Book Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Author: Gillian Flynn
Release Date: June 10th 2010
Publisher: Phoenix
Pages: 424
Format: Paperback
Buy on: Waterstones, Barnes and Noble
Add to: Goodreads, Leafmarks

Rating: 5 stars

Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.

Since then, she had been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family? 

My Thoughts:

Dark Places is one of those books that linger in your brain for a while. You keep thinking about it again and again until your brain bleeds from the feeling of: That was fucking amazing.

I think this is my favorite book of the year, highly disturbing and dark with a pitch of macabre and thrilling detailing of the most chilling events.

It all starts with Libby Day a survivor from the Day family massacre back in the 80's. All these year she lived off the money people donated to her because they felt sorry for her, but money run out and she is in need of those, although, not too willing to either hear her lawyer or do something about the situation.

One day she is being contacted by a guy who participates in the Kill Club. A group of people who research various murders throughout time and they believe that her brother – who is in jail for her family's murder – is innocent. At first, Libby seems reluctant enough to go there and see what all this is about, because she is sure that her brother did it but soon enough those people will make interested because they are willing to pay for any information she can provide -and she needs the money- and also because they have some interesting theories about the real killer. And that's where the awesome story takes starts.

I was thrown in a world so complex and twisted and macabre that I could not believe what I was reading. Everyone seemed like the perfect killer. The story was told in alternative points of view, from present day Libby to deceased mother and brother back in the 80's before the murders. What unraveled in front of me was a mystery so mesmerizing that had me turning the pages like crazy.

The book covers everything from Satanism and sacrifices to drugs, to child molestation, to teenage pregnancy. It covers the theme of abuse and how a troubled teen can hide so much rage inside of him but at the same time be the most quiet and shy child out there. How someone can be completely paralyzed from fear that cannot even defend his own self and can easily be manipulated to do things he doesn't want to do or seem right to him. I love the fact that people who are afraid, are not actually afraid to point fingers to people they consider to be somehow weird and turn someone innocent into a murderer, a child molester etc etc, I like how the book shows you that nothing is what it seems to be and judging by fear is the worst one can do.

The characters are all really complex even the supportive ones play a role in the story and while reading this book you need to be really careful of details because they play a huge role in the development of the story. Libby was unique to me. The complexity and development of her character was truly fascinating and the same applies to her brother Ben. I felt like the characters reached their goal in the end and found peace.

The writing was magnificent. I could not put the book down, I felt every agony, every fear and every confusion in this book because every scene was so vivid, like I was in the book. You wont see the ending coming thats for sure, it was so unpredictable and jaw dropping that I was asking where it was coming from and did not see it. It gave a great closure to the book.

If you love mysteries and suspense then Gillian Flynn is the author for you and its sure my new favorite author.

Book Review + Blog Tour: Beautiful Girl by Lida James

Author:  Lida James
Number of pages: 251
Publisher: The Studio, A paper Lantern Lit Imprint
Date published: 28 October 2014
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Buy on: Amazon, Amazon UK

Darkness has a way of catching up...

Sophomore year at Dutchess College has just begun, and Nicole is still haunted by memories of her first love, Zach. As the changing leaves fall on the stately Hudson Valley campus, she takes solace in running—pushing herself to go harder, faster, to be the best. With the wind blowing through her hair, she can almost convince herself that she is beautiful, that she will find love again.

So when Nico runs, quite literally, into the maddeningly elusive Justin, she’s convinced she’s found the guy to make her forget her ex—despite the warnings of her friends and her straight-edged running partner, Luke.
But when Nico is attacked in the woods after a wild night of partying, everything changes. Suddenly, Nico begins receiving anonymous threats, and she no longer knows where to turn for help—or whether even her close friends can be trusted.

All she wants is to be one of the beautiful girls—the ones who never have to chase perfection. But in order to uncover the truth, she’ll have to face a past she had hoped to leave behind forever. She thought she could outrun the darkness, but darkness has a way of catching up…and only one boy can save her. 


Review:

So, this was an interesting read. I shall simplify:

Why you should read the book

First of all, the writing. While I would not claim it to be the most beautiful writing I had ever encountered (Not even close), it is beautiful. Every few sentences or paragraphs there will be a description that will cut into me like a sharp knife. Something that had me thinking- "yeah, I know that. That's how I think of that". 

Secondly, this book has many issues from drugs and anorexia to stalking and death threats. Really, this book covers many subjects and it takes them all seriously. Self insecurity in a major level as well. 

Thridly, the characters in this book are somewhat complicated. Some of them are flawed more than the others. Others are simply lost. Some of them are admirable and some are just jerks. However you look at that they are varied and tehre is plenty to love, hate or connect to in one degree or the other.

