The Cliffhanger Rant

This rant is brought to you by the UMTEENTH (yes I really had to use that word) book I have read that ends with a heart wrenching cliffhanger. Not your average dum dum DUM ending where you think hmm that was a cool twist. No, no this is in regards to the author leaving the reader kneeling on a kitchen floor next to the beloved main character in a pool of his blood, crying out, begging the author for mercy only to find out mercy will not be given for another 12-18 months...

Now I am a book lover (obviously) and I understand that it will lead to more books being sold bla bla bla but seriously...? You want to sell books? How about writing a book longer than 300 pages and have cliffhangers AND resolutions all in one amazingly entertaining novel and leave the sequels to the money grabbers like James Patterson... CALM DOWN... Save the hate mail, if you love him good for you. I don't read him for the same reason I don't listen to Justin Beiber, because I don't let the media dictate what I read. I don't read "popular" books simply because they are popular. I seek out and read lesser known authors who have amazing stories to tell. Look around there are so many authors out there just trying to get their stories heard and are being drowned out by mass market books.

  ........Anyways.........

My little & loud opinions about the Pattersons & Roberts of this world can wait for another rant...

I am not a gentle reader that needs to be fed a happy ending to be satisfied. If a story has to end let it be happy or sad or torturous or heart wrenching but let it end! And not FOUR YEARS after the first book was released! I guess I just wish more authors would put out an amazing full bodied novel that took a bit longer than 30 days to write and was carefully planned out and thought through so it could all fit in one amazing story, cover to cover. I don't want to have to re read a series every year to remember what happened in the last book so I can be caught up for the newest release. I want to be moved to tears or laughter or anger and I want it to be amazing and then I want it to end. Period. 

We as readers get strung along and hung out to dry year after year hoping this next book will finally give us the closure only to find out, nope it's not a TRILOGY, the series will have FIVE books released! And the crowd collectively goes... WTF?

So here is a toast to the characters we have left getting on a bus to art school, or on the kitchen floor dying in a pool of blood, or in the hallway crying over the murder of a madman, or in the mangled heap of a car wreck taking their last breathe. We love you, we miss you and we hope you will ONE DAY get your ending, happy or not.

Books I See May 2013 Edition

I work as a Book Merchandiser so I see a lot of books in my travels & I like to compile lists and share to other bookies who don't have the insane compulsion to take photos of all the books they want to read... yes I do that... A LOT! So here it is, a first for my Blog but not for the bookies I chat with on a daily basis. Enjoy :) 

Books I see...

Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

Born at Midnight by  C.C. Hunter - #1 in Shadow Falls

Evidence of a Life by Barbara Taylor Sissel

The Program by Suzanne young - #1 in Program

Freak by Jennifer Hillier

Entice by Jessica Shirvington - #2 in Violet Eden Chapters

The Eternity Cure Julie Kagawa - #2 in Blood of Eden

The Way of the Fight by George St. Pierre

Body Rush by Anne Rainey 

Losing It by Cora Carmack - #1 in Losing It

The Wild Ones by M. Leighton - #1 in Wild Ones

Infamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon - #2 in Chronicles of Nick

If I Were You by Lisa Renee Jones - #1 in Inside Out

What Tears Us Apart by Deborah Cloyed

These Hidden Things by Heather Guderkauf

Nameless by Lili St. Crow - #1 in Tales of Beauty & Madness

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

Fearless by Cornelia Funke - #2 in Reckless

Books Read in 2012

I had to share this before I get started on this years. I read some fantastic books last year and some not so fantastic. Shatter Me & Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi were probably the most interesting series I read in the YA genre. I am a huge fan of all things Dystopian so this series was right up my alley, and if you know me you have probably read it cuz I wouldn't have stopped harassing you until you did :) it's just how I am with a great book. 

Looking back there we two series I kinda hated... and by that I mean I liked it, read ALL the books but in hind site, other authors do the topic it better... The Immortals Series by Alyson Noel (bottom right corner) which was a YA series about an elixir that makes you Immortal. A regular girl meets an immortal boy, love and chaos ensues... but it was VERY high school and the storyline is so repetitive and predictable. I liked the main characters but didnt like the lack of surprise. Fallen by Lauren Kate (top left corner) was the other series I didn't love. Again a regular girl meets a hot mysterious boy who turns out to be a Fallen Angel has loved her for eternity and every time he finds her it's just in time for her to die a horrible death... So ya this storyline of Heaven versus Hell continues for FIVE books! If you want a series about a dark mysterious hot fallen angel Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick is by FAR the better story. The best part about this series aside from the witty fallen angels & nephilim (half angels) is Mr. Cam Briel, a seriously sexy bad boy fallen angel who is only a supporting character and gets very little story time, sadly. 

I have to give a few shout outs to some lesser known authors & books I discovered in 2012...

