March Reading Log

I hope you enjoy reading about what I've been reading!

ImzadiRose's March Reading Log ~ 15 completed books


01 ~ Delirium (Delirium 01) by Lauren Oliver
Completed 3/2
4 of 5 stars
I read this for Carpe Librum’s book club, and I enjoyed it, a LOT. In it, they have found a cure for the most deadly disease ~ Love. Lena believes the things she’s been told about that deadly thing called Love until she meets Alex and she learns that some things she’s led to believe are lies. I’d definitely HATE living this way, I definitely wouldn’t want that kind of control over me again. They are told what to watch, listen to and read, sorta similar to Matched by Ally Condie, in that way.


02 ~ All our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
Completed 3/04
3.5 of 5 stars
I mostly liked this book, it was definitely different from things I have read before. There were some confusing parts and I wasn’t sure what was going on part of the time but it was a fun read. It says it’s the first in a series, trilogy or something with more than 1 book but I really don’t know how that is going to work out. I would read the next book to see.


03 ~ Buried (Bone Secrets 03) by Kendra Elliot
Completed 3/7
3 of 5 stars
Unlike the 2nd book in this “Bone Secrets” series, this one was actually about bones again, so yay. It took me forever to get into this one, and I put it aside for new releases then came back to it, but I ended up mostly liking it in the end. This one involved missing children from years ago and two siblings of the missing kids who team up to get some answers once the remains of the kids, and more, are found.


04 ~ Beauty from Pain (Beauty 01) by Georgia Cates
Completed 3/08
4 of 5 stars
This was an erotica read, so no details, but it was an enjoyable book. Seemingly typical now, since the 50 Shades craze ~ girl meets wealthy man, but it was a fun read none the less.


05 ~ Alone (Bone Secrets 04) by Kendra Elliot
Completed 3/9
4 of 5 stars
This was a good read. It was about the bone dr Victoria who everyone thought was an Ice Queen. Then Seth shows back up in her life and she melts into the teen she was when they met. It reminded me a lot of my relationship with my hubby and how we got together after not seeing each other for 7 years. Only difference was, only he was in love with me. While I loved him, I wasn’t IN love with him, at least back then. :)


06 ~ Doomed by Tracy Deebs
Completed 3/12
4 of 5 stars
This was a good and interesting concept. On her 17th birthday, Pandora receives an email from her long gone father, with it some photos of her childhood alongside him. Later that day, the world goes dark as everything starts to shut down. Pandora has to play a virtual reality game called Pandora’s Box to stop the world from being destroyed. Good characters, fun story.


07 ~ Enchanted (Woodcutter Sisters 01) by Alethea Kontis
Completed 3/14
4 of 5 stars
The description of this one caught my eye on GoodReads and I didn’t even read it all because I just wanted to read about it in the book. Such a cute little story with tons of fairy tale references. Normally, that’s not my thing, but I guess recently watching Once Upon a Time opened me up to it, and I actually liked it.


08 ~ Elusion by Claudia Gabel
Completed 3/17
3.5 of 5 stars
I went back and forth on what to rate this, so I'd say a 3.5. Another virtual reality read. I thought the book was interesting, Regan was a likable character. It kept me mostly guessing. Around 75% I started to wonder where it was going because it was no where near resolved and the end was coming quick. I thought it was a stand alone, as I've seen no info on a 2nd book. It clearly is NOT a stand alone, and there needs to be info saying so. I definitely didn't like being left hanging so I hope for another book.


09 ~ The Night Owl by M. Pierce
Completed 3/21
1 of 5 stars
I won’t give any details because this was an erotica, but I ended up hating this book. I liked the first half even though the guy was a jerk. I thought it was just because he valued his privacy, but nope. He was actually was an ass and I hated him and I won’t read the rest of this series or this author.


10 ~ Deathly Hallows ~ by J.K.R
Completed 3/21
5 of 5 stars
This completed my night time re-read of Harry Potter, listen to the audio. It was fun, and lasted about 5 months, so I don’t know what to listen to next! :)


11 ~ Cold Killing (Sean Corrigan 01) by Luke Delaney
Completed 3/24
3 of 5 stars
I was looking for another good serial killer writer, like my favorite Chris Carter. It didn’t come with this book. This was OK. It was about a killer who killed randomly with no patterns, and the cop who was chasing him who has his own demon filled past that helps him get into the mind of a killer and he connection cases that had no real reason to be connected, just because he “felt” they were. His other books in this series are really well rated, so I think I’ll give him another try, at some point.


12 ~ NYPD Red 2 by James Patterson & Marshall Karp
Completed 3/27
4 of 5 stars
I’m a Marshall Karp fan, so I follow this series. It’s really enjoyable. It’s about a pair of special crime unit detectives who are in charge of the celebrity cases, when something bad happens to someone important. In this one, people are kidnapped and forced to make a taped confession to a crime they committed. It was a great enjoyable read.


