The Kari AnnAlysis

Archive for June, 2010

Wollie is under some serious pressure. She is trying to keep her gift card store afloat, she’s in the midst of dating 40 men for research for a book by a famous love doctor, and now, she’s found a dead body.

A patient at the mental hospital where her brother is also staying is found shot to death and while Wollie tries to stay clear of the murder, she ends up getting into it deep.

Now an uber hottie, who may possibly be a convicted felon is trying to keep her safe as mafia men start following her, shooting at her and leaving her threatening messages.

Harley Jane Kozak, who may sound familiar because she is a famous actress, reminds me of Janet Evanovich. We all know that anything that reminds me of Janet is a plus in my book.

I picked this book up at a library sale, not really sure what I was getting myself into, but I am glad I picked it up. It was written well and it kept me reading. I didn’t catch on to who the bad guy was until he outed himself, which I love and hate at the same time. I love a book that makes me laugh, but I felt really bad for Wollie at times in the book. She just wanted to make cards and all this drama just keeps plopping into her lap.

The idea of the dating game was a good plot twist. When she was on dates, I had a hard time remembering that there were guys looking for her who could do some major damage. But, being the girly girl that I am, I kind of hated to go back to the murders and wanted more of the dating scene.

I give Dating Dead Men 4 bookmarks. There are a couple more in this series. If I run across them, I’ll grab them, but they’re not books that I’ll actively search for.

We got a glimpse of Bree Tanner’s life, shortly before she was killed by the Volturi is Eclipse. Now Stephenie Meyer gives  us a longer look at the days leading up to the attack on the Cullens, through Bree’s eyes.

Bree and the other newborns she lives with don’t know much about being vampires. They know the basics, you drink blood, from dreg humans and you can’t go out in the sun. She soon realizes, along with the help of her vampire friend Diego that they were born for a mission.

Diego teaches Bree some vampire secrets he has found himself. He also makes a plan to keep Bree and himself out of harms way, hopefully.

Bree is also friends, well acquaintances, with Freaky Fred. Fred, like the yellow-eyed vampires has a talent. He can repulse anyone around him. He ends up being one of Bree’s closest friends, and one who she wishes the Cullen’s be nice to as she knows her short second life is coming to an end.

First of all, I read this book entirely online. Stephenie Meyer is offering an online version of the book until July 5th. You better hurry over there if you want to take advantage of it. Thanks for letting me know about this Meg (WriteMeg!)!

Although I enjoyed all of the Twilight Saga books, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this one. It’s been a long time since I read Eclipse, and I really didn’t remember much about Bree. Turns out, I really didn’t need to. As I read this novella, it all kind of came back to me.

I enjoyed seeing how the red-eyed vampires live. It’s such a dramatic difference compared to the yellow-eyes that are the Cullens. I felt like this book kind of brought Meyer’s vampires full-circle. I know now how both sides of the vampires live. I also know what happened to Miss Bree Tanner and how she got there.

Even though I knew the outcome of this book, I still got a little choked up towards the end. It was easier the first time when I had no attachment to Bree. Once I got to know her, and like her even, I was really hoping the Volturi would spare her and let her live with the Cullens. No such luck, but it was wishful thinking right?

I give The Second Life of Bree Tanner 4 bookmarks.

I don’t always take part in this meme, but you better believe on good weeks, there will be a post. This week was good for two reasons. 1. I got some major goods from BookMooch, which I am extremely infatuated with right now. 2. I got a present from one of my favorite authors. Take a look:

This week, I got Un-Bridaled, The Gatecrasher and A Match Made on Madison.

I started looking through BookMooch when I learned I had some points built up. I wasn’t finding anything I loved. So what I did next was went to Borders.com and started typing in authors/books that I liked. On the left side of the screen, it tells you other books you may be interested in. That’s where I found all three of these and I am really excited for them.

I am a huge Sophie Kinsella fan, whose real name is Madeline Wickham. I ran across her before but kept forgetting to pick up her work. Now I am really stoked to get started!

Also, I got some swag from Kieran Scott. She is holding a HUGE contest on her website, giving away a bunch of books. The contest started Friday, but as an early contest, she gave away signed bookstamps and bookmarks. All you had to do was be one of the first 10 people to change your picture to the cover of She’s So Dead to Us.

While this may sound like an easy win, it wasn’t. Twitter, being the social giant it is, kept giving me the Fail Whale because of the World Cup. So, to win, I had to pull up the book cover on my computer, take a picture of it on my phone and upload it using Echofon. Who needs a computer when you have an iPhone?

Anyway, so it was a fun week for me. Expecting another BookMooch book this week and adding a few more this week, so expect more Moochy posts from me in the future!

This week’s BTT question is: Do you read book reviews? Do you let them change your mind about reading/not reading a particular book?

I check book blogs 24/7. I normally don’t read the reviews until I’ve read the book so I can see if I agree or disagree. Before I read the book, I will check the title/book cover then just scroll down to see how many “stars” the blogger gives the book. If they give the book 1 star, I normally will chuck the idea of getting it unless I really want it. I know that every reader has a different perception of what is good and bad, but I take their ratings into consideration.

Nancy’s mom “Lola” has always been in the edge of sanity. All throughout Nancy’s life, “Lola” has been in and out of the electric chair – trying to get her shocked straight. Now, in her 50′s “Lola” has bigger problems. Her husband dies from carbon monoxide poisoning on their boat The Mr. Fix-It. That leaves “Lola” by herself, in a coma, with her grown children to take care of her. “Lola” wakes up, and like always, isn’t quite there. She doesn’t know how to change a light bulb when it burns out, she doesn’t understand that there is more milk in a container than can fit in her cup so it spills everywhere and she starts layering, but not in a good way. No one should ever wear 6+ pairs of panty hose at one time. Throughout the turn of events, Nancy finally feels like the daughter her mother never had. And miraculously, the mental instability seems to go as the carbon monoxide sets in.

I got The Center of the Universe from the Kelley and Hall Company. I haven’t really read a lot of memoirs, I am normally a fiction kind of girl, but I really enjoyed this book. Honestly, I think the reason I enjoyed it so much was that it doesn’t seem like it could be a realistic story. I know my childhood was pretty cookie cutter, but I still have a hard time grasping how some people grew up. I just can’t fathom having a mother who routinely was shocked to try to get the crazy out.

My grandmother had a stroke a year and a half ago, so I understand what Nancy and her siblings went through, trying to get their mother on the path to survival by herself. It’s definitely like starting over with a child, with high hopes that they’ll return to their old selves.

This book gave me a number of emotions. At times, I felt bad for Nancy and her siblings for going through this with their mother, in childhood and adulthood, I shed a tear or two as they worked to get her back up to par, I laughed my butt of at some of “Lola’s” antics. This book covered it all, heartbreak, love, suffering and the calm after the storm.

My dad works in the mental health field, so I am definitely going to pass this on to him (I get my reading obsession from him, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree). I think he’ll really enjoy it.

I give The Center of The Universe 4 bookmarks. While I thoroughly enjoyed most of the book, there were times I caught myself skimming when it came to the medical terminology. I really wanted to understand it, it just didn’t sink in.