Book Review: Deep (Stage Dive, #4) by: Kylie Scott I was happy to see this book made the New York Times Best Seller list. Even though this is not my favorite book from the Stage Dive series, the series as a whole deserves to be there. I gave this book three out of five stars for some laugh out loud humor and a plot centered around a topic that would place any couple into some genuine conflict. After reading the other three books in this series, I was eagerly awaiting this book. Maybe my opinion of the book is just a reflection of my expectations, but I give it three out five stars since I feel this was not the strongest of the stage dive novels. What did I like: 1) Seeing the characters I know and love from the other three stage dive novels. It was fun to watch their lives progress. 2) The humor, I love how often I laugh out loud reading these books. 3) The narrative voice, Scott does a great job-writing first person. She keeps a nice balance of internal dialog, external dialog, and the action of the story. What disappointed me: 1) I was looking forward to Scott showing me how the quiet Bass Guitarist Ben was going to shine as a romantic hero. It didn’t happen for me; I was turned off by Ben. The guy is a big scardy cat weakling, and I don’t like my men weak. I left the book liking Ben less than when I started it. Scott only proves how lame Ben is by contrasting his behavior against Jimmy’s, take that all you Jimmy haters. Ben is too scared to tell his friends he has feelings for someone they’ve declared off limits. That’s weak. He hides his budding relationship and when he is with Lizzy ends up treating her like another one of the hundred or so groupies he’s been with. That’s not romantic, that’s sad. Then when they are forced together you don’t see their initial pull reignite with sweet conversation or moments where they see each other because they need to, there’s just dead air. Ben’s afraid to talk to the woman he claims later to love. That’s weak. Poor Lizzy is strapped to a man who would rather fly somewhere cross country to hang out and play music with strangers than spend time talking to her, and he basically tells her this on two occasions. That’s not romantic to me in the least, those are break up words in my world. 2) Insta-love. Ben and Lizzy persevere through what I would see as arguably the largest conflict of the four stage dive novels, how? Because of insta-love. That just depresses me and undercuts the strength of Ben as a hero. He was going to be infallible no mater how stupid he acted toward Lizzy. Yes many can relate to being stupid in love, but this story gives a happily ever after based on a relationship that’s just not really there for three quarters of the book.

Book Review: The Goldfinch by: Donna Tartt

I give the Pulitzer Prize winning Goldfinch three out of five stars for its beautiful language and speckles of both dark and light emotions I think anyone can relate to. The trick is, you need to care about Theodore Decker, or take an interest in the plot to experience these things. If you pick this book up and are bored within the first two chapters, like I admit I was, then just go ahead and shelve it. It really doesn’t get much better. I wanted to see the brilliance of the award-winning book, so I went against my better judgment and finished it.

What I liked:
1) The language, it was highly visual and worked well in a book that spent time exploring the love of objects, priceless art, and the restoration of furniture.

2) The detailed portrayal of every place Theodore goes. When I say everyplace, get ready for the extreme including hotel lobbies, backyard pools, the inside of bus stations, and every street Theodore walks his dog. I liked this extreme in Las Vegas and when Theodore travels to Europe.

3) Rooting for the flawed Theo. I wanted to see his redemption just like I wanted to see the Goldfinch painting returned to a museum. These are what pulled me through the book. If you don’t like Theo, you will struggle getting though this book.

What I didn’t like:
1) The pacing, its slow and in my opinion looses focus after Las Vegas. This book is a great “how to” on the writing of a boring bombing and gunfight scene. How is that even possible, I didn’t think it was, but no I was bored reading both of those scenes. I waited for Theo’s redemption and I waited for his enlightenment. I wanted to see Theo have his “a-ha”, light bulb, I get it now moment. Meanwhile I was subjected to Theo’s endless drug induced haze. Theo experiences just about every drug except intravenous heroin. I could be wrong, I’m sure there’s more drug’s out there not mentioned, but I learned way more than I ever wanted to about cancer level narcotics and glue sniffing.

2) The monologue’s, proof it’s not just novice writers who fall into the trap of having several characters speak in the same voice. The narrative of Theo’s thoughts, are one big rambling monologue, and then there’s all of these introspective monologues spoken by random characters. I was laughing when a drug addict art thief did a monologue over his stolen works the same way Theodore’s mother did in the front of the book.

3) This is a tragedy. Is that a spoiler? There’s nothing wrong with a good tragedy, I just wish it could have been executed in less words, and I’m still ticked off nothing in the synopsis gave the hint of “tragedy”. They’re billing this book as some kind of philosophical thriller. If you guess in the beginning like I did, where Theo speaks about love and his mother, and think, “gee that’s tragic”, then there it is and it doesn’t get any better. Readers of this book should be prepared for heavy themes of death, idolatry, a debasement of love, and a temporal outlook on the meaning of life.

Readers should also be aware of the extensive portrayal of drug use, as well as a how to guide on shoplifting and thievery inside the antiques trade.

