Kerri

Author Keta Diablo had a Twitter meltdown today where she vociferously denounced the Book Smugglers as "cyber bullies" over this DNF review from three years ago. Screenshots are below:

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Still trying to get a handle on this place, it's so very different from Goodreads... I can't decide if I like it yet. But, I really dislike the crap that GR is pulling, so... :/

 

Is there any way to hide the stupid Facebook bar that keeps showing at the top of the page?

In this post I'm going to show you how to change the Followers and Following sections on your pages into something creative like Minions and Masters. 

Ignite is one of those books that has a lot of potential to it, and I wanted it to be more than it is, in the end.The book focuses around Penemuel, a demon who fell millenia ago and whose life revolves around her brother and their ascent back up through the social ladder of Hell. Life revolves around killing and reaping souls, and up until now that's been enough for her.Then an angel comes along and everything changes. Heaven and hell are at war and Pen and Michael are caught in the middle.If anything my biggest complaint about this book was that I wanted more. More depth, more time spent on the development of relationships, more angst and uncertainty as Pen's very point of view starts to shift. The writing is descriptive and engaging, drawing you in to the world that Erica Crouch has created - but throughout I found myself questioning how someone who has followed a way of life for millenia could change so quickly, and the end of the book left me thinking the developments felt rushed.This is the first of two books, and I almost think that it could have been a trilogy if only there was more depth to it. At times it feels more like an outline than the true meat of the story - although we are in Pen's head, sometimes it seemed we were being told how she felt, rather than having it shown. Her history with her brother stretches back millenia, yet in the space of a very short period of time we are expected to believe that her very view of the world changes.The book is more romance than drama, which is a pity, because I would have liked to see more of the actual developments that Pen seemed removed from. She obviously knows how to take care of herself, but we're left watching her in a role where she's supposed to be deceitful, but instead it revolves more around the romance.I imagine fans of paranormal romance will quite enjoy this, though, and as I said, there's potential here. It's a nice read, but it doesn't have the depth to take it to being truly memorable. Note: I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley for review.

Review to come. :D

Okay, so Sirantha made up for the little phrasing that pissed me off by being just as pissed off. :D I liked this book! Some of it was a bit too obvious (the relationships) but the ideas are fresh and the writing was humorous and entertaining. Sirantha's emotions draw you in and make you become invested in her. I'll read the next one :)

I really enjoyed this - it took a popular trope that we're seeing in books as of late and flipped it around. The characters are engaging, the world is interesting. :D

Brilliant way to dive back into reading again after a few months. :D Wonderful addition to the series. Will write more later.

A fun quick read, just what I need in the summer! Liked the action. Some of the plot development was predictable in terms of relationships, but it was still solid and interesting enough to hold my attention. I'd probably give other books by this author a try, though I still lean more towards paranormal and fantasy.

I liked this book. I find it difficult to 'rate' non-fiction that's about people's lives - it feels a bit like I'd be rating how interesting their life was, or something along those lines. The best part of this book, for me, was the insight into what Janelle, Meri, Christine and Robyn have experienced in their marriages to Kody. Their struggles and triumphs, and also their perspective on their choice and living with that choice. Janelle's story especially was fascinating to me - she chose Kody for faith and practical reasons, and love has sprung out of that over the years. Realising how hard these women have had to work, and how open they have had to be, really makes me admire them. Being a plural spouse is not easy and these women seem to handle it a lot better than I could ever imagine doing so. I admire their dedication and faith. I'll admit that at times I was irritated with the impression of Kody that I was getting in the book - it came across a bit as a young kid, thinking 'Oh, this is great, I can be married to multiple women!' But he's stuck it out for the long haul, so I respect his determination as well. I'd recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed the show, it's interesting to get their perspective on things.

