Sunday 26 January 2014

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray



Title; Beauty Queens
Author; Libba Bray
Series; None
Source; Amazon, Paid
Format; Paperback
Publisher; Scholastic Press 
Publication Date; May 24th 2011
Description; The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program - or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan - or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again

My Rating; 5/5*s
Goodreads Rating; 3.56/5*s

My Review: Though there are many mixed reviews for this book I went into expecting to like it. I was expecting something laugh out loud funny, and...just a bit silly really. What I got was so much better than just that. 

Beauty Queens is a little silly, and it is rather funny, but it is also full of so much else. I was expecting your usual cliched Beauty Queen, you know, dumbed down, all about beauty. Which is a totally crap cliche. 
There was some of that, but most of them were smart, they were all there for reasons other than "I just want the crown."

There were no holds barred here, Libba Bray called out on "The Corporation" many things that are wrong with today's society. 

The subject of feminism was in there. Two of the LBGTQIA letters were in the book.


There is just so much right with this book. It is one I could definitely reread. 

I found that I fell in love with every character. Even the ones I thought I would hate in the beginning. They became some of my favourite characters in the end. 

There were quite a few cliches to be found, but I found myself so absorbed in the story that I just did not care, at all. 

This book would make an excellent movie. 

My words, as always, cannot do this book justice. I completely recommend it. A book has never made me laugh so much, nor have a loved a book like this so much. I love its entire message. 

Friday 10 January 2014

The Accidental Call Girl by Portia Da Costa



Title; The Accidental Call Girl
Author; Portia Da Costa
Source; NetGalley, via the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Format; Kindle
Publisher; Black Lace
Publication Date; February 14th 2013
Description; It’s the ultimate fantasy:
When Lizzie meets an attractive older man in the bar of a luxury hotel, he mistakes her for a high class call girl on the look-out for a wealthy client.

With a man she can’t resist...
Lizzie finds herself following him to his hotel room for an unforgettable night where she learns the pleasures of submitting to the hands of a master. But what will happen when John discovers that Lizzie is far more than she seems...?

A sexy, thrilling erotic romance for every woman who has ever had a “Pretty Woman” fantasy. Part One of the ‘Accidental’ Trilogy.

My Rating; 3*s

My Review: Okay, so this is probably going to come out as a load of gobbledy goop because I'm ill, but here goes nothing.

For the first half of this book...I didn't really want to put it down, but then, when I got beyond that...it got a little tedious. Like we were going around in circles.

I became a little bored with it, even considered giving up at a couple of points, but I powered through.

I will carry on with the rest of the series at some point. But it is now a lot lower on my list than it was before.

This book would not pass the Bechdel test.

Lizzie A.K.A. Bettie was an okay character at best, the same really goes for all of the characters. I found nothing that significant about them.

The sex scenes were hot. The writing was okay. Overall this whole book comes across as okay for me. I really don't think there's much else I can say about it. It just didn't feel like that could happen, especially considering the story, at first, is only about a week of meetings. But, as I said, I will continue with the series anyway.

I'm not sure I would recommend it, though some people will definitely love this book.