A Debt of Bones by Terry Goodkind (Read 2/2/15 to 3/1/15)

This was a BOTM read.  It is the prequel to his Sword of Truth series that the TV show The Legend of the Seeker was based on.  In this book we first are introduced to the Character of Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander and the Rahl of D'Hara.    There is a war in the Land, the D'Harans are trying to take over the world with the use of some very dark magic.  We meet Abigail (Abby) she is coming the request Zeddicus, a Wizard of the First Order help her to save her daughter Jana from the D'Harans.  Abby calls in a debt of bones, in order to force Zeddicus to help her.  In doing so, she sets into motion the events that lead to the end of the war with D'Hara and the boundaries being created separating the land into three parts, the Westlands (no magic), the Midlands (magical) and D'Hara (magical).

This was a short book, only 160 pages.  I liked it, it was quick and gave a taste of the story to come. This was a second reading for me, the first time I read the series I read it first too. I think the questions left me wanting to start the first book quicker so I could get them answered. It whetted my curiosity.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (#1) by Ransom Riggs (Read 3/7/15 to 3/14/15)

This was a book we read in my live book club, one of members is a library and she had multiple copies that were giveaways from the library, so we received some copies and assigned it to March.  It was supposedly marketed as supernatural and dark, a book "to keep you up at night."  If that is what you are looking for, you will be disappointed.  There are supernatural factors, but there is nothing dark or chilling, some of the pictures are a little creepy, but not enough to give you trouble sleeping.
The story revolves around Jacob, who finds his grandfather dying, in what first appears to be a wild dog attack.  His grandfather had filled his head with fantastic stories about magical children he had grown up with during WWII.  Children who had peculiar talents, such as levitating or growing gardens at a wish, were ubber strong, or made of bees.  As Jacob grew older, he began to realize these stories were made up, and his Grandfather slowly stopped telling them.  After his Grandfather's death, Jacob gets sent into a bit of a tailspin and goes looking for his Grandfather's past.  What he finds may is that his grandfather may not have been the liar he thought he was.
This was a great book, I loved that when a picture was mentioned, for the most part you turn the page and Bam there is the picture, it may have taken away a little of the reader's ability to imagine the characters, but the pictures were so integral to the story that the minor loss was not noticed. The book was originally intended to be a picture book featuring photographs Riggs had collected, but on the advice of an editor, he used the photographs as a guide from which to put together a narrative and a story was born.  I really like the concept and the integration of the pictures, Riggs states that he has searched many a flea market and garage sale for the pictures used, and he has many more which is good news for the sequels.  This is obviously a sequel, even if the second book hadn't been already released, the ending leaves no doubt there will be more books.
Jacob is a dis-likable character who grows into a likable character the further the story goes along.  There are lots of secrets and plots, yet the writing is simple and straightforward, making it easy to read and kept me interested without overtaking my life.  The children are endearing and varied, some are sweet, some are mean, but they are all individual characters,  There were many characters that were only mentioned briefly, but Riggs did a great job of having the children be their own characters and not being confused with each other, which may have been the help of the pictures, but it lends itself to good possibilities of the future books, maybe fleshing some of these characters out more.  I am looking forward to getting the second book.
As a side note, this book is better in the actual book format than electronic, I think it must have something to do with the pictures not translating as well when on an e-reader

The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman (Read 3/14 to 3/15)

So I picked up this book because I read the review by Oprah, and it had lots of high rating on Good Reads, it sounded interesting.  And I'm sure it is, I'm invested in the story I want to read it and find out what happens.  The problem is that it is written in this horrible language, like Ebonics.  It is horrid to read and distracts so much from the story that I wouldn't;'t force myself to finish.  I got about through chapter 9 (56 pages) and I decided that I have limited reading time and I couldn't justify torturing myself with this, when reading is my one guilty pleasure.  The reviews all complimented Newman on her language skills and how poetic and touching the writting was.  I couldn't swallow it.  It was torture not poetry to me.  I want to know what happens, it seems fascinating, but until it is translated into normal English I will have to let it go.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (Read 2/22 to 2/24)

So because I loved Gone Girl and Dark places so much, I just had to read Sharp Objects and I am so glad I did.  It was true to Gillian's MO, it was great!  The ending wasn't as twisty as I thought, I had the killer figured out, but the murders didn't happen in a way I expected.
The protagonist in this book is a mentally unstable journalist (she is a cutter) and she is sent back to her home town to investigate murders of young girls.  She must stay with and get to know her dysfunctional family, including her never met little sister Amma.  Sadly this trip home brings up new facts and memories regarding her dead sister.
I really like Flynn's writing, she draws you in with these dysfunctional and potentially unlikable characters, but yet you keep returning because you NEED to know what happened.