Book Review: Prince of Thorns (Broken Empire #1) By: Mark Lawrence

I give this book five out of five stars for its gritty dark exploration of grief, the uniqueness of the protagonist Jorge, a quality narrative, and a story that refused to leave my thoughts until it was finished. I eagerly look forward to reading the next book in the series.

What I loved about the book:

1) I am of the belief that if an author is going to take you somewhere dark, then they need to go all the way, or not bother. Lawrence went there with gusto. He takes you into the painful life of Jorge, a young man who has been changed by grief. We see him lost to youthful pride, running from what he defines as weak emotions, and twisted by a few outside manipulative influences. Rooting for Jorge is a superb ride as he deals with these things and evolves past his loss.

2) The world building is very well done, and gets better as the story progresses. The hints of a dystopian place hooked me deeper into the story. It wove an added layer of interest into this place and made the magical characters that much more fascinating.

3) The narrative is excellent; created with a solid balance between action, character interaction, and insight into the protagonist’s emotion. The language is elegant and it’s possible to pick out different characters by the impeccable dialog.

The content includes a high level of violence and some mild nudity, all of which I found appropriate to the setting and plot.

Book Review: Unbroken by: Laura Hillendbrand

My review of this book is based on the writing of Hillenbrand and how she put forth Louis Zamperini’s heroic story. She was given a gold mine of material to work with, but in my opinion, this is not her best work. I give the book three out of five stars for thorough research and a quality idea.

What I like about the book:

1) The authenticity of the details. It’s easy to see the amount of research Hillenbrand did for this book.

2) Zamperini’s amazing story. I feel it’s the power of this, and not the author, who carry the reader through this book. I left this book wishing another historical fiction author had taken on this prime subject from American History instead of Hillenbrand.

What I didn’t like about the book:

1) The narrative. I read this book because the action compelled me, not because I felt vested in the character of Zamperini. Personal thoughts and character impressions are skimmed over, and deeper insight or detail of what kept the men of World War II hanging on was glossed over. Hillenbrand’s narrative separates you from the characters but brings you uncomfortably close to tragedies most people could not fathom of their own cognizance. The violence is so frequent I became bored reading about it. Desensitized, I was also tired of repetitive second and third retellings of afflictions.  These were only changed slightly by the administrators of the punishment, the weather, or a twist with some secondary threat or torture mentioned. I was ready to shelve this book around chapter twenty-two.

2) Poor characterization. I felt no strong ties to any of the characters, which there are many, and over time the sketches of them made it difficult to decipher one from another. Names are given in rapid succession with brief descriptions much like: so and so is this and he was known for such and such. I was soon lost to all peripheral characters, and clung to job assignments as a clue to what relevance they held in future scenes.

This book is not for the faint of heart. Hillenbrand has gone to great lengths to include several chapters of material with excruciating details of life as a Prisoner of War in World War II Japan. While I think it is relevant and sound to revisit the dark corridors of human history, anyone looking to read this book should be well advised of its graphic and disturbing content.

Book Review of Faking It (Loosing It book #2) by: Cora Carmack

I give it three out of five stars for funny moments and happy endings.

What I liked about the book:

1) The mismatched romance. It was fun how two people find each other when in the past they might have written each other off as out of their league or not their type. There is a fast build of affection. This is definitely an insta-love kind of romance, but it was palatable because Max and Cade are oblivious to it through most of the book.

2) Cade is a lovable character. He’s smart, hard working, good-natured, call’s his grandmother, and volunteers with disadvantaged youth. It was easy to root for him getting a girl after the first book where he doesn’t get the girl. I ended this book hoping his intelligence and good humor would rub off on Max.

3) The bodice ripping scenes were great fun. My favorite one was Max and Cade dancing in a club after Max officially left her boyfriend.

What I didn’t like about the book:

1) Stephen King said it best in his Memoir On Writing, “Adverbs are not your friend.” I heard every single one, and each rang like nails on a chalkboard.

2) The heroine Max. Her character was immature and self-centered. She doesn’t want to be judged based on how she looks, but she’s free to judge others by how they look. When Max met Cade she thought he was gorgeous, but because the guy dressed in mainstream attire he was not her type. I was really annoyed by how the sister in law was half way to evil just because she was blond and was a former beauty queen. I was surprised to learn it was a detestable offense to release doves at a wedding.

I did this, but it didn’t happen right after our vows, I won a pageant when I was a teenager, and I use to have long blonde hair. Am I an evil stereotype troupe and don’t know it? The antagonist sister in law was not very kind to Max, but her actions were such a stretch on reality and very cookie cutter “bad guy”. Yes there are plenty of people out there who are mean and judgmental towards those who get tattoos and piercings. However, I find it immature and judgmental to immediately discredit someone as not suitable for friendship because they look normal.

3) The overall romance conflict. I can handle a good conflict of misunderstanding, but this was ridiculous.  It was all unfounded self-doubt nonsense, and did not fit into the action-taking place.

I enjoyed the first book in this series, and I really liked the third. If I were to dump one of the three books, or wish I had my audible credit back, this would be this book.