Island 731 by Jeremy Robinson

Summary on GoodReads.

This review is totally spoiled!

It started really good but, as always, something went wrong in between. Well, given that Robinson publishes about six books a year... no wonder this one sounded generic.

So Mark and friends got stuck on this island that used to be home to experimental programs by Japanese. The experimental programs turned out to be Dr. Monreau-like so what is still loosed on the island are "animal-humans" made because.

Mark and friends discovered this horrible truth that was hidden in plain XXI century. They miraculously get rescued... but Mark and love interest take Lilly with them. Lilly is an animal-human who saved them and turned out to be just animal on the outside but very human on the inside.

So they take Lilly with them but keep her hidden because, what would happen if people knew that such hybrid combination was possible? She'd be taken as an experiment! - again.

At the end, Lilly laid eggs... which suggests that she wasn't only changed on the outside but inside too.

Very morbid and interesting end. Actually, Lilly laying eggs would be a much more interesting story... if Robinson and team had time to write it.

By the way, my praise to the team for writing such a damn good summary of the book. Unfortunately, the summary was better than the actual story.

Panic by Sharon M. Draper

Summary on GoodReads.

Panic was a nice read that didn’t focus just on Diamond' story. We have Diamond, who is kidnapped; Justin, in love with a girl how has a boyfriend; Layla, abused (or kind of) by her boyfriend; and Mercedes, who’s problem I forgot what it was.

Panic wraps around the lives of all these friends and their reactions to Diamond's disappearance while dealing with their own issues.

I liked that Draper spared the morbid details of Diamond kidnapping; although I could perfectly imagine what was going on, Draper chose not to elaborate on that. Thank god, or I’d be thinking about it for days.

Some reviewers complain that the story doesn’t focus in one particular character, and that is true. The story is sweet, short and to the point without dwelling on anyone in particular for too long, but that is precisely what made it a nice read.

The story message, for me, is not only that you should not talk to strangers, but that you should not be so naïve and believe strangers! Diamond was kidnapped because she was too trustful; the lines that the kidnapper used are the same ones that predators use today, still.

Young people, read and learn, read and learn.

Is Across the Universe coming true?

Across the Universe, the series by Beth Revis, tells about an earth project to colonize another planet.

Much like the story of Revis, my sister sent me the link to this article what discusses exactly that: the colonization of Mars starting with four lucky individuals in 2023.

Interesting enough, the first colonizers of Mars will be randomly chosen through a lottery pretty much like Harstad's book 172 Hours on the Moon. So far 78,000 people from all over the globe applied.

Hmmm... are the founders of Mars One reading too much YA? See images from the project here.

Betrayed by Wodke Hawkinson

Summary on GoodReads.

I really should stop buying books because of the cover.

Anyways, Brook is filthy rich (supposedly) and while driving her Ferrari she is kidnapped. Her abductors rape her from all angles and inside out. Gross.

The part of Brook captivity is really gross, disgusting, and, I found it to be very real. I mean, Hawkinson didn't hold back in the description and the language. If you have issues with women being raped don't read this book.

I found the beginning of the book (yeah, the captivity part) to be very good. I know, I already admitted I am a weird psycho so...

The problem with the story started when Brook escaped and is rescued by Lance. After TWO months of living with Lance she wants him. On page 228 she tells Lance "I want you. I want you so badly."

Let me stop right here. Don't rape victims need counseling, therapy, treatment or something before they are able to "love" again? And only two months and you already want to have sex? After your anus was broken and...?

On top of that, they go for it but Brook stops because (thank god) she is concerned about having some STD and passing it to Lance. And Lance? "I'll take my chances" he said. Seriously, the woman was repeatedly raped by three unknown low life deviants and you don't care that she might have gotten some STD or HIV? Way to go Hawkinson.

I was expecting something in the line of I spit on your grave movie... Don't you want revenge after something like this?

I am not saying that rape victims shouldn't get their lives back, but a little reality here would've made this a good book. Hawkinson went from hardcore pornography straight to romance. Sorry, I needed something in between.

(Mis) Fortune by Melissa Haag

Summary on GoodReads.

This is totally weird, I have more bad things than good things to say about the story yet I loved it!

If I fell in love with a dog in the previous book, even more reason to fall in love with Emmit who, unlike Clay, spends his time in his skin.

Okay, so Michelle is running from a bad guy and meets Emmit. Oh! But I don't know, I felt everything Michelle felt when she saw Emmit.


The bad parts:
#1) The story is sloooowwwww.... yet addictive.

#2) Every single detail is given... as a whole, I think it was necessary.

#3) They seem to spend a lot of time eating breakfast!

4) Michelle is the typical weak, shy, useless, I-flush-of-my-own-shadow heroine. Annoying... yet, I think that the story wouldn't had worked any other way. Darn it!

