Zeebooks

I really didn't like this book, but I remeber reading it as a child and liking it more. I felt like there was no depth to the characters, all of a sudden their in love and we don't even really get to see their relationship buliding. Next her boyfriend is a self centered jerk.

I wasn't a fan of the writing, at one point I was pretty sure a sentence was because all of a sudden someone knew something she hadn't told them, at least not on the bool pages.

I found the whole plot to be really far fetched.

Just not my fave.

Being Henry David was a wonderful surprise of a book for me. It follows a teenager who wakes up in Penn Station, with no money, no ID, and no clue who he is.  The only this he has is a copy of Thoreau's Walden in his back pocket. Using this as his only clue, the boy - who named himself Hank- goes on a journey to discover who he is, piecing it together little by little. Along the way he meets some great people and learns a lot about himself.

Likes:

This books had all the suspense I would expect form an amesia novel and more. I loved that we the readers get information as Hank does. Slowly piecing together his life. I also liked that I didn't see lots of the elements of the story coming. 
Their was some lovely characters in this book, and I really really enjoyed it. 

Dislikes:

I did however get annoyed towards the end of the book and I wish their would have been a little bit more resolution.

Also if I was in that situation, I would have called the police stat, but that would have made for a very short story. 

Overall thoughts:
I laughed, I cried, and I was taken on a wonderful ride.

The take away:
This was a story about finding yourself, and it made me think a lot about the soul searching we all have to do to figure out who we are. I loved how even as pieces of his life fell together he still had to figure out who he wanted to be next. That was the take away for me. I know my Name is Tanzi, I know who I am. But there are still pieces of myself I am seem to be searching for. This book reminded me that I get to decide who I am, that I don't have to go looking for it, and also not to run from who I was, but to make a conscious decision to be the me I want to be now.

So Thief's Magic is basically the first real fantasy book I've read in at lest 10+ years. I thought that Fantasy wasn't for me, but I'm glad I gave the genre another try with this little book.

The Thief's Magic follows two characters and it is told in two POV's through Tyen and Rielle. Because their stories are so different I'm going to split up my thoughts of each of their stories accordingly.

Tyen: 
Tyen lives in a world where all machines are powered by magic and is a student of archaeology and sorcery finds a magical book -though she once was human- on one of his adventures. This book stores information from all that touch her and communicates through words one the pages. Tyen quickly becomes attached to the book and decides to keep her and learn from her. Not far along into the story, Tyen is forced to grow up and face some harsh realities of the cruelness of others.

Rielle:  
Rielle lives in a world where using magic is forbidden and is seen as taking from angels. But unlike most people, Rielle has the ability to use magic. Rielle's story is more about love then about magic, she falls for a boy whom she probably shouldn't, and things get a little crazy.


Likes: 
I loved seeing the opinions of magic in a the different worlds and how both of the thoughts on magic effected the lives of the people. I liked the two main characters and I felt interested in both of their stories though I liked Tyen's better. I also liked that instead of alternating POV's every other chapter we got a good chunk from each persons perspective.


Dislikes:
When I started this book, I assumed that the characters would meet before the end of the book, but that wasn't the case. I didn't like this. It really felt like two separate books because the stories never intertwined at all. I know this is probably a set up for the next book in the series where the two will meet (and hopefully within the first few chapters) I also don't feel like I got a good feel for the supporting characters, especially the two people who were with Tyen a good chunk of the book.


Overall feelings:

I liked this book and I will continue on with the series and also try to read some other books by this author.

Four stars, I think I like fantasy now?

The take away:
Don't trust anyone, ever.

I wanted to take a second to write about my love for books and how this love started from a young age.  So here goes, Enjoy:

My first memories of books are the box car children, When I was about two years old my mother started reading me a chapter or two every night. Thinking back I'm surprised my toddler self would actually enjoy a book without pictures, but it being one of the first books I was ever introduced to, I don't think I knew that it was "missing" anything. Since then I have always loved books. I remember walking to the local library with my mom and getting a backpack full of books every single week.  I remember always having the highest number in the summer reading programs I participated in once I could actually read.

But books were more then just a past time for me, in some ways, they were a means of survival. Some of you might know what it's like to grow up in an unsafe environment like I did, and by unsafe, I mean alcoholic father and all that comes with that. Books started to become a way I could escape into my own world, or rather the world of the story. It was a way to live a happier life, it was a break from what was happening around me. 
There is a quote from the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close that explains in perfectly: 

 " I started inventing things, and then I couldn't stop, like beavers, which I know about. People think they cut down trees so they can build dams, but in reality its because their teeth never stop growing, and if they didn't constantly file them down by cutting through all of those trees, their teeth would start to grow into their own faces, which would kill them. That's how my brain ways"

This was reading for me, I read just as much out a necessity as I did out of pleasure.  I started inventing things as well. When I learned to write, I wrote my own stories when I didn't have any to read. I invented the story I wished were my own. Where I was the hero and not a little girl stuck in a bad situation. But rather I was reading of stories that others invented out creating my own the effect was the same. I started reading and couldn't stop because if I did the reality of where I was in life, the things that were happening around me and to me would have been too much. I wouldn't have been able to survive. So instead I read and I wrote. 

