My Book Obsession

Saturday, 5 January 2013

Book Review: Crazy by Han Nolan

Synopsis from Goodreads
Title: Crazy
Author: Han Nolan
Publication Date: 13 September 2010
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages

Fifteen-year-old Jason has fallen upon bad times—his mother has died and his father has succumbed to mental illness. As he tries to hold his crazy father and their crumbling home together, Jason relies on a host of imaginary friends for guidance as he stumbles along trying not to draw attention to his father’s deteriorating condition.

Both heartbreaking and funny, Crazy lives up to the intense and compelling characters Han Nolan is praised for. As Jason himself teeters on the edge of insanity, Nolan uncovers the clever coping system he develops for himself and throws him a lifeline in the guise of friendship.

My Review

This is one crazy book with crazy ass characters and plot.

Crazy follows Jason, whom his mother died recently, and his father is losing his sanity. Jason tries his best not to drag attention to himself by basically being a loner at school. When I say a loner, I literally mean he's a loner, he has imaginary friends and actually we, the readers are one of them. He talks to us and drags us into his crazy not so adventurous life.
He basically shows us how hard he tries to cope with having to take care of his mentally ill father and keeping it a secret from everyone.
Until one day, he started not to care of how he lives his life, and through that mistake, he was in everyone's attention at school. He was forced to join a group session during his lunch break with three other friends, who might have issues of their own. He slowly has to reveal his secret when his father goes missing, and he has to approach them for help.

This is a really nice coming of age novel. It was entertaining and did not have a moment of dullness. Jason's imaginary friends are all awesome, and each had their role in the book which fitted perfectly. You have the father figure, mother figure, the group clown and the sexy lady. They actually portray what Jason thinks as they re part of his thoughts and imagination. Crazy reveals the struggles of a teenager and how their feelings and emotions fluctuates as they grow up and move on. I literally felt those feelings as I read the book, my emotions kept fluctuating with Jason.

I have a feeling that I will never forget the contents of this book because it had left its prints all over me. I can't say how much I love this book, but of course there are times when I got frustrated with the book and Jason, as he seems unreasonable at times which lead me to give this book a rating of 4.5/5.

Xoxo Meera

Book Review: Night Stalker by Chris Carter (Robert Hunter # 3)

Synopsis from Goodreads
Title: The Night Stalker (Robert Hunter # 3)
Author: Chris Carter
Publication Date: August 2011
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Format: Trade paperback, 453 pages

When an unidentified female body is discovered laid out on a slab in an abandoned butcher's shop, the cause of death is unclear. Her body bares no marks; except for the fact that her lips have been carefully stitched shut.
It is only when the full autopsy gets underway at the Los Angeles County morgue that the pathologist will reveal the true horror of the situation - a discovery so devastating that Detective Robert Hunter of the Los Angeles Homicide Special Section has to be pulled off a different case to take over the investigation
But when his inquiry collides with a missing persons' case being investigated by the razor-sharp Whitney Meyers, Hunter suspects the killer might be keeping several women hostage. Soon Robert finds himself on the hunt for a murderer with a warped obsession, a stalker for whom love has become hate.

My Review

I just found out that The Night Stalker is the third book in the Robert Hunter series. However, I wasn't disappointed or shocked because this book had a whole new case and wasn't a continuation of a previous book. Robert Hunter is an excellent detective that solves cases and is able to find clues that other people might have missed.

The Night Stalker was about a killer that stalks women artists who are beautiful, brunette, and have big and charming brown eyes. He watches their every move and when it's time, he kidnaps them, and eventually kills them in a very grotesque manner.

This was a very disturbing and vivid book. This actually brought back the realization that there are demented and psycho stalkers/killers out there. Most of the time, we live in this fantasy that these scary people only exist in books, movies, or even in a different country than ours when in actuality, they might be so close to us.

Chris Carter is one crazy author, he kept me to my toes the whole time. This case was really suspenseful and fast paced.

This book did not lack anything; it described the characters perfectly, it had this dark and creepy touch to it, and it ended very smoothly.

4.5/5

Xoxo Meera

Monday, 31 December 2012

2013 - HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hello Book-Geeks

I wish you all a wonderful and a Happy New Year :D

This year, I promise myself that I'm going to do my best in terms of reading and blogging :).

I have many plans in store for you all!!

WOOOOHOOO... hope you all are having fun during New Year :D

Cya all

Xoxo Meera

Friday, 28 December 2012

Book Haul #2 - Video

Hey Book Geeks :)

Please feel free to watch my second book haul video

Books mentioned are:

1. The Night Stalker by Chris Carter

2. Finders Keepers by Belinda Bauer

3. Until It's Over by Nicci French

4. White Cat by Holly Black (Curse Workers # 1)

5. If I Stay by Gayle Forman (If I stay # 1)

6. Skinny by Ibi Kaslik

7. Crazy by Han Nolan

8. Black City by Elizabeth Richards (Black City # 1)

Hope you enjoyed, and happy reading.

