LauraLoves Reads 2012

[vodkafan]

Good review Laura this is one I have never been sure whether I should give it a go or not.

[bree]

Good review Laura this is one I have never been sure whether I should give it a go or not.

 

Laura, I liked reading your thoughts on this. I read this as a teenager - shamelessly skimming over the entire war bit - I think I'll read it again now.

Your reviews have a way of doing this to me

 

And vodkafan, I second Laura's 5 on 5 rating, you should give this a go.

[~Andrea~]

Good review Laura this is one I have never been sure whether I should give it a go or not.

I feel the same VF, but this review has swayed me a little. 1000 pages though? Eek!

[Kidsmum]

I'm so tempted to make this my next read Laura . Great review

[lauraloves]

Good review Laura this is one I have never been sure whether I should give it a go or not.

 

Thank you I was a little unsure about the book before i started its a bit big and also its not one of my favourite genres, but now i have to say that this book is now one of my favourites!

 

Laura, I liked reading your thoughts on this. I read this as a teenager - shamelessly skimming over the entire war bit - I think I'll read it again now.

Your reviews have a way of doing this to me

 

Thank you I did skim a little half a page here and there but i really loved it And thank you for the comment about my reviews too

 

I feel the same VF, but this review has swayed me a little. 1000 pages though? Eek!

 

That was one of the main things that put me off the book, but once i had started it i didnt really notice how big a book it was!

 

I'm so tempted to make this my next read Laura . Great review

 

Thank you Hope you enjoy it as much as i did

[bobblybear]

Great review of Gone With The Wind. I read it earlier this year, and like you I wished I'd read it earlier. It's very different to my preconceptions, in a good way. It's so much more than a romance or a civil war story. Scarlet is a very complex character, and while I didn't like her all that much, I did admire her in a way, for all she achieved.

[lauraloves]

Great review of Gone With The Wind. I read it earlier this year, and like you I wished I'd read it earlier. It's very different to my preconceptions, in a good way. It's so much more than a romance or a civil war story. Scarlet is a very complex character, and while I didn't like her all that much, I did admire her in a way, for all she achieved.

 

Thanks Its such an amazing book, one that i definitaly want to re-read again at some point. I thought it was just going to be a massive romance novel but its not, its so much more than that. I loved every page of this book and i think that everyone should read it!

[julie]

Laura

I'm glad you enjoyed GWTW so much . I read it several years ago,and I'm probably in the minority but I would have liked the War to have been a bigger part of the story than it was .I'm a Civil War buff,so the battles, etc would have been much more interesting to me .

I agree with you on Scarlett,she really wasn't a likeable character at all. More like a spoiled brat who never grew out of it ,even as an adult .

It is a good book for lots of reasons, though . It does portray the treatment of the slaves pretty accurately .That story definitely needs to be told and never forgotten . No one deserves to be put on a lower level than others for ANY reason.

It also gave you a sense of what daily household life was like during that time, which is also important ,so the book has its merits. I'm not a romance fan whatsoever,so that part of the book could have been totally left out ,but then it wouldnt have been a book that so many different people would enjoy. I guess there is a little bit of something for everyone in it .

 

If you are ever interested in reading more about the African people who were originally brought here as slaves and a more realistic portrayal, pick up Roots. It's another whopper of a book ,and they also made a tv mini-series of it many years ago.

That book,to me anyhow, was better than GWTW --- it was a really interesting story that puts you into other people's bodies and makes you see exactly how life really was for the slaves and their families .

Edited September 17, 2012 by julie

[poppyshake]

Great review of Gone With the Wind Laura I felt like you, I was amazed at how much I loved it .. totally unexpected. I guess I thought it would be all a bit soppy and lightweight .. it wasn't at all. I didn't like Scarlett either .. very much a Becky Sharpe character but like Becky .. she keeps you reading.