13 ~ Mind over Magic (Psych 02) by William Rabkin
Completed 3/29
2 of 5 stars
I’m a fan of the Psych series (except the final season, it sucked except for the finale) and I enjoyed the 1st tie in book but this one I just couldn’t get into at all. I’ve been trying to finish it for months, so I finally made myself do so. Shawn and Gus investigate a murder at an exclusive Magician’s club. It was soooooo boring.


14 ~ Dead Inside: Do not Enter by Lost Zombies
Completed 3/29
3 of 5 stars
This was a very quick but not a bad read. Not a typical story, this is the story of a zombie apocalypse told through scraps of paper, notes and texts. It was enjoyable for what it was.


15 ~ Taking Liberty (Gabe Quinn 03) by Keith Houghton
Completed 3/31
4 of 5 stars
This book was mostly good. I had some issues, mainly that out of half dozen things going on, I figured everything out but one. Only one thing was a surprise to me. I prefer not to know what’s going on, but hey, I’m smart. :) Gabe Quinn is a cop turned temp FBI agent and this book had too many things going on to explain them all. It was enjoyable, I like this series by an unknown author.

Finished NYPD Red 2

I've read a few other books since my last "Finished" post, as you can see on my GoodReads widget, but NYPD Red 2 was my favorite.

This was a book by Patterson and Marshall Karp. Patterson, I will read when the mood strikes, his books are easy and good quick reads. There are some series that I keep up with, thought this is only the second in this series, I will be keeping up with these books because of Marshall Karp.

I discovered Marshall Karp a few years ago when I read his book "The Rabbit Factory". It was about a pair of detectives ~ Lomax & Biggs ~ who are called to a murder scene at an amusement park. As a lover of all things amusement/theme park, I was all over reading that and really enjoyed it. The series has another 3 books in it, that weren't as enjoyable as the first, but still fun reads. He has a bit of humor in his books.

This series with Patterson is about another pair of detectives who solve crimes that involve NY city's elite, high profile crimes and such. In this one, a killer is kidnapping people, forcing them to make a taped confession of some kind of crime THEY committed, then leaving them in a visible area. It's a really enjoyable series and I look forward to these as they come out.

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Harry Potter

For the past 5 months, I've been re-reading Harry Potter for the first time, by listening to audiobooks at night before bed.

Back when the Potter craze started, I resisted reading them, as I do with many things that get so hyped up, but over and over I was told I should read them and when I was able to get the first 4 hardcovers for just $1 on a book club thing, I decided to try them.

I was hooked right away, and am a HUGE HUGE Potter fan. I didn't mind that I waited as long as I did, because I was able to read the first 4 back to back and the 5th one came out within months, so I didn't have to wait as long on everyone else for the majority of the books, just the last two.

I loved the movies when they came out and pretty much know them by heart. I've never been a re-reader of books because I prefer to read something new, but when I found I could fall asleep easier by listening to books at night, I decided the HP series would be good to listen to again.

I was shocked by all the changes. I knew there were a lot, of course, between book to screen, but there were even more than I imagined. Most of them were really really good changes. I think each of the movies, except Azkaban, are stronger than the book, especially the last one. They made so many good changes with the flow of it and especially with the battle. It comes across beautifully in the movie and is just amazing.

Azkaban is my one disappointment when it comes to the movies. I LOVE that book and while I love the movie, there were big things left out of it, specifically the history of the map when Harry is told about it. I think it's huge and I hate that it was left out of the movie.

I was fortunate enough to go to the Harry Potter Experience at Universal Florida before we moved out of the state. I love, and miss, the parks and we hadn't been able to go the last few years we were there but we did finally get to go one last time and it's AMAZING there. It's like stepping into the movie. the ride was so fun and it was amazing to walk through Hogsmede. As much as I don't ever want to go back to FL, if I ever do, I really do hope we can go to the new section in Universal ~ Diagon Alley. I knew they would make a ride out of the Gringotts scene and I know it won't disappoint.


Now to find something new to listen to at night!

Finished ~

Elusion by Claudia Gabel
Completed 3/17
3.5 of 5 stars


I like virtual reality stories. I really didn't think about them, though I don't know why, until I read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, one of my top 5 loved books ever. Since then, I've really enjoyed VR or scavenger hunt reads.

Some do well and hit the mark, others definitely don't. Elusion was in the middle for me.

My main issue with Elusion is that I thought it was a stand alone book. There were no indications that it was the first in a series? Trilogy? Two-parter? Apparently it's meant to go on, but I didn't know that at first. I read it, thinking it was a stand alone and when I got about 75% through it, I thought they are really going to try to wrap it up quickly. Instead, we're left hanging with no conclusion and only more questions than answers.

