Sophie Kinsella's "Mini-Shopaholic"

Don't read it.

If you like Kinsella's writing (which I do) I suggest that you stop reading the shopaholic series at "Ties the Knot".

This addition to the series was the second worst book of the series (First being the Shopaholic and Sister"). I don't really want to blog about since I feel like I wasted a week reading it. See! It took me a week to read the book....when usually when I love a book it can take a matter of days.

Thankfully I borrowed it from the library.

Much Love <3,
Ginger Spudman


Next book...Lynsay Sands "Born to Bite".

J.R Ward "Lover Eternal"

J.R Ward....J.R Ward....J.R Ward....why did you do this to me?

I've finished "Lover Eternal" and now I'm in limbo. I really loved the first book with everything I have and I was so excited to read this one. It seemed as though she forgot that she was writing a Vampire novel instead of a romance. The book carried on a similar theme as the first, but Ward seemed to focus more on the romantic turmoil of the two characters (Mary and Rhage)than furthering the plot. More than half way through Ward began an interesting twist in the story which I thought was going to lead somewhere exciting and nerve wracking but it dwindled into an ending that had nothing to do with the interesting part but rather someone just going to sleep. I was so bothered by this because I had expected so so much more.

You know how at the end of a novel (that is part of a series) there is a little excerpt of the upcoming novel. Well, normally I never read them since I want to be surprised when I get the novel. This time I made an exception. Thankfully I did. I feel that the next novel will be much better and will re-affirm my love for this author. It has to. Whenever I read a book that is part of a series I have this sick need to read everything and anything that the author may have written previously (i.e Laurell K. Hamilton).

Please, please, please J.R Ward....redeem yourself...I'm hoping to get you for Christmas and I really want to love you let again!!

Much Love <3
Ginger Spudman


Next Book: Sophie Kinsella "Mini-Shopaholic"

J.D Ward "Dark Lover"

A friend of mine got me the first two books in the "Black Dagger Brotherhood". It is a vampire novel and usually I am pretty anal went it comes to Vampire novels. I have loved Vampire novels waaaaayyyy before Twilight became popular, so I'm a bit skeptical when I pick up a Vampire novel at this time because I don't want to read more about sparkly vampires. J.D Ward's book was AMAZING! I totally and completely loved it! I couldn't put this book down! And when I had to all I could think about was getting back to it as soon as possible.

You are introduced to the Black Dagger Brotherhood, who are a group of male vampires who are the strongest of their kind and they fight against the lessers (humans who have sold their soul to Omega (the devil) destined to kill off vampires). It is a fight that has been going on for centuries and it's getting worse since the lessers are becoming insane and  hunting for power. The novel has the gore of vampire novels and has some romance as well. The lead character can sometimes be a bit "emo" but that's forgiven when you see how his character fits into the atmosphere of the brotherhood.

The author includes a very helpful glossary of terms at the beginning of the book. Usually I pay no attention to those and I just fumble through the book. Something about the way that this book is written made me want to know exactly what every word meant. It was nice to be introduced to this whole new world and know exactly what words like shellan, hellren and lessers meaned.

When I first started this series I was a little bit wary considering how much I love vampire novels and I'm pretty snobby -I guess- when it comes to the Vampires attributes and how the author determines what the Vampires' bodies can and cannot do (i.e. some get sparkly in the sunlight....whereas these ones burst into ash). This novel satisfied my snobbiness and has made me want more of the books and the characters. I am so excited to start the next novel of the series.  My only concern is that, this series may have started out strong but it may dwindle into boring drab or the other alternative and become so cruel and revolting.(such as, Anita Blake Series.....a series that I had had so much hope for and now I have stopped reading it since I can't take the grotesque manner of description and the amount of cruelty. I know it's fiction but I shouldn't be wanting to shower after reading something so obscene.)

Unfortunately, I cannot go into more detail about the story line since my two followers of this blog will be reading the book come Christmas break. All I can suggest is....YOU HAVE TO READ IT!

Much Love <3,
Ginger Spudman

Next Book: J.D Ward "Lover Eternal"

"Blue Eyed Devil" "Sugar Daddy" and "Wicked Appetite"

So I am three books behind in posting! My bad!! I will go from oldest to newest.