The sooo good parts:
#1) Do I need to say I fell in love with Emmit?

#2) I never wanted to bite some neck so badly in my life.

#3) At 82% in my Kindle, Michelle and Emmit finally kissed. BUT what a kiss. I never felt a kiss like this one (since Twilight). I swear I was the one kissing Emmit.

Overall: Damn slow book that was so good! I definitely need to make out with someone and claim him.

This is a new, different, unexpected, out of the ordinary, etc., etc., etc. werewolf world. I will be forever grateful to David form telling me about it!

Megan Miranda has a new book deal

If you are a fan of Fracture  (I am) and Hysteria (mmmm sort of), you will happy to know that talented Megan Miranda has a new deal for a book called Afterlife.

The book is set in a world in which soul-fingerprinting is a reality, and about a girl who escapes after spending her whole life imprisoned for crimes her past-self committed, uncovering clues only she can decipher and which raise questions about who she was and is and whether she's fated to repeat the past (taken from Miranda's post on GoodReads).

I just hope she reads this blog post and please, please, don't make the girl annoying by pitying herself and taking sleeping pills, yes?

The book will come out in Winter 2015 by Bloomsbury/Walker Books for Young Readers.

Horns by Joe Hill

Summary on GoodReads.

I read this book because, was it Faye?, reviewed and mentioned that Hill is Stephen King’s son!

First, I have to defend Hill by saying that some bloggers, obviously disappointed in the story, accuse him of not being his father’s son. I find this totally unfair. If he was to write like King, we would have two Kings and… which one would we read?

Back to Horns, Ig wakes up one day to find that he has grown two little horns on his forehead. The horns also came with a peculiar ability of their own. Interesting enough, people don’t see the horns; or...  as a doctor told Ig, they see it but instantly forget about them which is why no uproar is caused by Ig walking around horned.

The story started very interesting and the power of the horns is interesting. I lost interest because of the amount of characters coming and going. Somehow I got lost in so many words. It could be the format of the book (small) and the fonts (too tiny). But everyone has their preferences and I prefer to read easily; if I have to fight with the fonts to make out a word, I abandon the book. Reading should be a pleasure, not a fight.

Anyway, I didn’t find the sequence of events amounting to anything. Since the horns are more like a metaphor and don’t really do anything, it is Ig’s new ability that finally helps him discover who killed his ex-girlfriend.

Although I didn’t like Hill’s writing style, I admit that Horns was an interesting and enjoyable concept… jut not for me.

Hope (less) by Melissa Haag

Summary on GoodReads.

I read this book because David liked it.

The summary doesn't say anything about the book! Well, I'll give my own.

Gabby has an unusual ability of seeing the "light" of people. Not the aura but like... well, a light. Think of the X-Men when Xavier concentrated and could see where each mutant was. At least that is how I imagined it.

Anyway, very very few people have this "ability" and those who do, have an unusual pull that make men notice them and... well, become obsess. Because of this talent (or whatever) Gabby is a potential mate for werewolves.

Eventually, Gabby is introduced to a werewolf community, and she has to decide if she wants to be "claimed" by one of these werewolves or if she is going to live her own life and go to college, get a job, etc.

This is where we meet Clay, Gabby's... destined mate. When Gabby meets Clay, she feels a "pull" that means they are meant for each other; however, Gabby refuses to accept that because she has other plans for herself. What is Clay to do?

I liked that despite knowing that she was destined to be with Clay, Gabby refused to do so and Clay had to win her.

Now the weird bad parts that made the story good:

#1) What the hell Clay? He didn't talk AT ALL. Not even to say yes. This was totally out of the ordinary! I was wondering what the point of making this guy mute was and bam! I got used to that too.

#2) We have minimal Clay in his skin; must of the story he is in his fur. Odd... but I got used to that too.

#3) Gabby falls in love with Clay when he is in his dog form! Seriously Haag? There is even a scene where Gabby longed to touch his paws. Damn! I fell for the hairy dog too!

#4) The book is all tell and no show. A lot of "I learned that werewolves ... this and that..." and "because werewolves... blah blah blah ..." So, a lot of explaining and little show.

#5) The beginning of the book is totally weird, slow and stupid (don't get offended Haag).

#6) Totally annoying the part of Gabby having this pull of men. I mean, it was fine that men couldn't stop looking at her, but I felt it was totally weird that she was constantly saying so.

#7) Also, Gabby went to lives with a roommate, Rachel. Interesting enough (or magically?) every single man is attracted to Gabby but Peter, Rachel's boyfriend. How convenient.

I was wondering when Clay was going to speak, or if at the end I was going to discover that he was actually mute and communicated through telepathy or something.

