Night Star – Alyson Noel – By Lauren

 

 

 

 

So this was much better than the last two but not that much there’s, a bit of change in the story  line, a bit of excitement.

 

 

 

 

 

Ever has grown up a lot and is learning about her past lives as Damen has accepted that ever needs to know the whole truth about their past. There is more of Jude in this book, he has a bigger part but ruins Ever’s plans. He tries to help but just end up interfering. I don’t feel like there was much need for him as you can totally tell what was going to happen. Miles comes home and finds out the truth. I think he is the best part of this book and talks sense. There isn’t much of Ava and the twins in this one but I still think the Twins should have been involved a bit more. Haven as per is a horrible annoying bitch but I mean it was so predictable.

So the end of book was good, a bit of action but a bit to easy predict. I could have just skipped this book and the last two books because I don’t think they added anything to the story.

Yeah sure I’ve enjoyed the series and I will read Everlasting but I don’t think I would recommend the series to anyone.

It’s an easy simple read but I would definitely say it’s for the younger young adults.

Dark Flame Review – Alyson Noel By Lauren

 

 

So Dark Flame is the 4th book in The Immortals Series. If you have my reviews of books 1-3 you  will know my feelings. I am bored. Evermore and Bluemoon were fab, Shadowland a bit bland  and Dark Flame well it felt like it was just another stop gap to keep us going until something  happens.

 

The plot of this books came across as a game of cat and mouse. I say It’s boring, it was boring to  an extent. I didn’t feel the need to read every single line, I kinda just had to skim through the  pages. I was looking for something to happen!

 

 

A few of my previous questions were answered about Jude and Roman. I hate hate hate Haven. Argh that girl!! We also found out about Roman’s past. I don’t know why it took so long for Ever to do what she did to find out. Oh and we found out the truth about Ava. I still don’t trust her.

So i’m not going to go on and on about it. A few friends have said keep going its worth it and I’m thinking really? I may sound harsh but I have read many series where I just became bored. I am still waiting for something to happen! The ending was disappointing and I really don’t want to read Night Star nothing from Dark Flame made me run and pick up the book but I heard its the best. All I want to know is will Damon and Ever be truly together?

I think the movie will be better than the books in this case. I am going to stop rating these books out of 5 because I will rather rate the series when I am finished to give it a fair review.

So I have picked up Night Star this morning, lets see if my opinion changes!

All the Things we didn’t say – By Lauren

All The Things We Didn’t Say by Sara Shepard

I wasn’t really interested to be honest as there wasn’t an immediate plot. I found myself not eager to read it; I didn’t feel the need to pick it up at al. I like books that grasp me straight away and give me the feeling that this book is attached to my hand by an invisible cord sorry to say this book didn’t do that for me.

I decided since I like Shepard and the Pretty Little Lair’s TV program, I was going to finish the book. Any other author I would most likely would have just put the book in the bag for the charity shop. I am glad I didn’t do that after all because it did get me thinking.

I’m not saying this is one of my favourite books because it’s not, and it’s certainly not one of the worst – it’s just not my type. I found that from time to time it jumped around a lot. One moment summer would be talking about something with her father then suddenly she would be thinking about a memory that had no significance to the conversation with her father. I also found that after each part, (it is split into four parts ) there was a diary entry, a sort of letter I suppose. I took me to the end of part three to realise these were diaries entries of summer’s father, even though the book was summer’s story the book didn’t really explain that. I enjoyed parts of the book, they made me laugh out loud, but I kind of didn’t understand where the book was going until part four. From part four, a lot of my questions were answered; I started to think of scenarios and trying to figure out what it was about. Turns out I was wrong, and a tad disappointed.

The book is filled with sadness and humour. It is completely relatable and after I had finished it, it all started to fit together for me. I don’t tend to read these types of books and I think this is why, because I struggled to grasp the point. Overall I did enjoy this book, but I wouldn’t recommend it to my friends. I would have liked Shepard to perhaps finish the book a bit better. There are a lot of unexplained things about summer’s life.

I rate this 2/5

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/30521/Sara_Shepard/index.aspx

Water For Elephants Book vs Movie – By Lauren

  Well I decided to read this because 1. I am going to the London premier and 2. because its had quite a few bad          reviews.

  It has two covers this is the original and there is one staring Reese, Robert and Christoph.

