Bared to you by Sylvia Day

Bared to you by Sylvia Day

This book has been compared to the Fifty Shades of Gray series. I haven't read Fifty Shades. I've heard more bad things about it than good, and I decided not to read it.

I went with this one, which is still 'erotica', but better written. So I hear, I can't say that for sure because I've only read the one.

Somebody lent this to me. I'd never heard of it before.

I think it's classified as erotica or romance. I also like to call it book porn. I'm not ashamed of the fact that I read it, I just think if it were on TV or a movie, it would be almost porn. (Except it has a story).

This was an extremely quick read. It took me three days, and I would have read it in one, but it's not a lunchtime novel. 

Some thoughts on this book:

• Every person described in this book is drop dead gorgeous. The main man (Gideon) is hotter than all the rest. That must make him pretty good looking if every other person is described as beautiful. It could just be the main character (Eva), sees the beauty in everybody. To me, it felt like an episode of Melrose Place or 90210 where only the beautiful people hang out. Just as an age reference, I'm referring to both original shows, although it probably works for the new ones as well.
• I was expecting either more or a different style of sex. There was a tiny bit of talk about dominant and submissive, but that's as far as they got. The sex scenes reminded me of the first romances I used to read in high school. Sandra Brown romances have the same type of scenes (in my opinion). Very detailed sex. I'm not complaining about the sex, I'm just saying it wasn't quite what I was expecting.
• I understand why this is the first of three. They didn't really get into a lot of detail about anything in this novel. (Other than the sex detail).
• They are both survivors of sexual assault (rape) in their pasts. Three days in, he agrees to 'couple counselling'. (I think three days, it was less than a month). I think if you need couple counselling that soon in a relationship, you probably should have been getting counselling all along. Eva had been (I think), but Gideon hadn't. Watching the two of them try to communicate really was the most frustrating thing in the world. The therapist had his/her work cut out. 
• Although the characters tried hard to be a normal couple, they might want to take a step back and think about the definition of stalking. Healthy relationships don't include stalking. 

I haven't decided yet if I'll read the others. I'm curious to read more of the back stories. I'm kind of invested in the characters, but I really hope they grow up and learn what it is to be in a relationship. I'm worried they won't, and in that case, I'll be wasting my time reading them.

I didn't hate this book. It made me appreciate what I have. The love without all the ridiculous drama. 

©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.

Also check out http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/
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The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

From the back cover: "A luminous and unforgettable tale of two women, destiny, and identity in Afghanistan."

Nothing I write about this novel will do it justice. 

I thought it was a wonderful book that took me into a world I knew nothing about. 

This book isn't a happy book. It is fiction, but probably could be a lot of snippets of life for a woman in Afghanistan.

Horrifying. It's horrifying what these characters live through daily, but just keep going. They are stronger than anybody I know. 

It follows two women in two different times. One a girl, and the other is her great great grandmother. Womanhood starts a lot earlier in this lifetime. It starts when they are children, but by the time they are 13, each have lives that are adult.

While reading this book, I forgot how many years pass between the two stories because not enough seems to have changed. 

I have one complaint about the book, and I'll talk about it now so I can get on to everything else that was great about it. It seemed towards the end (that's when I noticed it), we could read thoughts of other characters. I may have only notice because I've done it in my own writing before I realised (and somebody pointed it out), that I should ONLY be writing the main character's thoughts. Anything else should be through actions or words. I'm not saying we shouldn't know opinions, but the viewpoints started to shift a little. It tends to get confusing. 

I loved switching from one story to the next (between the two narrators). I loved both, and sometimes wasn't ready to jump into the other. 

This book made me hope that great things were destined for these woman. When they were hopeful, so was I. It's not a fairy tale though. It's real life. It's a life I've never seen. I never want to see it. My heart aches for those women. All of them, not just the ones in the novel. The ones who get beat up by a man, and it's somehow accepted. Scary.

It ended the only way I think it could have. Not with happily ever after, but with a little bit of hope that one life can change.

There was a sad moment that I saw coming. I don't want to say a lot about it, but I thought it had to happen to move the plot along. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I knew it would happen eventually. 

I loved this book. It made me sad, but that was only because of how real it was. 

©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.

Also check out http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/
Or check out http://lifeisgoodandhereisproof.blogspot.ca/

Bonnie by Iris Johansen

There are three books in this series. I've read the first, I accidentally skipped the second, and this is the last one. Also, it seems that I haven't written about the first, even though, I'm positive I read it in 2014. I guess I haven't been updating as well as I thought. 

This is my first official finished book in 2015. My goal was one a month, plus one extra (13). So far, I'm winning.

