Peptastic is standing still

         

The protagonist, Riley, lives in a bible belt Southern town that is visited every year by angels.  The angels kidnap a couple of people and revisit each year. The antagonist is a pastor whose moved to the town to take advantage of this implausible situation. What was implausible was Riley's mother forcing them to stay in the town because of her dying parents wish for her to raise her daughter in their house. I did not buy for one moment that her mom was reasonably allowing her family to go through that each year because of a dying wish or not being allowed back in the town if you left the one night the abductions happened.

 

Riley and the rest of the books characters never waste a moment to tell us how Riley doesn't care what anyone thinks.

Riley's mother cared more for her neighbours opinion than her family but the big reveal [spoilers] she did this so her daughter wouldn't have to was laughable.

Because  Riley wouldn't wear a bathing suit because big breasted girls are slutty if they wear bikinis or tank tops. No character in the book ever said this to her [such as when she was "forced" to a party in a bikini] but Riley herself. Outcast features the often used trope that the gorgeous lead isn't as pretty as her mom so is 'plain'.

She constantly compares herself to the other girls in her school and moderates her behaviour on the wishes of others in every other paragraph. The love interest loses his cool with Riley and her mom over letting creepy pastor gain more control over the town because everyone else was doing it.

The book should have actually shown her make a stand for something that didn't involve falling apart over a boy. In this case, Riley's mom does remark that twice she does completely let go of her life. At least on this one character trait, she wasn't one thing but called another.

 

Her "only chance at happiness' was ruined when her boyfriend was abducted. She spends most of the book either miserable over her kidnapped boyfriend and getting closer to the angel she shoots in the face. The said angel turns into a boy from the '50s whose progressive over everything but women's rights.

 

The majority of the book was formulaic but believable characterisation of a girl whose mourning her boyfriend and falling in love again.

The pastor, his son and the "friend" of Riley's were interesting but if the book had explored this more in depth instead of entire chapters on high school pool parties or a date I'd have enjoyed the book a lot more. 

I got more out of the Zenon tv movie on the disney channel when Zenon didn't like how the villain blinked than sweaty pastor creeping Riley out.

Untold was an enjoyable and cozy read. I was surprised the kindle store described this as a gothic romance. I categorise Victoria Holt or Madeleine Brent novels as gothic romances. If Rob, the evil uncle, had been the love interest perhaps it would feel more gothic. Sorry-in-the-Vale has a lot of character and is creepy but the romance did not fit the bill. The love story was dragged out and repetitive. Jared is a depressed boy with trust issues but one misunderstanding between them sufficed.

Ash did his part in Unspoken with his wishy washy-which side am I on and ritualistic killings [Barbara Michaels Son of the Wolf without any attempted rape scenes. Yes, the evil guardian in that book was thrown in the mix for a love triangle.] I suppose if Rob attempts to hit on Kami's mother I'll consider this a proper gothic romance.
It was hinted in Unspoken that he did fancy Claire. Claire leads me to my biggest disappointment in this book. Why was so much time wasted on Jared and the link when Claire's story line has so much more interesting possibilities?
I hate that the book ended without explaining her reaction to her son, Ten, being chosen as the sacrifice. She was willing to let someone else die for the town. Will she come around that it was going to be one of her own? It was implied in Unspoken that Kami was neither of the parents favourite. Where was Claire when her daughter went through all of this? I adored Kami's dad, Jon, storyline in this book. I hope we get more out of Claire in the third book instead of more pity party from Jared.
The non sorcerers needed a bigger voice in the series. Will they pull a "for the greater good" mentality that the sorcerers feel? It is one thing for those with power such as the cop and Amber Green to let Rob win but what about everyone else? We know people are reading Kami's newspaper because she kept running out of copies. Why were more people on Rob's side? Holly's family wanted to get back their former glory which was nicely explained. The fact they left her alone in the night was sad. It is the rest of Sorry-in-the-Vale that could be fleshed out more. I hope we get less of Jared lashing out at Kami and more of the town and its characters next time.
Untold reminded me of the Supernatural episode Scarecrow. The book opened with the scarecrows that tried to kill Kami and the whole idea that the town was richer by the relationship to the Lynburn family.

