Review: Clarity by Loretta Lost

Clarity by Loretta Lost

Series: Clarity, #1
Release Date: February 20th 2014
Publisher:  Createspace
Format: ebook
Pages: 162
Genre: New Adult - Romance
Source: Author
Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads

Fiercely independent Helen Winters was born completely blind, but she vowed never to let her disability keep her down. She did not expect a traumatic event to devastate her life and force her to drop out of college. Disillusioned by the cruelty of people, Helen retreated from society to live by herself as a reclusive writer in the woods—where no one could ever hurt her again.

When a brilliant young doctor shows up on her doorstep, promising her that his new research can give her the ability to see for the first time, Helen stubbornly refuses. She has learned not to trust anyone, and to rely only on herself. But Dr. Liam Larson will not take no for an answer. He makes it his personal mission to rescue Helen from her loneliness, and bring joy into her world once more—the joy she has denied herself for so long.

When Helen’s demons come racing back into her life, threatening to rip her apart and destroy the strength she has carefully rebuilt, Liam is the only one who might be able to save her.

Can he reach the broken girl in time, helping her to heal and see the world in a different light? Or will Helen’s grief send her spiraling out of control, lost to him forever?

Helen Winters was born completely blind, however, she has always been independent. She didn’t like using her cane because she felt like it broadcasted her disability to the world. She also didn’t have a dog or any sort of help to make her life easier. The beginning of the book shows Helen lost in a staircase in her college. A man decides to be nice and help her find her class. Unfortunately she figures out way to late that he does not have good intentions. Obviously being blind she doesn’t have any details about him except for his voice. She doesn’t tell her family what has happened to her, but she drops out of college after that.

Jump forward three years and Helen is living alone in a secluded house in the words, far away from any family. She has changed her name and doesn’t tell anyone her new address. She has become a writer and still lives completely independent. One day two doctors, Liam and Owen, show up at her door and offer her the opportunity of a lifetime. They believe that a study on gene therapy drug treatment could possibly make her able to see for the first time. She is reluctant at first but she gets a call from her sister (who we will discuss in a moment), and makes a bargain with the doctors. If they take her to home, which is like two sates away, to see her sister’s wedding, then she will participate in the study. It pretty much goes downhill from here.

I have many problems with this book. One, what woman, blind or not, decides to take a more than one day road trip with two men that she has now for just a few minutes. Talk about stupidity. Then Owen decides that he is going to talk IN DETAIL about various porns for 3 hours straight! WHO DOES THAT TO A PERSON THEY JUST MET?!?! Then she starts in on it too! I really think my jaw was laying on the floor by this time. Granted, Liam was apologizing for him but still. Then we have Helens sister. Man that girl was a bitch. She guilt trips her sister into coming to her wedding then says that if she doesn’t have a date she is going to force her to go with someone. So Liam and Helen decide that they are going to go to the wedding together and pretend to be dating. Helen’s sister forces her to call him just to prove he’s real then starts talking about how big his dick is or something. I would walk out and that room and away from that girl forever.

As soon as the call from the sister happened I knew what the ending was going to be. Saying that though, the ending still pissed me off. It literally just ended at the climax of the story. That was the part I was actually continuing to read it for. I almost DNF’d this book at one point because I just found it too ridiculous in places. I’m not sure if they second book is going to start off right where the first one ended but I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t. I have absolutely no plans on reading it. I was reading some 5 star reviews of this book and serious wondering if I had read the same copy as these people…. I have now changed my rating from a two to a one star. 

My Rating:

*This book was provided by the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review. 

Mini Review: The Squirrel Mother by Megan Kelso

The Squirrel Mother by Megan Kelso

Release Date: July 17th 2006
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Format: Paperback
Pages: 136
Source: My collection
Author: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads

Kelso's work is characterized by subject matter that fits roughly into two disparate camps: personal and semi-autobiographical stories that draw heavily on the details of her childhood and adolescence, and stories about the idea of America and American history, such as a trilogy of short pieces about Alexander Hamilton. Her work is distinguished from many of her contemporaries as much by her spare, elegant, calligraphic linework, leisurely pacing, and psychological acuity as it is by the absence of nihilism, scatology, pedantry, and formal experimentalism. Her work is charming, witty, nuanced, slightly elusive, and sharply observed.

