Lilopinions

 

When civilization ends - When hundreds of millions of the dead return to eat the living - How will the remaining humans survive? One week ago there were over 300 million people living in America. Today there are less than 5000. After a man-made plague destroys the population cities burn, and the government crumbles when the dead come back to life as flesh-hungry zombies.

 

Wim, a 30-year-old farmer, purposely kept himself cut off from other people, but when the undead arrive at his farm, intent on eating him, he's forced to venture out into the land around him and fight to save a world on which he long ago turned his back. Survivors from all walks of life - criminals and fry cooks, teenagers and soldiers - battle to survive zombies and each other as mankind races toward extinction. Book 1 in the epic "Life of Dead" zombie apocalypse saga.

 

What could've been a brilliantly done zombie novel by an author who is clearly talented at writing, instead seemed like a hodge-podge of short stories thrown together, lacking any real plot or character depth.

 

I feel really bad being rather harsh on this novel, especially because the author was very good with descriptions and character creation, however the way he went about putting it all together left the book lacking. There were characters who maybe occupied an entire 10 pages of the entire book that could have been main characters in and of themselves, but were surrounded by so many others that they were drowned, forgotten, and completely hard to keep up with. Out of all the seemingly infinite characters, only two of them ever meet throughout the entire story, making all of the events completely stand-alone, and their only linking point their attempt of survival amidst the zombies.

 

The author has a talent for making you fall in love with the characters, even if they appear for only a short time, which was honestly what kept me going throughout the book. However when I felt like I needed to stop and re-read earlier chapters just to understand who was who and why I should care, that's when I knew it was just too much. Also the pretty much clear lack of zombies for the first 30% or so of the book, possibly more, with only hints at what was going to come, also made for a dull beginning after the chapter with Wim starting out.

 

That being said, after about the 50% mark the book was packed with action and did have tons and tons of zombies, which was a relief. Really the only thing that saved the book were these scenes and some of the characters that were expounded upon more throughout the book.

 

Overall, pretty disappointed.

 

"This is how you draw a broken heart:
Dip your fingers in blood and don't
Hesitate to botch the final project.

This is a book about love and the wounds that it can bring. It explores the exhilaration of first love, the damage of unrequited love, and the distress of abandonment. The poems are little memories that come alive, a journey between reality and fantasy, often mingling as one. Fragments of life depicted in words. This is a collection of poems both cruel and sweet. The poems depict the difference between how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us. But most of all, this is a kaleidoscope of emotions that are multiplied and amplified as the reader looks into the window of a young woman's heart."

Bleed Like Me by Azzurra Nox is a rather dark collection of human emotion, completely raw, and beautifully written, making you want to come back for more, despite the feelings it disturbs within.

"She clawed her heart out so that you could crawl inside."

Usually I don't read much poetry, to be completely honest, but this book was a welcome surprise. It was very dark and at times borderline depressing, or a little crazy, however it does sum up the emotions that you feel when you're completely broken. That being said, when you read this I feel as if the current emotion that you're feeling has an effect on your opinion on the poetry, unless it's something more deep rooted, or that you've been through previously. 

My only real complaints about this book is the fact that a lot of it was very, very similar. Some poems seemed to be carbon copy of others that I had already read earlier in the book, the more that I read on. That being said, anytime there wasn't a poem about being broken by a man or lover, it really stood out, and was a refreshing change that gave me the will to keep reading. There were many poems that made this book worth reading, some of my favorites being Farewell, Insanity Leads Me Here, Revelation, and Eva Marie.

"Give me your heart, so I can wear it on my chest."

Azzurra Nox I feel has some real spunk. After reading the author bio, and going through some of her poems I was completely enthralled by her and had super high hopes that the little I did know about her would carry through into the novel. In some moments I wasn't disappointed, however I feel like there definitely could have been way more "spunk" in her writing, not to necessarily keep it more uplifting, but to give it an edge to set it apart a little more. 

