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imabookshark

I'm A Book Shark

Freelance copyeditor to all amazing self-published and independent authors. Check out my editing page for more information. <3 Mickey is the blogger behind I’m A Book Shark. She really wishes there was a better explanation for why she’s a book shark. A new twitter name was needed, and it had to be about her favorite hobby: reading! For whatever reason, sharks also came to mind, and a book shark was born. Besides reading, Mickey is a natural reddish-headed, late-twenties, tattooed, entertainment-of-all-kinds lover, wife of husband, mother of reptiles (and a cat and two puppies, all spoiled), student, employee, boss, and (mostly) raw vegan. Oh yeah, and she likes to blog. www.imabookshark.com

Currently reading

The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World
Dalai Lama XIV, Howard C. Cutler
Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves
Joseph Bruchac, Kersten Hamilton, Sara Zarr, Mitali Perkins, Mari Mancusi, Stasia Ward Kehoe, Ellen Hopkins, Dave Roman, Don Tate, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Caridad Ferrer, Jessica Lee Anderson, Melissa Walker, Carrie Jones, Charles Benoit, Jo Whittemore, Mariko Tamaki, Jenn
Missed Periods and Other Grammar Scares: How to Avoid Unplanned and Unwanted Grammar Errors
Jenny Baranick
Budget Savvy Diva's Guide to Slashing Your Grocery Bill by 50% or More
Sara Lundberg
The Edge of Never
J.A. Redmerski
Camouflaged
Selena Laurence
Twice Tempted - Jeaniene Frost I still get worked up from the voices of certain characters, and I thought this book was pretty well thought out and all, but it needs a better editor. I listened to this book and heard the errors. Sad. But the story was entertaining, and I was engaged throughout the novel. I enjoyed it.
Dead Silence - Kimberly Derting 3.5 stars

I seriously hope there is a spin-off series because the end of this book is just NOT enough for me! I want more!

Violet has gotten so strong over these four books. She's becoming this incredibly smart person even if she puts herself in danger more often than she changes her underwear. I still think she should stick around for a while because that just can't be it to her story. I wanted more of a closure ending. I felt like there was a lot of foreshadowing that wasn't really foreshadowing, but it's all good.

This was a great addition to the BODY FINDER series. There was suspense, tension, some good Vi and Jay moments, and great Chelsea commentary. There was also the total creep killer dude. Man, Derting is good at getting inside the heads of her bad guys!! They always make my skin crawl. Ugh. Evan is no different. Everything we love in a BODY FINDER novel is here. YAY!

On a final note: I hope this book gets majorly edited. My eyes don't read for just reading anymore, and it was very distracting to see all the edits that need to be made. I get that this is an ARC, so no big deal. I hope the final version is polished because it certainly deserves to be. :o)
How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life - Dalai Lama XIV Great info. Very inspirational and calming.
Things I Can't Forget - Miranda Kenneally This book is fun, fresh, and sweet. It's a huge departure from some of the "normal" stuff we have out there t choose from. Miranda Kenneally has a way with storytelling.

I enjoyed this book much more than I originally thought I would. With the presence of religion in this novel, I thought I wouldn't really care for it. At first I was shocked because Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker are definitely not very religious. The theme is there in those books at times, but it's not as overwhelmingly present as it is in this book.

Kate is struggling with her belief in God because of a sin she committed. Now at camp she reconnects with Matt, and she wants to sin some more. She works with wondering if she can have it both ways throughout the book. Being not religious in the least, I kept trying to tell her to go with her heart! But it's not that simple when her heart is in both places.

If you remove religion and just think of the story as a struggle between two opposing ideas, it's much easier to understand when you're not religious. It's very simple for me to substitute religion for something else when trying to pick between two things that both seem so right but cannot combine. Plus, Matt is a sweetie and totally a boy you can fall in love with. *sigh*