"Blue Eyed Devil" and "Sugar Daddy" are two novels from the same family. The Travises. I read them in the wrong order but I still managed through. In "Sugar Daddy" you are introduced to Liberty Jones and Hardy Cates, two young people in a texas trailer park. As the story unfolds you really do feel for these two characters who love eachother but Hardy will not allow himself to love her in return. Kinda like star-crossed lovers.... We all know that story! Anyways, Hardy eventually gets out of the trailer park and he's gone for a while, leaving Liberty in the trailer park to take care of her little baby sister, Carrington. After a number of twists and emotional upsets, we meet Gabe Travis. At first he is the biggest asshole and you hate him with everything you have....then of course, he does something romantic and you love him to bits. That's all I'm saying about plot.

Second, "Blue Eyed Devil" is the story of Mr. Hardy Cates and another Travis....the little sister, Haven Travis. At first the reader is thrown off because you are introduced to Haven's boyfriend Nick who seems all romantic and wonderful until she elopes with him. Their relationship becomes severly abusive (it was enough to make me put the book down for a while) until she finally manages to escape to the safety of her brother Gage Travis. Then Hardy Cates strolled back into her life........

I really do enjoy Lisa Kleypas' way of writing. She introduces her reader to a number of interesting characters and makes them have a pivotal role in the story. Not just one of those characters who come in and go and have no impact. Her books are usually around 250-300 word mark and boy does she ever use that space wisely. Everything plays a role in the story, she never just writes something for the sake of writing it....it has an impact. It normally takes me two days to read a Kleypas novel....partly because I want to read it so quickly because I am in love with her characters but also because I don't want to read too quickly and then it all be over. There is no pleasing me when it comes to books :P

Next: Janet Evanovich "Wicked Appetite"

I love Janet Evanovich. I think she is absolutely hilarious and her books are created to pull you into a happy mood. She wrote the Stephanie Plum series....the story of a bounty hunter who is the worst bounty hunter ever. Her travels and experiences are what makes her a badass bounty hunter.
In the Plum series, Evanovich wrote the "In-between-series" which fall between the Plum series but don't exactly have an impact on the orginal series. In the "in-betweens" you meet a character named Diesel. He is an Unmentionable...he has some magic ability but he never talks about it because he is a handsome Unmentionable. 
This novel stars Diesel but instead of Stephanie Plum you are introduced to Lizzy...a fellow Unmentionable who doesn't know she is an Unmentionable, the only thing she knows is that she makes really amazing cupcakes. The story line is a bit hard to follow if you aren't used to Evanovich's style....by that I mean she can be walking in a straight line for about 2 minutes then all of a sudden she has turned to the right and now the whole story line has changed and the reader kinda has to think "wtf?" then go back and re-read a couple of pages.
Personally, I thought this book was really well written and it was really funny but I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone who is not already familiar with her style and characters. I still prefer the Plum Series but I feel that this was a rush job and didn't really tie up properly. The ending kind of just showed up and ta-da it was finished.
I guess I'm not that satisfied with this novel. I still love Evanovich, I'm just glad that I didn't buy this novel.

Next novel : "Dark Lover" by J.D Ward

Much Love <3,
Ginger Spudman

Scandalous

So last night I finished Tilly Bagshawe's "Scandalous".

Usually I love absolutely everything about Bagshawe's style, her characters, dialogue and storyline. This novel is no different except the ending.... I have absolutely no idea where it came from.

When you read a Bagshawe novel you can expect some romance, humor, manipulation, sex (lots of it...some of it is a big kinky) and back stabbing. She introduces you to one or two new characters each chapter and then eventually they all come together and interact with one another. She uses the same style with all of her novels that I have read (Do Not Disturb, Scandalous, Flawless and Showdown) and they are the type of novel that suck you in and you can't put it down.


Scandalous is takes place over a time period of twenty-ish years. A trusted Professor steals from one of his pupils and screws around on his wife. Years later, he has become famous on the stolen work and continues to screw around on his wife. The student on the other hand becomes a successful business woman worth millions. But no matter how successful she becomes...she has a need to screw over the Professor who ruined her youth and science. The book is intriguing and addictive. You can't help but fall in love with some of the characters (not the asshole Professor). Two women unite to screw over a man...so it satisfies the feminist in all of us. But no matter how amazing I thought this book was...the ending ruined the novel for me.

