Eat your apple, Read your book

Ever heard of the saying " An apple a day keeps the doctor away"? Well I'm here to tell you "A page a day keeps the idiot away." Now lets read together.

[booktionary]

Night

As you may already know I really like a good autobiography and to be honest that’s the only kind of history book I like. This small and light book could easily take someone a day to finish. I have to say don’t let the lightness of the volume cloud your judgement thinking this book was a light read because it wasn’t. I mean this is written about holocaust from a survivor, Eliezer Wiesel. The book is written in bits and pieces from his memory, but it does add up into a story with chains of events. It is truly heart breaking and absolutely horrifying to read and think about the events that went down. I mean at this point most people know about holocaust but reading it from someone who actually lived through it is something else. At times I had to remind myself that this is not a fiction and it actually happened to many people and that makes me question humanity. Not that I didn’t already before reading this but even more (sorry for the side note, just being honest here).

One of the my favorite moments in the book was Eli and his father’s relationship. Their bond was beautiful and I thought it was interesting that he started to feel twisted about him towards the end due to all of the dreadful pressure they were under in those camps. That just emphasized on how much the pressure must have been especially for a child his age for his survival instinct to kick in like that. Worthy to mention he pulled through and he was truly stronger than the tortures he went through. So were all the other people who made it out of holocaust or weren’t fortunate enough to make it out. I believe if you are like me and like biographies, like to read books in general, like to learn something from a book or if you are looking for a new read give this book a try and you won’t regret it.

 “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”

Elie Wiesel

https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B0071VUXXA&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_3-J1FbCQGRM8C

[booktionary]

Too late

Disclaimer: This book is extremely graphic and the author’s suggested audience are mature readers.

In the beginning of the book I couldn’t put the book down at all, even the first chapter gets you hooked you want to know more about the story.  Later it developed to be very dark, sophisticated and twisted which is how I usually like my romance so yay but then the story kept dragging and towards the end it started to feel rushed as if the author didn’t know how to end the story. I mean the book is about 400 pages and for that length I was expecting a better developed ending to the story.

What I found the most fascinating is how the author wrote each character especially as for one of the main characters, Asa, I was absolutely lost in words because the way his thoughts were spiraling would lose me in its depth and I was in awe for the way the author developed the character’s logic.

This book is a part of kindle unlimited so if you have that subscription you can give it a try but also check out Verity and It Ends with US by the same author.

 Have spoilers

A little side note about mental health

 Asa has described to have schizophrenia like his father; however, one time it is mentioned that Asa was only pretending to have schizophrenia to get away with murder. During the story you learn that Asa is actually not mentally well and due to his dark childhood experiences, he has developed some sort of paranoia and obsession with certain things like his relationship with Sloan and coconut cakes. His childhood was consisted of a father with schizophrenia and drug use disorder and a mother who took sleeping pills and slept through all the hell she was going through. Asa never got the love a child needs from any of his parents. He is described to take his mother’s pills and experience his first high at the age 7. Given this background, if anything, I felt empathic for the way he turned out. Therefore, what I didn’t appreciate is how towards the end the characters treated him which was also very disturbing even for someone like me who likes dark books. At the end it felt more like a childish “revenge” and not compassionate. Again, if this character was mentally ill then I would expect the story to end with him being able to get the help he needs while the author provided happily ever after for Luke and Sloan.

 https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B01MTMYYMN&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_Zs-SFbJFASMNS

 I would like to mention that mental health is important, no one should be shamed for their illness and they should be able to get the help they need without contemplation due to society’s stigma against them.

[estrellablogg]

Hep önümüze bakmalı ve kendimizle mutlu olmalıyız.. ⚡

[booktionary]

The promise

I finally finished this book; it probably took me a good 3 months to finish it as somehow I never got a chance to sit and just read for a very long time. So here goes my overall review:

Before you read

The story is very light and does not contain any dark, sophisticated back story which can be both a good and a bad thing. It’s great if you are a beginner in romance genre, like sweet romance, if you are looking for a nice read in the evening so you can sleep without having too much craziness in your mind or it can make a wonderful beach read. The story peaks very slowly and for the most part is very predictable. If you are like me who likes dark romance it might be a little difficult to keep up with the story. You do bond with characters however, especially the main character (Nancy). I found many spelling errors, poor transitions to other characters to the point where sometimes you would be lost for a good minute before you realized you were now reading about someone else. Most books specify in the beginning of the chapter what character the chapter is written about but this book would jump to another character in the middle of the chapter with no asterisks or separations. 