I remember reading Roots and enjoying it Julie .. way back when the mini series was on

[lauraloves]

Laura

I'm glad you enjoyed GWTW so much . I read it several years ago,and I'm probably in the minority but I would have liked the War to have been a bigger part of the story than it was .I'm a Civil War buff,so the battles, etc would have been much more interesting to me .

I agree with you on Scarlett,she really wasn't a likeable character at all. More like a spoiled brat who never grew out of it ,even as an adult .

It is a good book for lots of reasons, though . It does portray the treatment of the slaves pretty accurately .That story definitely needs to be told and never forgotten . No one deserves to be put on a lower level than others for ANY reason.

It also gave you a sense of what daily household life was like during that time, which is also important ,so the book has its merits. I'm not a romance fan whatsoever,so that part of the book could have been totally left out ,but then it wouldnt have been a book that so many different people would enjoy. I guess there is a little bit of something for everyone in it .

 

If you are ever interested in reading more about the African people who were originally brought here as slaves and a more realistic portrayal, pick up Roots. It's another whopper of a book ,and they also made a tv mini-series of it many years ago.

That book,to me anyhow, was better than GWTW --- it was a really interesting story that puts you into other people's bodies and makes you see exactly how life really was for the slaves and their families .

 

I loved GWTW so much! I agree with what you mean about the war though, it wasnt actually gone into all that much with battle scenes or anything like that, but maybe that would have made the book even bigger! I'm going to look into Roots as thats the kind of book i would like to read as i found the treatment of the 'slaves' so shocking and horrible!

 

 

 

Great review of Gone With the Wind Laura I felt like you, I was amazed at how much I loved it .. totally unexpected. I guess I thought it would be all a bit soppy and lightweight .. it wasn't at all. I didn't like Scarlett either .. very much a Becky Sharpe character but like Becky .. she keeps you reading.

 

Thank you, its a book everyone should read as i think its kind of a surprising book in a way. I havent read Vanity Fair yet but i have heard a few things about it. Its another book on my one day list!

[vodkafan]

.. very much a Becky Sharpe character but like Becky .. she keeps you reading.

 

I married Becky Sharp. I just didn't realise it at the time.

[lauraloves]

I married Becky Sharp. I just didn't realise it at the time.

 

I may have to read the book now, just to find out more about this Becky!

[lauraloves]

Alana Weatherbee #1 - Jack Sorenson

 

 

Started - 19/8/12

Finished - 16/9/12

Format - Kindle e-book

 

Synopsis - Fifteen year old Alana Weatherbee leaves home for the first time to study at the School of Shines of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Finding herself the school outcast, she gains acceptance by becoming champion of the Labyrinth Games in spite of her teammates, the school bullies. Then Alana meets Logan, another outcast and, together, they fight to save their world from the evil Book of Spells.

 

My Thoughts - I downloaded this book as it was free on Amazon and it really sounded like a book that i could get into.

 

This book is about Alana Weatherbee who attends the Shines School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She becomes part of a team to take part in a series of games. Its here that she meets Logan who becomes her boyfriend and they take part in an adventure.

 

Now this all sounds so promising but unfortunatly it just wasnt. To start with i just couldnt get over how simular this book was to Harry Potter, which could be a good thing, but in this case it just wasnt. The whole school setup was so simular, the headmaster was almost a carbon copy of Dumbledore and the Labyrinth games was very simular to the Triwizard Tornament.

 

Also the book just seemed to give a very basic outline of the plot and then not go into anymore detail, it was almost like i was reading a draft of the story. This book had so much potental but unfortunatly it just didnt interest me.

 

I didnt understand the relevance to Logan at all and what benefit he had on the story. I didnt understand the book of spells part either.

 

This is a book that i didnt enjoy at all and maybe i should start to read reviews on Amazon before i download a book again.

 

Rating - 1/5

[bobblybear]

Oh well, at least you didn't waste any money on it Laura!

