Mulling On Monday #9

2 ½ Stars. (Oooh, recently I just cannot get a simply fantastic novel to share with all of you!)

Oh, yet another Monday. A boring one at that, but hey, it could be worse.

This is number nine here! Almost double digits, exciting!

Today I had to really think about what novel to review.  I did not get much time to read over the weekend. Sad, I know. So. What novel does one mull over on such an important date? (Not really, but hey).

So, hello Daughter of Fortune, by Isabel Allende.

It’s a novel that made Oprah’s book club, for any of you who really care. (I personally think that awards don’t really matter; sure they can cover the book with medals and quotes and stars, but it is what’s inside that counts.) The author has written plenty of novels, and has gotten plenty of awards and ‘read-it”s.

This is one novel that I was not impressed with.

I have read it before, actually. But what made me pick it up again (promptly forgetting my disgust with it the first go-round) was me trying to remember another book about a Chinese man and how he met an interesting Englishman while trying to make a living by using acupuncture. Then, bing. Hello. That would be this novel. So I picked it up, wanting to find a story I had loved that was really only two or three chapters in this novel. Oh. Well then.

Let me say that those two or three chapters is what I liked the most out of this novel. The rest seems mashed, mixed, and not well put together overall. The characters are a little hazy, and the story line not really there. Little makes sense in this novel between it jumping around different character that by the end have little to do with anything.

I don’t like it when authors lose their way in their own works, and just randomly wander off with the story until they can fill up a few pages to make themselves feel better. That is what this book seemed like. Just a filler with all the backstories and flashbacks.

What I did like. Well. It’s a love hate relationship, becuase some of the flashbacks/backstories were really good. I mean, some of them were even better than the wanderings of Eliza and the randomness of everything else.

Overall, perhaps a beach read, or even the dreaded ‘read on a airplane’ novel. Ouch.

Eliza is an orphan living in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile. Found in a box by Miss Rose Summers, Eliza is raised in a Victorian way, filled with music, parties and glamor that tries to live up to far away England. But there are secrets the family harbours, each more dangerous than the last.

And Eliza has a secret that could possibly destroy her family, if it does not kill her first.

At sixteen, Eliza is headstrong, stubborn, and in love with the wild Joaquín Andieta, a Chilean clerk who works for Jeremy. Soon she finds herself over her head when she is pregnant with his child, and her lover has caught a ship to California where gold fever is taking over all of the men’s heads. But when Eliza decides to follow him as a stowaway on a ship, leaving all she knows behind, everything is not as it seems.

In a novel that is proclaimed as Isabel Allende finest work, this will take you back to an era where love was inappropriate, England was master, and gold was the currency of America.

Author: Isabel Allende

Published: May 1st 2006 by Harper Perennial (first published 1999)

Page Count: 432

ISBN: 0061120251    (isbn13: 9780061120251)

Mission Re-Read The YA Book Shelf: Night World Series

Overall, 2 ½ – 3 Stars

Okay, so I was pretty much forced to read this by my friend, who thought I would enjoy it.  And it’s been a while since I have done a mission post. Oops. Note that this is not because I have been slacking on the mission, it is because I have been reading and not reviewing. Again, oops.

So. This series. I read it. It was okay. I know that there are plenty of people who fell in love with this series, and absolutely were enthralled with it, but I, for one, was not impressed. Maybe it is because I am half-sick of vampire are werewolves and crazy witches and strange forbidden/secret circles, but either way you put it, I was not happy with this series.

The writing was okay; mediocre, and so much like all the other YA novels I have read, that it was kind of like, yes, okay, I get it now.

What bugged me a little was the fact that you read one novel (they are all together, three to a volume, three volumes so far), you skipped right over to an entirely different story with different characters, different plot, but similarities like, oh! Boys. Typical ‘love is forever…and you are my soulmate and we will never be parted!’ It’s getting old real quick.

What really, really, irritated me was the strange similarities between Twilight and these novels. I had to flip to the original publishing date to see who was copying who. And, Stephenie? That would be you. Sorry.

I also, again found it hard to follow. The only thing that connected them was the whole ‘secret society’ and the ‘end of the world’. That kinda blew it for me. I knew it was an older series, but I had to laugh that here I am, ten years later. I seem pretty much alive at this point, so the apocalypse in 2000 is a little old. It’s 2012 now, just so you know.

What I did like about the novels were some of the characters. They seemed (for the majority of the stories) well rounded and realistic…other than the whole supernatural part. The stories (again, for the most part) well well written, even if I am weary of the supernatural teenager/vampire/witch/werewolf/whatever.

Overall, I think that this review may be a little biased due to my frustrations with the YA fad right now, but once I push all that away, this series is okay. Not fantastic, but okay.

