Night Star (The Immortals #5)

Night Star by Alyson Noel
First published by St. Martin's Press in 2010 (this edition by Macmillan Children's Books in 2010)

Book #5 in The Immortals series


Description: (from back cover)

Love and heartbreak belong together...

There are some secrets you're better off not knowing. But once Ever Bloom is given a glimpse of what Damen keeps hiding from her, she has to find out more - whatever the cost.

Their past together is not what she thinks - and only he remembers everything. Until now, when a vengeful friend lets her in on his secret. And it may just push Ever into someone else's arms . . .

My thoughts:
As you might know, if you've read my review of Dark Flame (which you can find here), I didn't particularly enjoy it. It was rather tiring. I felt as if the author was just trying to make a full story out of the very little that happened in the book. It picked up towards the end, but it was not enough for me to say I enjoyed it. I had already bought the fifth book before reading the fourth (as I found it on offer while on holiday), but just got round to reading it. As it's the fifth book in the series, it will have some spoiler-y stuff, if you haven't read the previous books in the series.

I have to say I liked this one a little more. It was not as good as the 1st and 2nd books in the series, but it was a lot better than Dark Flame. Yes, the focus is still on the problem that Ever and Damen have (that they can't touch properly) - which is getting a little tiring, in my opinion -, but it was not the only thing that was happening in the book. There was quite a bit of Haven in this book (who has turned out to be an absolute bitch now she is immortal and refuses to see reason), though I thought that the author depicted Haven in such a way that the only thing you could do is hate her. And hate her I did... There were quite a few revelations about Ever and Damen's past in this book. (Though again I must say I expected them to be a lot worse from the way the author led up to them...)

One thing that really annoyed me in this book (and which is probably in the previous books, too, but I probably just didn't notice it) was the constant use of words in italics. I get that the author was trying to emphasise some specific words and make it seem as if it was like a proper conversation, but after a point it just stood out - too much. To the point that I actually rolled my eyes when another word in italics came up.

All in all, I enjoyed this one more than the previous book and I am looking forward to reading the next and last book in the series, Everlasting (expected publication date: 7th June 2011 or 1st July 2011 in the UK).

US  |  UK

Rating: 6/10


Author:
You can find out more about Alyson Noel at the end of my review of Dark Flame HERE.

Counts as Book #37 in the 100 Books In A Year Challenge.

In My Mailbox (7)

Hello everyone! Welcome to another IMM post! In My Mailbox is a meme that is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, so we get the chance to share our new books for the week (bought, borrowed or won) with all the lovely bloggers out there!

Today's IMM post contains the books I got these past two weeks. I decided not to do an IMM last week, because of the fact that I only got one book in the post.

Random by Craig Robertson
I won this one from Ellie's Pre-Loved Giveaways over at Curiosity Killed The Bookworm. (This one is the one that arrived last week) Looking forward to reading it!

The Rain Before It Falls by Jonathan Coe
The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
All of these were a present from my boyfriend, when he came back from his Easter holidays in Athens. Yay! Books! (a.k.a. best presents in the world!)
Anyway, I'd been meaning to get Wolf Hall for myself (but I could only find it in Greek) and I really wanted to try reading a book by Orhan Pamuk. Everyone seems to read his books over here in Greece... We shall see!

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
I got this one from Bookmooch.com. Someone in Greece was offering it, which means -1 point, so I just went for it! (Plus, it got here really quick!)

Fallen by Lauren Kate
I won this one from Calum over at The Secret Writer. I already had the book, but this one is a signed copy and I don't have many of them, so I really wanted another one to keep! I had been warned that parcels from America take quite a bit of time to reach Europe, but I thought it arrived very quickly!

I also got some e-books this week:

The Abandoned by Amanda Stevens
The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross
Beyond The Bougainvillea by Dolores Durando (thanks to NetGalley!)

That's all I got these past two weeks!

What did you get in your mailbox this week?? 

I'd love to have a look!

13 Little Blue Envelopes

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
First published by Avon in 2006 (this edition is the e-book edition, including an excerpt from The Last Little Blue Envelope)


Book #1 in the Little Blue Envelope series


Description: (from Goodreads)

Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket.
In envelope 2 are directions to a specific London flat.

The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a starving artist.

Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/ bloke–about–town called Keith go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous–though utterly romantic–results. But will she ever see him again?

Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it's all because of the 13 little blue envelopes.

My thoughts:

This is the other book I bought from Amazon.com, when the offer was on (the other one being Wings by Aprilynne Pike). I had seen it everywhere on blogs and I thought the story sounded cute and easy to read, so I decided to try it for myself. (It was free, as a promotion for the release of the second book in the series, The Last Little Blue Envelope).


Suffice to say, I wasn't blown over by the book. I remember reading quite a few reviews mentioning that they absolutely loved the book, but that was not the case with me. First of all, I was really annoyed by the fact that there was NO mention of Ginny's parents in (nearly) the whole book. I'm not a parent, but, from a child's point-of-view, what happened in the book and the way it happened, is just not possible. I am 1000% sure that my parents would have never let me travel to a different continent at the age of 17, knowing that they would not be able to communicate with me on the phone. NO WAY!


Secondly, I thought that everything was just a little too rushed. Ginny opened an envelope, did what she was supposed to do and then went on to the next envelope; it was all going a little too fast in my opinion. I suppose that with 13 envelopes to open, the narration had to be a little faster to fit everything in, but I just felt that everything was rushed. I also found her aunt a little annoying... I do see the point of the letters and what her aunt was trying to do, but it didn't sound really realistic.


That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. It was a good read; an easy and quick book to read. I really enjoyed all the descriptions of places in the book. I've been to London and Rome, so I could remember some of the places described just like I saw them all those years ago. Especially Rome, with the lovely Santa Maria in Trastevere neighbourhood. I think I'll probably pick up the 2nd book in the series sometime in the future! I'd like to see where the story goes!


