Review: Never Never

Never Never by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 0 of 5 stars



I'm still undecided on an actual starred review on this book, so I'm skipping that part for a bit until I can decide.


My initial thoughts on Never Never is a kind of apathy. I think that the writing was flawless, but I'm just not sure how I actually feel about the story itself. I think right now my biggest issue is with the fact that it did not come across as a book within a series, but it felt more like a volume in a serial. I knew going into the book that TaCo decided that they weren't just going to be able to complete this as a standalone like the initial plan was. So, I was expecting a cliffhanger. My problem is that the end didn't have a cliffhanger feel. I don't think we made it to the top of a cliff to hang off of. I have more of a I found a pretty right at this nice little plateau so I'm going to play with that and then take a nap before I continue up this cliff. Does that mean that I didn't enjoy the book? Nah, I think it will probably end up being freaking awesome when it's done. Which means, that I'm holding off on an actual rating until I finish up the series. That's probably a bit of a cop out, but I don't like to read serials until they are done because I don't feel like I can get a full idea on the scope of a story after just one volume to warrant a proper rating. So, even though this book is technically listed as a part of a series according to the authors, that's just not where I am at with it as a reader.



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Review: The Opening Act

The Opening Act by Taryn Elliott

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



First thing first. Jimi. Not Jimmy. Jimi. I'm chalking this up to one of those pesky autocorrect errors though because I've seen it other books and I refuse to believe that any author that writes a book about a band or music lover doesn't know the proper spelling of one of the greatest/influential guitarists in rock n roll.

That's done, now onward.

The Opening Act is a bundle of the first books in the Lost in Oblivion series. I've already read the later two, so I'm just going link those reviews in here and discuss the first novella in this series, Seduced.

Seduced takes us back to the very beginnings of the band Oblivion. For those who've read the latter two books prior to this one, it gives you some insight on that tension that is oft mentioned between Jazz, Nick and Gray. And boy was the reason for that tension interesting. Their story was probably the most interesting in the book and really makes me intrigued to see how everything is going to turn out between all of them. As for the rest of the book, it is lots 'o sex and teases the future love lives of a couple of the band members.

So. Overall, I'll give this bundle 3 stars. I think that Rocked was by far the strongest book with Seduced probably being the weakest. We could have gotten this backstory in the characters' books rather than a separate one and it would not have made the slightest difference. Still, it was a good read for what it was.


Here are the links for my reviews of parts 2 & 3 of this boxed set
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/929878359
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/930758297




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Review: Geek Love

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



ARTURISM: A quasi-religious cult making no representations of a god or gods, and having nothing to say about life after death. The cult represents itself as offering earthly sanctuary from the aggravations of life. Small chalked graffiti, said to be the work of the Admitted, are found in many locations after the Binewski carnival has passed through. The phrase "Peace, Isolation, Purity" (P.I.P) seems to be the slogan. Many commercial posters distributed in advance of the show read, "Arturo knows, All Pain, All Shame, and the Remedy!"

I went into this book without reading any major information, other than the back cover. I was expecting some craziness given the idea of a couple creating their own Freak Show for the carnival, but I never fully expected what I actually got.  It was amazing. Seriously, freaking amazing.


Geek Love follows the life of the Binewski family; Al, Lily, Arty the Aquaboy, Elly & Iphy the Siamese twins, Oly the albino hunchback, and Chick the supposed "norm", who blows everyone else out of the water, so to speak. The Binewski are originally a family built on love, but in a kind of a twisted way. Al and Lily create their family experimenting with mixes of amphetamines, arsenic and radioisotopes until they are able to create their dreamlets. As the family grows older, things begin to change within the family and the carnival.

I'm kind of at a loss with what to exactly say in the review, because I don't want to include anything that I marked in the book. Those things were so impactful and shocked me so much that I don't want to give any hints as to what happened to the family. You know from the beginning of the book that they had a tragic ending, but it was such a slow burn, with so many things that eventually led to their fall, how can I single out anything.

The aspect of this book that I find so fascinating is the way I questioned the motives behind the characters. Al and Lil created their own little "monsters", but exactly how far did they go in their creations. Would the kids have been the same mentally and emotionally had they not been created with their deformities? Did their tampering with nature create more than just physical monsters? If they wouldn't have done what they did, would the ensuing terror have actually happened? It opens up so much of a nature vs nurture debate, but in kind of an opposite direction. They were created as an abomination of nature, but they were loved and nurtured completely because of that supposed abomination...

I honestly cannot talk up this book enough. It isn't an easy read, as the subject matter can be tough to work through, but it is a fascinating and complex read that will keep you utterly hooked.