Regan was mostly likeable for me. I saw there were many negative reviews to this book but Regan was ok to me. She could have been better but she was fine. Other characters, not so much, and my opinions of them kept changing. It was all a bit nuts at time but still overall an enjoyable read.

I would read a 2nd in a series/trilogy/2parter but I'm not holding out high hopes for one, and neither author has done much.

Made me Laugh Out Loud

"The Frog stretched out on his sun-dappled rock as if he were settling into a chaise lounge. She could tell from his body language - so much more human than frog - there would be no turning him down. 'I don't know anything about you,' he said. 'You may being your story.'

It was completely absurd. Absurd that Sunday was in the middle of the Wood talking to a frog. Absurd that he wanted to learn about her. Absurd that he would care. It was so absurd that she opened her journal and started reading from the top of the page.

'My name is Sunday Woodcutter...'

'Grumble,' croaked the frog.

'If you're going to grumble through the whole thing, why did you ask me to read it in the first place?'

'You said your name was Sunday Woodcutter,' said the frog. 'My name is Grumble.'"

--- from Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Writing a LONG LONG Letter

In addition to being a huge reader, I love to write to my pen pals. 

I am a LOOOOOOOONG letter writer.  Once I get going and connect well with a pal, my letters will typically be 15-20 pages typed, if not longer.  I don't like to hand write letters for 3 reasons.  1 ~ I have HORRIBLE handwriting and was once told by a pal never to write by hand again because she couldn't read it, 2 ~ I am a horrible speller so I love spellcheck, and 3 ~ I write so much it is hard to write by hand.  I write 3 pages by hand for every 1 that I type, so my hand starts hurting on page one, it'd be hard to write 40+ pages by hand all the time.

Long letter writers get it.  They are few and far between, but they understand what it's like to sit down with a seriously long letter and write away, spending hours or more likely DAYS to respond. 

The thing that amuses me is when people have said to me ~ "I could never write that much", or "I wouldn't know what to say".  For me, those are such weird statements.  How can you NOT find tons to say?

In the pen palling community it seems, to me, that "long" letters are 4-8 pages on the letter set stationery.  That's better than the swaps I see asking for "at least 2 pages".  2 pages isn't worth my time, and I don't understand what the point is.  How can you get to know someone in 2 pages?  For me, it would be like asking a new friend out for lunch to get to know them better and eating an appetizer and then leaving.  It's not enough!!

For me, it's so easy to write a really long letter, even to my pal with whom I've been writing letters to for over 12 years now.  It's just a matter of opening up and giving details.  I've received letters, that were promptly thrown in the trash) that were a page and said stuff such as "I am married, I like the color purple, I like to garden and read books". 

For those who say "I could never write that much", it's easier than you think, just give details.  Lots of them.  When you think it's too much, give a few more!!  If you are married, you can share ~ how you met, how long you've been together, what your wedding and honeymoon were like, what your spouse likes to do in their free time, what they do for work, what you all like to do together.  If you love to read ~ who are your favorite authors, your favorite genres, your favorite books, quotes from books, books that you had an emotional response to.

When you've found a true long letter pal, there is no such thing as too long, and you have made a friend for life.  It's a wonderful thing!

Finished ~

Doomed by Tracy Deebs
Completed 3/12
4 of 5 stars

This was a different and enjoyable read.  In it, Pandora logs on to a popular game called Pandora's Box, but it soon changes flashes and the screen reads that she must play the game for real, and there is a countdown clock of 10 days until the end of the world unless she beats the game.

I'm not one to pay attention to themes, or underlining meanings of books, I just read the books for the fun of it, but this one was laid on a bit thick with companies of the world ruining the world with the things that they do to it.  That aside, it was quite a different book and very enjoyable.

I enjoyed all the characters, really was rooting for them and really had a hard time putting the book down until I finished it.  It was a fun YA read, and I'd definitely recommend it to lovers of YA or those who enjoy virtual reality in their reads.

Welcome to Ka Ki Jo Ko Ja

Welcome!  If you are reading this, thanks so much for being here. 

I know I probably won't garner very many followers, if any, but I love all things books and so I thought I would make a place to talk about them more.

I see many book blogs that are similar with their recap of the description of a book and their very prim and proper reviews of said book.

I'm sure that works for all those bloggers and their readers, but you won't see that here.  I won't go into the plot failures, bad written or the deeper meanings of the books I read.  I read for enjoyment and I will post exactly what I feel about the book, good or bad.  Sometimes I might ramble on for paragraphs and paragraphs about how a book has pissed me off, or I might go on for pages and pages about a book I've fallen in love with.  Other times, I'll probably just say if it was good or bad or anything in between.  You never know what you'll get with me.  :)

I can assure you that my blog will be full of my kickass half in jest; half serious, crazy & offbeat, honest & outspoken thoughts!!