Book Review- A Clash of Kings

Fantasy is a hard sell for me. I loved the first book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series (aka Game of Thrones for those watching the HBO series) because it was the start of an epic war story. The fantasy elements are there, but definitely secondary to the war elements of the story. The second book in the series, A Clash of Kings, picks up where the first book left off and continues with mounting intensity as several characters fight to overthrow the king and claim the throne for themselves.

It took me nearly a year to finish this book. I kept picking it up, reading couple hundred pages and then abandoning it. It took time for it to grab my interest, but once it did, I finished it in a matter of days. I was also reading it while watch season two of the series, trying to keep ahead of the episodes. I always like to read the book first. My interest level in the book was uneven. I couldn't wait to read the Daenerys, Tyrion and Sansa chapters. I trudged through the Davos, Stannis and Jon sections. It was much the same with watching the TV series. I did find that my interest in individual characters was not really with regard to the actual characters, but with the plot development of the book. I really love the character of Jon Snow, but his whole plot line in second book was painfully dull. One of the aspects of the series that I enjoy the most is the strong character development. If anything, Martin might be accused of being too verbose, but I would rather he overwrite than skimp on creating fully realized characters. I felt like reading the book filled in a lot of gaps that would have been left had I only watched the series.

The series does differ from the books and this drove me nuts. In many cases, the changes made sense. I didn't mind the characters that they added.The book is epic and changes will obviously need to be made to squeeze it into a ten episode season.

I was really irked at how they did the chapter of Daenerys and the House of the Undying Ones. In the book, it was extremely creepy and unsettling. I was looking forward to seeing how the series would interpret this particular chapter. It was so tame compared to the book! A big let down! The war sequence at the end was also really mild compared to the book. I love the series and think that they mostly do a very good job and handle the source material with care, but everything tends to be several notches gentler than the book.

Having the book and season two fresh in my mind, I am planning to start the third book and read it a timely manner. It seems like the perfect light, summer beach read to me!

Book Review- Becoming Sister Wives

I am completely fascinated with the Brown family and am not ashamed to admit that I love their reality show. When I saw that they had written a book, I immediately downloaded it on my Kindle and breezed through it in less than twenty-four hours. It's a very fast read! This book doesn't have stellar writing. I assumed that the Browns had help writing the book, but it doesn't come across as slick or professional. It reads very much like a self published book written by people with zero writing experience. Maybe this made me like it a little more, giving them kudos for doing it themselves. I'm not sure what the truth it and can't be bothered to investigate.

The format bothered me a bit. The book rotates between Kody and his wives, each taking a chapter to discuss a particular topic, like how they came into the marriage and how being on a reality show has affected their lives. It made the read a bit tedious. I would have preferred it being written interview style and if the story had included the opinions of their children and friends.

Setting aside the writing and format, the Browns have an interesting story and they have put themselves at great risk to tell it. I am from a very small family and growing up an only child without cousins, I find large families to be intriguing. I also love reading about fringe groups and cultures that are different than my own. This is what makes the Browns so appealing, the are definitely outside what would be considered the norm, but in many ways, they are no different than the average American family. If they had not come public, many of their neighbors and coworkers would have had any idea that they practice polygamy.

One message that was repeated throughout the book was the idea of patience and understanding in a marriage. I felt like the Browns gave great relationship advice garnered through their years of being a family. This advice could apply to any type of relationship- couples, friends, relatives. The idea of listening and learning what another person needs and knowing that all needs might not be the same for every person. In creating a strong foundation for any type of relationship, you need to listen to a persons needs and then meet those needs with understanding and compassion. The Browns all echoed the sentiment of striving for their personal best and always working towards that never ending goal. A big part of reaching that goal is connecting with each other and their children, making sure everyone feels loved and a vital part of the team. I know that many people will write off the Browns for their beliefs or the fact that they are on a reality show, but all of that aside, I felt like the book offered some great advice towards being a better person. The Browns are all very clear that they are far from perfect and have many faults, but I think this makes them more sincere. This isn't an advice book and it's anything but preachy, it's just a family telling their story and what works (and doesn't work) for them.

Book Review - Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Last week,I read an article by Jessica Park talking about self publishing ebooks on Amazon. I had never purchased a self published ebook and was curious to check out one that has had success as far as sales/reviews, so I went for it and purchased Park's "Flat-Out Love" for my Kindle.

I need to preface this review with a bit of a disclaimer...I love to write and have several stories floating around in my head and on paper, but with the exception of NaNoWriMo, I have never written a novel.I don't think NaNoWriMo really counts, because although it was the semblance of a novel and was over 50,000 pages, I think the real work is in the editing process and I have not done that on the scope of a novel.  I have not taken the time to do what Park has done and although I am thinking of giving self publishing a shot, I have not taken that step. So here is the disclaimer- Despite my following review, I admire that Park has taken the leap to self publish and has been successful at it. I hope to one day soon, be able to take that leap and actually be successful!

That said, I didn't care for "Flat-Out Love" and was a bit mystified that she was able to sell so many copies and get such great reviews. All of the technical aspects of the story are fine. There is a solid story, it's just painfully predictable and bland. I kept reading hoping that there would be a surprising twist, but no, the major plot points are very clear within the first quarter of the story. I was didn't like the main character, Julie. She managed to be naive and superior at the same time. I didn't like how all of the characters were written off as being misunderstood and tortured. It felt shallow and the last chapter of the book was saccharine.

Although I agreed with the sentiment that Park was expressing, I was very put off by the author's opening statement to readers. It came across as obnoxious and put me off before ever starting the book. I think that the same sentiment could have been expressed in a more eloquent way.

So, I didn't like the book. However, I think that this was personally valuable to me, to get a gauge on self-published ebooks and I will definitely check out some more authors. I also thought that her writing that article was brilliant, because she probably had a lot more people downloading her books. I had never heard of her prior to reading the article.