[lauraloves]

Oh well, at least you didn't waste any money on it Laura!

 

Very true! One thing about Amazon free books, some are very good and some arent!

[lauraloves]

The King's Spy - Andrew Swanston

 

 

 

Started - 16/9/12

Finished - 26/9/12

Format - Hardback Book

 

Synopsis - England is at war with itself. King Charles I has fled London, his negotiations with Parliament in tatters. The country is consumed by bloodshed.

 

For Thomas Hill, a man of letters quietly running a bookshop in the rural town of Romsey, knowledge of the war is limited to the rumours that reach the local inn.

 

When a stranger knocks on his door one night and informs him that the king's cryptographer has died, everything changes. Aware of Thomas's background as a mathematician and his expertise in codes and ciphers, the king has summoned him to his court in Oxford.

 

On arrival, Thomas soon discovers that nothing at court is straightforward. There is evidence of a traitor in their midst. Brutal murder follows brutal murder. And when a vital message encrypted with a notoriously unbreakable code is intercepted, he must decipher it to reveal the king's betrayer and prevent the violent death that failure will surely bring.

 

My Thoughts - This was a book that i got sent to me from the Transworld publishers as part of a reading challenge. This book is about Thomas Hill a bookseller who lives with his sister and her two children during the times of the English civil war. He travels away to Oxford and its here that he becomes a cryptographer for the king. He has to decode a series of messages and the war could depend on it.

 

This book not only has the code aspect too it, its also full of torture, murders and lots of other not nice things. I did think that these were quite well done and added a bit more substance to the story. I did also like the ammount of codes and the details that the author went in to explain how the codes were solved. The illustations were also a hepful aspect to help understand the codes fully.

 

I really loved the character of Jane and was so gutted with what happened to her in the book. I would have liked her and Thomas to have ended up together but that was not the case.

 

The only couple of things that i didnt like about the book was that it was quite predicable what was going to happen and the twists and turns could be seen a mile off. Thats not to say that i didnt enjoy the book, i really did but this was the only thing that put me off a little, This book is the first in a trilogy and i think that im going to keep a little eye out for the next.

 

I enjoyed reading this book although its set in a time period that im not too familar with it was an enjoyable experience to read.

 

Rating - 4/5

[lauraloves]

Friends With Partial Benefits - Luke Young

 

 

Started - 26/9/12

Finished - 29/9/12

Format - Kindle e-book

 

Synopsis - Filled with passion, longing, surprises and humor, Friends With Partial Benefits, the first novel in the four-book series, is hard to put down and will leave you laughing out loud and slightly sleep deprived.

 

Jillian Grayson is a disillusioned divorcée and best-selling romance novelist who suddenly can't write a chapter without her hunky male heartthrob suffering ED, an STD, or even worse. Brian Nash is a tennis-obsessed college senior who's unlucky in love and the roommate and best friend of Jillian's son, Rob. When Rob brings Brian home for Spring Break, and Brian meets the surprisingly young and tennis passionate Jillian, their shared interest quickly develops into an intense mutual attraction. After nearly giving in to their feelings, they hatch a plan, while under the influence (of something more than just the perfect Miami night), to be Friends With Partial Benefits, complete with rules to define the boundaries. Will the lonely pair continue with this distinctive relationship, actually explore their desires, or discover all of it is a really bad idea?

 

My Thoughts - I got sent this book from the author as i had previously enjoyed one of his other novels, Shrinkage. This book is about a few people. Brian and his best friend Rob, Robs mother Jillian. her best friend Victoria and a few others too.

 

Rob comes home from college and brings Brian with him as he cant seem to get over a girl. Natalie. Its here that Brian first meets Rob's mum and sparks seem to fly between the two of them. Victoria is Jillians best friend and for want of a better explaination sex mad!

 

Rob spends a lot of time with his girlfriend Laura, which enables Brian and Jillian to grow closer and closer. When they do it puts them both in a situation that they cannot figure out if its right or not.

