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.” 

Waiting on Wednesday (3)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine.  It features a book every Wednesday that haven't been released yet and you're anxiously awaiting!  My book this week is:

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan (The last book in the Heroes of Olympus series which is a companion series to the Percy Jackson series!)

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Publication Date: October 7th, 2014

Goodreads Blurb:

"Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over."

This series is amazing!  I fell in love with the Percy Jackson series so when I heard Rick Riordan was writing another series about all the demigods, I had to read it!  Four years later, here we are awaiting the last book of the spin-off series!  This is the final book which inevitably makes it so sad but I'm still excited to see what happens to everyone.

What are you waiting for?

Top Ten Tuesday (3)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.  Every week, The Broke and Bookish post a new topic that that week's top ten lists are based on!  This week's topic is Top Ten books I'd give to readers who have never read X (pick any genre).

I've decided to do Fantasy!  So let's get started shall we?

The Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead is just fantastic.  I just finished the 5th book Silver Shadows last night and loved it (review to come).  I suppose it is more about vampires and paranormal but it still applies to fantasy as well!

The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead is the companion series to the Bloodlines series.  If you're going to tackle this whole world that Richelle Mead created, I recommend starting with reading this series first and then Bloodlines.

The Iron King series by Julie Kagawa is everything you could want in a fantasy series.  It includes everything but does mostly focus on the fey.  I've reread this series so many times I've lost count!

I've only read the first book (Hush, hush) in the Hush, Hush series but I absolutely loved it and it covered the whole angels and demons topic.

I've read the first two books in The Mortal Instruments series (City of Bones and City of Ashes) which were both very good.  I finished City of Ashes as well last night and although it wasn't as good as the first book in my opinion, it is an excellent fantasy series.

If you have the patience and have a love for high fantasy, The Lord of the Rings series is an excellent choice.  It was long but worth it.  I actually watched the movies first which helped me get through the books.  I've read The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Hobbit.  The other book is currently on hold.

The Inheritance Cycle series is another great series for lovers of high and/or epic fantasy.  They are incredibly long books but the pages just flew by for me.  I finished the series a while ago and have yet to publish my review for the series in its entirety.

The Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi is pretty much the love of my life.  I loved every book (it's a trilogy with 2 novellas).  It takes place in a dystopian world.

The Masque of the Red Death series is sort of a combo between fantasy, historical fiction, and steampunk.  It's about the red death in a more obscure sense... if you read it you'll get what I mean.

Ah the Sweet Trilogy by Wendy Higgins (she's actually working on a fourth companion book called Sweet Temptation that's due to be released in 2015).  This series is the perfect combo between fantasy and romance.

Have you read any of these books?  What did you think of them?

Book Review Monday: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

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Goodreads Blurb:

"Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it. "

Review:

If you asked me to describe this book in one word it would be cutesy.  They adorableness of this book just overflowed.  This is definitely not your typical romance book.  I had just finished reading The Drawing of the Three (review to come after this one on Thursday) which isn't fluffy.  It was quite a change picking up The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight which contains as much fluff as the Build-A-Bear stuffing machine.

I really can't decide whether I like the length or not.  On one hand, it would have been amazing to see where the romance goes.  On the other, I loved how it ended with such possibility!  The last page was just perfection (highlight to read)- 

"“What are you really studying?"

He leans back to look at her. "The statistical probability of love at first sight."
"Very funny," she says. "What is it really?"
"I'm serious."
"I don't believe you."
He laughs, then lowers his mouth so that it's close to her ear. "People who meet in airports are seventy-two percent more likely too fall for each other than people who meet anywhere else."

"You're ridiculous," she says, resting her head on his shoulder. "Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Yes," he says, laughing.  "You, actually.  About a thousand times today."

"Well, today's almost over," Hadley says, glancing at the gold-trimmed clock on the other side of the room.  "Only four more minutes.  It's eleven fifty-six."

"That means we met twenty-four hours ago."

