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MINI-REVIEWS: Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination, Bridget Jones’ Diary 1 & 2

Posted by Anastasia on October 25, 2011 7 Responses »

Oct 252011

Click on a book cover to go to that book’s Amazon page.

119. Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding
Publication: Viking Pr (June 3, 2004), Hardcover, 320pp / ISBN 0670033332
Genre: Fiction, Thriller (sort of)

Read: October 8-9, 2011
Source: Bought?

Mini-Review

Basically this book went in an entirely different direction than I thought it would based on the first 20 pages or so. And I LOVED it! Before the switch happened I was so sure this would be another of those “oh, look at how silly women are and aren’t they just adorable and forgettable and etc.” sorts of books, something that I HATE. But then! Then! It became a “look at how much this woman can KICK YOUR BUTT and she isn’t even a professional butt-kicker or anything!” sort of book! And that was pretty amazing.

The romance, which showed up really out of nowhere in the last third of the book, threw me off a bit. But I really enjoyed the rest of it, especially how Olivia accomplishes amazing things without even having to go through a lot of character transformation. I mean, I like it when characters evolve from one thing to another in books, but in Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination the point wasn’t that Olivia needed to change. It’s that her circumstances needed to change in order to show her off at her best, and they did!

Rating

Fun and exciting and kind of scary! It’s like a fluffy thriller, if that helps.

122. Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding
Publication: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 24, 1999), Paperback, 288pp / ISBN 014028009X
Genre: Fiction

Reread: October 12-13, 2011
Source: BookMooch

Mini-Review

This is the second time I’ve read this book now. The first time I read it (August 2008), I rated it a 5 bird book. You may notice that it’s been shoved down a bit there. Still, I did enjoy it, and though at first I was annoyed by how it seemed to be saying that all women everywhere were miserable being single and didn’t know what they wanted and were entirely too dependent on drugs, alcohol and self-help books, the more I read the more I realized that…this is actually kind of a satire, isn’t it?

I don’t know which came first, Bridget Jones or everyone telling women they needed to be Bridget Joneses, but it doesn’t really matter, because I think what it’s saying is that a) it’s silly to be like a Bridget Jones but b) if you ARE a Bridget Jones, that’s okay. Either way, you’ll have a fantastic life. Just don’t take it/yourself/self-help books to seriously.

Rating

If you read it like it’s satire it’s about 100x more hilarious, just FYI.

123. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
Publication: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 30, 2001), Paperback, 352pp / ISBN 0140298479
Genre: Fiction

Read: October 14-15, 2011
Source: Bought

Mini-Review

I didn’t like the majority of this book because of the plot. It was just all over the place, going way beyond anything I could comfortably believe, and by the time the Thailand plotline happened I was just like “wtf is going on” the whole time. So that wasn’t enjoyable.

I also didn’t really like the characters. In the first book Bridget’s friends were important to both the story and her own life; in this one they were shoved off to the side and felt really flat as well.

However! I really liked the romance (and the whole “who are we really vs who we present ourselves as” thing). I liked that it wasn’t just a continuation of the happily-ever-after that happened in the first book. I like that Bridget and Mark had to wobble around each other, trying to figure each other/what they were doing/etc. out and how they could be together when they were both trapped in a rom-com kind of situation. It made the ending SO much more satisfying, and the relationship so much more real and genuine and lovely.

Rating

The plot and characters are completely ridiculous, but the love story was worth reading and I was SO happy at the end.

Review: Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin (2007)

Posted by Anastasia on August 11, 2009 No Responses »

Aug 112009

Once Bitten, Twice Shy (Jaz Parks #1) by Jennifer Rardin
Publication: Orbit (October 8, 2007), ebook
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Rating:
Find @ Amazon, other places one can buy ebooks
Read: June 2009

In one sentence: Miss Buffy? Try Jaz. (Now I sound like a tagline. Is that a tagline already?)

This was one of the $1 Orbit deals a few months ago, and while I was a little worried about slightly fugly cover (at least she doesn’t have a tattoo on her back), $1 for a book ain’t bad at all. The book ain’t that bad, either, though I’m on the fence on how much I actually enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed a lot of things, but I hated a lot of things, too.