A Dance with Dragons (Fire and Ice #5) by George R.R. Martin (read 2/12 to 3/3)

So this is the last in the series currently written.  And it is true to Martin's form, he has great writing and an in depth character cast.  The problem is that I lost momentum with A Feast for Crows.  It focused too much on minor characters and was tedious to get through.  And because of that I had no built up momentum to carry me through the start of this book, which felt dull and pointless to me,  it took almost 600 pages to get to the new "combined" timeline.  It was awful, I really had to force myself to read it, I had to twist my own arm.  And there was still no story movement, two books and no closer to resolutions, just more cliff hangers, I hope the next one is good and we actually get movement, because if the story stands still for much longer I may not care enough about the ending to read a 7th book.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (Read 2/6 to 2/18)

This was a BOTM series read, we read one book a week. The  Although it took me much less than a week to read each book.  The Hunger Games (24 hours), Catching Fire (3 days), and Mockingjay ( 3 days).  They were a really easy read and I literally flew through them
So as I am sure almost everyone is familiar with the premise of the books even if they have only seen the movie previews on TV.  So as we know there was a war 74 years ago between the Capitol and 13 outlying districts.  The capitol destroyed a District (District 13) had has since been oppressing the reaming 12 districts, keeping them highly policed, isolated, uber poor and starving.  Then to keep them even more depressed and desperate, they make them send 2 of their children (age 12 to 18) each year to die via a horrible death at a highly televised game show.  Then two contestants come and shake it all up, and start a revolution.  It take all three books to get from the start of the revolution to the end.  Hunger Games is set in District 12, and the random names draws are Peeta Mellark and Prim Everdeen.  Prim however is only 12 and so her 16 year old sister Katniss volunteers to go in her place.  The two contestants find themselves in the world of the Capitol, a place of wealth and overindulgence, the Capitol citizens are materialistic and shallow.  Katniss is only thinking of herself and getting home to her family.  Peeta on the other hand is thinking of how to get Katniss home and starts a lie based on truth that he and Katniss are doomed lovers.  It works, but in the end she pulls it out and saves him too, defeating the Capitol at its own game and giving inspiration to all the districts to fight their own oppression, with the message "if we die in our fight, at least it was our choice and not yours."  My summation not Collins's.
We  surprise, surprise this really pisses the Capitol off, so they decide as retribution that in the special 75th edition of the televised child slaughter that they will spare the current children this year, and contestants will be selected from the previous winners.  Oh damn, Katniss is the only female to have one from District 12, I guess she is going back.  And because Peeta really does love Katniss, he is not about to let her go it alone.  So sequel is a repeat, but nastier.  There is no way the Capitol is going to let Katniss and Peeta cheat them again, their intent is to kill Katniss, hoping it will also kill the revolution that she is unaware of, that also happens to be using her as a symbol.  Oh did I mention the Revolutionaries plan on rescuing Katniss and making her their leader, well image of a leader anyways.  Problem is no one bothers to ask Katniss, or even tell her about these plots within plots. It really comes as no surprise that she doesn't play her part, she doesn't know her lines after all, and throws all sorts of monkey wrenches in things.
Then because they left Katniss out of her own rescue, they screw up and leave Peeta behind, Katniss does actually become the figurehead of the revolution to save him.  But Peeta comes back different, and then Katniss's goal becomes to kill the person who did this to Peeta, but who really is the cause?  Is it the leader of the Capitol President Snow?  The leader of the revolutionaries President Coin?  Is it society that let these awful games come into being?  Or could it be Katniss herself? Hmm...social commentary GO!
Oh wait I almost forgot, Katniss is torn between Peeta and her best friend/potential boyfriend Gale.  Decisions Decisions.
Now I know the synopsis sounds a little off putting, don't be off put I really like these books.  Do they follow the same pattern as many of the YA dystopian society books that are all the rage right now yes.  Does that make them bad no. I was drawn into the story, did I see parts as cookie cutter, yeah but its hard to read any book nowadays that doesn't have something cookie cutter about it.  I think what I liked best about these books was the ending.  I really liked that Collin's didn't give a traditional happy ending, some important characters die unexpectedly right when the reader thinks the win is at hand, spoiler it is not our three main players, Katniss, Peeta or Gale.  What I like is that Katniss, Peeta and Gale come out the other side of this revolution changed, damaged even.  In real life no one who went through what these young people did would come away with no emotional scars to match their physical scars.  And Collins' gives us readers that truth.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (Read 2/3-2/6)

When Libby Day was 7 years old she lost her entire family, her sisters and mother were brutally murdered, and her 15 year old brother was convicted of the crime. For the next 24 years she has been living off charity and generally has not moved past her 7 year old self. Then she comes in contact with a group that is convinced her brother is innocent and makes Libby start to question everything she thought she knew about that night.  Everybody involved had a secret that 7 year olds were not included in.  If her brother did not kill his family, who did?

This is the second Gillian Flynn book I have read.  I read Gone Girl in June of 2014.  I have become a fan.  She takes us down such an unexpected rabbit hole with her stories.  The twists of this book wasn't as shocking as in Gone Girl, but it still wasn't easily predictable.  I was a bit disappointed in the ending.  I felt that it all tied up a little to neatly, I wanted more left undone.   It seemed pretty neat compared to Gone Girl.  I still flew through the book, 3 days to read.  It was really hard to put down, and I kept staying up past my bedtime to read "one more chapter."  Flynn's writing is so smooth and conversational that it felt more like I was listening to a friend talk than reading a book.  I need to get her book Sharp Objects because I have a feeling history will repeat itself and I will love it!