To this day, books still are my go to when things are really bad. They still help me cope with life, they still give me a way to escape, but of course they have also become so much more than just a coping mechanism for me; but I'll save that for another post.

Is to knock out the massive amount of free books I have on my kindle.

So most of the reveiws you see on here are of books the might possible be free on amazon (the ebook version) with the exception of newer releases or popular series. 

So if you're a broke reader likes me that has access to the kindle app, mayne you'll find some good book here. Even the ones I pay fornare normally under $7.

I'll start putting current ebook pricing in my reviews.  

This was a nice short intro fantasy book.  The whole book was mostly the set up for what the story will be in later books. It follow siblings Sam and Sarah as they nagavite the last day of school and discover some magical things both in different ways. It ends with giving the reader some explanation for the events. But this book is far to short. It seems like the author split the book apart just for the sake of money or something. I would love to know how the story continues but I'm not sure if I want to buy at least two more books if they are the same length.

Still the book was not bad, I liked it.

This is the first fantasy book I've read in a long long time, so I guess for me it was a good icebreaker to the genere because it was so short. 

3.5 stars.

Well,  that escalade quickly!

Summary:

Panic by Lauren Oliver -best known for the delirium trilogy- is set in small town

Carp New York where nothing interesting happens except the very interesting game called panic, a fear factor or steroid game. Every summer after graduation seniors participate in a game that tests their limits in hopes to win the cash prize that is collected during the school year. Everyone in high schools pays a dollar a day to make this happen. This years cash pot is higher then it's ever been before. But panic is dangerous,  the games are often illegal,  people get hurt, or sometimes killed. There are half a dozen challeneges, if you fail you're out.

The book follows two main characters Heather and Dodge. Heather decided to play the game out of desperation,  Dodge is playing for revenge. Other important chracters include Nat and Bishop,  Heathers best friends, Lily, heathers little sister, and Dayna, Dodge's older sister.

Overall I enjoyed this book. Kept me wanting to read more, though I wish I could have learned more about some of the characters. This book is all about plot though, and what an interesting plot line it has. 

Characters:

I liked both Dodge and Heather,  I liked learning more about their stories and the trials they were facing. I felt the desperation in them, the reasons they needed the game, their determination.  I felt like those things set them apart from their group of friends.  They had alrady started feeling the weight of growing up while the others had not. I liked that Oliver did this.

I wish their had been more character development in the two siblings, I liked them both and wanted to know more. 

My other favorite character is Anne, I won't say much about her to avoid spoilers,  but she was great to me, though also not as developed as I would have liked.

Favorite quotes:

Dodge: "He felt a sudden wrench of grief, for the way time always goes forward, relentlessly. It was like flood water, it left only clutter in its wake"

Heather: "Two years away from Carp hadn't done him any good, which was shocking to Heather. She thought all you needed to do was get out. But maybe you carried your demons with you everywhere, the way you carried your shadow" 

I like those quotes because to me they capture the feeling of transitioning. When I was preparing for college 4 years ago, like Heather I thought a new setting would change every thing, would fix things. The truth is you can't really run from the problems within, a new town wont fix you, you have to do that yourself.

With Dodge's quote,  I can relate to that feeling so much, it'll always be there. Sometimes I just want to stay in a phase of time forever, but life... it always moves forward and more often then not it moves you away from the things you've grown to love.

Likes: This was my first Lauren Oliver book and I really enjoyed the way she told the story, I loved how the two plot lines came together and made the story stronger,  I liked finding out things from different perspectives. I also loved that this was a contemporary that was not all about romance,  I mean romance was a side plot, but in most Contemporary books it is the main plot. I also loved that it was a stand alone, it was nice to have some resolution! I'm excited to read more from her in the future.  

Dislike: The ending scene, could have gone out stronger, and Nat, I REALLY DON'T LIKE NAT!  Heather suffers from the typical annoyng teenager syndrome that so many authors fall into. She is whiney at times and won't talk out her problems,  instead she just avoids things. She did seem to grow as the book went on, and I can understand some of her feelings, but still, it took me a bit to like her. Also, I think the too main characters could have had more depth if it was just a littlw bit longer. But like I said, this book is about the plot to me, and it's fast paced and a fun read.

The take away:

Whats the point of reading if you don't take anything away from the story.  Panic was about fear, but in  my opinion what the chracters really feared wasn't something that was in a challenge. This reminded me that sometimes our greatest fears lie within, I'm terrified of spiders, but I'm way more afraid of so many other things.  Through this book I got the urge to really analyze what I am afraid of and to see of those fears are holding me back in anyway and to start challenging myself to do the things I fear.