 

I really enjoyed this book. To start with i do think its not a book that is for the faint-hearted, Its full of sexual encounters although i do think these are done quite tastefully. Its not too in your face but at the same time very racey. Its not a book that i would leave laying about for my nan to read for example.

 

I read three quarters of this book last night as i really couldnt put it down. It is a real page turner and i couldnt wait to read what was going to happen, figure out if people are going to get caught out, weather people are going to stay in relationships and plenty of twists and turns.

 

I think this is quite a good book for the market at the minute. What with all the 50 shades of grey hype and other books with simular themes i think this book is a nicer version. Although i havent read that particilar book i do think that this book would be the better option.

 

This book was very enjoyable, very easy reading too. This is the first in a series of four books and i will be buying the second for my kindle later on today.

 

Rating - 4.5/5

[lauraloves]

Change of Heart - Jodi Picoult

 

 

Started - 29/9/12

Finished - 6/10/12

Format - Paperback Book

 

Synopsis - June's first husband was killed in a car crash. Against all the odds, her daughter was uninjured and, in another miracle, June found love again with the policeman who rescued them. Six years on they are a happy family, June pregnant with their own child.

 

But now June's second daughter is dying without the new heart she so urgently needs. And her first daughter, along with her husband, is dead, killed by Shay Bourne, an itinerant workman they welcomed into their home. The crime was so heinous that Shay has been given the death penalty for the first time in 69 years in New Hampshire. Shay is going to die, and he is looking for redemption. He wants to give June's daughter his heart . . .

 

My Thoughts - I am a massive fan of this authors work i have read a lot of her books and intend to read them all some day. Her books always seem to hook me in and i cant put it down until i finish it and get to the bottom of the story.

 

This book is about a wide range of characters such as June who has lost a lot of important people in her life. Her first and second husband and her young daughter Elizabeth. All she has left is her daughter Clare, who is very sick and needs a heart transplant to survive. Then there is Shay, the man that took her daughter and husband away from her. Theres Maggie a lawyer and Micheal a priest.

 

This book has all the usual marks of a Picoult novel. The change in character for every chapter, which i love! I always like to get the different perspectives on all the events by the different people involved in the situation. It doesnt follow a chronological pattern and events are revealed throughout the book which kind of adds more to the story and makes you think about which character is the more truthful about the events. Also it has a massive twist in this book again like other books by the author and i did not see this one coming. It really knocked me for six and i think i need to revisit some parts of the book with this new information revealed.

 

It also has the courtroom scenes which are quite familar in this authors books but this time round i didnt find them to heavy going and i got really fascinated by them. There is a massive theme of religion in this book and to be honest this didnt put me off either. It was done very well and tastefully and not at all shouting about it as sometimes i think religion in books can be quite overwhelming.

 

I really enjoyed this book and its one of this authors books that i like the most. its one of her more recent books and i seem to like these better than her early books. I cant wait to read more by her.

 

Rating - 4/5

[vodkafan]

Not read any Jodi Picault books Laura but that certainly is a dilemma the characters are in in this one.

[bobblybear]

Great review, Laura. I do like Jodi Picoult's books; they certainly make you think and this one sounds like no exception.

[lauraloves]

Not read any Jodi Picault books Laura but that certainly is a dilemma the characters are in in this one.

 

Its definitaly a situation that i wouldnt like to find myself in i have to say!

 

Great review, Laura. I do like Jodi Picoult's books; they certainly make you think and this one sounds like no exception.

 

Thank you I want to get around to read all of her books as ive enjoyed the majority that i have read! I do find that her books always stay with me for a while after finishing though.

[lauraloves]

Mom You Just Broke Facebook - Jay Rivera

 

 

Started - 6/10/12

Finished - 8/10/12

Format - Kindle e-book

 

Synopsis - From the funny to the downright bizarre, we have trawled the internet for the funniest quips, quotes, comments, status updates and putdowns... all for your pleasure. Volume 1 contains over 80 updates that will have you in stitches. Almost all spelling errors have been left in to shame the guilty (especially where that's the joke). Enjoy!