Overall it was a good collection of poetry, I do not regret picking it up at all, and wouldn't mind looking into other books by this author in the future.

** I received a copy of this ebook for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

Well, at four in the morning when I woke up and was totally tired and bored out of my mind, this book was amazing. The writing style was easy to read and was really short. Easy to comprehend except when the weird migraine descriptions were around. When the day wore on and I actually woke up though, the book confused me. Was it trying to be poetry? What was with the weird sentences that randomly broke up and when down the page?
By the time I got halfway through the book I couldn't read anymore because it was annoying. Really, really annoying. And confusing. Luckily while everyone found the twists easy to spot, I didn't at first. After the first twist though, things got a little predictable. Afterwards, I will still kind of shocked. But even though I was shocked I wasn't impressed. The characters annoyed me, all except for Johnny who was little more than a comic relief character.
I wish I loved this book more. I really, really wished I did. I wanted to, desperately. So, while this book didn't really impress me I thought it was creative and different, even if it was written strangely.

Wickedpedia follows the life of Cole, a senior in high school recently dumped by his girlfriend for a friend close to him. After losing the majority of his friends besides Gavin, a kid who never seems to take anything seriously or follow the rules. Together they create fake wikipedia pages to get back at a few choice people complete with fake deaths. It was all fun and games until someone dies from a death strangely close to what they described in the pages they created. Cole must race to find out who is killing all these people or he just might be next.

This book, at best, is a fast-paced drama and a smattering of horror scenes during the second half. The first half is mainly Cole obsessing over Winnie, his ex-girlfriend, and him trying to do something about it. So he does what any sensible person would do; whine, complain, try talking to her over and over (though she has made it pretty clear she doesn't want much to do with him), and complain some more.

Cole's character isn't a great one, and he's one of the better characters. The only thing we know about him is he likes cooking, likes Winnie, is antisocial, and is supposedly really smart. Everyone else just blends together and it's really hard to connect or care for them.

The plot was great, but poorly executed. Cutting out some of the first half of the book would help, since there is no horror, and is basically Cole trying to get Winnie back. When the wikipedia pages come out, it does speed up considerably, however some scenes in the book seemed a little overdone and unbelievable. The ending was way too abrupt and left much to be desired.

The greater points of the book was the pace in the second half, and that it was a easy read. There are a few places that I couldn't help but laugh. The romance between Cole and Lila was small but still cute. As long as you don't go into it expecting a lot of horror and ignore the fact that some things are predictable in places, it's a pretty good read.

Finally. Finished.

Too long, slow, and more than a little strange, even by my standards.
Never again.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

This is not a zombie book. This is the story of a girl and a few friends living in a world full of zombies. The zombies are only there to kill off the characters and create drama. That way it's totally natural for the MC to go totally crazy.

I didn't like Mary, at all. I thought she was selfish, without any reason for it. I didn't see how the two boys, Travis and Harry liked her at all, but somehow they both love her, despite her crap personality. Maybe it's due to the fact that everyone else but a kid named Jacob, a dog named Argos, and Mary's brother Jed, is dead to the zombies. This way, the MC has something to cry and whine about.

They kill off Mary and Jed's mother in the first few chapters. Then she spends a ridiculous amount of time with the Sisterhood, but all this is unnecessary and pointless, other than to establish the fact that she's in love with Travis.

The whole mystery with the roman numerals and all, that's not mysterious at all. Seriously, I'd think that most people know these, and when some gates are marked with numbers, these numbers must lead to something. I wonder what? Well since Mary loves the ocean (and nothing else, except she does realize she loves Travis AFTER HE DIES), why not number the gates to lead right to the ocean. Wanna guess what happened?

Travis dies, Jed dies trying to save Mary's crazy ass, and Harry, Cass, Jacob, and the dog are still in the fences and never to be seen again. Mary gets her ocean though, even if it cost so many lives. Why they even bothered with her it is still unknown to me. Then she finds someone that lives around the ocean and walks off with him.

