The Vikings Hold

By Jany Vernis on wattpad. Historical fiction becomes a favourite genre thanks to Quatrain by J.Medley. This is my first read on the vikings and it's truly awesome. I'm sure many of her millions of readers were awed by the strong chatacters, sweet romantic moments and suspenseful scenes. I love the main character, the hero Sven and second is his dad Gunnar the tradesman. However, I cannot avoid not liking the woman lead character Ashlweyn from the very start. She is a symbol of selfish hypocrite..just my opinions! Vernis is such a talented writer, very sensitive to her readers of all major faiths and beliefs. She writes like a pro. Still, she seems to be a very down to earth person, one very confident rocking mommy to her beloved teenagers. I like your work much JVernis.

The land of Stories

The wishing spell episode.....I so love this novel by Chris Colfer. Introduced to me by my 13 year old daughter, I am really glad to have the pleasure of indulging in it over the weekend. I find it quite slow at first, the story of Mrs Peters trying to engage with her bored students with her somewhat boring style did not make me want to read on. However, soon as the leading characters Conner and Alex got swallowed by the book and began their journey in the enhanting land of fairies, I found it difficult to put the book down. Chris is quite a talent; I love his character and how he brought it to life in Glee, and I am still awed by his creative writing. The ending is rather interesting, where the twins found out about their dad and grandma....she is the fairy godmother! Somewhere three quarter into the novel I sort of guessed that the writer of the journal is the twins' dad, but I didn't guess that the grandma is the fairy godmother. Love it! Wish that Scholastic would consider including colorful illustrative pictures in between the pages of upcoming editions

Roses by Leila Meacham

This is truy the best read I've had the past few years. As stated by"People", it is "Like Gone with the Wind, this epic is gloriously entertaining". For me, the superlatives of superb, magnificent, enthralling, spell-binding among others would describe this wonderful piece. It is the story of Mary Toliver in East Texas 1916. The younger child of two, inherrited cotton plantation called Somerset from her father Vernon, following which she has to endure the loss of her only love, her only child and so much more. Worst, her mother who was chose to be broken hearted for not being given the land, punishd Mary in the most chilling fashion. She knitted a bedcovering for Mary's 20th birthday and later hang herself with it. The afghan is pink, a color associated with "unforgiveness". The guests remarked "your mother has worked so long and hard for your gift Mary, who can blame her for not wanting to let it go". Oh boy, what horrifying gesture. The love tale of Mary and Percy Warwick is the most beautiful of love stories I've ever imagined can occur between two beautiful privileged people. Beautiful and the most tragic. The book is especially haunting in the middle. Towards the end, I've just got to be so pissed off with the character of Rachel, Mary's nephew whom she wanted to save from the Somerset curse. I really cannot bring myself to even sympatize with this Rachel, even when she finally changed her mind about suing Percy for the land ownership. I even like Lucy better. Ahh, there is too much to tell; you would have to read it for yourself. It's a damn thick book, I never thought I'd be able to finish it in one week; the whole 609 pages, and I read the hard copy. But YESSSS, I'm so glad I did. One of my hundreds of favourites,said by Ollie DuMonts when Mary asked him to marry her so that the child that she conceived with Percy would not be tainted by people's bad mouthing "I cant believe this....to think that you...would marry me...that my most impossible dream has come true. The only blunt to my happiness is Percy...He will be devastated..."

The innocent by David Baldacci

Yes, I finished this one on one of my tablets yesterday. It's one of the thriller based on terrorists in the eyes of certain quarters of the world. Not bad the story line, which is reason I actually could be motivated to continue reading till the last page. But I am still quite uneasy with the notion that some bad things when done by people we view as bad become something bad, but when done by us or people we have a link with, they become survival or necessary or even heroic. Such unfair world.

A thousand splendid suns

It is my first read of Khaled Hosseini's work. Overall, yes, I would read the other books by him. This particular one is sadly interesting. I actually learned a few new things about the fights of the Afghans; those who are not warlords, politicians , foreign powers puppets and or extremists. To think that the main characters Mariam and Laila were married off before their 17th birthday....isn't that child rape? I am so glad that Mariam finally pushed herself to kill her rotten husband Rasheed after the physical abuses he has inflicted on both Mariam and Laila. I would have done it much earlier if I were there. I think Khaled wrote this very well and I especially like his comments in the postscript very much. I think it is very revealing of his good intentions, just to appreciate or explore the minds of the oppressed women of Afghans. I recently saw several new books apparently written to smear the Talibans or whoever in Afghanistan; books written by this girl Nujood Ali. I have not read her books, will do real soon. But from the titles of the books, I can only see her through my negative "complaining-much-and-probably trying-to-grab people's sympathy" lens. Kudos Khaled Hosseini, your work clearly indicates your professionalism. I shall read your first book The Kite Runner to enable me to know more about you and your thoughts.

