Youth in Revolt by C.D. Payne is a book filled with the sordid details of a fourteen-year-old boy’s mind. Overall, I was generally pleased with the writing style.

If you can stomach listening to a fourteen-year-old boy ramble on about his zits, masturbation, and one true love, then I say go for it. It was a truly surprising read that made me wonder if that is what goes through the mind of the boy.

Honestly, I can’t say much about the novel. It really wasn’t for me. Reading about thundering erections and popping zits every two pages wasn’t my thing. Throughout the book, the reader feels bad for the kid, but then can’t help but shake their head at his antics.

Youth in Revolt wasn’t so much a difficult read as something that was just much too easy to put down.

6:24 pm  •  4 February 2010  •  1 note

The best part of writing my own book review is that I get to pick the book. This week’s book is Youth in Revolt by C.D. Payne. I have been told that this book is very humorous, and it’s been made into a movie, so I’m crossing my fingers that it is good. Also, it is a 499 page book, so I’m pretty sure it will take me all week to finish it!

Back Cover:
Youth in Revolt is the journals of Nick Twisp, California’s most precocious diarist, whose ongoing struggles to make sense out of high school, deal with his divorced parents, and lose his virginity result in his transformation from an unassuming fourteen-year-old to a modern youth in open revolt. As his family splinters, worlds collide, and the police block all routes out of town, Nick must cope with economic deprivation, homelessness, the gulag of the public schools, a competitive type-a father, murderous canines (in triplicate), and an inconvenient hair trigger on his erectile response - all while vying ardently for the affections of the beauteous Sheeni Saunders, teenage goddess and ultimate intellectual goad.

10:59 pm  •  24 January 2010

Although the title is actually the name of a nightclub within the book, Guilty Pleasures is just that, a guilty pleasure. Guilty Pleasures is about Anita Blake, an animator who is known in the vampire community as The Executioner. This is some point in the future when vampires are legalized, were-animals have their own kings, and people are raised from the dead to settle legal disputes.

Anita Blake works as an animator, someone who raises people from the dead to settle legal disputes or help people say their last goodbyes to the dead. On the side, Anita works with the police, specializing in vampire cases as her other side job is killing rogue vampires (after she gets a warrant). In Guilty Pleasures, there seems to be a series of vampire murders that has both the police and the master vampires of the city upset. It’s up to Anita to find out who the murderer is, not only to save her own life, but the life of a friend.

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton is an occult themed thriller that features action, prickly dialogue, and a sassy woman that leaves the reader wanting more. It is a quick read that will just fuel the supernatural fire that is burning in everyone. Although Guilty Pleasures is seen as a supernatural romance, there is very little romance and that is the biggest problem in this novel.

Overall, Guilty Pleasures gets my stamp of approval as a quick, dirty read.

1:21 pm  •  24 January 2010  •  1 note

9:48 pm  •  23 January 2010

Actually, I finished Guilty Pleasures yesterday. So, really I have nothing to read until Sunday.

Also, Guilty Pleasures was a quick read and made me want to read the rest of the series.

9:25 pm  •  20 January 2010

This week’s book truly is a guilty pleasure for me. It’s oftentimes seen as a romance, but it’s definitely a fantasy about a vampire hunter. This will probably be one of the worst books on the review.

Back Cover:

My name is Anita Blake. Vampires call me “The Executioner”. What I call them isn’t repeatable.

Ever since the Supreme Court granted the undead equal rights, most people think vampires are just ordinary folks with fangs. I know better. I’ve seen their victims. I carry the scars…

But now a serial killer is murdering vampires—and the most powerful bloodsucker in town wants me to find the killer… “

“In a world where vampires, zombies and werewolves have been declared legal citizens of the United States, Anita Blake is an “animator” - a profession that involves raising the dead for mourning relatives. But Anita is also known as a fearsome hunter of criminal vampires, and she’s often employed to investigate cases that are far too much for conventional police. But as Anita gains the attention of the vampire masters of her hometown of St Louis, she also risks revealing an intriguing secret about herself - the source of her unusual strength and power.”

2:30 pm  •  17 January 2010

To start off, Neil Gaiman is a fantastic author whose writing is sheer brilliance almost every step of the way. His writing is so matter-of-fact that the reader walks away from every passage thinking, “Well, of course, I should have known.”

In Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman accomplishes the same goal he does in every book; creating a world that one truly believes could be real. Each and every character, from the angel Islington, to the evil Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, and to the very simple Richard Mayhew, they each have their own depth that is surprising and intriguing.

Neverwhere is a creepy world of fiefdoms, floating markets, and creatures lurking in every shadow. Don’t get me wrong, it’s as realistic as it can get, and it makes one wonder if London Below really does exist. The road through Neverwhere is a road of self-discovery, for every character, but especially for the ever-practical Richard Mayhew. Richard has a productive job and a bossy girlfriend, but he lives a very routine life that leaves him unaware of the reality around him. Here enters Lady Door, a teenage girl with the power to open doors that were never meant to be opened.

Richard is the epitome of compassion who just can’t stop himself from helping Door, which is what leads him to lose everything he is in London Above and become nothing more than a problem in London Below. This truly leads Richard on his path to self-discovery, even though he thought he knew everything he needed to about himself.

London Below is a character in itself, a dark and twisted landscape that is even scarier than Messrs Croup and Vandemar, the assassins that caused Door to be placed in Richard’s path. London Above houses the oblivious, the easy and the mundane world, while London Below is the place where the runaways, the rats and the homeless can find asylum. Once the invisible veil is lifted and one knows of London Below, they can never go back to London Above.

Neverwhere is part fantasy and part psychological thriller that draws the reader in and makes them want to go on their own path of self-discovery through London Below. Readers just won’t want to put the book down, and the bad guy isn’t known until the very end. Neverwhere is a true page turner, and it is an extraordinary read.

11:05 pm  •  16 January 2010  •  4 notes

Neverwhere is my next book. Neil Gaiman is probably one of my favorite authors because his worlds always sound so believable. Neverwhere was also named one of the top 10 books in this decade, so I’m excited to get started!

Back Cover: Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart - and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. from that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed - a dark subculture of flourishing in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city - a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known…

12:40 am  •  11 January 2010

Without an understanding of Jane Austen, and a joy of zombies, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith is not a novel for the masses. If lacking a sense of humor, this probably isn’t the book for you either. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies reads like a Jane Austen novel, it reads as if it were a zombie novel written in the late 18^th century. Each scene is filled with Jane Austen, from the first meeting of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, where he is rude, and Jane gets to dance with Mr. Bingley, but the scene ends with “unmentionables” attacking, and the Bennet sisters performing the “Pentagram of Death.” Not only do the Bennet girls have to worry about marrying well, but they most also focus on keeping themselves alive and keeping up on their Chinese training in martial arts. To make the book even better, there are illustrations.

For those who do not like Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies turns a literary masterpiece into a very enjoyable piece of literature.

Overall, it was a very good book. Also, my reviews will get better and longer the more I do it.

4:22 pm  •  9 January 2010

Quick update, I meant to write this yesterday but I was busy.

My first novel will be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.

I started it yesterday, and I’m enjoying it. I was worried, because I’m not a huge fan of Jane Austen, but I do love zombies.

I’ll update with my review on Saturday! (And possibly a few updates throughout the week about my thoughts on the novel).

8:56 pm  •  4 January 2010  •  2 notes