Twitter Girl by Nic Tatano

Final Rating: 4/5 Stars

Pages: 288

Edition: Kindle

Time Read: 11.21.14 - 11.29.14

Summary:
"Meet America’s Tweet-Heart.
She’s network reporter Cassidy Shea, better known as @TwitterGirl, with more than a million followers thanks to her sarcastic tweets. One hundred forty characters that can take anyone down a notch.
But while brevity may be the soul of wit, it can also get you fired.
When a controversial tweet goes viral the snarky redhead finds herself locked out of the career she loves… and watches her boyfriend take a hike.
Alas, no industry values sarcasm more than politics, and Cassidy becomes a marketable commodity for Presidential candidate Will Becker, a squeaky-clean, stone cold lock to be the next occupant of the White House. This candidate is unlike any other; he’s the country’s most eligible bachelor. He’s also looking for a running mate, and we’re not talking about a Vice President.
Twitter Girl has caught his eye.
Cassidy finds herself swept up in a whirlwind romance that turns her into the next Jackie Kennedy and becomes the favorite to be the next First Lady. The country can’t get enough of America’s First Couple… will Cassidy and Will Becker bring back Camelot?
But an anonymous tip triggers her journalistic curiosity. Is Will Becker all that he seems? The search for the answer teaches Cassidy the meaning of love."

Review:
If you're looking for a light-hearted read with a few laughs, look no further!

Twitter Girl is a romantic comedy, with a dash of politics on the side. I found my emotions easily changing along with Cassidy's as the story progressed and plot twists were thrown into the mix.

While the actual age of Cassidy and her friend Ripley is 35, their personalities feel much more like high school.  They tend to lack the maturity of someone that age, but maybe I just think that because I'm not that old yet.

The plot itself is a little weak, and covered by the vast amounts of fawning over the various guys of the campaign. I would have liked to see more involving the politics and her job in general, which is what drew me in.

The snark in this story was hilarious.  Cassidy has some major wit, and she stands her ground, which I can appreciate. While her hormones were off the charts at the beginning of the campaign, she really straightens herself out.

Overall, this is a very feel good romance. If chick lit is your thing, I definitely recommend this.

Lost the Plot? 500 Writing Prompts and How to Use them by Adam Maxwell

Final Rating: 4/5 Stars

Pages: 80

Edition: PDF File

Time Read: 11.28.14 - 11.28.14

Summary:
"Almost every writer has a pathological predisposition to procrastination and often believe there is a magical answer to the question ‘where do you get your ideas?’.

Well now, whether you write Twitfic, Microfiction, Flash Fiction, Short Short Stories, Short Stories, Novelettes, Novellas, Novels or Scripts you can tell everyone that you get your ideas here.

This is a prompts book. Oh yes. But it's a prompts book with a BIG difference. The prompts in this book aren't the usual, run-of-the-mill, mind numbingly boring prompts you usually get.

Oh, no. Not here.

And this is not the sort of book that's just going to give you a prompt and expect you to know what to do with it. No matter what form your writing takes, this book will show you an easy way to get the ideas out of your brain and transformed into stories."

Review:
If you are an aspiring writer, or just want some tips on how to be better at it, I recommend this book.

I couldn't give this book 5 stars because of the grammatical errors here and there, plus I wasn't a huge fan of the authors writing style, but the content itself is solid.

The book starts off with an introduction of why it was created, then goes into the various forms that you can choose when writing. They range from six word stories to novels and the author does a good job describing what each form is and how they are different from one another.

He then went on to explain how to build a story from your mind using a specific structure and creating from there. I found this part to be the most interesting and actually took notes from it.

After that there are examples using the prompts and the structure he stated before.

Finally we get to the prompts! They are very unique compared to prompts I've seen in the past. Not only that, but there really are 500 unique prompts I have yet to see. Here's a few examples:

"297. The sleepwalking had never been a problem for her until now."
"441. He countermanded a direct order, sir. We must take action immediately or goldfish all over the world could suffer the same fate."
"87. You'll never guess who's on my toilet."

There's 497 more where those came from. While some of them are a little too obscure for me to pull an idea from (#441 for example), #87 and #297 really draw me in as something I'd like to write.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with having this book. If I ever feel the desire to write again (I haven't in a while), you bet this will be the first place I go for ideas.

Mortal Gods (Forgotten Pantheon, #1) by Alexandru Manea

 Final Rating: 2/5 Stars

Pages: 148

Edition: Kindle

Time Read: 11.15.14 - 11.20.14

Summary:
"Heather, a young American girl, is visiting her college roommate, who now lives in Rome. While partying in a local nightclub, she's picked up by a man who looks like he was created in the image of a Greek god. Her initial impression is correct. He’s one of the last surviving members of the Greek pantheon. After hooking up with him, Heather is forced to join the culmination of a two-millennium-long war between that pantheon and a clandestine sect of monks within the Catholic Church, itself led by perhaps the most infamous figure in Christian history. Heather and Apollo embark on a continent-spanning effort to collect what remains of the gods to engage in the final battle with the monks opposing them. But the fate of the battle is changed by the intervention of a mysterious military organization…"

Review:
I wanted so badly to love this book.

