kairilily

• Rated 5 stars

“Like Water for Chocolate is the story of Tita. Tita is the youngest of three girls. According to family tradition, she cannot marry or have children because the youngest daughter in the family has the responsibility of taking care of the mother until she dies. Unfortunately for Tita, her mother sticks to this tradition and won't allow her to marry her sweetheart, Pedro. Instead, her mother convinces him to marry Tita's older sister. Pedro goes along with it because he thinks it's the only way to be close to Tita. As if things aren't interesting enough, we find out that Tita also has a special gift. She's an amazing cook and her emotions literally come through in the food she makes.

I loved how Tita's recipes were woven into each chapter. This gave the book a nice flavor, so to speak. As someone that loves to cook and spends a lot of time in the kitchen, I would love to have Tita's gift. Can you imagine having your emotions come through in the food you cook? This aspect alone made the book unique.

The romance/love triangle storyline did have kind of a soap opera feel to it, but was still interesting. It is in no way your typical love story. I know that the book is set in a different time and a different place, but the love story was a bit awkward. I had a lot of trouble liking Pedro even though his intentions were spelled out to us. It didn't seem to matter that I didn't like him because I still loved the book overall. If you're looking for something different and don't mind just a wee bit of magic in your story, I'd definitely recommend giving this book a try. ”

kairilily wrote this review 2 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Imagine you are on a plane sitting next to a pretty nice looking businessman (thanks to an upgrade to business class because the clerk felt sorry for you) when suddenly the plane hits some bad turbulence. For some reason you can't fathom, you decide to blurt out every single secret you have that has ever made you feel the least bit guilty. This stranger sitting beside you now knows when and how you lost your virginity, the sneaky things you do to your co-worker, how you changed your math test scores from a C to an A, to how you hate G-strings and have managed to squeeze yourself into one that's two sizes smaller than you actually wear because you won't tell your boyfriend your real size. He knows everything! Now imagine the next time you go into work, you find out he's the founder of the company and is in town for a visit. Wouldn't that be fun?

Generally, I HATE chick lit, but I really liked this book. I think it was the humor. Kinsella made it quite funny, even though the story was pretty far fetched. I would have to say I liked this one much more than Shopaholic. ”

kairilily wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“When Adam Ryan was a child, two of his friends went missing in the local woods never to be heard from again. Although Ryan was with them and was found in the woods with his shoes filled with someone else's blood and slashes ripped into the back of his shirt, he is unable to remember anything from that time. Now, Ryan is all grown up, known as Rob instead of Adam, and works for the Murder Squad. His newest case is a twelve year old murdered girl and takes him right back to those woods. Is this case related? Will investigating this case put Ryan so close to his childhood traumatic experience that memories come flooding back? Will he finally find out what happened to his childhood friends?

First off, I enjoyed reading this story. Psychological thrillers are a favorite of mine and this definitely falls into that category. The problem is that even though I enjoyed the story, I found it way too predictable. Maybe I've read too many of them, I don't know. But I can flat out say that right after the "mastermind" of the murder was introduced, I knew without a doubt that this was the person behind it. I wanted the author to prove me wrong, but alas, that didn't happen.

***Spoilers***

Rosalind stuck out like a sore thumb to me. Once she was brought into the story, nothing, and I mean nothing, could have convinced me she wasn't behind it. I was still wondering how the disappearances from the 80's would tie in, but there was no doubt in my mind that she was behind her sister's murder. Also, the whole Ryan, Sam, Cassie thing was glaringly obvious. Who didn't know that Cassie and Sam would end up together? I do wish she and Ryan could have salvaged their friendship, but I expected her and Sam to end up together in the end. Ryan was just too damaged.

***End Spoilers***

Like I said before, this was a good read (especially for a debut), but predictable. That being said, if she ever writes another book focusing on the disappearance of Ryan's two childhood friends, I will read that one. That case interested much more than the present day murder case did. ”

kairilily wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“There is so much I could say about this book, but I don't think my words could do it justice. I admit that early on I found the book kind of slow moving and couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about, but it wasn't long before I was drawn into the story and couldn't stop reading. I loved the characters; from Liesel to Rudy to Hans to Max to Rosa. They were so well drawn and added color and life to what was such a dark, gray story. I loved the writing and the fact that Zusak had words play such a strong part in the book. I loved that the story was narrated by Death. Death has to be the most original, interesting narrator I've ever had the privilege of reading. The other thing I loved about this story is that it is told from the German standpoint. Most of the books that I've read that are set in Nazi Germany are told from the Jewish point of view. This book allows us a look at the other side and helps us to realize that there were some German people sympathetic and willing to risk their lives to help or save the Jewish people. This is a book I will remember for a long time and I certainly to plan on passing my copy along to someone interested in reading it. This is a book that needs to be recommended and shared. ”

kairilily wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Ridley is back and once again, nothing in her life is as it seems. Every person she has ever trusted and everything she once knew as the truth has turned out to be lies. Sliver of Truth allows us to tag along on Ridley's quest for the truth.