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Review: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was a fascinating read. Surprisingly enough, it had little to do with H.H. Holme's aspect of the book.

I knew of the World's Fair prior to reading this, but it was just the basics of it. Delving further into the makings of it was beyond interesting, and seemed doomed from the start, really. The amount of work that went into it was amazing. As was the pride in it. It's sad that it was marred with such struggle and death. The sheer amount of genius that went into it and eventually came out of it though, awesome. I got to the point with the Fair's story, that Holme's part in it was kind of on the back burner for me. I think that was primarily because I had already read quite a bit on him, so it wasn't something new for me to focus on.

I was really impressed with Larson's ability to weave these two stories together so fluidly. One would never think that a book about a serial killer and an architect, two men had such huge impact on the country in such vastly different ways, work so well together, but it did. More so with the fact that I'm sure that many people, me included, were drawn to this book because of Holme's story in it only to get drawn into another aspect of history.

I highly recommend.




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Review: Deliver Us from Evil: A New York City Cop Investigates the Supernatural

Deliver Us from Evil: A New York City Cop Investigates the Supernatural by Ralph Sarchie

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



This book most definitely was not for me. At all. I'll preface by saying that I am Catholic and do believe in demon possessions. However, I still I found this entire book to be absolutely ridiculous. I did find myself frustrated with the constant religious diatribes after every story, though I understand Sarchie's reasoning behind adding it. Good for him for being strong in his faith, but I think the book would have been fine, if not better, without it. My biggest issue with this is that he seemed so flipping quick to jump to his determination that the person was possessed. One meeting and he just knows? And in some cases he knows the exact demon during that one meeting too. I found that baffling. I'm unsure if this was the actual case for his investigations or if everything was condensed so that he could fit in as many experiences as possible. If the latter was the case, it would have been much more impactful to cut that down and just discuss one or two in much, much more detail. In the case of this book, everything seemed too rushed and in the end just flat out unimpressive and questionable. Even as someone who DOES believe in the possibility of demonic possessions, I found myself to be incredibly skeptical of what I was reading.
 
I'll go ahead and add this into my the movie was better category, and the movie still wasn't anything to write home to mom about. It did have an entire soundtrack of music by the Doors so at least if you hate the movie, you have some amazing listening opportunities.



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Review: What's Left of Us

What's Left of Us by Amanda Maxlyn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This has been one of my most anticipated reads this year. I loved What's Left of Me and was really excited to see the completion of their story. So excited that I pulled myself up from the brink of death (not really, just an ear/sinus infection but I turn into a man when I'm sick) to get this read as soon as I could. And Amanda did not disappoint at all.

The thing that makes both WLoM and WLoU is that they are both a realistically poignant look into the struggles that surround the cancer survivor and their families. In these books, it isn't the struggle to survive the cancer, but the struggle to be able to live despite the lingering fear of cancer. What's Left of Us continues the Aundrea and Parker's story as they settle down further into their life, taking place 3 years into their relationship as they run into new heartaches and joys. Their struggle in this book is the decision on whether or not to add to their family despite Aundrea's fear of her heart or cancer taking her away. Every part of these books feel real. So many books within this genre can seem a little ridiculous or overdramatic, but not these. You really feel like this could be your friends or family, so it is amazingly easy to form a connection and really feel every joy and pain right along with the characters. I don't want to give anything away, because it is just something that need to be experienced in your own way. For me though, these books are ones that will stay with me as something special. Even if they are rip your heart out and stomp on it, in a good way though.







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Review: Dom Wars: Round One

Dom Wars: Round One by Lucian Bane

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



So, I was one of the many who got the email from this author when he joined Booklikes. I happened to find the fact that he went out of his way to message people who followed him/he followed to be highly amusing (not to mention the apology message too) so I decided to read his book that I got as a freebie a while ago.

Too bad that my reading it didn't really work out for either of us.

I found Dom Wars to have a serious case of the Serials. It just progressed far, far too fast for me with not enough go on. Sometimes I can look past that with serials, sometimes I can't. This time, I couldn't. I found the whole Dom Wars storyline to be interesting, but I do not think that it is something that can be properly done in a serial format. It is something that needs to be properly fleshed (ha) out, along with the characters that are involved in it. Especially when there are declarations of love in Volume 1, with characters that were not previously involved prior to being it starting.

I have Volume 2 already, so I may eventually read that and decide if I want to continue on with the rest of the books. But given the current state of my TBR list, it's not high on the priority list. I will probably check out other books of his though. I have a soft spot for a (mild) lack of proper etiquette.



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