40. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

I'm pretty sure everyone's read this one by now or a large portion of people. After watching the movie I had decided to read the book. I think for me it was the smarter thing to do even though I kept telling myself that I wanted to read it first and then watch.

While the movie put a lot of the book into visuals the book really draws on the feelings and what the characters are thinking and going through. It really goes into more depth. Although, I'm not sure what I expected there's only been two books where I thought the movies were actually better.

I enjoyed this well enough. A lot happened. Not only did Collins have a lot of world building she had a lot of character building as well. Katniss volunteers in order to take her sister's place in the annual Hunger Games. A deadly match between one boy and one girl of each district ensuring that the districts never rise up against the Capital, Panem, again.

Really a crazy ride from the beginning all the way to the end which leaves us sort of on a cliffhanger. The story is wrapped up but you can just tell there's lots more to come for Katniss.

38. The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns - Margaret Dilloway

I finished this one last night and I wanted to get my thoughts together before I reviewed. I liked this story. Gal has kidney disease. She doesn't let it define her she just goes on living and making each day her own. She loves roses and she breeds and enters shows. She's a moderate breeder because she's living on her teachers salary.

Gal tortured me. She had such a rough personality. It's like she made it difficult to like her and yet she had and made friends in some of the oddest ways. While dealing with her debilitating disease her niece, Riley, is thrust on her.  I was a bit nervous at first for Gal because it seemed like Riley might be a handful.

When you're living day to day it's hard to remove yourself from a situation and try to look at it from a different perspective. I think that was really hard for Gal to do. She seemed to take a lot of her relationships for granted. I'm glad we saw some growth from her but I'm sad we didn't quite finish her story. One major part of this was left sort of in the wind. Although, I think it was an excellent way to end, and yet I'm also frustrated from not knowing.

I loved how the author was able to go into some detail about caring for roses. It makes me want send my husband out to setup a greenhouse. I know for some it seemed to take away from the story but not me. I loved it. While reading I wanted to stop every so often to look up a rose and to see what it would look like. Small spoiler alert*******  Riley's sea garden sounded amazing as well.

I really enjoyed the story. Gal did have me cringing in some places with her bristly personality and yet I can understand her completely.

37. Envy - Sandra Brown

So I've read pretty much all of Brown's books and I've enjoyed most if not all of them. This one, however, wasn't a favorite. It's the only one of her books I've listened to on Audiobook and I'm not sure if this is the case or not but I didn't really feel the characters. I couldn't connect on any level.

You could almost predict where this one was going and even though the villain kept getting obstacles thrown in his way you're still not sure who's going to come up the winner. (Although, you have a pretty good idea.)

One thing I actually did enjoy was the fact that there were two stories mixed into one. I enjoyed how those two came together. At one point in the beginning I thought my Audiobook had messed up because we were talking about something completely different than the previous chapter.

This wasn't a favorite but I'm glad I did give it a listen.

36. 50 Shades of Grey - E. L. James

Serious hype over this book and I'm not even sure I'm halfway through and I can't even find one thing about Anastasia I like. She's 21 turning 15. Not to mention, I'm listening to the Audiobook and the narrator is like such a valley girl. Her cadence and the way she say's things makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

To me the way this was written is marginal at best. Almost like it was meant for teens. It also reminds me of a cross between Twilight and Pretty Woman.

Christian is 6 years older than Anastasia but he acts like he's 50 and well... she's 15. Ana is so enamored by Christian that she willingly enters into a "relationship/non-relationship" clause. I can't stop listening even when Christian referred to Anastasia's virginity as a situation that needed to be rectified.

I think at first I was mad. How could Anastasia let this man use her like this. Then I kept thinking, a lot of girls let men use them because they're infatuated. Ana keeps saying she'll do anything for this man. Um, why?

About midway through my Audiobook seemed to have a glitch. So I decided that was a good stopping point. The repetitive words and writing are so annoying. There's far better erotica out there with way better characters that I actually like.

35. Pines - Blake Crouch

What just happened? There is no way in a million years anyone could come close to predicting how this one would turn out. I was left guessing what was happening the entire step by fast paced step.

It starts with a man waking up near the river. No idea who he is or where he is. The only thing he knows is that he's hurting, his eye is practically buttoned up and his side and back hurt with each excruciating step. When he finds himself back in the hospital it all comes back to him. He's Secret Service Agent, Ethan Burke, and he's searching for some missing colleagues. The town itself seems a little off and when events start to unravel he realizes he needs to escape from the little town of Wayward Pines and fast.

From the minute we meet Ethan he's go go go. I don't think he caught a break the entire time. Very difficult to piece together until the author wants you to know what's happening. I love how it all came together and how everything was answered in the end.

All in all I really enjoyed this one and I love how it kept going all the way to the end. Makes me want to see Twin Peaks.