This was a really fast paced, intriguing novel. Although quite unbelievable at times, I managed to still enjoy reading the book. Unger has a way of pulling you into the story and keeping you there, no matter how unbelievable the story gets. If you've never read anything by Lisa Unger, I highly recommend Beautiful Lies. This is the sequel to that book and you need to read it first to get the necessary background for this story. The author does fill you in some at the beginning of this book, but I still think it's best to read Beautiful Lies first. ”

kairilily wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“I loved this book! I can honestly say I've never read anything like it. This is basically the story of Jesus Christ from birth until his thirties when he started preaching as told by his best friend, Biff (aka Levi). If you've ever wondered where Christ was and what he was doing in all those years that are left out of the Bible, this is certainly an entertaining, thought provoking take on it. Moore incorporates a lot of biblical stories into the book, so that even though humorous, it makes you think "It could have happened this way". Christ (aka Joshua) is portrayed as the saintly innocent you would expect. His best friend Biff is laugh out loud funny (he invented sarcasm after all) and the greatest best friend ever. Biff has no problem sinning so that Joshua won't have to. He especially enjoys the sin of fornication.

I honestly don't think the book was offensive in the least, but I'm very open minded when it comes to religion in general. I could see someone on the more extreme side of Christianity having a problem with it, but it would have to be someone that takes their religion very, very seriously. I won't hesitate to recommend the book in the future. I think Moore did a fantastic job with it and I look forward to reading more of his work.”

kairilily wrote this review Wednesday, January 18, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“David Copperfield is the story of David's life, literally from birth until he's married with several children. I would have thought that a novel like this would ultimately end up quite boring, but David's life is anything but boring. It's filled with some of the most amazing, well drawn, flawed characters that I've ever had the honor of reading about and will most likely, never forget. There's the villainous Uriah Heep, the charming James Steerforth, the loyal housekeeper, Peggoty, the unfortunate Mr. Micawber, the sweet, loving Agnes, the naive little Dora and the list goes ever on. Knowing that some of the events mimic events in Dickens' own life makes the novel even more personal and sometimes sad. To say Dickens has a way with words is an understatement. I truly enjoyed almost every moment of this novel, despite it's length, and will definitely be reading more of Dickens in the near future. I'm generally not a fan of the classics, but would heartily recommend this one.”

kairilily wrote this review Sunday, January 8, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“The fifth book in the House of Night series is a good, fast paced paced read just like the prior installments. Zoey and friends still sound a bit childish as far as dialogue is concerned, but I can overlook that as it's the only problem I've had with the books so far. Thankfully, this one didn't end with a cliffhanger like the previous two installments did. I plan to continue the series, but I feel like I should take a little break after reading three back to back so that I don't burn myself out on the story.”

kairilily wrote this review Saturday, December 31, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Once again, to give a synopsis would be to spoil the story, so I will skip it and get straight to the review. This is by far my favorite book in the series up to this point. It was much faster paced than the previous books and had an overall better story with the introduction of the Cherokee legend. I also feel that Zoey's character feels a bit more mature in this book. This installment ended at a point that could still be considered cliffhanger territory though, so I'm glad I had the next book ready and waiting. ”

kairilily wrote this review Thursday, December 29, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“To give a synopsis of this book would be to spoil the story, so I'm going to skip it and get straight to the review. This book suffers from the same problem as the first two in the series; some of the things that Zoey says is just too juvenile. How many teenagers do you know that say "poo" instead of the s word? Aside from that, this was a very quick, enjoyable read. In Chosen, Zoey finds herself facing much more adult problems. Some of the choices she makes are very naive, but she's a teenager and that's to be expected. The thing is, she's learning from her mistakes and I think that will lead to better decisions in future books. This one ends with a lot of unanswered questions, so I'm about to go dig the next one out of my closet and start reading.”

kairilily wrote this review Monday, December 26, 2011. ( reply | permalink )