Wake (Dream Catcher) by Lisa McMann

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime. She can't tell anybody about what she does, they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control. Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant. Now, I read this book a month or so ago, and you would think I would still have a good idea what it was about right. And what my general feelings were. I suppose this is a lesson in getting my reviews out quicker. The book was a quick, good and an interesting read. I wasn't a huge fan of Janie, but she was a bit sympathetic, minus the "sym". Her powers were interesting, and I see how having them can be a burden, but since Janie never seemed in control, or had any desire to be in control, so I kind of never felt too sorry for her.

I do feel as if we, as readers, should have been cued in to a bit more, I felt like we were missing something when the ending finally came around. Maybe the author felt as if she didn't have to develop much of anything since this is a trilogy. There was a pseudo happy ending, but really, it did not fly with me, especially since this is a series and the ending doesn't necessarily need a happy end just yet. Despite my critiques, I did really like this book, honestly. The romance was sweet (maybe a little wacko, but hey the crazier the better). The powers were something new, which I enjoyed. I liked the style of writing. Many people did not enjoy the sentence fragments, frankly I think it annoyed a great many. But since I like to write in fragments myself, I likewise find it fun to read. Weird but true. My rating for this book is a good 4 out of 5. I think what makes this book good is the brevity. Maybe it isn't the best constructed story/plot-wise, but it is fun to read. I would recommend this book to fans off paranormal romances.

Lauren Conrad - Style

A few weeks ago I was buying something on Amazon and in the recommended list was Lauren Conrad's Style book. Amazon clearly knows me very well. At that time it was only available on pre-order but pre-ordered I did. I finally got round to having a look at it on Friday and I would say in about 45 minutes I was done. It's full of pretty pictures but the content is light and a little pedestrian. You are certainly not going to learn anything reading this, either about Lauren or about style. There are some personal insights that pepper the book, like the fact that she hates eyeshadow and that she loves maxi dresses, but notable absence of others. For instance, I couldn't believe that there was no mention of the taped hair extensions that her stylist Kristin Ess uses, to find out more about that would actually have been interesting and useful but we are just told that Lauren likes "long hair". No kidding! What also annoyed me about the book is the attempts made to Anglicise it for our market, but it clearly hasn't been done diligently.

There is a paragraph referring to how easy it can be to rack up the expense at cheaper stores like H&M and Forever 21. In one sentence they talk about walking out "hundreds of dollars poorer" and then right after it we talk about admiring $20 tops. Oookay. This is like the text equivalent of that badly dubbed Vanessa Hudgens Neutrogena advert. I mean come on, we know it's American, we can get our heads round that! And if you are going to Anglicise it, do it properly! The proofreader needs a little slap! Overall? This was never going to be a grand literary tome. It's fun to flick through and I love some of the photographs. Can I have her hair please? Oh and can I have that Philip Lim blouse? I do think it could have gone further and been more of a personalised experience. A look inside her own closet? Some of her favourite pieces? Some of her must have items? I think I would have bought it to find out more about Lauren, rather than reading generic advice, but Lauren fans the world over need this, simple as that!