Books #6 to #11
I haven't been making lightning speed progress but at least I've broken through the first ten.
#6 The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
I'm really enjoying this series. At first I wasn't as sure about the love story between Geoffrey and Letty because it felt like he was being really terribly to Letty. But I liked how it evolved through the book and Geoffrey redeemed himself in the end. And although I've seen plenty of reviews on Amazon that say the Eloise/Colin plot is distracting I disagree with. I enjoy their story quite a bit and when compared to the pace of the rest of the books (with a historical couple falling in love with each book) it can actually be a little frustrating with how much slower their relationship moves along. And I do love the history angle, no matter how many liberties are taken.
#7 The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
I wasn't sure how much I would like this book. The main male character for this book with Lord Vaughn and he had previously seemed pretty creepy and seemingly nefarious. Overall I was surprised and charmed with the direction of the character, and that the author brought some layers to a character that previously seemed fairly one dimensional. There was also some good progress made on the Eloise/Colin front as well.
#8 Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
This book is all the more fascinating considering that our president wrote it years before he probably had much in the way of presidential aspirations. It really struck me as an incredibly intimate view into Obama's upbringing, his family history and his growth from a teenager to a young man. His time spent as a community organizer in Chicago was both interesting and inspirational. If you're curious about how the President became the man he is, this was a very insightful book.
#9 The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer
I was intrigued by the idea of a political/history mystery/thriller. And this book was supposed to be kind of like a National Treasure style story about a former presidential aide who gets pulled into a secret murder plot that has a foundation in a code that Thomas Jefferson created. I'd have to say this book didn't quite deliver. The writing was interesting enough and fast paced, but the intriguing idea of the plot of a history mystery didn't even really get addressed and solved until about 75% of the way through the book. And it felt like a very anticlimactic resolution overall.
#10 The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler
I picked this book up from a clearance stack about two years ago. It was also shortly after I spent some time in D.C. on the hill for my leadership development training at work. It is a quasi fictional/semi autobiographical story of a Capitol Hill intern who has multiple affairs and blogs about it, eventually the blog gets noticed and it causes quite the scandal. It seems to be fictional in the sense that names have changed. But Cutler was the intern and in real life she did have multiple affairs with politicians and blogged about it. I'm hoping for her sake that she isn't as shallow, stupid and skanky as the main character in the book. Because she is very, very shallow, stupid and skanky. The one redeeming quality she had was that she was quite aware of her deficiencies. Not a good book. The ending was very formulaic and I can't recall one single character I cared about even a little bit.
#11 City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
I suddenly started seeing recommendations for this book popping up online all over the place so I thought I'd give it a try. It was in the genre that is very popular right now, the supernatural setting with vampires, werewolves, etc. and a young person who discovers they have an unexpected place in that world. I did think there were some subtle twists to a popular genre and there was enough humor to set this apart from a typical story. The framework of the story isn't particularly earth shattering in originality (but then, neither was Twilight) but that didn't make it less addicting. Also like Twilight. And it was addicting and a fast read. I'm looking forward to reading the next two in the series.
#6 The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
I'm really enjoying this series. At first I wasn't as sure about the love story between Geoffrey and Letty because it felt like he was being really terribly to Letty. But I liked how it evolved through the book and Geoffrey redeemed himself in the end. And although I've seen plenty of reviews on Amazon that say the Eloise/Colin plot is distracting I disagree with. I enjoy their story quite a bit and when compared to the pace of the rest of the books (with a historical couple falling in love with each book) it can actually be a little frustrating with how much slower their relationship moves along. And I do love the history angle, no matter how many liberties are taken.
#7 The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
I wasn't sure how much I would like this book. The main male character for this book with Lord Vaughn and he had previously seemed pretty creepy and seemingly nefarious. Overall I was surprised and charmed with the direction of the character, and that the author brought some layers to a character that previously seemed fairly one dimensional. There was also some good progress made on the Eloise/Colin front as well.
#8 Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
This book is all the more fascinating considering that our president wrote it years before he probably had much in the way of presidential aspirations. It really struck me as an incredibly intimate view into Obama's upbringing, his family history and his growth from a teenager to a young man. His time spent as a community organizer in Chicago was both interesting and inspirational. If you're curious about how the President became the man he is, this was a very insightful book.
#9 The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer
I was intrigued by the idea of a political/history mystery/thriller. And this book was supposed to be kind of like a National Treasure style story about a former presidential aide who gets pulled into a secret murder plot that has a foundation in a code that Thomas Jefferson created. I'd have to say this book didn't quite deliver. The writing was interesting enough and fast paced, but the intriguing idea of the plot of a history mystery didn't even really get addressed and solved until about 75% of the way through the book. And it felt like a very anticlimactic resolution overall.
#10 The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler
I picked this book up from a clearance stack about two years ago. It was also shortly after I spent some time in D.C. on the hill for my leadership development training at work. It is a quasi fictional/semi autobiographical story of a Capitol Hill intern who has multiple affairs and blogs about it, eventually the blog gets noticed and it causes quite the scandal. It seems to be fictional in the sense that names have changed. But Cutler was the intern and in real life she did have multiple affairs with politicians and blogged about it. I'm hoping for her sake that she isn't as shallow, stupid and skanky as the main character in the book. Because she is very, very shallow, stupid and skanky. The one redeeming quality she had was that she was quite aware of her deficiencies. Not a good book. The ending was very formulaic and I can't recall one single character I cared about even a little bit.
#11 City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
I suddenly started seeing recommendations for this book popping up online all over the place so I thought I'd give it a try. It was in the genre that is very popular right now, the supernatural setting with vampires, werewolves, etc. and a young person who discovers they have an unexpected place in that world. I did think there were some subtle twists to a popular genre and there was enough humor to set this apart from a typical story. The framework of the story isn't particularly earth shattering in originality (but then, neither was Twilight) but that didn't make it less addicting. Also like Twilight. And it was addicting and a fast read. I'm looking forward to reading the next two in the series.