Kenneally delicately weaves this tale of balance and trying to find it. Kate changes throughout the book, finding out who she is and who the people around her really are, losing judgment and assumption along the way. She grows in a wonderful way, and it was interesting to see. I'm very glad I read this book at this point in my life. I'll keep reading Kenneally's books until I die. :o)
Slammed (Slammed, #1) - Colleen Hoover Eh. This book was enjoyable, but as an editor I wanted to punch it from hearing all the "I/me" errors in the audio book. Lake was just frustrating sometimes, and I almost quit right before the real struggle happened. When she finds out who her new boyfriend is, the trouble really begins and the story actually gets interesting. A whole lot happens in this novel, and it definitely had some touching parts. I teared up a little bit at the foster girl's birthday party and then again at the end of course. It's worth reading, but hopefully an editor gets her hands on this one soon. Ouch.
Shadowlands - Kate Brian Everyone has said that this ending is "OMGIDIDNOTSEETHATCOMING" so I knew something was coming. That was a bit disappointing, but I wasn't exactly expecting THAT ending. I didn't care for the fact that it really just ENDED, but I did read this in one day, and I haven't read ANYTHING in months. Not anything like her previous books, which I thoroughly enjoyed as a guilty pleasure, but that's okay. I was entertained.
The Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quick Goodness me. I loved this one. I saw the movie first, so I think I might have liked that better, but separately this book is also awesome! It's the whole same idea at its basic story line, it's just told a bit differently, and the book goes beyond the movie in a sense. Either way, I love Pat and his story and the way he tells it. I loved Cliff in the movie just as much as I loved him here in the novel. Tiffany is decidedly not as cool at all in the book. She's much more frustrating, and it's hard to see how Pat comes to his decision in the end because of that.

This is a great novel. I'm so glad I read it, and I loved the movie. Yay!
Sweet Evil - Wendy Higgins I think YA has mostly run its course as far as my interests are concerned. A lot has changed in my life in the last few months, so I'm really moving on to other things besides YA. I'll still read it of course.

As for stuff about this book in particular.. I got really tired of Anna's teen angst issues. She's inexperienced, so she can't make up her mind on things. And she was getting pretty self-centered at the end there, thinking that everyone would try to jump up and rescue her. Get a grip, Anna. Goodness.

I didn't care for hearing the word 'work' anymore. I never really do, but it got super annoying in this novel. I didn't really like the idea of the book after we got past the road trip. Just.. bah.

Other people really like this, and I totally get why. I just wasn't impressed.
Notorious Nineteen (Stephanie Plum, #19) - Janet Evanovich I loved this book. Evanovich has a gift with humor and writes all the characters just so well. This one had fresh fun and hilarity. I laughed until I almost peed. It was great fun!
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) - Mindy Kaling I really enjoyed listening to Mindy Kaling's book. I'm not terribly familiar with her, really. But I've been wanting to watch her new show, so I thought I'd give this a shot. Obviously I'm not a regular viewer of The Office, but I still giggled while listening and actually enjoyed hearing her tales. Plus she threw in some good advice and anecdotes. It's definitely worth a read or listen if you're into this new celebrity memoir/comedy novel thing. :o)

I did get a bit tired of hearing her talk about her weight though. She does finally say that she's a size 8, which I am as well. That's not fat! Maybe in the celebrity world it is, but geesh. Anyway, she does own it though. There's a good story in there about her taking charge of that. People can't control your life if you don't let them!

My favorite part was her section on love and married coupons, being pals, and how divorced people are the least depressing people she knows. Her comments on the whole being pals thing really hit home for me. Josh and I have a rare bond for our time, I guess. We're THAT couple, and while I wouldn't want to brag, I'm very thankful that I have him in my life. It made me smile to listen to that part of her novel. Thanks!
Bones are Forever - I received this audio book for review. Here's my honest opinion:

Man, I really enjoyed this one actually. It's typical fashion for Tempe, but it reminded me how awesome Reichs is as chapter endings. They're killer! Each one made me need to keep listening. And I laughed pretty hard a couple times throughout this one. A particular street name really made me giggle. Well played, Reichs. I shall listen on! :o)
Iced - Karen Marie Moning Okay.. I really did like this book, but I have a bunch of problems with it. I can't really say much in this review because they're pretty spoilery. So I'll just say that the book has a lot going on, and Dani is fecking awesome, dude. :o)

Basically, Dani gets herself into trouble a whole bunch of times with her attitude and independence. She's spunky and hilarious. She's a great MC, even if she's only 14. She's very mature for her age, and she's been through it all. I love her mouth and the way she talks. It cracks me up! Dancer is fantastic, and Christian creeped the hell out of me. I really hope Riodan is a good guy.

