Sunday, August 28, 2011

Books Read in August 2011

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Love Lies Bleeding by Jess McConkey
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Total Pages: 1,720

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Loves Lies Bleeding by Jess McConkey

I enjoyed this book but it left a lot of unanswered questions and I was a bit confused about the ending. The main character, Samantha, suffered a tramatic event where she was attacked by a group of boys and beat over the head with a tire iron. She suffered brain damage which caused her to develop a limp. In the beginning, she was very controlling, demanding and basically just mean. I think this was due to everyone trying to "take care of her" when she thought she was very capable of doing things on her own. The one thing I really liked about her character is that she was artistic and liked to paint.

Jackson, her fiance', was very difficult to like. He was self-centered and conceited which doesn't really surprise me considering his profession (plastic surgeon). His attitude throughout the entire story was just hard to understand and it really only made me mad. He treated other people very poorly and he was manipulative.

Anne, Samantha's "nurse," was intriguing. She was very persistent in her methods of trying to help Samantha with her injuries. Of course, Samantha didn't like her very much in the beginning, but she grew on her.

Teddy just got on my nerves! I really dislike teenagers who like to cause trouble, especially those who like to throw rocks at innocent dogs! One of the things I never found out what was exactly happened to him. The entire incident of where he supposedly keyed Jackson's car was kind of lost right after it was mentioned.

Throughout the story, I honestly thought that Samantha was possessed because I believed that Blanche, the previous owner of the cabin Samantha was living in, had already passed away. What I don't understand is what made Blanche reach out to Samantha in her dreams. From what I read, there was nothing that really linked the two characters together aside from the cabin they both lived in. I also never really learned what happened to Jackson. I would have liked to know where he ended up.

The character that I really grew attached to was Greg. He was just flat-out charming. All in all, I really liked the writing style in this book. It was a very good page-turner but the ending was a little disappointing.

Four Stars

321 Pages

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate

I really enjoyed The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove. I personally love all of Lauren Kate’s books so this was just icing on the cake for me. Lauren’s books usually have a slow start but in the end, they will not disappoint. This story is a classic portrayal of every-day students wanting to be popular. Natalie was a victim of that and it destroyed her life. I won’t say much more than that as to not give anything away, only that it is remarkable. I highly recommend reading this book.
Five Stars
235 Pages