Book post #4

The Farm 

By Emily McKay

So this story revolves around two twin sisters, Lily and Mel. Lily is the main source of narration throughout the book as she endeavors to look after her severely autistic sister. The story begins after there has been some form of outbreak which has caused infected humans to turn into vampire like creatures that are known as ‘Ticks’. It is quickly learnt that the government sent teenagers to safe facilitates where they were to be held until the outbreak was brought under control as the ticks appeared to have a greater liking for the taste of teenagers. These facilities are ‘Farms’ where the inhabitants believe they are being housed almost like cattle as food for the ‘Ticks’ and have blood donations taken regularly. The teenagers at their 18^th birthday were told they would be going home but the story indicates that this is not the case. Lily plans to escape before her 18^th with her sister, and just before she escapes someone called Carter, who she knew in her life before, appears and basically puts a spanner in the works.

The most interesting aspect of the differing narrations between Lily, Carter and Mel, are Mel’s chapters as they give the audience a look into how her mind is working differently. She sees and feels everything as if it is music of some form other than this unfortunately for the majority of the book not much happens. The story felt so dragged out and took so long to actually start going somewhere, I began to wonder where this story was heading. At around the half way mark the story began to pick up but still had a long winded feel to it, considering this there was a definitely a lack of description of character look, surroundings and what the ticks actually looked like. This is perhaps why I felt so disconnected to the story.

The book only redeemed its self very near to the end of the book and even then not enough of a redemption for me to recommends this book to others, or to want to read again. I had high hopes for what seemed a well rated and interesting book concept.

Competition Post #6

Handbag - King of Bags

So the other day my handbag finally arrived. I won a competition back in June but there had been some delays. I was then allowed to choose any bag from the website instead of the from the choices listed in the original competition.





So I chose a satchel type bag. I must admit it is much bigger than I expected. But now I can use it for Uni and fit not only my laptop in it but comfortably fit A4 paper/folders.








This is the inside of the bag showing a pouch at the front. Inside of the zip compartment there are two phone size holders as well as the small zip pouch which actually you can fit a smart phone behind and completely hides it.












 Stay Matte mouse foundation - Rimmel

So this also arrived the other day and is a full sized tube of mouse foundation. I normally use liquid, or powder as I have quite oily skin and find even with a good primer the foundation doesn't have much hold on me. I've tried this once so far and I'm unsure whether it works for me. I just feel like it clumps and looks patchy on my skin and it feel very heavy and visible. I had to put a little powder over it to feel more evenly covered. I will try it with different methods of application and see if that makes a difference.

Book Post #3

The Dark Heroine: Dinner With A Vampire - Abigail Gibbs

Dinner with a Vampire written by Abigail Gibbs is a work of fiction with a romantic edge. I am less inclined to list it as 'dark fiction' which a lot of these vampire romance novels get listed as, as I didn't find it very dark at all. But I will get on to that in a little while. This is the first book in a series of books (The Dark Heroine Series) with the second book awaiting release. So the book in general, and for its majority covers the plight of our main character Violet Lee who is taken hostage by a group of Vampire royalty and where she develops for feelings for one of her captors Kasper Varn.

Now my first impression of the book from the first chapter are not good. I found the writing very mediocre and that lots of sentences seemed poorly constructed, which actually made the book hard to read at times. For instance in the first chapter Violet witnesses the vampires from a hiding place, where they haven't noticed her I'll add, and for a very flimsy reason pronounces one of the vampires a 'Jerk' out loud which causes them to notice her and ultimately capture her. It just felt this was a very unimaginative way for the two main characters to be thrown together.

As I progressed on from the first chapter (I must admit that I nearly didn’t carry on reading due to this first chapter) I still felt that the writing style was poor and many sentences seemed childish and it is obvious that the author is young and that she is new to this. I would have expected better editing from the publishers and over the course of the book I found many missing words and repeated phrases which ruined to the flow of the book (which does pick up after around chapter 5). The book is written mainly from Violets point of view. I also found at times scenes where very ‘Twilighty’ such as when Kasper picks Violet up over his shoulder and runs off. The story line begins to pick up from around chapter 3 but found that for the majority of the book was very alike to the majority of books from this genre and nothing standout about it.