Ahhh, what to say about this book. I should first start off by saying that I started off as a reluctant reader in this series. My best friend recommended them to me, so I wanted to read them, but here is a nasty habit of mine that tends to come up when I read books where I really, really want to know how it ends...I tend to spoil myself. And so I knew the ending of Feed before I had finished reading it. I almost didn't finish the book, or the series.I am so, so glad that I did. A lot of the small quibbles that I had in the first two books have been dealt with more in this book, I noticed. There's not as much of an emphasis on decontamination and disinfection - of course, that's in part due to the evolution of the characters, but if some of it is due to editing or Seanan herself realising it wasn't necessary, I'm grateful. ..It is really difficult for me to review this book without delving into spoilers! Which will come in a moment or so. Simply put, I think that any reader who enjoyed the first two books will enjoy this one. Yes, there are some aspects of the science that are more 'out there' than in the beginning, but I think the reaction to that will vary depending on the reader. After all, we are dealing with a world where there are flesh eating zombies. :P For me, that right there means I don't need the science to be 100%. And now we delve in to spoiler land. The first half of the book is spent building up to what I consider to be the emotional climax, and when it came, I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I may just have had a pretty damn big grin on my face, especially when Shaun and George kissed. Now, here's where one of the reasons why Feed only got four stars from me comes up - having reconsidered that first book and what we knew at the time, I do think that Mira Grant had a responsibility as an author to make us more aware of what was going on. I don't know whether she didn't consider it important to the narrative, or whether she held back because it was the first book in a series and she knew it might squick people out, but either way, I think we should have had more of an insight into the relationship from George's head. We spend an entire book in George's point of view, and not once do we get an indication that her love for Shaun is different than 'sisterly'? It doesn't sit quite right. That said, do I have a problem with the pairing in general, and does it affect my rating for Blackout? No. First, they're not blood related, and I think they grew up keenly aware of that. Second, they grew up with the Masons, and I think through Blackout we actually get more insight into just what it was like for the two of them. Through Shaun we see some vulnerabilities that we hadn't seen before - both on his side, and on George's. We know that in this world, people don't go outside, they don't talk to each other - Shaun and George do venture outside, as journalists, but that doesn't mean that they have much of a chance to get to know other people, or develop emotional attachments. We learn from Shaun that George loved the Masons desperately when they were children, and that explains just why the two of them have so much anger towards the Masons as adults. I can emphasise with the anger that comes at parents who fail to be what you need them to be. All they have is each other. And they know they're not related. They went through puberty together. (No, I don't think it's just based on sex.) Why does this surprise anyone? Are there elements that might be codependent and disturbing? Yeah. But I'm okay with that, because this is a fucked up, crazy world where people rise up from the dead and eat each other, and Shaun and George needed each other. Okay. Now. On to the minor quibbles that I had with the plot. I will admit that I found the actual climax of the plot to be a bit anti-climatic. I don't know what it was - the part at Monkey's house had my adrenaline going, and I was worried about the characters right through to the end. I cried when Becks died, and the description of her being nothing and everything in the red mist will stay with me. But the 'reveal', if you will, didn't quite have the emotional impact that I wanted it to. My opinion might change on a reread, I don't know. But my biggest disappointment is the ending. Because when I was reading the last p.o.v from Shaun or George, I didn't know that I was. The very last chapter made sense, but I regret the fact that there's nothing from the two of them, giving even a hint as to where they were going, what they were thinking. I suppose that's because in truth, all of this is supposed to be a story built from their blog posts, but...still. I know that they are happy and together and that's all that matters, but I was still desperate for one small crumb from the two of them. I'm sad it's over, but I loved it. Blackout is a book about power, corruption, control and family. It's about the choices people make in desperate circumstances. It's about rising up, and how a hero is just someone who tells the truth, and does the right thing when the right thing seems impossible.

Still staying on my 'will-not-read' shelf. See comments.

Nailer is a teenage boy who lives a hard life. His job is to crawl into the dessicated wrecks of ships and haul out the copper wiring for his crew, in the hopes of earning money. In a community of poverty, everyone dreams of the next Lucky Strike - a find of oil, or a chance to make it rich. When such an opportunity falls right into Nailer's lap, though, nobody might be more surprised at his choices than he is himself. Ship Breaker is a dystopian fantasy, a book that traditionalists might call 'a boy's book', set in a future that's not so hard to imagine. The oceans have risen, drowning whole cities, and everything seems touched with the smudge and stain of oil. So many, many people live in poverty, but still there are the elite, the rich who have wealth beyond everyone else's dreams. Through Nailer's eyes we see a potential future of the Gulf Coast - submerged cities, washed up wrecks, people struggling to eke out a living. One thing I loved about this book was the cast of characters. Within the first few pages were are introduced to an intensely multi-racial world, described deliberately and without hesitation. Having just read another fantasy book set in the region that seemed barely multi-racial at all, I really enjoyed this. The world is fascinating, one where the Earth as we know it has changed. We see genetic tampering at play, and the possible consequences of the very years we're living in right now. It's a story about family - of blood and other types - and adventure, with a hint of romance and a lot about boats. The latter is why I am rating this four stars instead of five - I know that some will love the descriptions of ships and boats and how they work, the sailing - for me it went over my head, so it's lucky that I'm good at skimming bits like that, focusing instead on the characters. The other quibble that I had was the romance - I felt that it was a bit of 'told, not shown' yet again. Nailer starts off resentful of the 'swank' girl who lands in his midst, yet he develops feelings for her - understandable. But I felt the middle part wasn't fleshed out enough. We weren't so much able to see it happen as we were told it happened. I love books that really think and flesh out possible futures, though, and this book does that very well. Nailer is an endearing character - proud and conflicted, greedy when he doesn't want to be, with family issues that I can sympathise with. I'm looking forward to the second book.

Hm. A light, enjoyable read, but I wanted more from it, and at times the characters frustrated me. The book picks up pretty much where the first one left off, which makes it easy when you're reading the books back to back like I was.One thing I did like, though, was the exploration of Athena's personality and her madness after so many years - the lengths that she is willing to go to, and the things that are normal for her but horrify others.Once again I felt that the conflict was too rushed and resolved too quickly, at the end - and a key moment between Sebastian and Ari wasn't even really addressed. She does something to save him, but the consequences or reaction to it aren't even really touched on at all, and at this point if it's brought up in the next book it'll feel tacked on. Still, a fun little read, and I won't mind picking up the next one.

I enjoyed this book, though I found myself confused on where it was going, at times. The author sets up a world where it seems very Victorian, where women are controlled by their families and married off - but the heroine displays attitudes that seem very at odds with this. Not that I have anything against heroines who speak up for themselves, I just would have liked to feel like there was a bit more of a background and progression. I didn't connect quite as well with the characters as I would have liked - and again, that's because its direction confused me, at times. I felt as though the author was leaning towards a love triangle, but then didn't, and the ending of the book was not at all what I had expected. Still, I enjoyed the world and a lot of elements of the story, and if there are other books to come, hopefully the author will have worked through the unevenness.

Sometimes I can look past an artist (whether they are a singer, writer, screenwriter, producer, etc) and their personal opinions. In this case I can't.