Summary from Amazon:

I’m Jaz Parks. My boss is Vayl, born in Romania in 1744. Died there too, at the hand of his vampire wife, Liliana. But that’s ancient history. For the moment Vayl works for the C.I.A. doing what he does best–assassination. And I help. You could say I’m an Assistant Assassin. But then I’d have to kick your ass.

Our current assignment seemed easy. Get close to a Miami plastic surgeon named Assan, a charmer with ties to terrorism that run deeper than a buried body. Find out what he’s meeting with that can help him and his comrades bring America to her knees. And then close his beady little eyes forever. Why is it that nothing’s ever as easy as it seems?

The best thing, and my favorite thing, was Jaz Parks herself. She’s a kick-ass character with, okay, some mental problems, but with an infinitely more interesting personality than some other kick-ass female protagonists. I actually felt things for her sometimes! Also her kinda-boyfriend is a mysterious vampire with a mysterious past. Like Buffy! And, also like Buffy, when Jaz isn’t having breakdowns she’s really snarky and cute. I like me some snark.

But, yeah, there’s a lot of cliched stuff in here. The whole alpha male dangerous vampire with good hair thing– whatever. It’s a little overdone by now. (I’d love to read a book where the male vampire lead wasn’t and international undead man of mystery, by the way. Like Rockula in book format?) So is the snarky female lead who can kick butt for that matter (though I find it less irritating than alpha male vampire), and also the secret government paranormal thing (also something I don’t much mind).

The book itself wasn’t too badly written, for all that. I didn’t really notice the prose, which is a bad or a good thing, depending on how you look at it. The plot was fine, and sometimes exciting, but the cliches bogged it down. Jaz’s slightly more insane moments were annoying as well (I never thought I’d actually say someone’s mental instability annoyed me, but it did). I also thought the beginning was really awkward: it starts off with a flashback, then skips forward a few months and the whole thing was really jarring. It also meant that, since we started way into Jaz and Vayl’s partnership, we missed out on all the stuff that would, uh, actually make me believe they were good partners? It’s like watching the end of a buddy cop movie without seeing the rest of it; you don’t really care about the characters because you haven’t seen how they learned to work together and become awesome partners. You just some cars blown up and a tearful hug at the end (for instance).

That’s how Once Bitten, Twice Shy is, actually. Except instead of cars blowing up you get surprise romantic feelings and a lot of pheromones floating around. Also, a demon from another dimension. A-hem.

It’s got a lot of problems, for sure, and I don’t think it’s for everyone. However, I enjoyed it (mostly), and if I ever run into books #2+, I might pick them up. if you can make it through the cliches, the random way Jaz is awesome one minute and completely incompetent the next (blows her cover every which way, multiple times. Bad spy! No treat for you.), and/or if you like books with mysterious vampires, action, and assassins, then you might want to give it a try. It’s lighthearted, it’s got an interesting lead, and the romance isn’t too bad (if somewhat unconvincing). Very good for summer!

Other reviews: Bitten By Books (+) | Janicu (+) | Tez Says (+) | Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (very +) | Babbling Book Reviews (+)

Review: The Dealer (CHERUB #2) by Robert Muchamore (2004)

Posted by Anastasia on June 24, 2009 No Responses »

Jun 242009

The Dealer (CHERUB #2) by Robert Muchamore
Publication: Simon Pulse (August 30, 2005), Paperback, 309 pages / ISBN 0689877803
Genre: Action, Thriller, YA
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
First sentence: Billions of insects fizzed about in the sunset.

In one sentence: Disappointing installment of a series that I otherwise rather like.

I was hoping this second CHERUB book would be at least as good as the first book, The Recruit, but alas it was not.

Summary from Amazon:

CHERUB agents are all seventeen and under. They wear skate tees and hemp, and look like regular kids. But they’re not. They are trained professionals who are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists and international drug dealers. CHERUB agents hack into computers, bug entire houses, and download crucial documents. It is a highly dangerous job. For their safety, these agents DO NOT EXIST.

James is on his most daring mission yet: to smack down the world’s most powerful drug lord. It means hitting the streets, where the dealers work. It’s a vicious business. But James is going to take it down…from the top.

