Review: Vince's Life by Vince Teves

I would like to thank Ms. Jieneb for giving me these books. She was very nice to me. How do I come about these books? Well, I think I'm lucky, let's leave it at that... Time for my book review, this time around, the book that I'm reviewing is from a Filipino author, I've never done this before, I rarely, almost never, read a local book. It's just not my thing. I have nothing against local writers, I think they're awesome! Never met one in person, but they're still cool! Wanted to be an author myself, but I know my limits. Reality bites, therefore, I consider myself a reader and not a writer.  Okay, let's go back to my review. At first, I was a bit apprehensive if I wanted to review these books, much more accept them. I was afraid of giving a bad review. But they told me (the publishing house) that I should do an honest opinion of the books, so here goes nothing...

Book 1: Vince's Life. Okay, I didn't love this book that much.  Well, one thing is for sure, this book is all about Andrea, I think there isn't a page on it that Andrea wasn't mentioned. It's all about her and how Vince loved her all his life. The book started off weak for me, there were too many things going around, I can't find the story, I can't seem to grasp what the author wants the reader to understand. I was so confused with so many characters, I did like Connie and Spider though, and they seem real enough for me. Maybe because the book is like a diary itself. It's too fast-paced for me, I struggle to keep up with it, and I don't like it when I struggle. I get bored and lose interest altogether. The good news is that I admire the character of Vince, he is really devoted and so much head over heels in love with Andrea, I guess we sometimes do crazy things when it comes to love. Vince's Life could've been a better book for me if the author had given the characters more depth. For a first novel, it's not that bad, needs a bit of polish but the important thing is that I managed to finish it. So maybe it's not that bad after all. 

The Next Chapter: Getting Over Andrea, book 2, on the other hand redeemed itself! I like the structure of this one and the story line is just alright. I can relate to Vince's character in this book, being the new guy at work, trying to test the waters, and finding out how you can "belong" with your other co-workers and basically getting a foothold with your new surroundings, well, that's what happened to me before. I like Emilio and Ramon's characters, they're cool, and the elevator prank was just awesome! I think I'll try that on my office mates one of these days. The boss and the three hot girls also made the book interesting. I think Cat and I will hit it off since I love to read so much!

It's true what Vince said about how rare he encounters other people who loves to read, in my family, I think I'm the only one who likes to read. And it's frustrating not to have someone to share your passion. I occasionally accosted people I don't know numerous times now, if I see them reading a book that I've read before, I try and engage them into a conversation, that's how crazy I am! Lucky me because they all agreed to talk to me. I feel this excitement whenever I talk to someone regarding my books. It lifts me up! Book 3 is the best of the lot. The maturity of the characters are well placed and executed in this book and to wrap it all up, this trilogy should be on your shelf, if you want to cheer for a character, Vince is right on the dot. He'll take you to his journey of love, betrayal, sacrifice and happiness...

 

My Rating: 3 Stars

Review: Cross by James Patterson

 SYNOPSIS:

Alex Cross was a rising star in the Washington, DC, Police Department when an unknown shooter gunned down his wife, Maria, in front of him. Alex's need for vengeance was placed on hold as he faced another huge challenge-raising his children without their mother.

THE MOST TERRIFYING CROSS EVER.
Years later Alex is making a bold move in his life. He has left the FBI and set up practice as a psychologist once again. His life with Nana Mama, Damon, Jannie, and little Alex finally feels like it's in order. He even has a chance at a new love.

Then Cross's former partner, John Sampson, calls in a favor. He is tracking a serial rapist in Georgetown, one whose brutal modus operandi includes threatening his victims with terrifying photos. Cross and Sampson need the testimonies of these women to stop the predator, but the rape victims refuse to reveal anything about their attacker.

THE MOST EMOTIONAL CROSS EVER.
When the case triggers a connection to Maria's death, Alex may have a chance to catch his wife's murderer after all these years. Is this a chance for justice at long last? Or the culminating scene in his own deadly obsession?

 MY REVIEW:

I've always been interested in Alex's wife, Maria, James mentioned her in his previous books, but just in passing. What was she like? What role did she play in Alex's life? Most importantly, what happened to her? Yeah, so many questions in my head and some of them were answered in this book. The story started with a touching replay of Maria's death, I finally learned how Maria died. It was really awful; she died in the arms of Alex. Before her death, Alex and Maria was madly in love with each other, they were almost inseparable. They were each others' soul-mates. When Maria was shot right in front of Alex's very eyes, he felt like his world had come to an end. That's how much he loved Maria. It's like a part of him died with her, her memory will always have a place within his heart.

