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Women of the otherworld 1 Bitten - Kelley Armstrong
Summary:
Elena lives with Phillip… quietly? Not so much, since she’s a werewolf. And the only female of a species, nothing less! Still, she tries to live a normal life, hiding to her boyfriend the truth about herself. Some nights, she undergoes the change. But a year after she left the pack, her former family calls for her. Some werewolf, unrelated to the pack are responsible for bloody murders on the Canadian pack’s territory. Elena has no choice but to come back to her true family... and so she has to face Clayton: the one who broke her heart... But also the one responsible for her change: he took everything away from her: a normal life.
Review:
“Bitten” is the first book of the “Women of the otherworld” series which is so hot right now. But it’s also the author’s first book. And it’s a success. Written in first person (which most of the times bugs me), the style is impeccable. The story is complex, almost as much as her main character. Elena’s torn between a normal and reassuring life and the passion that burns inside of her for Clay and the pack. Despite some rare pieces that went for a bit long, the story is well told. Some hot parts are quite precise (they want us to believe that there is no sex without orgasms for the female werewolves!). Very cynical… To sum it up: a very good book!
Darkly dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
Summary:
Dexter is a blood spatter analyst at the Miami metro police. He has a girlfirends, colleagues and a sister – the daughter of his adoptive parents. But Dexter is a serial killer. Thanks to his adoptive father, who used to be a cop, Dexter learned to live – and kill – according to Harry’s code : he only murders killers. Even though Dexter, this nice sociopath doesn’t actually feel anything, he tries to fake it. And he’s quite good at it, too! That is until another serial killer strikes. Some weird resamblances appear... Has Dexter lost his mind, or is there someone else... like him?
Review:
This first book of the Dexter novels is almost exactly the same story as the season one of the TV show. The description of this psychopath is quite good! (as long as I don’t have to meet the author^^) Despite everything, Dexter is a charming character, who has some good in him (since he only kills the murderers that the police couldn’t catch). Just as it is shown in the TV show, the shadow of Harry (Dexter’s late adoptive father) is always by his side, and his character acts as a guide. Deb – Dexter’s sister – is surprisingly dependent on her brother. Dexter’s colleagues and Deb are like pawns in Dexter’s game. The story is excellent and the theme awesome ! The next books of Dexter’s story don’t follow the storyline of the series (actually it’s the other way around) which will offer us different stories ! Great: more of our favorite serial killer!
Oscar and the lady in pink - Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Summary:
Oscar is a little boy, just like every others… except that he lives in a hospital. He’s got a very agressive type of cancer that leaves him very few days before the end. His days are far from being sad though: he’s surrounded by lots of friends such as Pop corn (a young obese), Peggye Blue (lungs disease) and Bacon (severely burned). A mysterious lady dressed in pink is goind to help him through his last days, to make it last as if a lifetime. It’s through his letters to God that we find out what happens to this incredible being...
Audrey’s review:
It’s a story that could unfortunately be part of the reality, but it’s also so very wonderful that it’s hard to imagine that it could actually happen... Fortunatelly, far from being dramatic, the story of Oscar is being told in a happy way and with humor and joy. We mostly enjoyed the friendship between Oscar and the lady dressed in pink. This bond is very beautiful. Oscar is like every other boys, with that thing that’s missing: time... Which is what makes him one of a kind, a spark of life. His pseudo-relationship with Peggy Blue is so cute and makes you smile. The writing is sensational and we wonder how with so few pages, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt can share so many emotions... It’s phenomenal. This is a book that I have read, and that could read all over again, because it makes you feel so much, and it makes you want to live.
The rise of Nine - Pittacus Lore
Summary:
John (Number Four) managed to free Number Nine from his prison, but not without losing Sam who’s been captured... John will quickly realise that despite his new mate’s extraordinary powers, the impulses of Nine can be quite dangerous. Setrakus Râ, leader of the Mogs appear more and more in our heroe’s dreams. Marina (Number Seven) and Number Six join forces with Ella (Number Ten!) and her Cêpan, who came from Lorien to Earth on a second ship. The four of them leave Spain to go to India in order to find Eight, who’s able to teleport. Our young aliens will try by all means to come together, in order to get rid of their worst ennemy: Setrakus Râ...
Review:
This third book of Number Four’s story is amazing! Just like the previous one, the narrators are multiple, here we have John, Number Six and Marina “on the mike”. Marina, whom we got to know in “The power of Six” is a very nice young woman, and the reader feels very close to her, early in the book. She never stops trying to get better and better and she always protects her friends. Six is still the fierce warrior that we love seeing crush her ennemies. And she’ll probably find in Nine a male equivalent! This new character is a good one, because he’s very different than the others. He’s more of a teenage rebel who doesn’t hesistate to use his alien powers whenever he feels like it. However, accross the book we find that he also have nice qualities. His friendship with Four is quite messy, and we loved a certain fight on top of a building! Ella, the youngest is a breath of fresh air and her father/daughter relationship with her Cêpan is very beautiful. Eight has a great power (like in the movie “Jumper”) and the Guard will find it very useful in the future. John finally finds Sarah and their meeting is epic! But we feel sorry for Sam’s absence (a very human character). The gathering of the whole Guard (minus Five) is awesome and explosive! This book is without a doubt the best one yet, and we can’t wait to read the next one !
The power of Six - Pittacus Lore
Summary:
John Smith (AKA Number Four) is on the run with Sam and number Six who joined him when the fight againt the Mogs cost Henri’s life (John’s guide and cepan). The three friends have to stay on the move at all time to escape the Mogs. They use their journey to train, but some tensions are spreading: the beautiful Number Six likes the boys, and they seem to feel the same way about her. However, Sarah is always on John’s mind, even though she had to stay in Paradise for her own safety. Far away from them, Number Seven is a young woman living in a spanish orphanage who is trying to train herself since her cepan failed to help her when she decided to turn to God...
