Synopsis

Synopsis

Tell me your deepest, darkest secrets. I dare you.

Addiction comes down to one simple, primitive concept. Desire. 

My name is Dr. Dixon Mathews, and I’m New York’s finest shrink. For $500 an hour, people tell me their darkest, most sinful secrets. 

My own addiction? Sex. 

I might be certified in solving other people’s problems, but not mine – 
I know I’m a lost cause. I don’t do relationships. I don’t even do the same woman twice. 

But that’s all about to change, thanks to two entirely different women who awaken my deepest desires. 

Who will I choose? 

I know who I should choose, but I never said I was the hero of this story, or even the good guy. And besides, who wants to be good, when it feels so good being bad? 

My tale isn’t for the faint-hearted. If you’re game, strap yourself in and expect the unexpected. But don’t say I didn’t warn you… 

Achingly sexy and highly addictive, the first in the Sinful Pleasures Series will have you hooked. Driven to Sin coming very soon… 

Review

I don't hate this book but I also didn't love it, and I can't put my finger on why this is.

I found it refreshing to read something in the point of view of a sex addict, lets face it, Dixon is a sex addict. And even though he seems to be enjoying himself, there is that sadness and uncertantiy in him, that self hate he has after he sleeps with a random woman.

You begin to feel sorry for him in a way because you understand why he has become this person. His so called "love of his life" cheats on him with his best friend. Enough said really.

When I first started reading Addicted To Sin I was surprised and shocked. For the life of me I did not expect a book to just jump right in there. You also get to see that Dixon doesn't really care what type of woman he gets aroused for, he's a sex addict, anything female would do for him.

Even though I felt sorry for Dixon in a way, I didn't like him over much. Okay yes he is addicted to sex, but he just keeps letting his dick do all the thinking for him. C'mon Dixon, it's not hard to decide which girl to pick.

So why three stars if I didn't love it....well I love Monica James' writing. Her story telling and characters I enjoyed the most. And because of that I would definitely pick up more of her books.

Synopsis

Lisbeth Salander gets under the skin of her targets like no-one else. Those who underestimate her live to regret it. If they are lucky....

Mikael Blomkvist-disgraced journalist, womanizer-is everything she ought to hate. But when she is hired by a security firm to investigate him, her report on his life reveals an integrity that fascinates her.

Then she discovers that Blomkvist, himself a brilliant investigator, is cracking open the cold case of a missing girl-uncovering secrets that have poisoned a family through generations.

And only one thing gives Salander greater satisfaction than exposing a liar:stopping a killer.

Review

The original Swedish title of this book is Men Who Hate Women. That's basically the book summed up in four words. It suits this story much better than the catchier The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, because it is in fact about men doing all kinds of horrid things to women. So here is the first warning to you, if you can't handle violence against women and children well, skip this novel. 

Normally I'm a person who reads the book before watching the movie adaption. But there does come a time when that isn't so, and this is one of them. Actually to be honest, before I saw the movie I did attempt to read the book but I put it down after reading the first chapter. I couldn't understand what was going on because they kept on telling you about the present then all of a sudden talking about a past event. 

Watching the movie and getting a good idea on what was going on, actually helped me begin the book again. 

So on that note, even though I knew the layout, I still was on the edge of my seat wondering what will happen to these characters.

I would also be giving you guys a review on the 2011 film adaptation, which stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.

It's hard to give a short synopsis of the book, as it's long and detailed in every aspect. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starts off as an investigation of a 40-year old disappearance of a teenage heiress, but gradually morphs into a tale of serial murder and corporate trickery spanning several continents and later takes in complicated international financial fraud and the buried evil past of a wealthy Swedish industrial family.

Actually just read the blurb, that gives you a better understanding then my miserable attempt.

I found this book extremely engaging and full of action, there rarely was a dull moment. I also enjoyed the immense details about everything, from corporate crime to a twisted Swedish family. A nail biting read that never stopped even when the murderer was identified.

