First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
First Lines:
Everybody has fears, right?
I’m into that.
The Dream-Maker’s Magic by Sharon Shinn
(Safe-Keepers, book 3)
Rating: ★★★★★ – loved it
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: September 3 – 6
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Kellen’s time at the Parmer Arms.
Least Favorite Thing: Frederick can choke.
Man I’m so glad I decided to go through this series because this book was so worth it. I will definitely be reading this book again!
My Posts About The Dream-Maker’s Magic
I Don’t Know What You Know Me From by Judy Greer
Rating: N/A
Review: Yes
Format: Print
Reading Dates: September 8 – 9
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: That one quote I pulled?
Least Favorite Thing: So boring!
I really wish I could have liked this book, but I just couldn’t find it interesting…
My Posts About I Don’t Know What You Know Me From
The Bling Ring by Nancy Jo Sales
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: Yes
Format: Print
Reading Dates: September 8 – 9
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: The bizarre-ness of the case.
Least Favorite Thing: There wasn’t really anything I didn’t like.
I feel like this was a strange book to like, but I really did like it.
The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno
Rating: ★★★★★ – loved it
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: September 10 – 11
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: The writing style.
Least Favorite Thing: I did not like Lyle even when I was meant to.
Read this book! Read this book! Read it! It is so good I’m going to buy it first chance I get.
My Posts About The Half Life of Molly Pierce
Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: September 14 – 19
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Living Room Theater
Least Favorite Thing: Skeevy Sam gave me the creeps…
It took about half the book before the pace picked up and I could really get into it, but I think that might just be that I don’t read contemporary as often. I did enjoy it once I got into it though.
My Posts About Since You’ve Been Gone
Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: September 20 – 22
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Hannah’s extreme thirst for Finny Boone lol No, I’m kidding, it’s the homemade Ouija board.
Least Favorite Thing: Hannah’s friends all suck.
This is not even a little bit the sort of book I usually read. It’s a mystery, a murder one at that, and a little bit spooky which for me is a lot spooky because I’m paranoid as hell…. So I was surprised at how much I liked this story. The beginning seemed a little slow, but it picked up soon and then I couldn’t put it down. I definitely recommend this book.
My Posts About Paper Valentine
Orfe by Cynthia Voigt
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: September 23
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: The descriptions of how Enny felt listening to the music.
Least Favorite Thing: All the boyfriends were garbagio.
I read this book for bibliophilicwitch‘s 24 Hour Read-A-Thon.
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook & Print
Reading Dates: September 23
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Carrie’s poems.
Least Favorite Thing: I can’t think of anything…
I read along and listened to this book for bibliophilicwitch‘s 24 Hour Read-A-Thon. And I loved her journal entries, I wish I was that eloquent at 18!
My Posts About The Princess Diarist
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: Yes
Format: Print
Reading Dates: July 18 – September 25
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: The chaos of the Wish catering gigs.
Least Favorite Thing: My fear of being too old to relate to these books, and therefore not enjoying them quite as much, has officially been realized.
It took me forever to finish this, my goodness! But I finally did it and even mini-review’d it.
My Posts About The Truth About Forever
Need by Carrie Jones
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review: Yes
Format: Print
Reading Dates: September 26
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: I too would like to leave a trail of glitter wherever I go.
Least Favorite Thing: The entire premise.
Welp, looks like I’ll be donating this book… But at least I can cross one more off my TBR Shame List.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
So first thing to say is that this book feels like a pretty blatant Twilight rip-off. I could list all the direct parallels (characterizations, plot points, etc.), but this review would wind up a mile long. And it’s not just a copy of Twilight, it’s a badly written one, in my opinion.
The protagonist appears pretty dense and the magical creature reveal is just so badly done I don’t even know how to explain it. The writing alternates between sluggish and rushed throughout the whole book, which can make it feel quite awkward. Presumably someone edited this novel, but you can’t really tell.
Then there’s the plot: that of pale, plain girl somehow desired by everyone (almost including her own father, but at least Jones manages to side-step that one) and oh look, they’re all secret supernatural creatures and the small, cold town just somehow magically doesn’t notice. Obviously we’ve been there, done that. The worst part is, the summary of the book makes it sound so interesting. Girl moves to a new town and realizes she has a preternaturally creepy stalker and the disappearances in town might be related? Fascinating premise! But the reality just falls so short of that.
If you liked Twilight, you might like this book, but honestly there are so many better books to read.
Lee is on page 107 of 306
This just gets more Twilight-esque by the second…
Also the whole “the pixie must mate with a queen or else he is bound by his nature to murder random dudes” is like….yikes.
So I complained a few minutes ago about Need by Carrie Jones reminding me A LOT of Twilight. Well, I just looked at the reviews on it and it looks like most people said that. Not sure if I should even bother continuing this book now…
Darkestwings Reads