The Squirrel Mother features 15 stories of between three and twenty-two pages in full color, including two stories, "Meow Face" and "Aide de Camp," done especially for this volume. The personal stories are each self-contained but in a sense take place in the same world where similar characters inhabit different stories. The "America" stories are broader in subject matter, taking on events of political and historical significance and wrestling with ideas having to do with the American experience.

This was not very good. Not very good at all. This is a collection of short stories in graphic novel form. I was actually really excited when I picked this book up because I didn’t know anything about it and it had an interesting title. That was a bad idea because if I would have checked Goodreads I would have seen that it was rated less than a 3 star, which is pretty bad.

The only thing that’s actually good that I can think to say about it is the artwork. It was pretty simple sketches and they were all in black and white or muted colors. It reminded me of something out of the Sunday comics. That is honestly the best thing I can think of to say. I read pretty much all of the stories but there were two that I skimmed through because I got bored.

There is one story in particular that talks about sucking poison from boys. (She is not talking about actual poison). One of the stories is called “Fuck the Troops”. That is part of the section that I skimmed through. Then another story involved a stuffed bear getting hung by a child. The first story was sad and I actually thought the book wasn’t going to be too bad starting off with that. But no…

I can’t recommend that anyone read this book. I feel bad rating it so low because I haven’t had to rate a book a one star in a long time. It is bound to happen eventually though. I will probably be getting rid of this book.

My Rating:

Review: Wasteland by Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan

Wasteland by Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan
Wasteland, #1
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published March 26th 2013 by HarperTeen
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Welcome to the Wasteland. Where all the adults are long gone, and now no one lives past the age of nineteen. Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan’s post-apocalyptic debut is the first of a trilogy in which everyone is forced to live under the looming threat of rampant disease and brutal attacks by the Variants —- hermaphroditic outcasts that live on the outskirts of Prin. Esther thinks there’s more to life than toiling at harvesting, gleaning, and excavating, day after day under the relentless sun, just hoping to make it to the next day. But then Caleb, a mysterious stranger, arrives in town, and Esther begins to question who she can trust. As shady pasts unravel into the present and new romances develop, Caleb and Esther realize that they must team together to fight for their lives and for the freedom of Prin.

 

 

My Initial Thoughts:

Well this sounds like the pretty standard post-apocalyptic dystopian. The toss in of Variants might give it a little extra something. I don’t have huge expectations for it but it does sound like it could be a good book.  

My Review:

Well, unfortunately I was disappointed in this book. My major disappointment is the world building. The world building in this book really isn’t very good at all. I would have liked to see a good explanation of how the world got the way it did. They mention acidic rain and past earthquakes but that’s really as far as it goes.

In this book no one lives past the age of 19. There is no genetic mutation or anything like that. It just seems they die at a young age because of all the hard work, lack of food, and harsh conditions. You would think this would be a random age that they die at not just people dying at 19. They are still living off supplies from “the source” so the events could not have happened to long ago. However there are no adults left at all. Children start being placed at jobs at a very young age. I have a 6 year old and I can say without a doubt you couldn’t get him to work those jobs all day in the hot sun, yet this doesn’t seem to be a problem in the story.

At the age of 12-14 children start being partnered (basically married) and usually have children soon after. That seems just crazy to me. Even if the world is going to hell that is still way too young, especially if people are still living up until they are 19.

The situation doesn’t make sense. I don’t see how a town full of people would do all this work and take orders from one guy that they don’t ever see just so he will share the food from the place he broke in to. I don’t see a bunch of people just standing by while they work to get gas for the only place in town that has electricity but they aren’t allowed to go in it. They are all scared of a few bodyguards because they have hand held Tasers. Yet (SMALL SPOILER) the guards seem to be over powered quite easily a couple times in the book.

