Kindle Free Books

I love my kindle. There is an abundance of free books available for it and I can download numerous books from my library. However, sometimes all the free stuff out there is hard to weed thru, so I take advantage of a few great sites that categorize and alert me of new free stuff:

• Books on the Knob - free and bargain reads, the layout is great
• Kindle Review - lists free books each day (new books in the afternoon) by genre, including number of pages and reviews
• BookHoot - summarizes information from various websites into one site
• From the desk of Mrs Wizard - blog with tips, tricks and book recommendations
• Free ebooks Daily - book summaries, front cover pictures and genre included
• eReaderIQ - searchable by genre, you can then read summaries and see reviews

Books - Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie

The first thing that draws you into this book is the cover, the simple image really catches your eye. It is just a pretty book.

Matched is about Cassia who lives in a society where most things are government controlled including who you are matched with for life. The government officials enforce the rules and also spring to life when there is upheaval or ideas that need re-adjusting. Each member of society must carry around a case of pills; one pill can be taken during times of stress and another taken at an officials insistence. The story opens up with Cassia's match ceremony and starts the story off to discuss choices and freedoms. The story was centered around love and very far from the fighting and conflict of most dystopian novels. In the events that follow, you think about what choices were really Cassia's and what choices were sparked because of the governments intervention. I would have liked more back story about the boys and if the next two books don't pick up the story of Xander, I would probably enjoy the author venturing into his story. The story goes into great detail about day to day life, food, exercise, death, etc, which is interesting and shows how controlled the people of the society are.

The end of the book leaves you with a cliffhanger for the second book in the trilogy.

Overall the book was fairly easy to read although a little slow paced, understandably since it is marketed for YAs. I really liked the shift from the dystopian "fighting" themes.

400 Pages

Books - Sisterhood Everlasting



 I will admit that I did not read the other books in this series, however, I did see the movie. The movie is what sparked me to pick up this book to see where it all went. I don't think it is necessary to have read the other books to understand the storyline, but it does reference items I saw in the movie and things I am sure were in the other books. I was still attached to the characters and while reading the book got a very good mental image of the actresses who played the parts.

Normally, I like books who complete a story for you, show you what happened after the last chapter. It is like being let in on a secret, getting to know more then you should. This book was no different although it was a heartbreaking read, you knew where the book was going but not how it was going to get there. With each of the four girls you could see a little of yourself and although it might not have been happily ever after it showed the struggles of life and how each coped.

However, I am not sure that I felt a satisfaction over how the book ended. I felt like there was a big drop off and it still left me floundering for more. I liked the story lines and liked the characters plots but the book left me sad.

Sisterhood Everlasting
Ann Brashares
369 pages

Books - Delirium

The story follows Lena a 17 year old about to receive the cure for love. Living in a world where love is a disease. The writing is wonderful and beautiful and detailed and makes you want to quickly turn the pages. The pacing of the story gives you insight into the character and the live they are leading. I felt like thoughts and ideas were fully investigated and you understood each turn the character took. at the start of each chapter we are given information from the government, propaganda on love and approved reading material. These little blurbs set the stage for the chapters. Relating to Lena for me was easy in her rule abiding, must obey type of thoughts from the very beginning of the book. Lena acknowledges many times that she is afraid and scared and pulled along by the rules of society. But as the book progresses you see her accessing her world and her own thoughts.

At the end of the book we are left with a huge spoiler and I hope that the next books are equally as good as Delirium.

Delirium
Lauren Oliver
401 pages

Hunger Games

I am a little late in reading this but wanted to finish the book prior to seeing the  movie. I was very surprised that the book was so good and I enjoyed it, the hype surrounding the book was well deserved. Once I started, I wanted to finish in one setting. I wanted to know what would happen to the characters, which boy she would pick and how they would both come out alive in the end. I was hooked.

The premise requires us to set aside our desire to stand up for ourselves, not question why this is happening and who has allowed it to be such and we must overlook that the characters in the book don't fight back. Parents do not stand up to fight for their child, no one from the Capitol realizes this is wrong or questions why it is done, and everyone lets a group of teenagers fight to the death, yearly. We do get a small glimpse of what happens when you rebel and this is the basis for everyone agreeing to the brutal mentality. You start to really pull for the characters and get attached.

The Hunger Games is a  yearly event where one girl and one boy are picked out of each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol. The book tells the story of those picked and even includes a love triangle.

It is also interesting to note that Suzanne Collins wrote for one of my favorite Nickelodeon shows, Clarissa Explains All.

Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
384 pages

Feb Books Read

When You're Young by Penny Childs
This was a free Amazon kindle purchase and I was surprised how much I liked it. A quick mystery/suspense read. Jo has a gift to see what victims see during their attack. She comes back to the town of her own attack and into the life of her first true love, the town sheriff.

Pages: 228



The Scorpion and the Seducer by Bonnie Vanak
Another Amazon freebie, Egyptian romance. It was a good story but took me some time to finish it, I kept having to put it down and come back to it. It was a little hard to connect to the characters and I wasn't so involved that I wanted to immediately finish the book. However, the surprise ending wasn't glaring obvious in the beginning of the book.

Pages:326

Books to be Read

Books that have been recommended to me:

• Sisterhood Everlasting
• The Christmas Quilt - Patricia Davids
• Darcy's Voyage (Pride and Prejudice Spin) - Kara Louise
• The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier
• Stiff - Mary Roach
• Illusions - Richard Bach
• Beautiful Disaster -  Jamie McGuire
• Girl On Top - Nicole Williams
• Jodi Picoult
• Jennifer Weiner
• Sophie Kinsella
• Kitty Thomas

Free Books Downloaded

Downloaded Today:

• Famous Last Words

Read January 2012 A Knght to Remember

by Karin Tabke

 
Book Description: Promised to the cloister, the free-spirited Lady Mercia returns home before her final vows for her sister Rowena’s wedding to a Welsh prince. But fate intervenes when she finds a badly wounded man washed up upon the shore.

My Thoughts: The book was 48 pages and reminds me of a book I read in the past but can't remember the name, once I figure that out I will link here, so I was comparing this short book with the memory of the forgotten book. I think because of the length I wanted more and was left with some unresolved questions on the characters. It was an ok read.

Read January 2012 Changeling Moon

Changeling Moon by Dani Harper


Book Description:

He roams the moonlit wilderness, his every sense and instinct on high alert. Changeling wolf Connor Macleod and his Pack have never feared anything--until the night human Zoey Tyler barely escapes a rogue werewolf's vicious attack. As the full moon approaches, Zoey has no idea of the changes that are coming, and only Connor can show her what she is, and help her master the wildness inside.  With her initiation into the Pack just days away and a terrifying predator on the loose, the tentative bonds of trust and tenderness are their only weapons against a force red in tooth, claw... and ultimate evil.

My Thoughts:

I got this during a frenzy of free book downloads, wanting to pack my kindle with options. I was happy that I didn't bypass this since I don't normally read werewolf related books. It was a fast paced book; interesting characters and  nice plot with a bit of romance thrown in.


368 pages