Finally, Wicked Lovely

Got a text message over the weekend that the Melissa Marr tome I ordered from Fullybooked has arrived. Finally! I have been rummaging bookstores here in my beautiful but not-so-updated city for the novel for months. Tried hunting for a second hand copy but after a while I just got really impatient and ordered it. Now that it's here, I can't help feeling pressured to finish this book I'm currently reading--and procrastinating over for months now.

Hopefully, I get to finish this current tome this week so I can start on a new one. I have got to try to find some time--not to mention the will--to plod through to the last page of this book! Don't get me wrong, the book isn't bad. It's just that this is a re-read because I couldn't--for the life of me--remember the details, not even the plot. And the succeeding books are out and I'm coming up with plotholes so enourmous I suspect it may be a sinkhole that's perpetually growing in my noggin'.

Anyways, wish me tons of luck!

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Originally posted on July 22, 2008

I finished reading this book last weekend, and boy did it get me hooked on the series or what!? I wanted to read the whole series straight, but then I remembered that I promised myself that I would read a “non-series” book before I go back to it because my “to be read” pile has been steadily growing and it is not showing any signs of letting up. Well, back to the book. Let me first get this out of my chest. I love Fang! There, I said it. LOL! I like Max, of course, but this brooding raven-winged boy is the one that got my attention and kept it even until I flipped over the last page and declared the book finished. Yes, yes. I am acting like such a girl. But then I am a girl. So who cares? I certainly don’t.

Back to the book. I personally think James Patterson got it right when he said that this series is one of his best stories yet. I wholeheartedly agree. The background of the characters were very well thought out, and there was never a boring part in this whole book. The places, the description of each character, the conspiracies and twists all got me hooked and more. Now, now, I will try to avoid giving any kind of spoiler here. I know some people don’t like that. And so I will try to keep this short.

Now, about Max. James certainly made her very real to me. In the book, she sounds like any other teenage girl I know. Her thoughts and dreams make her seem ordinary, normal. But she’s not, and there the story begins. Then, there’s Fang, the brooding silent type. He makes me picture a James Dean kind of guy with a lot more chips on his shoulder than what the dear departed actor could have had. Next, there is Iggy, the blind techno geek. Understandably, he has a lot of insecurities but he doesn’t let his insecurities rule him. He always makes a point to contribute something to their cause, and sometimes you even forget that he’s blind. Then there is Nudge. I personally think this girl has a little crush on our dark brooding Fang. She listens to what Fangs says and according to Max, she dotes on Fang. Then, there is the Gasman, Angels’s big brother and the other baby of the group. Lastly, there is Angel, the surprisingly powerful winged baby.  I even think she has the most supernatural abilities in the group they call “The Flock”….well, in this book anyway.

I was so happy when I was reading this book. James Patterson has proven yet again that he’s a great storyteller. And there was no page or paragraph in this book that I didn’t like.

I plan to continue reading the series soon. I hope I don’t find anything that would lessen my enthusiasm for this series. I hope with all my heart! *crossing fingers*

Midnighters Trilogy

Originally posted on July 7, 2008

I just finished the first book in this trilogy. It reads like a comic book. I like it! Although the background history on the world that Scott Westerfield made for this series somehow had that vague quality, in my opinion anyway, I stilll think he pulled it off. Very well so. And the characters were very human despite their superpowers. He was really able to convey that they were teenagers  with problems normal teenagers have while at the same time they are superhuman beings with supernatural problems. It kind of reminds me of a Buffy Summers struggling through highschool as well as struggling to keep the hellmouth at bay and save the world.

It has a tinge of romance but that part does not contain any tackiness that might make you cringe in disgust. It may not be Jane Austen, but it is very entertaining. It is quite an easy read that you can finish it in one day. It just took me long to finish because of the powerful combination of deadlines and procrastination. LOL!

I’m on the second book, and I hope I get to finish this trilogy before Stephenie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” gets out.

Wish me luck. Lots and lots of it.

The rest of the trilogy;

 

Anticipating "Breaking Dawn"

Originally posted on June 19, 2008

I have finished reading the first three books in the Twilight saga months ago. Now I’m waiting for the fourth and final book and I can hardly wait to get my hands on it! And when I saw the cover for “Breaking Dawn” I think I may have embarrassed myself because I know I was grinning like crazy as I stared at my monitor.

The cover is still intriguing, don’t you think so? I hope the finale of this saga is not so disappointing because I really like the previous books.

Edward and Bella forever! (Sheesh, I sound like a teenage girl! LOL!)

Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

Originally posted on April 22, 2008

“Oohhh! That’s a cute cover!” …That line is often what my friends hear me say when we go book shopping. I have bungled more than once because of this and ended up buying books with really crappy plots and even crappier dialogues because I was enchanted by their covers. Still, I couldn’t help it when I saw this cover;

 
Yes, I bought this book because of it’s cover and I’m sure glad I did. I confess, I was also intrigued by the lines I read at the back of the book. As I’ve said before, I have always been fascinated with vampire stories. And when it said the main character is in love with a vampire, I was even more intrigued. *LOL And so I started reading the book, and got hooked. However, I have always been a slow reader. I could be in the process of reading a single book in over a year without ever finishing it. I could make excuses about how I’m busy with work and how I have other hobbies that keep me equally busy, but then I would only be telling a “half-truth”. The truth is I am a hopeless procrastinator. Oh, well. And so, there I was, reading the book that I just bought because of its nice cover and the word “vampire” at the back and I could not help but laugh and cry along with the characters. I’m nuts, I know. But I can’t help it. I am in love with the Twilight saga now and I’m currently reading the second book, “New Moon”. And I am still hooked. I hope I finish reading this and the third one, “Eclipse”, before the fourth and last book, “Breaking Dawn”, comes out. And before the movie comes out! Oh, yes! There is a movie coming out. It’s about the first book. Well, that’s what they said.

   

I will finish New Moon soon…I hope. Wish me all the luck!!!

These are the rest of the books in the saga that have been published. The last one, “Breaking Dawn”, is not out yet. Equally nice covers, eh? LOL!

M. Hoffman's City of Masks

Originally posted on June 2007

Mary Hoffman; didn’t know about her until a few months ago. When I saw a synopsis of her Stravagante Series, I got curious. So I looked the books up at our local bookshop, and ‘lo and behold’, I found that they have all the books. I could hardly wait for the shift to end so I could buy them. But when I did, it took me a while to set aside my other obssessions at that moment before I could start reading the first book. The book’s concept is quite good, but I guess I was just expecting something monumental such as of “Harry Potter” proportions. But, strangely, I persevered and I finished the book about two days ago. It was nice. Just that, “nice”. I actually got excited in some parts. But on the whole, the experience was a bit bland. I hope the next book [City of Stars] would be better. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the “City of Masks” is crappy. I’m just saying it is not as full of adventure as I expected. Maybe the problem is with me.  Maybe I expected too much. It is a children’s book after all, and I have been preoccupied these past few weeks with school and work. The problem may have been “me”. I’ll try reading it again when my schedule has “calmed” a bit.

At least I have finished a book; a thing which has been becoming rarer lately.

I’ll be putting aside my fiction for now. I have to study for the Teacher’s Board Exam. I have so many things to read. On top of that, I have so many deadlines at work…Man! Do I need a lot of luck or what!?