WWW Wednesdays: Week 9

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.  All you have to do is answer these 3 questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next?

Simple right?  I love to read and love to know what other people are reading!

What are you currently reading?

Right now, I'm reading What Happened to Goodbye, Sarah Dessen's newest book.  I'm about 100 pages in and enjoying it so far.  I haven't had as much time to read lately as I usually do, but I work away at a few pages or chapters at a time whenever I get a chance!

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished reading Born at Midnight by CC Hunter and A Soul Less Broken by Helen Laibach.  You can click the links to check out my reviews for each.

 

What do you think you'll read next?

I honestly don't know.  My choices are: Immortal by Gillian Shields, This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen, When It Happens by Susane Colasanti, The Best Laid Plans by Lynn Schnurnberger, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols, Moonlight by Rachel Hawthorne, Phantom Evil by Heather Graham, The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton, and The Irish Princess by Karen Harper.  I know I'm going to have to return a few of these to the library unread, between planning for a 3-day trip away this weekend and working on getting my novel ready for publication.  What do you think I should read next?

What are you reading this week?  Have you read any of the books on my list?  Have any suggestions?  I'd love to hear from you!

Book Review: Born at Midnight by CC Hunter

Born at Midnight by CC Hunter
Shadow Falls Book #1
Published: March 29th, 2011
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
398 pages (paperback)
Genre: Young adult paranormal/urban fantasy
Acquired this book: at the library
Warning: may include spoilers

Synopsis, taken from dust jacket of the book: One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever.  Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls - a camp for troubled teens - and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren't just "troubled".  Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches, and fairies train side by side, learning to harness their powers, control their magic, and live in the normal world.
Kylie's never felt normal, but surely she doesn't belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks, either.  Or does she?  They insist Kylie is one of them and that she was brought here for a reason.  As if life wasn't complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas.  Derek's a half Fae who's determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas couldn't be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart.
Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear: Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs....

What I thought of Born at Midnight:
I felt like I waited most of the book for something to happen, and very little did.  For a 400-page book, I think if it had been half as long, and the author had just included the important, interesting stuff, and not 3/4 filler, it could have been a really good book, because the concept had potential.  It just felt like a lot of unnecessary filler.  Explanation to follow...

Through the entire book, the same things are repeated over and over.  All of Kylie's mental dialogue and inner turmoil is made up of the same few subjects that she dwells on endlessly - she couldn't possibly be a supernatural, there has to be another explanation; Derek reminded her of Trey, her ex-boyfriend - not only does she mention this a dozen times or more, she goes into great detail of how Derek reminds her of Trey; she wishes that she could just be normal and have a normal life, that her parents weren't divorcing, that they cared more about her, etc, etc. 

Kylie is all over the place.  She's whiney, indecisive and spends most of the time feeling sorry for herself.  She goes back and forth the entire book unsure of how she feels about all three of the love interests in her life.  Trey dumped her and only wants to have sex, but despite that she still cares about him.  She likes Derek, but is conflicted because he reminds her so much of Trey, but when she realizes he's nothing like Trey, she's even more torn, and even though she just wants to be friends, she's jealous when he seemingly likes another girl.  She hates Lucas then she wants him, then she doesn't know what to think.  Whenever she's thinking of one boy, she's usually thinking about another, too, comparing them and how she feels about them.

All of that being said, I always hate writing bad reviews because it just doesn't feel right.  As a writer, I know how much work goes into a novel, and it just feels like bad karma to only talk about what I didn't like, especially if there are a few good points.  There were a few interesting twists and turns in the plot.  Some of the characters did have redeeming qualities - I liked Holiday (the camp leader), Miranda (one of Kylie's roommates) and Derek.  I liked all the different kinds of supernatural creatures and their unexpected powers. There were two separate mysteries in the storyline and both were interesting and had surprising outcomes (one more than the other). 

 

*I belong to Amazon Affiliates - anything that you buy from my blog through Amazon gets me a small commission, and as a struggling freelance writer, I can use every cent I can get!  If you're considering buying this book or any other book I review, if you go to Amazon through the links on my blog to buy, I'll be eternally grateful!*

Follow Friday Week 5, Book Blogger Hop Week 6 & TGIF @ GReads Week 1

First of all, Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!  We're few and far between in the blogosphere, but I've been meeting more and more of you, and I love it!  If you're a Canadian blogger, check out Rabid Read's blog - she's compiling a list of Canadian bloggers so it's easier for us to find each other!

