Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

I seriously don’t know why people write series! When the first book is awesome and you love it why you want a second book to spoil it completely and make you hate it? I totally liked the first book ”Hush Hush”  in  ”Hush Hush series” even though the name never made sense to me!

 Nora, age 16 is in love with Patch who was a fallen angel, but saved her life and is now her guardian angel. She is in love with him, likes to be with him, kiss him but Patch can’t feel anything physically. she tries to save him from the vengeance of the archangels because apparently it is illegal among angels for him to love a human so she breaks up with him and then suffers dreadfully. But Patch doesn’t seem like he is suffering because he is now going out with Nora’s enemy Marcie. Nora tries to go out with Scott, who is a bad boy and secretive, with whom her mom tries to link Nora. But she suffers even more seeing Patch and Marcie wherever she goes with Scott. But Scott is not human being! It’s like Nora can’t get a descent human being to date! Now that her love is gone, life is miserable there is more mystery to know about her birth and weird dreams she keeps getting about it. Everything comes to an end when she comes to know who is trying to kill her.

Reading this book was a mistake. But can’t help it when you start reading series. Hope to read the 3rd book but not soon. My rating: 2 out of 5.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

“Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn’t know a thing about life.” - Sue Monk Kidd ”The Secret Life of Bees”

I just love this sentence. Death must be scary but living is not easy either. Then when you have guilty feeling that you have killed someone and have to deal with it every minute. Its the story of Lily, who remembers nothing about killing her mother, everyday deals with the fact that she killed her mother. Her dad shows no love, no feelings for her and she has nothing interesting happening in her life.  Lilly has a few clues as to go along with and find what her mom was like. The clues lead Lily and Rosaleen to Tiburon, South Carolina where they meet the `calendar sisters’, May, June, and August Boatwright. The Boatwright sisters operate a successful Bee farm. Lily and Rosaleen escape to this farm where they find love, food and shelter. Slowly Lily learns everything about her mother she learns what is life.

I loved this book. It took quite sometime to read this book but I really enjoyed reading. This book gives a lot to think about. Its good to take a break from reading Paranormal romance, young adult books once in a while to read this kind of books My rating: 4 out of 5, now all set to watch the movie.

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

I think cats have Asperger‘s. Like me, they‘re very smart. And like me, sometimes they simply need to be left alone

- Jacob ”House Rules” by Jodi Picoult

This is the third Jodi Picoult book I’ve read, the first two being “Picture Perfect” and “My Sister’s Keeper”. I liked both the books but one thing I found similar, that is  illness. May be its memory loss as in ”Picture Perfect” or it is leukemia as in ”My sister’s keeper”.  For my surprise ”House Rules” is also about a medical condition and here it is Asperger‘s syndrome. I have read recently a book about autism (”Curious Case of Dog in the Night Time” where the main character has autism) and found similar symptoms. I am not sure if both Asperger‘s and autism falls into same category.

I love the story line in this book, but it seemed to drag on forever! Emma Hunt is single mother taking care of her eighteen-year-old son Jacob who has Asperger‘s and Theo her 15 year old normal son. Asperger’s syndrome, a disorder characterized by a compulsive attachment to order and routine, a tendency to take comments literally, hypersensitivity to bright lights, human touch, and scratchy fabrics, a reluctance to make eye contact, lack of empathy, painful bluntness, and difficulty relating to others. Theo loves his brother but being normal makes him neglected. Jacob is found of crime busters series and loves to set up his own crime scene at home with corn syrup for Emma to find out the crime. He is  not friendly with everyone but he is very close to his tutor Jess. One fine day she goes missing and Jacob is murder suspect. Who killed Jess? Why Jacob was suspected? Will he be able to prove his innocence when he can’t even make eye contact?

Its a time pass story, my rating : 3 out of 5. Wanted to give 2 but the thriller story line increased my rating. Its a good book if you are mystery fan. Book started off well with lot of suspense in it, but sadly by end there was hardly suspense left.