Everyday by David Laviathan, Hopeless by Colleen Hoover, Night Road by Kristen Hannah, Eve Series by Anna Carrey, Easy by Tamara Webber, Partials by Dan Wells and Beautiful Disaster by Jamie Macguire all brilliant stories that get less publicity than they deserve!

I popped my Fifty Shades cherry last year and... well.. the dirty book lover in me was born LOL! 

I read plenty of well known stuff that I loved as well, Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare,  Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead were other fantasy driven story that stuck with me. 

2012 was a great reading year, thank you for reading my blog, I live and breath books and finding kindred spirits who share my love is a wonderful thing.

Down London Road by Samantha Young

It was sweet, sexy, funny and heartbreaking... 

Cam was so incredibly sexy and sweet, kind and fiercely loyal and supportive in a completely unapologetic way.  Johanna broke my heart the pain she endured and the life she was desperate to live. i had a hard time with her constant 'I'm not worthy' inner monologue and the way she thought the only way for her to survive and support her brother was to find a sugar daddy... ugh. The relationship between Jo & her brother was so touching, the way she did everything to protect him from the childhood she suffered at the hands of their parents, she was fierce when Cole was in danger. The brutal confrontations were so thick with emotion I couldn't help but get swept up and cry! There were a few good twists and I loved how (like Joss from the first book) Jo came from nothing but built this amazing family to love and support her and finally let them help her! 

“Some people are born with family, and others have to make family.”

The passion between Cam & Jo was HOT & the sexual tension in the beginning was... Intense! 

I loved Joss, Braden & Ellie's reappearance too. All & all a great read.

Dark Duet Series by C.J. Roberts

Holy crap! I am so glad I decided to read the last book! This story was hard to read, it was dark and brutal and was not the kind of book I normally read but the relationship between these two people was something that started so hateful and brutal and grew into something so beautiful and loving. I cried my eyes out as she stepped out of the truck. I wanted them to have a happy ending so badly. I loved the way it ended, I felt like it in some strange dark way justified what they both had been put through. I am drawn to stories where the characters are stripped of everything that makes them human, all the love and security taken away and how they find the strength to get out, to find a way to find peace. To heal even if they can barely stand to look in the mirror. It was moving seeing the change in Caleb in book two. He was so much more broken than Livvie was. He had never had anything worth loving, his whole life was pain and revenge and hatred. Livvie opened up his heart and became everything to him, changed his heart & soul. It's was the strangest, darkest love story I had ever read but it will never be forgotten. Be warned it is brutal and painful to read at times, NOT for your average reader, be warned,human trafficking and the slave trade is a scary place to read about. But that aside I highly recommend reading BOTH books.

Taking Chances by Molly McAdams

“That first night, I did realize I would never meet another girl like you. But you deserve someone who has waited for you as long as you have waited for them. And no matter how much I wish I could be that guy, I can't Harper.”
“And he loved you and your mom, so much. I’ll always remind you of that, but I wish you could have met him.” -Brandon”

Once in a while you come across a book that sticks with you. I finished this one over a week ago and still can't read anything else... Total book hangover.
So much went down in this book it felt like a series. Love, hate, heartbreak and trauma. And to quote a friend... "Ugliest cry ever!" LOL I bawled my eyes out more than a few times.

The plot in as few words as possible is: girl goes to college meets a bad boy, then meets a good boy. Falls in love with both and heartache ensues, miscommunication & tragedy ensues, girl looses both boys and finally finds a happy ending in the most unlikely places.

I loved it so much. A lot like Night Road by Kristin Hannah. Tons going on & I just couldn't put it down! Highly recommended!

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

“Hope.
It's like a drop of honey, a field of tulips blooming in the springtime. It's a fresh rain, a whispered promise, a cloudless sky, the perfect punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. And it's the only thing in the world keeping me afloat.”

“Sticks and stones keep breaking my bones but these words, these words will kill me.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Unravel Me
OMG... This was insanely great. I devoured it in about 12 hours. After reading Destroy Me last summer I have been anxiously awaiting what will happen next. I thought Juliette would be stronger in this one, I really hoped she found a place to belong. Bit after spending so much time in solitary she just can't allow herself to be at home anywhere. It's really sad. Her beloved Adam is practically non existent in this book, which was fine by me because I was never a fan. I prefer the dark & twisted Warner. After Destroy Me (2012), I was drawn into the heart & soul of this beautiful disaster of a man. Unravel Me drew me in even more with the introduction of his uber evil father. With Juliette leaning on him because he is the only one who really knows who she is and he excepts everything wi love but doesn't think he is worthy of it in return. I have high hopes for the next book coming out next year (too long). If you haven't read Shatter Me do so, Tahereh Mafi has a style and feel to her writing that is unlike anything I have ever read. You can feel Juliette barely cling to sanity with every word.