Review: Lost Stars- Lisa Selin Davis

Rate:

3.5/5

Goodreads Description:

Before her older sister, Ginny, died, Carrie was a science nerd, obsessively tracking her beloved Vira comet. But now that Ginny is gone, sixteen-year-old Carrie finds herself within the orbit of Ginny’s friends, a close-knit group of seniors who skip school, obsess over bands (not science), and party hard.

Fed up with Carrie’s behavior, her father enrolls her in a summer work camp at a local state park. Carrie actually likes the days spent in nature. And when she meets Dean, a guy who likes the real Carrie—astrophysics obsessions and all—she starts to get to the heart of who she is and who she wants to be.

Review:

Okay so Carrie was annoying me to no end.

And that in it self annoyed me with me >.>

I was so excited when I got this book because the description just sounds like one of those books that will deal with the heartbreak of loosing an amazing loved one that thought the main character so many great things.

But Ginny was awful! I was going to say that she turned Carrie into this horrible person.. BUT IT WAS CARRIE HERSELF THAT DID THAT! And Carrie just kept mistreating her dad for no real and honest reason.

As you have probably guessed by now my 3 out of 5 is not because the writing was bad but because the main character was a horrible person.

Which I guess SHOULD mean the book it better than a 3 because the author made the character feel very real.... BUT I JUST CANT GET OVER IT!

Carrie, in the end did kind of start to realize how things truly were and started to change her bad habits which should have made for a satisfying ending and again, a higher rate considering the fact of my previous mentioned realization that my hate for the character means that the author is good, BUT I also feel like the book didnt really have much of a climax to it, no like UBER intense moment where things could go super wrong or super right which is a VERY important moment for me in books, what either makes or breaks a book you know?

But I just didnt see that moment on this book, it wasnt clear for me which is why I have given this book what I have given it

Recommend it?

mmmmm Sure why not, I feel like it depends on the person but it is worth a shot 

Review: Armada- Ernest Cline

Rate:

2/5

Goodreads Description:

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.

And then he sees the flying saucer.

Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.

No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar?

At once gleefully embracing and brilliantly subverting science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline could, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a classic coming of age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you’ve ever read before—one whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon

Review: 

As always, thank you to BloggingForBooks for this review copy.

I simply couldnt find my love for this book and it is a huge shame because I hear nothing but wonders about it and people loving it left and right.

One thing I did really like though is the cover, like holy crap that is a gorgeous cover.

The characters where a bit boring for me, I just couldnt get pulled in by them like I do for most characters, a certain love that grows on you for them, I never got that.

There was something about the editing of the book that also just irked me, I cant pinpoint it maybe I just automatically didnt like the editing because I didnt like the characters? I dont know but I dont have much else to say about it to be honest

Recommend it?

ehh... No

 

Review: Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes- Rick Riordan

Rate:

4/5

Goodreads Description:

Who cut off Medusa's head? Who was raised by a she-bear? Who tamed Pegasus? It takes a demigod to know, and Percy Jackson can fill you in on the all the daring deeds of Perseus, Atalanta, Bellerophon, and the rest of the major Greek heroes. Told in the funny, irreverent style readers have come to expect from Percy, ( I've had some bad experiences in my time, but the heroes I'm going to tell you about were the original old school hard luck cases. They boldly screwed up where no one had screwed up before. . .) and enhanced with vibrant artwork by Caldecott Honoree John Rocco, this story collection will become the new must-have classic for Rick Riordan's legions of devoted fans--and for anyone who needs a hero. So get your flaming spear. Put on your lion skin cape. Polish your shield and make sure you've got arrows in your quiver. We're going back about four thousand years to decapitate monsters, save some kingdoms, shoot a few gods in the butt, raid the Underworld, and steal loot from evil people. Then, for dessert, we'll die painful tragic deaths. Ready? Sweet. Let's do this.

Review:

 I feel like I have got to stop reviewing Rick Riordan books because I just dont have as much to say anymore xD

Illustrations: I always enjoy the illustrations of these books, the artist, John Rocco is pretty darn good, I just wish that there was more of them throughout the book so it wouldnt seem so long a read.

I felt like this one was a bit slower than the Greek Gods one, I really enjoyed that one which is why I wanted this one so badly, I wanted to buy it and then read it but now I am kinda glad that I checked it out from the library before I did that. Like I said, it just seemed a bit slower, I didn't actually check if there was more characters in the first one or the same amount or if I just found the Gods stories a bit more interested. I feel like that is totally what it is. Percy's sassiness just seeped out more throughout the pages in the first book than this one. Sure he still added commentary and a bit more pop culture references in this one but yeah... I mean it is still a good book but I really like I need to take a break of Riordan

Recommed it?