The only problem I had with this book was the writing style. Not sure if it's because of the translation, but I found it a bit poor. I can't think of the right word for it, it was basically not a well written book even though I really loved the story. And because I can't read the book in it's original language, I don't know if it's the same or translation.

Throughout the book, which is in four parts, you get a little statistic knowledge of Sweden's violence against women. I found this disgusting and miserable. I don't think Stieg Larsson was on the board of tourism when he wrote this, because it didn't make me want to get on a plane and fly to Sweden.

Here are the four statistics dated in approx 2003:

1. 18% of the women in Sweden have at one time been threatened by a man

2. 46% of women in Sweden have been subjected to violence by a man

3. 13% of the women in Sweden have been subjected to aggravated sexual assault outside of a sexual relationship

4. 92% of women in Sweden who have been subjected to sexual assault have not reported the most recent violent incident to the police

I shouldn't be pointing the finger at Sweden and making assumptions because to be honest, in my opinion, I think those facts apply to the rest of the world.

This however didn't spoil my reading experience. I am eager to start reading The Girl Who Played with Fire and see what Mikael and Lisbeth are up to next. Hopefully, no more rapes and violence against women (and men too).

Congratulations, you have been chosen to act as Death.  It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.  It is your duty to retrieve soul vessels from the dead and dying and see them on to their next body. If you fail, Darkness will cover the world and Chaos will reign.

Welcome to Charlie Asher's new job, but life is never as easy as it sounds.  For Charlie Asher, Beta Male, nothing can go right after the birth of his daughter.  Despite his best efforts to collect souls before the sewer harpies can get their claws into them, running his secondhand clothing store, and raising his daughter, Darkness is apparently coming.

Some days you just need to read a book that makes you ugly laugh, the king of laughter people stare at your for.  Christopher Moore , at least for me, writes those kinds of books and A Dirty Job didn't disappoint.  Several times I had people either looking up at my patio as cracked up, or stared as they walked by where I eat lunch. Not that I spared them much of a glance.  I was more concerned about what was going to happen next.

There wasn't much need for world building in A Dirty Job because it is set in San Francisco, but Christopher Moore did a wonderful job of transporting me there.  It wasn't with great detail that entire city was explained, but Moore picks certain things that stuck with me: like the random bits of animals pieces sold in Chinetown and the fact the best ally for combating sewer harpies is in the Financial District.  The entire books he describes the neighborhoods Charlie (our main character and resident Death Merchant) goes to collect his souls, but these descriptions are short as not to bog down the story with too much detail.  Which seeing as it's set into the now and not some distant future or made world, was great.  I do sort of know what San Francisco looks like.

As for the characters that were brought into the book throughout the story I honestly loved each one.  Charlie Asher is easy to root for because he doesn't try to be a hero that he isn't.  He's trying to raise his daughter, run his father's shop, and not bring about the end of days.  There are a lot of characters that came in and go throughout the entire story.  Some for brief moments, some pop in and out.  Alvin and Mohammed are probably the two most adorable hellhounds I've seen, only trumped toward the end when you meet the zombie squirrel people. One of my favorite things is the Emperor of San Francisco has a camo (he's a real dude).  I was super excited to see Christopher Moore included him into the cast of characters.

The story itself was super fun and true to the style I've come to know and love from Christopher Moore.  Which means its not suitable for kids in any shape or form.  It is most definitely for mature audiences only.  I felt like the pacing of the book was great and the timeline jumps years as it progresses, but I didn't get lost with the jump.  Moore uses Sophie's (Charlie's daughter) age to show the passage of time. I liked that the book spanned years, not months, and gave our main character a chance to get the hang of being a Death Merchant.  Time for the Darkness and Chaos to start to rise.  Not just BOOM here's the end of the world, sorry you're the new guy.