 After you read (spoilers ahead)

The story gets really sad when Nancy is finally convinced she should also forget herself because “Hell, Michael had forgotten her; now she could forget her too.” Then she decides to become Marie Adamson. I would say that’s the first peak of the story.

Can we all talk about how evil Marion truly is?? It was interesting to me that regardless of how devilish she would act, she still had George by her side no matter what and even when she confessed to George about the situation she had put Michael in, George still wanted to marry her. She basically had the happiness that she stole from her son and Nancy. At the end of the day I was at least happy to see she finally did the right thing although even then she could have done more but she decided to stay out of it.

[booktionary]

Born a Crime

I personally enjoy autobiographies especially when it’s about someone who started from zero but dreamed big and worked hard until they made it.  In born a crime you read about Trevor Noah the famous comedian who was born and raised in south Africa during the apartheid. At that time interracial relationships and especially sexual relationship was illegal so the name of the book “Born a Crime” is basically a description of him who was born from a white father (from swiss ancestry) and a black mother (Xhosa ancestry). Although the language of the book is an easy read and for the most part funny, it is still a deep read as it describes all the problems that Trevor had to go through growing up. In one of the chapters he describes how he was “trained” by his mother to walk away from her in certain neighborhoods so people would not associate them together, because he was “colored” and she was black, therefore they wouldn’t get into trouble.  

What I truly enjoyed was how resilient, independent, and courageous Trevor’s mother (Patricia) was and how she raised him to think for himself and outside of the box. This must have been very difficult to be able to think differently especially given the circumstance of the apartheid. This book is especially good for people who would like to know more about the apartheid time, Trevor Noah himself, South Africa, and for people who enjoy learning about other cultures as Trevor describes many different stories from his childhood and the way they used to live.  The tone of the books keeps you going as you feel a part of the characters and you automatically want to know more about them. Highly recommended!

[booktionary]

Hard to Love Series

Before you read

If you are looking for a steamy, dark and unpredictable story start reading this series. When I first started reading the first book of the series (hard to love), I was kind of scared to like it because then I wasn’t into dark, heart wrenching stories at all but once I was 2 chapters in I knew I had to read it all to know what happens. Throughout the book I absolutely adored the love between Seth King and Laura Roth regardless of all the twists and craziness. Their love story is never an easy story, rollercoaster rides after rides and they hit rock bottom many times, but will they finally get their happily ever after? “Not everyone gets a happily ever after. It’s not about what people deserve. Sometimes fate just takes what she wants and there’s no rhyme or reason to it” (Easy to fall, ch.9). Willow Winters writes the most absorbing stories to the point that you just want to lock yourself in a room with them so no one would interrupt your reading. I finished the first book in the series in only 2 days and the other books followed. You can read the very short prelude to the story first if you like (Longing to hold). The order in the series is: Hard to love, desperate to touch, tempted to kiss, and easy to fall. What I find so fascinating is that almost any important person that you meet in the story has their own story that creative Willow Winter has made into another series. Characters meet in the stories without spoiling the stories you haven’t read. This to me is absolute creation and vision.

After you read all the series (Major spoilers ahead)

Seth king. The strong, handsome, somewhat cruel hero of the story who’s “committed many sins” has one weakness in this world, Laura Roth. The beautiful, stubborn, independent, and somewhat dreamy heroine who doesn’t necessarily want parts of Seth’s sins, but she is tangled in this love and she doesn’t necessarily want a way out either regardless of how she acts. She knows he always gets what he wants and deep down she loves his masculine strength more than anything. But Laura must deal with many consequences of Seth’s sins even if she doesn’t want parts in it. In easy to fall book I love how Laura, and us readers, finally get closure regarding Cami. Cami a best friend who everyone wishes to have. Someone who would be willing to take a bullet for you, to die for you. I’d say as much as Laura’s life was hard, family she never really had, she was lucky. She was lucky to have a best friend who cared for her as much Cami did. Lucky to have a man like Seth who willingly made a deal with “the devil” to die for Laura so she could live. I guess fate doesn’t take away everything at once. If one door closes another one opens.