About the book:

Even though, there were only three in this specific trilogy, Eve Duncan's story pops up in A LOT of Iris Johansen books, so the mystery of what happened to her daughter, has been ongoing (for many years). Eve has had many books about her, but these ones finally deal with the mystery of Bonnie (her daughter). I've read a lot of her books. I've been waiting for closure for a long time.

I just looked at the reviews on goodreads, as I usually do after I've finished a book. I always look, especially, when I'm not sure how I feel, to see if other people feel the same. (That sentence makes sense in my head, so I'll leave it as is). 

It seems as though there were a lot of people invested in the closure at the end. There were also quite a few people who were disappointed. 

The mystery end was a bit of a let down, I guess, but it was also sad. Without getting into spoilers, it was a senseless tragedy that haunted Eve (and her family) for YEARS. She finally found out what happened, and I was glad for her.

This woman, is strong, tough, and probably a good person to have in your corner, and the people who love her are strong and tough as well, and will jump to her defense and rescue in a heart beat (even though, I'm convinced she can make it through anything). So the question really is, why bother kidnapping her? In this situation, I get why she was 'taken', but still, people should know by now, not to mess with her.

I'm sure we'll see more stories about Eve. I hope so, but they should be different now. Finding out what happened to Bonnie, should change Eve. It would change me. Although, I'm not as brave or strong as Eve is.

I think this book is good for anybody who has been invested in the Eve Duncan mysteries. 

I find them to be easy reads (and usually quick - except for this month), and they are full of people who think different than my real life people. There's also usually somebody who is a complete crazy person, and they do unbelievable and horrible things. I choose to believe these people aren't really out there, but just watching the news shows me they are.

On to the next book! I should be back in a month.


©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.

Also check out http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/
Or check out http://lifeisgoodandhereisproof.blogspot.ca/

Now You See Her by Joy Fielding

December 29, 2014

This was a Christmas stocking book.


I am conflicted about this book.

Here's the thing: I couldn't put it down. I NEEDED to know the ending. I HAD to know what everything would lead to. It took me two days to read it, which is quick for me because I procrastinate from everything, including reading. (I know... Crazy!)

Although I couldn't put it down, and had to know the end, I'm conflicted because I actually don't think I liked it.

I hate saying that because I want to like most books, especially when I already like the author. I've read many books by her. 

This book was frustrating. Both in the way it was written and the plot line.

At times, I was reminded of her book Lost, but only in the way she treated her children. (One got all the attention, while the other just kind of survived). I liked Lost better. I liked the main character in Lost better.

I'll start with the way it was written. The character had SO MANY thoughts going on in her head at once. She was written to be thinking back to one conversation, while at the same time, conversing with somebody else from a conversation she had even earlier. It made my head hurt. Seriously. I don't see why it was needed. She can have memories without having memories during her memories of a conversation an hour ago. If that sounds confusing, it is because it is. That's my biggest pet peeve for the writing.

As for the main character, I don't know that I liked her. For somebody who spent her time watching other people with mental illness, she sure was off-beat herself. I'm not making light of mental illness. I just think she could have used some counselling. 

She took a trip to Ireland by herself in what was planned to be a second honeymoon for her and her husband before he left her. She didn't tell anybody she was going. That's strange. Her own son didn't know she was in Ireland. I mean, I get going on your own. I think that's brave. I didn't understand why people were shocked and upset that she was there until I got to know her a little better. 

She made a lot of poor decisions. A lot of them. She was desperate, and apparently trusted everybody to help her, even if she only knew them for five seconds. 

I do admit that I didn't know how it would end. I wondered at times, and guessed who I thought was involved with what, but I didn't completely understand. Also, I think I teared up a little bit as her heart broke at the end. (Not in a romance heart break, but real life, crappy things heart break.) So, while I didn't love the book, it did make me feel sad for the main character. 

Mostly, I found this book to be frustrating. Really frustrating. 

Also, a side note, I can't read in an accent, which is unfortunate, but it would have been nice if the writing style had seemed like they were talking in wonderful Irish accents. It didn't.

I'll continue to read her books, but I'm probably not going to read this one again. 

This is probably going to be my last post of 2014. I have a goal to read AT LEAST one book a month next year, so if all goes well, I will have more than 12 posts. 

All the best in 2015.  





©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.

Also check out http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/
Or check out http://lifeisgoodandhereisproof.blogspot.ca/

The Woods by Harlan Coben

December 29, 2014

I read this before Christmas, but I forgot to write about it.

First of all, I've read this before. Luckily, I've got NO memory at all, so while I kind of remembered some of it, I couldn't remember at all how it ended. Or what all the twists and turns lead to.

I chose it because I wanted a quick book to read before I received more for Christmas. My family gives books, so I knew I'd get some.

I think this was my very first Harlan Coben book (the first time). I've read many since then.

The book was good. I think I may have liked it better the first time, but that also may be because I spent a lot of time this time trying to remember anything from the last one. I don't want to say it's forgettable, but I think I can pick this up in another couple of years and read it again with no problems. It may be more my memory than anything though.

