lauraloves Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 My freebies for the week, I was very restrained and only downloaded these few in a whole week! normally I'd do this in one day Invasion USA (book 1) The End of Civilisation - T. I. Wade I'd Sooner Starve - Mark Sinclair Catherine the Inquisitor (The Six Lives of Henry VIII) - Leigh Jenkins Instituiton (Third War Chronicles) - Cale Dietrich Knock Knock . . . Who's Joking - Daniel Quinn The Halo Revolutions - J. S. Colley The Girl Who Came Home - A TItantic Story - Hazel Gaynor Sherlock Holmes and the Mulitilated Cattle - Phillip Duke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Grimm's Fairy Stories - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Started - 21/3/12 Finished - 23/3/12 Format - Kindle e-book Challenges - Rory Gilmore Challenge (Repunzel, Snow White and Red Rose) 1001 Childrens Books You Must Read) 501 Must Read Books Synopsis - The Brothers Grimm rediscovered a host of fairy tales. Together with their well-known tales of "Rapunzel", "The Goose Girl", "Sleeping Beauty", "Hansel and Gretel" there are darker tales which deserve to be better known. This is a collection of their tales. My Thoughts - This was one of the many kindle books that I downloaded on the first day of me having my kindle. Its one of those classic books that has always been on my list of books that I want to read but have never got around to reading them all. I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Although I read most of them in one sitting, it is definitaly a book that could be dipped in and out of. I could actually see myself reading these stories aloud at bedtime to my younger cousins. Some of these stories I was familar with and some I wasnt. Stories like Snow White and Cinderella I was familar with, due to watching the Disney films when I was a lot younger. However there were some new to me stories like Bearskin and The Three Brothers. I was hoping that all of the stories were contained in the edition, but unfortunatly not. I will be keeping my eyes open for more of the stories. Now, although I enjoyed the book I did find some of the stories a little disturbing for a younger child to read nowadays, as all fairy stories at this time all seem to have happy ending and live happily ever after. For example, Little Red Riding Hood. Where at the end she is gobbled up and dies in this story, maybe nowadays that would be upsetting for a child. I did find some themes re-occuring throughout the stories. The handsome prince, the poor princess, the wicked stepmother, the ugly step sisters, the youngest sibling is always the good one etc. Now I liked all these and thought that these were good parts of the fairy stories. I also thought that these books were very easy to read considering they were written over 200 years ago. I know that I didnt read these in the orginal language, German, and that they had been made to be easier to read, but I still had concerns that I wouldnt be able to read them very well. This book is really good, well worth a read if you havent already read this. Plus I would say good for bedtime stories for older children Rating - 4.5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom by Tamara Hancock Started - 23/3/12 Finished - 24/3/12 Format - Kindle e-book Synopsis - I have five children and a full-time work at home job. When most people hear this, they stand with their eyes wide open and their jaws on the floor. Being a Stay At Home Mom is work, whether you have a "job" in addition to the title of "Mom" or not. We all find ourselves in places of overwhelming frustration from time to time, feeling very inadequate for the "job". This feeling of inadequacy and fear of failure is only compounded when you run into other moms who seem so fully put together and "perfect" you can't possibly measure up. The secret to success is knowing that there are others out there, just like you, and they aren't perfect either. These Confessions are to put into perspective the things we do from day to day, and to help other Stay At Home Moms see that no-body's perfect, we just manage things differently. My Thoughts - I downloaded this book as it was free for the day over on Amazon. I did think by the title and synopsis that this would be a memoir and it would be about a parent working full time and being a full time parent too. Unfortunatly this was not the case. It is a book about a full time working mum who goes into how to manage time and your life. Now I am not a parent, yet!, and this just didnt seem like it was aimed at me at all. It was all based on to do lists and schedules. Now I do like these things, but to live your whole life by them? Now this is a bit too much even by my standards. Maybe I would have enjoyed this more if I was a parent, trying to work and bring up children. But at the minute I'm not. Maybe it will be one for me to revisit in a few years time when it might be more relivant. I did carry on reading hoping it would go a bit more like a memoir, but unfortunatly it didnt. This wasnt a book for me. Rating - 2/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 One Child - Torey Hayden Started - 14/3/12 Finished - 27/3/12 Format - paperback book Synopsis - This beautiful and deeply moving tale recounts educational psychologist Torey Hayden's battle to unlock the emotions of a troubled and sexually abused child who, with the help of Hayden, was finally able to overcome her dark past and realise her full potential. Six-year-old Sheila was abandoned by her mother on a highway when she was four. A survivor of horrific abuse, she