Madeline Sheehan's Undeniable & Unbeautifully

These two works I finished reading in 2 days. Three words; awesome then awful. I actually startedwith Unbeautifully, almost half way, then I decided that I need to read the first work. I think the first book is really classy, the author is truly in her elements. It is totally page turner. I love the main characters Deuce and Eva. And I also find the bad guy Frankie an amazing guy. But the second book is so disappointing. It is deeply engaging the first half, but for some reason, maybe in comparison with the heavy story of Deuce & Eva, the story of Ripper and Deuce's daughter Danny lacks strength. Too weak, too much mushy lovey BS that does not fit into the setting. If that guy Ripper is really a true biker, it doesnt make sense for him to drop his ego like an idiot for a girl, no matter how hot she is. And he slept with the boss' daughter, then ran away like a pussy, then came back like a bloody selfish moron and broke the brotherhood code by sleeping with a brother's girl, Deuce should have made him suffer like hell if not just blow his brains.

The Caliphate

I read this ebook written by one Thomas/Tom Kratman April. I'm telling you, I must be quite crazy myself to be able to read through the whole novel. It is a fiction all right but I think with this kind of style, this novel should instead be categorized as "one man's dreams". Everyone writes, fiction or non fiction for some reasons. And usually the most likely reason is either to share your thoughts and sentiments about something. I was no doubt attracted to start reading because of the title. "Hey, this is one story about Islam and Muslims written by a non Muslim, should be interesting to see his points of view" I thought. And I have good faith in him. When I finally finished reading the last page, I thought, this author is just sick but hilariously funny. I pity him though, such a dented mind. It is in short about Hans, Petra, Hamilton, Thomson, Ling, Mahmoud and Gabi. I am so not in the mood to explain further about the story as I think it is quite a sickening effort by Mr Kratman to share his sick ideas of why Muslims should never be let to live and why the US should be allowed to terminate any country who shows the slightest inclination to tolerate Muslims. He writes how scientists Sands, Johnston and Meara are paid by the Caliphate to create virus which would one day be released to kill all non-Muslims and how they use human beings as the live experiments. He makes a hero out of one President Buckman, who took over from a weak female President, with mandate from almost all sides and parties in the US for his Armageddon plan, to bomb to non-existence 55 major Islamic cities with many more minor cities with warheads, including Mecca, Cairo and Medina because he thinks that those countries play a role in bombing three American cities. This mad man also obliterated North Korea and Pyongyang for not showing enough respect for the US. This author lets this President die a peaceful death. Hahaha. Check this out "Afterword: It would be pleasant to report, had it come to pass, that President Buckman had somehow been overthrown, and that he had been tried for his many crimes and hanged. Sadly, this was not to be. Rather, he passed away quietly one night in 2036, leaving us his legacy: an empire we don't want to get rid of, the enmity of most of the world, a crushing military burden, and damage to our traditional civil liberties that has yet to be fully undone and may never be." I think that Kratman tries to let us see that he is normal by writing "an empire we don't..." but based on my reading of the whole book, this is not likely. Kratman is actually a lunatic who deep in his heart hopes and prays that one fine day, a President Buckman would really lead USA. Checking out on his public profile, I can easily understand how he become the monster that he is. Or probably he's more a victim of the dark cloyds surrounding some people full of hate where he lives. Pity. Based on what I read in this novel, I think the most apt character to reflect Tom Kratman is Meara, a fat ugly child molester who thinks that he is one special man and that the world should love him for who he is, and in the end, he is strangled to death by two kids he abused. Anyhow, I'd want to try and read at least one more novel by this lunatic called Tom Kratman, probably A State of Disobedience (December 2003) just to ascertain my thoughts on him.

