Sep 26, 2013 (before reading) Dear Netgalley, you didn't give me Shooting Scars nor Dead Girls Don't Lie. They say third times are the charm, so could ySep 26, 2013 (before reading) Dear Netgalley, you didn't give me Shooting Scars nor Dead Girls Don't Lie. They say third times are the charm, so could you please at least give me this one?
[image]
Nov 11, 2013 (before reading) Cute kittens don't work anymore, I guess :(
Sep 26, 2013 (before reading) Dear Netgalley, you didn't give me Shooting Scars nor Dead Girls Don't Lie. They say third times are the charm, so could you please at least give me this one?
[image]
Nov 11, 2013 (before reading) Cute kittens don't work anymore, I guess :(
Uhm… 312 pages on an ADE reader means, in technical and specific terms, "pretty long book". BWhat a cute little book!
No. Wait. It's actually 312 pages.
Uhm… 312 pages on an ADE reader means, in technical and specific terms, "pretty long book". But, if you don't see the deceitful little numbers on the bottom, you wouldn't believe it: the pages just fly away in a handful of hours.
Grace is an independent, strong, head-on-her-shoulders kind of girl. She stands up for herself, she never gives up and, if she thinks something's the right thing to do, she does it. Even if it's dangerous, if her mother doesn't support her, and the authorities laugh at her: this girl needs a hug! Fortunately, it looks like there's someone willing to give her one, and maybe even a little more than just a hug (hee hee!).
Aside from what you get from the synopsis, Grace's story weaves together some other threads. I'd like to point out one in particular, using the author's words:
With this book, I hope to create awareness around bear poaching as well as have a small part in helping to close the horrible bear pits in North Carolina and free the bears that are abused daily.
Mission: accomplished.
I even hate zoos, so you can understand how appalled I am about something as horrible as these "bear pits for tourists". In the scale of "bad things that people can do to plague the world", it's less horrible than most other things (some even mentioned in this book), but it struck me because I didn't know about it. And really, talking about "more horrible" or "less horrible" is just silly, horribleness don't have to be measured.
The novel ends on a cliff, but we can glimpse an interesting future for Grace. The second book is already out, so now I'm heading to discover if what I foresaw is going to come true.
Merged review:
What a cute little book!
No. Wait. It's actually 312 pages.
Uhm… 312 pages on an ADE reader means, in technical and specific terms, "pretty long book". But, if you don't see the deceitful little numbers on the bottom, you wouldn't believe it: the pages just fly away in a handful of hours.
Grace is an independent, strong, head-on-her-shoulders kind of girl. She stands up for herself, she never gives up and, if she thinks something's the right thing to do, she does it. Even if it's dangerous, if her mother doesn't support her, and the authorities laugh at her: this girl needs a hug! Fortunately, it looks like there's someone willing to give her one, and maybe even a little more than just a hug (hee hee!).
Aside from what you get from the synopsis, Grace's story weaves together some other threads. I'd like to point out one in particular, using the author's words:
With this book, I hope to create awareness around bear poaching as well as have a small part in helping to close the horrible bear pits in North Carolina and free the bears that are abused daily.
Mission: accomplished.
I even hate zoos, so you can understand how appalled I am about something as horrible as these "bear pits for tourists". In the scale of "bad things that people can do to plague the world", it's less horrible than most other things (some even mentioned in this book), but it struck me because I didn't know about it. And really, talking about "more horrible" or "less horrible" is just silly, horribleness don't have to be measured.
The novel ends on a cliff, but we can glimpse an interesting future for Grace. The second book is already out, so now I'm heading to discover if what I foresaw is going to come true....more
But let me say this: it's ridiculus that I had to pirate a copy of something that's distribEDIT 9/1/2012:
I was finally able to get my hands on a copy.
But let me say this: it's ridiculus that I had to pirate a copy of something that's distributed for free. And it's ridiculus that we are in 2012 and still something as "geographical restrictions" or "we can't bill this for non-US residents" still exists for digital products.
But let me say this: it's ridiculus that I had to pirate a copy of something that's distributed for free. And it's ridiculus that we are in 2012 and still something as "geographical restrictions" or "we can't bill this for non-US residents" still exists for digital products.