Secret Vampire

Poppy is a popular, raven-haired girl who loves her summer fun. But that is all turned upside down when she suddenly gets sick, and it’s not what anybody could ever imagine; Poppy has terminal cancer. When she is visited by James, her best friend he reaches out to her; as a vampire. He can save her.

But it goes against everything the Nightworld laws lay out.

In the opening novel of the Nightworld series, it gives the rules that must never be broken; and what happens when you break them.

Published: June 1st 1996

Page Count: 240

ISBN: 0671551337    (isbn13: 9780671551339)

Daughters of Darkness

Mary-Lynette loves to watch the stars. She always has; they are an escape, and her telescope lets her see far off into other worlds. One day, she sees into a different world alright. She sees what she thinks is a murder.

However, it’s just three vampire sisters burying their mysteriously-killed aunt. The sisters, Rowan, Kestral, and Jade are just trying to live ‘normal’ teenage lives, but when their aunt dies, and Mary-Lynette sees, it just becomes that much more difficult. It gets harder when their brother is sent to bring them back, and he slowly starts to fall for the human.

In a world where falling for humans is against the law, and loving an immortal seems impossible, can the two forgive and be soulmates? Or will the laws make that impossible?

Published: August 1st 1996

Page Count: 224

ISBN: 0671551345    (isbn13: 9780671551346)

Spellbinder

Thea and Blaise are cousins that are closer than sisters. They have always been together. But they are different as day and night, especially in their circles. For the two girls are witches.

Thea belongs to Circle Twilight, for the Glinda-type witches and Blaise belongs to Circle Midnight, for the ones that want a little more darkness.

The two become strained when they both fall for the same boy, and black and white magic flies, and there can be only one winner.

Published: October 1st 1996

Page Count: 240

ISBN: 0671551353    (isbn13: 9780671551353)

Dark Angel

When Gillian is rescued from death by a guardian angel, all seems okay. And that much better when the angel says he can teach  the shy girl how to be noticed and become popular…which could capture David’s – the handsome boy she has had a crush on for ages – attention, making her a star.

But things get frightening when the angel grows dark and starts making demands that just might kill her.

Published: December 1st 1996

Page Count: 240

ISBN: 0671551361    (isbn13: 9780671551360)

The Chosen

Rachel is vampires worst fear; armed with her special wooden stake,extreme martial arts knowledge, and he ability to resist mind-control, she is something from hell for the vampire. Fueled with a vengeance to revenge her mother’s death, She tries to kill as many vampires as possible;it’s what she knows.

What she doesn’t know is that when love forms, it does not matter what form the other person takes. Your worst enemy just could be your soulmate.

Published: February 1st 1997

Page Count: 224

ISBN: 067155137X    (isbn13: 9780671551377)

Soulmate

Hannah Snow is put together. Pretty, good grades, good friends, dreams of a good career. She is ready and prepared for life.

She is not prepared for the handwritten notes warning her ‘dead before seventeen’…in her handwriting.

When she goes to a  psychologist, she assumes it will all stop, and not get worse. Instead, she gets visions, and memories of other lives; her lives. But in each one she sees a vampire who killed a village in his rage. Until, in the eyes of a dying human girl, he recognized his soulmate.

Now Theirry is back, ready to make amends and get Hannah.

When your destiny is death, repeated a hundred times over, can love save you?

Published: April 1st 1997

Page Count: 240

ISBN: 0671551388    (isbn13: 9780671551384)

Huntress

Jez Redfern is a vampire, through and through. The leader of a notorious vampire gang that hunts them, vermin, humans, she is comfortable with her brutality and strength.

Her world is turned upside down, however, when she finds out that although she is a vampire, she is only half of one. The other half is human. Vermin.

Her world blown out of the water, Jez leaves her gang to do what she thought she would never even think about -protect the humans. This means even hunting and killing what half of her self is.

But when Circle Daybreak sends her on a search for one of the legendary Wild Powers, Jez has to rejoin her old gang; and avoid her old ways. They welcome her back with open arms – especially her old second-in-command, Morgead. Desperate to stay faithful to the human she loves, she clings as hard as she can to humanity.

But when you find your soulmate, it’s hard to resist. Like the other part of herself she is resisting; the huntress who is thirsty for blood.

Published: September 1st 1997

Page Count: 224

ISBN: 0671014757    (isbn13: 9780671014759)

Black Dawn

When Maggie’s brother goes missing, something in his girlfriend’s story does not make sense. So when Maggie digs a little deeper, she captured, and told she is a slave.

She finds herself in a mountainous kingdom where humans are slaves to vampires, witches, and shape shifters.  The world that has no color. A world with danger.

Between escaping with her blind companion Aradia, Maiden of all the Witches, and discovering that she is the long-looked-for Deliverer, the prophesied liberator of the human slaves of this strange land, things just keep getting complicated.

It does not help when the young vampire prince Delos falls for her.

