Beautiful Lies

Summary:

"Rachel and Alice are an extremely rare kind of identical twins—so identical that even their aunt and uncle, whom they’ve lived with since their parents passed away, can’t tell them apart. But the sisters are connected in a way that goes well beyond their surfaces: when one experiences pain, the other exhibits the exact same signs of distress. So when one twin mysteriously disappears, the other immediately knows something is wrong—especially when she starts experiencing serious physical traumas, despite the fact that nobody has touched her. As the search commences to find her sister, the twin left behind must rely on their intense bond to uncover the truth. But is there anyone around her she can trust, when everyone could be a suspect? And ultimately, can she even trust herself? Master storyteller Jessica Warman will keep readers guessing when everything they see—and everything they are told—suddenly becomes unreliable in this page-turning literary thriller."

Quick and Easy Review

It is hard to say what exactly my feelings are about this book, as a psychological thriller, the book definitely worked, and  I feel is the only thing the story had going for it, which almost makes you excuse the fact that a lot of things don't really add up or make sense. Pretty much, the concept of the stigmatic twins and the serial killer is a good one, but doesn't have enough of a logical depth to them. It was almost like you read one story and then jumped to another at the end, that mildy tied into the beginning.  The Story is also pretty predictable.. I knew who the killer was in the beginning and as the ending came around I knew, what the author would do. Although, still unsure HOW that happened. My final thought is the book is a mess, yet still intriguing. Feels more like a low budget horror movie though. 

Brother/Sister

Summary:

"Will and Asheley have a troubled past. Their father left them when they were little, and their mother has just been carted off to an alcohol treatment center. Now, they have the house to themselves, and an endless California summer stretching out before them. Through alternating perspectives, they tell the story of how and why their lives spun violently out of control - right up to the impossibly shocking conclusion you'll have to read for yourself to believe."

Plot: The plot is quite straight forward, the story altars between Will and Asheley's story and is told as if they are talking to you. It is a Semi psychological thriller and the ending is unexpected.
Characters: Will and Asheley are siblings, who have a close relationship. They are written very distinctly. Asheley the nice, sweet girl and Will the misunderstood, struggling man of the house.
Pros: quick read, very straight forward plot, and a little creepy. (but you expect that with this book)
Cons: There may have been some inaccuracies on minor details.
Final Thoughts:  I originally thought this book was about incest, but it isn't although there is a slighty inappropriate relationship going on. When I think about the events and personalities of and in the characters lives, it makes sense to me why some of these things happened. Although, I was shocked at some of them Epsecially the ending. I would LOVE to talk to someone who has read the book about the ending. Overall, there are not too many YA Psychological Thrillers out there, that are age appropriate. I mean this is like mini psychological  thriller, but still., an entertaining read.

Book Tour: Frost

Summary:

"Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school starts with a cruel shock: Frost House, the cozy Victorian dorm where she and her best friends chose to live, has been assigned an unexpected roommate—confrontational, eccentric Celeste Lazar.
What Celeste lacks in social grace, however, her brother, David, a recent transfer student, makes up for in good looks and charm. But while he and Leena hit it off immediately, Leena finds herself struggling to balance her growing attraction with her fear of getting hurt.
As classes get under way, strange happenings begin to bedevil Frost House—frames mys-teriously falling off walls, doors locking by themselves, furniture toppling over. Celeste blames the housemates, convinced they want to scare her into leaving. And while Leena tries to play peacekeeper between her best friends and new roommate, soon the mysterious happenings in the dorm, an intense triangle between Leena, Celeste, and David, and the reawakening of childhood fears all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. But does the threat lie with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind . . . or in Frost House itself?"

Plot: The plot itself had a lot to work with, I mean it sounds like a straight up perfect scenario for a horror/psychological thriller movie. The writing had all the makings of it too, the build up was great, but the ending was quite anti-climatic.

Characters: I felt the only real character build up was focused on Leena,Celeste and David and even then the characters lacked enough depth. The author touched the surface, but missed in opportunity to give her characters more dimension.

Pros: Captivating read, a REAL girl character (she wasn't too big or too beautiful, she wasn't too insecure or an overachiever) she was real and normal. Lots of potential. Good Writing.

Cons: Anti-Climatic Ending, unnecessary political stabs, unnecessary characters.

Final Thoughts: I received this book at 3 pm on Wednesday... Began reading at like 7pm and was up reading it till 5AM (with breaks in between) Then Thursday I began reading at 11pm and finished at 2:30AM.

