.”

 

The Final Verdict

The experience reading wasn't nearly as delightful as the experience contemplating once it was over. Ultimately, thematically intriguing while structurally unsound.

 

Would I reread?

Yes! While I didn't love it, I'm fascinated by the structure the author chose and I think rereading it, knowing everything, could be interesting.

Review Sunday: The Masterminds by Olivia Wildenstein (Masterful #2)

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Masterful #2 (trilogy - 3rd installment set for release in 2019)

Review of #1

Released: 2016

334 pages

Blurb:
"When the perfect plan goes perfectly wrong.

The only downside to Joshua Cooper’s investigation of a mob runner is not being able to discuss it with the two people closest to him, 19-year-old twins, Aster and Ivy Redd.

That is...until Aster is accused of killing the mob runner. Then discussing it becomes the least of his worries.

Desperate to exonerate the girl he loves, Joshua dives into Indianapolis's dark underbelly, and uncovers a string of crimes and lies that leads him straight to the Masterpiecers's art show.

Straight to Ivy..."

Review Sunday: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

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Robert Langdon #2

(work as standalones)

Released: 2003

Blurb:

"An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe.

An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion—a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci—and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever."

Review Sunday: A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

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Stand-alone to date

Goodreads Blurb:

"Grace Mae knows madness.

She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.

When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.

In this beautifully twisted historical thriller, Mindy McGinnis, acclaimed author of Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust, explores the fine line between sanity and insanity, good and evil—and the madness that exists in all of us."

Agatha Christie Review Round-Up Part 2

Recently, I've been reading a lot of Agatha Christie and a couple days ago, I posted part one of my reviews!  This is part 2 of 2!  See part 1 HERE.

Agatha Christie Review Round-Up Part 1

Recently, I've been really into reading all of Agatha Christie's books.  I own six of her books in paperback format so I powered through all of them these past two weeks and realized that I didn't really have the desire to write a full review for all of them.  So what resulted was a round-up review post!  I'll be reading a lot more Agatha Christie in the future but this is a good start!  I'm splitting up the reviews so this is part 1 of 2!

R&R Review Friday: The Masterpiecers by Olivia Wildenstein

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Masterful #1

Goodreads Blurb:

"Nineteen-year-old Ivy Redd’s talent with a needle and thread has earned her a spot on a coveted reality TV art competition set in New York’s Metropolitan Museum. The prize: a significant amount of money and instant acceptance into the Masterpiecers, the school that ensures new artists fame and fortune. Her talent has also thrust her and her twin sister, Aster, into the spotlight. 

Not that Aster needed help with becoming a media favorite. She managed that on her own by running over a wanted mobster. She told the police it was self-defense, because she couldn’t tell them the truth—the truth would make her sister look bad.

Locked in an Indiana jail to await her trial, Aster watches Ivy on the small TV hanging in the dayroom. It’s the highlight of her day, until she finds out what her sister truly thinks of her. Then, observing her sister becomes a punishment far crueler than imprisonment."

Review and Compare Thursday: The Martian by Andy Weir

The Book

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Stand-alone to date

Goodreads Blurb:

"Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars' surface, completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark's not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills — and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength – he embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive, using his botany expertise to grow food and even hatching a mad plan to contact NASA back on Earth.

As he overcomes one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next, Mark begins to let himself believe he might make it off the planet alive – but Mars has plenty of surprises in store for him yet.

Grounded in real, present-day science from the first page to the last, yet propelled by a brilliantly ingenious plot that surprises the reader again and again, The Martian is a truly remarkable thriller: an impossible-to-put-down suspense novel that manages to read like a real-life survival tale."

Review:

I've decided to write more list-based reviews because of the feedback but also because it helps me be so much more organized with my thoughts!  So without further ado, let's get into it!

1.  The reality.  This isn't something that's unique to this book (it's pretty common in science fiction) but I loved how real this situation was.  If you've been following the news in the past decade, you'll know that the NASA space program was cancelled while different companies compete for money granted to the company that can propose a doable method for commercial space travel.  We have been looking at Mars for quite some time as a potential human mission.  With that said, this book is set a bit in the future in the midst of the Mars missions.  The author went to such lengths to make sure that everything was explained with real world physics and chemistry.  The amount of work that went into this book must have been astronomical!

2.  The characters.  I really loved all of the characters but the MC especially.  His humor was the perfect thing to buoy up the story and keep it from getting too dark.  It made me laugh and kept me reading along with the suspense.  All of the other characters are very nicely developed as well and are very 3-dimensional.