  My first impression of this book was I like how the story is told in 3 pages in the prologue. I like books like that as it   keeps me hooked. I get bored very easily with books. Through the first chapter I laughed at Jacob. He is just a    general old man who has a story to tell.

And by god has he got a story to tell! His story is amazing. Its full of emotion, drama, love, happiness, sadness, illusions, friendships and emotional torture the list goes on! This book has everything!! The love Jacob has for Marlena is amazing and how Marlena in one sense saved him from himself! Being an animal person I am going to work in South Africa this year to work with Elephants, Tigers, Lions etc this book made me realize how animals were/are treat. This book had me in tears of heartbreak for both the couple and the animals. I haven’t read a book like this before I generally read young adult sci fi fiction but after recommendations I had to read it.

I could not put this down. I was lying on the beach with my sister laughing at parts then in floods of tears. Yes people were staring at me but my response was poor Silver Star!! The story hit me real hard and I was fascinated with Jacob’s story. I think Gruen really captured the essence of the circus life. I read the authors notes and she really did delve into the life. It was amazing how she used real life stories to add to the book. It was very well written in my opinion, I didn’t come across any grammar or continuity problems. Then again If a story grasps me that hard I doubt I would even notice them!  There is only one problem I had with it but it is just my own preference.

There was too much sex in this for my liking, actual graphic sex, I found it wasn’t needed. I’m such a prude! I also wished Gruen had of gone into Marlena’s past more, a bit more about her personality. I wanted to know why Jacob fell in love with Marlena. There were no actually pin points of love.

This story has really made me realize there is more to life than 9-5, cars and holidays. I am more excited now to get to South Africa and get up close and personal with such animals! I hope I meet a Rosie!!

 The Movie

Oh yes Robert Pattinson and Reece Witherspoon. I hope the movie does the book justice but I am positive it will. Yes their will be variations as there always is from turning a book into a script. This next bit therefore will not be a book VS movie it will simply be a review of the movie “ Water for Elephants”

So I was lucky enough to go to the premier of Water for Elephants in London on May 3rd. I didn’t see the film in London however I did meet Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz. I spoke to many fans over those two days who told me that the movie was amazing. However most of them hadn’t read the book yet so I had a few reservations.

 ** Spoilers **

I saw the film as soon as I returned from London. All I can say is! Oh My Gawwwd. I totally did not expect it to me anywhere near as good as the book but it totally surprised me. It was amazing, yes the movie couldn’t include every part of the book, that is the main problems about turning a book into a movie. For me a few scenes weren’t long enough like the scene Jacob goes to August’s room with a knife with intentions to kill him. In the movie Marlena is also in bed and the scene isn’t as dramatic as the book described it. A lot of scenes were mixed around a bit especially the end scene where August tries to kill Marlena but the lovely Rosie saves her life.

I had to fight back the tears throughout the movie. I am glad my friend had to leave half way through to rush to work as I cried so much I was in such a mess. Rosie is amazing, all the animals were fantastic. When August  was attacking her I could literally feel the pain throughout my body. I love how Rose is actually based on a real elephant and unfortunately lost her life. Animals are so loyal and can read people straight away and this story shows just that! It really shows the truth about the circus’ in the 30’s but also it targets issues with cruelty today.

I am so glad they didn’t show the bit where they slaughter the horses they got from another circus to feed the cats. I am also very glad they didn’t show or make much reference to the fact they also fed Silver Star to the cats! I would have left the theatre a nervous wreck as well as an emotional mess!

There were a few continuity problems but that isn’t a big issue, I just have the eye for it in all movies. Obviously the book is always the best in my opinion but Robert, Reese and Christoph totally brought Jacob, Marlena and August to life. I couldn’t imagine anyone else making it come alive like they did.

Overall….

The book was very well written, captured my heart straight away and tackled every single emotion. I loved the way the movie showed the friendship between Camel, Walter and Jacob. The screen play was as good as it could have got, the acting was amazing, everything was perfect, not too much violence but just enough to target the audience and express the storyline perfectly.

I rate both the book and movie very different 4.5/5. To see Steph’s review click here
Definitely check out Sara Gruen
Here are a few of my photos from the premier.

Me and Rob - Got pushed and jumped on. Ended up with bruised ribs!

Me on the red carpet!