Meaning I was ENTHRALLED in this book. The build up was REALLY nice and had me waiting for that big finish, but then all of a sudden I realize I am at pg. 350 out of 400 and we are still in the middle of build up.. which leaves only 50 pages left to wrap the book up. I feel that this is almost never a good sign in a book. Cause usually you are not going to get the result you were hoping for and that was what happened. I enjoyed the book and thought it was GOOD but it could of been GREAT had the ending been tweaked and maybe just added a little more creep factor. Although it was a nice mild thriller. The other thing that bothered me was the need for the character Kate. Who is suppose to be the girls BFF, and was rooming with Leena, second semester, but then Celeste happens and blah blah blah. Honestly. I felt Kate was just an un-needed excuse for the plot line, which could have worked with out her. She is briefly mentioned like 3 times in the book and makes a short appearance as an actual character, but even then I felt she was only used to make some sense of her character/ She doesn't even show up in the end. Really just not needed. I also would have felt worse for Leena had her other friends characters been developed more. Now, don't get me wrong the book is a good first attempt at a book and you will more then likely enjoy the book, I just feel that it had way more potential, or better yet the author had way more potential in her writing skills.

I was graciously allowed to be apparent of this Book Tour through Amber at Me, My Shelf and I.

Other Participants and Their Reviews

Cici's Books

The Reading Fever

Hippies,Beauty and Books

Me,My Shelf and I (well of course)

Frost Was Released on September 13th, 2011

Favorite

 

Summary: Angie Favorite's mother disappeared on her 11th birthday, now 5 years later Angie is attacked by a man. After the man commits suicide, his mother invites Angie and her family over, to apologize for her sons behavior. This leads to more questions about why he attacked her, as well as a connection to her mothers disappearance.

Plot: I enjoyed the plot, from the beginning I was curious, where the book was going (in a good way) and made me continue to read on. It has a very small town, low budget horror film feel to it (does that make sense?)

Characters: I absolutely adored Angie Favorite! Her witty comments and sarcasm, made me feel like we were kindred spirits I really connected to her. I also, felt that her Dad and Mrs. Bittner were very well written and I could picture who they were, very well. Even less written characters like Laura and Mike, stood out to me.

Pros: It Was Realistic, I liked the use of my name (although briefly) and this is totally a selfish reason to like the book, but hey it is true a person favorite word is their name. And The Humor...That is what really did it for me.

Cons: It wasn't LONG Enough! I would have liked the story to have been just a tad been longer and maybe elaborated in some areas. For instance, on her mom's disappearance. I would have liked a little more in depth there, so it would pull at my heart strings more.

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed this book a lot. I think Angie has been the most relate-able character to me, ever.  I have already stated that I loved the humor in the book, but I also enjoyed the suspense. McQuestion created the perfect creepy environment, that had you cringing and hoping something wouldn't pop out of now where and freak you completely out.  Also, like I said in the Pros , I really appreciated the realistic or better word for it common sense of the book. She had the characters act as rational human beings would act (or at least hope) would act when they are put in this situation. Since the book is also geared to a younger age... She did a great job at keeping that in mind. I would ultimately described this a the perfect started book for a younger age group, who is interested in Thriller,Mystery-esque type books, but don't want the nightmares. Plus, the play on words with the word Favorite and name, were a very, very, nice touch.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

 

Can I say WOW! First off, I have to say that The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was only a REALLY long prologue to this book. I wasn't a fan of TGWTDT but, I heard SO many great things about the series, that I had to read the next book and I am glad I did! Stieg Larsson is a GENIUS. He has weaved together the most intricate and alluring mystery/thriller novel I have read in a while. Even the most minor details will pop up with significance somewhere in the book/series. 

I was really happy when the book started off with quite a few pages on Lisbeth Salander and in general focused more on her. Cause I had heard she was the main character.. yet she wasn't in TGWTDT that much. I really enjoyed Lisbeth more and more trough out this book and I was at the edge of my seat (so to say) the whole time. I mean towards the middle ish end I had come up with some good theories, but still you never know!  The only thing that got a little annoying is the fact that Larsson brings in SO many characters and gives us a pretty extensive background and uses their last name to introduce them and I don't know why but this confused me at times and I think this is because they are minor-ish characters so I don't focus too much on needing to know their last names and also they all have Swedish last names, so some of the names appear to be similar.The ending didn't surprise me either (it was a cliff hanger). As I got closer to the last pages I kept thinking to myself " the book has to end as a cliff hanger, cause at this rate.. they will finish the story line and then what would the last book be about"

If you are someone who read TGWTDT and quit after reading it, I suggest picking up TGWPWF because it really is smart and awesome! BUT if you are someone who is really sensitive of weak then this book might not be for you... the book really pushes the envelope on every level as far as sex,abuse, drugs, sexuality, murder.. go.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

 

I was really excited when I received The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo for Christmas from my Future Mother In - Law Dena. I was excited for several reasons. For awhile I heard buzz about how good the book was, I heard how dark, twisted and mysterious it was and all that fun juicy stuff. Then I heard a lot of buzz about the Swedish version of the movie and once I heard it was going to be made into an American version. I had to read it! So, I was happy to receive it as one of my Christmas books.