UGH THIS BOOK WHY DID I EVEN READ THIS I DON'T EVEN KNOW. ASDFGHJKL; The good things about this book, was probably that Mary was a little insane. The POV wasn't that great, and if I would've gotten past her selfishness and how everyone did everything for her, I might have liked it more. And if the zombies actually did more than stand around and cling to fences and what not, this could have been so much better.

More like 1.5 stars, but rounded up because of the last two chapters.

Verity is a teen paranormal books following the life of Perdita, (oh gosh at that name) and is by definition quiet, and keeps to herself. Her overprotective dad is always in her way, but somewhere along the line she decides it's time for a change. Enter Nathan, a boy who at one moment seems interested in her, the next not even wanting to talk, and there is strange things happening, like the creepy people that always seem to be around...

This book probably would have been a lot better if there was more werewolves, and less of the teen drama. If I wanted teen drama, I would not have gone and picked up a book promising werewolves. The romance, sure, that should be there. But they only mentioned werewolves once the BOOK WAS HALF OVER. The other half was just bleh. Nathan and his younger sister come to school, and half of the book is her worrying about Nathan and crushing over him, along with her best friend becoming evil.

I suppose the first half was supposed to be character development on Purdita's part, but really she seemed to stand up for herself from the first few chapters on, and I didn't really get the whole "poor me I'm a freak" thing because she didn't fit in with anyone, because she was shy? I really didn't care about this part of the book at all, and quite frankly, thought it was terrible. I almost quit the book, but I was holding out for the werewolves.

What I did like:
- Werewolves, even if they didn't show up until the second half. I wish there was a little more of it though.
- Tammy. She made me laugh even when it was totally unnecessary. She was terrible, but her and Dawn were both just so funny to me.
- Amelia. I have a love hate relationship with her because she did not act her age most of the time, but then again none of them really did. She was a little bit different though, so points for her standing out.
- Final action scene. Then the book ends. Seemed a little strange but something FINALLY happened worth mentioning.

What I didn't like:
- Nathan. Everything. Him. What he said. How he acted. How they were soul-mates so obviously and he was all weird about everything.
- The curse. Seemed kind of weird and pointless. Can't explain much without spoilers, but there wasn't much to explain in the first place? Not really sure, not too much explanation on this.
- All of the adults, especially Perdita's dad. They seemed weird, and while Lia was pretty nice, she didn't appear enough for me to like her enough.
- Lack of character development. Nathan and Perdita did come to... Tolerate each other, it seemed, which was all fine and well. Seemed rushed and odd though, considering he had been avoiding her for basically the entire book up until the end.
- The weird stalkers. Why did they stalk her the entire book but not make their move earlier, and why did they seem so weak?
- Plot. Non-existent basically. Trying to find a way around the curse, and the two trying to fall in love (not fall in love?), even though they were meant to be together anyway... Oh gosh that makes no sense.

Conclusion, this book was pretty boring. Wish there was more to it, and even at just 224 pages, this book seemed to go on forever.

One of the first super mixed up paranormal book I've read in a long time. While the world building was sort of non-existent, it didn't really need to be there. Throw in some vampires, werewolves, two hot male leads vying for the lead female's attention, and lots of actions scenes, and you've basically got the gist of Once Bitten.

The actions in this book is perfect. Really, really perfect. Alexa is kick-ass enough to be interesting, and really strong. Then the other side characters are equally pretty awesome, as far as fighting goes, or at least usefulness. Some of the lesser used characters definitely blurred together at times.

Some of the magic/power aspects of this book really confused me at times. I wish there was a little bit more explanation on this, since it was more original than the normal powers of supernatural beings. Also since most of them seemed to have some sort of magic ability along with whatever they were (vampire, werewolf, witch, shifter, demon, half-breeds, heck they were all in there somewhere).

The ending was pretty interesting, build-up great. Kept me reading up until the very end, and I would check out this series in the future.

Hush Hush was a decent book. The entire series kind of reminded me of Twilight, and this series seems to be jumping on the paranormal romance bandwagon. Exciting.

