ReadingFanatic

Title: Dark Challenge
Author: Christine Feehan
Genre: Romance
ISBN: 0-505-51409-0
Pages: 377
Rating: 3.5/5

About this book:
In this anxiously awaited paranormal romance from Feehan's acclaimed "Dark" series, a brooding but powerful loner meets his match in the woman he is sworn to protect. His dark hunger to possess her blinds him to the danger stalking him.

My thoughts:
Okay, so this is the 5th book in the "Dark Series" and it wasn't too bad. I mean, it was still repeative but different because they brought more Carpathians into this story. Finally some other characters. Lost characters I guess I should say. Anyways, a totally better storyline. There was actually some excitment to this book as opposed to all the same damn sex scenes and more to just hunting and killing the vampires. So, I didn't get so bored with this book. Anyways, I loved the characters too. I loved Julian who is the twin brother from Dark Gold and his mate is Desari...(I think that's how you spell her name). Anyways, they were fun characters like Adian and Alex were. It was a good story.

Amy

Pages read YTD: 14,794

Title: Safe Harbor
Author: Christine Feehan
Genre: Romance
ISBN: 0515143189
Pages: 350
Rating: 3.5/5

About this book:
One of seven daughters in a line of extraordinary women, Hannah Drake has been the elusive object of affection for Jonas Harrington for as long at the young man can remember. If only the stunning super-model was driven by a passion other than her career. But Jonas isn’t the only one with desires for Hannah.

From the shadows has emerged a vengeful figure who stalks the beauty with one terrifying purpose: to strip her of all she is and destroy her. Only one man was destined as her protection. Now, out of a storm of danger, Jonas must guide the woman he loves from a sinister darkness that threatens not only Hannah, but the entire Drake family.

My thoughts:
I actually thought this book was going to be wonderful. I totally expected more out of it but I was sadly disappointed. Not that it was horrible or anything like that but it just wasn't what I expected it to be I guess. I felt that since this is the 5th book in the series, I really didn't know Hannah what so ever. I thought that her sisters were even more pushy and over bearing then usual and it totally pissed me off. I wanted to just yell at all of them but Jonas did that for me. ;) He's my hero. :P Anyways, it took me longer to get through this book only because I didn't like the way it was set up and I wasn't all thrilled with the plot but the ending did turn out rather good. Like I said, it wasn't one of her better books that but it is part of a series that I'm reading so I had to read it. Although, I have to say that if it weren't part of a series, I wouldn't have recommended the book unfortunately.

Amy

Books read YTD: 40
Pages read YTD: 13,309

Title: Vanishing Acts
Author: Jodi Picoult
Pages: 418
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Fiction

About this book:
How do you recover the past when it was never yours to lose?

Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her beloved, widowed father, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiance, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall...until a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret about herself that changes the world as she knows it -- and threatens to jeopardize her future. With Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores how life -- as we know it -- might not turn out the way we imagined; how the people we've loved and trusted can suddenly change before our very eyes; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a threat. Once again, Picoult handles an astonishing and timely topic with under-standing, insight, and compassion.

My thoughts:
I've realized something about Picoult's books, I love the beginning and the ends of her books. The middle...is just OK for me. It doesn't thrill me and it doesn't want to make me read anymore. I push myself to finish because I know the ending is going to be awesome. I think the only book of her's that I enjoyed the middle of was The Pact. Like for example, in Picture Perfect, I liked the beginning and thought that "wow, this book is going to be great" and then the middle was so dull I couldn't stand it. The ending of that book was good and I'm glad that I did end up finishing it. It just goes to show that authors have the same kind of writing though all of their books. One thing about her books though that I'm kinda struggling with though is the love/hate thing that she does with her jail scenes. I like to read about what happens when one of the characters are in jail but then I kinda hate it. I feel like yes, it is important to find out more about that specific character and how they act but then yet, I feel like it's really not important and makes the book boring and just too long. I don't think I've ever felt that way about a book before so it's something new for me. ( Spoilers.... )

Quotes:
When you're a parent you find yourself looking at the unknon that is your child, trying to find a piece of yourself inside her, because sometimes that is what it takes to stake claim. page 54

There is a find line between seeing something that's lost as missing and seeing it as something that might be found. page 55

Sometimes parents don't find what they're looking for in their child, so they plant seeds for what they'd like to grow there instead. I've witnessed this with the former hockey player who takes his son out to skate before he can even walk. Or in the mother who gave up her ballet dreams when she married, but now scrapes her daughter's hair into a bun and watches from the wings of the stage. We are not, as you'd expect, orchestrating their lives; we are not even trying for a second chance. We're hoping that if this one things takes root, it might take up enough light and space to keep something else from developing in our children: the disappointment we've already lived. page 55

Okay this is going to be a little different than my other reviews because this book has 3 stories in it. I'm going to have the basics about the book...then I'm going to review each story differently.