The ending seemed as though Bagshawe ran out of time and threw something together just to tie the loose ends together. After finishing it last night it left me wanting about three more chapters just to close it off properly. I'm thoroughly disappointed with it. I guess I expected much much more than what I got.

I plan on reading some more of Bagshawe's work just so I can make an informed opinion overall. But damn, I was really looking forward to a strong ending.

If anyone wants to read a Bagshawe novel that I think is brilliant...try "Flawless" or "Do Not Disturb"

Lots of Love <3,
Ginger Spudman


Next novel... Lisa Kleypas "Blue Eyed Devil".

The Black Sheep and the Hidden Beauty

So I've just finished "The Black Sheep and the Hidden Beauty" by Donna Kauffman. I've probably read about ten of Kauffman's books....and I feel like they all the same little problem. Too much internal monologue that has nothing to do with the plot...or if it does have something to do with the plot then it is just re-hashing everything else that has already been said.

I usually prefer dialogue over description but this is mainly (as mentioned before) internal monologue that doesn't really do anything for me. The character build up is always good and the plot well formulated and researched. It's just the internal monologue that each character has is a little infuriating.

This book is from a series of three called "Trinity Inc" (ha, ha my cars name!) The story follows Mac, Rafe and Fin...three childhood friends who come from different walks of life to join together to help those who cant help themselves. It's a really interesting concept and again, the character development is amazing....but omg internal monologue. The book is 395  pages....take out all the internal monologue and I think it would be down to about 250.

I plan on reading the Fin addition to this series as soon as I find it in the library. That way I can make an informed opinion but as of right now I wouldn't recomend this book to anyone else.

Lots of Love,
Ginger Spudman

Next Book: Tilly Bagshawe "Scandalous"

FYI

The creepy eerie noise continues.

FML

Historical Romance and Dirty Sexy Knitting

I've just finished reading Lisa Kleypas's Hathaway series. I've always thought that historical romance was fuddy duddy nonsense. After reading these five novels I realize how wrong I was. The characters in these novels were so well developed that I really felt that I knew them and their surroundings. The information that Kleypas would have had to research is significant. Everything from social etiquette to war to transportation...it seemed that everything was researched...granted some things I think were modified for the sake of the reader.


Each novel is from a different characters point of view. The Hathaway's are a family of common status who are pushed up through the ranks of society to viscount by some distant cousin....they inherit this social position but none of them know how to cope. Considering they have lost their parents, they have to rely on themselves and each other. If ever you want to read something light hearted in subject matter but interesting in history I would recommend this author.

I'm even willing to read another one of this authors books. Watch me now read all of her books since I'm a bit OCD like that :P


Another Author that I stumbled upon in a bookstore while on stop over in Atlanta is Christie Ridgeway. Ridgeway writes romantic comedies.... I know they have a stigma for also being "chick lit". Whatever... I enjoy them. ANYWAYS! Ridgeway wrote three novels (How to knit a wild bikini, Dirty Sexy Knitting and Unravel me) Each novel follows three women and how they all stumble on to one another through a malibu knitting club. Very funny, engaging and heart breaking. My favourite one would have to be the first one since it was original and fresh. Granted, with my obsession with reading everything an author writes I will read everything no matter if I start to lose interest.  Good thing I have a library card...otherwise I'd become a crazy booklady with piles of books everywhere and no money.


Next book: The Black Sheep and Hidden Beauty...by Donna Kauffman (another chick lit but tres fun)


Lots of love,
Ginger

Ps. There is some creepy noise coming from the upstairs apartment...it sounds like a child with wet feet is running around. I was trying to sleep a few minutes ago but I ended up freaking myself out and had to leave the bedroom and take cover on the couch while my significant other plays Fifa. Stupid creepy noise!

My First Blog!

Well this is my first ever blog!

Hopefully people find what I write interesting...if not I will have a great time rambling on about books that I've read (I read A LOT), my upcoming wedding plans and life in general.

I plan on keeping this light. There is no worry of political talk or social awareness. This is pretty much a space for me to talk about books since I'm pretty sure that no one (aside from Amanda) really cares about what I'm reading or how I feel about the characters *hint*Stanton*hint*

Also, I have bad grammar and maybe spelling. I plan on rambling and writing with stream of consciousness...just go with it... I'm not writing an essay.

Please read, comment and enjoy!
 <3 Ginger Spudman