Even though I didn't really like any of the characters that much, I tolerated them. They were average, not fleshed out too much, and some just downright annoying. The interaction between Nora and Patch was strange to say the least, and I can't believe some of the things that happened between them. Especially all the scenes of them together in class, just ridiculous and unbelievable.

Vee. Oh my gosh I could have killed her. This book probably would have been better if she wasn't even there. A best friend that is the total opposite of the main character, and then is such an idiot... Ugh, half of the trouble Nora gets into during the series is her trying to save Vee.

Luckily, even though the romance was pretty shallow in some parts and seemed rushed and I still don't get how Nora would fall for a guy the total opposite of her, it was an okay book. The action was paced right and kept me reading, a little bit much in the end though. How Nora still liked Patch after she found out his intentions made me dislike her quite a bit from that point on, lucking it was the last chapter or so.

Overall, nothing special at all. Characters are pretty shallow, maybe a little bit more explanation on the paranormal aspects would be nice too. I went into the book expecting nothing, so I'm glad that it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be.

Sleepers is a zombie book, but one that is super emotional and really strange and unique in it's telling. I really wasn't expecting half of what happened in the book, and when I was finished I just sat back and had to say, "what the heck did I just read?"

Sleepers tells a tale of a world that is going through the apocalypse basically, though throughout the book it's commonly referred to as the rapture. All the kids under fourteen grow sick and die within in the first day, and soon some adults are falling asleep, and basically turn into zombies. Some people are immune to this, however, and because of this you follow the story of a woman and a rag-tag team on the search for her daughter.

This book is pretty emotional. Even though some of the situations I can't relate to, you really feel for the characters and what they are going through. Most of the characters are pretty well-thought out, and very few of them are undeveloped throughout the story. There were a few characters I just didn't care for, and unfortunately, Mera (the main character) was one of them. It seemed like most everything evolved around her and what she wanted to do. I understand some of it because it was in first person, but it still didn't make sense that so many people would want to just join her in her quest and do basically everything she wanted to, to some extent.

The first 75% of the book was really good. Even going forward, it was still original, but the author seemed to throw something completely unrelated out of left field and it was really... Weird. Time travelers from the future, and upon the journey they found a baby that was supposedly the key to the antidote to fix everything? But all the other babies died and somehow he made it through, and was supposed to play some huge key part in the future. Then with the time traveler who had a book stating the future and they were following it quite a bit, changing it here and there to fit their needs basically? Everything around this part just made no sense to me. It could have been explained a little better I think, and if more than a quarter of the book would have been spent with the characters knowing that, it would have been better.

It was pretty okay. Not sure if I would continue the series, and it did end on a cliffhanger, which annoyed me to no end. (The day authors find a way to finish a book in a series without stopping on a cliffhanger will be the happiest day of my life.) Characters were good for the most part, plot was good up until the weirdness, and the editing was lacking, but like the rest of this book, was just okay.

This book was pretty good. I've been meaning to read one of J.R. Ward's works for a while now, and I didn't want to start BDB because it's so dang long. I have to say I did enjoy this, but the hype I've seen around her works is really high, and I was expecting something a little more. That being said, it was still a pretty good read.

This book had a great mixture of romance and action, and the paranormal aspects were good. Sometimes throughout the book I was a little confused as some things weren't clearly stated. I tend to be a little slow on things though, so it might just have been me. Her attention to detail, in a really strange way, was interesting to read (coming from a person who generally doesn't like detail all that much).

The characters, for the most part, were average. Vin was sort of predictable, and so was the romance between him and Marie-Terese was more or less predictable. He also fell in love with her pretty fast, all things considered, but over the course of the book it seemed longer, so can't really complain there I suppose.

Jim Heron, the main character, really made this book. He was different enough to keep your attention, and between his past and current mission (to try and save seven souls, Vin being his first target) it was always interesting to see how he would take something. I found myself rooting for him quite a bit. I didn't care too much for any of the other characters though, sadly. I really wanted to, honestly, and I liked Marie-Terese to some extent.