3.  The science.  I've already brushed on this but I want to talk about more in depth.  I really liked the amount of science that was included.  It kept it very real and made it feel as though this had actually already happened.  It also held the plot accountable and made sure that nothing that was against the rules of physics and chemistry could happen (to my knowledge, of course).

4.  The spatial aspects and building scenes.  I do wish that the author would have included sketches or something of the sort to show visually what everything looked like.  This requires a lot of imagination and sometimes I just couldn't picture everything.  This may seem like a small thing but it's the only reason why this book is 4 stars.  Yes, it's a small issue to begin with but it cascades over the rest of the book and soon I was just glazing over those parts.

5.  The overarching plotline and the journey back home.  I really loved how the plot was developed.  It's perfectly paced and the different steps that had to take place to get Mark home are great and are very realistic.

The Final Verdict:

Overall, this book is so realistic and so cool and suspenseful.  I really loved the characters (especially the humor!) as well as the science that was included extensively.  However, I do wish there had been sketches or something of the sort included so I could visualize everything better.

4 stars

Quotes:

“Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.” 


“He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.” 
LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.”


“Maybe I’ll post a consumer review. “Brought product to surface of Mars. It stopped working. 0/10.” 


“I guess you could call it a "failure", but I prefer the term "learning experience".”


“I started the day with some nothin’ tea. Nothin’ tea is easy to make. First, get some hot water, then add nothin’.” 


“Also, I have duct tape. Ordinary duct tape, like you buy at a hardware store. Turns out even NASA can’t improve on duct tape.”

The Movie

IMDB

Stand-alone to date

IMDB Blurb:

"During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive."

Review and Compare Thursday: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

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Stand alone to date

Goodreads Blurb:

"First, there were ten - a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal - and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion."

Review Monday: The Waste Lands by Stephen King

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The Dark Tower #3

Goodreads Blurb:

"In 1978, Stephen King introduced the world to the last gunslinger, Roland of Gilead.  Nothing has been the same since. More than twenty years later, the quest for the Dark Tower continues to take readers on a wildly epic ride. Through parallel worlds and across time, Roland must brave desolate wastelands and endless deserts, drifting into the unimaginable and the familiar. A classic tale of colossal scope—crossing over terrain from The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia, The Talisman, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, ’Salem’s Lot, and other familiar King haunts—the adventure takes hold with the turn of each page.

And the tower awaits....

Roland, The Last Gunslinger, moves ever closer to The Dark Tower of his dreams and nightmares—as he crosses a desert of damnation in a macabre world that is a twisted image of our own. With him are those he has drawn to this world: street-smart Eddie Dean and courageous wheelchair-bound Susannah.

Ahead of him are mind-rending revelations about who and what is driving him. Against him is arrayed a swelling legion of foes—both more and less than human..."

Review Friday: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

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Stand-alone to date

Goodreads Blurb:

"A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger - and a possible murderer - to inherit his vast fortune, one thing's for sure: Sam Westing may be dead... but that won't stop him from playing one last game!"

Review and Interview Thursday: The Fifth Letter by Vivian Carpenter

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Stand-alone

Goodreads Blurb:

"Sometimes you’re damned if you do and damned if you don't. Such is the position in which U.S. Justice Katherine Ross, the first black female on the U.S. Supreme Court, finds herself in "The Fifth Letter," the new legal thriller by author Vivian Carpenter. 

Rooted in the historical treatment of Blacks in the United States, Justice Katherine Ross, the first Black female on the U.S. Supreme Court, struggles to do what is right as her mother’s 1940s memoir influences her actions and emotions. 

Once on the Court, Katherine gains the power to ignite an involuntary retirement process to remove conservative Justice John Galt from the bench after the U.S. Constitution is amended to create an involuntary retirement process of incapacitated justices. 

John Galt, an outspoken egoist, survives an assassination attempt but is severely injured. He appears incapacitated. Pressures for Galt’s removal from the bench mount with his prolonged absence from the Court. However, John Galt will not resign is seat. Katherine must decide whether or not to issue the fifth letter for Galt’s retirement. 

While weaving through Katherine’s personal challenges, "The Fifth Letter" turns a spotlight on the most important issue currently facing the Court today: who is a person with inalienable legal rights in America? And it asks this question of its main character: What happens when a liberal Black female justice of the Supreme Court is caught between her conscience and the call of political expedience?"

R&R Review Sunday: Elixir by Ted Galdi

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Goodreads Blurb:

"Meet 14-year-old Sean Malone. He has an IQ above 200, a full-ride scholarship to one of the country’s top universities, and more than one million dollars from his winning streak on Jeopardy. However, Sean wishes he could just be normal.

