Top 5 Sundays #186 - Books That Made You Cry! #2

Hard list... but let's do it!

Here is the 1st list

Results:

Books That Made You Cry! {#2} 71.43%

Books That Made You LOL!  28.57%

Total votes: 7

The theme for today is:

Books That Made You Cry! 62.5%

But first, a little bit about this feature and the rules to join in…

Every Sunday I will post a TOP 5 list on the blog. It can be about anything and every week I'll have a new theme {You can vote on next week’s theme on my RIGHT sidebar!} and I will ad the Mr.Linky bellow the post so you can do a list with the theme and add you link to it.

Rules:

1. Write a post listing your TOP 5 choices within the theme I chose (or was chosen on a poll) for the week.
2. Mention this Blog on the post and link back to it.
3. Fell free to use the Feature's image (there is a smaller size version of it bellow)
4. After you've finished your post, add you link (of the post, not your blog's main page) to the Mr.Linky at the end of that week's post.
5. If you don’t have a blog to post, just leave your list in the comments =)

*in no particular order

The Reawakened (Aspect of Crow #3) 

by Jeri Smith-Ready

Third novel in my favorite series ever! It killed me!

Double Cross (The Disillusionists #2) 

by Carolyn Crane

The ending of Double Cross! so many feels!

Dreamfever (Fever #4) 

by Karen Marie Moning

Another ending that left me gasping!

Dreaming of the Bones (Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James #5) 

by Deborah Crombie

Si many feels for Kit!

The Diary of a Young Girl 

by Anne Frank

I remember reading this a LONG time ago, but it was heart wrenching!

Attention 

Please HELP, Guys! 

If you have any theme ideas for the next Top 5 Sundays Posts, please leave them in the comments! NEED NEW IDEAS! Your input would be much appreciated!

Now I can’t wait to see who is in YOUR List of 

Books That Made You Cry!

 Write you post and leave your link so i can check it out!

Hope you guys have fun with it!

Don’t Forget to Vote for the Theme for

My TOP 5 Sundays Post on the Poll at the RIGHT sidebar!

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Marina's Review: Mind Games {The Disillusionists Trilogy #1} by Carolyn Crane

Mind Games (The Disillusionists #1)

by Carolyn Crane

Justine knows she's going to die. Any second now.

Justine Jones has a secret. A hardcore hypochondriac, she’s convinced a blood vessel is about to burst in her brain. Then, out of the blue, a startlingly handsome man named Packard peers into Justine’s soul and invites her to join his private crime-fighting team. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal. With a little of Packard’s hands-on training, Justine can weaponize her neurosis, turning it outward on Midcity’s worst criminals, and finally get the freedom from fear she’s always craved. End of problem.

Or is it? In Midcity, a dashing police chief is fighting a unique breed of outlaw with more than human powers. And while Justine’s first missions, including one against a nymphomaniac husband-killer, are thrilling successes, there is more to Packard than meets the eye. Soon, while battling her attraction to two very different men, Justine is plunging deeper into a world of wizardry, eroticism, and cosmic secrets. With Packard’s help, Justine has freed herself from her madness—only to discover a reality more frightening than anyone’s worst fears.

• Release Date:  March 2010
• Publisher: Spectra
• Author's web site

* Minor Spoilers

First I want to start by saying that this trilogy has been sitting in my TBR list for a long time, so I made a New Year’s resolution and bought this first book.

All of my friends and blogs I follow (and trust) are giving this book 5 stars ratings and awesome reviews so I’m sad to admit I feel the odd one out, not that I didn’t like it but I just couldn’t connect with the characters enough to care what happens to them.

I found that the world building is unique and it feels complete, the setting is solid and the characters are conflicted most of all about their morals.

Our heroine Justine is a hypochondriac, suffering from the extreme notion that she has vein star syndrome (and her brain is going to start leaking any minute now) her life is hell until she meets Packard. 

Mr. Tall, Dark and Sensuous (a.k.a Packard) tells Justin that she can be free of her phobias if she channels them to somebody else, not just any random person but a dangerous criminal who after that procedure is going to have a major change of heart, he is going to be reformed, or Disillusioned!


At the climax of this story I felt that our heroes started deforming and loosing focus, I can’t understand the reasoning behind Justine’s actions; since she is able to forgive and forget a manipulative criminal why not Packard? And why since there are always two sides to every story she is willing to believe one and doesn’t even consider the other? 

And there is the matter of the language a lot of word felt strange and out of place….
“My entire being sighs into him, curling around his deliciously cucumber cock like it’s my new center of gravity.” …….!!!!!! I hope you understand what I mean.

Overall it is a good Urban Fantasy book and gives you a new and interesting world but I'd love it if things were a little different.

Don’t Forget to Vote for the Theme for

Our TOP 5 Sundays Post on the Poll at the right sidebar!

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3 Star Rating Blog Hop - Authors' View! {Larissa Ione, Jess Haines, Terry Spear & Carolyn Crane}

*I'm having issues with the comment box on blogger, so I am sorry for not responding on the comments. I do read and appreciate ALL of them! 

Hey guys! So, yesterday I got to express my point of View on 3 Star Rating Reviews and now I have some of my favorite authors to share their opinions on the matter as well.


Ladies, thank you SO much for taking the time to give me your opinions, YOU ROCK!

