Good February Reading

Hello Friday! It's so nice to see you this week and a new month too! 

I don't know about anyone else, but the consensus over here is that this work week has felt like it was 2 weeks long. Not sure what's up with that, but yippee it's finally almost over!

With it being March 1st and all, today will be all about recapping my February reading. I certainly didn't read as much as January, but I am still making progress towards my goal of reading 40 books by the end of this year.

So let's get started...

8. Gates of Paradise (Blue Bloods #7) by Melissa de la Cruz
Finished February 7, 2013 

Amazon Description:

"Schuyler Van Alen is running out of time. The Dark Prince of Hell is storming the Gates of Paradise, intent on winning the heavenly throne for good. This time he has his greatest angels by his side, Abbadon and Azrael—Jack and Mimi Force, as they are known in the Coven.

Or so he thinks. Even as Lucifer assigns Jack and Mimi the tasks of killing their true loves, the Force twins secretly vow to defeat the Dark Prince once and for all. But how far will Mimi and Jack go to conceal their real loyalties?

Meanwhile, former vampire Bliss Llewellyn has joined forces with Lawson, the greatest wolf of the underworld, to free his people from their imprisonment in Hell. As they struggle against impossible odds, an ancient message, woven into the very fabric of time, reveals just how much depends on the success of their mission.

Lucifer seeks the key to the Gate of Promise, and when Schuyler is taken captive and delivered straight to Hell, she must make an unthinkable choice—the same one the archangel Michael was forced to make during the Crisis in Rome. Will Schuyler find the strength to do what he could not?

The epic, heartbreaking Blue Bloods series comes to a close with this final novel about staggering courage, unbearable sacrifice, and the immortality of true love."

What can I say about this book? First of all, this is the final book in the Blue Blood Series and it was long overdue in my opinion. I started reading this series back when my niece was in high school (she is now almost a college graduate) and I have faithfully looked forward to each installment of this series, including the mini novellas that came out in between each main book.

When I started reading this last book I became quickly frustrated. Why you may ask? Well, while I kind of remembered the story from the last book 16 months before, there was one character that I did not remember ending up in the state she was in for this book. I thought to myself, "What the heck? Did I miss a book or just totally forget what happened to her?". I decided that maybe reading further things would be explained, but to my frustration, the author never mentioned the back story of this character.

In between my moments of wanting to throw the book across the room and wanting to see how this saga all ended, I did a little online search and noticed the author wrote a mini 4 Part series of books that explained what happened to this character. I knew nothing about these books. From what I can tell they weren't mentioned as being part of the Blue Blood Series. In the end I did not stop and read those books, mainly because the library didn't have them and I didn't want to purchase them. Do I feel like I missed something? Yes. I really think that the author should have just taken those 4 mini books and made them into one of those in between novellas in the series.

9. The Scorch Trails (Maze Runner #2) by James Dashner

Finished February 17, 2013 

Amazon Description: 

"The Scorch Trials picks up where The Maze Runner left off. The Gladers have escaped the Maze, but now they face an even more treacherous challenge on the open roads of a devastated planet. 

And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them. 

Can Thomas survive in such a violent world?" 

After I finished the Maze Runner in December, I really didn't want to wait to see what happened with these group of young Gladers. Was their adventure really over? What was going to happen to them next? Was life going to become normal again?

Before I started reading this second book, I thought about maybe reading the Prequel to the series, there is even a 1.5 book out there too, however, in the end I decided to read the books the way the author originally published them. I didn't want to ruin anything that he might have intended and after finishing this second book, I am glad I did. 

This book did not disappoint. The whole time I was reading it, I kept asking what else could happen to these kids? I think if I had read the other 2 books before this one, the surprise and suspense might have been removed for me.

10. The Death Cure (Maze Runner #3) by James Dashner

Finished February 27, 2013 

Amazon Description: 

"Thomas knows that WICKED can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. To complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare.

What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what WICKED says.

The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine."

As you can see, I did not wait a whole month to find out what happened to the Gladers. I had to know the outcome. Just like the previous two books, this one was filled with suspense. I could not have predicted any of it or even the outcome. I thoroughly enjoyed this series, maybe even more than the Hunger Games. I plan on reading the Prequel and the in between book at some point, but for now, I have a sense of satisfaction with this story and can wait.

So tell me, what are you reading right now? Got any good recommendations?
I was cruising around the internet yesterday stalking reading some of my favorite blogs and came across this recommendation/review: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. While the cover of the book leaves me with nothing to be desired about reading it (and if I saw it in the store I woudn't even pick it up), I thought the description of the story was quite interesting. Think I may be adding it to my reading list.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!