I was really surprised at how different the book was then I expected it to be. I, for some reason thought it would be about a girl in a secret cult, with a magical dragon tattoo. I don't know why, but that is what I thought the book was going to be about. I also, knew the main character was Lisbeth Salander, so I was surprised with how minimal the girl with the dragon tattoo's role, kind of was. Her role in the book is very important; we just focus  a lot more time on Mikael Blomvkist and his story. The book starts off quite mysteriously,with Henrik Vanger receiving a pressed flower like he does every year on his birthday for an unknown source, then goes into Mikael Blomvkist's trial where he has been convicted of libel and then Lisbeth is intertwined into the story with her researching skills for a secruity agency. Her secruity agency is hired by Henrik Vanger to do research on Mikael. So that Vanger can hire Mikael to solve his families mystery.

The book has four parts and takes course in a little over a year. While there are some parts that are really intriguing I have to admit that towards the end of the book, I was rather disappointed and had the books not been SO raved about I may not have wanted to read the second book in the series. What I do like is the book is meticulously planned, minor things mentioned all tie into the book, like a perfect puzzle. There are a few loose ends that I would like to be answered particularly about Lisbeth Salander cause little really is known about her. She is an intriguing character. There were also, a few things that bothered me in this book, like how some situations were handle, which I hope; maybe the reasons they were handled that way will come to light in the next book and also, I wasn't happy with some of the relationship choices in the book either. BUT Again, there is something complex about the book that makes you look over those things. I was shocked by some of the material covered, cause of what it entailed and will be hard to watch when I see it play out on camera. I was also shocked by how a particular incident struck a cord in me. I cannot go into detail, but I was surprised by how minor the incident in the book was, it made me cry in disgust and sadness. This tidbit is towards the middle-ish end of the book, when Blomkvist is getting closer to perhaps solving the mystery. If you think you may know what I am talking about, feel free to comment below or message me and we can talk about it.. Unless, I'm the only one who was so affected by it.  So far my feelings are mixed and we will see where I stand with the next book.

What's Next?

Room by Emma Donoghue. Again, another gift and another book I have heard good things about. I know it is suppose to be dark as well and that it has to do with a boy named Jack, I think? Who is whole life has lived in a single room with his Mom.

WHAT THE F**K!?!

I cannot believe I had neglected to read this book for over a year. Being pushed aside by all the other newer shinier books.. but oh, was this book a gem. I bought it at a nice used book store in Campbell,Ca and I am now more than overjoyed to say I have read it and you should too!

The book is set in England in the late 50's. Max Raphael has justed moved his family to his new job where he will be a deputy superintendent to the criminally insane. Max has a beautiful and intriguing wife Stella... who has grown bored with there marriage. So she begins a love affair with one of the hospitals patients Edgar Stark.

Need I say more?! Does that not make you want to read this book?! This is one of those books that I just could NOT put down and couldn't wait to find out how it ended. The book wastes no time getting to the point; you find the first 150 pages to be a crazy whirlwind and you don't know exactly whats going to happen.. for about 50 pages in the middle the book cools down and kind of makes you think " really that is all?".. but don't stop! I promise those last 100 pages or so will make your head spin. It's hard to place this book in a category it's not exactly a horror story and it's not really a psychological thriller. It's more a forensic psychology love story. There are very few books that I want to see turned into a movie and this one of them. Although it is in ways similar to Shutter Island.... it is also SO much different. I do warn though that the book is not for the faint of heart... for there are plenty of sexual encounters and graphic descriptions of crime. The book is excellently written and is told from the view of a fellow friend a psychiatrist to both Stella and Max.Which gives the book that extra umph of originality. Being that my major is forensic psychology.. the book may have intrigued me more than others... but I promise any avid reader would enjoy this book. It really is in it's own element.

What's Next?

My next book is "Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella, honestly I only bought the book cause the title intrigued me. I love the 1920's and from what I got from the summer this is a modern take on a girl who lives her life like she lives in the '20's but I could be wrong. My feelings are mixed on how excited I am about reading this book. It may be because I went from reading a truly enthralling book to another "easy read" chick-lit book. So hopefully it does not disappoint.