never spoke, never cried, and was placed in a class for severely retarded children after committing an atrocious act of violence against another child. Everyone thought Sheila was beyond salvation – except her teacher, Torey Hayden. With patience, skill, and abiding love, she fought long and hard to release a haunted little girl from her secret nightmare – and nurture the spark of genius she recognised trapped within Sheila's silence. This is the remarkable story of their journey together – an odyssey of hope, courage, and inspiring devotion that opened the heart and mind of one lost child to a new world of discovery and joy. My Thoughts - This isnt my normal type of book that I choose to read, but it was recommended to me by a local bookshop owner and I thought I might as well give it a go. I am glad I did read this book. It has opened my eyes up to the genre and I think I will read more books like this. This is a real life book. I think that is what made it so shocking for me in the end. This story is about Torey a teacher, who looks after children with severe mental and physical conditions. Now this would be a challenge for most people, but then she has to take on another child, Sheila. Now Sheila has not had the best start in life, abandoned by her mother on a highway, living with a father that doesnt know how to care for her and unfortunatly she has committed an awful crime. As she is only 6, she cannot understand why the world is such a horrible place for her. Now the child that arrives in Toreys class in unresponsive, wont talk, badly behaved and hurts other people and animals. It is up to Torey to teach her right from wrong. I liked the progress in Sheila and how she slowly becomes part of the class. Now one event in the book did actually upset me. Sheilas uncle did something truely and discusting and disturbing to the poor little girl. I found this part so upsetting and it actually made me feel phsically sick. This was because it was a real life book and this actually happened to her. I really got into this book and the authors style of writing. She made it feel real and kept my intrest in the book all the way through. It read well and followed the story well as I have found some memoirs don't always do that. The author has written at least one more book that I know of, if not more and I think I'll keep a look out for it. I liked this book, but it should come with a warning, it is very shocking. Rating - 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 (edited) weekend freebies Believe in me: A Teen Mom's Story - Judith Dickerman-Nelson Human Sister - Jim Bainbridge The Mayan Prophecies - Francesca Marks Pollys Small Town War - J.E. Christer and one 'tree book' Before We Say Goodbye - Louise Candish Edited April 2, 2012 by lauraloves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Thanks for the reviews Laura. hmm that stay at home mum book might have some useful tips for me. I seem to do better when I work from lists. Although I sometimes have to break out and do something unscheduled. Especially when it's sunny. I wouldn't be able to read that Torey Hayden book. I know these things happen in the world but my mind won't even go there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 Thanks for the reviews Laura. hmm that stay at home mum book might have some useful tips for me. I seem to do better when I work from lists. Although I sometimes have to break out and do something unscheduled. Especially when it's sunny. I wouldn't be able to read that Torey Hayden book. I know these things happen in the world but my mind won't even go there. The stay at home mum book was ok, as long as you can live your whole life by lists. I do like lists, but at the same time not 24/7, maybe that will change when I do eventually have children. The Torey Hayden book is very shocking, it just shocks me as to how some people can treat children so badly and do horrific things to them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 The Firestone Crystal - Linda M. David Started - 24/3/12 Finished - 2/3/12 Format - Kindle e-book Synopsis - Agathea Fulstropp is a lonely 11-year-old girl, a bit on the moody side, and more than a little spoilt. She is looking forward to a luxury break in the Caribbean with her parents, but is livid when they announce that the trip has to be cancelled due to work commitments! So instead of spending six weeks sunning herself on a tropical beach, Thea – as she insists on being called – finds herself unceremoniously packed up, and sent off to stay with a grandfather she barely knows for the entire summer! But it turns out to be the best summer of her life when her grandfather has a strange reunion with a mysterious childhood friend, and she is given the opportunity of a lifetime. To visit a world beyond the stars, and become Earth’s first student to be enrolled in an experimental Inter-Planetary Education Programme at the Firestone Academy, where lessons in telepathy, mind-reading and astral projection are the norm. Things, however, are not as straightforward as they seem. One of her fellow students makes no secret of the fact that he despises her, and will stop at nothing to make her leave…she is having increasingly disturbingly vivid dreams…and just who is that hideously deformed cave creature, and more to the point, what does it want with her? My Thoughts - I downloaded this book as it was a freebie for a day over at amazon. I am so glad that I did. This book tells the story of Agathea, or Thea, a spoilt only child who is sent away to stay with her grandfather for the summer