Reading this month sucks

  Not that I have picked bad book. Just mean that I just can't get into everything. I am spending more and more time watching videos on youtube coughallMarkiplier'sfaultcough. I am going to try to spend this week away from the computer on and focus on some reading. Really starting to miss it.

Don't bait and switch me

    If you book, tv show, or movie is not marketed as romance whatever. Do not make the romance a big part of the it. This has happened to me quit a few times. I will pick up a book, for example, and love the summary.It sounds like something I would like , get half or somewhat into it and realize that something is very very wrong. That something is the fact that for some reason the author pushes this romance, love triangle in your face when the book was not market as any sort of romance!!! Ugg. No , just freaking No. I have no real problem with romance, well, other than not liking it that much. What I have an issue with is when I expecting to get one thing and I get another. If I wanted a romance I would reading a freaking romance. I wanted an action filled story with death and gore and other stuff and I got part of that with the big focus being the hero pinning over this girl for half the book. Major facepalm. Author's and other who do this , you know who you are, stop it. STOP IT!!

Wool Review...kinda

 I really want to do a proper review on this book , Wool by Hugh Howey but I am still uncertain how I feel about it. I really liked it but I felt confused a lot of the time. Some things about the world I didn't really understand. Maybe I need to read it again to fully grasp it. I like the world. The characters were ok. They weren't great , but they weren't horrible either. I loved the concept , but it was just ...I don't know. I just couldn't fully get into and believe the plot of the story. I still really enjoy. I am just sort of up in the air how I feel about it.

Why I am not watching the last season of Dexter

....Least not till it is over. One of main  the reasons is that the show is probably going to end one of a few ways: A. Dexter is shot by Debra in a last ditch effort to save/keep him out of  jail, B. Jail time or death , or my personal favorite C. Dexter finds a way to scapegoat someone else for everything he has done, he moves to another state/country, disappears for awhile and gets a new job with another police department ending with him killing one more person before the show fades to black. I am postponing watching it out of the fear that the show is going to end with him dying some how . I still have the book, so guess it will be ok.

When Villains go bad and not in a good way

 

For me when a book, movie or tv show has a villain that play a central role to the story arch, he or she better be a good one. A lot of the time, sadly, the villain is cardboard cut out of what the creator thinks evil should be. Here is of list of a few things that make for crappy villains in my opinion. 

1. The speech of death. A common ploy in a book or movie is to have the villain to have a long monologue on the awful and evil things that he is going to do to the hero. The purpose of said situation is to give the hero enough time to escape to stop the evil plan or for his save the day team to get there to save him. Thinks like this drive me crazy. I really rather see the villain do the stuff he said he will do !!!!

2. No back story or little back story: As in the villain was evil for the sake of being evil or he just had awful parents that abused him. Yes, some people that have horrible upbringings turn out to be bastards and psychopaths but tons of psychopaths come from nice well to do families too.If the villain is just evil because he was born that way or because of one bad thing in his childhood, I instantly don't take him seriously anymore.

3. No shades of grey: No, I don't mean the erotic novel. I mean the fact that everything in whatever universe the hero and the villain are in , everything is either black or white. The hero is always good and the villain is always bad. Another way to put it is everything the hero does is glorified  because everything  he does is seen in a positive light,  while everything the villain does is is in some way evidence to his  evil ways .If the villain saves someone from dying , people are going to think he some evil motive driving him to do it. People are never black or white . We do bad and good whether we like it or not. For characters to be convincing to me they have to resemble the reality of human nature.

4. Stupid beyond belief : This is sort of related to the aforementioned topic. A lot of villains out there are branded as stupid to make the hero seem more intelligent because the hero has to have all of the glory. Most of the times the villain will screw up in a big way so the hero catches him the last five seconds of the film. Villains can be mentally challenged, that's not the issue. The issue I have with dumb as nails villains is they are stupid for the sake of being stupid. Instead of writings and creators make villains that actually out smart the hero, the creators want dumb villains so the hero catches them easier.

5. Why you so Weak ?? This pertains to a villain that has the strangest weakness in the world that the hero just suddenly finds out about or the villain is killed by the stupidest method ever.  Villains are people too, in most things, so they are going to have a weakness or too. That's fine. Flaws are a good think in my book. What gets on my nerves are villains that are immune to everything but a rare flower or the power of love, because we all know, if you are evil you have no heart what so ever.