Now, all of the being said there were a few parts, maybe just things, I wasn't overly fond of.  The first is more of a personal preference thing for me, Charlie's sister Jane, I wasn't really fond of her throughout any part of the story.  In fact, outside of babysitting I'm not really sure what point she served.  I don't know, I personally didn't like her.  She felt like a nag who was more concerned about getting her brother laid than wondering why to very large black dogs that literally eat anything are standing guard over her niece.  But, hey, that's just me.  The other thing was at times I got the Morigans confused as to which one was who and did what terrible thing.  But! I did enjoy them as the bad guys.  That had some of the best lines in the book.  I just kept confusing them and was never sure who was who.

In the end was this my favorite Christopher Moore book?  No, Lamb is still my number one, but A Dirty Job definitely came close.  

Is Charlie Asher my favorite MC?  Nope, because no one will ever hold my heart like Pocket.

Will I read another book by Christopher Moore?  Um, it's sitting right next to my elbow and as soon as I'm done editing this review me and my pop-tarts are going to bust into it.

A Dirty Job was a great book and is one of my top 5 favorites from Christopher Moore.  It is the first of two books in the Grim Reaper Series.  I'm pretty sure there is only going to be two, but I could be wrong.  The book was hilarious from start to finish, and it was fun watching Charlie Asher, Beta Male, grow a backbone and almost become and Alpha Male.  Almost.  So if you need something funny, with adult sized humor, pick it up, or any of Christopher Moore's books. You won't regret it!

"A demon is not an items to be tossed aside like an old shirt.  When you have battled with yours, side by side, maybe you'll understand."

Novice is the first book in the Summoner series by Taran Matharu, and I've been wanting to read it since I stumbled across it on Goodreads.  Not only did the synopsis catch my eye, but the story behind how Novice become published was pretty awesome.  The story was written during National Novel Writing Month and then became a Wattpad sensation, and it's not hard to see why.  Hands down the most adorable book I've read this year.  There is honestly no other way for me to describe this book, but to call it adorable.

Without a doubt Novice falls in the Young Adult genre, but that shouldn't turn you away from reading it.  Taran Matharu created a wonderful fantasy world and lovable, and despicable, characters.   Fletcher is a great main character that you just can't help but to root for throughout the whole book, and Ignitions is about the cutest demon to every exist.

Now before picking up this book I did skim through a few reviews, just to see why people didn't enjoy about the Novice.  At the end of the book none of what bothered other people really bothered me.  Yeah, there is a lot of modern terminology throughout the book, but it's targeted for a younger crowd.  So the use of the Twenty-First Century language honestly didn't seem out of place. The target age for this story could relate language Matharu used. Does the book have a similarities to Lord of the Rings?  Kind of.  One of our main characters is a dwarf and another is an elf, but I felt that's sort of where the similarities really ended.  

The pacing of the book was good.  I never once really hit a part of the book where I started to get bored or wondered why this section was there.  However, a part of me felt like the last couple of chapters were a bit rushed.  Like Matharu was so excited to get us to the tournament that he just sort of skipped  the last month of our main characters training.  Even if we'd just had a chapter to glimpse at the their struggle to be the best I wouldn't be complaining, but I just felt like he gave us one moment of the struggle to train for this huge moment.  Then the moment was there.

My other complaint is the ending.  Was it terrible?  Nope.  Did I like it? Nope.  Why?  Because I have to wait until May of 2016 to find out what happened!  That being said I do like that the book ended on a cliffhanger, and one that had sort of been looming over Fletcher through the entire book but sort fell to the back burner.  Other things were happening around Fletcher and his friends, and his whole reason for ending up at Vocans Academy was forgotten.  It felt sort of right for the book to end where the it started.  It felt like we came full circle from page one.

All and all it was a wonderful book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I loved a great number of the characters and the world that Taran Matharu created in Novice.  It isn't hard to see why this book became so popular on Wattpad and was picked up to be published.  It is hands down adorable and a must read.  I cannot wait for the second book in the series to be published.  The first chance I get I'm pre-ordering it, and it is definitely a must read for 2016.