Book #44 Slip by Leslie J. Portu

Won this book through goodreads from first reads program!! Which by the way was sent by the author herself, arrived very quickly and with a cute heart-shaped personalized note inside. Very sweet touch. On to the book:

Soon to be seventeen year old Vivien is falling in love for the first time. Due to a rocky childhood she is a very reserved and guarded girl making her first real relationship a little tough to handle. Throw in the handsome, young and understanding exotic French substitute teacher and things get more complicated than ever. He befriends Vivien and in her quest to open up, try new things and finally let people in she turns a blind eye to the dangers right in front of her.

I LOVED this book! Two nights in a row I had to force myself to put it down so I could get some sleep. I thought the characters were complex enough to be consistently interesting and the story line was exciting even in the more mundane parts.

I cannot wait to read more in this series or more from Leslie J. Portu in general. I must add I did not see an editor listed and was pleasantly surprised to see very little, maybe even no, grammar or spelling errors.

Book #42 Unconscious Lies by D. W. Brown

I won Unconscious Lies from goodread's First Reads program! Very thankful for that.

This is the story of Peter. Peter was in a coma for quite some time. He has moments of consciousness while in this coma, he is in his bedroom and surrounded by people who refuse to acknowledge him or answer his questions. Furthermore he remembers talking to a group of people while being unconscious.

When Peter awakes from the coma for good he does not remember his past and must take his wife's word on everything. Soon he discovers she has been lying to him, so much so that even her place of work doesn't even exist.

Worst of all? Peter remembers killing people while in the coma and clues start to surface in his new life hinting at the reality of these crimes.

Overall I really liked this book. I thought the story line was great and different. Unlike a lot of books, Unconscious Lies was not very predictable and had surprises up until the very end. To me there were some holes in the story but it is such a ride they are easy to overlook.

I did however have two minor issues (and one major) and they were editing and rambling.

The editing was pretty spotty in the beginning and in the last third either the editor checked out completely or got too engrossed in the story to continue editing (lots of "me" and "I" mistakes there).

Rambling. In two parts of the story I felt I was conducting a google search. The author went into too much detail explain what microbursts are and the history of studying comatose patients. You do not need to know any of this information to enjoy the story being told.

And last but most important: the anti-gay marriage rambling at the end of chapter 16. Honestly I almost stopped reading right there. I understand we all have different opinions on this subject so being that this "character" feels vastly different than I do is not the issue at all. My issue is the fact that this commentary comes completely out of left field and has absolutely no reason to be in the book leaving me wondering if this is just the author injecting his own feelings through the main character, Peter. Peter and his wife are discussing a very, very minor character referred to as "gay Marcus". The wife Vicky states that she believe marriage is for men and women only and Peter goes on and on in his narrative about homosexuality being a choice and gay marriage leading to marriage between cousins (btw cousin marriage is legal in 26 states and has been since before gay marriage was even an issue) which will open the floodgates on marriage. Completely unnecessary but it was only a page or two so it didn't totally ruin the book for me.

Book #18 Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

I literally JUST finished Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. What can I say? Freaking LOVED it. The characters are charming and surprisingly human. They mess up, they make mistakes, they learn, they love and they forgive. The story was new and fresh for a zombie tale.

R is a zombie. He doesn't know why, how old is he (or was), his full name or any details of his "life". R is just going through the motions waiting impatiently for the final death. He spends his days wandering the empty airport many zombies call home, "talks" with his buddy M and feeds off the life energy of the Living in order to stay alive.

Next thing you know R finds himself ambushing a group of Living teenagers. He takes down a boy and begins eating his brain absorbing his memories. In them he sees Julie for the first time only to look up and see her in person in the very room fighting for her life. R grabs Julie and saves her from the hoard of zombies and takes her back to his 747 for safe keeping.

Day by day R is feeling more Alive than ever and other zombies are feeling the change as well. Soon though R and Julie are battling hurtles from all sides. There is Julie's father, the leader and military man who cannot accept the change, and the "Boneys", fast and fiercely strong skeletons trying to stop the change in it's tracts.