Easy to fall is by far my favorite out of the series because Seth and Laura deserve to be together. Laura deserves the ending she gets. I rarely cry for books, but I was ugly crying for the last chapters. I am still shocked of how this story ends and how Declan’s knows Marcus, now I want to know Marcus. I want to know him like I know Seth. Next read of willow winters will be This love hurts for sure.

Hard to Love - Kindle edition by Winters, W., Winters, Willow. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Desperate to Touch (Hard to Love Book 2) - Kindle edition by Winters, W., Winters, Willow. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Tempted to Kiss (Hard to Love Book 3) - Kindle edition by Winters, W., Winters, Willow. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device,

Easy to Fall (Hard to Love Book 4) - Kindle edition by Winters, W., Winters, Willow. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

[booktionary]

Verity

Last night I finished this in the middle of the night because of how much addicting it was. Lines after lines, pages after pages until it was over.

 Before you read

 Verity by far is my favorite book and I’ve already been recommending it to people. The book has a whole vibe of paranoia in which at times you suspect all the characters to be sinister including the main character “Lowen”. I loved the cliff hangers at the end of chapters, they made me keep going. I finished the book in 3 days but could have really been 2 and a half days if I didn’t have to study during the day. I must mention I am easily spooked so at first, I was a bit scared to read the story as I had heard it’s a little creepy, but I powered through. It is to mention if you have any paranoia or hallucinations this book might not be the best book for you so read with caution but don’t forget the genre is Romance-Suspense so you obviously get the romance aspect to “cool down the fear” and it really has helped the story to be balanced.

   After you read it (spoilers ahead so watch out)

While reading it I experienced many different feelings towards each character and that kept changing depending on the chapter. My first intuition was towards Crew, the little “asshole” kid that Lowen thought him to be. I even thought he somehow ended his sisters and is going to end everyone else in the house too. At times I felt for Lowen and thought to myself that I would feel the same if I were in her shoes and would be scared shitless if I was living in that house close to Verity. When I learned that she sleepwalks, I can’t lie I even thought she would be a threat to Jeremy’s family rather than the other way around and I guess I was right, kind of. Jeremy, my favorite character, is this handsome gentleman and best father who has his own secrets. Jeremy was the first person I met in the book and at first, I certainly thought he had something to do with the deaths of his kids and disability of his wife and well I wasn’t too far wrong. Verity. One might think she is the main character in this book, I mean the book is named after her. Her name is all over that book and all over Lowen’s life even after her death. I can’t say I did not hate her. I was really annoyed when Lowen wouldn’t have Jeremy read the manuscript and to be honest I was so scared that verity would delete the manuscript and Lowen would be left looking like a psycho who imagines things. Did I feel bad for her after reading the last chapter? I can’t say no because I did. What if the letter was right? What if she was murdered over a writing technique? Were Jeremy and Verity truly the “chronics” and “prone to chronic tragedy”? Did the paranoia get the best of everyone in this book? Jeremy suspecting Verity, Lowen thinking evil of Verity and Verity thinking Jeremy would want to end her repeatedly. Would it have played out differently had Verity told Jeremy the whole truth about the writing technique? Or would Jeremy have killed her regardless because he couldn’t believe her. Was Verity telling the truth in the letter found or was it another way of manipulating the truth again? Did Lowen become Verity at the end of it all? Someone who can kill innocent people, or did she truly save Jeremy from “big manipulator”?

What did Hoover want this story to be? Did she truly mean for Verity to be innocent in all of this or an evil, self-serving woman who was obsessed with her husband to the point of killing innocent kids?

[utwo]

Munich Law Library

© M. Weinreuter 

[michaelareadsgood]

[autumncozy]

By joethommas