Overall, it was a really interesting read. The 474 pages (gosh that seems long) flew by pretty fast. The action was gripping and while the romance was sort of lacking, the rest of the book definitely made up for it. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

**CONTAINS SPOILERS**

Alright, so this book took way longer than expected to finish. It should have been a fairly easy read, that I didn't have high hopes for. Somehow though, this book shot down and stomped on every extremely small expectation I had for it. Let me sum up the book for you, and I quote directly from it, (kindle edition page 199):

"Well, let's see. My parents get killed by this evil half-demon guy, and I find myself a nice little warehouse to chill in. And then you drop by, and you invite me to join your quest to kill the guy that tried to kill me. And I, having nothing better to do, join." ... "Killing this guy turns out to be a lot harder than I thought, and along the way I find out that there are a whole bunch of people, just like me, getting killed. And shit gets crazier. But no matter how bad it got, you were always there. We helped each other. I thought we were friends. I thought..."

Ok, now imagine the book has so many of these crazy conversations. The entire book up until that point, was basically them in a road, eating, sleeping, and having really pointless conversations. Every once in a while there was action just thrown in haphazardly, and it basically was like this: Cayne got shot, probably more than once. Julia screams his name, and stands to the side. Within a few minutes though, he gets the bullet(s) out and is healed within a day, like nothing ever happened, except for the scar.



Then to add on top of that, Cayne has "charm." He can basically tell people he wants something and they just give it to him. Yet he uses it all the time to get what he wants, and basically steals cars, hotel rooms, clothes, and other things. For some reason though, it doesn't work on Julia. It was never explained, just like why Julia doesn't know what she is, or why everyone with the strange birthmark is getting killed. There are so many weird questions that I have with this book and it just annoys me.

Julia acts like a thirteen year old. Supposed to be seventeen and yet she whines about everything, and cries all the time. Yet when her adoptive parents burn in their house she just runs to a warehouse and cries for a few days. Boom, here comes Cayne with abs and a sexy face, and everything is ok! It doesn't make any sense. NOTHING in this book made any sense to be. Maybe it was the way it was written, maybe it's because the characters just annoy the heck out of me, maybe it's because all the action parts were jumbled up and shorter than the conversations they have in a stolen car, I don't know. This book just didn't work for me.

Alright, so sorry for the long rant. If you want something short, and don't mind whiny main characters and guys who are re-described as incredibly hot at least once a chapter, then you might like this book. I didn't, and quite frankly I will steer clear of the rest of this series and probably avoid anything resembling it for a while.

**Contains Spoilers, Probably because I can't really tell the difference at the moment**

Company was a strange book. Like nothing I would ever usually read, but I think going into this book I was expecting something a little different. Perhaps if I was expecting nothing (which was pretty hard, since I read [b:Lexicon|16158596|Lexicon|Max Barry|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1356080172s/16158596.jpg|20077336] by Max Barry and absolutely loved it) I might have enjoyed this book more. It took about half of the book for me to really get into it, though the second half was amazing.

The story for the first half of the book was almost like short skits, and reminded me almost like something you would see on television, a sitcom maybe. It followed Freddy, Holly, Elizabeth, Jones, Rodger, and a couple of characters who didn't show up quite as much as them, and I'm probably leaving some off on accident. Jones, who is the main character, soon finds out he doesn't even know what the company, Zephyr, does. As he goes on a quest to find this out, he soon find that there is a huge secret on the 13th floor. The company, monitoring the employees, like lab monkeys to see what business strategies work best with employees to get maximum work and increase their bottom line.

That being said, this was something that could happen, but was still pretty fantastical at moments. I was expecting something more realistic, I suppose? Either was it was an interesting read and there were a few turns and twists that I really didn't see coming. Most of the characters were strange, but stood out and were interesting. The small jokes that went throughout the book, like the doughnut one, were highly amusing and kept the story going. It was a pretty fast read and keeps you engaged most of the time (middle is a little slow).