I loved it. Warm Bodies is funny, exciting and heartwarming all at once. I was rooting for R and Julie the entire time. This book was over all to quickly for me and I hope we see something new from first time novelist Isaac Marion soon. I haven't seen the movie yet but I hope it does the book justice.

Quote:
“There's no benchmark for how life's "supposed" to happen. There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, it's up to you how you respond to it”

Book #69 week #50, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 I loved The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. After reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen I was excited to read another circus themed book but make no mistake these are two vastly different books! I tried to pace myself but still the story just flew by.

Le Cirque des Rêves is an unusual circus. It arrives seemingly out of the blue, opens only at night and is entirely black and white with shades of gray. But lets start at the beginning, before the circus.

Celia is the daughter of a famous illusionist. Little do people know real magic is at work here not purely illusions. When Celia is six she is bound to a game being played out between her father and a mysterious man in grey. This man sets out to find a pawn of his own in an orphan named Marco. Both children are bound by magical rings to play out the game until a winner comes forth.

The children grow up with no knowledge of each other except that their competitor is out there somewhere. Marco begins working as an assistant for an extravagant man who has plans for a new type of circus. This circus becomes the arena for the game. Celia auditions for the part of "illusionist" and it is then that Marco realizes who his competitor is. Since he cannot travel with the circus Marco implores his girlfriend, the fortune teller, to keep tabs on Celia for him.  Overtime Celia finally finds out who her opponent is. Even though they are fighting against each other, the two soon fall in love. 

Both Marco and Celia work to find ways out of the binds of the game. Celia learns that winning means the loser will die and because of this she tries in vain to distance herself from Marco.

Now I really don't want to give away the ending of this book. I already feel I have said too much. The Night Circus is an excellent read with tons of whimsy and mystery I urge you to read it if you haven't already done so!

Quotes:
“I am tired of trying to hold things together that cannot be held. Trying to control what cannot be controlled. I am tired of denying myself what I want for fear of breaking things I cannot fix. They will break no matter what we do.” 

“Celia, wait,” Marco says, standing but not moving closer to her. “You are breaking my heart. You told me once that I reminded you of your father. That you never wanted to suffer the way your mother did for him, but you are doing exactly that to me. You keep leaving me. You leave me longing for you again and again when I would give anything for you to stay, and it is killing me.”
“It has to kill one of us,” Celia says quietly.” 

Book #64 week #46, Origin by Jessica Khoury

Origin by Jessica Khoury is another book that was given to me and has just been sitting on the shelf so I decided to give it a go. This book reminded me a lot of State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. Both are set in the amazon with scientist researching anti-aging anti-death drugs.

Pia is seventeen. Born in the scientist camp and has never stepped foot outside the electric fence surrounding it. Oh and she is immortal. The goal of the camp is to make more immortal humans. Pia was made that way through five generations of experimentation. She is content with her life. Pia is being set up through a series of mental tests to take over for the head researcher when the time comes. She is brilliant in science and math but knows nothing of the outside world.

Everything is going smoothly until the night of Pia's birthday. While sitting in her glass room she notices an upturned tree has cause a hole in the electric fence. Suddenly Pia finds herself going through the hole and running through the jungle. While on her escaped she runs into a boy quite literally! I should say man he is eighteen after all.  Eio is a member of the nearby indigenous tribe but he does not look like the typical tribe member. He confesses to Pia that his father is one of the scientist from the camp. It doesn't take much to make the sheltered Pia highly intrigued by this new world.

Soon Pia finds herself drawn to Eio and questioning the only life shes ever known and the very people she trusts so dearly. Just days after her first venture outside the gate two representatives of the company funding the immortal project show up to see how things are coming along. The representatives are not pleased with the slow pace of the project and force the head researcher to give Pia her last test forcing her to take over as head of the compound. Finally Pia will know what the catalyst to immortal life is and it is a shocker....

Being the debut novel from Jessica Khoury I was really surprised how much I liked Origin. The writing is good and the story really flows nicely. The character were very interesting with surprising ghosts in their closets and interesting back stories. I found the pace of this book worked really well, there are enough little shockers sprinkled throughout the book that I did not find myself waiting impatiently for the big bombshell to be reveled. If you liked Ann Patchett's State of Wonder you might enjoy Origin as well.

