Kelley Armstrong - The Summoning

Hey Guys, today's review is in the form of Kelley Armstong's The Summoning, the first book in The Darkest Power Trilogy.

My sister actually left this on the book case outside my room one day to see if I would be interested in reading it - after reading the back, I was, I just wanted to get through the Ice and Fire series first, as soon as I'd finished the A Dance With Dragons book, I was straight to my room and picked this up, and I couldn't put it down.

I am a particular person, I can't stand horror or being scared, but love nothing more than a thrill or suspense book. I have an active imagination so just a few words on a page can make me think of all sorts - where in a horror film, you're seeing the work of other people's imaginations, not actually as bad as what your own can come up with, yet I would choose a thriller book over a movie any day. Anyone else like that?

This starts off with our main character Chloe being babysat as a child, her child minder keeps calling her into the basement even though her parents told her that Chloe must never go in there. The child minder is insisting so young Chloe descends down the stairs where she is cornered by a ghost.

Chloe can see ghosts. 

The story then moves on, Chloe is a teen and the ghost in the basement just a dream, until she starts getting followed around by a guy in school. A guy who is all burned and no way possible that he's alive. With her mum dead, her dad away on business, Chloe is looked after by her Aunt - who after the incident with the burned guy in the school, sends Chloe to Lyle House. A home for disturbed kids.

In this book we meet other kids and see their "abnormalities". Described as mental illnesses - Chloe herself is diagnosed with Schizophrenia, we soon get to see that the other patients have gifts just like Chloe does, and Lyle House and the adults who are supposed to care for these kids are not who they say they are. 

This was a real page turner, I got to the end and wanted to move straight on to the next one. You get completely caught up in this world and these characters. I can't imagine how horrible it would be like to live in a home for mental illnesses, that would be a huge nightmare for me, but being stuck there, not sure if you are imagining ghost, or actually seeing them, would be horrible. 

I can't wait to get onto the next book.

You can buy this from Amazon for £5.99.

xx

George R.R Martin - A Dance With Dragons

Hey guys, another Game of Thrones book review for you today, technically it's two books on my kindle, but I will do the review for both in one. 

I found these books to be more interesting that the previous, but again I felt like there was too much "filling" of information that wasn't needed, or didn't need repeating again. If he cut all that out, his books would be a lot shorter and he'd probably have them written a lot quicker too.

I definitely preferred the second part of the book, it left you on a bit of a hang over - leaving you wanting the next book because "that cannot have just happened?". It's so hard to write a review on a book without giving out spoilers. 

I have to say I wanted to see more of Bran. I don't feel like we've got to see much of this character at all in the later books, though I feel like he is a very important character in the series. Not much has been said about the youngest Stark either, he's mentioned briefly but there isn't anything from his point of view, I'm not sure if that's because he's only 3/4? 

Again with this book, the titles of the chapters had gone from having the characters names, to "The Lost Lord" and the likes, so you had to guess at who it was about at first, being that there is so much information in each chapter, by the time you've gotten to a new one, you've forgotten who and done / said what. 

I have to say after reading the end of this book, I do now want to know how it ends and can understand fans complete frustration with the writer in the fact that he can't stick to a publishing date, or how many books he wants to write in the series.
I've heard that his publishers don't think the next book will be out until 2017! This is ridiculous and although I understand that you have to be in the creative mood to write that story, I just worry now it may never end.
Also what will happen to the TV show as the show isn't that far from the books, this new series, possibly half an other and it will be caught up. 

Hopefully he will surprise us all and have the book ready soon.

What's frustrating for me is that I don't think this is a GREAT series, but even so I've been drawn into this world - even though I'm not attached to many of the characters, I just have to know what happens next. 

You can buy this book for as little as £2.99 (Brilliant price for the full 1045 paged book) on Amazon.

So how about everyone else, what do you think of the Ice and Fire series? Do you prefer the show to the book? Or a book fan for life?

xx

Robert Whitlow - The confession*

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Hey guys, I was sent this book from BookLookBloggers to review, it was only released on the 5th August, so a very new book. Who can argue with new books? 