Rating: 5/10


Author:
Maureen Johnson is an American author. She was born in Pennsylvania and holds a degree in writing from the University of Delaware. Soon after graduation, she moved to New York City to study theatrical dramaturgy and writing at Columbia University School of Arts. She still lives in New York.
Her other books include:

The Key To The Golden Firebird  |  Devilish  |  Suite Scarlett

For more information, you can check these out:

Maureen Johnson (Official Website)

Maureen Johnson on Goodreads

Counts as Book #36 in the 100 Books In A Year Challenge.

Room

Room by Emma Donoghue
First published by Picador in 2010 (this edition by Picador in 2010)








Description: (from Goodreads)
To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.


My thoughts:
I remember seeing this book in a book magazine in August while I was on holiday in England. It had only just been published, so it was in hardback and I didn't buy it. (I'm not much of a hardback person. I like them, but I don't prefer them because they're so much more expensive). I managed to find it in Greece just before Christmas in one of those tall paperback editions (which still cost quite a bit, but not as much as a hardback), but only just got round to reading the book.


This was honestly one of the nicest books I have read all year. It tells the story of Jack, a five-year-old boy who has spent his entire life in Room, a space measuring 11x11. He lives there with ''Ma'' and they are sometimes visited by ''Old Nick'', even though Jack doesn't usually get to see him. The narrative is split into 4 parts: the first two are about their life in Room and the second two about their life Outside.


It's quite obvious from the beginning of the book why Jack and Ma are in Room. It's not easy to miss. All the signs are there. The story is told from Jack's point-of-view, so we get to experience everything the way Jack does. I have to admit here that it annoyed me a little in the beginning. I didn't particularly like the style of writing, as it seemed very dummed down regarding expressions, whereas Jack actually knew quite a lot of things. He wasn't slow or dim-witted or anything like that, but that was the feel I got from the first few pages. Then I got used to it and though of it like a child's incessant chatter, so it stopped bothering me and I could get into the story. (And, in the end, enjoy it, too!)


I read quite a few reviews on Goodreads saying that Donoghue came up with the idea for the book because of everything that was happening at the time concerning Elisabeth Fritzl  and a few others in the same predicament. I don't really see the problem with that. Sure, those things did happen and they were awful, but why shouldn't they inspire someone to write a book about it?


All in all, a very nice book, told in a unique way. It might have taken some time for me to get used to the type of narration used, but I do think that one of the novel's strongest points was the fact that everything was told from the eyes of an innocent little boy, whose whole world is a single room. There were certain things that happened in the book that I expected to happen, but I liked the way the whole ''problem'' and ''rehabilitation issue'' were dealt with. Definitely, definitely recommended!


Rating: 9/10 (I would have probably given it an 8/10, but my brother said that I was not allowed to give it a rating less than 9/10, so I haven't!)


Author:
Emma Donoghue was born in 1969 in Dublin, Ireland. She is the youngest of eight children. She holds a BA in English and French from the University of Dublin, as well as a PhD from the University of Cambridge. She has worked as a full-time writer since she was 23. She currently lives in London, Ontario, Canada.
Some of her other books include:

You can find out more about Emma Donoghue and her books here:
Emma Donoghue Official Website
Emma Donoghue on Goodreads

Counts as Book #35 in the 100 Books In A Year Challenge.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Came Recommended

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish.

This week we are talking about the books that were recommended to us and that we are soooo glad we read in the end! Here is my list, as always, in no particular order! (Even though it's going up a little later...)

1. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
This one was recommended to me by my Grandma, who had just read it recently and told me to borrow her copy! I'm so glad I did! Now I have a copy of my own.

2. The House At Riverton by Kate Morton
If I remember rightly, this was one of the books that was recommended by the Waterstones staff at their store in Macclesfield, when I was visiting some years ago. Thanks to the person who put it there, whoever you are!

3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
This is a book that everyone says you must read at some point in your life. I remember that quite a few of my friends had read it when we were still at school and they had loved it. A few years later, so did I!

4. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman (Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass)
This was years and years ago, but I think it was my Grandpa who recommended them to me. My Grandma had read them too, but it was he who actually gave them to me and told me to read them! I love these books!

5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Another book recommended by my Grandma! Though I actually took her copy of this one to read and have not yet returned it... Don't think she minds though!

6. The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
My friend Penny had recommended this series to me aaaages and ages ago, but I only got as far as the second book. Last year (or probably the year before that), I decided to give them another try, when she told me she was re-reading them for the tv series that was just starting. They're enjoyable reads, though I haven't liked the last ones as much as the first ones in the series.

7. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
Even though I am not a great fan of biographies, I did read this one on my Grandpa's recommendation. He went on and on about it for a whole summer until he got me to read it! I'm so glad I did, as I learnt a lot of stuff I didn't know about this truly remarkable woman, who died before her time.

8. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
My Grandma sent me this one as a Christmas present a few years ago, telling me I would love it. And I did! Unfortunately, I have not read any of Philippa Gregory's other books, but I will be reading Wideacre fairly soon (I hope)!

9. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
The thanks go to my brother for this one! He started reading it years ago and was completely and utterly hooked. He got me hooked too, with the only stipulation that he got to read the new books first when they came out...!

And last but not least:

10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My thanks for this recommendation go to all you wonderful bloggers out there who have read and reviewed The Hunger Games, making me want to see for myself what all the fuss is about! I see it now...!

(As you can see, I really trust my grandparents' recommendations. They know what I like, so why not!)

This was my Top Ten list for this week! Which books are on yours??

Coming up next week: Top Ten Jerks in Literature!