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Monday 18 April 2016

Angels Fall by Nora Roberts



I can't remember if I've ever read any of Roberts books before. Back in high school my mum used to like her but I labeled her books as romantic nonsense. Angels Fall was one of the books my aunt left behind and I decided to give it a try. Especially since it seemed to have more to it than just romance.

Angels Fall follows Reece Gilmory who is the sole survivor of a brutal crime. What that crime was isn't revealed for a while which kind of frustrated me because I'm a curious person. I wanted to know what made this woman so scared and paranoid she couldn't stay in one town for a long time and kept changing her identity. She couldn't even sleep unless she was sure all the doors and windows were locked and there was a chair pushed against the bedroom/apartment door.

At the beginning Reece ends up in a town called Angels Fist. She gets a job as a cook in a diner which is owned by a tough woman called Joanie. While working there Reece meets eyes with a broody but irresistable Brody. When Reece goes on a hike and witnesses a murder that no one else sees, Brody is practically the only one to believe her. Soon after the incident weird things start happening to Reece that make other townies to believe that she is just a jittery newcomer seeing things that aren't there. With Brody she starts figuring out if the murder really did happen and who were the people involved.

I read this 500 pages long book in 2 days. It was just easy to get into it for hours and I really got interested in all the characters. From the diner owner and her waitress to the real cowboy customer, sheriff and the doctor they were all interesting people contributing to the story. What bugged me the most however was Brody. He was dealing with a woman with panic attacks due to the brutal crime and I didn't like how he handled it. Everytime Reece was getting upset or started hyperventilating Brody told him to quit because he doesn't deal with fragile or soft women. He only likes tough women. If I had an anxiety attack and my boyfriend told me to quit just because he doesn't like weak women I doubt I'd be dating him for long. That is just my opinion though as Brody's approach seemed to work in the book.

The plot was interesting enough and I really rooted for Reece as she didn't have an easy life. Especially after witnessing murder and thinking all the weird things happening around her was something she was doing unconsciously . Instead of someone trying to mess with her.Also as always the romantic plot moved forward ridiculously fast but that's a problem I feel like most romance novel have. For me it's hard to buy a romance where you say I love you and practically move in together in 2 months because you just know your relationship is the real deal. Maybe I'm just cynical but it would be nice to see slower romances where sex isn't the only thing keeping them together at the beginning.

Overall Angels Fall was an easy read and it was a pretty good book. The ending was fine and even though I figured out the murdered before the reveal I still enjoyed it. I probably won't read this book again but it provided nice 2 days in a small American town where people know each other and help each other. I wish there were more of those types of towns in real life.

Thursday 7 April 2016

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett




This is definitely my favourite of the books I've read lately. Terry Pratchett has been one of my favourite writers well over 10 years and his Watchmen books just always make me happy. Who couldn't love Sam Vimes? Or creatures like black ribbon vampires who have sworn off human blood? Never a boring time with these guys.

This time Sam Vimes has to stop a war involving vampires and werewolves. It is an intense story but as always there is some humour in it. What really amused me was Igors. They are a clan of servants that all share the same name. Somehow they always know which Igor they are talking about though which confuses Vimes and causes some lovely breaks in the story. 

I had a hard time putting this book down which meant reading until I fell asleep. Sam Vimes and his wife Sybil are just so great together. Just because Sybil has  grown up proper doesn't mean she's anyway frail. She also always seems tok now what to do no matter how weird the situation is. I wish I more like her.

Sergeant Angua is very deliciously werewolf and I learned things I hadn't even thought of before. She is a big part trying to prevent the war as one of the hotheads is her brother. What I didn't realize was that werewolf is kind of like an half elf. Not accepted by either side. They are too human or too wolf. It's a sad situation to be in. Also can you imagine how horrible a bad hair day is for a werewolf?

Discworld books are the type of books I can read ten times over and not get tired of them. It's sad there won't be any new stories to read but at least we got a huge world to live in. Pratchett did an amazing job with it and reading one of his books feels like going home every time. I will definitely need to hunt down the books I'm missing.

Friday 1 April 2016

Queen of babble in the big city by Meg Cabot


To start, I wish I'd known this is a part of Babble series. Without knowing until I googled ( thanks to ending) I had read second book in a trilogy. The book ends in a question so unless you read the last book you are out of luck. I think I'll survive though.

Queen of babble is a book my aunt left behind when she moved and I figured I'd read it if I had nothing else. Well, book jar figured this was a good time. I don't read a lot of romance novels unless I've read something so terrifying that I need a palate cleanser .

The star of the book is Lizzie who is aspiring wedding gown specialist. I've never planned my own wedding or really dreamed about it so this was already a meh start. I did however like the little tips that started of a new chapter with. They could be useful from deciding on a wedding gown design to after party. Which wasn't really the case for me but it gave the book a little character.

Lizzie doesn't have a job or a place to live and she has been crashing with her boyfriend of few months. This guy, Luke, happens to be a French prince that seems to mean nothing but money since the monarch isn't recognized anymore. Predictably the money part does create tension between flat broke Lizzie and Luke's parents.

Reading this book I felt like Lizzie's only aspiration in life was to marry Luke. They had only been dating less than six months but the girl was determined. She does seem passionate about her career but she just literally has wedding in the brain. It got tiring for me. I couldn't really relate to Lizzie at all and I didn't really care whether or not Luke pops the question. The book wasn't hard to read so I decided to finish it but it was just not for me. I cared more about Lizzie's friend who wasn't a big part of the story but I liked where her storyline went. I just wasn't happy how Lizzie treated her or how she did not really pause to think that maybe Shari wasn't doing so well. Lizzie had her selfless moments but she seemed very obsessed and self centered to me.

If all you need is some brainless romance novel to take your mind of your daily life, I'm sure there is better ones than this. But if you aren't picky this one did have it's moments. I did read some reviews and it looks like the first book was good. Then it was downhill from there but it's better to judge it yourself. I do not have the other books and I probably won't look for them, but there certainly been worst books than this. At least this means my bookshelf will be one book lighter.