meg reads and reads

Title: When We Believed in Mermaids Author: Barbara O'Neal I actually really enjoyed this book. I liked the way the story slowly unfolded, keeping you interested without giving everything away. I liked the characters, even Josie/Mari. Even their mom. I liked the mystery of what happened to Veronica going on in the background. I liked the description of the landscape and culture of New Zealand. There was so much to enjoy in this book. I did have one thing that bugged me, and that was the fact that the author really likes to describe what's happening in triplicate. For example, "...he kissed me, and kissed me, and kissed me." That's one example of several in the book, and she used that one more than once. It was a little distracting for me. Anyway, it was good despite that, and I give it four out of five stars. ------------------------- READING PROGRESS Ammey McKeaf by Jane Shoup: 61% Insomnia  by Stephen King: 64% Easy Go by John Lange: 66% If You ...

Title: The Best Thing Author: Mariana Zapata This book was all right. The cursing goes a bit overboard, in my opinion, almost like the author is just going for a reaction. That may or may not be true, but that's what it felt like to me. There's a whole plot line introduced with the main character Lenny's biological grandmother that felt pointless, because it didn't really go anywhere. The main love story is sweet. There's a big "reveal" in the book that I think was supposed to be a surprise, but I called it very early on in the book. All of that said, there are several laugh-out-loud moments, particularly concerning Grandpa Gus, and that is the main saving grace for this book, in my opinion. Because of Grandpa Gus and Peter, this book gets three out of five stars. Otherwise, it'd probably be less. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't great, either. ------------------------- READING PROGRESS: Needful Things by Stephen King: 84% Dracula by B...

Title: The Dark Half Author: Stephen King For me, this was an extremely slow, painfully boring read. The concept was a stretch at best, and though I feel like it may have had some sort of personal significance to Stephen King, as a reader, it was not pleasant. I found it to be uninteresting, kind of gross, and all around a waste of time. I do not recommend this at all. Two out of five stars. ----------- READING PROGRESS: Let's Dance, Snoopy by Charles M. Schulz: 87% The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler: 50% Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon: 3% The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands by Stephen King: NOW STARTING

Title: Silent Crime Author: W.L. Knightly I've been on kind of a thriller kick lately, so I decided to give this one a shot. Cool cover, right? The description seemed positive, too. That is literally the end of anything nice I have to say about this book. Character development? Terrible. Plot? Awful. Full of every thriller cliche you can imagine with random bits of explicit information that were completely unnecessary (unless it comes up again in the later books of the series). Regardless, I was not impressed, and it is extremely doubtful that I will ever read book two. Two out of five stars. ------------ READING PROGRESS: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: 43% The Dark Half by Stephen King: 4% Inside Out by Barry Eisler: 31% Who Laid the Egg? by Audrey Sauble: NOW STARTING

Title: The Tommyknockers Author: Stephen King This is something I probably have not discussed in this blog before, but I am a huge science-fiction fan. It's by far my favorite genre. So here we are with Stephen King's first real jump into the realm of science-fiction. King is indisputably a fantastic author, one of the all-time greats, even. All of that said, I did not enjoy reading this book. The biggest issue I had was that there were too many characters who were unnecessary to the plot. It was a lot to remember for no reason. That begs the question...who were the important characters? Gard was the most important, obviously. Bobbi was a close second. The only other storylines we really needed were the David/Hilly storyline and Ruth's storyline (and the aftermath). There were so many side characters that it was overwhelming, and it took me way too long to read this book. I will say that what King did very, very well was create an absolutely terrifying atmospher...

Title: The Boy Who Painted the World Author: Melody J. Bremen I've been trying to add more Middle Grade and Young Adult books to my To Be Read pile, not only to appeal to more types of readers, but also to get an idea of what younger people are reading. I have a twelve-year-old stepdaughter, and I would love for her to have as much joy in reading as I do. This book is one of the most heartwarming books I have ever read. It is at times devastating, always endearing, and just an all around great read. It's a little bittersweet for me, because I finished reading it in the emergency room this evening with my three-year-old, who broke his leg today. I shed tears over this book and over my son and over lost kids everywhere who hopefully will one day find a home and their place in society. The only thing keeping this from being a five-star review is some minor editing issues I noticed while reading, but that does not keep me from yelling from the rooftops for everyone, young...