holidays. It is here that she meets an alien who takes her away to summer school on a far away planet. There is lots going on at the school, friendships, lessons, all new things, but also something a lot more sinister. I really enjoyed the plot of this book, I do enjoy books that are set within the school environment (blame Enid Blyton and the St Claires and Mallory Towers series') and this was another enjoyable read for me. I felt like it was easy to understand and follow as sometimes there are books set in outer space that are difficult to get into. But with this book, it was easy to follow. I ended up really liking Thea by the end of the book, as towards the start I found her very spoilt and not all that likeable. There was the usual young adult plot line, parents away so sent to live with relative that is not liked. I felt in this case that this was well done. I really couldnt guess who was the 'spy' in the book, I kept changing my mind over about four of the characters, and in the end I was horribly wrong! Who would have seen this twist coming? It was fantastic and a brilliant end to the book. Although this is a young adult book, I really enjoyed it. This is not just a book for children, its also good for adults too, I would recommend this one to anybody. The book has gone back up to cost, but it is still under £2 on amazon. I would have quite happily have paid for this book, its very good and well worth a couple of quid! Rating - 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Hell of a Salesman - Timothy Brooks Started - 2/4/12 Finished - 2/4/12 Format - Kindle e-book Synopsis - Join Timothy Brooks - an overachiever with very little to show for it - on a breathless journey into the dark world of the modern sales job. From the ritual humiliation of the interview process to landing his dream job at the dreaded Haywood Fryston, a world of endless phone calls and novelty sales tricks, where the routine insertion of swear words into every sentence by everybody is the only form of stress-relief going. Meet his bosses: Vincent Candle ("take your foot off the pedal and the f***ing souffle deflates") and Aiden Starling ("salesmen are born in the balls, not the womb"), two of the pettiest patriarchs in modern literature. Follow Tim as he learns to write adverts for jobs that don't exist, lie and cheat his way to meeting arbitrary sales targets, and deal with new and exciting forms of abuse from on high; twelve hours a day, five days a week. Whether you hate salesmen, or want to be one, this book is a must-read. Find out how the world of sales really works, and why "hell is other salesmen." My Thoughts - I downloaded this book as it was free for a day and also I work in a sales environment. I am an admin for a window company and am privy to these tactics every working day. Indeed, at times I did wonder sometimes if it had been written in my workplace at times. This book tells the story of Tim who works in sales. In it he is commission based so that he really has to work for his wages. I think this was part of the reason as to why the sales world is so competative and ruthless. Now this book is actually quite difficult for me to write my thoughts on. I liked the character of tim, I felt that he was one of the 'good' salesmen, but the managers are something else. They are cruel and think that the only way to get things done is to yell, shout, scream and swear to get results. I really think this is true to the way salesmen are. My one critism of the book is that it doesnt end, mearly just stops. I would have liked to see a proper ending. I liked this book, but I would say its probably one for people who have a bit of an insight into the life of salesmen. Rating - 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Ha Laura that last review about the salesman was very interesting to me as I have just read the Norah Vincent book Self Made Man where in one chapter she impersonates a male saleman and it sounds like there are parallels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 Ha Laura that last review about the salesman was very interesting to me as I have just read the Norah Vincent book Self Made Man where in one chapter she impersonates a male saleman and it sounds like there are parallels. Self Made Man is on my wishlist at the minute as I keep on reading the discussion on here actually, must get around to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Emotional Geology - Linda Gillard Great review, Laura! I really enjoyed the book, too, and gave it a 5/5. And I couldn't believe what Megan did either, I was totally shocked by that twist! Yay, great to hear you are going to acquire a copy of Self Made Man, too! I started the book but have been busy and haven't been in the mood for that book, so I'm wayyy behind on it, so you still have time to catch up, who knows maybe you'll even finish the book before me! Oh and btw, you're going crazy with the Kindle freebies aren't you Atta girl! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 Great review, Laura! I really enjoyed the book, too, and gave it a 5/5. And I couldn't believe what Megan did either, I was totally shocked by that twist! Yay, great to hear you are going to acquire a copy of Self Made Man, too! I started the book but have been busy and haven't been in the mood for that book, so I'm wayyy behind on it, so you still have time to catch up, who knows maybe you'll even finish the book before me! Oh and btw, you're going crazy with the Kindle freebies aren't you Atta girl! Hi Frankie I couldnt believe it, would you really do that to your own mother! I did like it as a twist though I think it really added to the book I am gonna go and look in a couple of bookshops tomorrow for Self Made Man, so hopefully I can get that and nothing else . . . we will see hehe! And the kindle freebies I have downloaded another 6 over the weekend! I was meant to be reducing my TBR this year, not increasing it hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 this weeks freebies, only 6 for the whole week Village Books - Craig McLay Night Swim - Jessica Keener Lady in Chains - Gillian Hiscott Alice Parkers Metamorphosis - Nicola Palmer Safe - Kate Hanney Twenty Tiny Tales - Willie Wit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 Sin and Sacrifice - Danielle Bourdon (Daughters of Eve #1) Started - 2/4/12 Finished - 8/4/12 Format - Kindle e-book Synopsis - Evelyn Grant, along with her four sisters, have a secret. A secret the Knights Templar want for themselves. It all went back to the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge and Life. The Knights will do anything to exploit the girls and their access to that sacred place, but one man, government agent Rhett Nichols, is set to the task of saving the women from torture and even death. He succeeds—and he fails. After centuries of being hunted, would Evelyn ever be able to trust the one person who might be able to help her? On the run, Evelyn and Rhett face off against their adversary and she's left with no choice but to put her life in his hands. My thoughts - I downloaded this book as it was free for a day on amazon, along with the other books in the trilogy. I really enjoyed this book. This book is about Evelyn and her four sisters, who although they seem normal on the outside, they are hiding a huge secret. A huge adventure happens when an event unfolds ( I don't really want to say what it is incase others want to read the book!) Due to this event, the lovely Rhett makes an appearance. Now Evelyn is not the only one hiding a secret, Rhett is too. This book is a great mystery story, a little like the Dan Brown books, a bit of romance, but not too much, suspense and lots more thrown in. This book was a little bit gruesome in places, personally I'm not a fan of two much blood, but I think that this story needed the odd part to illustrate a few points. For once I think that violence in a book was just about right. There were several other twists and turns in this book, some that left me gasping and at a couple of points I couldnt believe what was happening, I really liked these parts. The synopsis above doesnt really do the book justice, it was much better than that. I have the other two books also on my kindle, so I'll be reading them soon, I just want to ration them a bit so that I enjoy them more. I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to other people. Rating - 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Hey Laura Just read your review of 'One Child' if you liked it theres a sequel I'm not sure if you are aware or not. It's called 'The Tigers Child'. Also if you are interested in this kind of genre theres a book called 'A Child Called It' by Dave Pelzer. It's about his abusive childhood and the way his mother treated him. Left to sleep in the basement on an old coat and fed scraps of dog food. Maybe worth a try. Its a popular read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 Hey Laura Just read your review of 'One Child' if you liked it theres a sequel I'm not sure if you are aware or not. It's called 'The Tigers Child'. Also if you are interested in this kind of genre theres a book called 'A Child Called It' by Dave Pelzer. It's about his abusive childhood and the way his mother treated him. Left to sleep in the basement on an old coat and fed scraps of dog food. Maybe worth a try. Its a popular read. Oh I didnt know that there was a sequel, I'll have to check that one out. I wasnt interested in this genre until I read One Child, but I do think I'll go cautiously around it. I think I've heard of 'a child called it' it might be on a few reading lists, but it sounds like one I might give a go too thanks for the recomendations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 Strike Back - Chris Ryan Started - 27/3/12 Finished - 10/4/12 Format - Paperback book Synopsis - Two Soldiers. Sir Peregrine Collinson. Britain's most decorated military hero. A best-selling author. And the Prime Minister's personal envoy. And John Porter – seventeen years ago, he was one of the SAS's most promising young soldiers. Now he's a broken man: a drunken tramp living rough on the streets of London. In Beirut, a brilliant young Sky TV reporter Katie Dartmouth has been captured by a ruthless gang of Hezbollah terrorists. She is to be executed live on television unless British troops are withdrawn from Iraq. A nation holds its breath and the Government is tottering on the edge of collapse. Both men believe they can save her. But only one of them can reach her. Their paths last crossed seventeen years earlier. Now they are about to face each other again. And the strike back is about to begin. My Thoughts - I brought this book back in 2010 when I saw it in a shop and thought that I would give it a go. I had heard of the author and I do enjoy books set in war zones, not something you would always expect being young and female! This book is about John Porter. He is a former SAS soldier who due to an opperation going wrong he is forced to leave. Because of this event he ends up losing everything, his family, his home his whole life. Meanwhile a Sky News journalist is kidnapped in the middle