But his life is anything but normal. The US government manipulates him, using him as a codebreaker in pursuit of a drug lord and killing innocent people along the way.

For reasons related to his personal security, Sean finds himself in Rome, building a new life under a new name, abandoning academics, and hiding his genius from everyone. When he’s 18 he falls in love. The thrills begin again when he learns that his girlfriend is critically ill and it’s up to him to use his intellect to find a cure, a battle pitting him against a multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company and the demons of his past.

Elixir is a story about identity, secrets, and above all, love."

Blog Tour Review: The Sham by Ellen Allen

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Goodreads Blurb:

"When love leads to death, be careful who you trust…

Eighteen-year-old Emily Heath would love to leave her dead-end town, known locally as "The Sham", with her boyfriend, Jack, but he's very, very sick; his body is failing and his brain is shutting down. He's also in hiding, under suspicion of murder. Six months' ago, strange signs were painted across town in a dialect no one has spoken for decades and one of Emily's classmates washed up in the local floods. 

Emily has never trusted her instincts and now they're pulling her towards Jack, who the police think is a sham himself, someone else entirely. As the town wakes to discover new signs plastered across its walls, Emily must decide who and what she trusts, and fast: local vigilantes are hunting Jack; the floods, the police, and her parents are blocking her path; and the town doesn’t need another dead body."

Book Review Friday: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

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Goodreads Blurb:

"On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer? 

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?"

Review:

This was an excellent onion book.  It was truly fascinating to dive into Nick and especially Amy's minds.  Once you get to the end, Amy's logic is... well strange to say the least.  And it didn't have a fairy tale ending thank goodness.  I'm getting really tired of those.  This isn't a fluffy or light read.  For real.  It took me several days to read this which is like half a lifetime for me in terms of books.

It was a little drawn out and I found myself checking the page numbers periodically throughout the whole middle section.  The beginning and the end were really excited and mind-bending and crazy though so hang in there!

Back to the characters.  I loved everyone - Go, Nick, everyone.  But Amy was my favorite.  Not because she was likable but because of how developed her character is.  She has so many layers and reasons (no matter how twisted) for everything she does/did.  How it ended was especially fascinating to me.  Just the way that Amy was able to manipulate people was mind-blowing to me.  She took so much time and planning and was an expert liar.  I think, though, deep down, she really did want to be Amazing Amy.  From the way she acted, it was clear to me that she wanted it all to be perfect and to punish others for not being perfect.  Maybe the author didn't intend that and maybe she did.  However it happened, that's what kept me reading this book.

Final Verdict:

This was a very perplexing book which very well developed characters however it did tend to drag a bit in the middle.  Amazing onion book!

4 stars

Quotes:

“There’s something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold.” 

“Love makes you want to be a better man. But maybe love, real love, also gives you permission to just be the man you are.” 

“There's a difference between really loving someone and loving the idea of her.” 

“Friends see most of each other’s flaws. Spouses see every awful last bit.”

“A lot of people lacked that gift: knowing when to fuck off.”

“My gosh, Nick, why are you so wonderful to me?' 
He was supposed to say: You deserve it. I love you.
But he said,'Because I feel sorry for you.' 
'Why?' 
'Because every morning you have to wake up and be you.” 

“Because isn’t that the point of every relationship: to be known by someone else, to be understood? He gets me. She gets me. Isn’t that the simple magic phrase?”

“It’s humbling, to become the very thing you once mocked.” 

“It’s a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless Automat of characters.” 

Book Review Monday: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

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Goodreads Blurb:

"Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.

Since then, she had been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family?"

Review:

Finishing this book was like running a marathon to me (I haven't actually run one... sorry!).  It was just so consuming and exhausting and drawn out.  I'm going with my sixth sense here and giving it three stars.

First of all, it was just hard to read for me.  I was constantly checking to see how many chapters I had left.  I realize that this is a mystery and Libby needed to find clues but honestly, it just seemed a bit drawn out to me.  And for the ending, it was drawn out and then all of a sudden it just... ended.  Like the author ran out of twists and turns for 'that night' and called it quits.  I did like how it ended and who was responsible... I just felt like that could have been expanded on more.

As for Libby, she was extremely self-absorbed, brutally honest, and prejudiced.  I applaud Ms. Flynn for writing from the perspective of such a despicable and unlikable character.  We have too many likable characters nowadays and we all think everyone is so nice and cheery or at the very least tolerable.  But to read a book from such a different character.  Well it was refreshing.  A breath of fresh air.

