Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea

 

Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea

The Penguin Press

Published in 2007

ISBN 9781594201219

286 Pages

PLACES TO BUY FROM:

Amazon (Paperback)
Barnes & Noble (Paperback)

CHECKED OUT THE BOOK FROM MY PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Review/Rating:

2 out of 5



Sending anonymous yahoo group mass e-mails, a Saudi Arabain woman tells a story of her four friends about how they are trying to survive their country's ways on how women should behave and do things.

This book wasn't my cup of tea, but I read it so I can find out if I would like it, though, I didn't like it in the end. :P Anyways, you would like this kind of book, if you're into "girl power", love sucks, but I'll hang in there, type of books.

What I liked: The cultural information, some parts of the romance --- which is not much, and the way it was written --- yahoo group e-mails --- which is kind of original.

What I didn't like: It had information about love that should be obvious, but no woman wants to really know. It had the boringly common themes about love lives and how women go at lenghts for love, the cultural point of view was nice, but the love point and problems in the book are common pretty much everywhere, and there were too many point of view changes --- it played any-miney-money-moe with who told the part of story.

Well, if you like those types of books --- where they talk and give pity parties about love lives (bleh!) :( This book didn't have that many of my interests, but the culture parts were pretty the only things that were interesting to me. Also, I added the smut tag because it talks about sex --- a lot. ^^

Other Reviews/Author Site:

Rajaa Alsanea
Goodreads: Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
Library Thing: Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
Bookshelf: What We're Reading: Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
Booklove: Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
Lotus Reads: Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea

The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori

 

The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori

St. Martin's Press

Published in 2007

ISBN 0312366329

304 Pages

PLACES TO BUY FROM:

Barnes & Noble (Paperback)
Amazon (Paperback)

CHECKED OUT THE BOOK FROM MY PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Review/Rating:

1 out of 5



David Shepherd, a Georgetown University professor, doesn't really believe in religion, but that may change when he is suddenly thrown from his peaceful days into something that will threaten the world, his life, and the people he loves most. He is the chosen one that knows pretty much all of the people in The Book of Names, which if all 36 die, the world will end as we know it. When only 3 remain, he has to use his gift, whether he likes it or not, to try to save the remaining 3. While unning from a Gnostic group, he learns that he needs to trust in his own religion, himself, and the people around him that help him, in order to save the things that matter most --- the only question is will he live long enough to save the remaining 3 or will the world come to an end?

At first, I thought that The Book of Names would be like The Da Vinci Code, and in a way, it kind of was like The Da Vinci Code --- minus the excitement and mystery and clue theme to it. Another thing that is different is that The Da Vinci Code was controversial in the Catholic religion, and The Book of Names is controversial in the Judaism religion. Though, they both add what seems to be controversial or what some would some "insulting" themes to their religion, even though it is only fiction, which means it's not real, but who am I to judge someone else's beliefs and religion like that --- but I do have the right to write how I feel, so don't correct me and I won't try to correct you about our beliefs. Also, I apologize if I offend anyone in this review since religion is a "no-no" topic most of the time.

Okay, since I really didn't like this book, I'll just write why I didn't like it. It was a pretty good idea to write about, but it lack description, in-depth information about what's happening, lack of mystery and clues so that you can figure it out along with the character, and it jumps from one area to the next, almost like the authors didn't have anything better to write for the previous point of view and just wanted to get on with the book. Though, one thing I kind of like was the information on Judaism that I didn't know before. The ending, like throughout most of the book, felt rushed and not enough description.

Other Reviews/Author Site:

Jill Gregory
Karen Tintori
Goodreads: The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
Library Thing: The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
Tales of a Book Addict: The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
Book Fetish: The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
Book Journey: The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
The Zen Leaf: The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
Bonnie's Books: The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori

The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry

 

The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry

Ballantine Books

Published in 2004

ISBN 0345460057

373 Pages

PLACES TO BUY FROM:

Amazon (Paperback)
Barnes & Noble (Paperback)

CHECKED OUT THE BOOK FROM MY PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Review/Rating:

5 out of 5



After the Russian citizens votes to bring back the monarchy, it is up to Miles Lord, a lawyer from Atlanta, to make sure there is nothing in his client's, Stefan Baklanov, background that will take the throne away from him. It was just an ordinary assignment until gunmen try to kill him on the city plaza, and now, he has to figure out why they are after him. He does some research and through reading Rasputin's writings, he discovers that there might be a direct descendant from the last tsar, Nicholas II, which will threaten the plans set by the people, who were sent to kill him. Miles only companion is Akilina Petrovna, and it's only with these two can the mystery of Nicholas II's direct descendant be solved, according to Rasputin's prophecy, but, first, will they be able to survive from the attempts on their lives?

