March 30, 2011

Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars - Sara Shepard
Three years ago, Alison disappeared after a slumber party, not to be seen since. Her friends at the elite Pennsylvania school mourned her, but they also breathed secret sighs of relief. Each of them guarded a secret that only Alison had known. Now they have other dirty little secrets, secrets that could sink them in their gossip-hungry world. When each of them begins receiving anonymous emails and text messages, panic, sets in. Are they being betrayed by some one in their circle? Worse yet: Is Alison back? A strong launch for a suspenseful series

I decided to read this book due to the fact that I watched the first episode of the TV show and really enjoyed it. I suppose in all fairness you should not judge a book by its cover. I for one was pleasently surprised that I ended up loving this book, in the first hundred and fifty pages I found myself almost bored. I wanted action and just wasn't getting it with this book, however the plot starts to move along at a nice pace after.

The story revolves around a set of privleged teens that were inseperatable until the leader of the group Alison goes missing. What this group does not however know is that the biggest secrets were all shared with Alison. Alison from reading this book was vicous! She wouldn't let anyone get one over her and she knew all the secrets they didn't want others to know. So in a way Alison going missing was a blessing in descise. The group falls apart pretty much after this point. Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily have all moved on from that night and three years later you would not think that they were one best friends. With all the secrets comes the biggest one, someone knows everything and is willing to tell! This person is A.

The pace of the book was rather slow, however it did keep you interested. The characters and all the lies and secrets they had kept made you want to carry on and find out who was behind it. Of course this being the first in a series you don't get to find this out. It did however make you want to turn the pages quickly and not miss a heartbeat. I found some of the characters a little annoying, for example I could have probably done without Hanna, it seems she takes a central role and I for one don't really like that I would have liked to see more of Emily. Although this book is centred around the four former friends the only two I felt I knew at all a little better were Aria and Hanna. Spencer and Emily didn't play that big a role I thought, however I would have liked to have seen more from both as I feel that their stories were the most interesting. Hopefully this slight issue can be resloved in the later books. Also was there a real need to describe EVERY designer item? I wasn't bothered what make the bag was or the trousers/jeans/t-shirt/shoes/earrings/necklace/bracelet you get the idea, it added nothing to the story.

Overall I loved this book and would recommend it, yes the first book is pretty much a re-run of the pilot, but it does give you an insight into the parts the pilot missed or what you may have been confused about. I can't wait to read Flawless, to try to figure out what the JENNA thing was and who A is? Could it be the long lost Alison? There is a great scene towards the end of the book, I don't want to spoil but it includes a very graphic dream about deadbodies!

March 26, 2011

First Impressions

Here I will give my imperssions of the books I am currently reading. I hope to do this every week.

The Iron King - Julie Kagawa
I've been meaning to read this for a while now and never really got the opportunity to do so. I picked it up after a online book club I participate in choose it as the book of the month.

So far I am about two thirds of the way through. I will admit that when I start reading I wasn't really enjoying the book, the characters seemed to bland and nothing really jumped out at me. However I have started to really get into the book. The world that Julie Kagawa has manged to create in Nevernever is fantastic. I'm really enjoying finding out about the different relems and courts, who belongs to each court and why some characters dont't get along. Also what I find interesting tit the way in which the world works, you do a favour for someone and you can ask for anything in return, story wise I think this could lead to endless possabilities. Character wise I think the only character that has really shined has been Grims, I love the whole idea of a talking cat.

I am looking forward to finishing this, I should be finished some time this week. Look forward to the review.


The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson
The Sky is Everywhere is a novel I have wanted to try out for a long time, however every time I have seen it at the library I have walked past. Something else has caught my eye. For some reason I decided to pick it up this time. Plus the cover is lovely!

The story is rather a sad affair.  It follows Lennie (yes named after John Lennon) whos sister has died, her mother left her when she was young and is being brought up by her Gran and Uncle Big. I don't really have much to say about this book, while I find the story to be interesting and the first line in the book had me in stitches I just can't seem to find any reason to carry on. I haven't connected with the characters in the way I would have hoped by now. I kind of feel the character of Lennie has a lot of problems that are caused by her being the way she is. I now her sister died but keeping every object the same since? Maybe it's because I have never gone through that but I feel that moving on would be best for her. The semi main characters are all quite interesting and I am willing to read more. Story wise it does seem quite muddled at the moment, I don't think that is intentional but it is putting me off a little bit.

I will continiue to read this book, though I don't know if I will actually finish it. Maybe it is just that I can't relate to what is happening in the story.

Pretty Little Liars - Sara Shepard
I bought this book when it was first re issued, though never felt the need to read it. That was until Thursday when I saw the Pilot for the show on MTV. I decided there and then that I wanted to read this book.

I am not that far into the book, though I think that I will be finishing it soon. I was really looking forward to the book, but it just seems like a re-run of the first episode. I keep picturing the actors when I'm reading and I think that is putting me off a little, for example in the book Emily looks nothing like her counterpart in the show same with Hanna. The one thing that is varing from the show is some of the plotline are slightly different.

I thought this would be a nice quick easy read, with mystry and intruige. What I am finiding is that it is a rather slow read, especially when you consider how small a book it is. I don't know, I know that I will finish it and proably love it but at the moment it is just far to slow!