Fourth, there are all kinds of relationships in this book- from true friendships to healthy romantic relationships to abusive relationships and fake friendships. I really loved how the author showed the various relationships there are in a person's life, and while showing how some of them are wrong  and one should not stay in them she did not once judge them. Rather, she let us watch, she let us know how the character felt and she let us come to our own conclusion. 

Fifth, this is a a story of hope. I'll explain in a bit.

Why you shouldn't read the book

first of all, this seems like a thriller from the cover to the name to the synopsis. When I requested for it I thought I was in for a New-Adult thriller. Something serious and edgy. I did get something serious and edgy, but the thriller aspect of it was not the main one and it wasn't that unpredictable.

Also, as I said there are various characters and they are quite varied. One thing they have in common is that they are very likeable and a little hard to relate. Yes, they have human problems. Yes, I can understand them. However, connecting on a deeper level- for more than just scene or a feeling is a lot harder. 

As I already mentioned this book deals with many issues and while it deals with all of them seriously, I have to admit the book was quite ambitious touching so many subjects. It is like when someone is trying to throw those 10 balls in the air and catch them all at the same time. What I mean is that at the end of the day with so many issues and subjects to cover you are left with nothing. It's like when you can't see the forest because of all the trees.

My thoughts 

This was a nice read, an intriguing one, Fact is some of the issues are grandeur, but some I think most people deal with in their life- like the need to be beautiful, to connect, to belong, to be loved. Those are things that many of us experience at different points in life. 

Nicole also dealt with them and she became stronger, yes, she was far from perfect (in teh start and in the end) and she still has a lot to work on by the end of the book but her story is a hopeful one. She learns. Which says something considering how annoying I found her at first when she tried to act like this "Big Girl" who can handle things and ignored the warning of teh people around her- but aren't we all like that sometimes? Despite the darkness the story keeps on reminding us there is hope- you learn, you keep in going, you grow stronger, There is always hope.

An ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Book Review: Dirty Rocker Boys: Love and Lust on The Sunset Strip by Bobbie Brown (with Caroline Ryder)

Author: Bobbie Brown with Caroline Ryder
Release Date: November 26th 2013
Publisher: Gallery Bookes
Pages: 272 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Buy on: Amazon
Add on Goodreads

SHE'S MY CHERRY PIE. Tastes so good, make a grown man cry.

Who could forget the sexy 'Cherry Pie' girl from hair metal band Warrant's infamous music video? Bobbie Brown became a bona fide vixen for her playful role as the object of lead singer Jani Lane's desires. With her windblown peroxide mane, seductive scarlet lips, and flirtatious curves, she epitomized every man's fantasy. But the wide-eyed Louisiana beauty queen's own dreams of making it big in Los Angeles were about to be derailed by her rock-and-roll lifestyle. . . .

Ever wonder what it 's like to f*** a rock star?

After her tumultuous marriage to Jani imploded, and her engagement to fast-living Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee ended in a drug haze-followed by his marriage days later to Pamela Anderson-Bobbie decided it was time Hollywood's hottest bachelors got a taste of their own medicine. Step one: get high. Step two: get even.

In a captivating, completely uncensored confessional, Bobbie explicitly recounts her encounters with some of the most famous men in Hollywood: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Costner, Mark McGrath, Dave Navarro, Sebastian Bach, Ashley Hamilton, Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, Orgy's Jay Gordon, and many more. Who's got the most titanic dick in Tinseltown? Whose bedroom did Bobbie (literally) set on fire? No man was off limits as the fun-loving bombshell spiraled into excess, anger, and addiction.

Bobbie survived the party-barely-and her riveting, cautionary comeback tale is filled with the wildest stories of sex, drugs, and rock and roll ever told.

My Thoughts:

This book contains strong language, descriptive sex, drugs, booze and disturbing scenes.

It was one of those boring evenings that I had nothing to do but youtubing random things...from how to's tutorials to music to top 10 things etc etc and then I found myself watching the first season of Ex Wives of Rock. Two of those ladies seemed familiar to me. One of them was Athena Lee which I had seen live with her then husband James Kottak of Scorpions at a Scorpions concert in Greece in 2008. Yay. The other one was Bobbie Brown and I remembered instantly from the video clip of Warrant, Cherry Pie.

To be honest I;m not into reality shows, I think they are stupid and pretentious and that there is no reason for someone to go on live TV with their personal lives especially if they are famous (they are all over the tabloids anyway). That , I realized when I was in the 7th episode of the show. Yay. And here;s how I ended up reading this book.

Bobbie went on and on about her book and how it failed with one of the publishers etc etc. During the show she says how Pamela Anderson stole Tommy Lee from her and how she was married with the late Jani Lane, lead singer of Warrant. I was intrigued ,because, if I like one thing its autobiographies.

