Review of The Host by Stephanie Meyers

The Host is author Stephanie Meyer's departure from paranormal teen romance into the sci-fi romance genre. (Oh, yah it's also a movie now).

In The Host, Meyer's creates a world where human bodies are taken over by alien souls. Fortunately for human host Melanie, her inhabiter, Wanderer,is sympathetic towards her and lets Melanie find her younger brother and boyfriend Jared. Problem is, they, along with the other humans in their enclave in the Arizona desert, don't trust the alien.

But as Wanderer increasingly becomes accepted in the community, Melanie's feelings for Jared become Wanderer's own even as she develops strong feelings for the another hot, strong guy, Ian.(Love triangle anyone?)

What I liked about this book is the way that Meyers, once again, is able to create a world using the characteristics of the setting. Also similar to Twilight is the extended family aspect of the characters in the enclave, reminiscient of Edward's vampire family. I also thought the concept was unique - the idea of a planet of souls inhabiting other creatures' bodies.

There are a couple of things I didn't like about the novel. The first was that I thought the crisis (the threat of being discovered by the alien seeker) was too easily resolved. As well, I thought there were a lot of filler scenes that didn't have anything to do with furthering the plot line (like the soccer game where Melanie gets to show her stuff to the boys). I guess it's like the vampire baseball game in Twilight.

The thing I disliked the most about The Host is the violence both Jared and Ian show towards Wanderer. She is basically beaten by them several times. Their justification - they think she is the enemy. But guess what? She still loves them anyways! (After all, they said they were sorry). I think this is a dangerous element to have in a novel that will be read by myriads of teenage girls.

You Will Like This Book If:

- you are a fan of the Twilight series

- you like sci-fi mixed with romance

- you like love triangles


Quote: I watched his fingers clench and unclench, and I wondered if he was dreaming that they were wrapped around my neck.”

Review of February by Lisa Moore

I have a love/hate relationship with award winning books. I know it's supposed to be good - it won an award for God's sake beating out who knows how many other deserving works - but I always find these books difficult to read.

The language is lyrical; phrases like "the water poured down in fat ropes and thin sheets that tapered to a point and got fat again". You know that takes work.

The plotline seems simple - a man dies in an oil rig accident off the coast of Newfoundland in 1982 and the remaining family, consisting of widow Helen, prodigal son John, and dutiful daughters Claire and Cathy, grieve the loss of him in their own unique way. At first the whole thing feels self conscious, like author Lisa Moore has written the novel solely to show off her mad writing skills.

But somewhere in the middle of February, like many other award winning books, I'm hooked and I get it and I can't put it down and when I finish the book I can't stop thinking of it. An ordinary situation, a man dies, becomes extraordinary in the way Moore makes us feel for and understand the characters.

Which is why February was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and is a Canada Reads 2013 Selection.

Favourite Quote:

And it occured to Helen then that Heathcliff had come and gone. She was slow to accept it. She was stunned. Heathcliff had come and looked at her and didn't find her attractive. It was so far outside the scope of what she knew to be decent human behaviour that she could not fathom it, though some part of her also knew it exactly. She went to the bathroom and got down on her knees in front of the filthy toilet and puked...what she was vomiting was the belief that getting old didn't matter. Because it did matter.

Review of City of Dark Magic

Here's another novel that has two authors - Magnus Flyte is the penname of Meg Howrey and Christina Lynch. This is their first book together and by the way City of Dark Magic ends, you know it is going to be a series.

Grad music student, Sarah Weston, takes a dream job in a Prague castle under mysterious circumstances. While she attempts to discover the real identity of Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved" she is waylaid by a conniving U.S. Senator with a shady past, a handsome prince in exile with whom she shares several sexual escapades and a four hundred year old dwarf. Sound intriguing? Sound far fetched?

I loved the sense of adventure and mystery in the book and having studied music in university, I was interested and could relate to the back story of Beethoven and his contemporaries. The only criticism of the novel I have is that I never really had a clear sense of heroine, Sarah Weston. I knew she must be attractive to have so many sexual suitors and past conquests but I didn't know what she looked like. I also found her character to be inconsistent - one minute she is a naive and bumbling ingenue and the next she is a savvy, sexual aggressor. Personally, I didn't find all the explicit sex vital to the story.