I'm not sure why I kept reading the series since the first book wasn't very good. I suppose because I cast Derek from MTV's Teen Wolf as Daemon might be one reason. Derek is a complete jerk but he is my complete jerk now.
It picked up with Onyx, which was surprisingly good, but Opal was a let down. I even read the romance novel spin-off book, which while not heavy on the plot in its own right, did set the tone somewhat for Origin. I may not have believed Daedelus claims about the evil Luxen without Hunter's back story in Obsession.
I'm fond of the series now even with those awful cliffhangers to keep reading them.
I adored the little alien stuff animal D.B. I was reading this book with my orange Dalek plushie who wanted to exterminate D.B.

The book had a good cat and mouse game with the government, no regressing plots from previous books and no self sacrificing or whining.

This isn't a bad book but I was glad it was not a series about halfway through the book. I think it would end up suffering the same fate Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series did. The books were not scary once one of their own became a vampire.
My main issue with this book is the theme that if vampires/supes are known to the masses that the millions of pathetic throw away their lives to obtain immortality. It is overly done that I find that concept boring. Cue nightclub scene where hordes of runaways line up to get into the club the heroine has access to.
The book had better backstory to it than what actually happened. I liked the story with Tana and her family. I suspect her mother wanted to be a vampire and her dad just didn't care about his kids.

I didn't feel claustrophobic as I usually would reading about prison but I could not find the lifestyle glamorous. I'm not sure if the book wanted to have it both ways there. Was this a horror story or was it a cooler alternative world meant to appeal to its readers? The coldtown reminded me a bit of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere where everyone lived off trading commodities.
It was obviously an apartheid/containment state for vampires, victims and the dredges of societies. I found the whole concept horrifying and warped that girls like Winter idolised living like that. I think if the concept of Catherine Fisher's Incarceron could be melded with this book we might get something more interesting.
Incarceron made the mistake of letting us see the outside world which lost the mystery of what was outside. On the other hand the world was brutual and nothing came easy for the characters. The stakes were quite high.
This book was just too easy. Tana made friends and never struggled much once inside. She did worry she was bitten but the book might have been scarier had she been locked in against her will. Even when her get out of jail free card was taken there was no sense she was stuck.

I missed out on this gem growing up which is a shame. I would have adored this book as a kid. I was quite entertained as an adult reading about the treasure hunt/murder mystery the sixteen "heirs" embark on.
The characters were a delight. My personal favourites were the secretary Sydelle Pulaski, Turtle and Doug Hoo.
Sydelle's theory that a twin was involved is quite realistic due to the never ending twin plots in books or Theo's chess idea.
Raskin effortlessly skipped from character to character and each voice was different.

Little Brother was written for me despite that I'm well out of my teen years. I'm not net savvy enough to logon to the TOR network or build my own computer from the ground-up [if I did the book would be my crying, cutting my hand and cussing a bit as I redid installing my hard drive.] I ran a John Malkovich fansite back in the day which was the extent of my internet prowess.
The politics are what connects me to the hero of this story. Marcus and I are in synch 100% when it comes to civil liberties, privacy and the Bill of Rights. I may not be brave enough to get gassed but the scenes of him sassing up to the teacher reminded me of myself.
Right on, Marcus!
I enjoyed the geeky tidbits of internet information he would explain throughout the story during his cat and mouse games with the HSL.

This novel is an engaging tale in the vein of such classics as the film Hackers and not as cheesy as the equally fun Swordfish.
The book is authentic and no cubes form into larger cubes as Hugh Jackman swivels his butt. That film is a guilty pleasure nonetheless.
Nothing ends the way I predicted but were resolved in a better than you would hope but still depressingly realistic at the same time approach.
The unpredictable part was I dreaded one of his close friends would turn out to be an informant. My favourite parts of the book were the creepy attempts by HSL to weed out his identity on the XNET chats or the live-journals to get information out of people.

I've loved Doctorow's blog he co-edits Boing Boing for years. His other editor Xeni Jarden is part of the fantastic Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Paper Valentine is about a a town that has been having a summer serial killer problem. The heroine, Hannah, sees the ghost of her late anorexic friend Lillian. Lillian was your typical Queen bee who wasn't as strong on the inside as her seemingly weaker friend Hannah. Hannah doesn't give herself much credit for being strong because she's too busy putting on a facade to please the other people in her life. The other members of their clique aren't worth noting. Angelie, is a raging bitch, but not interesting. She wears boring store clothes and spends her time trying to replace Lillian like Heather Duke did in Heathers. Carmen and Jessica are as mindless as the A group in Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. We're seen their type countless times before.
Hannah would absolutely get on with Romy and Michelle or Claire from Pretty in Pink.
Her little sister Ariel is leagues better than any of her so-called friends. She spends a fair bit of time walking Ariel and her friend Pinky back and forth to music class. This is where she runs into the local bad Finny she has a crush on.
Lillian, the ghost, is obsessed with the murders and convinces Hannah to sneak at her the crime scene photos. [Do police stations actually use local camera stores rather than have their photographs developed at the station?]
A year before Lillian died she was interested in the first murder and kept a scrap-book of all the newsclippings. They had a seance which revealed that the killer left paper valentines.

