If You Could See Me Now

Author: Cecelia Ahern

Ivan is one of the mythic imaginary friends; only those that need him can actually see him. And so its just another routine day when he meets young Luke playing with his toys in a small town in Ireland. Only things get a little, not so routine when Elizabeth, Luke's uptight aunt, begins to see Ivan. Now Ivan has to find a way to help a woman that doesn't believe in imagination have a little fun.

Well this is what you get when imaginary friends fall in love. I can't lie this book was so far off from what I expected. When I read P.S. I Love You I couldn't put it down and cried throughout most of the book. But this one took a while to really get into. For one the concept is a little odd.

Alright so I love when people unexpectedly fall in love with someone they'd never seen themselves with before. But Ivan's just so childlike to start, which makes sense for being a professional imaginary friend but he reminds me of Peter Pan; he hasn't grown up enough to fall in love. Luckily his character develops to a point where I can believe that he would have feelings for Elizabeth.

I wish there was more devotion to Saoirse's character, I know the stories really not about her but I would've liked to see a little more of her and Elizabeth's relationship. Maybe a scene showing that Elizabeth is going to start healing the relationship they have. 

I will say that I do like the way it ends. I don't want to say too much about the ending, but really the story plays out in the only way it can. So if you have the time to devote to this book read it, just don't be surprised if it takes awhile.

Cry Wolf

Author: Patricia Briggs

Another well written and captivating novel by Patricia Briggs. Unfortunately, as much as I loved it, I do have to pick on it a bit...

Anna's a Chicago girl born and raised, but recently her world's been thrown into chaos. After being unwillingly changed into a werewolf and then tortured by the Chicago pack's alpha, Anna has miraculously been rescued by Charles. Of course why let the chaos end there? According to Charles, whom she just met, Anna is his mate. Not only that, but she's an Omega, which in wolf terms is incredibly rare and special. After being swept away to Montana by Charles, Anna encounters way more than she ever expected and must quickly learn to use her gifts or everyone's lives could be at stake.

I will say that I do like the idea of an Omega wolf who doesn't obey the rules of pack order. And seeing as this is a paranormal romance, it's fitting that an Alpha and an Omega would be destined to be together. I also love the twists Briggs puts it and just when I thought she had exhausted her plot topics in the Mercy storyline she comes through with something fresh and exciting.

However-and maybe it's just cause I'm a huge fan of the Mercy novels-I don't feel as invested in the characters of Cry Wolf. I felt like I was being thrown into the middle of a story and I was grasping to find the beginning. I understand that Anna's had a whole life before the novel starts, but I would've liked more on Charles's rescue and maybe a nice flashback to Charles's first discovering that Anna is his mate.

I also don't particularly like the vagueness of an Omega's talents. With Mercy and her coyote shape-shifting there is room for more, but what she can do is fairly defined. Anna, on the other hand, has this ability to calm other wolves and oh yeah she can 'pull' magic, but maybe she's just taking that from Charles and so on and so forth.

I have yet to read the second novel in the series, so I've decided not to be overly upset with the vagueness presented in the first. It helps that Brigg's writing style tends to pull me in, so I may be able to overlook my frustration of Anna's talents not being tangible...I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Mercy Thompson is a Badass

 
Author: Patricia Briggs

 I've always been a huge fan of the occult/fantasy genre (I liked vampires before they were cool! :P) so naturally Moon Called called to me (pardon the pun). But Briggs adds her own, quite interesting I might add, twist to the classics. Sure there are werewolves-Moon Called-and plenty of vampires-Blood Bound-and who doesn't love a good story about the powerful and mysterious fae-Iron Kissed- but Mercy isn't any of these. She's a coyote, that's right she can shape-shift into a coyote at any time she pleases.

I know different right? I'm guessing you don't really know anything about coyotes (the shape-shifting ones that is). The thing is Mercy doesn't really know that much either. This leaves Briggs open to add a multitude intriguing qualities for Mercy to possess.

Personally I think she's the coolest mechanic chic around. I mean just check the first cover; I'd totally be her for Halloween if I thought I could pull it off. Anyone that loves a strong female character with lots of sass should definitely pick theses books up.

Briggs writing style pulls you in to Mercy's world from the first chapter. Her use of suspense keeps me up 'til all hours of the night because I can't wait to find out how she's going to get out of this scrape.

Rumor has is it a graphic novel is in the works (ok many not rumor cause its true, but it sounded cool), I just hope its as good as the books!

Crank

Author: Ellen Hopkins

Crank explores the life of a crank addict, from start to not quite finished. Somewhat based on the story of her own daughter, Hopkins writes from the point of view of Kristina as she first discovers the world of drugs.

Hopkin's writing style is very unique and though Crank is not a hard read it's extremely intriguing. Some entries are concrete; the words form a picture associated with the topic of entry, others can be read both from left to right as well as top to bottom.

The invention of Bree is an excellent way of describing the split in Kristina's mind. Part of her (Bree) is desperate to party with the monster while the sensible Kristina knows she's losing friends and family and wishes to go back. However Bree's confidence is extremely appealing to Kristina and is constantly victorious. I don't have any personal experience on the subject, but through the use of the almost separate characters I better understand what Kristina is thinking and her reasons for drug use are much more tangible to me.

Of course the fact that Crank is written from Kristina's point of view goes a long way in helping the reader understand her motives. I honestly could not put this book down as I rooted for Kristina to break-up with the monster. If you are looking for a happy-ending Hollywood novel, this isn't the one for you, though you may just enjoy it anyway. Then again it doesn't truly end since Glass is the sequel and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Streetcar

To start I'd like to just say that anyone reading this feel free to agree or disagree with me in the comments as long as its appropriate. Also anyone is welcome to leave a book suggestion that if I have time I may read and review.

So for everyone that doesn't know, 'Stella for Star' comes from the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Blanche DuBois calls her sister Stella Kowalski that affectionately several times in Act 1.

Well since I'm already on the topic of Streetcar I'm going to make it my first review.

Author: Tennessee Williams
Main Cast:
    Stanley Kowalski
    Stella Kowalski
    Blanche DuBois
    Eunice Hubbell
    Harold Mitchell (Mitch)

SND starts in May of 1947 with Blanche arriving at her sister's house in New Orleans. The reader/audience follows the lives of Blanche, Stella and, her husband, Stanley as Blanche attempts to steal Stella away from the life she leads with Stanley.

Blanche and Stanley continuously butt heads-being of different backgrounds-and throughout Stella acts as a mediator towards the two. Stella's upbringing allows her to connect with Blanche, but at the same time she's been living a much less luxurious life with Stanley and is therefore caught in between the two.

I love the way Williams uses Stanley's prying nature to slowly knock down Blanche's front and give the reader insight to what's really going on in her head. Sometimes it takes the walls crumbling down around a character in order to know what they're truly like.

My only grievance is that I wish Stella had a little more backbone, being that she is my favorite character. But I do feel that if you take a second look you can see that shes a women caught up in love and stuck in the middle of her husband and sister. Her choices can then be understood though whether she makes the right ones is up to the reader to decide.