The book was a drama, coming from a broken family, Bobbie was one thing but rebel. She was shy and she had boyfriends but not as many as we would probably think. She came second at the beauty pageant
competition and from then her fame skyrocketed. Agents called her from Los Angeles to model for them and soon 20 year old Bobbie found herself in the City Of Angels, a shy Louisiana girl turned into the most sexy and confident woman and then her downfall began.

It seemed to me that Bobbie had so many opportunities to make big in the scene but her desperation for love and acceptance came first. From what I realized she didnt want to be alone almost never, she always had a boyfriend and if she didnt, she would have sex with someone. She did a couple of video clips for some bands and when she landed the deal with Warrant she became so famous but that only came back to bite her in the ass. She got pregnant from Jani Lane and they rushed into a marriage that none of them was really sure if it would work (and it didnt). That experience alone it would mess up any sane person out there. Jani was over the top, came home drunk, cheated, lied, didnt have sex with her (which she hated) and she became such a b*** that it was disturbing. In the end their marriage failed and Bobbie with a 2 year old kid was moving back and forth all the tme between Louisiana and Cali. But while I was reading all of this and It was a big portion of the book I felt nothing. It was written in non descriptive way, with sentenced composed by a five year.

Meet Tommy Lee. I wont say a lot about this but in my opinion this was the most explosive relationship ever. Both made huge mistakes and both had issues and drugs didnt help at all.
It was like every rock relationship should be like. Sex, drugs and rock n roll with a touch of continuous fighting.

Bobbie Brown was a really kind, sensitive and a good woman that went after the wrong men. Men that she hoped they would provide what she needed but eventually they didnt.

The writing was ok if you consider she used a ghost writer but the dialogues didnt seem real, like they never happened or they were changed. The emotions were kind of flat for a memoir and in the end it left a bitter taste because you realise that Bobbie wasted 15 years of her life, her best years like someone would say, on finding the perfect boyfriend, drugs and constant self sabotaging. She would have made it big if she was a little more down to earth. I just felt sorry for her.

Efterpi

Book Review: Catch Me by Claire Contreras

Author: Claire Contreras
Release Date: November 17th 2013
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Pages: 390
Rating: 2.5 stars
Buy on: Amazon
Add to Goodreads

In the past, I've always been given everything I've wanted, but nothing that I truly needed. I've experienced a lot of things in my twenty-five years, everything except the one thing I want. It's the one thing that can't be bought. It can't even be taken, it has to be given. And nobody has ever given it to me, not really anyway. Not until him. Music is the center of both our lives, but as he found his place in it, I lost my way. He soared, while I spiraled down a destructive path. I lost myself in more ways than I can count. The ironic thing is that I didn't realize how lost I was until he found me. And now that he has, I have to wonder if he'll stay around long enough to catch me.

My Thoughts:

Warning...extreme nagging.

Meet Brooklyn. Ex- drug addict, depressed, daughter of a multi millionaire, traumatized by her selfish mother, traumatized by the death of her best friend and a girl that blames everything on other people but somehow manages to land the perfect boyfriend.

This was the most dragged out story I ever read. But let me start from scratch.

Brooklyn, although she was damaged goods had a likable character and although the story was hard to get into , I liked her from page one. I like that Ms Contreras gave us a lot of background story on Brooklyn in order to make it easier for the reader to understand the present. The story is being told by Brooklyn's pov and sometimes we get to see a chapter dedicated to a past situation or we get memories that shaped her and eventually made her to what she is today.

What I hated about the book was that there were important incidents, situations and stuff going on that eventually the author ignored all together and that was a bummer. Since you introduce something that has the main character crying and breaking up inside and put us, the readers, through hell and back with the emotional roller coaster, make us a favor and give us the story. Describe, dont just refer to it in one sentence and done with it. That made me feel like the book didnt have a point, at all.

Meet Nick, the perfect (as humanly possible) music producer and eventually Brooklyn's boyfriend that had the most misleading description ever. I expected an Alpha male. A guy that was rough and rude and a bad boy from the image that he was promoting but instead we get a sweet, cute, love talking man that (I dont complain I liked him a lot) was what I wasnt expecting. Misleading much? Yeah.

There are a lot of hair pulling situations in this book but I felt like the emotions sometimes were flat and not enough for what was going on. I felt more for Nick than I did for Brooklyn. Oh, and the love triangle wasnt as intense as I was expecting it to be. Another turn off was the kind of instalove-ish thing that was going on. There was time for the characters to meet and although there was a pull that they both felt still the insta-love was there ready to consume us all.

To be honest this was an A-Ok book but I dont think it worths your time...

 Efterpi

Twisted by K.A. Robinson (book review by Efterpi)

Author: K.A. Robinson
Release Date: May 7th 2013
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 320
Series: Torn #2
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon
Add on Goodreads

Chloe and Drake have found their happily ever after... Almost.