Book Review: The Program

The Program (Program #1)

by Suzanne Young

Hardcover, 408 pages

Published April 30th 2013 by Simon Pulse 

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them- goodreads 

Rating

*Spoilers, bitches. Beware*

   I really had high hopes for this book , but I felt very meh after reading it. I thought the concept of the novel sounded great, but the author just didn't execute the idea that well, in my opinion. One thing that bugged me and I hope would be addressed was treatment of the teens with suicide when there is a biological cause , ex problems with dopamine levels or dopamine receptors. Sadly, the book seemed to focus on just  giving  the kids some pills to erase their memories . That will totally make them all better. Great doctoring skills there!  Yep, totally awesome plan, guys. That will work for the people that are triggered by situational things such as people or places and even thoughts that make them want to take their life. Sadly,  though, there has to be  teens who are depressed and suicidal because their brain is not functioning in a way as I have mentioned earlier. Removing these kids memories isn't going to take away their urge to commit suicide and their disposition to  depressed.  It just seemed that the pills only got rid of memories and helped you to feel a fake sort of happy.
        I also have a bone to pick with the author concerning erasing memories. This was never explained well enough. As of right now in real time land , science and psychology has no concrete idea as to  where memories are stored. Most believe that memories  can be stored anywhere in the brain. How exactly are these pills working? Is this society so advance , they can make pills that target only certain memories,  but allow  you to remember your parents and some things about your life. The author was also unclear at times how much of the person's memory was erased. At the start, Sloane made it seem like  the teenagers remembered nothing about anybody or  even who they were. Well, when she got out the program, she seemed to remember her parents ok. She didn't ask who they were or who she was. So really it only makes them forget certain things. You can't have it both ways!

What also bugged me about this novel is I felt that the ending was very very contrived and cutesy , I guess would be the way to put it . Maybe a lot of people like that James and Sloane got together at the end against the odds. I just felt like it was really forced in that the author forced them back together because it makes for great romance. If this was real, and the parents were so concerned about about the welfare of their children that they would send them to the Program, I can bet they are going to do anything in their power to keep them away from the people who may cause them to "relapse" .

          I also didn't understand how the teens got stuff like quikdeath to kill themselves with. Is there a black market that the adults don't know about? It may have mentioned it in passing I can't recall.  It just seems like they could get it fairly easily for a society that is scared out of its wits about teens killing themselves!!!!!! Also I would think they would be watching the teens more. Putting trackers on them that shocked them if they stayed under the water too long or if they got too close to jumping off a cliff. Stuff like that. I just can't believe that they would watch them at school and then be like, do whatever the hell you want at home. It doesn't make since for how  much this society wants to prevent suicidal behavior.Well, they want to prevent suicidal behavior in teens at least. Once you hit 18 you are an adult and free to kill yourself if you want. Umm k. Not sure why they wouldn't have an involuntary program for adults if they needed.

            I do have some good things to say. I really did like the start of the book and I feel the author was trying to make something interesting,though it needed to be fleshed out more. Some of the characters were interesting and funny. I enjoyed reading about them and getting to know them. I also thought the author had balls killing of one of the important secondary characters. It takes guts to do that. Would have  been more powerful  if she killed of James or something. Seemed like it was close  to that very thing a couple of times. Not saying she should, but if this is the characters' reality then the characters can't all survive all the time just because they are close to the main character or are the main character.  . Real life doesn't work that way and neither should books. If there is war, for example, some secondary characters  and the main character should be in the same danger as  the characters who we hear nothing about till they die on the battlefield.

           Finally,  I didn't find the end all that shocking to be honest. Realm lied or something. It just wasn't that big of a cliffhanger or that big of a reveal for  me. I see that this is going to be a series. I may check out the other ones, but I am in no rush.

Why Side Characters Matter

  Have you ever had a book where you wanted to stab the main character to death or push them off the cliff, yet you love one of the secondary characters? Maybe you wished and pleaded for the side character to be the main character of the book. If you have ever felt that way,  you understand the importance of side or secondary characters. There have been a few books where I either disliked or hated the main character , but a side character keep me reading and keep me from chucking the book across the room in a fit of rage. For example, I happen to dislike Harry Potter, yes you read that right. There are are a lot of reasons  why he gets on my nerves, which I won't go into now since that could be its own rant. The fact of the matter is, if Harry was the only character of the book I probably wouldn't read or enjoy the series as much as I do. While  he isn't a character that I want to chuck off a cliff or stab , he is one that drives me up a wall sometimes. The Hunger Games was yet another book where the main character annoyed me. I really don't like Katniss for some reason that I really can't pinpoint, but I love the books.I happen to like Cinna the best and Gale brought up a close second. I just fell in love with their characters.
     Finally, another main character I hate is Bella Swan from the Twilight novels. Unlike Harry I really want to push Bella off a cliff. Her inner monologues, constant whining and idealizing Edward drove me crazy. If Bella and Edward were the only characters of the books, I never would have finished any of them. Lucky for me, Meyer created one character that I liked:Jasper. I happen to really like his character for whatever reason. I actually liked the parts he was in and enjoyed reading his back story. I still only gave the novel 2 stars on goodreads, but his parts were what saved it from being a zero for me.The main point of this is that I have come to realize and accept that  I am not meant to like every main character in a book and I like it that way. Even if I don't relate to the main character and even if I hate them, if the author did their job by least trying to create somewhat interesting side characters, I will probably still like or even love  the book.