ALERT: I'm in a ranting mode, and so I'm going to rant. A lot.
My mom sounded tired, so I decided not to bother her to
So many screwups in so few pages.
ALERT: I'm in a ranting mode, and so I'm going to rant. A lot.
My mom sounded tired, so I decided not to bother her tonight. “Love you, too,” I said, and hung up. I didn’t know then that this would be the last time I ever talked to her.
And that is the first major mistake: hindsights. Too many of them (read: more than zero). Hindsights are not allowed.
And here we go with the second huge mistake:
I’d already swapped my gym clothes for my usual sneakers and jeans. I’d also unzipped my purple hoodie and put it on over my T-shirt of Karma Girl, one of my favorite superheroines.
Oh no, you didn't. Tell me you just didn't. That's a SELF-QUOTE. What were you thinking when you wrote this!? Self-quotation is the lamest of all the lame things an author can do to sneakily force a good opinion of himself/herself on the reader. And it's one of the things that get me majorly mad. If you want your readers to have a good opinion of your work, just do a good work. Having one of your characters praise you (even in an underhanded way) is just... well, lame.
To my surprise, two people sat at the kitchen table—Grandma Frost and the woman she was drinking tea with. [...] “Hello, Gwen,” she said. “I’m Professor Metis.” [...] “Professor Metis is here to tell you about your new school, pumpkin.”
Is it just me or the scene with a teacher coming to your house and announcing your imminent subscription to a new special school sounds a little Harry Potter-like? That's the third mistake, by the way. There could be hundreds of other ways to introduce the protagonist to his/her new school. That one is just unoriginal.
“Because Mythos isn’t just any school, Gwen,” Metis said. “It’s for kids like you. Kids with magic.”
Crap, crap, crap. If that didn't sound like a Potter replica, I'm a pink fuzzy kitten.
“What kinds of kids go there?” I asked. “What kind of magic do they have? Are they Gypsies like me?” Metis looked at my grandma again. “It varies, depending on the student and her background. But the Vikings and Valkyries are very strong, while the Romans and Amazons are very quick.”
Let me rephrase that: “Zebras are striped and ducks walk on two legs.” As obviousnesses go, these are better. Much better.
Shelves and shelves and shelves of books stretched out into the farthest reaches of the domed room, along with a series of glass cases [...]. I squinted at the closest case, trying to figure out what was inside it. Was that a… sword?
Yes. And in case you were wondering, that's Godric Gryffindor's sword.
A man with ink-black hair, blue eyes, and pale skin sat in the largest office [...]. He smiled at Metis, but then his eyes flicked to me, and his expression completely changed. His eyes darkened, and his mouth pinched into a frown. If there was such a thing as hate at first sight, it seemed like Nickamedes had it for me, and I had no idea why.
And here's Severus Snape.
For God's sake, author! The liquid noise you're hearing is my brain spilling out from my ears and dripping to the floor.
He noticed me staring at him, and our eyes locked, his a brilliant blue and mine a confused violet.
I'm trying to imagine how does a "confused violet" look like. I must be short on imagination, because I just can't. Let's not point out that the two kids stay at about 20 meters from each other, so how she could distinguish his eye color is anyone's guess.
I have to throw something. Unfortunately, I can't trow this book because I paid nice money for my ebook reader and I'm not particularly fond of the idea of smashing it against a wall (that's the downside of ebooks, you can't really let out your violence on them).
I liked the Elemental Assassin series. I've never read the Bigtime series, and due to screwup #2 mentioned above, now I never will.
Well, bottom-line time. If you like Harry Potter, just read Harry Potter. And if you've already read it, just read it again. It was good the first time and it's going to remain good the next ones. If you want to read a good series about a school of "gifted" kids, try the Dark Elite series by Chloe Neill. If you think badly of Jennifer Estep, try her Elemental Assassin series, maybe you will change your mind (or maybe not, at this point I'm not sure of anything).
This is going straight to my blacklist of bad books.
Merged review:
So many screwups in so few pages.
ALERT: I'm in a ranting mode, and so I'm going to rant. A lot.
My mom sounded tired, so I decided not to bother her tonight. “Love you, too,” I said, and hung up. I didn’t know then that this would be the last time I ever talked to her.
