**spoiler alert** Karen Rose has been my favorite author since I picked up a book by her many years ago. She always keeps to the story line while addi...more**spoiler alert** Karen Rose has been my favorite author since I picked up a book by her many years ago. She always keeps to the story line while adding in that little bit of romance and that little smudge of sex to keep the book hot and interesting and don’t even get me started on her characters! When I found out she had just released a new book this year I instantly had my husband buy it for me though it did take me a bit of time to get it started but once I started it I couldn’t put it down. That happens to be a common problem I have with her books! I start reading one and can’t get anything else I’m supposed to do done! And while this new novel did all of those things it just doesn’t really seem to compare to her other novels. In the beginning you can tell right away who is going to sleep with whom and I don’t remember it being that ‘out-there’ with her other novels. And while both characters were hot I personally felt like she rushed them into it a little too much. I would have preferred to learn more about each character rather than reading about them making out so quickly. The book was fairly predictable which I can’t really complain about. I’ve read every single one of the woman’s novels to date… I’ve learned her style! Another part of the book that I felt could have been better was towards the end. As the reader we all know that Lucy did not take the necklace and that the only reason she took the bracelet was because she thought it was hers. I feel that Rose should have allowed Lucy to share that information with her attacker. The killings at the end were all so impersonal which struck me as odd because until the end every single murder was VERY personal. Like Lucy’s dad dying. Yes, the SOB deserved to die… but it was so sudden and without reason from the killer’s part. I think it would have been much more exciting if, after the killer was shot by J.D., Lucy had crawled over to her dying father and they’d exchanged words. Obviously not words of forgiveness but words that would have helped Lucy get past the hatred he had for her. I don’t want to give to many secrets about this book away since it is not only her newest novel but it hasn’t been out for very long. I don’t want to ruin to many surprises. I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars because it is a good book… just not as good as some of Rose’s past novels! I can say I look forward to her next though! I LOVE it when she brings her past characters into new novels. (less)
**spoiler alert** Today I finished ‘Tricks’ written by Ellen Hopkins. As usual for books written by this author, it was a very good read. You truly ge...more**spoiler alert** Today I finished ‘Tricks’ written by Ellen Hopkins. As usual for books written by this author, it was a very good read. You truly get to know the characters and who they are and what they represent. The only things about the book I didn’t like where the repetitions. There are five characters and all but one or two start off gay or end up gay. All of them prostitute which is the point of the book.
Eden is the first character. She lives with very religious parents and her father is a preacher. In the beginning of the book she meets Andrew. She talks about how she must keep it a secret because otherwise her parents would freak out and there was no telling what they would do. Well, as it happens with all lies, she gets found out and sent off to some religious boot camp type thing where she discovers she will be stuck at least until she is of legal age as her parents don’t want her anymore because she has tarnished their reputation. When she discovers this she decides to give into one of the horny ‘guards’ who has gotten a crush on her.
Thus begins her path into prostitution. She ends up ‘escaping’ with the guy who thinks she loves him but she runs from him first chance she gets and using the help of truckers gets back to Las Vegas. Some are kind and others require sexual favors as payment. Once she gets to Las Vegas she lives as a prostitute until she gets discovered and helped. She once again starts talking to Andrew and that is where her story lets off.
The next story is about Seth. He is the only gay in the book that starts off as gay. He talks about his mother who died and his father who doesn’t know. His mother never knew either. He talks about how he tries to fight it but doesn’t and ends up meeting and falling for a man named Loren. Loren leaves him to go to NY and lets him know he won’t be returning in the form of a letter. Broken hearted Seth starts looking for others and meets Carl who uses him as a boy toy. This is what starts his journey into prostitution.
Carl dumps him after he sets him up with another guy without Seth knowing and Seth ends up ‘cheating’ on Carl thanks to Carl bating him. He goes onto the internet and finds a prostitution ‘ring’ type thing and starts working as a prostitute for a woman named Lydia. He also finds another man and is once again a boy toy while also a prostitute on the side.
Next comes Whitney. Whitney plays second fiddle to her older sister who can do no wrong. She feels like an outcast when it comes to her family and turns to a guy she think is interested in her. She falls in love with him and gives him her virginity. He hadn’t believed she was a virgin and just up and stops talking to her which as a female I can imagine is very devastating! She ends up cornering him at a party and finds out that he dumped her because ‘virgin sex isn’t very good’. She calls a man she’d met in a mall, Bryn, and ends up in Las Vegas with him addicted to heroin and being a prostitute. He took advantage of her and tricked her into tricking.
In the end she almost dies and is found in the hospital. When she comes to her mother is there and wants to make things up and fix the family they’d had before. Her sister still only cares about her reputation and her father is angry.
After Whitney comes Ginger. I find her story to be one of the saddest. Her mother is a prostitute and she and her siblings live with her Gram and her mother is still an active part in her life which is sad. In the beginning she hints that she was raped in the past and later on goes on to explain more about it. Shortly after that she is raped again by a different man in the kitchen and learns from him that her mother (who was conveniently gone both times) had taken money and ‘allowed’ the men to rape her.
