Tag: Paranormal (Page 33 of 51)

BOOK REVIEW – Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1) by Isaac Marion

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1)
by Isaac Marion
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

At the start of the book, I think I expected a warm and fuzzy latter half. There were not many deliveries in that department, and that isn’t a bad thing necessarily. It just wasn’t what I would have thought. Zombies eating people? Of course-I understood that concept and totally expected it. Boneys (not sure if that is the correct way to pluralize the names of these creepy creatures), not so much. They were so odd and so…frightening.

Whenever they were in the story I felt a sort of chilling effect throughout my body. They honestly just creeped me out.

We find ourselves in R’s mind as the narrator. He can imagine things in his mind, he just can’t entirely express them to those around him-like all the other zombies. R is already kind of the outsider of the zombie group when we enter the story, but only because he feels remorse for eating the living. He can’t help what he is or that he was plagued with this disease, he just knows he’ll deteriorate if he doesn’t eat, no matter how morally wrong it is to him.

One fateful day his gang attacks a group of humans that includes Julie, his love interest. He ends up protecting her, and thus brings her back to his lair. We see visions of Julie’s, and her dead ex boyfriend’s, past as a result of the aforementioned attack. I think this is what really turned me toward not liking the book as much. I felt bored and less sympathetic to Perry’s character the more we see the visions. At one point I felt bad, but I just got tired of him being a part of the story. I think I wanted it to be mostly placed in the present, and a lot of the story was not.

I loved R, he was a great hero, don’t get me wrong. I loved that he was so protective of Julie and that he was different than other zombies, I just didn’t like the supporting characters-like Julie’s dad, the past of Perry, and some of the hornier zombies…those scenes were kind of disturbing on a whole other level.

Honestly, I will most definitely see the movie, but as a book, I don’t feel better for reading it. I didn’t dislike it, and I didn’t love it. It is placed somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, I loved the insight to R-he was a sweetie. On the other hand, I don’t entirely know how I felt about Julie; she was just okay. I liked her enough, I just didn’t find her to be my favorite heroine in a novel. So, for those of you who love the offbeat romance or zombie path alike, I feel you will like it. For me, I will just simply remember it and chalk it off to a quick, okay read.

BOOK REVIEW – Requiem (Providence #2) by Jamie McGuire

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Requiem (Providence #2)
by Jamie McGuire
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Eeehhhh….I don’t really know how to rate this-It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad. It was just..ok-and that makes me sad becuase after the first, I figured the intensity would only pick up. Instead, it goes into great detail about Nina’s history and the history of…well….I suppose religion? I wouldn’t know because suffice to say, I skimmed at least 50% of this novel-I know, tsk tsk. I just couldn’t get into the story. Which sucks. A lot.

I love Claire, and I love Jared. I even love Ryan(now), but even these great characters couldn’t save this heavy-in-religious-history novel. I just felt bored the whole time. Near the end I will give it kudos, because all of Nina’s dreams finally seem to come in handy when the action ensues-brief, but thorough action.

Lastly, I am going to say I don’t know why there is so much love for this Kim character. I disliked her in the first and I loathed her in the second. She is a very obnoxious, in-your-face annoying character. Just because she is a little in the know in the second does not give her more of a right to be even snarkier. That’s all I will say on her character.

All in all an ok novel, just not really a novel I would recommend to those around me. If it weren’t for Jared I doubt I would finish the third and final installment in the series, but I am an avid reader through and through, and I will finish this series…eventually. I would rather start others on my TBR list before I come back to Eden, which says a lot :/ I never separate series if I don’t have to. Some will love it, some will hate it-guess you’ll have to read to figure out which one of those categories you are.

BOOK REVIEW – Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush #1) by Becca Fitzpatrick

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Hush, Hush (, )
by Becca Fitzpatrick
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Yeah…This is one of those books where the reviews show that people either love or hate it, with not much inbetween. Well, I fall inbetween. While the beginning was very promising, too many stupid things happened for me to just come out and say I loved this book. There’s only so much improbability a person can take and I definitely went over my personal threshold of tolerance for what I could handle.