The rain tree

It's a novel by Sylvie Phillips, a book I bought during this year's Big Bad Wolf. The cover synopsis says "Murder and deceit in Thailand; everyone has something to hide". I was sort of in the mood for a short retreat by the sea when I decided to pick up the book. Just te last three days were spent quite satisfactorily spent at Pangkor Beach resort. That is I think, the main reason why that book became a sensible companion. The cover picture is also quite alluring, two girls in swim suit seeming to have a sweet time on the beach in a tropical island. The main set is Koh Keo Island, whether this place actually exists, I dont know. The story is about a few people; Tom and Fiona who later found that they really belong to each other, Sally and Delphine, two sometimes awkward friends with a nice to contemplate love-hate friendship, Keng the slightly muscular nice to look at Thai guy who first enjoys the company of Sally but later fell in simple love with Delphine, Clive a good looking but rather shallow husband of Fiona who funnily thought he cannot do his wife because he carries an image of a goddess, and several others. Not bad really, I think the pace is actually just great. The way Phillips develops the storyline, the characters, how their paths of life entwined or crisscross and the suspense leading to quite an unexpected "what actually happened" is quite a thrill. I enjoy reading this book. Must say one of the expressions I truly can agree with is spelled out very clearly by Sally, "Danny, a craggy, blue-eyed Australian instructor .....had a scap of a Thai girl for a girlfriend...she simply refused to compete with a Thai girl. As far as she was concerned, they were mostly gold-digging bimbos and any man who actually wanted a Thai girl was simply ...."

First Sight by Daniele Steele

Yawn.....first and last impression I've got from reading this one, it must have been written for the benefit of aunties in their golden years, too much repetition and way too soft weiii. A love story no doubt but with little interesting twists. I wonder if this has always been Steele's style and can't remember if I've read any novel of his before. Forty eight years young Timmie O'Neill is a nice character though, strikingly successful in the world of rich, talented, kind hearted and famous. The guy who plays one of her bratty Casanova boyfriends Zack, I think should be made younger by 10 or 15 years. Then it'll be quite interesting I think. The French doctor, highly professional, great sense of responsibility for all in his path, handsome, about to divorce his wife after thirty something years of marriage, devoted to his cancer stricken wife and kids coz the flame is no longer there but wanting to do it gently, mmmmmm he's quite cool too, but boring like hell to me. I'd love to have Timmie find her true love in a macho man who rules the corporate world ruthlessly and with a vengeance but with romantic heart and sweet loving for her. Someone like the hero from my recent read, McNaught's Paradise, Matt Farrell maybe? That would be rocking.

Cross Fire by James Patterson

I love reading this one. Actually decided to start Mr Patterson's novel after accidentally reading on him being the greatest thriller writer in a newspaper column. Must say I was surprised to find out that Dr Alex Cross is not white. Not because of anything funny, just that I think this little surprises adds to Mr Patterson's calibre. The antagonist Kyle Craig is quite a character too. Going far to do plastic surgery just to pursue his revenge against the media material Dr Cross. I think it's a nice balance of subtle humour in a not very intense thrilling but still powerful enough to lead me to continue reading for as long as I can detective novel. And Dr Cross' new wife Bree.....I actually imagine her to look like Halle Berry, ravenous, distinctly above average strong and sweet as caramel cookie all at once. Probably as I watched The Cat woman earlier today. I definitely will read another Patterson's novel later, probably other than the Alex Cross series, probably not. Whichever, I am now his admirer. Reading Danielle Steel's light novel now. And watched the wonderful story of JK Rowling's Magic.....something just now, suddenly feeling so dumbly Dumbledore inspired that I must start with the first Harry Porter novel today. Ahhhh Dear Gracious God, thanks so much for your blessings, I truly love being able to read.

Paradise by Judith McNaught

I know now as I've known since I was a quarter of the book, this is a wonderful love story. It is indeed the best romance novel I've read so far. The characters strong in all the areas that matter. The amazing commitment to her career, her family name and her man are superbly respectable. Matt Farrell's charisma is wonderfully narrated directly and indicated. I can just feel his manly superiority oozing with amazing sexual appeal. Totally any woman's dream. Totally opposite of the bloody stupid Shades of Gray rubbish. I think Paradise in so many ways though there are similarities, is much better than the first McNaught's novel which I read, 'Perfect'. I'd love to dream living the sweet dream life of Meredith and Matt tonight.