Review: Diamonds Are Forever

Diamonds Are Forever by Ian Fleming

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Well, as par for the course, I skipped a lot of chapters. Nothing major I can assure but still many. I swear there is no need for such quantity of detailed nonsense. Seriously. I do not need to know everything. I do not not need to know who founded which casino in Vegas, for example. Or what those decrepit ladies look like when they're gambling their money away. Super snore. I don't care. I've always focused more on the action scenes and I swear they're the only thing that keeps me going 'till the end of each book. In fact I always seem to find myself a little disappointed when said ending comes due to all that filling I have to go through first. I mean, all of that snail paced antecipation and then just a couple of shots and it's over? WTH? And Bond is getting on my nerves "falling in love" with every single woman he meets. Flirting is fine. Sleep with them is fine. Talking about love every single time and they hook up with another woman in the next book? Not fine.



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Review: Moonraker

Moonraker by Ian Fleming

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I don't know if I should be disapointed by the casual way the bad guy died in this book or laugh at the irony considering the bad guy was incredibly meticulous and patient and his death pretty much mocked him into his grave. Alas, I think I'll do a little of both.

So...This book was easier to read than Live and Let Die. Probably because it wasn't as focused on Britsh history as the previous or maybe because, even though I haven't seen the movie in forever, my unconscious probably caught a little thread of an idea and made it easier for me. Either way, I had fun. Now that I know what to expect my reading experience has improved considerably and I don't get a headache every time someone decides to give a lecture about some obscure subject. Hurray. Progress. James Bond continues to have incredible luck and I can't wait to see it ran out. I still love him but his adventures get weirder by the book.



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Review: Live and Let Die

Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Quite hard to get into for me. Maybe because my memory of this story was really sketchy, maybe because the language was hard to understand or more likely for all of the above. Either way, it took me a long time to get into the story's rhythm and enjoy it. I still loved James Bond so, while I struggled a lot, I kept trying over and over just to read more about him and eventually succeeded. That being said...I can't, in good conscience, give more than a 3 star rating to this book. The writing seemed really forceful at times and the details bored me to tears. Also my history lessons did not prepare me for the convoluted way it was presented to me along the main spy story. I actually have to admit that I ended up skimming most of those parts so as not to lose hope and give up. I still look forward to carry on with this series however.



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Review: Damn You, Autocorrect!: Awesomely Embarrassing Text Messages You Didn't Mean to Send

Damn You, Autocorrect!: Awesomely Embarrassing Text Messages You Didn't Mean to Send by Jillian Madison

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Make no mistake, I laughed out loud a couple times. But there were a lot of duds here too and it only provided me with moderate bouts of hystericalls so I'm pretty disappointed. I expected better.



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Review: Casino Royale

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I honestly think my opinion of this book would've been better if I hadn't been bombarded with films about James Bond since childhood. Seriously. I mean, I saw the movie Casino Royale with Daniel Craig a bunch of times. Hell! I saw all of them a bunch of times. I love his character if not the actor playing him at the time.

But,

The fact is, after so many films, you form a certain understanding of the character. Your own image.

This James Bond? I honestly did not recognize him at first. His harsh behavior. His cold attitude. Nothing felt familiar and it really looked like I was reading about some other character. Not a bad one, don't take me the wrong way. Just you know...incredibly different.

Happened the same thing 1st time I saw James Bond played by Daniel Craig. I hated it. I felt like I didn't know him at all and the actor sucked (sorry Daniel #notsorry). Turns out Daniel Craig's way of portraying James was actually more accurate than I've ever seen before. I see that now after reading this book. James really is a cold-hearted son of a b*tch in this book.

(Congrats, Daniel. Turns out you don't completely suck.)

That being said...I still love him. Possibly even more. James not Daniel. I still hate Daniel.

(Yeah. I'm weird.)

So..I blah blah blah'ed and didn't really say anything right? Wait, I'm about to make sense!

This was awesome but short. I felt incredibly cheated by that ending even though I completely expected it. It was really abrupt. The language and writing takes a little getting used to. The background is amazingly detailed and, again, awesome but that also means I got bored a couple times. Not a good thing in a less than 200 pages novel. Vesper disappointed me. The actress that played her in the movie deserves a lot of recognition because her character on paper was interesting for only about five minutes. Her duplicity fooled only James. I did like Mathis a lot more though. Kudos for that.

Overall I am not sorry I gave this book a chance. I am in fact very anxious to read the rest of the series while I await the new Bond film later this year.



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Review: Worth Keeping

Worth Keeping by Susan Mac Nicol

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Honestly? I made such a big pause between the last two/three chapters of this book that I'm no longer sure what I liked or what I didn't. I remember only parts of it and I'm gonna go with an overall maybe. I think I ended up liking Nick and Owen as a couple more towards the end than when they first met. I remember liking the author not being shy about exposing child prostitution and abuse and I remember liking the support characters. Unfortunately, due to my break in reading, I can't really say this made much of an impression. My memory of the plot is pretty sketchy and, while I'm happy I took the time to finish, I'm not positive about anything else.



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Review: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line

The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I liked it but before I touched this book I can honestly say I read a lot of reviews criticizing this and that and wasn't very sure it was worth it. It went from telling how the previous novels were better and how disappointed they were with how this story went to not enough Logan Echolls (kind of agree with that one, I admit) and other stuff. But I still liked it. A whole of a lot. Because I'm a Veronica Mars fan no matter how she comes to me. I absolutely loved the light feeling that came with her and her friends. The mystery. The passion. The almost-not-there romance. The family weirdness. All of it and I can barely wait for more.



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Review: A Bit Of Me

A Bit Of Me by Bailey Bradford

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I didn't particularly like Chase slowly turning from a hard-ass to a blubbering emotional twink but, apart from that, I enjoyed this story a lot. The main character's pasts could've been more comprehensive and talked about but it wasn't much of a point of contention. It worked okay even if not perfectly and it didn't make me lose my enjoyment at all. I did expect more of James though because he was such a good part of Chase's life and was a little disappointed we learned so little about them as best friends. Also the romance developed way too quickly. It started normally slow but then went way too fast.



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Review: Moon-Touched

Moon-Touched by Vivien Dean

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Better than most books. I especially applaud the communication because it was amazingly clear, more so when we take into account one of the main characters was mute and there's that initial fear he'll automatically be obtuse or difficult to deal with. Then again, maybe that is why it's so good. People do tend to complicate things when words are involved. That being said, I also really liked Andre right off the bat. He was thoughtful of everyone around him and a real treat to get to know. Thomas was a little more difficult but rewarding as well. And they did get along very nicely. I still think it was too rushed but, because the author really took her time trying to make everything fit and show us how good they were together and apart, it wasn't as noticeable as in previous books. So...it was good. I enjoyed my time reading it.



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Review: Rendered

Rendered by Bailey Bradford

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Meh. I didn't hate the main characters but I didn't like them much either. Sean was absolutely devoid of a personality and Alex was just so damn bland it's not even funny. The main arc also turned out pretty boring and uneventful so, while I wasn't offended or massively disappointed, I also wasn't satisfied. I could've gone without and wouldn't have noticed.



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