Let’s start with our girl, Nora.

She actually isn’t too bad. She’s not the brightest cat in town, but she is somewhat relatable. Patch begins sitting next to her in class and immediately gives Nora the heebie jeebies. Probably for good reason. The whole story she is trying to figure out if he is stalking her, yes stalking, and who is a friend and who is out to kill her…because someone has her number.

This leads me to the improbability throughout the story. I, as I have stated countless times before, am a romantic to the core, so I read a lot of stupid, unrealistic novels all the time-hell, probably every book I read is unrealistic. But Hush, Hush? Yeah, I really rolled my eyes quite a few times. I mean, at the end it makes more sense, I guess, but it still doesn’t justify some of the actions she gave and received.

Which leads me to my next point. O.M.G. Her friend Vee is probably the worst best friend ever. Sure, she does a lot of great things for Nora, but more often than not she implies Nora is overreacting or that she is judging people incorrectly. Plus, how many times does Vee run off with the real creeps in the story? What a DUMBASS. She reached the peak of annoying at an alarming rate. Your friend is telling you not to trust someone, but you are more than willing to run off with them all the time? I can’t even begin to explain all the things this chick does that cause Nora more grief than she’s worth.

And the secondary characters…I’m sorry, cops DO NOT act that way. I know there are stories in the news where cops are corrupt or don’t do things right, but these cops were just plain mean to Nora. One of them calls her crazy and literally laughs everytime she says she needs help. That is wrong and it drove me insane. What a jerk.

Speaking of JERKS….a lot of people say Patch is a creepy, perverted jerk. Well, I have to say I was expecting a lot worse. He isn’t bad. I might even go as far to say he was a sweetie…from the middle to end. Honestly, I could tolerate his shit. I just didn’t fall head over heals for him like I thought I would.

All these things should make me so mad, but because I was so impartial to what happened to everyone, each scenario just pulled a reaction from me like Meeehhh….All my GR friends who read this seem to have LOVED it-I got excited when I saw all of their reviews. You know that feeling when you just KNOW that you’re guna love the book you’re getting ready to read? I wanted so badly to fall in love with another series and to gain a new angel book boyfriend…but I just didn’t. Couldn’t. This story was a fun, engaging read, but it most definitely wasn’t up to snuff with all my other favorite paranormals. Maybe the series will grab me eventually, but even as I’m reading crescendo, Vee hasn’t learned her lesson, stupid shit is still happening, and I’m still not possessed by Nora and Patch’s relationship. I guess we’ll see.

BOOK REVIEW – Sweet Peril (The Sweet Trilogy #2) by Wendy Higgins

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Sweet Peril (The Sweet Trilogy #2)
by Wendy Higgins
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Oh bloody hell (in a horrible british accent), I’ve fallen in love with Kaidan all over again. Not only did I finish reading this book in less than 24 hours, with a full day of work mind you, but I DEVOURED it. After waiting for a month following that hopeless ending of Sweet Evil, I am happy to say that I was completely enthralled with SP and all of it’s characters.

Anna has had to embrace her new party girl image while feeling guilty the entire time she is influencing those around her to partake in the madness that is her sin. A prophecy changes everything, and Anna finds herself traveling the world with Kope to find comrades among the Dukes’ sons and daughters. But in all this chaos, the most important person she could possibly want around isn’t. Anna is having trouble moving on from Kaidan and what she thinks they had/have. One problem is that Kaidan isn’t making it easy for her to contact him. The other-well, does he TRULY care for her??

I have to be honest. As my reading updates suggest, I was literally giggling like a little girl. I am not joking. Near the end of SP, I was so involved in the story that nothing else mattered. Shower? No..it could wait. Dinner? Hell no, I have a SPICY read going on here. So, the moral to the story is-we wait F-O-R-E-V-E-R for what we all want to happen..to happen. So much mindless nonsense and traveling the world and then BAM. Kai Kai time. Thank the lord. And not only did we get Kai time, it was Kai happy hour. Interpret that how you like, but for me it means that the end of the book didn’t lack any of our leading British man. Jealousy, anger, adoration, and love (and drama, duuuuh)-all abundant in SP. I LIVE for these emotions all bundled up in one neat little package, so I am on cloud nine right now. Sigh. I wish there could have been more. More than that, though, is we have to wait a bloody year to read the final book in the series. If that’s not a tragedy, I don’t know what is. Seriously.

