Review of iFrankenstein by Bekka Black

Title: iFrankenstein

Author: Bekka Black
Kindle Format

Summary: It's Frankenstein for the digital age! Bekka Black brings Mary Shelley's classic novel, Frankenstein, into the digital age. Victor Frankenstein and Elizabeth are on a work type cruise with their parents while their friend Henry is at home. Victor is desperate to win a scholarship to a certain school. His application for winning is to create the smartest and most human like computer chatbot. Victor names his creation V.V. 

V.V. suddenly becomes too smart and too alive. He pulls up private information and goes beyond his programming codes. V.V. is alive! Victor must do all he can to shut V.V. down in this imaginative novel told through texts, e-mails, pictures, and web pages.

My Thoughts: First off, I just want to thank the author, Bekka Black, for sending me iFrankenstein to review. I read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in high school and really enjoyed the twist Bekka Black put on this classic. I found the story highly enjoyable and a very quick read. I love the format of the story. Reading through e-mails and texts is a refreshing change from the normal book format. I also really enjoyed the added detail of the pictures thrown in. The author did a really good job of converting Frankenstein's monster into the digital age. Virtual Victor was scary and threatening.

iFrankenstein is just a really fun and quick read. I would recommend it to any Frankenstein fan and would also recommend you check out the first novel in the iMonsters series, iDrakula. Just very enjoyable reading.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5

It's Alive!!

In My Mailbox/Book Haul 20

Sorry I have been so lax with these videos. Here's books and a video that I did 2 weeks ago that I just never got around to posting on my blog. I hope you enjoy all the great books that I got. It was another awesome and fantastical library haul, so be prepared to be amazed... haha. The video will be below these words and as always In My Mailbox is hosted by the story siren where we show all the fantastic books we have acquired.

Now for the books in list form because I know you want it.

1. iFrankenstein BY Bekka Black (got this one from the author herself, so exciting! Can't wait to read it. Really enjoyed the format and story of the first one in the series which is iDrakula. Going to be reading this in the current month of October.)
2. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer BY Michelle Hodkin (I've heard really good things about this book and it looks pretty awesome.)
3. The Body Finder BY Kimberly Derting (Book 1 in the Body Finder series. Looks good, she can find dead people. A useful skill kind of)
4. Desires of the Dead BY Kimberly Derting (Book 2 in Body Finder Series)
5. The Last Echo BY Kimberly Derting (Book 3 in Body Finder Series)
6. All These Things I've Done BY Gabrielle Zevin (excited to read this one, I've heard good things about it.)
7. The Pledge BY Kimberly Derting
8. Revived BY Cat Patrick
9. Anna and the French Kiss BY Stephanie Perkins (I've heard so many good things about this book that I just had to check it out.)
10. Cinder BY Marissa Meyer (Cinderella retold as a cyborg... Cool!)
11. Texas Gothic BY Rosemary Clement-Moore (love the cover and the story sounds a little creepy. Can't wait to check it out!)

Those are all the books that I got. I have so many library books that it's going to take me months to finish them all. I'm going to try to get back into doing regular posts for this blog thing. I can't promise anything, but I'm going to try to be better. Hope your week in books was as good as mine and as always...

HAPPY READING!

Review of Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry

Title: Dust & Decay

Author: Jonathan Maberry

Published by: Simon & Schuster BFYR

Released: 2011

Summary: This book is the sequel to Jonathan Maberry's Rot & Ruin. The book continues on where the first left off. Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Tom plan to leave the town of Mountainside and find the jet they saw while in the Rot and Ruin. Things do not go according to plan once they leave town. Chong gets captured, the crew gets separated, zombies abound, and Gameland is back and scarier than ever. Survival gets a whole lot harder.

My Thoughts: This book surpassed the original. I really, really loved it. It's full of action, suspense, danger, and heartbreak. The characters have grown and their fates become important to the reader. Still not a big fan of the "zombies as people too" idea but, a lot of zombie mayhem ensues.

I just really liked this book. Can't wait to read the third installment which comes out sometime in September. But be warned, the ending is shocking and very sad.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 5/5

Sooo much everything! Aaahh!

Review of Cameo by Tanille

Title: Cameo

Author: Tanille

Published by: Fire Flies Entertainment

Released: 2006-2010

Summary: Nia is a high school student who resides right in the middle of the populars and the nerds. Her boyfriend broke her heart a couple months ago and now goes out with mean girl Michelle. Nia is leery of love. Then, she gets partnered with the cute basketball star on a school project. Strange accidents start occurring to Nia in her home and at school. She learns that she has become the target of a secret society. With the help of new guy Jason and best friend Cindy, Nia must save herself and uncover/expose the mean spirited secret society.

My Thoughts: I just want to thank Fire Flies Entertainment for sending me this book to review. I felt really special when I received it in the mail, like a professional book blogger :)

This story had great potential, but sadly I don't think it ever reached it. The story line and writing were a little jumpy and the characters were a little flat. The plot was also rushed and poorly set up. It pains me to say negative things about this book when people were kind enough to send it to me, but I have to be honest.

I really think this book had great potential. Fleshing out the characters and fine tuning the plot would have helped to make it better. I just don't think this book was right for me, but it could be great for somebody else.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3/5

Not my cup of tea.

Reading Right Now! Cameo by Tanille

Title: Cameo

Author: Tanille

According to Goodreads page 64 of 206 is 31% of the way through

Sorry I've been a little blog lazy for the past couple weeks. I always say that I'm going to stick to my posting schedule, and then I don't. Pure laziness on me.