I will add the writing improves greatly as the story carries on and actually the story as a whole is very pleasing to read. I managed to read all of it in about a day and considering the author started writing this when she was 15 and that is used to be listed on watt pad that the writing errors are less her fault and more down to poor proof reading by the editors. I will be reading the sequel when it comes out as I whole-heartedly believe her writing will have improved as it did through the course of the first book. It is however very similar to twilight/house of night etc. so if they are your sort of book go for it. Just don’t expect anything out of this world as you will be disappointed like me, who thought I was going to be reading something new and exciting rather than a gory version of books I have already read many times before.

Book Post #2

The Twelve – Justin Cronin

This is a modern science fiction, horror/thriller. I add the horror/thriller tag as the story covers dark issues with a lot of action based events, whilst it is not in my opinion ‘scary’.  So the story is based in a post-apocalyptic world where ‘virals’ (vampire type beings) have taken over and are destroying human life. This story has a slight religious aspect with the main female protagonist who as the book progresses appears to have a connection to some sort of ‘god’ or god like influence. This book is the sequel to ‘The Passage’ which was released in 2010.

This book doesn’t pick up where The Passage leaves of, it actually goes back in time to the days just after the initial outbreak and follows new characters whose story lines set up the new incidents needed for this story to progress. The book then catches back up with the previous characters and we find out what happened to their lives after the end of the first book.

This book is beyond anything I have read in a long time, probably the only book written as well and gripped me quite so fully was its predecessor. It is a well written and well structures fast paced novel that leaves you wanting more even when you have finished the book (which is handy since there is to be another book). There are aspects covering so many human life aspects but all tinged with this struggle to survive in this new world, which is not always fair or even gives people a semblance of a human life (I am unwilling in the review to cover what actually happens as I hate having stories ruined for me and am unwilling to do this to other people).

This is a wold created by and formed from man’s greediness, how they are always looking for a quick fix or an upper hand against themselves. The virals where created so be used as a weapon of mass destruction but also as a method of curing diseases and even to see is immortality could be obtained. A character who was part of this decision process says, when asked what they were thinking says, “It seemed like a good idea at the time”. How many stories have this element in them? Do we as human have to common sense not to progress ourselves too quickly without fully understanding what may occur as a result? (That was pretty deep).

Without giving away any spoilers in this book I developed a strong liking towards the character of Lila. She is mentioned briefly in the first book and is the ex-wife of Brad Wolgast (who becomes a farther figure to Amy the main character). This sequel allows the readers to find out what happened to her when the outbreak happened. I just feel that it was impossible not to feel for this woman and the situation she finds herself in.

I did find that as I read the first book so long ago I was slightly confused to begin with and thought I had completely forgot characters out of the first book. I also got slightly confused with the time shifts till I realised that each new section listed the time zone I was to read about. Each new section starts with a literary quote of some kind and I had overlooked the date stamp. But overall this is definitely a book to make you go ‘Wow’. This an excellent continuation to The Passage and thankfully there is another book still to come so this excellent series can continue. There have also been rumours of a film bouncing around for a few years, the rights have been bought but as of yet no date or even cast list. I won’t hold my breath as other series of books I read many years again had film rights book and no film ever happened. But the book is so superbly written the need for a film is not necessary in my opinion. This book completely draws you in and is a must read especially if like me your getting fed up with the now standard love/romance type vampire novel.

Competition Post #4

World Heritage: Benefits Beyond Borders

So randomly received this book today in the post. It was one of my first wins from when I started entering competitions in June. And I have to be honest I was starting to think it wasn't going to turn up. Now whilst I can say the book has some amazing pictures I can't really see myself settleing in to read it.

Gladly I can use this as a stash prize to give to some unsuspecting friend or family member at Christmas. Its been a pretty slow month on prize wins but these items are free and you have to appreciate that they have been given freely and I like waiting for the win to be honest.