Title: Sheer Pleasure (3 stories all by Maggie Shayne)
Author: Maggie Shayne
Pages: 295
Genre: Romance

Title: Leather and Lace
Rating: 3.5/5
About this story:

My thoughts:


Title: Awaiting Moonrise
Rating: 3/5
About this story:

My thoughts:


Title: Daydream Believer
Rating:5/5
About this story:

My thoughts:

Title: Forever In Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
Author: Ann Brashares
Pages: 384
Rating: 3.5/5

About this book:
With unraveled embroidery and fraying hems, the Traveling Pants are back for one last, glorious summer.

Lena: Immerses herself in her painting and an intoxicating summer fling, fearing that the moment she forgets about Kostos will the be moment she sees him again.

Carmen: Falls under the spell of a sophisticated college friend fro whom a theatrical role means everything and the heritage for the Pants means nothing.

Bridget: Joins a dig for an ancient city on the coast of Turkey and discovers that her archaeology professor is available in every way except one.

Tibby: Leaves behind someone she loves, wrongly believing he will stay where she has left him.

My Thoughts:
Okay, I have mixed feelings about this book. At first I was shocked with how Brashares started it out. I was so confused because I felt like it just picked up out of nowhere. Maybe it's because it has been awhile since I read the last one but I was a little confused. Anyways, in my opinion, I didn't like the fact that Brashares seemed to change all the girls characters...like they weren't themselves and somebody totally different. Tibby used to tell everybody how it was and in the book she seemed more scared and everything else when she was so fearless in the other books (besides for when Bailey died of course). Lena was not as scared about everything like she was in the other books. Carmen seemed a little naive to me but she did end up finding her way back and then Bridget was still the same I think. She didn't change much.

( Spoilers... )

Overall, I started this book out not liking it and thinking that she did a horrible job on this book, but honestly, it wasn't that bad.

Quotes:
"Pain is inevitable: Suffering is optional."
-Greta Randolph-

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not."
-Epicurus-

"There are some people who fall in love over and over again. And there are others who can only seem to do it once."
-Ann Brashares-

Amy

Title:For One More Day
Author:Mitch Albom
Pages:197
Rating: 3.5/5

About this book:
For One More Day is the story of a mother and a son, and a relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond. It explores the question: What would you do if you could spend one more day with a lost loved one?

As a child, Charley "Chick" Benetto was told by his father, "You can be a mama's boy or a daddy's boy, but you can't be both." So he chooses his father, only to see the man disappear when Charley is on the verge of adolescence.

Decades later, Charley is a broken man. His life has been crumbled by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits bottom after discovering his only daughter has shut him out of her wedding. And he decides to take his own life.

He makes a midnight ride to his small hometown, with plans to do himself in. But upon failing even to do that, he staggers back to his old house, only to make an astonishing discovery. His mother -- who died eight years earlier -- is still living there, and welcomes him home as if nothing ever happened.

What follows is the one "ordinary" day so many of us yearn for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family secrets, and to seek forgiveness. Somewhere between this life and the next, Charley learns the astonishing things he never knew about his mother and her sacrifices. And he tries, with her tender guidance, to put the crumbled pieces of his life back together.

Comments:
I thought this book was rather interesting. I was a little confused at first and unsure what to make of the book. I liked the set up. It was a fast read as well. Anyways, surprisingly this book didn't make me cry. It made me think about my mom and dad. I thought about how i should start doing things for them since they are my parents and what not. I thought the characters were very realistic. Actually I thought that it could be based on a true story. That's how real they seemed. I liked Charley the best because he reminded me of myself. Which is pretty sad.

EDIT: I found out from someone on LJ that the character Charley is actually a real person. Now I'm not sure if everything about the book is true but it kinda seems like it.

Quotes:
"Kids chase the love that eludes them, and for me that was my father's love. He kept it tucked away, like papers in a briefcase. And I keep trying to get in there."

"You can be a mama's boy or you can be a daddy's boy but you can't be both. So you cling to the one you think you might lose."

"Sometimes kids want you to hurt the way they hurt."

Amy