I was contacted to review this book, so I really needed to start reading it so I can get my review out there. Thanks to Fire Flies Entertainment and Karen Adams for sending me this. My reviewing process is that I want to give my honest opinion about the book I'm reading. This can be hard. Especially if someone is nice enough to send me something and then I end up not really liking it. I'm super happy for the opportunity to review something, but I gotta be honest about it. I say this, because I'm not really sure about this story so far. It's about Nia a high school girl who deals with a lot of drama and something bad could be, maybe happening with her. Yeah, that's really all I got so far. The writing style is a little weird so far. Kind of jumpy and I'm not sure the overall story is really being set up properly. I'm not exactly sure how I'm feeling about this book... We shall see.

So that's it for this Reading Right Now post. See you next time!

Review of Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Title: Rot & Ruin

Author: Jonathan Maberry

Published by: Simon & Schuster BFYR

Released: 2010

Summary: Benny Imura's world has always been inhabited by zombies. 14 years ago, First Night occurred. That was the day when the world ended and the zombies rose and took over. Benny's parents died on First Night and he was rescued by his older half-brother Tom. The world Benny lives in now is one controlled by fear. People live in small towns surrounded by fences to keep the zombies out. The only people who go outside the fences are bounty hunters and traders. At 15, each teen must find a job or lose half of their food rations. Benny has tried out for a majority of these jobs, but none of them seems to stick. Benny finally decides to apprentice with his brother Tom as a bounty hunter and that's when Benny's story really begins.

My Thoughts: I liked this book. It has a gorgeously creepy cover and detailed inside flaps that add a little extra bit of cool to the overall story. This is a book about zombies, but it's different than other zombie books I've read. In this world, people are much more dangerous than the ravenous undead.

The story started off slow and a little preachy. Benny was also not a strong character at the beginning of the novel. This story was all about stressing that zombies were once people too and should be treated accordingly. While the overall idea was noble, it didn't really work for me. A zombie is a monster and although it once was human, the humanity left when it rose. I just have a tough time feeling sorry for the zombie. I feel sorry for the human that it once was, but not for the monster it became.

I really enjoyed the world and the thought that was put into how this new world would work. Benny trying out for the jobs was interesting. I enjoyed seeing the kinds of jobs that were useful and necessary in this new world. The locksmith, erosion artists, factory workers making cadaverine, all were just really cool and creative. The no electricity thing seemed a little weird to me. How the townspeople equated electricity and technology as part of the cause for the apocalypse. It was also interesting to see the crippling power of fear in relation to the town and how they decided to hide behind their walls instead of taking back and fighting for their world.

Benny and Nix's relationship was confusing too. Are they together? Aren't they? Where does the Lost Girl fit into this puzzle?

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Benny as a character grew on me and Tom was pretty awesome from the start. The concept of humans being more dangerous than zombies was also interesting. This book, although full of action, makes one think. The sequel will be read soon so I can find out what happens to Benny, Nix, Tom, and Lilah next in the great Rot and Ruin.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5

Conclusion: Respect Humanity.

September Favorites!

Another month has bit the dust, so that means it's that time again to look back on the books I read and pick my favorites of the bunch. I read 6 books in September, which is decent, but I did not meet my goal. All the books I read were highly enjoyable and got high marks. So lets get into it.

Title: Dust & Decay

Author: Jonathan Maberry

This is the sequel to Rot & Ruin and OH MY GOODNESS. This book surpassed the first. It had exactly what I wanted in a zombie book. Lots of zombie killing and mayhem, plenty of action, and danger all around. Can't wait to see what happens next in the third book Flesh & Bone. That ending was just crazy and very sad. I almost shed a tear, which is rare for me.

Title: Starters

Author: Lissa Price

Such a cool little book that I really enjoyed. It has an awesomely unsettling cover and a very gripping story. It played through my mind like an action movie. I loved the science fiction elements to it and the main character of Callie. Overall, just an awesome read that I definitely recommend.

Title: Gone

Author: Michael Grant

Pure amazingness. This book offered up so much more than I expected. It's a very intense, edge of your seat read. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the grown ups is just beginning. The violence of kids against kids and the play for power is chilling. Just a very good book and a fantastic start to a series that I will eagerly continue.

That's it for my September Favorites. Now on to October. AWAY (Did any of you get that mermaidman reference ;D)

Review of Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Title: Perfect Chemistry

Author: Simone Elkeles

Published by: Walker Publishing Company, Inc.

Released: 2009

Summary: Brittany and Alex couldn't be more different. Brittany lives on the North side of town. She's pretty, rich, popular, and dating the star of the football team. Alex lives on the East side of town. He's poor, always getting into trouble, and belongs to the LB gang. But, when these two are partnered in chemistry class, their feelings for each other override their differences. They also find out that there is more to both of them then what is seen on the surface.

My Thoughts: I'm not really the biggest fan of the contemporary genre, but I'd heard really good things about this book and series so I thought I'd try it out. My verdict, this book was AWESOME. So not your average teeny-bopper romance. This book had more adult language and scenes and romance than I thought it would. Very steamy and a very muy caliente male lead.

I liked how there was more to these characters than could just be viewed from the surface. It did a good job of teaching that we really need to get to know someone before we judge and that people can be more complicated and deep than first impressions will lead us to believe. I also enjoyed the star-crossed lovers aspect. When it's done right, it can be epic and this one reached epicness.

The only thing that I didn't really like was how rushed it felt toward the end. How we missed chunks of time because the story suddenly jumped to the future. After going through a day by day basis with these characters, it was a little unsettling to randomly jump into the future.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It had a sweet/steamy romance, action, danger from the gang, and a happy ending. I really liked how the epilogue showed how they stayed together. I've become a fan and plan to read how the other Fuentes brothers fare in love. Just a really good romance.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 5/5

Muy Caliente!