The God Father by Mario Puzo

‘‘Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. It is almost the equal of family”- Don Corleone

”The God Father” is a classic of underworld mafia. I don’t know what to say about this book. It is excellent,well written nothing can be compared to this. This is epic!  This book started my long running obsession with Mafia.I haven’t watched the movie yet, I heard it is good too.

Everyone already knows the general plot of the Godfather so I am not going to drag it. Its about a man with power and a clear motive, Don Vito Corleone, totally love him. Sonny, Michael, Vito, Lucca Brazzi, Peter Clemenza were also great. This book is a moving puzzle. You are so confused about who is back biting who. Puzo’s novel brings to life the Corleone family and their tradition.

The Godfather is, in many ways, not just a novel – it is an experience. If you haven’t read it please read it. I am planning to watch the movie soon to give it some extra effect. My rating is 4 out of 5. I wanted to give 5 but then in some places I felt the story is been dragged too much!

Some Dashing dialogues from the book:

• “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
• “Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.”
• “Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.”
• “The man with the briefcase can steal more money than the man with the gun.”
• “Italians have a little joke, that the world is so hard a man must have two fathers to look after him, and that’s why they have godfathers.”

The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon

My 3rd book of Sidney Sheldon, this book was short read, I read it in two days. I am not a big fan of  this author but I liked the book ”Nothings last forever”. I am ready to explore more of this author’s writing. But this book is not what I expected to be, I am not saying it was bad. The book was a good time pass read, but the mystery seemed very less compared to other two books I  read.

This is a good inspirational story of a woman who created everything from nothing. Lara Cameron, who made her way through success by achieving one of the top world site builders over a traditionally male dominant society. Lara is the daughter of a boarding house manager in Glace Bay with nothing in hand reached to the top level. She wanted to earn more power to prove her father wrong and she did succeed in that. She is a powerful lady who can do anything to get what she wants.  She is called as Iron butterfly but will she keep up her level forever? When one is dealing with real estate business its sure to make enemies, will her enemies can sit comfortably when a lady is over powering them? Will her affection to someone will turn into her enemy?

It is a good suspense novel, with good inspirational story in it. I recommend this book to mystery fans. My rating 3 out of 5.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

“No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people.”

Suicide is a horrible subject where strong reasons are not required. Among teenagers its like a disease, one suicide can influence another (like in the novel,Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides). The person who is in the state of mind doesn’t need any strong reasons to die. But according to me dying needs more courage than living. Suicide is really a scary subject to read about, so I don’t recommend this book for young adults and week mined people.

Hannah Baker is a girl surrounded by admirers and some toxic people. Story starts off with a tape passing on to a boy named Clay, who used to know Hannah Baker from school. The tape contains 13 reasons why Hannah Baker killed herself. In the tapes she had mentioned the names of people who made her life tough and uneasy. Each person has a story within the tapes and it is your responsibility after you listen to the tapes to pass it onto the next person. I feel sorry for Hannah Baker but then the reasons she gives sometimes feels silly. But for people who want to commit suicide no reason is silly. Clay has had a crush on Hannah forever, but he never had the guts to really tell her. Now he never will! I don’t think Clay deserved this tape at all he had been nice to Hannah always. This is one unbelievable story of a teenage girl. A chilling, horrible tale of suicide.

Suspense filled novel teaches you never to speak bad about people and speared gossip. Who knows you may be the reason for spoiling their reputation and name. They may end up committing suicide, scary isn’t it?

 

 

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Werewolves and vampires are my favorite paranormal characters. ”The Dark divine” is first book in  ”The Dark divine series”. I loved the cover, its in my favorite combination, violet and black.

Studious and good girl Grace Divine, who reminds me of Jammy from Nicholas Spark’s ” A walk to remember” falls for bad boy Daniel. Who once was  her close friend and childhood crush. That was before he ran away mysteriously. But now that he is back from wherever he was, he joined the same art class Grace is in. Grace can’t keep her eyes away from him, that’s not the only one problem. Her parents and brother are not even allowing to mention his name at their house. Now that Daniel is back, there are many deaths and news of some strange monster. What is Daniel? Where was he? What happened that day between Daniel and Grace’s brother Jude when Daniel tried to run away and succeeded?