The one other thing that I loved was how the different POV's uncovered the timeline of 'that night' at nearly the same time that Libby found it out for herself by talking to people.  It was a very good way to ensure that we as readers got the whole story but still keep it a mystery.

The Final Verdict:

This book didn't really draw me in and I had a hard time finishing the book.  The POV's were excellent as well as Libby's character but the ending was a bit abrupt.

3 stars

Quotes:

“I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs.” 

“I felt something loosen in me, that shouldn't have loosened. A stitch come undone.” 

“I was raised feral, and I mostly stayed that way.” 

“Coffee goes great with sudden death.” 

“I have a meanness inside of me, real as an organ.” 

“The actual stuff my family owned, those boxes under my stairs, I can't quite bear to look at. I like other people's things better. They come with other people's history.” 

“The truly frightening flaw in humanity is our capacity for cruelty - we all have it.” 

Book Review Thursday: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

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Goodreads Blurb:

"In 1978, Stephen King introduced the world to the last gunslinger, Roland of Gilead.  Nothing has been the same since. More than twenty years later, the quest for the Dark Tower continues to take readers on a wildly epic ride. Through parallel worlds and across time, Roland must brave desolate wastelands and endless deserts, drifting into the unimaginable and the familiar. A classic tale of colossal scope—crossing over terrain from The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia, The Talisman, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, ’Salem’s Lot, and other familiar King haunts—the adventure takes hold with the turn of each page.

And the tower awaits....

The Second Volume in the Epic Dark Tower Series…

The Drawing of the Three

While pursuing his quest for the Dark Tower through a world that is a nightmarishly distorted mirror image of our own, Roland is drawn through a mysterious door that brings him into contemporary America.

Here he links forces with the defiant young Eddie Dean, and with the beautiful, brilliant, and brave Odetta Holmes, in a savage struggle against underworld evil and otherworldly enemies.

Once again, Stephen King has masterfully interwoven dark, evocative fantasy and icy realism."

Review:

After reading the Gunslinger, I was anticipating a deep read loaded with metaphors and all that.  I wasn't disappointed!  Stephen King put so much effort into his world to perfect every aspect and backwards reasoning line.  I just love being inside the gunslinger's mind - he draws conclusions that seem obvious to him that I never see coming.  It's quite humbling.

I liked The Drawing of the Three a lot more than The Gunslinger mostly because the way the two world's interacted was explored more and explained more as well.  In The Gunslinger, I was confused with that whole thing.  Going hand in hand with that, this book was so much easier to understand than The Gunslinger.  It was more thorough and all of the gunslinger's conclusions were explained.  It made it so much more enjoyable.

I also loved being able to see what others thought of the gunslinger.  Up until this point, it's all been the gunslinger's POV but in this book, we get to see what The Three think of him.  Speaking of which, I loved the whole idea of The Three and the doorways.  And how the person's 'name' tied in with their character.  It was all just so beautifully put together!

This wasn't an easy read for me.  Sometimes it dragged and I often found myself checking to see how many pages I had left.  It was good, but sometimes the stretches between the action scenes and suspense scenes were a bit much.

The Final Verdict:

A very well thought out and well explained read full of metaphors and the like.  Sometimes it dragged but for the most part, I enjoyed it!

4 stars

Quotes:

“Control the things you can control, maggot. Let everything else take a flying fuck at you and if you must go down, go down with your guns blazing.” 

“What we like to think of ourselves and what we really are rarely have much in common....” 

“He was a romantic in his own harsh way…yet he was also realist enough to know that some times love actually did conquer all.” 

“We are going to fight. We are going to be hurt. And in the end, we will stand.” 

“Roland could not understand why anyone would want cocaine or any other illegal drug, for that matter, in a world where such a powerful one as sugar was so plentiful and cheap.”

“Where you think I’m goan?’
‘Well,’ Eddie said, ‘what was behind Door Number One wasn’t so hot, and what was behind Door Number Two was even worse, so now, instead of quitting like sane people, we’re going to go right on ahead and check out Door Number Three. The way things have been going, I think it’s likely to be something like Godzilla or Ghidra the Three-Headed Monster, but I’m an optimist. I’m still hoping for the stainless steel cookware.”

“The Tower. He would come to the Dark Tower and there he would sing their names; there he would sing their names; there he would sing all their names. The sun stained the east a dusky rose, and at last Roland, no longer the last gunslinger but one of the last three, slept and dreamed his angry dreams through which there ran only that one soothing blue thread: There I will sing all their names!” 

“Because the difference between seeing and not seeing can be the difference between living and dying.” 

“He walked out of nowhere toward nowhere, a man from another time who, it seemed, had reached a point of pointless ending.”