The book has a lot of twists. It's hard to know who to trust. It also has characters I like, which always makes me happy. I've read one too many books lately with unlikable characters. I need the occasional laugh.

I forgot to look back at my posts to see if I've already talked about this book, but for now, that's all I have to say.

There are some of his books that I like better, and some that I like worse.

I have another post to do next. Today is catch up day for books I've read.

©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.

Also check out http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/
Or check out http://lifeisgoodandhereisproof.blogspot.ca/

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

October 30, 2014



I am struggling with what to say. Usually, I can do a book blurb (I don't know if I consider this reviews) without really talking about any specifics so I don't ruin it for other readers.

I'm going to try not to. If I do though, I'll add *spoiler alert* into my title.

I think I can do it without any spoilers, but it will be tough to do. Telling the ending of a book is okay if it isn't filled with twists and turns and mountains of CRAZY.

First, a complaint, this book is separated into three parts. To separate them, they are big black pages, with big titled names for the parts. I don't read ahead in books, BUT I did see the name of Part Three by accident, before I made it to Part two. I spoiled it for myself by accident, and was pretty annoyed at the Part Three Divider page that my eyes were drawn to. I had even stopped myself from watching the preview all the way through in case something in the trailer tipped me off.

I don't know if you remember (or read) my review for About the Author? Right here. But Gone Girl gave me with the same sort of feeling of 'Who am I rooting for?" There were different reasons for disliking the main character in the former book, but still, same response.

Who do you cheer for when everybody appears to be bat-shit crazy? I'll tell you who, Nick's doting mother who is dying from cancer. She has about five scenes in the book, if that. She was my favourite. I actually meant this statement as a joke, but then as I was writing it, I realised I could give examples about why she wins, hands down, for my favourite character. Strong, optimistic, loving... I could probably go on about the good qualities of this tiny character.

There was one thing in the book that got me thinking, and that's that if you take away the freaking crazy out of the story, it actually could be a realistic story about a failing relationship.

People are different at the beginning of the relationship than they are 2-5 years down the road. It's not always a bad thing, but it can make people lazy. This is the story of two people that got lazy in their relationship, and started falling out of love with one another because of it. ALTHOUGH, in this case, I'm guessing if they (one in particular) knew about the others mental state, the whole story would have been a bit different.

Did I enjoy the book? Yes. It was a quick read (which is good because I had a deadline to be done before November 1st). Did I like the end? No. Not at all, but I'm not sure if there was an ending I would have enjoyed. I guess it got one more twist in, and it was something that shocked me a little. I took note of something earlier in the book, and even though I took note, I completely forgot about it by the end. If you've read it, you may know what I'm talking about. I didn't like the last page, but the twist made sense.

My mom is reading it right now (which is strange because I thought I stole her copy). I'm looking forward to hearing what she thought of it.

EDIT/UPDATE AND SPOILER: I just realised something that has been bugging me since I read the book. The main character - His wife was missing. And I get that he had to be written VERY carefully so we would wonder if he was guilty or not (I'm not spoiling anything). But, at some point in his thought process, he should worry that his wife is missing. He should wonder what's up with her when he doesn't know anything. It's weird that he wouldn't. Even when you fall out of love, you still worry about the other person. 
And as always:

©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.

Also check out http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/
Or check out http://lifeisgoodandhereisproof.blogspot.ca/

About the Author by John Colapinto

I can't remember how I found this book. I'm not sure if it came from my parent's house, or if I picked it up at a second hand store. 

I can guarantee I picked it up because of the title. I can't even say if I read the description before I picked it up to read.

My instincts were correct. Goes to show, you can judge a book by both the title and the cover. (Which means I'm going to have to make sure mine are both good when the time comes.)

About the book - I really enjoyed it. I liked going into it having no idea what to expect. I also liked the fact that I really didn't like the main character. He didn't have a lot of qualities that made me appreciate him, and yet, I still wanted to find out how he'd get out of his situation. I guess he made me laugh at times, and that was his redeeming quality. Even when the novel got a little bit ridiculous, the narrator admitted it. He wasn't that funny though. I found him to be a dick for most of the novel. I may have liked the novel more because of this.

I didn't find anything particularly predictable while reading it, which made me happy. 

I also finished reading it while on holiday, and I think any book that keeps my interest while I'm on holidays is a good book. I've taken books on trips before that I hated. (I know holidays aren't for reading, but it's a nice way to relax.)

I would recommend this. However, I don't know which of my friends or family would read it. I'm sure they'd like it once they got into it.

I liked it though. Nice change from what I'm used to reading.



And as always:

©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.

Also check out http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/
Or check out http://lifeisgoodandhereisproof.blogspot.ca/