You Will Like This Book If:

- you like reading about exotic European settings
- you liked A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
- you like a spot of paranormal/magic with your adventure/mystery/erotic thrillers

Best Quote: "Sarah scrabbled around the wall till she found the light switch. Nicolas Pertusato was sitting cross legged on Sarah's bed. Even more disturbingly, he was wearing Sarah's 'Beethoven Rocks' T-shirt. Sarah shut her eyes. The little man was not wearing pants."

Review of Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures is the latest YA to be made into a movie. It is the first book in the Caster Chronicles series written by co-authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Is it the new Twilight? Let's see:

- starcrossed lovers? High school student Ethan is a mortal and Lena is a caster (witch). Edward,as you know, is a vampire and Bella is a mortal.
- small town setting? Beautiful Creature's Gatlin, SC is a southern, gothic town with a historical connection to the civil war and voodoo. Forks, WA is a rainy Northwest Pacific coastal town with deep ties to the local First Nations band and a history of vampire/werewolf wars.
- otherwordly large family? Lena's extended family includes a various assortment of both light and dark casters as well as a vampire. Edward's family is all vampire (and there's also Jacob's wolf pack...).
- mortal becomes an outcast in a highschool populated by other mortals who just don't understand? Check for both.

So as you can see, there are many similarities between the two novels. Honestly, although I haven't read the entire Caster Chronicle series, I felt like Twilight was a better read - after finishing the first book I raced to the bookstore to buy the others. I don't have the same feeling with Beautiful Creatures.

You Will Like This Book If:

- you are not yet tired of the mortal/paranormal romance
- you like to read books set in the deep south
- you like to read the novel before the movie comes out (I heard there was quite a bit changed in the movie version)

Best Quote:

“Mortals. I envy you. You think you can change things. Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures.”

Review of Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

One of the first books I reviewed for this blog was The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night is also an illumination of life in the twenties (by someone who actually lived it) but the author himself says, "If you liked The Great Gatsby, for God's sake read this. Gatsby was a tour de force but this is a confession of faith."

Tender is the Night can be read as an almost autobiographical account of Fitzgerald's relationship with his mentally ill wife Zelda through the novel's parallel characters of Dick and Nicole Driver. The book was considered to be quite unconventional for its time as it is divided into three distinct sections. The first is reminiscent of Gatsby's gay twenties life seen through the eyes of outsider Rosemary Hoyt. The second book deals with Nicole's mental state. While the third, chronicles Dick's own deteriation and the end of their marriage.

Novelist Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings describes the novel as: Disturing, Bitter and Beautiful. And I agree - it is honestly one of the best books I have ever read.

You Will Like This Book:

- if you liked The Great Gatsby
- if you're wondering what life was like for "the beautiful and dammned" in the twenties
- if you read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This offers a very different take on dealing with the deteriation of a marriage and a couple's mental states



Best Quote: “New friends can often have a better time together than old friends.”

Review of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

image by Marmadas

Every once in awhile, it's a good idea to reread a classic romance. Here's a poem I wrote summarizing the plot if you haven't read the book before:

Ah, Mr. Darcy - you're so not my type
Like Elizabeth Bennett I hate you at sight!

You're proud and you're rude (a right arrogant prick)
I am much more partial to fair Mr. Wick(ham)

But by the end of the book (as Elizabeth sees)
Your harsh manner changes as you aim to please

It makes sense that you'd choose Elizabeth by your side
We're made aware of the folly of Prejudice and Pride.



YOU WILL LIKE THIS BOOK IF:

1) You like to read Romance without all the smutty stuff

2) You need reminders not to let your heart rule your head

3) You are interested in the social mores of Georgian England


Are you a fan of Pride and Prejudice? Comment below.

Review of "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

This is a great book and I'm not the only one to think so as Gone Girl tops bestseller lists and has already been picked up by a production company. Seriously, it is my favourite book I've read this year.

Classified as a thriller, Gillian Flynn takes you through the story of a decaying relationship told through the eyes of both people involved. But whose version can you believe when one partner is found to be a compulsive "fibber" and the other is a narcissistic psychopath?

You Will Like This Book If:

- you like the psychological thriller genre without gore and violence
- you are in a bad relationship (because it won't seem so bad after reading this!)
- you are a fan of Flynn's other award winning books - Dark Places and Sharp Objects.


Best Quote:

"Love should require both partners to be their very best at all times. Unconditional love is an undisciplined love, and as we all have seen, undisciplined love is disastrous."