When Chloe's mother comes back into her life with a bang, it sets off a chain of events no one could have ever expected.
Everyone has their demons, and Chloe and Drake's hit them with a vengence.

Sex, drugs, money, a crazy ex, and Rock n Roll.... Can they survive it all?

Things are beginning to feel a bit... Twisted.

Review: 

ARC Kindly Provided by Atria Books

This book had me pulling my hair so hard I thought I would be bald by the end of it. It was amazing.

While we continue with the story of Chloe and Drake we come face to face with their pasts. Chloe has to deal with her impossible mother trying to avoid involving Drake in this abusive relatioship, but once Drake leaves for his tour with his band everything goes downhill.

In a series of events we get to see Chloe unravel in the worst possible way, and while her cousin is trying to help her deal with her problems Drake has to deal with his fears..jealousy, insecurity and drugs mix with his bad boy attitude in a lethal combination.

The second book of the series Torn is much more serious, concentrates on the problems of each of the characters and how they try to solve them without ruining each other. We get to see that understanding and love can heal every open wound and that with communication you get to tame the most horrible beast.

I loved the writing and how Robinson did a good job with the supporting characters as well. Other than that some drama was unnecessary and some scenes seemed a little forced but that was the only drawback. The book itself was an emotional roller coaster that I never wanted it to stop, it pulled me in and by the time the book was done I came up breathless and wanting more.

Cant wait to read book 3.

Tidal by Emily Snow (book review by Efterpi)

Author: Emily Snow
Release Date: December 14th 2012
Publisher: MagnoliaB Publishing LLC
Pages: 313
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon
Add to Goodreads

Now that Willow Avery is out of rehab, she's got one chance left to prove herself before she’s officially on every producer’s shit list. At least, that's what her parents and agent are claiming. She doesn't really give a damn if she never makes another movie or not—she just wants to get on with her life, get back to her friends, and find her next escape. But Willow is broke. And whether she likes it or not, acting is the only job she knows how to do.

When she accepts the lead in a beach drama, Willow finds herself in Hawaii. And in Hawaii, she finds Cooper, the gorgeous surfer hired to train her for her new role. With the bluest eyes she’s ever seen and the sexiest Australian accent she’s ever heard, Cooper’s different from the men she’s used to. He doesn’t want to use her. And he refuses to let her fail. But when an old friend re-enters Willow’s life—a friend whose toxicity she’s been drawn to time and time before and whose presence brings about the painful memories she's tried so hard to suppress—Willow will have to choose between the girl she was and the person she’s becoming. The lifestyle that helps her forget the pain and the guy she’s falling hard for.

Review:

This little book was just amazing. I had it my nook for god know how long and I just regretted the fact that I didnt read it sooner.

Let me start by saying this: The characters were so well built, so scrutinized tot he last detail, so amazing that It made my heart swell with pain and love and confusion as the book went on.

Meet Willow, a 20 year old actress already on the verge of failure thanks to her shenanigans around the Los Angeles club scene. Being the victim of alcohol and drugs, having two rounds of rehab under her belt she is finally out and already on her last chance to make a good movie before she ends up in porn.

From page one I knew that this would be a tough book, addressing not only celebrity problems, but self confidence and self appreciation, the need to take control of your life and the need to be understood by everyone who think you are someone you are not. Willow is the perfect character, she has sadness in her, she perceives the world differently and she is not acting like high and mighty that most people do in the Hollywood industry- she is just plain and empty on the inside. She is afraid to love and she is afraid to dare, she doesnt care anymore because caring on of the biggest secrets in her life she is exhausted. She just wants to do what she is supposed to and be left alone and then she meets Cooper.

In one word Cooper is brilliant. He is a surfer and has this funny, assholish, bad boy attitude, I want to get in your pants style that makes him one of the best book boyfriends ever. He is broken himself, lost his mother from drugs and was always under the glare of his abusive father, Cooper tries to find his way in the world through surfing – until he meets Willow. Then everything explodes of both of them and its just amazing to watch.

This is not like other books where the girl falls for the guy within chapters, its slow, torturing and beautiful because the narration is just great. The author did a really good job and while we get tortured we get to see the perfect personality of Willow. Get an insight in her world and trust me I felt every single thing,i felt like I could be friends with her.

The author skipped some parts in the book, like the filming of the movie but I dont think that this was important enough, there were the basic scenes and scenes that we should read about but nothing redudant. The book takes place is Honolulu, Hawaii and the description is really good, bringing Hawaii to my feet (almost felt the sand) and being able to draw a picture of the blue sea and the trees etc.

I loved that the ending was not rushed unlike some other, ehm, books and that it close beautifully.