"Seems like it's been longer."

Oliver smiles.  "Did you know that people who meet at least three different times within a twenty-four hour period are ninety-eight percent more likely to meet again?"

This time she doesn't bother correcting him.  Just this oncec, she'd like to believe that he's right."

This was such a hopeful read.  I just couldn't stop smiling while I read it!  And once it ends, you feel like anything is possible.  I especially loved when Hadley went through her what-ifs at the beginning.  If just one of those things didn't happen, they probably wouldn't have met!

As for the characters, I thought they were pretty good considering the length of the book.  I mean, it has 236 pages people!

The Final Verdict:

This was a pretty shallow book but cute and fun throughout.  However, it was also very contemplative about fate and chances so it isn't that shallow.

Four stars.

Quotes:

“Is it better to have had a good thing and lost it, or never to have had it?” 

“He’s like a song she can’t get out of her head. Hard as she tries, the melody of their meeting runs through her mind on an endless loop, each time as surprisingly sweet as the last, like a lullaby, like a hymn, and she doesn’t think she could ever get tired of hearing it.” 

“What are you really studying?"
He leans back to look at her. "The statistical probability of love at first sight."
"Very funny," she says. "What is it really?"
"I'm serious."
"I don't believe you."
He laughs, then lowers his mouth so that it's close to her ear. "People who meet in airports are seventy-two percent more likely too fall for each other than people who meet anywhere else.” 

“Did you know that people who meet at least three different times within twenty-four hour period are ninety-eight percent more likely to meet again?” 

“It's one thing to run away when someone's chasing you. It's entirely another to be running all alone.” 

“He looks at her and smiles. "You're sort of dangerous, you know?" 
She stares at him. "Me?" 
"Yeah," he says sitting back. "I'm way too honest with you.” 

“People who meet in airports are seventy-two percent more likely to fall for each other than people who meet anywhere else.” 

“And see those clouds?'
'Hard to miss'
'Those are cumulus clouds. Did you know that?'
'I'm sure I should.'
They're the best ones.'
'How come?'
Because they look the way clouds are supposed to look, the way you draw them when you're a kid. Which is nice, you know? ...” 

“Love is the strangest, most illogical thing in the world.” 

“Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?” 

R&R Book Review Sunday: Scent of Roses by Clarissa Cartharn

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Goodreads Blurb:

"Somewhere between their laughs, their fights and their friendship, they fell in love.

When Zoe Parker is tricked by her best friend, Sarah into participating in a reality dating television show, she knows for certain that she would be eliminated in the first round. She knows because she doesn’t want to stay, she would never be bothered about the wealthy, handsome bachelor her fellow contestants are vying for, and most importantly, she has told the bachelor, Dante Dimitriou himself all that. But life couldn’t have taken a sweeter twist when she discovers that she has made it successfully through the first round. What will she do when she discovers that Dante intends she makes it until the very last and win the entire show?

After much deliberation, Dante Dimitriou hesitantly agrees to help his best friend, Connor launch a new dating documentary in which he would be the star bachelor. He believes it’s going to be a torturous three months until he befriends Zoe Parker. Suddenly, the rules of the game changes. He wants Zoe in it as friend and company. She keeps him entertained. But what will he do when he discovers that she begins to rule his heart? Will he risk jeopardizing his friendship for love?"

Review:

Thank you so much to the author (Clarissa Cartharn) for gifting me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Just so you can get a better understanding, this book is like the PG-13 version of The Selection condensed into one book and in the modern world.  I now see why Kiera Cass wanted to pull The Selection out into a trilogy.  I feel like this book would have been better as a duology.  It ended rather abruptly in my opinion (it felt like the author looked at the page count all of a sudden and said "oops I already went over my limit time to wrap it up!") and Jennifer and Alicia's role's (kind of like Celeste in The Selection) were a little downplayed.

At the end, I thought there was a bit too much back and forth between if Zoe loved Dante or not.  I wish there would have been more of a dialogue inside Zoe's head as she accepted Dante's offer for real.

