Tuesday 18 October 2011

Monthly Round Up: September

September has to have been one of my worst months for reading since I was 19. I thought August was bad. Well September has left August in the dust. Five. A total of five books read, and one was a short story. I have no excuse except that I'm still trying to dig my way out of my reading slump. TV is the devil :)

I have actually watched way too much TV this month. -I'm eating it up like devil cake. I'm currently enjoying;
Alphas
The Revenge
Son's of Anarchy
Terra Nova
Jersey Shore
The Secret Circle
Downton Abbey
Warehouse 13
Hart of Dixie
Haven
Awkward (although this has just finished)

And that's not including shows I'm downloading but have yet to start.

Anyway. Reading. I really enjoyed Outside In, Archangel"s Blade, and Touch of Frost. Archangel's Blade being my fave of the month. I was only a little disappointed with One Grave at a Time.

85. Outside In, Maria V. Snyder
86. One Grave at a Time, Jeanniene Frost
87. Archangel's Blade, Nalini Singh
88. Devil to Pay, Jeaniene Frost
89. Touch of Frost, jennifer Estep

Saturday 15 October 2011

Review: The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood and The Duchess Of Northumberland

Jessamine Luxton has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle, with little company apart from the plants in her garden. Her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary, has taught her much about the incredible powers of plants: that even the most innocent-looking weed can cure -- or kill.n the right dose, everything is a poison. Even love . . .When Jessamine begins to fall in love with a mysterious boy who claims to communicate with plants, she is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined 

I saw this reviewed on The Book Smugglers and quickly added it to my TBR list. It sounded really interesting and very different from the books I'd been reading recently.

I loved it's tone and I really liked Jessamine. Weed was interesting but the father drove me crazy. You definitely got a feel for the era. It was easy to read, even when I was busy my stopping and starting didn't jar the story. I felt it got a bit silly towards the end but all in all it was quick, easy and fun to read. 


Rating: 4/6 - I liked It

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Monthly Round Up: August 2011

I wish I could get out of this slump I appear to be in. Yes, I'm enjoying a lot of TV shows at the moment even though there's still loads of books I want to read but never find the time. Obviously because I'm too busy sat in front of either my laptop or TV :/

Biggest disappointment this month was Working stiff. I thought that would be much better than it was, and I doubt I'll carry on with the series. My fave was a toss between Inside Out and The enemy. I really enjoyed both.

79. The Poison Diaries, Maryrose Wood, The Duchess Of Northumberland
80. The Enemy, Charlie Higson
81. Working Stiff, Rachel Caine
82. Inside Out, Maria V. Snyder

I watched too many films during August:
Super 8
Bridesmaids
Kick ass
Up
Rise of the apes
Diary of the Dead
The Road
Friends with Benefits
Choke

I've also managed to watch a lot of TV. A lot. I obsessively got into Fringe and watched all 3 seasons and I finally started series 4 of True Blood (and finished :'(). I also caught up with Bones and Sons of Anarchy, both of which I'd gotten seriously behind on. So all in all a very good month for TV, but not for reading.

Sunday 9 October 2011

Review: Venom (Elemental assassin #3) by Jennifer Estep

What kind of assassin works pro bono? 
It’s hard to be a badass assassin when a giant is beating the crap out of you. Luckily, I never let pride get in the way of my work. My current mission is personal: annihilate Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered my family. Which means protecting my identity, even if I have to conceal my powerful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most. 
To the public, I’m Gin Blanco, owner of Ashland’s best barbecue joint. To my friends, I’m the Spider, retired assassin. I still do favors on the side. Like ridding a vampire friend of her oversized stalker—Mab’s right-hand goon who almost got me dead with his massive fists. 
At least irresistible Owen Grayson is on my side. The man knows too much about me, but I’ll take my chances. Then there’s Detective Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland’s finest. Until recently, I thought my baby sister was dead. She probably thinks the same about me. Little does she know, I’m a cold-blooded killer . . . who is about to save her life.

I really need to stop star rating books on goodreads immediately after I finish reading the book. I'm way too involved and often give a 5 when really it should be a 4. I want to give this book a 5 though. :/ but I have issues with it. Notably the re-capping of previous events, and also the fact that Gin kept saying "don't worry I kill him/them. You'll never have to worry about him again" then she'd mess up, but she'd keep on saying it so that I stopped believing her. It's a little thing but still :/ 


After reading Spider's bite and Web of Lie in quick succession, I couldn't wait to get stuck into this 3rd instalment, Vemon. I'm loving this series. Gin is still kick ass but we're starting to see a little beneath the surface now. Again, it's action packed and fast paced. One of the many reasons I love this series. The only thing I don't like (and I've already mentioned) is the way Estep re-caps everything that happens in the previous books. Everything! All the time. It's like the start of a TV show "previously on..." but throughout. I find it jarring, and it makes me skip ahead a lot and I don't want to do that. This happens in every book and by the 3rd book I wanted to pull my hair out. Okay, it didn't bother me that much and the fact that it's a great series makes it up a little but I wish it would stop. I know there's a reason for it but it's getting repetitive, and to be fair, if you're going to start a series in the middle, or 3rd book in you deserve to not know what the hell is going on (IMHO). 


 All in all Vemon is a great read. You get everything you expect from Gin and more, although, please start at the beginning of the series :) 


Rating: 5/6 - Really Liked It