Fire in Ice---Not Too Cheesy and All the Grits

picture courtesy of goodreads.com

*waves flag* Cheerio.

It's basically summer over here and I already hit the books. I am planning on some beach reads and definitely non-fiction.

And still talking about books: I just finished a fantasy book a few days back. All suspense, action, and a bad-ass female main character; Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs centers on Mercy Thompson, a were coyote, going on a rescue rampage yet again.

Married to an alpha werewolf, Mercy has her husband and a pack of wolves to worry about. She goes on an adventure to save her husband and the pack. Of course, as the series entails many are after her head and her life is now up for bidding to the highest bidder and the strongest fighter to fight her on a fight to the death.

I have followed this series for a while and have found myself an avid fan with all the action, back talking, supernatural characters, dark humor, and sweet romance. However in this volume Briggs cuts short. The plot involves conspiracy which is great but the conspiracy itself is a-typical and given to you the reader before you get the chance to figure out who it is. It's the equivalent of watching Dora and having Dora answer the question before you got a chance to answer back. Bad Bad. Swiping rights should be up when a book is 340 pages and it involves a typical cat and mouse chase like this one.

This book is perfect for a snack read, otherwise don't count on fireworks with this one.

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Trapped in a Bookstore

picture courtesy of ebooksmio.com

*cues R&B music*
Almost had you there didn't I.

Now the title may remind you of an infamous urban opera but I won't be writing or posting any parody of that.

This blog post is a book review on a book I finished recently titled Allison Hewitt is Trapped by Madeleine Roux. 

As you can tell from the hands on the book cover and "zombie novel" on the bottom, it is a zombie story. It centers on the account of a girl, Allison Hewitt, who works at a bookstore and gets "trapped" there with her co-workers when a bunch of zombies attack the town. As she and her co-workers figure out a way to survive, Allison posts regularly on a blog in which she talks about her accounts of the day using the only internet network out there. 

To tell you the truth, when I looked at the cover of this book, I was really looking for a horror binge read. The equivalent of craving some candy corn when its not even Halloween. You just like candy corn (unless you don't then well..I am sorry T.T).

At first, I thought it would be one of those cheesy books where the whole book is following the main character in a library and surviving a day: like the premise of the film "The Day After Tomorrow." Once I read the first few pages, I found that it wasn't at all cheesy and that is when I got hooked. 

This book pulled me in with its narrative and writing style of "blog entries".  There were a few moments where I felt depressed reading, but once I got over that, I kept going. I was that hooked. I needed to know if Allison was going to make it and what happened to her life.

However there are a few cons (maybe?). There isn't extensive explicit gory details on how the zombies get decapitated or sex scenes. Yep, you read correctly this is a PG-13 type of book, which is surprising because I found this book in the adult fiction collection, but hey...whatever.
It hit the spot but it left a cliff-hanger ending of what happened to Allison. 



Point: if you're on a zombie fiction binge and you like strong female characters for main center, you can pick this one up. You'll find drama, loss, zombies, and different sorts of action. 


Til Next Blog Post,
Miss Bobo

P.S. By the way: check out this fan made trailer "based on the novel"

Book Geek Week News for 2013

courtesy of imdb.com

courtesy of imdb.com

Hey, everybody. Hope you all are having a great holiday week. Wish you all good tidings before, during, and after New Years Eve.

Just wanted to drop by a review along with some other news.

First off: news; with the Twilight saga thing ending there are two movies coming out soon (just around the corner) that are straight from the supernatural fiction book shelves: Beautiful Creatures coming out in February 2013 and City of Bones (part of the Mortal Instruments series) in August of 2013.


The significance is that despite the 7 month gap in between movies, there is a question of which one will take the throne for film adaptation of a supernatural YA novel. There is also the question if these movies will capture the series well, quench the thirst of the book fans, and also create a strong hold on the audiences that go watch them.


Nevertheless, with such movies coming out, it is seen that the supernatural genre in the YA section is taking popularity. And among them there are other novels being adapted to film next year. Here is a list of a few I found on squidoo.com:


1. World War Z by Max Brooks (set to release on June 2013)
2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (set to release November 2013)

3. Paranoia by Joseph Finder (set to release October 2013)

4. The Host by Stephenie Meyer (set to release March 2013)

5. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (set to release November 2013)

And these are just a few of them. I guess now with less new ideas in the world of cinema, most people working in that medium are adapting movies to cash in the big check or really haven't found a new idea besides making a romantic comedy, action movie, or a movie based directly on a book or some significant thing in the media. But enough of my ranting on that.

 So far, things have come out good. Books never stop being in popularity whether e-book style or physical print with all the binding and non-virtual pages. And other good news: picked out some interesting novels and a few book reviews are due after this post, (right before New Years Eve!)

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Thank You & Some Hot Tamales!