 

My Thoughts - I downloaded this book because it was free for a day on the kindle and i thought that it could be a funny book to read.

 

I havent really got too much to say on this book as i really didnt enjoy it very much. This is a book full of facebook quotes that in certain circumstances could be funny. I think if it was actual screenshots of facebook quotes that it could have been funnier but i found it quite difficult to get into and to understand.

 

I did think that some of the quotes had been made up too as i didnt find it all too funny or realistic at all.

 

This book has a lot of two star reviews on goodreads and maybe i should have read these first.

 

Rating - 2/5

[lauraloves]

The Labyrinth of Osiris - Paul Sussman

 

 

Started - 8/10/12

Finished - 15/10/12

Format - Paperback Book

 

Synopsis - Since they last met, life has moved on for Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor Police and Jerusalem detective Arieh Ben-Roe. About to become a father for the first time, Ben-Roi finds himself investigating a gruesome murder in Jerusalem's Armenian Cathedral. The victim, a journalist named Rivka Kleinberg, had been researching an article into the Israeli sex-trafficking industry. When a link emerges between Kleinberg and an English engineer who disappeared from Luxor in 1931, Ben-Roi turns for help to his old friend and sparring partner Khalifa.

 

 

 

 

Khalifa's life too has changed, although in his case not for the better. Preoccupied with personal tragedy and immersed in an investigation of his own - a series of mysterious well-poisonings in Egypt's Eastern desert - he agrees for old time's sake to do some digging for his Israeli colleague. In the process Ben-Roi might just be giving Khalifa his lust for life back.

 

Inexorably the two investigations entwine, drawing Ben-Roi and Khalifa into a sinister web of violence, abuse, corporate malpractice and anti-capitalist terrorism. And at the heart of the web lies the Labyrinth - a three-thousand year-old ancient Egyptian mystery that has already taken Rivka Kleinberg's life - and hers will not be the last...

 

My Thoughts - I was sent this book from the Transworld publishers as part of a reading challenge. Although i dont really read a lot of thrillers, this is a genre that i would ideally like to read more of.

 

This book is about Yusuf Khalifa a police detective based around Eygpt and also Arieh Ben-Roe based in the

Jerusalem police force. These two have been friends for a long time and as fate would have it end up working on the same murder case again.

 

To start with i did find this book a little confusing. It has about 15 different points of view and to start with i was struggling remembering who was who and following the storyline. I couldnt really figure out how they all tied in with each other. However, after about 150 pages in i really started to get into the story and it all started to come together.

 

This book is very full of twists and turns, i did try and figure out as i was going along who the suspect for the murder was and i kept changing my mind. I just couldnt figure it out and when it was revealed at the end of the book i just couldnt believe it and it all slotted into place a bit more.

 

The only downside that i could really find was this was book three in a series. Although it worked quite well as a stand alone book i would have liked to have read them in order but thats just one of my stange habits.

 

This was a good thriller i really enjoyed reading it and i would recommend it!

 

Rating - 4/5

[frankie]

 

 

A great review! I really ought to get down to business and finally read the Bryson books I've accumulated, I think his books are just the sort of thing to give insight to different countries and cultures, without being overly 'educational' and smartypants, if you know what I mean

 

 

 

I'm so, so happy you enjoyed this novel! Although I did dare to think that you (as well as other people) would end up loving it. I know exactly how you felt about it beforehand: it's so bloody huge it's intimidating! But it's just so worth it when one's gotten over the initial 50-100 pages of introduction to characters and such, like you said in your review.

 

Like you, I didn't really like Scarlett either. I don't think she's a likable (main) character at all. But in a way I have to admire her, it was a tough period of time and everyone had to do pretty much whatever they could to survive. She was one tough broad!

