Sabrina Stark - Jaked

Jake Bishop Can Take a Punch, But Can He Take a Girl Like Luna? From USA TODAY Bestselling Author Sabrina Stark: For way too long, Jake Bishop has been Luna Moon's ultimate fantasy, a bad boy brawler with a wicked reputation. Lucky for Luna, she's finally wised up to the truth. Jake's too wild, too reckless, and too far out of her league – especially now that he's rich, famous, and too hot for any one girl to hold.
A digital celebrity and trouble-maker incarnate, Jake goes through girls the way some guys go through bottles of booze. Luna, a college grad whose fortunes are flaming out fast, has two jobs, one psychotic ex-boyfriend, and zero interest in repeating past mistakes. From now on, she's determined to play it safe. No more bad boys. No more drama. And no more crushing on the likes of Jake Bishop.
There's only one problem, Jake. One morning, he shows at Luna's place, uninvited, to turn her life upside down. But why? To help her? To hinder her? Or to settle a score long overdue? No matter the reason, Jake Bishop is in for a big surprise, because this brat from his past is all grown up – and capable of bringing the baddest of bad boys to his knees.

Comment: Now that a long time has passed, the only explanation for why this book was in my TBR is a hopeful but still misguided attempt on my part to enjoy something I guessed wouldn't be a good book for me. But that fickle hope, always leading us on...

I won't go into much premise details because I can't, even now, understand what this plot was about but apparently a young woman (Luna) was removed from her apartment by a guy (Jake) she liked at some point, but who she hasn't seen recently and he takes her to his house and later to a party and somehow they get together. 

I think they knew each other when they were younger and for some reason they cared about one another and now the heroine doesn't want to be recognized by her name - Luna, but instead she goes by Anne. Others seem to not agree with this choice.

Oh and Luna's sister is engaged to Jake's brother and maybe those wouldn't want these together.

I'm being vague on purpose but the truth is I didn't follow the plot easily and to be honest, I still would say there isn't one.

One could say what is the point on reading books not in the genres we don't like. I struggle to enjoy books in the YA and NA genres because they all feel the same and I just can't enjoy a romance with characters who behave so young. And usually the stories are romance focused but the maturity  - or lack of it - shows and the books, in general, feel unreal and silly to me.

Of course, the fun is to keep trying and maybe there will be a novel which will make me change my mind and prove me wrong and positively surprise me. Who is the reader who wouldn't want that?

I added this book, if I can think of it, because someone else I know liked it and based on the dates, I added right after that person liked it. But it wasn't a good one for me.

The plot was confusing. The dialogues silly, ridiculous, not really an exchange in information, simply an increase in mix ups and mistakes. Why couldn't the characters talk like normal people?

Other details i found weird to process:

-Why was Luna in trouble? Maybe I didn't pay attention.

-Why did Jake get her at that moment and why would he think he had to, he's not Luna's boss or close friend...

-Why did Jake take Luna to a party she had no interest in or connection with?

Often the characters would act in silly ways and talk to one another as idiots so I confess I skipped some pages and didn't give the story my full attention. Then another guy shows up at the scene and apparently Luna shouldn't talk to him because Jake doesn't like it. Is Jake Luna's owner? We get to realize that Jake and Luna are destined to be together, so the attraction between them says but then Jake says he's not good for Luna and she should be with someone better. But he hates it when she talks to someone, even those she wouldn't be romantically interested in! He's very confusing. And silly. If this is meant to show jealousy than these two are too immature to care for each other, much less be in a stable relationship.

There are more books in this series but to be honest I couldn't care less. This story is just a waste of time or it was for me. I know taste is relative and it's great the author wrote something many liked but it's not for me. I just couldn't find any sense nor interest in these characters, the main and the secondary (which were even weirder in their behavior....)

Oh well. At least it didn't have grammar mistakes (in the parts I paid more attention to) and it did have some sort of structure...just not a cohesive one.

Grade: 2/10

Heinrich Boll - Group Portait with Lady

From Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Boll, an inventive & sardonic portrayal of the effects of the Nazi period on a group of ordinary people. Weaving together the stories of a diverse array of characters, Boll explores the often bizarre & always very human courses chosen by people attempting to survive in a world marked by political madness, absurdity & destruction.
At the center of his tale is Leni Pfeiffer, a German woman whose secret romance with a Soviet prisoner of war both sustains & threatens her life.
As the narrator interviews those who knew Pfeiffer, their stories come together in a dazling mosaic, rich in satire, yet hinting at the promise of a saner world.

Comment: This is another of the books I borrowed from a friend and read in Portuguese.