There are also no explanations on the Variants. At the beginning the main character says she doesn’t know how they got that way but they are almost alien creatures so there needed to be some sort of explanation for them.  They choose at a certain age whether they want to be male or female! (Not a spoiler. This is at the beginning of the book). This seems to be of no use to the story and sort of just added in there for no reason. So I started and ended the book being quite confused on the Variants and why people hated them so much before they started being attacked.

Besides the bit of randomness with the Variants there are also certain bits of the story that seem to just be thrown in to cause the story to continue. One which is sort of a spoiler that involves Esther’s sister is almost completely random and I don’t understand why the authors chose to put it in the story.

As for the characters, I really didn’t care about any of them. The writing in this book didn’t make you feel anything. You were told that the two characters fell in love but you weren’t made to feel it. You were told how mad Caleb was about his family’s death but there was nothing there to feel. You don’t even learn anything about his first partner or really even his child.

I could really go on for more but I think I made my point so I am just going to stop here.

Do I Recommend this Book/Series?

I don’t like to say this but no I don’t recommend this book. There are much better post-apocalyptic/dystopian books on the market.

Will I Read the Next Book?

I doubt it.

My Rating:

The more I wrote on the review the more I realized how much I really didn’t like the book. It ended up losing a couple stars in the process.

 

*This book was provided by the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

Sneak Peek Review: Cinders & Sapphires by Leila Rasheed

Cinders & Sapphires by Leila Rasheed
At Somerton, #1
Hardcover, 400 pages
Expected publication: January 22nd 2013 by Disney-Hyperion
Goodreads|Amazon

One house, two worlds...

Rose Cliffe has never met a young lady like her new mistress. Clever, rich, and beautiful, Ada Averley treats Rose as an equal. And Rose could use a friend. Especially now that she, at barely sixteen, has risen to the position of ladies’ maid. Rose knows she should be grateful to have a place at a house like Somerton. Still, she can’t help but wonder what her life might have been had she been born a lady, like Ada.

For the first time in a decade, the Averleys have returned to Somerton, their majestic ancestral estate. But terrible scandal has followed Ada’s beloved father all the way from India. Now Ada finds herself torn between her own happiness and her family’s honor. Only she has the power to restore the Averley name—but it would mean giving up her one true love . . . someone she could never persuade her father to accept.

Sumptuous and enticing, the first novel in the At Somerton series introduces two worlds, utterly different yet entangled, where ruthless ambition, forbidden attraction, and unspoken dreams are hidden behind dutiful smiles and glittering jewels. All those secrets are waiting . . . at Somerton.

First off, I only read a sneak peek of this novel, saying that, this will be a short review and has the possibility of changing once I get the chance to read the entire book. However, I’m glad this was only a sneak peak because I’m not sure I would have made it through the entire book.

The first thing I noticed was it reminded me of a Gossip Girl type book and I haven’t even read that. There were so many people introduced right off the bat and I was extremely confused as to who was who. There really wasn’t any introduction to anybody. They were all just kind of thrown in there.

I don’t think I will be reading the full version of this book but I bet there are plenty of people that will.

My Rating:

Mini Monday #18

 

Mini Monday is something I created to talk about anything related to children’s books. Usually it ends up being a “Mini Review” but if it is related to children’s books then talk about it here!

Santa’s Surprise Letter by Roy Thomas
e-book
Amazon

An interactive adventure for children. You take part in writing a letter to Santa because you feel he has never been given a present for himself. As the story progresses you have to try to work out exactly what Santa has asked for from a list of fourteen items! The story will have you laughing right through to the final page where there is an illustration of the gift. Can you guess what it is? Buy the book and have lots of laughs and fun!

 

I was extremely disappointed in this book. I expected this to be a “create your own adventure” book but it wasn’t. If you didn’t choose the “correct” choice you had to go back and choose again. This whole thing was just one story. There was no way you would get an alternate ending or anything like that.