I have never heard of Robert before, but I liked the description of this book so thought I would give it a go. I was sent this to my Kindle, BookLookBloggers have other options available if you don't have a kindle. 

This book starts off with Holt and his best friend aged 17, all their lives and futures ahead of them until one drunken night sees the best friend killed in a car accident, leaving Holt's life changed forever.
Move forward a few years and Holt is now an Assistant D.A in Ashley County, Georgia, sending criminals to jail one confession at a time. 

With a long term girlfriend and a job he's good at - everything looks like it's going great for Holt, but lurking in his past is a dark secret that could end both his relationship and his career. 

When a file turns up on his desk, Holt gets curious about a cold case of one of the town's wealthiest business men, a guy who allegedly shot himself. This file doesn't contain a lot of information on the case, but the more he digs up, the more he suspects that this was murder.

I enjoyed this book, it had lots of twists and turns that made me kept wanting to turn the page, also not want to put it down for too long because I wanted to see how it ended.
A few things that could have made it (for me) better, was the over use of characters names, "Holt did this, then Holt said that, Holt did the other," too much name in one sentence - if you can get passed that most people wouldn't have any issues.

The only other thing for me was it just seemed to be a little in your face with religion, I respect that there was some religion in the book, but this appeared out of nowhere and suddenly there were bible verses, that was a little too much for me personally. Aside from that, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery. 

You can buy this for as little as £5.87 on Amazon.

xx

Friends With Partial Benefits - Luke Young

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Jillian Grayson is a disillusioned divorcée and best-selling romance novelist who suddenly can't write a chapter without her hunky male heartthrob suffering ED, an STD, or even worse.  - GoodReads

Hey Guys, this was another book I got on the kindle free from Amazon, it's been sat there just waiting to be read so after a few months of reading other books and passing this one, I decided I would get to it. 

The book starts off with our main character Jillian - an erotic romance novelist who has got creative block, every time she tries to write the scenes turn from sexy to something going horribly wrong - due to Jillian's personal life. She's just divorced after catching her husband cheating. 

Jillan has a son who is in college, the story passes between her and her son - more importantly her son's best friend Brian, who is having relationship problems himself. To try and cheer Brian up, Rob (the son) asks him to go home with him for the holidays, although Rob will be spending time with his girlfriend - who he doesn't see much of due to going to different colleges, his house does have a tennis court and Brian is a big fan of the game.
Coincidently enough, so is Jillian. 

This book is very explicit, I mean you could assume that with the title but I thought I'd warn you.

This book is written by a guy which I was very surprised about, I'm not sure why but reading it I just assumed a woman had written it, not to be sexist it just the way it was written, the details, things I'd not expect a man to think about when putting certain scenes to paper. Well done Luke, you surprised me.

I have to admit this book did have parts that made me cringe, such as when Jillian watches Brian in the shower. Her sons best friend. Hmm little too "keeping it in the family" there for me, but otherwise it was an alright book. Did it make me want to rush out and buy the next one? No, but it was a good book to pass the time with.

You can still get this free on Kindle* on Amazon. 

* Blog post written on the 8th August, book may go up before post is published. 

xx

Murder is a Family Business - Heather Haven

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Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? - GoodReads.

Hey guys, I found this book on Amazon a few weeks ago, it was free at the time so I thought "Why not?!" Does anyone else scroll through Amazon for free books? I have found some amazing ones on there, then have gone to look back and found the price has gone back up. Wooo bargains. 

Back to this review, I decided I needed a break from the A Song of Ice and Fire series, just a nice book I could curl up with and have read in a day - this was just the thing I needed.
I love a good murder mystery book and though this wasn't the best I've read - it was an easy read. I didn't need to think too much, I could sink into that world very easily and get lost for a few hours - just what I wanted. 

The only reason I say this wasn't the best I've read is because I just couldn't connect with the main character. I'm not sure why but I didn't root for her. Her kitten on the other hand I wanted to hear more about as he sounded very cute. Saying that though I did enjoy reading it.
I'm sounding like I'm contradicting myself now. I enjoyed it, it was a good read - just not the best. 

