So Down I Fall - Alex Benedict ★★★ 3/4

One gets tired of reading about the same type of super natural creatures. Vampires, werewolves and zombies, all seem to be the hit thing at the moment and it gets old. So Down I fall by Alex Benedict isn't about creatures on land, but in the sea.

I entered to win this book from the author as a part of the Goodreads.com contest giveaway..Obviously, I won and when I received it in the mail I began to read and 6 hours later (doing a few things in between) I was finished.

The first sentence, had me hooked. "I thought about killing myself the old-fashioned way: overdosing on a handful of pills, driving my truck into a tree." Its one of those sentences where you get so engrossed into the words that you just keep reading........and reading......and reading, until there is nothing left to read.

Grace O'Neal, no longer cares. Everything that mattered went away the day her mother died. She gives in to everything and attempts suicide but gets rescued. A few days later, she meets the new boy in town, Adam, and everything she knew changes. She starts to feel again....but its no happy ending.

As I mentioned above, this book captured me into a little Island off of Maine. I enjoyed the book until about 60 pages left to read. It seemed like it just got very corny. The things you find out, was not really a surprise, but more of a "Really? That's the best that you can come up with?" Then the last 30 pages it got too mushy. It was one of those "I love you" "Don't Leave" "I wont" "I love you." Rinse and repeat.

Regardless of the mushy corniness at the last 60ish pages, I still highly enjoyed it. Some was a bit predictable, but for the most part it was interested and I look forward to reading #2.

Call Me Emily - Laura Albright ★★★ 1/2

Oh, Emily....You made the biggest mistake. The mistake that 90%* of the female population makes at one point or another. "Call Me Emily" is a coming of age story through the 1980 college years. Emily is starting her first year at a Southern California University. She begins settling in and making friends and one night she meets Graham. Everything changes.

:::Spoilers alert:::

Emily falls head over heels in love with Graham and the biggest mistake she makes...changing herself to please him. She does everything she can to make him happy and she "feels" happy, but when its all said and done....at the end of the day, shes not happy. Takes her a while to realize it, but she does eventually.

Call me Emily, was a quick read. It felt at times I was reading more of a diary then a novel only because it seemed to "jump" from one thing to another without a typical "novel" like transition.

I'm glad that Emily made the choices she made in the end and I've marked book two on my "to read" list. I'm hoping her and Jose get together.

Note: I recieved this book as a Goodreads.com first-reads contest winning.

*statistics pulled out of no where.

The Last Summer of The Camperdowns - Elizabeth Kelly ★★★★

 

 

Riddle me this......

 

It's the Summer of 1972 and Riddle "Jimmy" "Hoffa" James Camperdown keeps the biggest secret of her life. At 12 years old she witnesses a crime but doesn't tell a soul. As her parents seem to become more distant (Her father is in politics and her mother still star struck) she begins to fall in love with Harry Delvin. The son of her fathers once best friend. As the year goes on, Riddle learns more truths and secrets, but does she keep her secret or finally tell someone?

 

I had the opportunity to read the advance readers copy of "The Last Summer of the Camperdowns" by Elizabeth Kelly (via Goodreads.com). I started reading the first few pages and was worried that I wouldn't get into it. There was a lot of description and I always seem to loose focus was a novel has too much detail. I get lost in the detail and forget what I was reading, but after a while I adjusted to the novel and the pages just flew by. I also think I've become just that much more smart after reading this. There were words that I never even heard of and actually had to look up! At times I forgot that Riddle was only 12 because of the vocabulary that was used.

 

I enjoyed The Last Summer of the Camperdowns. I was intrigued by how fear can prevent people from doing the right thing. I kept wondering when and if Riddle would do the right thing. Was there more to Greer (Riddle's mother) and Michael (Harry's father) than meets the eye? Who really was behind the biggest crime that shook the a little town of Wellfleet. What I liked most, is the story went fully circle.

 

I still have a few questions that went unanswered, but I have my theories.

 

 

 



Doug & Carlie - Lisa Smartt ★★★ 1/2

I've been debating on whether to give Doug & Carlie by Lisa Smartt, three or four stars. I'm very undecided so I'll just go with 3.5.

Carlie is 32 years old, single and working at the Dollar Store, life can't get any better, right? Wrong. It can get better but not for very long. She meets Doug who lives 8 hours away but immediately builds a connection with. After a few weeks of long distance dating, Carlie gets the opportunity of a life time and she needs to decide what to do.

I liked the book because Carlie spoke what was on her mind and didn't hold back. She was truthful, even if sometimes she was more honest then needing to be (IE. Her first email to Doug). I liked it. It's not everyday that you come across someone who just doesn't care and will tell it like it is. I also liked that Carlie made the choice for herself. When deciding to jump at the chance of an opportunity of a lifetime, she doesn't make it because her parents...she doesn't make the decision before of Doug...she makes the decision because its something she wants. She put herself first.

The reasons why I didn't like it and had a hard time deciding on the rating is because with Carlie being the strong independent no nonsense woman, she sure did cry a lot. Everyone cried a lot. Yes there were times that granted the crying (Grieving at a funeral...or two) but it felt like almost every other page someone was crying. For petty little reasons. I may not be as emotional or something but it irritated me. I wanted to yell out, "GROW A PAIR AND STOP CRYING!! GOSH!"  Yes, this bothered me enough to mark it down a full star.