I’m so glad it was free when I got it from Amazon because I wouldn’t pay money for this. I definitely wasn’t “laughing right through to the final page” as the synopsis says.

There is also only one illustration throughout the entire book. The synopsis says this is a “gift”. The author also uses both the names “Santa Claus” and “Father Christmas”; I think he should have stuck to using just one of the names.

This book would’ve been much better if the author would have just created a children’s book with pictures and one story.

My Rating:

Review: The Intruders by Olive Peart

The Intruders by Olive Peart
Paperback, 272 pages
Published February 20th 2010 by Demarche Publishing LLC
Goodreads|Amazon

Six teenagers from the Bronx set out to explore a cave in their neighborhood and end up three centuries into the future. After saving the life of one member of a tribe, the Bronx teens are accepted. Within weeks, however, they find themselves in the middle of a fight for survival. Another tribe living in Manhattan is bent on wiping out the tribe in the Bronx. These teenagers have a unique advantage in this war—they know the land. For the six, this becomes a true adventure. However, all too soon their adventure becomes very real. Their dog dies, and now both friends and enemies are getting killed. This was no longer fun this was war!

Unfortunately I don’t have a lot to say about this book because I did not finish it. I read about 40% of the way through before I gave up. There were quite a few things that I did not like about though.

The writing style was not my favorite. When I first started reading I felt like I was reading something a kid wrote.

I felt that the character building (or characters in general) could have been much better. I was not convinced at all that I was reading about a group of kids from the Bronx. One of the boys liked to use “Shirts!” as his exclamation. I’m sorry but I don’t think a teenage boy is going to use that to say when he is mad or frustrated. Even one that doesn’t cuss I don’t think would say that.

 I felt the way they “handled” their time travel was not realistic at all. They walked out of the cave and everybody immediately agreed that they had time traveled and that it was ok to cook and eat a wild coyote. I just felt that was weird.

After trying to get into the book I had to put it down.

I am also not a fan of this cover.

My Rating:

*I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.

Review: My Dead Friend Sarah by Peter Rosch

My Dead Friend Sarah by Peter Rosch
Paperback, 228 pages
Published April 21st 2012 by Createspace
Goodreads|Amazon

Mere months into recovery, Max, an alcoholic with twisted control issues, meets Sarah – the same woman that for years he’s habitually dreamt will die after a botched abduction. "Doing the next right thing," a popular AA phrase he’s picked up in the rooms, means befriending Sarah long enough to warn her and hope she takes him seriously. But when Sarah falls in love with Max, his newly sober thinking drives him to choose his overly devoted wife, and he abandons Sarah – even when it condemns her to death. When Sarah goes missing, the NYPD suspects Max’s dream may have been a pre-crime confession. The truth, all of it, lurks inside of Max, but only by drinking again does he recapture the nerve and clarity vital to free his wife, sponsor, and himself from a life imprisoned by lies.

I don’t really like giving bad reviews so this one will be to a minimum. I just really couldn’t get into this book and I only read about a ¼ of it. When reading the synopsis I really thought this was going to be more of suspense book but what I read nothing happened.

The author switched between Sarah and Max as the chapters went on. Sarah was kind of weird and paid for all this therapy but wouldn’t even tell the therapist the truth. Max went through the chapters telling why alcoholics do certain things. (Sort of) I was on the 11^th chapter and hadn’t found out why Max drank.

I just unfortunately couldn’t keep reading. To say the least I was bored. The book was written just as thoughts. Almost like a diary but I wouldn’t go that far.

This book had quiet mixed ratings on Goodreads. It seemed like a love it or hate it book.

I do have to say that I saw one negative review on Goodreads that the author had commented on. He was quiet nice and thanked the reviewer for the constructive criticism. That was quiet noble (I think that is the correct word) of him.

I recommend that you at least check this book out. You may be one that really likes it! I wish I did because I never like leaving a book unfinished.

Let me know if you’ve read this and what you thought!

Rating:

*This book was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review.