Eh, I didn’t really enjoy this book. If it wasn’t so short (and part of a series) I don’t think I would have finished it. The constant teasing between the characters got annoying fast, James was acting like a jerk most of the time, and there was no character development or growth (though there were a few personal revelations that I honestly didn’t see the point of unless it comes up later in another book).

The plot was pretty exciting, though, especially near the end. I think that is what kept me reading, honestly, and why I’ll end up reading book number three, too– though hopefully that one is more enjoyable.

Other reviews: Bart’s Bookshelf

Review: N or M? by Agatha Christie (1941)

Posted by Anastasia on January 13, 2009 No Responses »

Jan 132009

N or M? cover N or M? by Agatha Christie
Publication: ebook, 527 pages in iPod Touch, originally published 1941
Genre: Mystery/Detective, Thriller
Rating: 3.5/5
Find paper edition @ Amazon

Continuing on my adventure through the Tommy and Tuppence series by Agatha Christie (previous reviews), I’m now on the third book, N or M? Tommy and Tuppence are back, a little older, with two grown children and another World War on the horizon. They’re called back into action to ferret out two German spies, the male spy M and the female spy N, from a sleepy little place called Sans Souci.

First off, I want to mention that I have very little patience for hardcore spy thrillers. I always feel that it takes too long to get to the end, and all the double-crossing and so on makes me tense. (This is probably why I never finished any John le Carre books.) Luckily, though it’s not the same as the first two T&T books, it still has enough oomph to pull me through. Plus, there’s obviously T&T in it, who I’ve grown to love.

Since I’ve never finished a spy thriller before– that I can remember, anyway– I don’t really have anything to compare it to. However, I do think that it was very well done. I wasn’t entirely sure who the spies were until the end, though I did have enough hints about all the characters to suspect them of something. I liked getting to know T&T’s kids a bit, and though T&T themselves didn’t really change since the last book I do love that they still act the same as when they were in their 20′s. It’s nice when characters age but don’t grow old, y’know?

I think I’ve already forgotten most of the secondary characters, including their names. But Albert showed up, and Mr. Carter makes a cameo! Being stuck in one place for so long, I think, made the plot a little frozen and slow, but it picks up at the end and then takes off quickly. Not as fast as some of Christie’s other books, but pretty fast compared to the rest of the plot. I felt quite clever when the answer was presented, as I had gotten one of the German spies right!

I don’t think anything can top The Secret Adversary, but it was a very nice addition to the series.

What’s your favorite spy thrillers? Any I should definitely check out? (I did get halfway through Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, mind.)

Review: Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie (1929)

Posted by Anastasia on January 9, 2009 No Responses »

Jan 092009

Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie
Publication: ebook, 644 pages in the iPod touch, originally published 1929
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 3.5/5
Find book @ Amazon (paper), Kindle edition

Partners in Crime is the second book in the Tommy and Tuppence series by Agatha Christie. It’s a short story collection tied together by an overarching plot: Tommy and Tuppence are hired to pose as a detective firm in order to ensnare a Russian spy ring. They end up solving quite a few mysteries in between spy-hunting, playing a game of famous detective-imitation along the way. I’ve, er, never heard of most of those detectives, but I’m certainly going to track down as many as I can– they seem like a good read! A blind detective? A priest detective? A detective who fiddles with string a lot? Page-turners, surely. (If only I could find copies of them.)

Read the rest of my review under the jump.

Review: The Recruit by Robert Muchamore (2005)

Posted by Anastasia on November 12, 2008 No Responses »

Nov 122008

The Recruit by Robert Muchamore (CHERUB #1)
Publication (US): Simon Pulse (2005), Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages / ISBN 068987779X
Genre: Children’s, Thriller, Action
Rating: 4/5
Find @ Amazon, swap sites

I wasn’t expecting much when I picked this up at the last FOTL book sale, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had reading it. I actually blazed through it in about six hours (including dinner breaks, etc), and I’m even looking forward to reading the next nine books in the series.

The Recruit is about a kid named James who get into trouble often and is on his way to a life of crime and jail time. Then, when his mother dies, James is recruited to a subsection of MI5: CHERUB, where the agents are all 17 and under. They go where adult agents can’t, get in where adults would only be barred, and James isn’t sure he can do it. But all he has to do is pass basic training and then he’ll be CHERUB’s newest agent– except he might die trying.