Other than those things, I absolutely loved it!  I know I've been comparing it to The Selection in this review but it actually is it's own book and I wasn't thinking of The Selection when I was reading it.  It really is quite unique.

I also loved the multiple POV's.  I think they were done very well and you always knew whose head you were in at the moment.  It was mostly limited to Dante and Zoe but sometimes Jennifer and other characters had brief sections.

Final Verdict:

This book is a definite page-turner mostly focused on romance.  While it could have been turned into a duology, it's good as is.  The POV's were amazing but the ending was a bit abrupt.  Overall, I absolutely loved it and was engrossed from page 1.

4 stars

R&R Book Review: When Angels Fail by Michael Benavidez

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Goodreads Blurb:

"A collection of horror where disaster is painted in reds and blacks throughout the stories. Blood and sex blur the lines between victim and violator. In each, Hell takes it's shapes in many different forms. These men shall witness the failing of angels.

Follow a priest as he lays into the bosom of temptation, a hunter flying on wings of to-be success, an artist cutting the canvas open, and a captain gripping the barrel of hope.
Four tales where hope is lost among the depths of horror." 

Review:

Thank you to the author Michael Benazvidez for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

To say the least, this book was very dark and almost slightly depressing.  However, it was very descriptive and left no stone unturned.  This book is a collection of mini stories basically about the dark side of human nature.

I absolutely loved the last mini story.  It definitely has potential to become a full-size book!

I loved the first two stories as well but I was a bit confused while reading the second to last story.  Sometimes it got a bit too descriptive and metaphorical (or that could just be me).

Mr. Benavidez has definite potential as an author and I can't wait to read some more of his work!

Final Verdict:

A very nice collection of stories if you aren't scared off by dark images and the primal side of human nature.  Sometimes it got a bit too descriptive for me but I think if they were expanded, it would be the perfect amount.  This author has lots of potential and I'm excited to read more of his work!

3.5 stars!

R&R Book Review: Shared Skies by Josephine O'Brien

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  Goodreads Blurb:

"Eighteen-year-old Gaiah's hair grows to her waist every night. She can influence people with her thoughts. She understands none of it.

Gaiah has gotten used to the fact that she has the ability to, occasionally, (maybe) make people do what she wants. However, trying to hide the fact that her hair grows beyond her waist every night is driving her crazy, and her frustration is released on a gang of bullies in school, with repercussions she could never have imagined.

She is forced to confront and deal with worlds she never knew existed.

A trinity of parallel worlds, of which Earth is one.

An unusual blend of real facts, seen in a different light. Are vitrified rocks in ancient forts really the result of other world weapons? What is actually behind the extraordinary events that allows fish to fall from the sky in desert regions, what has it all got to do with Gaiah, and is there more to the gorgeous Graeme than meets the eye?"

Review:

Thank you so much Josephine O'Brien (the author) for gifting me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really like the idea of this book and especially how the title ties into it so perfectly.  I've read so many dystopian and alien books but none about the possible parallel universes.  The way that idea was addressed in this book had me interested right away.  I'm really glad this is only book one because I would have loved to have a bit more information on the two other worlds.

That was my main problem with this book - everything seemed a bit rushed.  I didn't understand why until I looked at the page count and thought "wow that's why that went by so fast!".  Ms. O'Brien could definitely have lengthened the second part of the novel where Gaiah is discovering who she is and the whole soulmate thing.  That in particular actually... I didn't like how it took only about 20-30ish pages for them to totally accept that they are soulmates and they're going to be together forever and all that jazz.

Other than the time thing, I absolutely loved it!  All the characters were well done for the first book.  Gaiah especially has potential.  I especially loved how Ms. O'Brien made the connections to history to tie in the parallel worlds.

The Final Verdict:

An amazing parallel worlds concept with good characters and amazing connections to real world history.  However, it would have been better if the second part of the book was lengthened a bit.

3.5 stars!