Devastated she runs to her friend Alex who was forced into a form of prostitution as well by the man who she lives with. Once her mother died, because he wasn’t her real father, he told her give it or be homeless. Being underage she felt she had no choice.
The two run away to Las Vegas where they start working for a woman named Lydia as strippers. Alex begins doing more than just stripping and pulls more and more away from Ginger and their relationship. In the end Ginger meets Whitney a little before she almost dies from the heroin and then the two get caught by an undercover cop.
Fortunately they get a nice judge who allows them to go to their families if they have one or go to programs to help them get back on their feet. Ginger is welcomed back to her Gram’s house and finds out her mother is dying of HIV. Alex finds out she is pregnant and stays in a program to start trying to form a life for her and the baby.
After Ginger comes Cody’s story. His story starts out as the happiest. He has a mom, a brother and a stepfather and except for the trouble and drinking his younger brother keeps getting into they are all doing well. He even has a girlfriend. As the story goes on though, the stepfather dies of cancer leaving the family in financial ruins.
Because of this the younger brother starts stealing and gets caught and assaults a woman only making the charges worse.
Due to pressure of finances Cody’s gambling problem gets worse and worse until he too starts prostituting for a woman named Lydia to get himself out of the hole and help his mother. He starts off by giving men blowjobs but ends up getting it elsewhere with one of the clients. He heavily starts questioning his sexuality. Of all the stories I liked Cody’s the least.
The stories are very emotional and have a lot of good parts to them. I didn’t like the constant homosexuality but perhaps that is a side of prostitution that I never knew about… after all I don’t know much about it to begin with!
I did love how every story turned back on the parents somehow. I feel the blame was properly placed! Anyhow, it was a great read and I really enjoyed it! I would recommend it to anyone to read!
This book was a fantastic way of Hopkins wrapping up the first two in the series. It was very powerful and told so much more of what happened to the m...moreThis book was a fantastic way of Hopkins wrapping up the first two in the series. It was very powerful and told so much more of what happened to the main character, Kristina. I was able to relate to the book on many levels from being in the foster care system myself and being abused by trusted ones. The book is written in a way that gives the reader a way to relate. Be it a love sick teenager, a lonely abuse victim, a parent who just doesn't know what to do... everyone can relate somehow and if there is a person out there who can't I would have a rough time believing that they weren't moved by the pure emotion in the book.
I had heard suggestions the the books were based on a true story and this confirms that greatly. Another aspect of the book I enjoyed is her style. On several pages there are just words sticking out on the edge and those words form a seperate sentance all on their own and with that a whole new meaning to what that page means. I found that very impressive.
I would recommend this book as well as all of her others (as I've read all of them) to everyone! (less)
This book remains one of the most touching books I've ever read. I've read so many books that I has become very easy for me to predict how most books...moreThis book remains one of the most touching books I've ever read. I've read so many books that I has become very easy for me to predict how most books will go but this book took some odd twists that I wouldn't expect anyone to guess. If you've watched the movie then you definitely should read the book! The two have very little in common and the book is more than ten times better than the movie! An A+ all the way!(less)
**spoiler alert** In Stephenie Meyer’s ‘The Host’ we enter a perfect world. There are no sick. There is no dying. There is just peace and happiness. A...more**spoiler alert** In Stephenie Meyer’s ‘The Host’ we enter a perfect world. There are no sick. There is no dying. There is just peace and happiness. At least that is what the aliens who have named themselves souls have made the world for themselves. But by doing so they’ve pushed humans to the brink of extinction. Melanie is what remains of the resistance. At least, she was until she got caught. Now she is just another human turned alien, or so it appears when you stare into her eyes and take a glance at the back of her neck. If you were to ask the soul that took over her mind you’d learn just how human Melanie remained. Right away, the soul called Wanderer had problems with Melanie. She couldn’t quite make her be quiet and it scared her, it alarmed her, it annoyed her and it made her fall in love with a man she’d never met and a boy she shouldn’t want to give the time of day. But the more she tries to fight it the more memories Melanie throws at her; memories of a love that Wanderer just can’t live without. Wanderer gives into the new human emotions she feels and allows Melanie to take her on a dangerous quest to find the love of their life and Melanie’s little brother. They near their destination but, close to death, they decide to give up. That’s when the rest of the resistance finds them and keeps them prisoner. As Wanderer, newly named Wanda by the humans, stays as the humans prisoner she finds their love and Jamie, the little boy that both Melanie and Wanderer have a love for that can’t be beat. Slowly, Wanda gains the humans trust and day by day… becomes more and more like them until she reaches a point where she will do anything to save them. But she still loves her species. She understands that they can’t survive without a host. And during everything, her and Melanie grow closer and closer until Wanderer wants to set her free and give her a her life back. Somehow, she has to save the humans without killing the souls. She has to betray her kind while allowing the human species to grow… and the human species don’t like the souls. They want them dead, all of them. How can Wanderer save the humans and stop them from killing the souls at the same time and set Melanie free without killing herself? (less)
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