[ oo5 ]

[katara]

Title: Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side! (Star Wars Illustrated Novels #3)
Author: Tom Angleberger, Iain Mccaig (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: December 27, 2015 to January 01, 2016
Book Summary: Acclaimed, New York Times best-selling author Tom Angleberger delivers a captivating retelling of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi like you've never experienced before, infusing the iconic, classic tale of good versus evil with a unique perspective and narrative style that will speak directly to today's young readers while enhancing the Star Wars experience for core fans of the saga
Book Review: Another brilliant book in the Star Wars retelling.

I was, of course, a bit skeptical when I picked this one. I had enjoyed book one of this series but not book two. So I had lowered my expectations just a bit on this one. I see now I was wrong. This one was entertaining and full of more action.

This book was different from the last. There were no confusing points of view. Told in third person narrative with a dash of humor laced within the pages, it was a fun read and one that was really hard to put down even for a moment. I think I spent an entire night devouring the pages of this book from front to end and I was happy. Really happy with the ending results.

This series took me back to my childhood. I have loved Star Wars since I was a child and I continue to love Star Wars even now. These books have brought back so much nostalgia.

If you are looking for something that draws you back into a "galaxy far, far away..." then these are the books you are definitely looking for!

[ oo6 ]

[katara]

Title: Beautiful Bastard (Beautiful Bastard #1)
Author: Christina Lauren
Format: Epub
Rating: .5/5
Status: Did Not Finish
Reading Date: January 01, 2016 to January 01, 2016
Book Summary: An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling.

Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, blunt, inconsiderate—and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.

Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative—completely infuriating—creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he's never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe's so tempting he's willing to bend the rules—or outright smash them—if it means he can have her. All over the office.

As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win each other.

Originally only available online as The Office by tby789—and garnering over 2 million reads on fanfiction sites—Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for re-release.
Book Review: Real Rating: .5

I learned two things upon reading this book:

1. Anything coming from the Twilight fanfiction world is crap.

2. I need to stop listening to my friends when they recommend books. This has been the third recommendation that I have not finished at all.

Deciding I needed to take a break from the next start of a Star Wars book, I decided to enlist upon some friends and their book recommendations. It seems I had not learned my lessons from the last two but I thought some of them had grown past the whole "Twilight is the best books in the world!!!!1111" mentality.

I was wrong.

Dead wrong.

But it was my fault too. I had not read the entire summary that warned me at the bottom that this came from a Twilight fanfiction and thus I bear much of the blame for not researching this.

The characterizations were far too much like those from Twilight. It seemed like the author was far more in a hurry to have her book published rather than change anything about the characters that would not resemble in the least those of Twilight. Every word, every movement a character made and I knew exactly who they were suppose to be.

This book was a struggle for me to read and I got only into at least four chapters before I decided that it was best to call it quits. I don't think I could take another Twiight spin-off before I cracked.

If you like characters based upon the Twilight series, then this book is for you. If you are not a fan of the Twilight series, stay away from it.