Book #1: Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever. I actually heard about this book from my special man friend. He told me he heard it was supposed to be good. And I like good vampire stories that don't deal with brooding, creepy, stalker vampires. Jane Jones had an interesting idea, but I just don't think it measured up. I didn't find it very believable -- believable for a vampire story, that is. First of all, I don't like vampires that can walk around in the sun. It's too easy. In Jane Jones, there are consequences for being in the sun, which I can handle. Here was my main gripe -- if you're a vampire who's a couple hundred years old, are you really going to waste your time at high school being some mean kid? I don't really think so. And let's say you're a vampire who isn't quite that old yet, but are you still going to listen to your parents like you're 16 instead of 80? Yeah, I didn't think so either.
I didn't really feel the main conflict, either. The bad guys could have been a little badder in my opinion. I did appreciate how the vampires in this story longed for a human life even though they were immortal. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. Overall, I'm glad I read this story, I was just expecting more.
Book #2: The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I love zombies. Okay, let me clarify. I like reading zombie stories and watching zombie movies. I in no way, shape, or form, want zombies to be real. So when I heard there was a zombie book for young adults, I was intrigued. I wanted to know how that worked, because when it comes to zombies, there's lots of gore and death. Lots and lots. Well, I gotta say I was again disappointed. Maybe I just expected too much. But I did not feel for the main character, Mary. In fact, she annoyed the hell out of me. Most of the characters did. Everything happened very conveniently. Don't get me wrong, though. There were things I liked -- like the beginning. I loved how it opened with a seemingly innocent scene, and then it erupted into fear and chaos. I enjoyed Mary's awakening and her time spent with Travis, but she does a lot of stupid things and I just want to shake her. And shake her some more. Sure, it's supposed to be scary and the things she does is supposed to show what kind of stress she's under and what her state of mind is, but her stupidity annoyed me more than anything. And then she ends up alone and with strangers.
For the most part, I liked the writing, but found myself thinking Man, there's a lot of sentence fragments. Which says a lot because I like fragments and run-ons. This book also made me have zombie dreams, which I thought I had been cured of. But that's not the book's fault.
This is the first in a trilogy (of course). I haven't decided if I'm going to read the others. I guess the next one, The Dead-Tossed Waves, is told from a new character's perspective. I'm currently on the library waiting list for it, so I'll decide when the time comes.
Book #3: Water for Elephants. Let me start off by saying that this is an adult book. There are some scenes that very explicit. So you've been warned. Anyway, I wanted to read this book before I saw the movie. I'm not an R Pat fan, but I do have some fascination with circuses and the Depression era. Out of the three books I read, I liked this one the best. Maybe that's because I didn't have any real expectations or perhaps because this isn't a part of a trend like vampires and zombies are. Everything seemed believable. I liked how there was a lot of detail put into the description of the animals -- the reader really got a sense of their personality. Rosie was an awesome elephant. I wish I had an elephant. And I felt so bad for her when she was mistreated.
The ending surprised me -- I wasn't expecting it to go in that direction, especially with all of the build up. Though I appreciated the parts of story told in the present, they were still my least favorite parts. The old man Jacob and the young man Jacob also seemed like two completely different people. I guess that's realistic, but it still would have been nice to see some similarity. Jacob was hilarious as a 90-year-old, though. I also thought the explanation for August being such a sleaze ball was cheap. Overall, great read. It was easy to tell how much research went into it. The book was better than the movie, FYI. Aren't books always better than movies? It's much more YA friendly, though. Quick thoughts on the movie: I hated Rob's narration, and I hated how they combined August and Uncle Al's characters. Also, I did not believe the chemistry between Reese and Rob. But I still want an elephant.
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In case you wanted a more detailed book review on Water for Elephants. This guy is fun to watch.
Books I'm Waiting to Read:
1. The Timekeeper by Alexandria Monir (the sequel to Timeless)
2. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (the sequel to Delirium)
3. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
4. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (Infernal Devices book 1)
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