Tally-ho Book Adventurers! I apologize for being M.I.A for the past few weeks. I have been caught in the tumults of life (school work) and a book I am reading which I will be reviewing very soon (hint: Santiago Gamboa). 

picture courtesy of memegenerator.net

Just want to state for the new followers: thank you for following and don't be scared to post a comment (whether good/bad). I welcome all opinions: as long as there are no insults. 

Books are a window to different worlds and universes; not everyone will like the same "trip" (OK, I don't make sense that much but bear with me >.<). So thank you again for following this blog :D

As for the hot tamales: some of you might be all too familiar with the movement that is going on online: indie self-published ebooks that have been posted on the kindle ebook section of amazon.com.

picture courtesy of Wiki Commons

So far, I have found myself confounded by 5 pages of the list of free ebooks online. I am still perusing as of this moment and have downloaded about 5 books. (And they're mine to keep *evil grin*). Oh, and for those of you who are always hesitant about hot books that are turned into movies (i.e Alex Cross, The Hunger Games): in the list of free books you will be able to find previews of those books. SOoooo, instead of buying the "hot" books you can preview them and see if you like them; if not you don't have to worry about wasting your money...cause its FREE!

And on another hot tamale: I just found out last week: the film adaptation for Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl is expected for release on February of next year. For those of you who are fans of the series, the date on the IMDB.com (which is where I got my source of information) says February 13 2013 as the release date (just in case you want to mark your calendar). 

I also saw the trailer and as a film adaptation: doesn't look bad. Then again, trailers can deceive people. Anywaaaays, I suggest to start recommending reading the original books (yep, it's a series alright) to your friends who are fantasy/paranormal romantics because it is a love story AND it would suck for them to see the movie and then read the book that way: the characters will be defined by the actors rather than them choosing as to how they would look like when they read the book. My professor for Film Rhetoric once said that it is better for the reader to have the power on how the characters look like in a book than defining them in appearances to the actors in the film version. Definitely agree on that.

For now, that's it folks

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

"Why Be the Sheep When You Can Be the Wolf?"

picture courtesy of compassbookratings.com

Good Afternoon fellow book pirates! Just came through with a finished reading on a book that came out this summer.

Taking place in medieval Britain, the story centers on a girl named Ismae who escapes an arranged marriage by the hands of fate. Turns out she is destined to be the handmaiden of Death since the "mistake" of her birth and is sent to a convent in which she is trained to be an assassin.

However, as it may, things aren't always cut and dry when there are politics at hand, romance, and traitors in the midst of a potential war. What will Ismae do?

This is a unique story because its not your everyday medieval novel. I mean, the main character is trained to be an assassin which is a bit antagonistic. She is definitely not girly and kind of awkward when it comes to interacting with hot guys. And what I also like about this book is that the romance (yes there is romance) isn't the main focus of the novel. There is action and almost a textual game of Clues because when reading it, it isn't exactly clear who is the traitor in the group of people surrounding the duchess. I'd say its a great book for the beginning of the series but I think some of the supporting characters could have had a little bit more spotlight to add more mystery or something else. Otherwise, I recommend as a train read.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Stray (First Fall Book Review)

courtesy of rachelvincent.com

Hope you all are having a good week. The fall season has started and its time to collect some of those books for the time in between work and school.

And talking about books, today I finally finished an awesome adventurous one I was reading ebook style:

Written in first person narrative, Stray by Rachel Vincent is centered on Faythe, a girl doing her years in graduate school to escape her family life. Independent and stubborn, Faythe has spent her years in college studying and annoyed at the bodyguards her father sends to protect her. Being the only female daughter who is a werecat, she has always been a great concern of her parents. And as human girls start to appear dead within werecat territory, worry starts to bubble even more.

The concept of a “werecat” was interesting to find in this book since werewolves have been one of the famous fantasy archetypes along with the vampire. Here, werecats are very similar to werewolves in behavioral aspects but have different elements of stealth. For example, in this book werecats are impervious to silver.

I also found the main character, Faythe, to be a little too stubborn and crazy in the beginning but as the story progresses it becomes apparent the reason why she is that way and why she avoids her family. There is suspense in this book in which there are twists and unsuspected turns along with adventure and romance. And even the romance itself is intense and less sweet than your usual conventional one.

Finishing this book, I find myself highly intrigued and waiting for the next one since this book is the first in the series. However, I do have to say that this book was really graphic in the violence content and there were some scenes that I actually had to take a 2-day break before continuing reading. I definitely recommend to read this book for those of you who are shape-shifter fans and like some good suspenseful action. 

Beware: this book requires a certain tolerance to violence.

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Crossing (book review)

picture courtesy of examiner.com

I always like reading books exposing or showing different cultures such as in the case of Akata Witch or The Housekeeper & The Professor. I learn something new through the characters or even the environment they are put upon.