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Follow Friday Fun Week 5 - this weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee.  Check out her blog for details/rules, and to join! 

This week's question: ACK! Your favorite book/movie character (example Hermione Granger played by the Emma chick) just walked into the room! Who is it and what would be your first reaction? You get extra points if you include visual stimulation.

 

Oh jeeze, this is hard!  I'm sure given more time to think about this, I'd come up with a huge list, but the first person that came to mind was Ron Weasley played by Rupert Grint.  Even though Rupert's a few years younger than me, I've always had a crush on him - I just think he's the cutest thing, and Ron is one of my all-time favorite book characters.  As for how I would react: since I'm incredibly shy and self-conscious, I really don't think it would go well.  I can picture it in my head and it's too scary to type, so you'll have to use your imaginations.  Let's just say it would probably be painfully awkward.  Speaking of which, here's my 'visual stimulation' - something I can guarantee you I wouldn't do if I ever met Rupert.  Well actually, the disgusting fan-girly thing might be an unfortunate reaction I'd have, but minus the whole eyelash thing - which by the way, makes me laugh hysterically every time I see it, and is why I chose to include this video.  Enjoy!

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Book Blogger Hop Week 6 - This is a weekly meme hosted by Crazy For Books.  Be sure to stop by her blog to check it out! 

This week's question: "What keeps you reading beyond the first few pages of a book, and what makes you want to stop reading a book and put it back on the shelf?"

Well, there's no set formula, really.  It has to catch my attention in some way, whether it's humor, drama, suspense, the author's writing style, whatever.  I love those rare books that catch me from the first page and hold my interest all the way through, for whatever reason.  I love characters that are believable and relateable, and that I can imagine myself as the character, going through the story.  Things that will stop me from reading a book: if it's going nowhere, if it makes no sense, if the characters are flat, cardboard cut-outs, or if the writing style is over-the-top, to name a few.

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And now, because 2 features for Fridays weren't enough, I found another one that I just had to join!  A question every Friday, hosted by GReads 

This week's question: Mr. & Mrs: Who are your favorite book couples?
**Beware of spoilers if you've never read these books but plan to**

*Ron and Hermione from Harry Potter - I love how they have this love-hate relationship right from the start, and how they're both strong, independent characters, but they obviously care about each other and need each other.  The dynamic between them is hilarious, frustrating and touching, and all they have to go through makes you feel almost triumphant when they finally end up together.
*Anne and Gilbert from Anne of Green Gables - one of my favorites since childhood.  I thought Anne was unreasonable for not forgiving Gil sooner, but of course it made for a better story, and a much sweeter romance once they were actually together.
*Edward and Bella from Twilight - I'm sure there are plenty of people who are rolling their eyes right now, but I do love these books, and I enjoy the love story between Bella and Edward.  That magnetic pull that neither of them can deny, all they have to go through to be together and be happy...plus just the ridiculously romantic things Edward says to Bella had me swooning whenever I read them.
*Jude and Aidan from Jewels of the Sun (by Nora Robert) - I'd like to say it's as simple as the fact that I've always dreamed of moving to Ireland and falling in love with a smoking hot Irishman, but it's so much more than that.  Right from the beginning, I felt like Jude was me, and I loved living vicariously through her, even when her tempestuous push-pull relationship with Aidan seemed doomed, it was all worth it in the end.


I could go on and on, but this post is long enough as it is!


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A recap for this week's blog posts:

Book Reviews:
The Violets of March by Sarah Jio
Across the Universe by Beth Revis


Memes:
Library Loot June 25th - July 2nd
WWW Wednesday Week 8

Other:
Book covers and trailers and swag - oh my!

***Please, please, please read this post and comment with your input, I'd really appreciate it!***

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I hope everyone's having a great Friday!  If you participate in Book Blogger Hop or Follow Friday Fun - or even if you don't - be sure to leave a comment (I love comments!) and I'll visit you in return!