I haven't personally picked any of the recent books she has let me read, actually. She picks them and tells me I will find them interesting even if I don't fall in love with them. So far, she has lent me some wonderful stories, others not so good but this one has to be my least favorite of them all. I really...I don't even know what to say about this.

The book focuses on Leni Pfeiffer I guess. She's a woman living in the post-war Germany.

The story is like a very prolonged interview in narrative shape where the author tells us about many character's lives under the Nazi influence or what happened after that dark period of German history. Not always precise, but often ironic, the author shows how that piece of History shaped many ordinary lives...

Humm... the idea of this story is quite interesting, yes. I was mildly curious about how it must have been like to be a German citizen during those awful years. I keep thinking ordinary people couldn't all defend Nazism, even if only in the safety of their houses or their minds. We have many books where the other side is portrayed, but I don't remember any book where we can see normal German people living under the Nazi regime. I was quite curious about this story because I assumed this would the key point of interest in the whole text.

Right...no.

Sadly, there was nothing in this book that captivated or grabbed me enough to make me eager to read. In fact, it was almost torture to keep reading and I only did it because I wanted to be truthful to my friend about why I didn't like it and that I did try until the end.

 

I'll be very quick about this. I didn't like the story because the writing style was very unappealing to me. It read as if this was a story the author was telling us orally and it contains too many characters and things some of them knew or told about the most important ones and to be honest not only did I lose track of them but I didn't find any of them intriguing. I thought this would focus on German citizens who lived during or after the Nazi regime and how did they cope and dealt with that, but the narrative was so out there, so unfocused on reliable actions/scenes I lost interest.

 

I've seen many readers like the style but I'm not one of them. I found this to be boring and irritating and I never connected to any character or action described. I understand the author is respected and knows what he's telling about, I get why he is renowned and won the Nobel and why his writing is evocative, special and how it shows aspects we would never think about if we don't read between the lines, but sincerely, I couldn't wait to escape this and I confess to have skimmed many passages.

 

There are too many characters and not enough continuity to seduce me here. It seems most of what we read is random and I really struggled to follow what was happening. Honestly, I lost focus, interest and desire to keep reading. I finished but it wasn't an experience I'll cherish or recommend.

Maybe my personal taste isn't up to the author's genius but thankfully there are many authors and books to different people to enjoy.

Grade: 2/10

Alphabet Soup Challenge: AM Riley - Quod Tam Sitio

George is an Anglican priest who loves music and the church. His life is very fulfilling; now if only he could find someone to share it with. However, options are limited for a gay priest, as he can't exactly go trolling through the clubs.
Fate steps in when the lovely Dominick is drawn to the church by the lovely sounds of the gay men's choir singing. George is their director and he is delighted to find out that the beautiful Dominick has a stunning voice. George immediately falls for the young man, but Dominick has a secret that may destroy them both.  

Comment: I picked this book from my pile of unread LGBT eBooks because it has a handy Q title and that would work well in my Alphabet Soup challenge...but...

I'm not going to use up much space to talk about this book. I really disliked it.

I'll just tell what this is about and present the reasons why I didn't like it.

 

The book is a serious miss for me. Again, I had the notion this could have been better but the execution and, to be honest, the whole idea just didn't seemed good enough for me. Of course this must have worked and will work for others.

 

This is George's story, he's an Anglican priest who is gay, has gay friends and is the priest in a church that welcomes gay people and even has a choir of gay singers.

So far, not a problem in sight.

George, however, is incredibly attracted to a stranger that sits outside every night there's choir practice. After some awkward moments in different occasions, George finally meets the guy, Dominic.

Dominic is actually a vampire. He has other vampires to take care of and answers to an older vampire who created him, his master. Dominic knows and accepts he's a monster but he still feels attracted to George, his innocence and the music played at the church.

Things get complicated when the other vampires realize Dominic has an interest in George.

 

It was really hard to appreciate this story. I didn't like it, didn't enjoy reading it and disliked immensely the characters. I kept reading in hopes something good could happen rationally and because it was short enough to not bother me for too long.

I'll put in topics the reasons why I didn't like it:

- The story never felt solid or structured enough to make me understand things even if I didn't like the characters.

- The characters were all basic and acted in a way I found stupid, cliché and without any valuable reason.

- Most information was given in a very basic and little explanatory about why things worked that way or why some characters seemed more crazy than others, there wasn't a straight line in the way things happened that could be used as reference to explain things.

- The vampires here are bad, they kill people and they don't feel remorse. I couldn't empathize with any of them, including Dominic.