The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx (book review by Eleni)

Author: Nikki Sixx
Release Date: September 18th 2007
Publisher: VH1 Books
Pages: 413
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon , Barnes and Noble

Set against the frenzied world of heavy metal superstardom, the co-founder of legendary Motley Crue offers an unflinching and gripping look at his own descent into drug addiction.
When Motley Crue were at the height of their fame, there wasn't a drug Nikki Sixx wouldn't do. He spent days - sometimes alone, sometimes with others addicts, friends and lovers - in a coke- and heroin-fuelled daze. THE HEROIN DIARIES reveals Nikki's personal diary entries alongside commentary from the people who know Nikki best including band mates Tommy, Vince and Mick. The book is a candid look at a nightmare come true: a punishing heroin addiction that brought Nikki to the edge of losing his talent, his career, his family and finally to a near-fatal overdose which left him clinically dead for a few minutes before being revived. Brutally honest, utterly riveting and shockingly moving, THE HEROIN DIARIES follows Nikki during the year he plunged to rock bottom and his courageous decision to pick himself up and start living again.

Review:

This is one of the best autobiographies i have ever read. Its so true and you know that it happened because it is a diary, something really personal and secret is being opened in this book for all the fans to read.

I am not a huge fan of Motley Crue but i always admired Nikki for his ability to write good songs and play the bass , so i decided to pick up his book and see what he had to say , what i read screwed up with me completely.

We all know that with fame comes money and with money comes ..well...hobbies..or drugs or whatever. It depends how one will use it. In this case Nikki used his money for coke and heroin and other drugs. You see a rockstar ..an artist spiral down to the bottom of the abyss through what i call Hell. He explains how messed up he is because of his difficult childhood and how he blames his mother for everything. You get to see how a person loses touch with reality and how this artist forgets everything about music and fans and concerts and the only thing he cares about is drugs ,how, when and where he will do it.

While reading his diary entries people that actually were there tell their stories and memories of that era and you really think WTF? I read things that i didnt consider possible to happen ,how can someone OD and then just go home and shoot up again? Along the way Nikki was shooting up with other rockstars like Slash and Duff from GN'R when they were touring together.

As the book progresses you see that Nikki knew the situation he was in...he tried to get clean but that lasted for a couple of weeks and within two weeks he comes around again as a totally different person. He completely changes and then he falls again and then it gets ugly. Along with the drugs comes depression and a continuing remembrance of his awful childhood. He even kicked his mom and sister out of the hotel he was in , he didnt hang out with anyone and wanted to be alone all the time in spite the fact that he hated loneliness. 

I think this is a great example on how someone can reach bottom and then come around suddenly and change his whole life , his whole ideas about life and death. I think this is a book everyone should read because in the end you can see hope.

Unteachable by Leah Raeder (book review by Eleni)

Author: Leah Raeder
Publisher: Velvet Pony Press
Release Date: July 27th 2013
Pages: 356
Rating: 5 stars
Buy on: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

This novel contains graphic sexual content and strong language. It is intended for mature readers. 

I met him at a carnival, of all corny places. The summer I turned eighteen, in that chaos of neon lights and cheap thrills, I met a man so sweet, so beautiful, he seemed to come from another world. We had one night: intense, scary, real. Then I ran, like I always do. Because I didn’t want to be abandoned again.

But I couldn’t run far enough.

I knew him as Evan that night. When I walked into his classroom, he became Mr. Wilke.

My teacher.

I don’t know if what we’re doing is wrong. The rules say one thing; my heart says screw the rules. I can’t let him lose his job. And I can’t lose him.

In the movies, this would have a happy ending. I grow up. I love, I lose, I learn. And I move on. But this is life, and there’s no script. You make it up as you go along.

And you don’t pray for a happy ending. You pray for it to never end.

Review:

This book is beautiful..simply and amazingly beautiful. It starts with the main protagonist Maise, being in a carnival during a summer night doing nothing but wander around. Since the first sentence, we know that we have nothing to do with the classic heroine that falls easily in love, that gets excited with boys, we have a cynical, sarcastic, wild and no- fucks- given- girl that the author crafted so carefully I thought Maise was real.Apart from that, the whole plot falls under the category of contemporary and it is a cliche love story but  seriously the first two pages of the book did it for me and I couldn't stop reading until the book was finished.

The writing is so so so mesmerising and the words blend together in a way that makes you want to jump out of your bed ,chair whatever and run the world until you find real love. It's so intoxicating sometimes it hurt. While reading this book I remembered how I acted as a teenager in love , when you fear nothing and no one, you are your true self with no restraints and want nothing more that one person in your life. That's what I consider an amazing book, the ability of the author to make you relate with the characters and the story. 

We dive into a real dysfanctional family with a long gone father and a mother who does nothing more than drink all day and according to Maise *suck her clients dicks in her van for more money* , while Maise has to fend for herself on her own. Her whole personality kind of reminds me of a slut or that is until she meets Evan at the carnival and then in his...classroom. 