Crossing by Andrew Xia Fukuda does that. Written in the first person narrative, the novel is told in the voice of Xing Xu who alongside his family and friend, Naomi Lee, is a Chinese immigrant. Naomi and him are the only Chinese immigrants in a usual all-white school. And as another year begins, students start to die unexpectedly, reporting before their death a man with a red jacket. As the story progresses, Xing finds out many things of people and of himself that will amount to an interesting ending of the book.

When I read the first page, I got interested. However, as I read more I got more into the book. This book has impeccable vocabulary that it took me back to Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (and that book had so much vocabulary).

The mystery part of Crossing isn't focused on the murderer but rather the after effects that affect the main character. There is a struggle to fit in with a community that has never really seen people from a different ethnicity besides Xing and Naomi. This book got me to see more of the clash between "U.S. land of the free" and the reality of immigrants here. Fukuda did a wonderful job giving a realistic tint to a YA novel. Most YA novels deal with angst and fitting in but this novel deals in a deeper angst: one of living with a constant struggle of fitting in  that is harder to fix than a makeover. After all you can't change where you come from.

I definitely recommend this book if 1. you want to learn new words like "vociferous," "visceral" or "ephemeras"; 2. you like mysteries and ...3. you don't like perfect endings because this book did not end in a happy "perfect" ending. I can write so many more reasons as to why you should read this book but in the end: I rather you just try for the sake of another adventure on the go.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Be Careful What You Wish For ("The Boy Who Couldn't Die") Book Review

picture courtesy of jacketflap

Hope you all are having a wonderful head-start on your weekend. But now the book review at hand!

At a library or bookstore there is always a random book you will find that will snatch you by the cover or maybe its magical allure (maybe not). However, for me this one was the title. Any book can have a skull on the cover but a title like this? It kind of reminded me of those Fear Street novels by R.L. Stine.

Written in first person narrative by William Sleator, The Boy Who Couldn't Die is the story of Ken, a teenage boy who is dealing with the death of his best friend Roger. After two weeks of dealing with his grief he ventures out to become immortal. What he doesn't know won't kill him right?

Reading this novel was exciting in some ways. This one is rather unique from the usual supernatural books. Although there is romance, it isn't the main focus of the story. Sleator wrote Ken's character so believable that I actually disliked his personality. I was glad Ken learned a few lessons after finishing the book. The ending was "meh" because it focused on the romance part of the book. Of course it would have been cliche if the ending was something like the villain coming back and getting one last laugh. Either way I definitely recommend this book if you are in the mood for some supernatural third world witchcraft.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Unraveling Isobel (Book Review)

picture courtesy to goodreads.com

I remember back when I reviewed Possessed, mostly a quasi ghost story I lost anticipation in. It was all right for amounting to the suspense in a lot of moments but where was the huge wisp of mystery? Anywaaaaays, talking about ghost stories, just  a few days ago I finished reading another ghost-story novel titled Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook.

Written in first person narrative, this novel is about Isobel, 17 years old, who is dealing her last year as a minor living with her mom, her new husband, Richard, and Richard's hot son. Isobel really didn't want to leave her home in Seattle to live with Richard (a.k.a "Dick"). Plus the fact that she is still thinking about going to art school despite her mother's rejection to it. However, as Isobel stays at Richard's house she starts experiencing things that set her on the brink of questioning her sanity.

Within reading the first page of this book, I was in giggles. Isobel's character is relateable and there are no hints on what comes next. OF COURSE, there is a whole subtlety to "Dick" in the way he acts that eventually you get it. I like that Cook put good humor within the characters and the events that happen throughout the book, enough to entertain but not throw off the plot. There were moments where I was taken by the unexpected. I liked that I couldn't guess right what was going to happen next. However, the ghost part of the book wasn't too much to really freak me out. The ending was just the icing on the cake. I still recommend it in case there is a mood for some dark humor and a mystery literary scooby snack gone not-too-stale.

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Vampires Still Amist

the hardcover cover

While I am cooking up that movie vs. book comparison I will continue to cultivate the usual random book reviews. Recently, I finished another supernatural novel. (I have a fancy for the supernatural especially vampires). When it comes to vampires in novels you know there is going to be some action. This is definitely the case with Meg Cabot’s Overbite; a novel written in third person narrative about vampires, redemption, ancient history, and of course some romance.

Taking place in present day New York, Overbite follows Meena, a psychic; her vampire lover, Lucien Antonescu; her brother, Jon; and her handsome co-worker, Alaric Wulf in an action drama against flesh eating vampires.  Although, Jon participates less in the action as the other characters, the action is just an added bonus to all the dramatic twists.

This novel would mostly be considered a supernatural mystery/romance because certain “criminals” are punished and eliminated and of course the protagonist gets the happy ending.  It would have been advisable for Meena to have been able to kick some butt just like the other characters instead of just having the brains to uncover the mystery. Nevertheless, Velma would be proud for her cookie smarts. If you are a vampire action lover you will definitely get sucked into this book.