Black Rose (#2 of the In The Garden trilogy) by Nora Roberts

     Hi everyone, so I know that I've been away for a while, but I'm back and ready to write and upload a LOT more. Let's get started!
     So this book was something that I decided to pick up on a whim. I was in my school library and needed something to read, I walked to the romance section (of course) and picked up the first thing that caught my attention which was my by my favorite romance author Nora Roberts. I also did not read the 1st book mostly because I didn't notice that it was a series book until the story started to reference to things that happened in the past. But I read on even when I knew and it didn't really bother me. I could read on and not be lost because I  pieced things together.

Synopsis: Rosalind Harper is an able-bodied forty seven year old woman who is in the midst of expanding her gardening business. She has three great sons and wonderful friends who support her and make her life better, the only thing is that the ghost that has haunted her families house for generations, named The Harper Bride, is starting to get to her. Roz is finding herself more and more intrigued by this apparition and her history in the Harper house. She hires genealogist Mitchell Carnegie to investigate and finds herself just as intrigued with him. In the midst of ghosts, a gorgeous man, a thriving business and a trouble making ex-husband, can Roz manage it all?

Review: This book was typical Nora Roberts. Cheesy lines and over dramatic phrases and a strong woman who is afraid of falling in love. What was different was that these people were not in their 20's and never been married. Roz and Mitchell had both been married and had kids. The ghost thing was a nice twist too. Her story is actually very interesting. There are other twists such like vengeful ex-husbands who plan to make Roz's life a living hell. Talking purely about grammar and sentence structure, it could have been better. Have you ever read a book and a sentence just didn't sound right? Like the words just didn't go together? That happened a lot in this book. Now moving on to the characters. I liked how each character has their own separate lives and they were all incorporated in some way. I really liked Roz, but the other characters really didn't do much for me. All in all it wasn't a bad book and lovers of Nora Roberts and romance books will like it.

Final Thoughts: I recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a fast and light read. Plus it's great if you need a romance fix.

April Wrap Up and May To Be Read

     Hi everyone! So as April comes to a close I'm getting my books ready for May. I was able to read four books this month which I find amazing considering that school has taken up a colossal amount of my time. So here are the four books that I've read this month:

                                                    

                                                 1. Monster  by Frank Peretti

            2. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

     3. Vision in White by Nora Roberts

  4. Poesia by Dulce Maria Loynaz

     I really liked all four books. Monster and Vision  in White were really fast reads just because the actual pace of the story went really fast. Great books that you can finish in about two days. The History of Love (which I am absolutely in love with) took a little longer to read even though it was a much shorter book just because I wanted to make sure that I read every little detail and didn't miss anything. The poetry book didn't take long either, the poems were fairly short and so was the book. I already did a review on Vision in white (click here to see that review), but if you guys want a review on any of the other books I'll be more than happy to do so. All in all I was very happy with the books I read this month.

     Now for next month's reads! I'm really excited about this one :) 

1. Dracula Rekindled by Xander Buchan: I strated reading this book on Friday (is that cheating?), but I know that I won't be able to finish it by the end of the month so I put it over to next month. It's really good so far. I'm more than likely going to do a review or discussion (will contain spoilers because I'll go much more in depth) on this book. Thoughts on this? Which would you prefer?

 2. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn: I promised a friend that I would read this and after doing a little reserach on the book I'm super pumped to get into it. It's definitely different from any book I've read.

3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: I'm reading this one for a reading group that I'm part of on Goodreads (Classics Without All the Class) and I've never read anything by Tolstoy, but I know that this book is raved about and so I'm excited for this one too (I'm excited for everything as you can tell).

4. Cartas a Mama Desde el Infierno (Letters to Mom From Hell) by Ingrid Betancourt: The history and     the events of the Colombian drug cartels is extremely interesting. The author of this book was actually captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and lived as a prisoner in the jungle for more than five years. It's an interesting book and it's not something that I typically read, but reading is all about expanding your scope of literature and what better way to do it than with a topic that you're not very well versed on?