All throughout the book I was "what a piece of crap" and then switched to "how sweet." Love won and I ended up loving Clay and loving the story despite its oddness and simplicity.

This is a totally different werewolf account that made me have constant mixed feeling for the book. As I said, I was constantly changing from "I like it" to "I'm totally giving it 1-star."

And last night I dreamed about the book all night! What the heck?

Mini-Reviews: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I've been reading a lot of lame books lately. They don't even amount to write a full review of one of them.

Some other books were okay, but I didn't find anything compelling to write about them either. So I've been in hiatus for over two weeks but because my sister misses my posts, I am making a super human effort to write something.

I've come up with Mini-Reviews to review books that I don't have much to say about yet, I want the world to know that I read them :-)

Here we go!

The Good:
If you find me by Emily Murdoch
Rating: 3-Stars

I've read a few reviews of this book and people either love it or half like it. Well, I half liked it too. I didn't find it all that, but it was interesting reading about these two sisters that grew up in the mountains.

Something that I found odd was the speed at which they adapted to civilization. The story, in general, left me of the feeling of something missing, and probably that is why I didn't fully like the book.

The Bad:
The people next door by Christopher Ransom
Rating: 1-Star

A family goes on a trip to the beach and the father, Mick, has an "accident" and almost drowned. After they go back home, Mick starts seeing strange thing in the house next to theirs. The house used to be empty and now is not. Who are those people and where they came from?

Everybody in the family has their own thing going on, but I didn't care for anybody and just got bored of their chit-chat. The story is supposed to be creepy but I didn't get that feeling. I felt Ransom was dragging too much so I got bored and didn't finish the book to know what or who the people next door were.


The Ugly:
The uninvited by Jonathan Daniel
Rating: 1-Star
Summary on GoodReads

What the heck? This is supposed to be a horror book but... wait, yes, I was horrified by the lack of horror in it.

Owen is in the Bahamas and wakes up to find people eating each other. Why? Is there something on the island that turned people into zombies?

Technical descriptions without feeling is all I got: how a lung hanged from a bloody hand. The narrative is too repetitive: I already got the point, people were eating other people, thank you very much. Owen teams up with other survivors and the rest of the story is about them running from one place to another.

Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley

Summary on GoodReads.

Finally, a book worth my money and worth blogging about. Half way through the book, the story reminded me of Still Missing by Chevy Stevens. They are not the same, but some twists are.

Back to PG-13. From the summary, you know that at 13, Angie was kidnapped for three years, thus when she finally made it back home she is 16. The only problem is that she doesn’t remember anything about the kidnapping and, for all she is aware of, she is just returning from a camp trip from the day before.

My first thought was that Angie couldn’t remember anything because of amnesia. And yes, that was the case. However, her amnesia was much more than those other books where the character doesn’t remember anything and then, snap, everything comes back at the end of the book. PG-13 is nothing like that. 

In the story, we never see a devastated, depressed Angie; on the contrary, despite of what she suspects happened to her, she is very much full of energy and loving life. I say suspects because Angie isn’t stupid and she kind of knows that she didn’t spend those three years in Candy Land. But how would she be depressed if she (her subconscious) didn't really live those years?

I liked everything about this book, but especially that Coley spared the morbid details of Angie and her husband. I hate reading about child abuse and yet, somehow, I’m drawn to those type of stories (some type of mental disorder, I know).

As Coley explained in the last pages of the book, personality disorders are more than what she just wrote, and it takes years of therapy to heal. In the book, she came up with a quick fix to Angie’s alters because… well, it is a book, a work of fiction! And it had to end.

I loved Angie’s alters; they seemed so real that I almost cried with Little Wife.

It is really amazing what the mind does to avoid pain.

I also liked that Angie kept her innocence (mostly) because her alters took the abuse for her.

I now wonder why I waste my time with zombie and end of the world books…?

How to lead a life of crime by Kirsten Miller

Summary on GoodReads.

I was really enjoying the beginning but when Flick got to the academy I got tired of his "supreme" attitude.

I've read some claims that the story is based on a real-live academy... really? Well, whatever.

I managed to finish it because I wanted to see what was going to happen at the end. It turned out to be another bland fiction story where a bunch of kids against trained (and successful) enemies save the day.

This book, like the books I've read lately, started with a lot of promise. Something happens to the authors that they all end up writing the same piece of s*.

And can somebody explain to me what the author means by saying that her book "has been compromised"?

Is this how we are trying to get a buzz for a book now? Not helping.

I must say that Miller is a superb writer, though. The story didn't work for me, though.

The story wanted to be ruthless and gruesome but it didn't feel that way.

Wrecked by Elle Casey

Summary on GoodReads.

The plot was predictable but this is a clichéd teen romance that I was really digging until they crashed on the island. If I was 15 I would probably be in love with the story. Yeah, I used to be a romantic dreamer like that…

The island part seemed soooo not probable. A prom on the island? They seemed too happy for four stranded teenagers. No crying over their parents but planning a prom for the four of them.

They became experts in weaving. I mean, I am an expert in knitting a crochet so weaving would come easily. But how the hell did they manage to weave pillows and mats?

Although I liked Jonathan and his walking-encyclopedia character, it became a little too much on the island. His never ending supply of info became annoying. You can't know everything! Period.

What I liked: Casey mentions the problem we women have once a month and how the girls were having their... ehem... menses on the island. I loved that Casey kept it real. You know? Just because you are stuck on an island your period won't stop coming...

She also covers the unprotected sex part which I think was very realistic but dumb. Hello! Do you really want to make babies on this island? So, I really liked how she mentioned little details like that.

I didn't like the "he/she is out of my league" complain. I mean, once or twice it's fine. But what is the point of mentioning so much if they are all going to end up together? I got it the first time! Just saying...

And then it is the big deal with Candi's hair. Hello! This is the XXI century! You really haven't heard of conditioner, hair salons, and flat irons?

In short, I loved the writing, Kevin, Jonathan and Sarah. Not so much Candi as she was played as an extremely shy character... which I would understand if she was coming from a remote village and had never seen a man before. But this is the U.S.! TV anyone?

Also, I don’t know what kind of sluts kiss guys they just meet to deter another guy from approaching you. And I mean, just meet; they had barely exchanged a hello. Wait, I take that back; you can exchange germs however you like.

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Summary on GoodReads.

I had to stop reading this book because:
#1.- Ruby was going to give me an ulcer. She is the queen of wimps; scared of even breathing. What is the point of making her a wimpy shit if at the end she is going to save the story?

#2.- Lack for information: a virus has turned kids into little X-men... what do they do exactly? They are assigned colors according to their abilities... which are what, exactly? Yes again.

#3.- Those kids who didn't turn into super heroes in the making died. Just dropped dead. Why? Was it the virus?

#4.- The new powerful children are taken to camps and the most dangerous ones are killed. Why? There was no chance at talking to them or something? Nope, just plain killed.

#5.- Apparently, parents are the ones turning their own kids in. Seriously? I my son suddenly becomes a little Cyclopes I would do anything to protect him.

#6.- So Ruby is taken to this camp when she was 10 and now she is 16. She has barely talked in her time there. She's had no glance of the outside world: no books, no music, no tv, no nothing. Yet, the night she is "rescued" she recognizes "the ebb and flow of Pink Floyd synthesizers" on the radio (p. 63). Seriously? 

#7.- And what’s up with the guards in the camp being sadistically cruel to the children? Why? Where did that come from? And all of them? 

In short, I was totally in love with the beginning of the book and my hands were shaking of excitement until I reached page 63. From there one, Ruby's lack of personality, character and depth annoyed me and I got sick and nauseous of constantly reading how scared she was to move, to think or to breath. On top of that, every other sentence contained "please.... and forgive me." 

I mean, she didn't need to be Xena (not even Gabriel), but that pathetic and self-pitiful?

Hysteria by Megan Miranda

Summary on GoodReads.

I didn't enjoy Hysteria as much as Fracture but Miranda's writing style just keeps me glued to the pages.

So Mallory killed her boyfriend and she can't remember exactly what happened (typical). To cool things off in the neighborhood, she's sent to boarding school. There she finds the typical bitch, an old friend and new problems.

Problem #1) She thought she was getting a new start but pretty soon everyone knows what she did.

Problem #2) She takes sleeping pills that knock her out. Completely.

Problem #3) Old boy friend there... they like each other but Mallory keeps pushing him away (typical #2).

Problem #4) Another person is found dead... in Mallory's room, and she doesn't have any idea how it got there.

Now the cliches:
#1) The memory loss part... just to remember everything at the end.
#2) The liking the boy but pushing him away.
#3) Never remembering what happened. I mean, what type of pills is Mallory taking that she can't walk and falls sleep in the middle of a sentence? Because I want some!
#4) The bitchy queen.

Annoying parts:
#1) Mallory going to sleep at night and, the next day, never remembering anything.
#2) Mallory self-pity.
#3) The ending. Really. Miranda is the queen of weird un-ended endings. Fracture's ending was the same way!

What I liked:
#1) The concept of the story. Pretty different.
#2) Miranda's writing style and hypnotic narrative. Confusing, eh? Because her characters annoy the hell out of me and I don't like her endings. But still, I couldn't put the darn book down.

Recycled hearts

I couldn't help but notice the similarity between the two covers :-)