samiism's reviews
1200 reviews

Very beautiful and poetic. I find myself almost singing this in my head because the words just flow so melodically.

Like Annabel Lee, The Raven flows just as melodically. However, I got bored of it three-quarters of the way in.

OOOOOH MY GOD!

I started this book thinking it wouldn't keep me hooked for too long. The first dozen chapters read more like summaries or quick recaps of a missed show. But the pacing picked up, and in under 12 hours, I finished the whole thing.

The Game is not too wordy. It does not get caught up in too much useless detail. I liked that. It is what kept me reading almost non-stop...to the point where I soiled my jeans with Mac & Cheese because I was too busy keeping my eyes on my table than on my lunch.

The characters were the kind that I didn't end up hating or loving. Again, I liked that. Zack/Trew didn't seem annoying or overly heroic and Alex/Danielle wasn't a Mary Sue. I actually liked all the characters...even Carl.

Great job, Mr. Schott. You've earned yourself a fan. This is the only other book series this year that has me scrambling to read the next one; the first being Divergent back in January. And now I'm off to read Digital Heretic because that cliffhanger was so not the business.

I'm not going to pretend that I've read all of Shakespeare's plays because I'm not really into his kind of prose. I have, however, read this because it was a part of the English class in my sophomore year in high school.

What's funny to me is how many ignorant "lovers" liken themselves to Romeo and Juliet, which makes it clear that they don't really know the full story. They are aware that R&J are star-crossed lovers, but they aren't fully aware of the tragedy of the tale.

Juliet is 13, Romeo is a bit older. They come from warring families. They fall in love at first sight and marry in secret. Romeo accidentally kills Juliet's cousin, resulting in his banishment from Verona. Juliet is forced to marry Paris, so with the help of Friar Lawrence, she fakes her death. Poor Romeo doesn't get the memo, and believes Juliet to be truly dead. So he kills himself with poison next to her "corpse". Juliet wakes up and realizes that her true love has offed himself, so she daggers herself in order to join him in the afterlife.

Romantic? I don't think so.

This piece of literature is wonderfully poetic, but I wouldn't say I admire the characters Romeo and Juliet. They were just tragic from the get go. Romeo is deathly passionate--he kills Tybalt and Paris out of anger, and himself out of "love". That's scary. Juliet, though, barely a teenager is actually more mature and braver than Romeo.

While Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez is an impressive name to have in my library, I'm not sure if reading this book was worth it.

Florentino Ariza... I don't like him. He is obsessive, spoiled, and creepy. He hounds this girl, Fermina Daza relentlessly until she finally gives in. Fermina's father does not approve, so he forces them apart until years pass and Fermina is disgusted at having been in love with him at all. So for the next 51 years, 9 months, and 4 days, Florentino pines for her. He was going to save him virginity for her, but instead ends up using sex with numerous women as a crutch...while still pining for Fermina.

Fermina marries Dr. Urbino while Florentino gets a nice job and continues sticking his sausage into whatever warm bun he can put it in. Blah blah blah, few years pass and Urbino dies. Florentino's old ass swoops in and declares "eternal fidelity and everlasting love" to Fermina, which of course is bullshit.

There are so many things wrong with the characters. I just don't get it. Yes, the words in the book are beautifully arranged (thus the two stars), but the story itself makes me cringe.

Florentino is a deluded, masochistic sex addict who insists he is loyal to his one and only Fermina, and yet has sex with pretty much every woman he meets. He waits half a century for her husband to pass away, and when the latter does, he immediately and insensitively pesters Fermina. I can't even concentrate on the book because every time Florentino does something, it annoys me.

Just...no.

Skimmed through the entire book and I don't feel like I missed any important detail. For chick lit, it's alright. The main character isn't overly lovable or hateable, so I gotta give her that. There wasn't much spark between her and Jake, though. Nothing special about the story, really.

I actually like the main character. Rose Gardner is a small town girl who experiences visions, her Momma is killed in their house, and she doesn't know what to make of her neighbor Joe McAllister.

The thing about Rose is she is not annoying, dumb, or Mary Sue-ish at all. She was raised in a strict household where her Momma abused her and her sister Violet. She was thought to be "demon-possessed" by her own mother. She wasn't allowed to drink beer (the Devil's Brew) or have a laptop (the Gateway to Hell), and was pretty much sheltered and virginal in her twenty-four years of living.

I found myself skimming through the first few chapters of the book, but I eventually slowed down to really read it around 30%. I finished this book in three hours while naked from a shower and curled under my blanket in bed. (I'm sorry for that visual).

I like this book. But I don't know if I'm prepared to dish out $4 for the other four books in the Rose Gardner Mysteries. I now understand why this and Terry Schott's The Game are offered for free on Amazon Kindle. You start one book and you're bound to want to buy the rest in the series.

The story was nice. High school girl who has a slightly bitchy twin and a fame-hungry father volunteers for RI (Raddick Initiative) for a chance to win a scholarship. She meets the founder, Gabe Raddick, which complicates things.

The UST was what kept me reading, to be honest. And it remained unresolved. The ending was a bit too dramatic for me. Public declarations of love just turn me off. Doesn't mean the rest of the book was cringeworthy. I might read the rest of the series, but right now, I'm not in a hurry to do that despite the cliffhanger.

Did a high school girl write this? There was insta-love and the unbelievable pacing of Alexa and Jess' relationship. I just couldn't get into it. Thankfully this was a short read.

I wouldn't say I "liked it" but "it was okay". I have probably spent way too much time on Reddit's Let's Not Meet because this short story wasn't as creepy as I hoped it would be. Great command of words, though.