east and a link to the past draws Porter back to the SAS for one last mission. I enjoyed how fast paced this book was once Porter got out to the middle east. Plenty of fire fights, shootings, near death situations, everything you would expect from a book like this. I liked the ammount of refrences to real life that this book held. It was about something that could happen, and already has. Indeed, what with the tragic events happening even today in the middle east it could be something that could have been based on real life. I enjoyed the little bit of mystery held within the book to, the unfinished buisness between the two men and the big twist at the end? I didnt expect that to happen either. I loved how the story weaved its way into a brilliant ending. There was only one critism I had. The main character is an alcoholic and all of a sudden he seems to have almost kicked the habit overnight. I just didnt believe that part, but as it was a tiny part to the story so it didnt effect my enjoyment too much. I did think this was part of a series but its not, its a shame because I would have liked to see the story continued. However, I think the author is going to become one of my favourites. Rating - 4.5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Great review on Strike Back. I've added it to my Wishlist. Looking on Amazon, it would appear they have made it into a movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Great review on Strike Back. I've added it to my Wishlist. Looking on Amazon, it would appear they have made it into a movie. Thank you Its a very good book and I am already looking at more of his books. I did come across the movie when I was reading about the book, but not sure if ill watch it or not incase it isnt as good as the book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 This weeks freebies and books Whole New You: 365 Brilliant Vibes for You - Infinite Ideas Touched by Angels - Alan Watts The Time Hunters - Carl Ashmore One tree book - I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 The Fifth Child - Doris Lessing Started - 10/4/12 Finished - 17/4/12 Format - Paperback Challenges - BCF April Reading Circle Synopsis - A classic tale from Doris Lessing, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007, of a family torn apart by the arrival of Ben, their feral fifth child. ‘Listening to the laughter, the sounds of children playing, Harriet and David would reach for each other’s hand, and smile, and breathe happiness.’ Four children, a beautiful old house, the love of relatives and friends, Harriet and David Lovatt’s life is a glorious hymn to domestic bliss and old-fashioned family values. But when their fifth child is born, a sickly and implacable shadow is cast over this tender idyll. Large and ugly, violent and uncontrollable, the infant Ben, ‘full of cold dislike’, tears at Harriet’s breast. Struggling to care for her new-born child, faced with a darkness and a strange defiance she has never known before, Harriet is deeply afraid of what, exactly, she has brought into the world… My Thoughts - I read this book as part of the April reading circle on the BCF. I had a few reservations about this as it is classed as a horror book, and horror is not my genre. However, this book is not at all a horror book in my opinion. This book starts with a couple, Harriet and David who meet at a party and fall in love. They get married and buy a huge house, more than they can afford. Davids family help them out and give them money, several times throughout the book. They get married and start having children. Between them they have 'The Dream', to have as many children as possible. Now I agree with this in a way, if a couple want to have a lot of children then its fine, as long as they can afford it. In this book the couple cannot. They have four children, everything is fine and then Harriet falls pregnant again. From the start they know something is different with the baby, she cannot cope through the pregnancy and just wants the baby out. So Ben is born. Once Ben is born the family start to unravel. They cannot cope with him and other people in the family start to suffer. Now I wasnt sure if there was something physically wrong with him, or wheather he had a condition. Whatever was wrong with Ben, it wasnt his fault, he never asked for anything like that. I thought that everything surrounding baby Amy was very difficult to read. She was born with Downs Syndrome and she was hidden away in parts of the book so not to distress others. I thought this was so wrong, I just didnt understand how this could happen. I didnt like Bens parents attitude towards him. His dad didnt want him and his mother was almost obsessive with him. I think they needed to find a happy medium with it all. I did enjoy this book, it was one continous prose and once I had got into this style of writing I enjoyed it a lot. There is a sequel to this book and I will definitaly be picking this up. I will also be looking up more books by this author. This is a short book, but there is so much crammed into the pages, its great. Rating - 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 Joanna's Day (Joanna In Time) - Toni and Stephen Downs Started - 8/4/12 Finished - 22/4/12 Format - Kindle E-book Synopsis - When Joanna Murray's parents split up, her English mother takes her back home to England, where she is placed in St. Agatha's Academy, a private school where only "the best children go." But Joanna is no mood to try and get along with her schoolmates, who she regards as weird and snobbish. This is especially