immabehazzie's reviews
225 reviews

Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav

5.0

I loved this book. Plain and simple. I don’t think I’ve read one poem of Lang Leav’s that I’ve disliked. I’m not saying that the poetry is magnificent or heart stopping. Most of the poems are short and simple but they hold so much truth and passion that I can’t help but love them.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

5.0

I loved this book! Different from the show, which is also good. I liked how in the book they clearly show you how the house drives you mad and targets certain people. I also liked how we saw more of Eleanor as well. Theodora is so fun and colorful, she’s the type of character I wish I was like but in reality I’m more like Eleanor. Shy, quiet and I let the others take the lead. I do wish they were siblings in the book like they were in the show but it still worked pretty well.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

3.0

Honestly, I have been putting off reading this book. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book so big and I regret to admit that I didn’t like the 2012 movie. I couldn’t help reading it, though because there is something about Imperial Russia that intrigues me. The book though - I liked it. Not enjoyed it like how I enjoy other books. The book made me think. Paralleling three marriages. No matter what you think of the characters, they’re all written in such a human way that it’s hard to actually hate them. One last thing - I know a lot of people think of this story of a romance story but I disagree. I do think that it’s a story about love, but about human love and human nature and not necessarily romantic love. Only two things stop me from rating it higher the first is all of the characters. It was almost impossible to keep up with who was who and how they were related. And the second - all the Russian politics. It’s very different from American politics and it takes places in the 1800s. I did like the book and if it wasn’t so long, I’d probably read it again.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

5.0

Neil Gaiman is an amazing writer. An excellent story teller. Whenever I read a book of his I feel as though I’m sitting around a camp fire listening to someone tell a story. Now to the actual Mythology - I’m surprised with how well his research is. Usually with mythology it’s extremely biased, but not in Gaiman’s retelling. I definitely suggest you read this book. Few have the gift of telling stories like Neil Gaiman and it would really suck to miss out on his stories.

Seeds of Yesterday by V.C. Andrews

3.0

I’m actually quite sad that I’ve finished the final book in the series. I mean, there’s The Garden of Shadows but that is a prequel and it just won’t be the same. This series was something else but it was amazing. It has been a long time since I read I full on series and I’m going through that part where I’m actually, literally going to miss the characters. I’ll admit, though, Seeds of Yesterday was my least favorite of the series but I still liked it. It doesn’t help that in the first book Cathy started out as 12 and now in Seeds of Yesterday she’s 52. The characters have grown up but just like Cathy when she sees Foxworth Hall rebuilt she can’t shake the memories. She can’t let go.

The Characters, I have a lot to say about them but I don’t want to spoil anything. Throughout almost all of the books Chris just feels stagnant to me. He doesn’t really change and I guess if he’s a good guy that’s a good things. Cathy - I have so many opinions on her I’m not even going to type them. Jory - sweet Jory - he’s honestly probably my favorite character. I also like how his story parallels both his mothers and biological fathers story and how he is still so different from them. And he gets the short end of the stick so many times and no one really seems to care. I don’t really want to comment on Bart because I know that I’d spoil his story line. And Cindy - I feel so bad for her. She’s a teenager in a dysfunctional family and she’s rebelling but trying not to and Cathy is looking down on her for doing all the things she used to do. And lastly, Joel, to me he’s just a knock off version of John Amos.

I really did love this series and I’m upset that I’m at the end of the Dollanganger storylines. I can’t wait to see what Garden of Shadows has in store.

The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox

3.0

This book is one of the few books that I went into not knowing what to expect. I originally got this book because I love reading books about witches and this book delivers. Not in the way I was expecting but The Witch of Willow Hall has a lot of unexpected turns. After every chapter something happened that completely threw me off. In a good way, of course. I haven’t read a book like this in a while, it’s definitely original. I also haven’t been entertained like this by a book in a long time.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

3.0

The Wizard of Oz is my favorite movie so when I found out it was originally a book I just had to read it. Sadly, with it being my favorite movie I had very high expectations. I wasn’t let doesn’t necessarily - the book was just different. There are strange places and creatures that are in the book that aren’t in the movie but I think the biggest differences is that in the movie Dorothy dreams that she travels to Oz whilst in the book she actually does travel there. The book was actually darker than I actually expected. But I will admit that I was entertained the whole time.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

5.0

I don’t know why I have never read anything by Sylvia Plath before. Her writing feels as though it was written for me. The Bell Jar is seems so real, so real it’s almost uncomfortable. I’m an avid reader and I’ve related to characters before but not like this before. The way she processes things and thinks about things is so similar to mine, it’s kind of scary.

I was surprised that this book allowed the character to have honest feelings against marriage and didn’t guilt her into wanting children. And I loved how they portrayed her slow spiral into depression.

Truth be told, I loved this book. And I think that if you enjoy this book you would also enjoy Girl; Interrupted.

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

4.0

I read this book back in middle school and when I found it again in the very back of my closet I just knew I had to read it again. (I suggest you should probably do that with most books you had to read in school. Because for me it’s hard to absorb the book with 20 other students around). Anyways, this book is wonderful. Who doesn’t love unlikely friendships? The book is suspenseful, funny, sad, inspiring and intense.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

2.0

Going into this book I knew very little about the actual story of Dracula. I hadn’t read the book before and I hadn’t seen any movies or shows about Dracula. As an amateur historian, the only thing that I really knew was the history that helped create Dracula.

The book was drawn out and I’ll admit that while reading I fell asleep twice while reading. This of course, happened before the first seven chapters. But don’t worry though, the story picks ups after Lucy gets bit. Which is important to the story but I still feel bad for her because I felt she deserved better.

Something that I wasn’t expecting was that Dracula wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was a vampire. Everyone was just oblivious. Also the book was a lot of tell but no show. They kept mentioning how horrifying Dracula was and how dangerous he was but we rarely get to see it. It’s always other characters telling us. And in my opinion, there were no compelling characters. I didn’t really care about what happened to any of the characters because they just didn’t seem to matter to me.

I adore gothic novels and Dracula is a great gothic novel, it just wasn’t for me. But I do think others would like it.