- Dominic is an old vampire but the relationship Master- Made Vampire is weird, too unbalanced and shows Dominic as someone weak and dependent on a sadistic person that manipulates him. I didn't find any quality in Dominic that made me eager to see him happy.

- George is a very radical priest, he has hidden desires, sure, his thing, but his actions aren't always determined and he acts insecure a lot of time, so I never warmed up to him.

- The relationship between George and Dominic felt flat and unappealing to read about.

- The whole story was boring for me and there wasn't anything that could make me think this was positive or interesting. I can understand why some could have liked it, but for me it did not work at all.

- Any interesting points of discussion about the character's choices, thoughts, actions weren't explained well. Everything felt basic and unexplored properly.

 

All things considered, this sounded very weak to me. I applaud the author's imagination and certain effort to produce the story, but author's dedication aside, this didn't work for me and nor do I think it's that representative of her value.

Completely forgettable and easily dismissed in my opinion. Of course others might love it...

Grade: 2/10

Two depressing books: personal taste, content intention?

Way of the Wolf by EE Knight
->  Louisiana, 2065, 43rd year of the Kurian Order. Possessed of an unnatural hunger, bloodthirsty Reapers rule the planet, sucking out human blood and souls. Starting in revenge for the loss of his parents, on to fellow soldiers, Lieutenant David Valentine intends to fight back in this western-style frontier
 
 Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
-> An epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, Blood Meridian brilliantly subverts the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the "wild west." Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into the nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.

Comment: Recently I've read two books that I considered depressing in general. Although one of them seemed worse in terms of content, I can't ignore the fact of how I felt by reading them and when I finished.

Both have in common the lack of hope. I don't mean to say the authors didn't have a purpose, which is rather obvious, actually, but for me, personally, the goal wasn't exactly clear. I think the books were too depressing and angsty to be savored. 

I think part of this reaction is my own take on life right now. I'm not in a happy place and reading about such depressing things puts me down and depresses me. It doesn't mean the books are bad or that they are trash, it just means I didn't enjoy them.

I have to say both had some good aspects but the story, which is the biggest aim in all this, didn't met my taste. I know I'm only one reader and perhaps my opinions don't really matter, but in the end of the day every reader does it for themselves. 

I consider myself a pretty eclectic reader, I don't stick only to the things I know I'll prefer. I also read things I know might not be to my preference and sometimes that's good, it's important to let go of the same, to try something else, to see if that author will be one of those that changes the game and makes us love a genre or a plot we normally wouldn't.

Isn't this the beauty of reading books?

I often wonder if it's true that some readers can read more serious toned books or those so called "erudite" books better than others, that some readers can understand or interpret them better than others. The kind of books one reads is still something as full of prejudice as any other activity in the world, I think.

I feel some books aren't for me and I don't like them. Does that mean I'm a lesser reader than someone who does like those books? I think we all judge others by several things including what we read but if we're honest to ourselves, when it comes to give up on things others condemn, do we really stop reading?

I think it works both ways. I don't look for more conceited books to look good, the same I don't give up on things I like because they aren't considered "better". So, each reader knows their own mind in the end. This means I'll keep trying books I usually wouldn't think of touching but that is a study on my own taste, not on what it means to my «reader identity» if we do have one!

Blood Meridian is a well liked fiction book based on real happenings. I liked the writing, the prose is easily read and unlike some readers, I liked how fast it looked and how small the sentences usually were. What I really disliked was the content. The plot didn't seem to have any goal besides death and suffering and the validity of how a human being can be the most horrendous of the animals. I guess we all have it in us, depending on the environment around us, the stimuli and conditions in which we live. Still, no matter the characterization and the intellectuality of any meaning intended, I did not like the story nor what it signifies. I read this one in PT.

Grade: 2/10

Way of the Wolf is an interesting UF/fantastic dystopian story about the Earth being ruled by aliens. I liked the main character's personality, bravery and knowledge things would have to change and he does try his best in fighting a sacred fight to gain humanity back, one day at a time. However it is depressing to think there are many books until something positive happens and that he is surrounded by degrading things and actions people make against each other and aliens against humans. The body count is high and the small hope one can find isn't enough to erase what I think is just suffering and death, one after the other in a repetitive and seemingly never ending cycle. 
Good things, concepts, but a too depressing execution and content and it was hard to find any reason to continue this series when even more degradation is sure to come.

Grade: 5/10

-> All in all, both books disappointed me. We always create some kind of expectation, maybe not about the perfection of a book, but of what we wish it would be. These two can be wonderful works of narrative art but, for me, they didn't work and that's it.