The book was enjoyable while reading it even if the mystery itself ended up not being that exciting.

Boundless wasn't as enjoyable as Unearthly but I enjoyed it more than Hallowed as the book finally achieved what seems to be almost impossible with love-triangles. The heroine Clara never came off as wishy-washy or fickle. I've noticed when it comes to love triangles fans of tv shows, anime and books can get rather judgemental of the female involved in love triangles. Tumblr is the worst place for female characters to be hated on for bad or indecisive writing [sometimes just to drag a storyline out for ratings]. The writers can often make the character come off as fickle while trying to please two sets of fans. Plot devices for the sake of dragging the plot out until the couple can get together often lead to annoying characters.
I expected it when Christian offered to meet up with Clara after Tucker dies. Hey, why not if your immortal?

The hell scenes weren't as creepy or scary as I've read in other novels but felt in tune with the sorrow the fallen feel.
The book was a tad judgey about people ending up in hell for hangups that are normal and people grow out of but nothing compared to that atrocious novel, Sweet Evil which has girls damned just for sleeping with the wrong guy or drinking.

I liked the friendships in the novel.

Give me Liberty defines in a nutshell what it really means to be an American. Not a false patriot, who sits in front of a tv listening to Glenn Beck or CNN, but anyone in the world who values freedom.
This is what our founding fathers meant for us. Not an inherited status deserved because of where you were born but what you do with it.
Sadly, our rights to protest and speak out are vanishing. Ms. Wolf compiles a list from various sources and webisites to help us gather what we still have to make our voices heard. She also has a few suggestions such as referendums to get bills posed. Our system is broke when the lobbyists have more voice in persuading our elected officials than we do.
More than ever, this book is a call to arms for Americans to take up grassroots movements.
We can thank grassroots, not our elected officials, for gay marriage being made legal or marijuana.
No major change in our country was made possible until the people supported them.

The saddest points she made in her book were how we started subverting the rights of other countries to have the same rights we do.
Though our rights are vanishing fast unless we stop abdicating our responsibility to be watchdogs.

If you ever felt powerless or marginalised [I sure have] then this book ought to inspire you. Our political parties have prevented many regular citizens from getting in the process as have special interest groups. They want to keep up the myth you need big money behind you or a long political career.
All major changes were made possible by the constitution which was meant for us not the powers that be.

This book is partly history of our constitution, when we stopped following it and then advice on how to affect change at the local level.

Ron Paul has been on the mark about the political climate in America for a long time. He predicted the result of the federal reserve interference causing a false economic boom that led to the housing bubble.
His views on our military interference overseas should not be ignored. The blowback caused by our policies and the expense to our budget. If we stopped the wars we could use that money towards our social security.
The media doesn't admit the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac policies, the bailouts or the role the federal reserve caused in all of this.

It's depressing the new chapter written in 2009 before the bulk of those bailouts even happened [or the bonuses that were given]. He really hit home that the bill didn't pass the first time around but once the lobbyists and bankers called it was passed. The voters didn't matter.
It's doubly sickening during the current election to read about the Iraq sanctions and that Iran was proven not to have a nuclear weapon. He predicted they'd come up with a reason anyway and they have.
Sanctions included.
We're still where we were in 2008.

He covers the drug wars, warrant-less wiretapping and other losses to our civil liberties.
How our forebears never intended for the federal government to have such reach in power.
Even if you don't agree with Ron Paul's ideas about the gold standard [or the story fed to you about the media] it's hard to argue that the federal reserve has messed with inflation and how the costs directly affect the poor who don't get the created money first.
If it's not possible to return to the gold standard we still need to audit the federal reserve.

Glenn Greenwald just wrote an op-ed for the Guardian about which US presidents committed the worst assaults to our civil liberties that I recommend reading.
Who is the worst civil liberties president in US history?Where do the abuses of the last decade from Bush and Obama rank when compared to prior assaults in the name of war?