If youre a hardcover Percy fan yeah, its a must. 

 

Author Spotlight: Andrea Waltz co-author of Onyx Webb

 

I had the absolute pleasure of reading the start of this series and it is still seriously one that I remember well thanks to the unique way with which it is written and the content being so perfectly Webb-ed together

Oh Yeah I did

 

And now here I am getting to interview one of the 2 authors, Andrea Waltz, of this wonderful series you can check out on their website http://onyxwebb.com/

 

You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter

 

 

About Andrea

1.       Youre a co author with author Richard Fenton for not just the Onyx Webb Series but Go for No!. How did the whole idea of co-writing first begin?

We started by writing business parables. Mostly because as speakers and trainers, writing a book is like having a business card for what you speak about. But since we love stories so much, we had to write something more creative than just a straight up non-fiction, how to book.

2.       Onyx Webb is your first fictional story, what inspired it?

So many things! It started off by me wanting to write paranormal about a guy in love with a girl, who is a ghost. Then it morphed into more stories about other people and has continued to grow into what we call a soap opera because there is so much going on!

3.       What have you learned from writing Onyx Webb that was different from writing business texts (besides that Onyx is a fictional piece)?

The incredible amount of planning especially because we are writing a sequential series – a serial if you will. Before a word is written we go through story boarding and lots of post-it notes. We have to be very clear about where we are taking our characters.

4.       What’s your favorite part about being a co-author and going through the writing process together? Least favorite?

My favorite: I love the brainstorming process. I enjoy coming up with the big ideas, the twists, the shocking connections. Richard is great at that too, but his skill is really executing on those big ideas. As such I am also the first editor in the process and after reading for the third time it gets tough. That’s my least favorite time, the final read. It’s hard to not want to keep changing things up. Sometimes there will be one line and I will change it one way two times and Richard will change it back three times!

5.       Do you have any other fictional works in mind coming up?

We just brain-stormed a lot of fun spin-off ideas from the Onyx Webb series, but we still have a way to go as we are only just publishing Book 6 now.

Onyx Webb

1.       I really love the fact that you start to figure out how these characters connect with one another, was that always a plan? To have them all connect even though they are from different times?

Once we realized we had a few stories to tell and we were not willing to give up any of them, then we turned that into – then how do they all connect? And that has been amazing and fun to make that happen.

2.       If Onyx Webb became a TV show or Soap Opera, who would you like cast? Are there any particular actors that you picture in your head as the characters in Onyx?

Andrea has all the casting choices figured out. We have Mila Kunis in our head  for Onyx Webb. Tom Hardy would be Ulrich her husband. And we had Amanda Seyfried as his mistress, Claudia Spliatro. And Mika Flagler would be played by Margo Robbie. It would be a pretty cool cast of people.    

 

V: I seriously can't think of who out of all those actors is my favorite xD

3.       How long does did it take to publish Onyx Webb? From inception to publishing? Was there any sort of research that you did?

There was a ton of research and conversation and planning. We started talking about the story in 2012. We finalized the title and the “brand” in 2013 and began plotting and writing. We wrote Episode One and finally published it in September 2014. So as you can see, that was already two years. But after releasing Episode One, we had huge pushback to how little there was to the story. So we decided we needed to release 3 Episodes at a time. Book One, with three Episodes came out in March 2015. It has been a long winding journey but we are flying along now, coming out with Book Six soon.

4.       What would be the Onyx Webb theme song if it was a movie series, or a show?

Fun question! For now, I would say, Madness by Muse.

5.       Finish the sentence: Onyx Webb will ___________

Start a new wave of multi-genre soap opera style writing!

Bonus:

1.       Favorite Movie?

 

So difficult! Well let’s say this, the movie we both have been the most inspired by, is ‘Wonder Boys.’ It’s so quirky and funny. The movie we would have liked to write: The Sixth Sense. 

2.       If you could visit any place in the world, you and Richard, all expenses paid for a year, WHERE would you go?

 

We would go to London!

3.       What was the last song that you heard?

 

Help by The Beatles

4.       What do you like to do when youre not writing?

 

We love going to the movies, hanging out with friends, Andrea goes to Epcot here in Orlando. Honestly though – writing is a huge part of our lives. It is pretty all consuming.  

5.       Favorite animal? Why?

That would have to be our Cat, Courage. We are crazy about him.