Jenifer’s Comments (group member since Dec 05, 2011)

Jenifer’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

10.9 To Be Continued
Something Witchy This Way Comes by H.P. Mallory

+10 task
+10 review
+ 5 combo (10.7-ghosts, witches, vampires)

Task Total=25 pts

Grand Total=100 pts

The review:
I just finished the latest installment in the Jolie Wilkins series last night and I'm already looking forward to number six coming out (H.P., you better be busy writing!). Something Witchy This Way Comes was slightly different then the previous books. The first part of this book deals with the aftermath of Sinjin's time travel from The Witch Is Back while the rest of the book gives us a more in-depth look at the Lurker society. This book provides answers to some questions ( i.e. if Jolie is "so much more" than just a witch what exactly is she) and introduces some new questions that will likely be answered in the next book.

While I'm continuing to enjoy this series, I do feel like this book was a little short for all that was introduced in it. I would have liked to have read more detailed information about the Lurkers. I feel like these new characters weren't as developed as the older main characters. We spend quite a bit of time with Luce and I know that the author intends for there to be some mystery surrounding this character but I would have liked a deeper look into his mind and thoughts...at least something on the level that we've received with Rand, Sinjin, and many other characters. Maybe in the next installment?

That being said, I am glad that I have discovered this series (and my new favorite character, Sinjin). Each book is the perfect fun and light read for those times when you need something fun and light. ;) I received Something Witchy This Way Comes as an e-ARC and am happy that I did, as I doubt I would have known about this series without the ARC.

15.2 Know Your ABC's - book 2

Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain

+15 task

Task Total = 15

Task 10.5 International Day for the Elderly

The Time Keeper by Mitch Album

+10 task
+10 review

Task Total: 20 pts

Grand Total = 60 pts

My Review:
Wow, this was not what I had expected. I was expecting a typical time travel story (something like The Time Traveler’s Wife) but what I got was a unique story that looks deeply into humanities understanding and handling of time. This is a short novel yet Albom is able to take us through thousands of years (from early hunter-gatherer society to modern times).

During the first half of the book, I thought, this is a nice story, an unusual story but by the end, I was thoroughly charmed by Albom’s writing, his characters, and his ideas. Amazon lists The Time Keeper for the 18 and over crowd but I think this is a book that all teenagers should read. Albom does an amazing job at touching on the pain and loneliness that is so often a part of growing up and the effects of cyber bullying. Through events that are reminiscent of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, he shows us that we are never truly alone.

I received The Time Keeper as eARC from the publisher, Hyperion and netgalley. The Time Keeper is a quick but important read. I recommend it to everyone.

Task 10.1 Square Peg
A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir

+10 task
+10 review
+5 jumbo (537 pages)

Task Total: 25 pts

Grand Total = 40 pts

My review: I have long been a fan of Alison Weir's non-fiction books on English history. So, when I saw that she was coming out with a novel set during the 15th and 16th centuries, I jumped on it! (Somehow, I'd missed that she has written other novels). I couldn't wait to start this novel was very happy to receive it as an ARC. Having been a fan of her non-fiction work, it took me a few chapters to adjust to her "fiction" writing style. It is much simpler than her non-fiction (my guess it to reach a wider audience).

I liked the beginning of A Dangerous Inheritance (once I adapted to her new writing style)...I abhorred the middle (too long and drawn out)...and I LOVED the end. It is actually the last one pages or so that lifted my rating of this novel from 3 stars to 4 stars. Alison did an amazing job at tying everything together in the last few chapters. So many authors don't seem to know how to end their novels and everything just gets thrown into a big pot of words...but the ending of this novel made it all worth it. In addition to the novel, there is an extra "chapter" that goes into the research and real life stories of the characters in Dangerous Inheritance. I found this very interesting.

I think if there is one thing (well, maybe two) negatives that I found for this particular novel it is that it was very confusing at times with the chapter switching between the two main protagonists. Yes, they went by different names (Katherine vs Kate) and yes, they lived in different time periods, but....they lived in the same area and although each protagonist had her own set of supporting characters, it was very frustrating since many of the names were the same, ie. Earl of Lincoln, Duke of Buckinghame, five billion different Elizabeths (well maybe that's a tiny exaggeration). Oh, and that second negative...it just seemed too long for what I was wanting and expecting...

All that being said, I definitely recommend A Dangerous Inheritance for any lovers of historical fiction.

15.1 first book - letter B

Silenced by Allison Brennan

+15

Grand Total: 15 points

Connie wrote: "I knew there'd come a time when reading Mishima would be extra rewarding."

It looks like he would combo with 20.8 :)

I'm not even going to attempt to do chronological order...just the ABC's for me. ;)


B: Brennan, Allison Silenced
C: Cain, Chelsea - Kill You Twice
D: Diamant, Anita - The Red Tent
E: Eco, Umberto - The Name of the Rose
F: Flynn, Jillian - Gone Girl or Fford, Jasper -The Eyre Affair or Fuentes, Carlos -
The Death of Artemio Cruz
G: Golding, Lord of the Flies or Gregory, PhilippaThe White Queen or Goodwin, Daisy The American Heiress
H: Hrabal, B. - Too Loud a Solitude
I:
J:
Kaaberbol, Lene - lThe Boy in the Suitcase

10.5 TDOS (fifth book)

Changeless by Gail Carriger
5 stars by Christin and Rachel

+30 pts
Previous Total 180 pts

Grand Total = 210 pts

TDOS Book 4
15.4 The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
(rated 5 stars by Miss GP and Christin)

+20 task

Grand Total = 180 pts

10.2 Underrated
Tigers in Red Weather: A Novel by Lisa Klaussman
(as of today 101 reviews)
**I highly recommend this book!

+10 pts

10.1 Square Peg
Wicked as They Come by Delilah Dawson

+10 pts

Previous total = 140 its
New Total = 160pts

20.3 We Read
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

+20 Task
+10 Combo (20.9 Fatherly (father is Mel Brooks and 20.1 Make Me Laugh)

Task Total = 30 pts

20.6 Alliteration
Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas

Task Total = 20pts

Grand Total = 140 pts

15.3 TDoS

Atonement by Ian McKewan
rated 5 stars by Rachel Erin and Miss GP

+20 Task

Previous total = 70 pts
Task Total = 20 pts
Grand Total = 90pts

15.2 TDoS

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
rated 5 stars by Jayme VA and Rachel Erin
+20 Task

Grand total - 70 pts

10.4 Hot Summer Nights

Soulless by Gail Carriger

+10 task
Previous total=40

Grand Total = 50

20.4 Literature Map
(original author: Alexander McCall Smith)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

+20 task
+5 combo (10.9 I Scream, You Scream)

Task Total = 25 pts

Grand Total = 40 pts

Ten Degrees of Separation

15.1 - 1st book The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
5-stars by Sam and Jayme VA

+15 task

Grand Total = 15

Okay. Thanks.

I'm thinking of reading The Great Gatsby as it will be a combo with alliteration (or the other way around lol).

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Jenifer wrote: "Does The Historian qualify? The majority of the story is told through letters and journals."

I don't think it qualifies for We Read, as I recall there is a lot of 3rd person narra..."

Thanks, Elizabeth. I found these links that do list it as epistolary:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...
and
http://www.abebooks.com/books/letters...

Let me know what you think. If not, I can just use it as my first tdos book. I was just thinking it would be worth more points if I can get some style points for it. :)

Does The Historian qualify? The majority of the story is told through letters and journals.