The premise was absolutely perfect.  Greek gods in modern times? Sign me up!

The problem with this story lies in the execution.  This book needed to go through an editor a few more times before it should have been published.  There are a lot of issues with words not having spaces between them, some sentence structure problems, small things like that.

The biggest problem lies in the writing.  Almost the entire book is told, not shown.  There is entirely too much detail in some incredibly mundane parts, and then in the epic final scene twists are thrown in to the book left and right.  A situation which should have lasted so much longer than it did for how much happened was over within a few kindle pages.  The entire book lead up to this final scene and it really felt rushed.

The characters are just so inconsistent. Heather is this super smart, badass chick; then she becomes a giant crybaby who can't handle anything. She flips back and forth between the two for the entire book, mixed with a bit of horny teenager at the strangest part. Honestly, who thinks about sex when they could potentially die at any minute? There is zero character development because of this.  With the entire story being told to us, it feels like the characters never had a chance to become more. 

Overall, this book reads like a poorly written fanfiction.

This was given to me as a free book by the author for an honest review.

Nailbiter Volume 1: There Will Be Blood by Joshua Williams, Mike Henderson, and Adam Guzowski

Final Rating: 4/5 Stars

Pages: 132

Edition: Adobe Digital

Time Read: 11.15.14 - 11.15.14

Summary:
"'Where do serial killers come from?' and why has Buckaroo, Oregon given birth to sixteen of the most vile serial killers in the world? NSA Agent Nicholas Finch needs to solve that mystery in order to save his friend, and he'll have to team up with the infamous Edward "Nailbiter" Warren to do it."

Review:

I did not expect this to be the way it was.

Let me clarify: I thought this book would be about Nailbiter, a serial killer within the story. Instead, it revolves around the town of Buckaroo, Oregon and has plot that bases itself around serial killers in general.

Each of the serial killers mentioned in the graphic novels were incredibly unique and I would have liked to see a lot more involving them and their stories; however, it's very possible that with more volumes that will occur.

I expected to see a very predictable story when I started reading, and it seemed like as soon as we thought we knew who the criminal was, we'd be completely wrong.  I found myself shocked with every turn of events, and I was looking forward to seeing what would happen next.

The art style is incredibly gritty and dark, which fits very well with the story.  I was a little apprehensive about the content which, in the first few pages of the book, was extremely gruesome.  It does not stay so graphic but is still very atmospheric. 

I found it rather difficult to understand what was going on in this novel, as events happened so quickly it seemed like as soon as we're introduced to something it changed completely.  At one point I paused just to take in the sheer ammount of stuff that was happening. 

Overall, if you're into fast paced novels and can handle violence and death I would recommend this as a graphic novel for you to read!

This was given to me as a free book by the author for an honest review.

No More Heroes by Nicholas Chapman

Final Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Pages: 400

Edition: Kindle

Time Read: 10.17.14 - 11.15.14

Summary:
"Stories are meant to be told.

But many stories go unfinished, unpublished and unread. What happens to the characters in those books when nobody reads them? Where do they go?

In a city populated by these forgotten literary denizens, Jack Reynolds works as a member of an ancient order called “The Heroes,” who are charged with defeating villainy and maintaining order. Alongside an immortal humanoid computer and a knight from a children’s tale, Jack must solve a case by the end of the week or his division will be permanently closed.

After stumbling across a case of illegal magic which threatens the safety of the entire city, Jack also realizes that solving this mystery is the only way he can do right by his friends. With time and veiled forces aligned against him, does Jack have what it takes to be a Hero one last time?"

Review:

This book was wonderful.

The plot is incredibly unique, and I can guarantee I've never read a book like this and I doubt I will read a book that is closely similar to it that wouldn't be a complete copy. The writing in it is so smooth, it was easy to flip from page to page without even realizing it. Every time I read it, I was drawn into the world and forced to pull myself away due to some other obligation. There really was no part in this book that I felt dragged on. Even in the beginning, it was easy to want to keep reading and see what happens next.

Jack was an easily likeable character to me. He wasn't some elite super God-like man who could do everything and always be amazing. He was a normal guy with virtues and flaws who sometimes made the right decisions and sometimes made the wrong ones. It was easy to relate to him throughout the story (however, I could never dream of being as badass as he is!), and I rooted for him the entire time. Presley and Ludwig are absolutely wonderful companions. Their characters are well defined, and it was easy to picture them as real people was well.

My only issues with this book are the grammatical errors (there are a few of them) and the slight holes in background information. If his relationship with Gwen had more backstory to it I would be content, but I feel like there's not really a reason for Gwen to hate Jack. I have a theory, but I can't be sure. My issue with his relationship with Rose is that there's not much of a development with it and I don't see a clear definition of WHAT they are. There are hints here and there, just like between Gwen and him, but never a clear answer. I wanted to know more about Jack's Story before Asphodel, but there was really only hints about his demons and past towards the middle and end of the book.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy, and even those who just like a good book in general. I feel like this book would hold appeal to a wide variety of people as it does not fit one single mold for genres.

I was given this book for free by the author for an honest review.