Quote:
“Now, when he touches me, I feel nothing but Eio, pure and whole and constant. Now, when I look into his eyes, I don't see death- but eternity. For the first time in my life, I am looking into someone's gaze and realizing that not only do I understand what's in his eyes... he understands whats in mine.”

Book #63 week #45, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The other day I was at the book store when I saw this one on the shelf. I remembered I had a copy at home that was given to me and I needed a new book to read so in typical me fashion I jumped right in without reading the cover.

The Fault in Our Stars takes place in Indiana and is the story of sixteen-year-old cancer patient Hazel. She is terminal but doesn't have a timeline set in place for her. Due to a new experiment drug (completely fictional just FYI) her tumors are shrinking but her lungs are compromised. She needs to be on oxygen 24/7 just to live.

Hazel graduated high school early and is taking some college courses but her mom worries about her not being social enough. It is because of this Hazel reluctantly agrees to start going to her cancer kid support group again. It is there, through a friend named Issac (who is losing his last good eye in his fight with cancer), she meets seventeen-year-old Augustus. After losing a leg several years earlier Augustus is now in remission.

Hazel and Augustus are both sarcastic, knowledgeable and wise beyond their years. It is not surprising that they soon fall in love however Hazel is cautious. She doesn't want to get close to Augustus because she knows she will leave him someday and she doesn't want him to deal with that kind of pain. During their first meeting Hazel shares with Augustus her favorite book. It is about a girl with cancer but the book ends abruptly in mid sentence and Hazel is frustrated not knowing what happened to the rest of the characters after the apparent death of the narrator. Since it had been ten years since the book was published and no sequel written, Hazel has tried numerous times to contact the author with no luck.  Somehow Augustus finds a way though and soon he is planning on using his Wish (think Make a Wish Foundation type of wish) to take Hazel to Amsterdam to meet the author in person.

Soon they are off, with Hazel's mother of course, but the meeting does not go as planned. The author is a rude drunk who refuses to answer their questions. Hazel is irritated, the author is mean and his assistant is so appalled by his behavior that she quits! After the meeting she takes Hazel and Gus out to the Anne Frank museum. Hazel finally decides to open up to Gus and kisses him at the museum, soon they find themselves back in his hotel room. Before leaving Amsterdam Augustus confesses to Hazel that he has recently learned his cancer is back and it is everywhere. There is no hope.

Gus is deteriorating fast and holds a mock funeral with Hazel and Issac so he can hear their eulogies for him. Eight days later he is gone. Issac tells Hazel that Gus was working on the ending of the book for her but in her search of his house she cannot find it. Gus' mom tells Hazel some pages are missing from a notebook and Hazel contacts the author's assistant hoping Gus sent the pages to him. The assistant finds the envelope and scans the pages to email them to Hazel. Apparently Gus was hoping the author had something to add to this writing because of his way with words, he adds nothing though. Surprisingly enough what Augustus has written is not the end of the story but his beautiful and touching eulogy for Hazel.


Even though I cried horribly and am crying again now just thinking about it I absolutely loved this book. I can't even begin to explain all the emotions I felt reading this. First you have the doomed star crossed lovers, the doting parents that just want a bit more time, the distant friends who try to relate but can't and add in a quirky, mean author who as it turns out knows a little more about this situation than he originally let on. My review does not do this book justice it is just simply wonderful and a must read in my opinion.



Quote:
“Much of my life had been devoted to trying not to cry in front of people who loved me, so I knew what Augustus was doing. You clench your teeth. You look up. You tell yourself that if they see you cry, it will hurt them, and you will be nothing but a Sadness in their lives, and you must not become a mere sadness, so you will not cry, and you say all of this to yourself while looking up at the ceiling, and then you swallow even though your throat does not want to close and you look at the person who loves you and smile.”

Apologies

My many apologies.... I have many reviews to write and have been slacking off quite awesomely. I am working on them and I might write and post them in random order but I will make sure they appear in the correct order when all is said and done.

Needless to say a few of these reviews are for Sookie Stackhouse books (True Blood series) and although I love reading them, can't put them down really, I am having a hard time keeping up with writing about them. But they will be done! Eventually : )