And that is the first major mistake: hindsights. Too many of them (read: more than zero). Hindsights are not allowed.
And here we go with the second huge mistake:
I’d already swapped my gym clothes for my usual sneakers and jeans. I’d also unzipped my purple hoodie and put it on over my T-shirt of Karma Girl, one of my favorite superheroines.
Oh no, you didn't. Tell me you just didn't. That's a SELF-QUOTE. What were you thinking when you wrote this!? Self-quotation is the lamest of all the lame things an author can do to sneakily force a good opinion of himself/herself on the reader. And it's one of the things that get me majorly mad. If you want your readers to have a good opinion of your work, just do a good work. Having one of your characters praise you (even in an underhanded way) is just... well, lame.
To my surprise, two people sat at the kitchen table—Grandma Frost and the woman she was drinking tea with. [...] “Hello, Gwen,” she said. “I’m Professor Metis.” [...] “Professor Metis is here to tell you about your new school, pumpkin.”
Is it just me or the scene with a teacher coming to your house and announcing your imminent subscription to a new special school sounds a little Harry Potter-like? That's the third mistake, by the way. There could be hundreds of other ways to introduce the protagonist to his/her new school. That one is just unoriginal.
“Because Mythos isn’t just any school, Gwen,” Metis said. “It’s for kids like you. Kids with magic.”
Crap, crap, crap. If that didn't sound like a Potter replica, I'm a pink fuzzy kitten.
“What kinds of kids go there?” I asked. “What kind of magic do they have? Are they Gypsies like me?” Metis looked at my grandma again. “It varies, depending on the student and her background. But the Vikings and Valkyries are very strong, while the Romans and Amazons are very quick.”
Let me rephrase that: “Zebras are striped and ducks walk on two legs.” As obviousnesses go, these are better. Much better.
Shelves and shelves and shelves of books stretched out into the farthest reaches of the domed room, along with a series of glass cases [...]. I squinted at the closest case, trying to figure out what was inside it. Was that a… sword?
Yes. And in case you were wondering, that's Godric Gryffindor's sword.
A man with ink-black hair, blue eyes, and pale skin sat in the largest office [...]. He smiled at Metis, but then his eyes flicked to me, and his expression completely changed. His eyes darkened, and his mouth pinched into a frown. If there was such a thing as hate at first sight, it seemed like Nickamedes had it for me, and I had no idea why.
And here's Severus Snape.
For God's sake, author! The liquid noise you're hearing is my brain spilling out from my ears and dripping to the floor.
He noticed me staring at him, and our eyes locked, his a brilliant blue and mine a confused violet.
I'm trying to imagine how does a "confused violet" look like. I must be short on imagination, because I just can't. Let's not point out that the two kids stay at about 20 meters from each other, so how she could distinguish his eye color is anyone's guess.
I have to throw something. Unfortunately, I can't trow this book because I paid nice money for my ebook reader and I'm not particularly fond of the idea of smashing it against a wall (that's the downside of ebooks, you can't really let out your violence on them).
I liked the Elemental Assassin series. I've never read the Bigtime series, and due to screwup #2 mentioned above, now I never will.
Well, bottom-line time. If you like Harry Potter, just read Harry Potter. And if you've already read it, just read it again. It was good the first time and it's going to remain good the next ones. If you want to read a good series about a school of "gifted" kids, try the Dark Elite series by Chloe Neill. If you think badly of Jennifer Estep, try her Elemental Assassin series, maybe you will change your mind (or maybe not, at this point I'm not sure of anything).
This is going straight to my blacklist of bad books....more
The missing piece in my very stellar rating is due to all the talk about "energy". It sounded like something paranormal, and it was a dissonant note oThe missing piece in my very stellar rating is due to all the talk about "energy". It sounded like something paranormal, and it was a dissonant note on a narration that wanted to feel realistic.
2014-05-28 I was browsing around when I stumbled around an interesting book: I Am the Weapon. I was just to buy it when I discovered that I already had it under another title. Duh. These things baffle me o_O
Merged review:
The missing piece in my very stellar rating is due to all the talk about "energy". It sounded like something paranormal, and it was a dissonant note on a narration that wanted to feel realistic.