"I see a three-star review as being something like a C or C- grade in school.  Sort of a meh/average. I think any student would prefer an A or a B (and any writer would prefer a 4 or 5 star review!) However, 3-star reviews (and 1-star and 2- star reviews) are important, because they make the four-star  and five-star reviews mean something."
Carolyn Crane,Author of The Disillusionists  Series.

"A 3-star rating, to me, is a book that was somewhere in between--not great, but not bad, either. Or there were parts of it that were so good and parts that were so bad that I couldn't make up my mind whether I loved or hated it.  I may or may not give it a reread in the future.  As with any other book, it's just my opinion. Others may feel differently."
Jess Haines, author of the H&W Investigations.

"It's like being in school. 5=A, 4=B, 3=C, 2=D, and 1=F A three-star rating is supposed to mean average, but it comes down to making a C in class. I hated making C's in school and felt I was a failure. And in the military, we received officer evaluation reports that had a rating too. Average meant you didn't get promoted and eventually you were kicked out of the service. So to me average really has a negative connotation. I try not to think of it that way with reviews...but sometimes the negativity just seeps in."
Terry Spear, A SEAL in Wolf's Clothing, USA Today Bestseller.

"Ooh, 3 star reviews, huh? Well...they don't thrill me, but I don't HATE them the way some authors do. I have a lot of friends who say they'd rather have a 1-star review than a 3-star one, because that means that at least the book evoked a passionate response, even if that response is hate. They think a 3-star review always means "meh." But I don't share that view. Yes, 3 stars might mean "meh," or it might mean that the reviewer loved some aspects and hated others...so the book evoked those passionate responses, even with only 3 stars. 3 stars also means that the reviewer might try another of my books down the road, where they are probably a lot less likely to try again if they'd hated the first book enough to give it 1 star. I know that if I give a 1-star review, I hated the book so much that I'll likely not read the author again. But I'll give the author another shot if the book was a 3-star one."
Larissa Ione, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Lords of Deliverence Series.

Don’t Forget to Vote for the Theme for

My TOP 5 Sundays Post on the Poll at the left sidebar!

Thanks so much for tuning in and I’ll see you soon!

xoxo,

Read more...

Top 5 Sundays # 69 - Hero & Heroine That Should NOT Have Ended Up Together!

Hey everyone!

This week we have a very interesting theme, one that has been extremely hard for me.

I realized I tend to root for the winning team most of the time and by the time a series ends, the hero and heroine I am rooting for are together.

So, for the purposes of this list i shall look at series or individual books in a series where by the end of the book, the Hero with which the Heroine ended up is not my final choice.

Hope you guys will join me!

btw, it might contain spoilers to some series or a book in the series! beware!

  This week’s results:

Favorite Love Triangles! =  4 (33%)

Hero & Heroine That Should NOT Have Ended Up Together!  8 (66%)

Theme Idea by Camille

Thanks!

The theme for today is:

Hero & Heroine That Should NOT Have Ended Up Together!

But first, a little bit about this feature and the rules to join in…

Every Sunday I will post a TOP 5 list on the blog. It can be about anything and every week I'll have a new theme {You can vote on next week’s theme on my left sidebar!} and I will ad the Mr.Linky bellow the post so you can do a list with the theme and add you link to it.

Rules:

1. Write a post listing your TOP 5 choices within the theme I chose (or was chosen on a poll) for the week.
2. Mention this Blog on the post and link back to it.
3. Fell free to use the Feature's image (there is a smaller size version of it bellow)
4. After you've finished your post, add you link (of the post, not your blog's main page) to the Mr.Linky at the end of that week's post.
5. If you don’t have a blog to post, just leave your list in the comments =)

This week’s theme is  Hero & Heroine That Should NOT Have Ended Up Together! 

*in no particular order

Sookie & Bill 

Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Chalaine Harris

I don't like Bill and even in that first novel i wasn't on his team all the way... So, Sookie ending up with him then was not for me hehe

Morgan & Brian

Morgan Kingsley Series by Jenna Black

The series is over and it is the only example of a series that didn't end up how I really wanted. I know it was canceled and it didn't get a proper send off, but still LOL

Nothing against Brian, but for me Morgan deserved better =D

   

Justine & Otto 

The Disillusionists Trilogy by Carolyn Crane

I was never team Otto, and Justine ending this book with him did not please me to say the least =P

October & Quentin 

October Daye Series by Seanan Mcguire

Love Toby and I am totally team Tybalt, so she sort of ending up with Quentin in this book did not make me happy. 

Cassandra & Mircea 

Cassie Palmer Series by Karen Chance

A lot of people don't agree with me, but Mircea is too manipulative and sleek for me, I am totally Team Pritkin!

Attention!

Please HELP!

If you have any theme ideas for the next Top 5 Sundays Posts, please leave them in the comments!

NEED IDEAS FOR 2012

Your input would be much appreciated!

Now I can’t wait to see who is in YOUR List of Hero & Heroine That Should NOT Have Ended Up Together! 

 Write you post and leave your link so i can check it out!

Hope you guys have fun with it!

Don’t Forget to Vote for the Theme for

My TOP 5 Sundays Post on the Poll at the left sidebar!

Thanks so much for tuning in and I’ll see you soon!

xoxo,

Read more...