 

I also thought that this book was so much more than the romance story that it is billed as. I found it so sad with the ammount of death in the book and there were so many twists and turns that sometimes i couldnt believe how much was happening. At the end of the book i did shed a tear as Melanie was such a nice person and i just didnt think she deserved anything that happened to her.

 

I agree. Somehow people always seem to mistake it as a romance novel only, but it's so much more than that. There's so much to the story!

 

Do you think you'll be reading the 'sequel' to the book, called Scarlett? (It's not by the same author) There's also a book called Rhett Butler's People (or something similar, I can't remember for sure), where the story is told from his point-of-view. I haven't yet read them myself, but I do have them on TBR. I don't think they could ever match the brilliance of Gone with the Wind, but it was just so sad to leave all the characters behind, that I feel like I want to read more about them.

 

I guess I thought it would be all a bit soppy and lightweight .. it wasn't at all. I didn't like Scarlett either .. very much a Becky Sharpe character but like Becky .. she keeps you reading.

 

I remember also thinking it would be a light read, pretty much 'chick-lit' from days gone by. I was very much in the wrong! And I'm happy to admit it.

 

I should really read Vanity Fair, people keep comparing Scarlett to Becky and I've yet to read the novel...

[lauraloves]

A great review! I really ought to get down to business and finally read the Bryson books I've accumulated, I think his books are just the sort of thing to give insight to different countries and cultures, without being overly 'educational' and smartypants, if you know what I mean

 

Yeah i know what you mean, i got a lot of interesting facts out of the one that i read without it making me feel like i was very uneducated! I definitaly will want to read more by him in the future!

 

I'm so, so happy you enjoyed this novel! Although I did dare to think that you (as well as other people) would end up loving it. I know exactly how you felt about it beforehand: it's so bloody huge it's intimidating! But it's just so worth it when one's gotten over the initial 50-100 pages of introduction to characters and such, like you said in your review.

 

Like you, I didn't really like Scarlett either. I don't think she's a likable (main) character at all. But in a way I have to admire her, it was a tough period of time and everyone had to do pretty much whatever they could to survive. She was one tough broad!

 

 

I loved GWTW so much and already im thinking about re-reading it so that now im a bit more familar with the characters i might understand the opening a bit more! I've already made my mum read it as she hasnt and although she isnt as fast a reader as what i am she is enjoying it too!

 

I agree with what you said about Scarlett and what she did. Maybe if i was in her shoes i would have done the same as if she didnt she probably wouldnt have survived all the heartbreak and tough conditions!

 

 

I agree. Somehow people always seem to mistake it as a romance novel only, but it's so much more than that. There's so much to the story!

 

Do you think you'll be reading the 'sequel' to the book, called Scarlett? (It's not by the same author) There's also a book called Rhett Butler's People (or something similar, I can't remember for sure), where the story is told from his point-of-view. I haven't yet read them myself, but I do have them on TBR. I don't think they could ever match the brilliance of Gone with the Wind, but it was just so sad to leave all the characters behind, that I feel like I want to read more about them.

 

 

 

I remember also thinking it would be a light read, pretty much 'chick-lit' from days gone by. I was very much in the wrong! And I'm happy to admit it.

 

I should really read Vanity Fair, people keep comparing Scarlett to Becky and I've yet to read the novel...

 

I'm not sure why i had it in my head that it was just romance either, probably from what i had heard from others but its so much more and in fairness the romance in the book is really kept to a minimum with everything else going on in the book.

 

I had heard about the sequel, it might have been from one of your posts, but im not too sure if id like to read it or not as its not from the same author. If i read it and didnt like it, it could end up ruining GWTW for me, but if i love it it might make it even better! Think i may wait and see if others enjoy it and then make my mind up

 

I think that i may have Vanity Fair on my kindle but again its quite a big book so thats kind of putting me off!