The forbidden love makes the whole relationship a lot more interesting and anticipating. Maise starts to change her view of the world and the people around her , Evan is just as cute and broken as her. Although, they both are in love they deal with their problems on their own, they box them up and put them in the back of their heads and those boxes are starting to make a wall so tall and crammed up until everything comes down. I loved the fact that they were understanding of each other no matter their age gap and made their mistakes as a couple and then learned and moved on after forgiving each other.

While they try to be careful with what they do and when there are slip ups and a dark figure obsessed with Maise documents her everyday life. Sneaking in classrooms and making out with your teachers must be a huge dose of adrenaline and recklessness and you lose track of time and place until someone sees you. 

The narrating was in past tense giving the sense that Maise was in a different place and time when she was telling the story and that had an extra bit of biterness and sadness in it, I felt like I could hear the rise and fall of her voice while she was telling me the story. It was so alive. 

The 75% of the book is fast and intimate...like really really intimate. Although, I would like a little more talking between them than raw (sometimes) masochistic sex I liked the sex scenes a lot. 

This is a book about growing up and learning from your mistakes, whether you are 18 or 33 you still make mistakes and you still learn. How a person can change her whole life in just a few months and how she sees things after she finds trust and love to the most forbidden person - her teacher.

Unteachable is the kind of book that I will read again some time soon...really soon. Hope you like it too.

My Appetite for Destruction by Steven Adler Review by Eleni

Author: Steven Adler
Release Date: July 27th 2010
Publisher: It Books
Pages: 286
Rating: 2 STARS
Buy At: Amazon , Barnes and Noble

No secret is too dark.
No revelation too sick. But you must have the appetite for it.

After forty years, twenty-eight ODs, three botched suicides, two heart attacks, a couple of jail stints, and a debilitating stroke, Steven Adler, the most self-destructive rock star ever, is ready to share the shattering untold truth in My Appetite for Destruction.

When Adler was eleven years old he told his two closest friends he was going to be a rock star in the world's greatest band. Along with four uniquely talented—but very complicated and demanding—musicians, Adler helped form Guns N' Roses. They rose from the streets—primal rockers who obliterated glam rock and its big hair to resurrect rock's truer blues roots.

They were relentless rock stars, onstage and off, taking "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" to obscene levels of reckless abandon. By the late 1980s, GNR was the biggest rock band in the world, demanding headlines, awards, and sold-out shows, with one of the greatest rock albums of all time: Appetite for Destruction. But there was a price to pay. For Adler, it was his health and his sanity, culminating in a brutal banishment by his once-beloved musical brothers. Adler digs deep, revealing the last secrets, not only his own but GNR's as well: Slash's betrayal, Axl's unpredictable temper, and Duff's revenge. He bares it all with this shocking fuck-the-fates exposé that charts his meteoric rise and devastating collapse.

Adler was humiliated and disgraced when Axl Rose kicked him out of GNR in front of an MTV audience of millions. Adler plunged into the dark side, spending most of the next twenty years in a drug-fueled hell. But he finally beat his epic addiction to crack and heroin under the care of Dr. Drew Pinsky.

With Adler's newfound clarity comes a fierce determination to tell it all. Revelatory, heartbreaking, hilarious, and ultimately inspirational, you will never read anything more jaw-droppingly honest than My Appetite for Destruction.


REVIEW:

I have a really bad feeling that the synopsis of the book will be longer than my review and I feel bad for that.

I am sure by now that you all know that I am a huge GNR fan and that I read all the three biographies (Slash , It's So Easy and Other Lies). I liked the other ones so much especially Duff's but I am a little disappointed with this one if not completely.

Ok so like every autobiography book Steven starts with his painful childhood but he doesn't really give to the reader the chance to understand how he felt back then when his mother kicked him out of the house repeatedly because of her boyfriend. He doesn't even analyze why his mother chose her boyfriend over her kid. It's crazy.

As the book moves on we can see how Steven came to be a punk of the street and how his love for music begun. And that's where I start to hate the book. Slash said in his autobiography that Steven acted like a 10 year old all the time and that he could never shut up and that;s exactly what i saw in this book. A kid telling us about his mischief's and bragging about himself all the time through the end of the book and seriously that was so so so so so annoying. It would never be over.

Of course that didn;t stop there. He went on giving us disturbing and disgusting descriptions of stuff he did with girls and how he liked to do this and that with them. Ok I take back the thing i said about rock stars describing sex situations, I dont want to read something like that ever again.

I really felt bad for his wife after Adler got kicked out of the band and I really dont believe any of the accusations he has against his ex bandmates. There were all kids at the time and they didn;t know how to control some things especially since they were under pressure from the record company and half of the time lost in their own little world of drugs BUT i can never believe that they were so cold hearted and mean. I just think Steven saw it that way towards the end of his career because most of the time he was paranoid from drugs. 

