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All reviews and opinions are solely my own.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Tuesday Teasers


Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by shouldbereading. Anyone can play along, simply do the following:
  1. Grab your current read.
  2. Open random page.
  3. Share 2 teasers from somewhere on that page.
  4. Be careful not to include spoilers (make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others.
  5. Share tittle and author too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teasers. 
Now here are my teasers for today:

" What pills was she on. said Brice. Do you have any idea?" pg. 15

Lying on her bunk in sticky October heat, what Gloria said drifted back to her, about drinking till you were done. Done. Could she ever be done with alcohol? pg. 55

These are from Blame by Michelle Huneven

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Review: The Night Circus

The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern

Quote: " You're... not fighting, that's not  really the right word for it, but there's something unseen, something shadowed that's hidden from you." ~ Isobel pg. 242

Started: June 1, 2012
Finished: June 21, 2012
607 pages/ hardcover
large print edition

From the cover:
 The circus arrives without warning. It is simply there. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Reves(The Circus of Dreams), and it is only open at night. 
  But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway- a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. They don't realize that this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love- a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
  True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

My Review:
 This is definitely a fairy tale romance.  It has magic, love, entertainment, mystery, deceit, and rivalries. I really enjoyed it. There were a few parts that really didn't click at first but eventually became clearer. Which is a good thing. I didn't want it too be a mushy, predictable blah from the beginning. To me a good love story is all about the struggle, the suffering. I like to feel the emotions of each characters. This book makes you feel like you could really be there. The characters are very personable and realistic. 
 I only gave it 3 stars because there were a few parts that I felt were left unfinished. I wanted to learn more about the "after". I'm hoping this book becomes a series. It will definitely be recommended to friends!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Tuesday Teaser


Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by shouldbereading. Anyone can play along, simply do the following:
  1. Grab your current read.
  2. Open random page.
  3. Share 2 teasers from somewhere on that page.
  4. Be careful not to include spoilers (make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others.
  5. Share tittle and author too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teasers. 
Now here are my teasers for today:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

" I told him as much as I thought he needed to know. He's fond of pushing boundaries, and I offered to help him push them further. ~ Celia pg. 177

Friday, June 8, 2012

Review: The Night Strangers

The Night Strangers
by Chris Bohjalian

Quote: " Nothing to say. You just keep that greenhouse for the girls- the twins. You just keep them twins safe."~ Hewitt Dunmore
 pg. 161

Started: May 16, 2012
Finished: May 31, 2012
hardcover/ 375 pages

From the cover:
In a dusty corner of  a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire, a door has been long sealed shut with thirty-nine 6-inch-long carriage bolts. 
  The home's new owners are chip and Emily Linton and their twin ten-year-old daughters. together they hope to rebuild their lives there after Chip, an airline pilot, has to ditch his seventy-seat regional jet in Lake Champlain after double engine failure. Unlike "the Miracle on the Hudson," however, most of the passengers aboard Flight 1611 die on impact or drown. The body count? Thirty-nine__ a coincidence not lost on Chip when he discovers the number of bolts in that basement door. Meanwhile, Emily finds herself wondering about the women in this sparsely populated white Mountain village- self-proclaimed herbalists- and their interest in her fifth-grade daughters. Are the women mad? Or is it her husband, in the wake of the tragedy, whose grip on sanity has become desperately tenuous?
  The result is a poignant and powerful ghost story with all the hallmarks readers have come to expect from bestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian: a palpable sense of place, an unerring sense of demons that drive us, and characters we care about deeply.  The difference this time? Some of those characters are dead.

My Review:
I hate to give this book a bad review. I really, really wanted to love it. Alas, I didn't. It starts out so slow, and drags on and on about the details of the airplane, the flight, the final moments from so many different perspectives. The book is divided into parts, 4 in all. Part 1 is almost entirely about the flight that ends the lives of thirty-nine people. Which does  eventually, have significance. It just seems to take a long way getting there. 
 I also felt this book was a hodge-podge of stories. there was way too many elements in one novel. e.i.( pilot, tragedy, herbalists/witches, twins, PTSD, ghosts...) It's like Bohjalian had so many good story ideas and then ruined it by putting them all into one novel. 
Sometimes less....really is more!
3 stars(only because some of it was interesting enough to keep me reading until the end)

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