I liked it because here it has a touch of classic, because the process of werewolves is explained in different way, with reference to ancient books and letters.  My rating is 3 out of 5. If you are werewolf novel fan then go ahead,grab this book to read

 

ANGEL Stranger To The Sun by Jeff Mariotte

I have heard a lot about ”Angel” TV series, but never knew there were novels. These novels are based on the TV series! Unlike movies or series based on novels. When I went to a new book shop, I bought this. Because owner of the shop told this was the best book. Along with ”Marked” he gave me this. As always I wanted to explore everything so I didn’t say no for buying.

It is a vampire series, that’s what it says at least.  When Wesley opens a delivery box, named Angel investigations he is sent to Coma by the powder from the package. When angel goes to investigate this he finds almost every magician, scientist, and astronauts in same coma condition. When he follows the delivery truck he comes to know that vampires are involved in this. Angel being a vampire himself, wants to find out what’s going on with his friend Gun and his vampire hunting team. But they find out the shocking thing going to happen to the entire human race and earth. Will they succeed to stop this coma spreading?  Who is behind all this? Will Wesley wake up?

I didn’t like it much so my ratings are only 2 out of 5. I was expecting a lot but I was very disappointing after reading this. It can not be considered as a horror novel because there is no horror in it, even though vampires are involved. I don’t think I will be reading the remaining books in the series, may be I will think about watching the TV series instead.

Before I Go To Sleep by S.J.Watson

Only one word can explain this book ”Awesome”! My fellow blogger recommended this book saying that ” It is one of those books you literally cannot put down until you know the ending”. I totally agree with her after reading the book. And she told me not to read any reviews of this book before, thinking that some reviews may spoil the suspense for me. I should be very careful while reviewing this book because I don’t want to ruin the fun of others who didn’t read it.

I should say that it is really amazing debut novel! Christine wakes up every morning thinking she is still in her early 20s until she looks in the mirror and realizes she’s 47 years old. She has to remember her husband and friends by looking at photos plastered in bathroom. The man who sleeps next to her and lives with her says that he is her husband. She has no memory of getting married or loving him, but she has to believe what this man says because she don’t have option. But with the help of doctor she secretly starts to write a journal and finds a way to remember where she kept the journal. There are things which comes back to her memory. She is the only one she can trust. Lovely combination of psychology and mystery. I recommend this book to people who love to read mystery and psychology related novels. My ratings are- 4 out of 5.

Existence by Abbi Glines

”What happens when you’re stalked by Death? You fall in love with him, of course”

The moment I read the plot idea, I wanted to read this book. There was something different in the concept as I read through the covers. ”Falling in love with death” what kind of person can do that? Exactly! but here Pegan does that. Of course if death is as hot as the person in the front cover page, then I am sure most of the girls will fall for death

Pegan is not normal, since her childhood she can see souls of the dead people wandering around and following her, if she looks at them. But she learned to ignore them, that’s how she kept them away. One fine day she meets a soul, who can talk to her, that never happened before. He can talk, he can sing to her at nights but he can’t reveal who is he. By this time she falls  for Mr. Popular, Leif and tries to forget all paranormal craziness. But one day this talking soul joins to school and everybody got convinced that he is a famous band guy Dank. From there story takes many twists, some stalker soul is trying to get to Pegan, but Dank keeps that soul away. Pegan realizes  that she is in love with Dank, but both Pegan and dank are dating someone else. Who is this Dank? How can he turn into a soul as well as come in human form? What will happen to Pegan and Leif’s love life? Will she express her love to dank?

Pegan could have been less dramatic, she should have stopped dating Leif  if she was in love with Dank. I liked Gee’s character she is loud but funny and she is completely different than what we expect her to be.  This book is good with a new concept and my ratings are 4 out of 5. But I hate it when a book ends by revealing a  unexpected suspense, now I have to read the sequel soon.