In the beginning of The Romanov Prophecy, it starts with violence and some gory details of the scene --- yeah, it was a lovely, vivid picture in my mind, and I didn't like that much detail of gory scenes filled with blood that much. Anyways, it starts with the killing attempts on Miles Lord's life, but if you're wondering why he's in Russia getting killed, you have to either read the summary or wait until later on in the novel --- which will explain in great detail as to why he's there and all those tid-bits that can be boring at times. ;)

The idea of the prophecy and combining it with Rasputin, who is usual is viewed as a conman, was very well thought out mixed with some history of Russia --- it was pretty interesting reading that Rasputin was a viewed as a good guy in the end of a novel. This is one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book. :)

The ending was well thought of and came to an end that was really good, and to get to the great ending, it had great detail of history and description of what happened --- which got a little boring at times. Throughout the book there are a lot of politics, violence, racial prejudice, culture and history of Russia, a little bit of mystery, and a lot more politics --- bleh! :( Things I liked about the book are the culture and history of Russian that he added in there, the clever idea of Rasputin actually being a good guy and coming up with the prophecy, the mystery whether or not there was a direct descendant of Nicholas II, and also, how it showed that the United States isn't the only one that has racial problems and how to deal with it. The things I didn't like about it are the politics and details of the murder/gory scenes. All in all, it was actually a pretty good book, if you can stand the violence, politics, details, and the boring parts.

Other Reviews/Author Site:

Steve Berry
Goodreads: The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry
Library Thing: The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry
Bookwormom: Review: The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry

The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal

The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal

Kensington Publishing/Books

Published in 2007

ISBN 0758220316

343 Pages

PLACES TO BUY FROM:

Amazon (Paperback)
Barnes & Noble (Paperback)

CHECKED OUT THE BOOK FROM MY PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Review/Rating:

5 out of 5



After Megha, a 21-year-old Indian woman, is stuck in an arranged marriage to a "momma's boy" for a year, she overhears her husband and his mother talk about murdering her. With no choice left but to run away from their evil plans, she goes to Kiran, her cousin-in-law, for help and protection. However, when their relationship grows into something more that friendship, what will happen? Will their feelings bring forth their doom?

For this being her first novel, Shobhan Bantwal writes in detail about some things that happen in India for arrange marriages, customs, and inputs the language spoken in India to show the culture of India. I've never read a book about arrange marriages and customs of India, and I found it very interesting to learn about some of things that I've never knew about the country. :)

For the first part of the book, it was kind of boring and you're wondering why she put that first, which becomes redundant since she mentions it later on in detail about what happened. Other than that, the book is pretty interesting and not that boring, though, it is kind of slow paced with a lot of description in between.

It was going so slow paced that half of time I was wondering when Megha and Kiran were going to do something smutty and gushy, but around page 200 they finally start getting more gushy than smutty. Most books I know would have gone for smutty and explain in detail about sexual scenes, but The Dowry Bride puts in detail about the romantic part of it like a little touches of hair and snuggling into your lover afterwards. It was a nice change from the smuttier books that I've read. I went, "Awwww," so many times when she put in detail about the romantic parts of being in love --- walking under the moonlight, talking by river at sunset, etc etc. So those of you expecting more smut than romance, you will be disappointed, though, the romantic parts are nice. ;)

Throughout the book there are a lot of climaxes, suspenseful areas, and a lot of character building, so you won't be that bored --- you'll be so into the book that you'll forget what time it is. In about 10 hours, I was already on page 270. :) I haven't finished it yet, but I'll write what I think about the ending when I finish reading it. Then ending is kind of okay --- the relationship part for Megha and Kiran kind of leaves you wondering if they really do get married or not, though, the point of this book, I think, is to show women's independence and how women, like men, can grow whenever something terrible happens and still lead a successful life. It is a good book to encourage women to take a stand in things they know isn't right for them or others, but as far as romance goes, it isn't. :(

Other Reviews/Author Site:

Shobhan Bantwal
Goodreads: The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal
Library Thing: The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal
My Book Place: The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal
My Dent in the Intertubes: My Brief Review: The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal