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"

"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

City of Bones (update!!!)

picture courtesy of  http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/

So, while I am reading a few books and classes in between, I have just stumbled upon some crazy news: City of Bones has started filming and the cast is set. The official website is up, so you guys can check out the full cast on the website along with their character and a small blurb of information on the character.

And for those who want confirmation, here is a list of who is playing who:

Characters--------- Actors who will be playing them

1. Clary------- Lily Collins 
2. Jace---------Jamie Campbell-Bower
3. Simon-------Robert Sheehan
4. Alec---------Kevin Zegers
5. Isabelle------Jemima West
6. Magnus------Godfrey Gao
7. Jocelyn-------Lena Headey
8. Luke----------Aidan Turner
9. Hodge--------Jared Harris
10. Valentine----Jonathan Rhys Meyers

You can check out the whole cast on the highlighted link: (city of bones)

I am highly interested how this movie is going to turn out. According to a FAQ On Cassandra Clare's main website/blog, they might make another one if this first movie is successful.

I really do hope that this film won't mess up the book too much but still be creative on how they interpret the book. OF COURSE, nothing is perfect and assuming that this movie will be the best book-into-film that has ever been released is a little too much to expect. However, other's might think otherwise and that means all these people contributing & working towards the release of this movie should work their ass off to make it the best work they have done (my opinion) anyway. 

To the Manor Dead (book review)

picture courtesy sebastianstuart.net

Hope everyone is having a great day. It's raining here in NYC, and I am already thinking of getting myself in a good book along with some film horror (sorry I am a bit of a cliche).

Past few weeks I have been taking a bit of a break in between books just to be able to separate stories. Not one of those folks who read books consecutively without moments of reflection. Your brain gotta digest!

Any-who, I did get to finish 2 books and one of them is an adult mystery titled To the Manor Dead by Sebastian Stuart. Written in first person narrative, this story takes place in upstate New York where an ex-therapist tries to find herself some peace and quiet from listening to her patients. She ends up selling antiques at her own little store and finds herself meeting all sorts of characters. At some point one of them ends up dead and the ex-therapist can't help but to go on a murder quest to find out the culprit.

I found myself most of the time laughing because some of these characters were a bit too cliche for my part. I read the small bio on the author and found myself thinking he might have been in a hurry because the story seemed rushed. The ending was alright but the way the plot unfolds is just a bit off-kilter. I did learn a few new words but as a first in all the book reviews I have done on this blog, I do not recommend this book. I don't think its meant to be a mystery but more of a book that belongs in the comedy section. However, if you want to try it, go ahead. You never know unless you do read it.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

The Unidentified (A Library Find)

straight from Rae Mariz website

The summer is up with exciting new adventures both outdoors and indoors (especially indoors). On a rainy day is good to grab a few books at your local bookstore or library. So be prepared, this summer is packing.

Recently, I picked out a few books in the YA section at random and found this one.

Written in first person narrative this book shows a world in which school is a game composed by companies selling and marketing products to not only the kids but also the adults. Each student gets a chance to improve their skill by creating, designing and even modeling for the companies they get sponsorship from. Classes are no longer about the basics (i.e math, english, biology); it's about the bonus points.

 The main character, Katey, aka "Kid", gets smack dab in what seems to be a protest from a group who call themselves "The Unidentified." And just for kicks, (I am not kidding, this girl is a Nancy Drew), "Kid" ventures out to find out who are "The Unidentified" and what is their purpose within the Game. Little does she know what twisted Jump Shot ride is waiting for her. 

This book is Nancy Drew meets "A Brave New World." There is sarcasm within the voices in the characters you will appreciate and quirky language that might just be catchy. The writing is great in capturing the archetypes and the social setting of the basic day-to-day high school is captured juuust about right. Personally, this book will do well without being a series since the ending was nor cliff-hanging or cliche. However, your imagination will follow with how advanced the technology in here is depicted. I recommend this book for those days when you want a mental distracting mini adventure. 

Dead is the New Black (Indeed)

A quick read is always needed when someone is on the go. And this one is just the adventure needed when say sitting in an office bench.

The adventure, or rather the story, starts exactly as it is happening. Written in first person narrative in the voice of Daisy Giordano, Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez; revolves around Nightshade, a town where strange happenings tend to occur. For Daisy and the rest of the inhabitants of Nightshade, these happenings are just part of everyday life; until a girl is found dead with unknown causes and the "it" girl, Samantha Devereaux, comes in Nightshade High sporting an outrageous new look. Things are not starting out good. Especially when Daisy's mom, a psychic who works on helping solve crimes, comes home in need of help on the case of the dead girl.

Trust this book to bring you back in that cozy Nancy Drew drive with a mystery that will remind you of Scooby-Doo. Although, there won't be any monster chase with multiple doors to imagine, there is quite a romance and your cliche of highschool dances to read and picture.

Til next review,

Eleanor Bobo