Book Review- The Rapture

I finally finished reading The Rapture by Liz Jensen.

From Goodreads:

It is a June unlike any other before, with temperatures soaring to asphyxiating heights. All across the world, freak weather patterns—and the life-shattering catastrophes they entail—have become the norm. The twenty-first century has entered a new phase.

But Gabrielle Fox’s main concern is a personal one: to rebuild her life after a devastating car accident that has left her disconnected from the world, a prisoner of her own guilt and grief. Determined to make a fresh start, and shake off memories of her wrecked past, she leaves London for a temporary posting as an art therapist at Oxsmith Adolescent Secure Psychiatric Hospital, home to one hundred of the most dangerous children in the country. Among them: the teenage killer Bethany Krall.

Despite two years of therapy, Bethany is in no way rehabilitated and remains militantly nonchalant about the bloody, brutal death she inflicted on her mother. Raised in evangelistic hellfire, the teenager is violent, caustic, unruly, and cruelly intuitive. She is also insistent that her electroshock treatments enable her to foresee natural disasters—a claim which Gabrielle interprets as a symptom of doomsday delusion.

But as Gabrielle delves further into Bethany’s psyche, she begins to note alarming parallels between her patient’s paranoid disaster fantasies and actual incidents of geological and meteorological upheaval—coincidences her professionalism tells her to ignore but that her heart cannot. When a brilliant physicist enters the equation, the disruptive tension mounts—and the stakes multiply. Is the self-proclaimed Nostradamus of the psych ward the ultimate manipulator or a harbinger of global disaster on a scale never seen before? Where does science end and faith begin? And what can love mean in “interesting times”?

With gothic intensity, Liz Jensen conjures the increasingly unnerving relationship between the traumatized therapist and her fascinating, deeply calculating patient. As Bethany’s warnings continue to prove accurate beyond fluke and she begins to offer scientifically precise hints of a final, world-altering cataclysm, Gabrielle is confronted with a series of devastating choices in a world in which belief has become as precious - and as murderous—as life itself.

Gah! Unfortunately I am one of those readers who has to finish every book I pick up.  Otherwise, I would have quit this one a long time ago.

I found this book so incredibly boring and cold.  While the idea of some natural disaster like the one in the book could happen, the chances are so slim and far off.  And there was so much religion in the book. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I wanted to care about the characters.  I wanted to root for Gabrielle, who is in a wheelchair.  And I wanted to be sympathetic for Bethany.  But I just.  didn't.  care.  Not at all. 

Everything was told in such a factual way that it was long, cold and drawn out.  I hate writing negative reviews, but all I can say is that I am so glad that I am done with this book!

I gave this book a rating of 1/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 45
2011 ARC Reading Challenge: 38

*FTC Disclosure: I received this book for the publisher for free for an honest review.

Book Review- Jennifer's Body

I just finished reading Jennifer's Body by Audrey Nixon.


From the back cover:


The sign says WELCOME TO DEVIL'S KETTLE, POP. 7,036. COME SEE WHAT'S COOKIN'! No, seriously...that's what it says.


Some people find it hard to believe that a babe like Jennifer Check would associate with a dork like me, Needy Lesnicki. But we had history. We'd been the Wonder Twins since we were preverbal, and sandbox love never dies. Or at least that's what I thought.


But after that night in the woods, Jennifer was different. She looked different. And then the killings began...

A lot of people ask me if I'm sorry I did it. I'm only sorry I didn't do it sooner.


Ok, I hate doing negative reviews but I just plain didn't like this book. The wording in it was so--fake, for a lack of better words. The words that the main character spoke are not words that real teenagers use. For example, Needy was wearing low-rise pants and her boyfriend told her But, like I can see your womb." And they call hot guys "salty." It just didn't work for me. The plot seemed rush--it just seemed like it was trying to be a cool slasher book and it didn't work.


I gave this book a rating of 1/5.


This book fullfills items in the following challenges:
Paranormal 999 Challenge: Demons

Book Review- The Soul Collectors

I finished reading The Soul Collectors by Charles Quince last night.


From the back cover:


If you want to attain your greatest desires, fortune-tellers Winston and Mildred Benford are the people to see. There's just one deadly catch...


In the small town of Maysville, students from Williams College have been experiencing the strangest phenomena. Some are drawn to the strange old couple who live in the creepy house. Others are coaxed. But some rush there, believing it's the chance of a lifetime.


"Now, what is it that you want to know?" Winston asked, settling into the chair opposite her.
"Well," Hope responded, "I will be graduating from college at the end of this semester, and I want to know what lies ahead for me."
"The let's find out," Winston said.
He peered intently into the glass ball set in the center of the table. The glass was murky, as if filled with smoke. He slowly rubbed it with his hands. In a low, soft voice, he said, "I can see that you want to be successful, more successful than everyone around you."
Hope frowned. "What's wrong with that? Look, I want to know exactly what lies ahead for me," Hope said. "I want to know what I need to do."


Why let fate decide your future, when you can shape your own destiny?


This was sent to me as a review copy. And after what I read, I hope this is a really, really early draft. It was only 78 pages long. The story switched from character to character with no warning so it got very confusing as to what was happening. And there was no character development. Don't get me wrong--the premise was a good idea. But there were hardly any details and the book just seemed flat. There could have been a lot more action and things happening than what was written.


I gave this book a rating of 1/5.