What are some awesome books you got recently, please leave a comment :)

Xoxo Meera

Monday, 19 November 2012

Book Review: Variant by Robison Wells (Variant #1)

Synopsis from Goodreads
Title: Variant (Variant #1)
Author: Robison Wells
Publication Date: 26 September 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: Paperback, 376 pages

Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Acadmey would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he's trapped in a school that's surrounded by a razor-wire fence, where video cameras monitor his every move and where breaking the rules equals death.

All Benson wants is to find a way out. But when he stumbles upon the real secret the school has been hiding, he realises that escape may be impossible.

My Review

	Benson is a seventeen years old boy who does not know who his real parents are, which lead him to move from one foster home to another. In his last foster home, his foster father used to make him work a lot and over-exhaust him. He was not able to make any friends, and his social life was even worse. Tired of it all, he filled up an online application to enter a fancy boarding school, Maxfield Academy which in fact changed his life drastically, but to the worse. Variant was very intriguing and original. What I most liked about the book was how it started. It wasn't draggy, and Robison wells introduced us to the plot straight away. Also, he did not concentrate a lot on the surroundings, which was actually perfect for me because I wanted more of the story rather than how the school, or forest looked. Having that limited description, made me come up with my own imagination of how things looked. The book kept me to my toes the whole time; there were times where I skipped sleeping, just to continue with the action. I did not enjoy such a book for quite a long time. There are many twists in the story, which literally left me dumbfounded; there were things I did not expect at all. The ending was wrapped up pretty well, there wasn't a single thing I hated about Variant. On the side note, I just realized that I do not read a lot of books with male protagonist. Reading this novel might change things for me :) This book is highly recommended because it is action packed, and thrilling. 5/5 Xoxo Meera

Benson is a seventeen years old boy who does not know who his real parents are, which lead him to move from one foster home to another. In his last foster home, his foster father used to make him work a lot and over-exhaust him. He was not able to make any friends, and his social life was even worse. Tired of it all, he filled up an online application to enter a fancy boarding school, Maxfield Academy which in fact changed his life drastically, but to the worse.

Variant was very intriguing and original. What I most liked about the book was how it started. It wasn't draggy, and Robison wells introduced us to the plot straight away. Also, he did not concentrate a lot on the surroundings, which was actually perfect for me because I wanted more of the story rather than how the school, or forest looked. Having that limited description, made me come up with my own imagination of how things looked.

The book kept me to my toes the whole time; there were times where I skipped sleeping, just to continue with the action. I did not enjoy such a book for quite a long time.
There are many twists in the story, which literally left me dumbfounded; there were things I did not expect at all.

The ending was wrapped up pretty well, there wasn't a single thing I hated about Variant.

On the side note, I just realized that I do not read a lot of books with male protagonist. Reading this novel might change things for me :)

This book is highly recommended because it is action packed, and thrilling.

5/5

Xoxo Meera

Sunday, 18 November 2012

Book Review: Chinese Cinderella: The Secret Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah

Synopsis from Goodreads

Title: Chinese Cinderella: The Secret Story of an Unwanted Daughter

Author: Adeline Yen Mah

Publication Date: 7 September 1999

Publisher: Puffin Bks

Format: Paperback, 234 pages

Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair.

My Review

	A very touching story of the author's in which she was mistreated by her family, just because her mother died giving birth to her. Adeline had a tough childhood; her step-mother, brothers, and father used to bully her and beat her up. During her childhood, Adeline was studying very hard just to gain her father's acknowledgement and acceptance; which was very frustrating. I just can't understand how people like that exist; this book really shows how life can be unfair. What I liked most about this book were the characters. I really adored Aunt Baba so much as she was very sweet to Adeline, and treasured her so much. Also, Adeline's grandparents were such sweethearts; reading about them made me want to hug them throughout the story. These three amazing people were the only ones that did not carry that hatred towards Adeline. What I did not enjoy about this book was how random the storyline was, it kept jumping from one scene to another. I felt that her memories were plucked from her brain, and were randomly inserted into the book. I can totally understand though, because this book is for young reader, but it would have still been better to have it a bit organized. All in all, this book is still recommended for young readers. 3/5

A very touching story of the author's in which she was mistreated by her family, just because her mother died giving birth to her. Adeline had a tough childhood; her step-mother, brothers, and father used to bully her and beat her up.
During her childhood, Adeline was studying very hard just to gain her father's acknowledgement and acceptance; which was very frustrating. I just can't understand how people like that exist; this book really shows how life can be unfair.
What I liked most about this book were the characters. I really adored Aunt Baba so much as she was very sweet to Adeline, and treasured her so much. Also, Adeline's grandparents were such sweethearts; reading about them made me want to hug them throughout the story. These three amazing people were the only ones that did not carry that hatred towards Adeline.

What I did not enjoy about this book was how random the storyline was, it kept jumping from one scene to another. I felt that her memories were plucked from her brain, and were randomly inserted into the book. I can totally understand though, because this book is for young reader, but it would have still been better to have it a bit organized.

All in all, this book is still recommended for young readers.

3/5

Xoxo Meera