This book annoyed me and excited me so many times through reading this. It seemed a little slow at times, and then before I knew it I was reading like crazy, wanting to know what came next. There were few things about this book that I didn't like, but the slight slowness was the main part I didn't give this a whole five stars.

Slated follows Kyla, who has had her memory erased by the government. The time setting is about fifty years from now, give or take, a dystopian future. This one is was different that others of it's genre, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by everything. With the Levo always monitoring the emotions of those who have been 'slated,' they are also monitored pretty heavily by the government. This made everything pretty interesting, but the book left a lot to be answered, which I'm assuming will be answered in the next two books.

I loved Kyla from the start. She was different in many ways, like how she memorized pictures and places perfectly, and I thought this was a really interesting trait. The levels on her Levo are always a little low, except when she runs, especially with Ben, a friend who she is starting to fall for. Abby, her sister (though more by adoption, as her family took in both the girls after being slated) I didn't care too much for. The people who had been slated weren't supposed to have really distinct personalities though, so I'm sure it's just that, and meant to be that way.

The end had a twist I didn't see coming Kyla cutting off Ben's Levo, and then finally somehow breaking through the memory block/wipe that had happened to her, and losing her own Levo. Ben, however, had been taken away by the government but no one knows if he is alive, or dead. He also professed his love to Kyla, and while I almost felt like it was a little soon, but it seemed real for the most part, so I can't complain.. This didn't exactly leave on a cliffhanger, but the ending was a little abrupt. I will probably check out the rest of the series, as I am curious about a lot of things still, and I do maybe have a huge soft spot for Kyla. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you are looking for a different and stand-out YA book.

Wow... Did I read the book that everyone else is rating like 3-5 stars? Reading some of the reviews and then thinking about my own personal opinion there is a huge difference.

The upside of this book is it's fast paced. The downside, there is an awkward sort of love triangle (to some extent), and a war before the book is half over. She fell in love in like what, a chapter or two? The relationship between her and Finn seemed almost instant after she stole from him.

The characters and not much better. Everyone seemed to talk the exact same. Everything seemed so similar with them. When reading what one of them said and then reading a response it seemed like the same character talking, regardless of their age or how much they appeared in the book.

Everything was really rushed, especially the ending. The war lasted maybe twenty pages and was really cheesy almost. I was so confused about some thing that just annoyed me because they made no sense.

Overall it was a fast read, even of I skimmed most of the second half. It just or really repetitive. Maybe just in the wrong frame of mind, but with my feelings at the moment I probably wouldn't read anything else by this author any time soon.

**Possible Minor Spoilers**

If you asked me why I liked this book so much, I couldn't really tell you. Maybe it was because I read it over the course of a day and most of it was really, really late. Maybe it was because for once I enjoyed the accents the majority of characters had (which I usually hate). Maybe it was just because this story was so strange it was just perfect.

I got hooked on this book in the first chapter and didn't put it down. Literally. I was laughing through the majority of the whole thing, save for the more dramatic and serious parts. This wasn't supposed to be taken too seriously, but the message it sends in some parts is sweet.

I loved the characters. I fell in love with all of them almost immediately, Tony being my favorite (mainly because I can remember and spell his name, since most of them in Strangeville are, well, strangely named). The character development for the main character was really good for this type of book, and I enjoyed reading about him. The characters in this book are strange to say the least, but I couldn't but love them because of it.

The plot of this book is sort of non-existent to some extent. It's there, but not. As soon as John reaches Strangeville, you would think he wants to escape immediately. He doesn't, and instead starts to fall in love with a woman and coming to enjoy the overall message the townspeople seem to scream. Even if everything there is sort of old and outdated, the town and it's inhabitants are some of the greatest townspeople ever.

In the end, I would read this book again in the future. Just for a laugh, and for the quick, light read. Nothing too heavy, lighthearted, and a perfect book to pick up and enjoy.