true of a group of giggling girls and their leader, Dennis Dinwiddy, a spotty, rat faced boy who takes a dislike to Joanna on sight. It is when Joanna is auditioning for the school play - a musical version on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - that Dennis "Dimwit" gets his chance for ultimate revenge by opening a trapdoor in the stage, sending Joanna plummeting into the abyss. When she lands, Joanna finds herself in the 6th Century, during the time of Camelot and King Arthur. Will history be rewritten? And if so, how will it affect the future? My Thoughts - I downloaded this book as it was free on Amazon for a day and I thought that this might be the sort of book that I might enjoy. This book is about an American girl called Joanna, whose parents spilt up. Her mother takes her away to England and away from her father. Its here that she is enrolled in St Agathas Academy, a typically british private school. Its at the school that a production is put on and during this Joanna falls through time and back into the times of Camelot. Here she meets famous figures like Lancelot and King Arthur. Joanna is the only hope to save Camelot and needs to do so before she can return home. For me I was a bit indifferent about this Young Adult book. Some parts I liked and some other parts I didnt. I think in all honesty that I am too old for this book, which is something that doesnt really happen when I read the young adult genre. I didnt like how quickly events were jumped through. For example, when Joanna starts at St Agathas there is a big jump and all of a sudden she is there. I don't think it was explained very well and there could have been more detail going into it. The first half of the book really didnt keep my attention very well, however this did pick up towards the end and I was interested to see how the story ended. I also didnt understand how nothing was said for a while about Joanna wanting to return how, if it was me I would have been more concerned as to how I was going to get home. When Joanna did eventually reach home again, I didnt like how it was all 'happily ever after' I just didnt think this part was realistic. However I did like how historically accurate it was. It had the story of Lancelot and Guinevere and the 'love' story if you can call it that. For me it stayed pretty close to the original story. Some parts of the language were funny, but I think if I was younger I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Now I would recommend this book to young adults, probably around the age of 10-14 ish, but unfortunatly I think I was too old for the book and the message was a bit lost on me, which is sad as the story is ok, but not for me. Rating - 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted April 27, 2012 Author Share Posted April 27, 2012 The Tenth Circle - Jodi Picoult Started - 17/4/12 Finished - 26/4/12 Format - Paperback Book Synopsis - When Daniel Stone was a child, he was the only white boy in a native Eskimo village where his mother taught, and he was teased mercilessly because he was different. He fought back, the baddest of the bad kids: stealing, drinking, robbing and cheating his way out of the Alaskan bush – where he honed his artistic talent, fell in love with a girl and got her pregnant. To become part of a family, he reinvented himself – jettisoning all that anger to become a docile, devoted husband and father. Fifteen years later, when we meet Daniel again, he is a comic book artist. His wife teaches Dante’s Inferno at a local college; his daughter, Trixie, is the light of his life – and a girl who only knows her father as the even-tempered, mild-mannered man he has been her whole life. Until, that is, she is date raped… and Daniel finds himself struggling, again, with a powerlessness and a rage that may not just swallow him whole, but destroy his family and his future. My Thoughts - I absolutly adore Jodi Picoults books, for me they never fail to disappoint and always hook me in. The Tenth Circle was no different. This book tells the story of Trixie a typical teenage girl in America and her parents Daniel and Laura. Throw in the fact that Trixie and her boyfriend have just split up and its almost a perfect opening to a story. Trixie sneaks out to a party at her best friends house and its here that one single event changes the life of all the characters in the story. I don't really want to say what that event is as I don't want to spoil the plot of the book. I love how the story is told from different perspectives and at times I had trouble trying to figure out who was telling the truth and who was lying. Alot off things in the book were truthfully acurate like the legal parts and the hospital parts. Although these parts made quite difficult reading, it really made me want to read more. I liked the comic book aspect to the book, this made a change to the normal books of just prose and it broke the story up but in a good way. I liked how it weaved really companies into the story like Marvel and DC Comics. I also liked all of the twists and turns I ended up re-reading certain parts of it in shock, I couldnt believe that parts of it had happened. I loved this book a lot. I'm finding it really difficult to write my thoughts on this as its such a brilliant book, I just think if you havent read it then do. Rating - 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I'm glad you enjoyed this book. Like you I found many parts disturbing but thought provoking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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