This book is set in San Francisco which I liked, I've always been fascinated with San Francisco for some reason, so to have that as the location made me happy. It's the little things.  

Lee Alvarez - our main character, comes from a family of detectives, Lee is sent to watch the husband of her mother's friend who they suspect is cheating. What Lee doesn't expect is to find the husband shot dead, and a famous dancer is involved. 

This book proves that you can know someone, but not actually know them at all.

You can buy this book for as little as £1.80 on Amazon.

xx

A Feast For Crows - George R.R Martin

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The Lannisters are in power on the Iron Throne. The war in the Seven Kingdoms has burned itself out, but in its bitter aftermath new conflicts spark to life. - GoodReads

Hey guys, I have another review from the A Song of Ice and Fire series for you, slowly making my way through this series, although I still can't decide whether I like the books or the TV show better - which never happens to me. I'm all for books usually.

Now I have to admit I found this book to be boring. For me personally throughout this series I've found there to be pages of writing that either go over the same thing, or don't seem to have a purpose other than to fill up space.
With this series being so detailed and having so much happening as it is, I don't understand the need for some of the passages in here - but I will carry on as hopefully they will all make sense once I've read them all. 

I did get a little confused I have to admit, where certain characters change their names it took me a while to figure out who they were actually on about, as SO much had happened since they actually changed their names. You really do need to read these books with no distractions around you.

This book is based around a few characters, in the following book you catch up with the rest, but it does mean you could get fed up of Cersei very quickly - she had a lot of chapters.
This is the first in the series where chapters were given to other characters - without a name. "The Kraken's Daughter"  for example, where we are used to seeing the chapters as the characters names. 

This is a good story and lots happened that made you want to turn the page, but for me there was too much "extra" details that didn't seem to need to be there, and having to read that to get to the good parts was quite boring. 

You can buy this for as low as £3.49 on Amazon. 

xx

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Looking For Alaska - John Green

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Hey guys I have another John Green book review for you, I actually read this book before The Abundance of Katherines, yet am reviewing it afterwards because that makes perfect sense, right?

Looking For Alaska is actually my favourite book by John Green (Though I've yet to read Will Grayson, Will Grayson so that could change), I'm sure a lot of people are standing there shocked as "TFIOS" is the best book EVER! Which don't get me wrong, it's a great book but this one for me just better. 

I loved all the famous last words that were used, it definitely sounds like a morbid way to pass time - looking up the last words of people, but it's curious to see what people say in their last moments and makes you wonder what yours would be. 

I actually really cried in this book and there was a part I refused to believe had happened until I had finished the book, then I had to accept it. It took me by surprise - which it shouldn't have done, I've read John Green books, it really shouldn't have shocked me, but it did and had me sobbing because of it. 

Definitely a book I could curl up and read again and again, which to me is the best kind of book. I like revisiting worlds now and again.

You can buy this for as little as £2.99 on Amazon.

xx

A Storm of Swords - George R R Martin

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Hey guys, today I have the third book in the series, I have to admit that I really wasn't looking forward to this book, not after the hate I felt reading the first and the boredom reading the second.

So what did I think of A Storm of Swords parts 1 & 2?

I actually enjoyed it, there was a lot more story instead of like the last book, that just had a lot of details that felt like they were just there to take up space. This one was a page turner, though I could live without hearing about rape (again) and the use of the word c**t is uncalled for and a little bit cringy, the story was much better and had me wanted to read through the books.

I have to admit I was very confused as this is book three, but on my copies it's split into two books so part 1 and part 2, but along the spine of the book it called book 3.2 book 4, so there was me frantic thinking "I haven't got the next book, I have book three and book 4, I need book 3.2!" Yeah just to confuse me, book 4 was book 3.2.  Apparently it's the same with book 5, for me that's book 6 and 7. Way to confuse people.

You can get this book for as little as £9.49 on Amazon.

Although if you go into Asda they were doing a 3 for £10 on the Game of Thrones books, so you could get both parts of this book and another for 51p more than you'd pay for the book on Amazon.

xx