So all in all a great read. I was a little put out with the scarcity of Kaidan in the beginning half of the novel, but the latter half was more than worth the wait and I couldn’t be happier. I realize I didn’t say anything about the secondary characters, oops, so here is a final thought. Marna and Ginger were great and I really enjoyed their presence throughout. I think they are more fun and interesting than Veronica-is that her name? I can’t even remember lol. And Kope. Poor Kope. Such a sweet guy, but he is no match for Kaidan and that is all I can say about that. Kai has a permanent residence in my heart. So here’s to a year of waiting for more of one of my favorite couples. But I have to say, I am more than fulfilled with this latest read, so it won’t be such a long wait with happier circumstances this time around.

Reading Order & Links: Amazon (click on covers), iBooks (click on titles) & Book Depository (click on book #)
Sweet Evil #1 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	Sweet Peril #2 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	Sweet Reckoning #3 Reviews: Jen
Sweet Temptation #4

BOOK REVIEW – Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Hallowed (Unearthly #2)
by Cynthia Hand
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Oh my gosh (Don’t imagine a happy, shrill-scream inducing omg. Imagine a forlone, shaky, teary-eyed sigh of an omg). I know that based on all of my reviews that I must seem like the mushiest person ever, ceaselessly crying all the time. But I swear, I rarely cry that often for a book. This was such a tear jerker of an ending for so many different reasons, that my eyes couldn’t help but to become red-rimmed with tears. I just feel drained..a good drained, I suppose, but Hallowed was just such an emotional read, and I guess I never thought the ending could be so sad (maybe hopeful to some readers) even though the whole book implied and pushed that, hey!, buckle up because you’re going to cry sucker. That was probably a run-on sentence. But whatever.

I have so many thoughts that are itching to be thrown into writing all at once. My mind is still in a fog after an hour of being finished, and I have so many conflicting emotions. I guess that’s the mark of a good author-possession of my mind.

Clara. What to say about Clara. Aside from the fact that I don’t believe she completely understands that truth in a relationship is essential for the other party to feel comforted and loved wholeheartedly, becuase hey, he already knows you are otherwordly anyway so, she is one of the few lead female characters that I actually have a little ounce of respect for. Why this teenager? While a lot of times it is frustrating when a girl won’t just succumb to a beautiful boy’s charm, I didn’t feel that way with Clara. She stands her ground on many issues that are a large part of her world, and no one really tells her what to do and how to be, not really, and that is a breath of fresh air. She fights for what she believes in, even with a foreboding sense of inevitability.

For the record-I LOVE Tucker, and I love Christian. I really am thrown by how sweet and caring both of these guys are. I never feel like both guys deserve the main girl like I do with these characters. Sure, Christian did run off to get Kay after the dance the year before, but she was mourning the end of their relationship, and he felt it was his fault so he went after her. That is all. It’s old news and there isn’t a thing that can be done about the past. I continually keep rationalizing why she should be with each guy, and I feel a stab of guilt each time her path shifts. I inwardly flinch when every obstacle is thrown her way. I was saddened by the fact that Tucker really wasn’t in this book much. He was in it, but just not as much as one would hope. I hated that and it was very noticeable. These books truly are playing with my mind and tugging on my heartstrings.

So with all of this being said, I must also clarify that I liked the layout of this book much better than the first installment. I still do not like Angela much, sorry to whoever cares, I find her to be pushy and self-serving, so I didn’t care for the fact that she was in it buttloads more than the almost non-existent Wendy (she almost just seems like a vacant character, even in Unearthly, with not much more than a bland personality and very little stage presence-so different than her amazing brother), but I still liked Hallowed a lot. I felt this story on a very deep level, even more so at the end, and I can’t wait to start Boundless. What a mess. I just hope my fragile state of mind can handle this frustrating love triangle.