Determined to find out what happened to her brother, determined to escape, determined to resist Delos and his dark promises. She will do all she can, even if it destroys her.

Published: November 1st 1997

Page Count: 240

ISBN: 0671014765    (isbn13: 9780671014766)

Witchlight

Keller is a shape-shifter. Her ability to turn into a panther makes her strong, a fighter. One of the best in Circle Daybreak. That is why her and her team must find the last wild-power and lost witch child. That is why when they find Iliana Harman, who is supposed to be her, Keller is bemused. She is soft-hearted, sweet, and a little ditzy. Not exactly prime Nightworld material.

It makes the fact that Galen – Keller’s soulmate – has to marry this girl, as he is the prince of the Shapeshifters And as the Witch Child, she’s been prophesied to marry the him to cement an alliance between the witches and ‘shifters, a little hard to swallow.

Keller has to forget about that though, when they find out that they are not the only ones who are looking for Iliana; and that a dragon has been unleashed to find her.

A day in the life of the now-dangerous Nightworld.

Published: January 1st 1998

Page Count: 240

ISBN: 0671014773    (isbn13: 9780671014773)

Strange Fate

(Note – this novel is slated for release sometime this year, or next year.)

The long-awaited final novel in the Nightworld series.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Strange finds life a mass of contradictions.
She’s an ordinary-looking girl, and yet two of the most popular guys at school form her circle of friends.  Kierlan Drache and Mal Harman, who are as unalike as any two people can be.  That ought to make her happy, but recently she’s been having romantic feelings about each of them—and has seen two silver cords: one reaching from her to Kierlan, and one from her to Mal.  What’s going on?  In addition, every night she dreams of a future where dragons and vampires rule the world, and of a brave child called Crispy.  For a girl who hasn’t even heard of the Night World yet, Sarah has a lot to handle!  Even worse, the Apocalypse has finally come—and even the Wild Powers see only one way to stop it.  This is an epic volume, which stars all the most beloved Night Worlders from the other books. Be prepared, though, because seven go on a mission to save the world . . . and only two come back.

- From http://www.ljanesmith.net/booklist.php

Published: April 26th 2011

Page Count: 528

ISBN: 1416986774    (isbn13: 9781416986775)

Whew. That took some effort. Onto the next mission. Next series. Next adventure.

Quick Review: Dear John

  2 ½ Stars

So I sat down with this novel after being promised that it was an amazing novel and that the movie was superb and that it had everything Nicholas Sparks had offered before.

  I should not have been surprised that after reading The Last Song, that I would not enjoy it.

  Sparks has veered off into a different realm, it seems, than the great novels like A Walk to Remember, and The Notebook.  Those were heart-wrenching romances.

  This was just…dull.

  I admit, the first part of the novel was promising, if not familiar to The Last Song. It seemed like it could work up to a steady, heart-pounding climax.

  Dull.

  Also, the novel promises a ‘life-changing decision’. Okay. Waited for that, and it was not untill I passed a few pages that I had to flip back and realize ‘oh. That was it’. See? So well hidden I missed it.

  And the ending. That was awfully dull too. And so easily foreseen. I guess, though that it was realistic, and therefore, it made the ending a little more down-played than a big shablam ending, but, I wished for a twist. Some sad twist of fate. A long lost-something-or-other. No. Just what he had and what he did. The end.

  This novel really, really let me down. One of my first thoughts after finishing was ‘I’m done with Nicholas Sparks for a while’. Sadly, this remains true, and will for a while. Though I suppose I could visit his old stuff, when it was actually good. But for now, I am going on a Nicholas Sparks ban.

  I liked the characters though. thoughtfully developed, and rounded out by the end, but they can only do so much in a story such as this.

  I think that everything just needs to be re-worked. A bigger climax (eh-ehm.  How about a more noticable one?), and a story that is way more deep than this.

John Tyree is an angry rebel wanthing nothing to do with school, planning or his Dad. And he is half-sick to death with the only thing his father will share with him in his boring, everyday routine; coins.

 So when he gets out of high-school, out of the party zone and into the real world, surfing and drinking is about the most he can see himself doing in this life.

Until two marines jog by.

Without much of a thought, John enlists in the army, with very little regrets. He is fit, he has good buddies, and he gets to see the world.

 But when he returns home from Germany on leave, all that changes when a girl drops her purse in the ocean.

The two young people soon find themselves falling for each other, their lives tangling, and love forming. But that all changes when John’s leave is up, and it’s time to go back to to Germany.

 However, the two write letters back and forth, love sealed into each of them, scalding, hurting, and John and Savannah are counting down the days untill John comes home.

That changes on 9/11.

In a story that is truthful and realastic, Dear John is a novel that seems heart-felt.

 

 

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Published: October 30th 2006 by Warner Books (first published 2006)

Page Count: 276

ISBN: 0446528056    (isbn13: 9780446528054)