2014-05-28 I was browsing around when I stumbled around an interesting book: I Am the Weapon. I was just to buy it when I discovered that I already had it under another title. Duh. These things baffle me o_O...more
If you know Kelley Armstrong, there really is nothing to say; for me, she's always a guarantee and money for her books is always well spent.
We all knoIf you know Kelley Armstrong, there really is nothing to say; for me, she's always a guarantee and money for her books is always well spent.
We all know since book #2, when we first meet Adam, that in the end he and Savannah will come together, so I feel that the situation is dragging a bit too long. First waiting for Savannah to grow up, wich required nine books, and now for her to "mature". I'd prefer that the author would just move on to other characters. But that's just me being impatient with obvious endings, I suppose. I'm not really complaining, though: while I know full well the destination, I'm enjoying the trip....more
I can forgive some mangled italian in books. Believe me, I can. I've read about butter in pizza, I've read about gallons of espresso, and I've even readI can forgive some mangled italian in books. Believe me, I can. I've read about butter in pizza, I've read about gallons of espresso, and I've even read misspelled numbers, for gods' sake. So: I can overlook that. Really. (You just need 2 minutes and an internet connection to know that "banditi" is spelled with one "t", but whatever)
This one-star rating is not me lashing out to authors who mistreat italian culture and language. It's me refusing to accept a character who victimizes herself throughout the whole book. It's me not being able to make any sense of this story. It's me questioning WTF have I just read. And it's me bitching about yet another book that twilightizes itself.
Merged review:
I can forgive some mangled italian in books. Believe me, I can. I've read about butter in pizza, I've read about gallons of espresso, and I've even read misspelled numbers, for gods' sake. So: I can overlook that. Really. (You just need 2 minutes and an internet connection to know that "banditi" is spelled with one "t", but whatever)
This one-star rating is not me lashing out to authors who mistreat italian culture and language. It's me refusing to accept a character who victimizes herself throughout the whole book. It's me not being able to make any sense of this story. It's me questioning WTF have I just read. And it's me bitching about yet another book that twilightizes itself....more
I did like the book. But it's still going to my mangled-italian shelf :)
I let go of Dex’s hand and let my own fly up into the air like a stereotypical
I did like the book. But it's still going to my mangled-italian shelf :)
I let go of Dex’s hand and let my own fly up into the air like a stereotypical Italian.
I don't know what that gesture is supposed to mean.
We went out to a delightful little Italian joint […]. Even though I didn’t have much appetite, I enjoyed the capriccio
There's no actual dish called "capriccio" here (you can check on wikipedia). That being said, if you want to cook a hamburger and call it "capriccio", that's fine by me. (I'll be forever curious about what passes for "capriccio" in american restaurants, though.)
There were other bits to quote here but, in short, someone should get her Euro-shit together.
Here's some help about italian gestures (I can guarantee this is very accurate):
[image]
Here's a capriccio in art:
[image]
(It's called "capriccio" because it's an imaginary/fanciful landscape: the Rialto Bridge has never been built like that, that's Andrea Palladio's project.)
Last, here's the most popular site for italian recipes. You can check it out, many videos come with an english translation. You can thank me later ;)
Merged review:
I did like the book. But it's still going to my mangled-italian shelf :)
I let go of Dex’s hand and let my own fly up into the air like a stereotypical Italian.
I don't know what that gesture is supposed to mean.
We went out to a delightful little Italian joint […]. Even though I didn’t have much appetite, I enjoyed the capriccio
There's no actual dish called "capriccio" here (you can check on wikipedia). That being said, if you want to cook a hamburger and call it "capriccio", that's fine by me. (I'll be forever curious about what passes for "capriccio" in american restaurants, though.)
There were other bits to quote here but, in short, someone should get her Euro-shit together.
Here's some help about italian gestures (I can guarantee this is very accurate):
[image]
Here's a capriccio in art:
[image]
(It's called "capriccio" because it's an imaginary/fanciful landscape: the Rialto Bridge has never been built like that, that's Andrea Palladio's project.)
Last, here's the most popular site for italian recipes. You can check it out, many videos come with an english translation. You can thank me later ;)...more
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