    

     I want to keep reading four books every month (maybe more, but no less) and this list seems doable seeing as the last book is 63 pages long and can be read in about one or two hours. Look forward to book reviews (or discussions) soon. Till next time :)

   

Book Review: Vision in White (#1 in the Bride Quartet Series) by Nora Roberts

     Hello again! Ok, for my first book review I wanted to keep it light so the genre is Romance and I chose Vision in White by Nora Roberts. First of all, Nora Roberts is my favorite romance author. The first book that I ever read in this genre was by her. I cannot for the life of me remember what book it was, but I liked it enough to make Roberts my favorite romance author. That's why I'm so conflicted with this book.

     This is the story of Mackensie "Mac" Elliot, an amazing wedding photographer whose life gets complicated when sweet and shy English professor Carter Maguire, brother of one of the brides she's working with, comes into her life. She decides to give him a chance, but she wants to keep it casual. But the casual relationship turned into something she wasn't expecting, or wants, and drama ensues.

     That's pretty much the story line of most of Roberts stories. If the woman isn't the one that wants nothing to do with a relationship, or in this case keep it casual, then it's the man who feels that way. What varies in her stories are the circumstances and the issues each character has. Let's start off with the one negative that I found in this book: the language. I personally think that the language used was too "modernized". Roberts  had the women call each other "bitches" and "sluts" as terms of endearment and while I do understand that this happens now I don't like it for Robert's books. She's such a pure and wholesome writer that I was completely put off by the terms that she used. I also didn't like how short and abbreviated the conversations were. Again, I'm just used to a different style from her.

     Onto the good points. I loved the actual story. I love strong and independent women characters who don't wait around for a guy. I loved Carter's character. The sweet, intelligent, and somewhat clumsy English Professor is always good with me (we all have our preferences, right?). The interactions between Mac and Carter are adorable. The book is a fast read because the conversations are so fast paced. You can feel the energy coming from the characters and it transfers onto you making you zoom by the book. It's light and fun read. I'll more than likely read the other three books in the series.
     Guys, Carter Maguire deserves his own paragraph. I didn't emphasize enough how much I liked him. Usually the men in romance novels are big tough players who think they can have any girl they want. Not Carter. He's the complete opposite and it makes him such a likable character. He's no pushover though. He defends himself when he needs to and also tries to defend Mac. I love the fact that he tries to be rational and logical about everything. Everything except his love for Mac. Needless to say that I swooned with almost every word that he said. I'm almost afraid to read the other books in the series because I don't know if I'll like the other guys half as much as I liked Carter. Here's hoping.

     All in all I really liked this book. I thought that although the plot was repetitive and I knew how the ending was going to turn out, the small bits of background information that Roberts added to the characters really changed it up from the previous books I've read from her. Like I said, the only thing I didn't like was the use of language, the way that this one was "modernized" was off putting. I recommend it for anyone that's a fan of Nora Roberts and is looking for a fast romantic read.

April Reads

     Hi everyone! You can click on the title of the books and it'll take you straight to the Goodreads page so you can see what other people have thought of the book. Let's jump right into what I'm reading this month:

• Poesía by Dulce Maria Loynaz. (Only book that's not on Goodreads. Sorry.) For those that don't know Spanish, poesía means poetry. In celebration of International Poetry Month I decided to read a poetry book. At the same time I wanted to read something in Spanish so I decided to pick this one. It's just a compilation of Loynaz's works and it's very beautiful. I tried to find it on Goodreads, but they didn't have this particular book there. They had other books by Loynaz though, so if you're interested in Spanish poetry you should try to pick up one of her books.
• Vision in White by Nora Roberts. I'm a huge fan of the romance genre and my favorite author is Nora Roberts. This is the first book in her Bride Quartet series. Roberts books have always been quick reads and lovely in my opinion. I might do my first book review on this one. Thoughts on this idea?
• Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich. Ok, so this isn't a book that i'll be able to read in one month. It's a book that gives you tips, stories and exercises to help you practice writing. So far i'm finding it very helpful. The exercises can vary from one page to three pages to a paragraph. Novakovich leaves it up to the reader how long to make their writing just because if the creativity and the ideas are there then you shouldn't stop. The reason why I said I won't be able to finish this book is because I really want to take my time to work on the exercises and that's going to take more than a month.

      That concludes the books that i'm currently reading. Tell me if you like the idea of the first book review being Vision in White. Also, if you guys have read any of the books above please tell me what you thought about them. See you guys in the next post which is going to be my first book review! Till then :)