Overall, it was a cute story and there was character development.

Jaden Baker - Courtney Kirchoff ★★★★★

I do not really read a whole lot of paranormal type books. Dark forces, Super natural Creature, the living dead, super human powers... I never seem to be able to get into the books, unless they have something that I can't keep away from.

Jaden Baker is something, someone, I couldn't keep away from.

The novel written by Courtney Kirchoff first introduces us to Jaden Baker at age 25 while in a drug store. He starts bleeding from the nose and has a seizure like symptoms. A girl in the same aisle rushes to his aid and calls 911.  The last thing Jaden asks of the girl before he passes out is "Don't let them take me!"

We are taken back to when Jaden is 9 years old and living with his new potential family that is in the process of adopting him. Jaden has been living with them for a week, happy but frightened of what would happen when they discover who he is.  Jaden is Psychokinesis (PK). One night his family learns of his powers and before Jaden can even explain what happened, he gets kidnapped. Taken underground and held as a prisoner while Dr. Dalton does experiments and tests on Jaden. Dalton wants to know how PK works. After 4 years there is a chance that Jaden can escape. He takes the opportunity but fails. Dr. Madrid then takes over and its horrifying. Madrid doesn't care how PK works, he's only concerned about making it work as an advantage. A weapon. Madrid doesn't stop at anything to get what he wants from Jaden.

Finally after 2 years of pure torture, Jaden at age 15 escapes. We are then brought up to speed after 10 years of Jaden hiding out and walking into a drug store one night where he collapses. Where he tells the girl (Libby) in the aisle "Don't let them take me!"

Libby helps Jaden and he soon decides that he will no longer run from them. He won't be afraid and he won't be held captive anymore. He's going to fight for his freedom. Fight for a life. His life.

Within the first two paragraphs, I was hooked. When I couldn't read, I would wonder what will happen next and couldn't wait for the chance to find out. I felt so bad for Jaden and there was nothing I could do to make it better. There were times when I was afraid for Jaden...when I was proud of Jaden and especially when I had hope for Jaden.

I suggest everyone else have hope for Jaden. Pick up a copy of Jaden Baker by Courtney Kirchoff. Whether it is a genre that you are interested in or something that you stay clear from...The outcome will be the same result..

★★★★★ to Jaden Baker.

The Keeper of Dawn - J.B. Hickman ★★★★

J.B. Hickman, gave me the opportunity to receive a free kindle edition of "The Keeper of Dawn," in return for an honest review. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. To give a brief summary, The Keeper of Dawn is about a 15 year old boy named Jacob Hawthorne is sent off to boarding school on Raker Island. At first he is just another one of the students, until he meets up with Chris, Roland and Derek. They soon become the "Headliners."  Together the boys push the lines of expulsion, excitement, death and self discovery.

When I read the first few chapters I couldn't get into it. The story was jumping between the past and current times and I found myself not all too excited to read it, but I continued to push through it since I was asked to read/review The Keeper of Dawn.

Around chapter 5-9, I noticed I was reading more and more without getting distracted. It became interesting. I wanted to see what the Headliners would do next. The jumping being the past events and the story now, didn't bother me anymore. It actually gave me a new perspective.

Towards the end, I was considering giving the book 3 out of 5 starts.   A three for me, is  "Eh, wasn't bad, but wasn't good either..its just so so." I still kept my options open as I read on..

Then I started to wonder........my curiosity was on full alert. I read on and WHAM!! PLOT TWIST!!

I LOVE PLOT TWISTS!!!

As I read on, things started to become clear and brought everything together. I finished the book and knowing what I know now, I gave the book a 4.

If anyone has the chance to read The Keeper of Dawn, and in the beginning are like me and not that interested, I do suggest keep reading. You'll become interested in the story and then get sucked in towards the end.

A Million LIttle Pieces - James Frey ★★★★★

I read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey in 2005, the same year that it was published. Before the "lies." I think I read this book within 24 hours. I stayed up into the wee hours of the night, until it felt like my eyes were bleeding because I was just so transfixed. The topic was a curiosity to me. We watch movies and TV shows that portray the life of a junkie and the final outcome (death), but there is hardly ever the I'm-going-down-the-path-of-total-descruction-and-I-need-to-change-things-otherwise-I-will-not-wake-to-see-another-day story. When they do show it, it’s more of a comedic relief (28 days). Or maybe I'm just naive and there is more out there then what I've seen. Anyway, I was drawn into the story. I was captivated on how ruthless those withdrawals were. I grew fond of the characters and wished them all a full healthy recovery. I read this story and thought it needed to become a movie.

Then, I was told it was all a lie.

I thought about it (for 2 seconds) and said, so what? Whether it’s true story or a fictional story, it’s still a story. It didn't change my opinion of Frey. I just removed the former junkie thoughts. Frey is still a very good novelist and obviously I wasn’t the only one who thought that since Oprah added him to her booklist (before removing him because he lied. Get over it Oprah, it’s still a good book).

Was it a publicity stunt to get more readers? I don't care. Would I have read it, even if I knew the "True" story, wasn't true? Probably.

I say give it a chance. Don't let your biased opinions of it no longer being a true story; prevent you from reading A Million Little Pieces. Read it because it is a good book. Read it for the same reasons, people enjoyed it before they found out it was a lie. Just wait till Frey writes a book that he announces is "fictional" at least I know it'll be good, since A Million Little Pieces was good.