Nana, Alex's grandmother wants him to quit his job, this has been an on-going issue on their household, and she wanted Alex to give up his dangerous work ever since his close encounter with death. She is constantly worried about his safety whenever he steps out of the house, his job could very well be the death of him. Surprisingly, Alex did quit his job, he loves it very much but I think this time around, he's fed up with it, to some level, of course. Alex returns as a psychologist and had a first patient who was strangled by her fiancé. 


Alex thought that his life would turn around for the better when comes along Michael Sullivan, a serial rapist who shows photos of gruesome manner to his victims. Michael was abused by his father when he was very young. His father was the local butcher and when the right time came, he killed his father for the crime he had done to him. Michael has two kids and a wife, but it seems like he doesn't genuinely care or love them, he just uses them as a cover story for all the crimes he committed. This book is like an episode of Anderson I've seen once. About a husband who turned out to be a killer and the wifey and the kids didn't know. Scary right? Alex and Michael's lives intertwined together as they are bonded by the mysterious death of Maria. Alex and Michael have something in common. They are both fathers. James let us view two different side of the story. The good father and the bad one and how they live their lives so very different from one another. It also shows us the disadvantages of working for a mob boss and that they can turn back on you.  Kayla, Alex's love interest, was stabbed, Alex was devastated by this and he relieved the trauma that he had with Maria. Kayla left for good; Alex didn't try to stop her nor told her he loves her. Maybe Alex doesn't want Kayla to get hurt again because of him.

The book is one of the best one in the series, it was adapted as a movie in the big screen and had many good reviews, I haven't seen the movie but someday I will. Cross is a must read book.

 

My Rating: 4 ½ Stars

Cover Story #1: By The Light Of The Moon by Dean Koontz

Cover Story is a meme here at BookableReads wherein I select any book cover and interpret the cover art with my own personal experiences and what's going on in my life right now.

And There Was Light...

I'm so happy to have received clip lights for my books! Yeah. Clip lights. Because there are four of them! Not only that, it comes with eight extra batteries! Isn't that cool or what?!! I find it hard to read during the evenings and it's only because of the poor lighting we have in our house. I like to read while lying in bed and at night because the minimal noise that is present during nighttime. These clip lights couldn't have arrived at a better time. I was planning on getting these before Christmas, I've read a post from a fellow book blogger who apparently featured his own clip lights and how all of us book worms should have one. His clips were so much better than mine but I'm not complaining with what I have now. Hehehe.

I'm amazed with the thinking brain of us human beings, the inventions we have created to better our lives. I know that these light clips aren't one of those huge inventions from so many important ones, but nevertheless it is still awesome! I can still remember the times wherein I was forced to use a flashlight to read during the night. I bunk in with my cousins before and we sleep side by side, the problem was that I can't read because the lights would have to be on to do that and I like reading while lying in bed so that was a bit of a problem on my part. My cousins on the other hand won't be able to get some sleep if the lights are on coz I'm reading. I can't read anywhere else in the house. Well, the bathroom sounds good but I can't stand the smell hehehe. Okay, I'll stop my babbling. Talking nonsense again!

I would like to say thank you to my Tito Val, he couldn't have given me a more meaningful gift! Thanks so much!

Cover Story Meme

Cover Story is a meme here at BookableReads wherein I select any book cover and interpret the cover art with my own personal experiences and what's going on in my life right now.

When I first heard about the world of blogging, it was my friend who gave me the idea to create a blog and he explained to me that blogging is like having your own newspaper and I can write and do anything on my blog. He persuaded me to set up one (he has a big influence in my decision-making process hehehe).  He very well know how much I love to read so getting topics to post on my upcoming blog doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. Book reviews of course! I was sceptical and a bit nervous at the same time. I've read loads of books way back when I was still in high school and each book has their own special place in my brain, whatever that means! I mean, I can still remember bits and pieces of the stories I've read. So when I started blogging, in my mind, all my posts will be strictly book-related topics but throughout the months that have passed, I started to post personal articles on my blog and I kinda liked it. I also struggled whether what language I should use on my blog, should I use Tagalog or English or both? I know for a fact that I'm not fluent or very good in English but I can write and express my feelings effectively when I use this language. I know that my grammar needs a bit of polishing but the most important thing for me is that my readers don't point that out, as long as they can understand what I want to say is enough for me. It's also a plus that the more I use this language, the more I learn about it.

I also wanted to reach more readers and bloggers around the world. Actually I've met new blogger friends and almost all of them are foreigners. I have a friend in Brazil and in America. We all know that English is the universal language and that solidified my decision to write posts in English. Some people might raise their eyebrows and criticize this blog but I couldn't care less, really, this is my blog and I can very well do what I want with it! Okay enough about that, I'd like to post more personal topics on this blog and to do that I created this new meme. Cover Story is a meme here at BookableReads wherein I select any book cover and interpret the cover art with my own personal experiences and what's going on in my life right now. I'm very excited about this new meme! Stay tuned for my very first Cover Story!