After the fall he goes on about his hardships and how he dealt with it but what i didnt like is that he was still stuck up with the idea of GNR doing this to him. Well he would have continued with the band and he would get the same results like everyone else did. 

To sum it up real fast Steven Adler wrote a-ok book about his life but he gave me the impression that he is one of those stuck up 80's rockstars that had fame once and don't want to move on and do something else and even if they do it;s similar to what they achieved back then. 

p.s. the review was as long as the synopsis after all.

Slash by Slash and Anthony Bozza Book Review by Eleni

Author: Slash and Anthony Bozza
Release Date: Ocotber 30th 2007
Publisher: It books
Pages: 458
Rating: 5 stars
Buy on: Amazon , Barnes And Noble

From one of the greatest rock guitarists of our era comes a memoir that redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll

Here, for the first time ever, Slash tells the tale that has yet to be told from the inside: how the band came together, how they wrote the music that defined an era, how they survived insane, never-ending tours, how they survived themselves, and, ultimately, how it all fell apart. This is a window onto the world of the notoriously private guitarist and a seat on the roller-coaster ride that was one of history's greatest rock 'n' roll machines, always on the edge of self-destruction, even at the pinnacle of its success. This is a candid recollection and reflection of Slash's friendships past and present, from easygoing Izzy to ever-steady Duff to wild-child Steven and complicated Axl.

It is also an intensely personal account of struggle and triumph: as Guns N' Roses journeyed to the top, Slash battled his demons, escaping the overwhelming reality with women, heroin, coke, crack, vodka, and whatever else came along.

He survived it all: lawsuits, rehab, riots, notoriety, debauchery, and destruction, and ultimately found his creative evolution. From Slash's Snakepit to his current band, the massively successful Velvet Revolver,Slash found an even keel by sticking to his guns.

Slash is everything the man, the myth, the legend, inspires: it's funny, honest, inspiring, jaw-dropping . . . and, in a word, excessive.

Review:

I am a huge fan of guns and roses and naturally of Slash. When this books got into my hands I started reading an amazing and hard to believe story of one of the hardest and toughest rock stars on this planet.

Since I am a huge fan I knew some things but I didn't know others. This book took me aback. 
Slash start the book with where he was born and a brief telling of his first years. He then moves on to live in England and how he remembers his parents and of course the big move to L.A. and how that and the fact that he grew up in the seventies changes his life dramatically.

From a very young age drugs, music and excessive alcohol drinking lead his to weird and scary situations. He took those habits with him through the years and he never stopped living on the edge. In comparison to Duff's memoir Slash was tells all about the ugly side of GNR and how each member of the band and what lead them to eventually estrange from each other. It seems that everyone wanted the same thing - to perform and be a great band - but no one stood up when Axl did what he did. I think Axl had a really good ego and took advantage of it when he knew that the alcohol induced band mates wont bat an eye or confront him for his actions. 

From page one of the book you can see that Slash was indeed a very clever man but he didn't always use his brain when he had too part because of the drugs that kept him in a haze...i have to say that in some parts some situations either were the wrong date or he wasnt quite sure about them. Slash himself said that he was using some of his agendas to state a few facts because he wasn't sure if something happened or not.

I would like to know more about the lawsuits for the rights and everything after GNR broke up and a lot more about Axl although Slash tries to do its best to excuse his weird and ego centered behavior by saying that ''I'm sure Axl had his reasons''. Of course as Duff said Axl could be more than a good friend with you if you took him on your good side but overall he was a very unpredictable person.

After the GNR years you can see how difficult it was for Slash to create another band and how everything went to hell after the industry changed in the late 90's. Also you can see that those people were used a lot from the industry because simply they were dollar machines. The book describes the process of the creation of Velvet Revolver and how difficult it was for them to find a singer that fits with the group.

Both Slash and Anthony Bozza did a great job with writing the book and making it ''sound'' like Slash. It was a book of almost 500 big pages and small little letters it drove me crazy to finish it but I loved every bit of it.

I wouldnt recommend this book to a kid under 14 due to strong language and mature situations.

It's So Easy and Other Lies by Duff McKagan book review by Eleni

Author: Duff McKagan
Release Date: October 4th 2011
Publisher: Touichstone
Pages: 366
Rating: 5 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble , Amazon.

''A founding member of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver shares the story of his rise to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, his personal crash and burn, and his phoenix-like transformation via a unique path to sobriety.

In 1984, at the age of twenty, Duff McKagan left his native Seattle—partly to pursue music but mainly to get away from a host of heroin overdoses then decimating his closest group of friends in the local punk scene. In L.A. only a few weeks and still living in his car, he answered a want ad for a bass player placed by someone who identified himself only as “Slash.” Soon after, the most dangerous band in the world was born. Guns N’ Roses went on to sell more than 100 million albums worldwide.

