The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

PUBLISHER:  Riverhead Books

PUBLICATION DATE:  January 13, 2015

PAGES:  336

MY RATING: 4.5/5 

From Goodreads

This book was so good.  I had it on my shelf for quite a while and finally read it!  I know it's been compared to Gone Girl and I can see why.  Though that book was good, I enjoyed this more.  This was a much faster-paced read, more suspenseful and had a creepy-feel to it which I loved!

This book alternates between three women's point-of-views; all who each have their own individual problems and issues.  It took quite awhile for me to like the main character, Rachel.  She is an alcoholic with stalker-ish behavior and I just felt bad for her.  I disliked Anna from the beginning and still do.  Megan, I just plain felt sorry for.  

Rachel travels on the train everyday, admiring the couple she see's from the train that she has "affectionately" named "Jason" and Jess," but things are not always what they seem.  This book is full of secrets, lies and suspense!  It kept me guessing; I highly recommend it. 

I'll be seeing the movie soon and can't wait to see how it compares!

Review of Ex-mas by Kate Brian

From Goodreads

I was looking for a fun, quick Christmas read so I picked up Ex-mas by Kate Brian.  I'm trying to catch up to my Goodreads goal and figured that shorter books are the best way to make it.  Overall, this book was cute.  The main character, Lila was a bit annoying at the beginning, but she turned out to be okay in the end.  What bothered me about her was that she was a very fake person; completely changing herself to fit in with the popular crowd and to date her College boyfriend Erik.  But, just spending one day with her ex, Beau, makes her realize that maybe she's not really liking her life like she thought she was.  It's pretty predictable, but that didn't take away the fun of reading of it.  I gave this 3/5 stars on Goodreads.  If you're looking for a last minute Christmas book, I recommend this one.  

For other great Christmas/Holiday books, I recommend My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories and Let it Snow.  I read these last year and both are great!  If anyone knows of any other great Holiday reads, let me know!

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Book Review: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

From Goodreads

I absolutely loved this book, the story was very enjoyable.  If I didn't have other responsibilities, I would of read this book in one-sitting.  It is a bit predictable, but it didn't stop me from rating it 5 stars on Goodreads or from enjoying the book.  Cinder is based off of Cinderella, set in the future.  Cinder is a Cyborg who was "adopted" into a family when she was eleven years old.  There is an e-book novella that gives a bit of a background story that I read before reading Cinder, and I highly recommend reading that first.  She has no memory of her life or what happened to her before then.  Her stepfather died relatively close (from Letumosis, a very deadly disease) to after she came to live with his family, and her stepmother, Adri, doesn't want her there.  Cinder has two step-sisters, one not so nice, while the other, Peony, is Cinder's only human friend.  She is also friends with the household android, Iko, that has developed somewhat of a human personality.

I disliked Adri and the "evil" stepsister Pearl, a lot, and hated the Lunar Queen even more.  Cinder and Prince Kai are very likable characters, along with Peony, and the funny household android Iko with the human-like personality.

I highly recommend reading this book.  I'm mad that I didn't read this sooner!  Now, I'm on to reading the next book, Scarlet.

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Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood

Since I've become more into reading, I decided to add occasional book reviews to this blog.  Here is my first attempt at a "review."

Anna Dressed in Blood

Goodreads.com

I gave this book 2/5 stars on Goodreads, but in reality I would actually give it a 1.75/5.  All I can say is that thankfully I bought this book used, and was able to trade it in at 2nd & Charles. This book has a pretty good rating (3.99), but I didn't care for it.  I never expected this book to scare me, as it is YA, but I would have liked it to at least give me the chills a little bit.  I wasn't phased...at all.  The only interesting things about this book is the cover and dark-red printed text inside.

Anna seemed to be the only developed character in the book.  There was a lot of information about Cas that was missing, mainly his past and why Anna spares his life, but kills others.  I felt a bit bored with this book and found myself not wanting to read it.  The only characters I remotely liked were Thomas and his grandfather.  Cas started out to be such a conceited guy, but he seemed to change later on.

This is a duology.  The second book, Girl of Nightmares, I have no intention of reading.  If it wasn't for my Goodreads challenge, I probably wouldn't have finished this.

*****SPOILERS BELOW*****

The romance that Cas and Anna have is the most ridiculous part in this book.  Cas is the only person she hadn't tried to kill that came into her house and it is never revealed why.   It was nice to see that the main character and supporting character, Carmel weren't romantically linked, which seems to be typical in most books.  Though I would of probably preferred that over that laughable ghostly romance.  How you can you make out with a ghost?  Seriously.  

When we first meet Anna, she is quite terrifying.  Later on when she isn't bound to her house anymore, she is nice.  Pretty lame.

I also didn't understand the connection between Cas' knife and the villain (not Anna, but someone else.)  Either it was not explained much at all or I totally missed it.  Maybe this is explained in Girl of Nightmares, but I don't intend to find out.