Review:
This second book (sequel of “I am number Four”) is far better than the previous one (which seemed a little empty!). The fact that the numbers are coming together is awesome! The fights are geting great and the alien powers are wonderful! The characters (mainly John and Sam) have been forced to grow and the girly stuff is gone (except maybe for John who doesn’t know whether he loves Six or Sarah). The new one, number Seven (Marina) is quite nice and her will is remarkable ! (especially in this environment) The reader doesn’t want to quit the book until the very last page, hoping that all numbers are going to be reunited to crush the Mogs and give the Human race a last chance at survival... I can’t wait to read “The rise of Nine” !
Sleeping beauty (1/3) The claiming of sleeping beauty - Anne Rice
Summary:
The prince just freed sleeping beauty from her curse. But it’s not with a nice kiss on the lips that he’s going to wake her, far from it ! From this moment on, sleeping beauty is going to know what hell is. She’ll be dragged from village to village accross the kingdom, where she’s going to be abused in every single way (most of them being sexual) to please her prince and his mother. She’ll go from people to people to satisfy everyone’s desires. In the palace, she’ll encounter others who will force her to accept her new life...
Audrey’s review:
Anne Rice offers a new version of the fairytale of Sleeping beauty. But it’s one we won’t tell the kids about! This is cleary erotica, S&M even which leaves no room for imagination. Everyhting is being described with many details. The main character is supposed to be very proud while the reader sees nothing but a weak girl who let people crush her. We don’t get why she can undertake the humiliation and abuses. The writing and style are worthless with all the repetitions. The characters are uninteresting and the female hero is almost despised! It’s a book I forced myself to finish by principal whereas each page disgusted me a little more. This novel is shocking and degrating. I guess you get it: I didn’t like it one bit and i advise against reading this book!
Women of the otherworld 2 Stolen - Kelley Armstrong
Summary:
Elena Michaels is the only female werewolf in the world. And she thinks that her spieces is the only supernatural one... Until a witch named Paige invites her to a meeting. Elena, her alpha Jeremy and her companion Clayton discover that witches, half demons and vampires exist. A gathering is needed because someone is hunting down every supernatural spieces. A secret group chase them in order to lock them down in a guarded center. Inside, every kind of experiments are being made on those creatures... Their secret and therefore their only protection against the humans are being threatened. And things get even worse when Elena is captured... She will try her best to get out with the help of the other inmates. Meanwhile, Clayton, Jeremy and Paige will try to find the center in order to break in and save their friend. And they'd better hurry before she becomes a prey...
Review:
The Hobbit - J. Tolkien
Summary:
Bilbo, as all hobbits, is a peaceful little person who doesn't like to be bothered when he eats ! But adventure finds him when Gandalf, a powerful wizard and thirteen bearded dwarves come to talk to him about a treasure. That's how he's going to go on a terrifying expedition, and meet Smaug, the dragon... which he's going to have to fight ! Bilbo has to go with them... and the most amazing thing is that he's never going to lose his sense of humor, no matter the danger ! But he will definitely be affraid...
Aurélie's review:
This is pure poetry ! An escape for your spirit which will fly away to the Shire. This is what you are going to find in this wonderful book. I didn't think it could capture the magic of my childhood, while it's been written in 1937 ! And this is the beauty of this book : it's out of our world, and out of our time... I'll promise you that you will forget the hours that will go by. You'll forget your worries and your issues. (to sum up : you'll forget about work ^^). You will get attached to those characters and you might feel a bit nostalgic when you get to the end, I did anyway... Have a good book !
Heroes of Olympus (3/5) The mark of Athena - Rick Riordan
Summary:
At last, Annabeth and Percy find each other, but things don’t go as well between Romans and Greeks. Leo who fired up the Argo II, got posessed by a demon and shot on the Roman camp, creating a conflict between the two groups of demigods. The seven kids of the prophecy have to flee the camp to go look for Nico Di Angelo, who’s beeing kept at the brink of death by Gaia’s giants. All the Gods live terrible times while their Roman et Greek personas collide, but it’s for Athena/Minerva that times are the toughest! A schizophrenic episode will draw her to push Annabet (her daughter) to find the statue of Athena which has been lost for thousands of years. She’s the only one who can unite the two types of demigods. The Argo II will have to cross the Atlantic in order to get to the Mediterranean, the path leading to Rome...
Review:
It doesn’t work anymore. This book made me feel exactly like the first of the “heroes of olympus” collection : disappointed. Those kids are supposed to have grown from the story of “Percy Jackson”, but instead it looks like they all got dumber ! The IQs have dropped ! The stories sometimes lack logic, and the storyline is definitely deprived of structure and cohesion. It looks like a Brussolo novel, where anything can happen at anytime, and there’s no rule. Which could be fine, but it’s simply not what Riordan has shown us until now... The main characters are caricatures of teenagers led by their hormones (Piper is a girlfriend perfectly insecure!). Only the relationship between Annabeth and Percy goes according to plan, giving the long time fans satisfaction. The ending is very touching. This is, by the way, the only reason I’ll keep reading those books. Heroes of Olympus is, unfortunately, far less amazing than Percy Jackson. We can’t really identify to the characters, even if the idea of multiple narrators is awesome ! (kind like in animorphs). The “fight” between Percy and Jason is to small to be noticed. As to Leo’s great great... grand father, it’s just too far fetched ! Therefore, Heroes of Olympus is destined to an audience younger, and doesn’t keep up to Percy Jackson’s expectations !