In It's So Easy, Duff recounts GN’R’s unlikely trajectory to a string of multiplatinum albums, sold-out stadium concerts, and global acclaim. But that kind of glory can take its toll, and it did—ultimately—on Duff, as well as on the band itself. As GN’R began to splinter, Duff felt that he himself was done, too. But his near death as a direct result of alcoholism proved to be his watershed, the turning point that led to his unique path to sobriety and the unexpected choices he has made for himself since. In a voice that is as honest as it is indelibly his own, Duff—one of rock’s smartest and most articulate personalities—takes readers on his harrowing journey through the dark heart of one of the most notorious bands in rock-and-roll history and out the other side.''

Review:

I don't know what to say about this book or the author. Duff Fucking McKagan has been a huge inspiration to me since my early teens. Guns N' Roses is my favorite rock band and i love all the members but a little more Duff. I always knew that rock has to do with drugs but that was something else. To be honest i never read anything like that in my entire life. Neon Angel by Cherrie Currie is not even close to the things described in this book.

When i started the book i didn't know what to expect, i just wanted to read about Guns N Roses and the life they led before they become famous and its true that Duff did a great job with describing his early childhood/teen years and how everything shaped around the name of GNR. I was surprised from a lot of things and i needed more and more and more. I loved the way he wrote.

As the book progressed we could see how deep in addiction Duff and his bandmates fell and how fame and money eventually changed everything. How the band mates got estranged from each other and how a certain member suffered from megalomania which resulted in the band to eventually split in 1997. Although the book answered a lot of questions it created new ones and at some points i found myself screaming Why????

I would loved to have read a little more descriptive situations and especially about the fallout between Axl and Slash. For obvious reasons there is no sex scene descriptions in the whole book (im sure no rock star would want their daughters read about their fathers um....experiences (?)).

I was amazed on how Duff got out of the cocaine-alcohol addiction pit and did his best to recover and how to this day he is still suffering from his past. Although i think Duff doesnt realize it he got out from one addiction with another - exercising and i think although this is kind of healthy it can also destroy you if you are not careful. 

The book also focuses on the musical career of Duff before and after GNR and the differences that he saw. How people accepted him back then and how they accept him now - everything is easy when you are a legend.

Duff did a great job with a book and i would totally recommend it to any GNR fan out there and not only. 

A Trick of The Light by Lois Metzger book review

Author: Lois Metzger
Release Date: June 18th 2013
Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Pages: 209
Rating: 4 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

Mike Welles had everything under control. But that was before. Now things are rough at home, and they’re getting confusing at school. He’s losing his sense of direction, and he feels like he’s a mess.
 
Then there’s a voice in his head. A friend, who’s trying to help him get control again. More than that—the voice can guide him to become faster and stronger than he was before, to rid his life of everything that’s holding him back. To figure out who he is again. If only Mike will listen.

Review:

I picked up this book from the new releases section at the local public library. Actually I didn't even look at the cover of the book or the title. Sometimes i like that..not to know what im gonna read.
So the books starts with Mikes subconscious describing a scene with Mike and his friend Tamio. Initially i thought that someone else was looking at Mike I had no idea that Mike;s self narrated the whole book and it took me some pages to understand it.

A Trick of The Light is a really really weird read. Last year i went through some excruciating dieting myself, taking out valuable food and eating only greens - which resulted in a life that maintaining control and never exceed the 1200 calories that i had set myself as a daily nutrition intake. Sometimes i had to go to the bathroom and throw up due to remorse that i ate 200 more calories. Does it sound crazy? Exactly that's what i saw in this book - MYSELF EXACTLY A YEAR AGO.

As we follow Mike through the book through his mind;s eyes we see a totally healthy boy going through their parents broken relationship and eventually divorce. He finds himself alone and completely neglected by his family. To his weakest point his mind makes him believe that everyone around his is the enemy. No one want good things to happen to Mike and that starts when Mike sees himself in a weird mirror that he is fat and later a comment that comes from his coach make Mike a completely different person. He is starting to work out and cut back on his nutrition intake. His only friend seems to be a girl called Amber that plays a huge role over Mikes downfall.

As the books moves on we see the aspects of anorexia and what can happen to people. How they change completely (body and mind) and how they see their surroundings. I never thought that this book will show the hidden aspect of anorexia and that it can affect boys too. The author did a really good job describing Mike and his thoughts and inner demons but also i loved that she payed attention to the fact that you can be helped and recover. She highlights the rehab centers and the actions that they take but also throws a message towards bad parenting and how a parent improves with methods after his child suffers an illness implying that parents should always be responsible and caring with the children.

She finishes a book with a great paragraph and i have to say that i will read this book sometime soon.