About the audio: Natalie and Phil always do a great job with these books. Phil Gigante's voice is smooth as silk, and Natalie gets Dani totally right. This is a very enjoyable audio book to listen to! :o)
Ten Tiny Breaths - K.A. Tucker Oh yeah. K.A. Tucker is seriously amazing.

So.. if you haven't read her Causal Enchantment series (starting with [b:Anathema|11449247|Anathema (Causal Enchantment, #1)|K.A. Tucker|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1306264101s/11449247.jpg|16351210]), you probably should. Then go read this one if you like this New Adult age range. The two books are NOTHING alike, and maybe that's why I loved this one so much. I haven't been reading a whole lot lately, and this book was read in two sittings, and that's because it was a work night when I started it. It's fresh and addicting, totally unexpected, and (my favorite) first person present tense POV. YES! WIN! WOO!

Full review on release day!! :o)
Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles) - Gena Showalter Goodness gracious. At times I wasn't sure I was going to finish this book. Then I was curious enough to see it through, but by the end it just kept on dragging and dragging! There were grammatical errors I could HEAR and didn't even have to see. And the plot wasn't even close to Alice in Wonderland, so it's unfortunate that this book has this title. I didn't really sympathize with Allie very much. She was constantly in denial or delusional about many things: her family dying, Cole's feelings for his ex, her abilities. I was kind of over it after a while.

This very much read like an adult romance author barely succeeding at writing a YA tale. I could hear the uncomfortable steaminess that is found in adult romance, but this is definitely from a young adult perspective. I squirmed a couple times, and I read adult romance so it usually doesn't bother me. But when it's from a teen's POV, it's not right. I don't think they really think or talk like that. So that bothered me quite a bit.

The white rabbit cloud thing was s huge stretch. And, well, they didn't even mention zombies until about halfway through the book. I didn't understand the whole thing about only certain people being able to see them..? They hardly even seemed to be a problem since the general population had ZERO CLUE THEY EVEN EXISTED. It was like they were fighting them for no reason. No one was randomly dying from zombie attacks except people they knew. Am I forgetting something? Did I miss a part with death like that? Only her family died that way. Whatever.

I had more notes, but I'm too lazy to go get them. I don't want to waste more time on this. I was not impressed. This was a LOT of background information for a series beginning, and I didn't much care for the whole idea of it. Oh well.
Because It Is My Blood - Gabrielle Zevin I enjoyed this sequel. The audio version is read by the same narrator as the first book, which is always something I appreciate. It provides continuity, and it honestly helps me remember what happened in the previous novel better when the voice is the same. She reads Anya very well, but I always quickly get sick of the word 'chocolate' after a while. Oh well.

Anya goes through a whole lot again. She's back in Liberty for a stretch, and when she's released, she finds that many things have changed. However, not enough has changed, and she's threatened with another stint in Liberty, thanks to her favorite person, Charles Delacroix. So she needs to make an escape with the help of her friends and family. Off she goes on an adventure. She finds some answers to some questions, and by the end there is actually some hope, believe it or not.

This is very much a transitional novel. I'm interested in seeing how Anya's story continues in the next book, but I hope it is the last one. I do enjoy the parallels to current situations. If you replace chocolate with marijuana, you might enjoy this book on a possible level, and who knows? Maybe Zevin will predict the future! I guess we'll all find out.
Exiled - M.R. Merrick Dude. This book is so not what I was expecting - in a good way! I don't read descriptions, so I had no clue what it was about. What I found was a world that sucked me in and then totally flipped about halfway through. The imagination, creativity, and development this book has is incredible, and I'm not a sci-fi/fantasy reader at all. I definitely enjoyed Chase's story, and I shall continue sometime soon.

It looks like it took me forever to read this, but I started it at a pretty bad time. I hit a brick wall like no other while trying to read this one and just had to take a time out. I'm glad I picked it back up though! Chase has many challenges to overcome and ideas and concepts to accept and work through in this novel. After he's been cast out of his society, he tries to live among humans while still fighting evil demons. Then he meets someone he most definitely did not expect to meet. It changes the whole game! And man oh man. I liked it :o)

There are a few grammatical/spelling things that were noticed, but that's the editor in me. Other than that, the world-building and action never stops. You hit the ground running with this novel! So check this out if you want an action-packed, full-speed-ahead sci-fi read. Enjoy!