What I Read Wednesday: A Random Mix

This week's What I Read is a bit of a mix, but with good reason!  I have had the first book on my to-read list for over a year and finally pushed it to the top of my list once I was done plugging through my summer reads.  It was a welcomed addition to my carry-on bag when I traveled back home to California last weekend too.  Books like this one make sitting in an airport and a claustrophobic airplane a much easier event to handle.  Now the other two, well, I am reading them because I won the 3rd book on Goodreads as a First Reads book...and there was no way I was going to read it until I read the first two in the series.  They seem to be a bit Indie looking, but worth it to try out.  I got both of them for $1.99 and $2.99 on my iPad Kindle.

I am really glad to be able to link up with Amy now that she is back to doing the linky for Wednesday. Definitely click over and see what she has read...as she has great taste, just like me!  That and several other people link up as well...so you can get triple the amount of book recommendations!  Whoops!  It's not till next week.  Check back then!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green | Like I said, this one was a must-read for awhile for me.  Tons of my Goodreads friends had already read it and rated it quite high.  Not to mention, it is being made into a movie and I wanted to jump on it before it was too late.

At the same time, I put off reading this for so long because I was afraid of how sad it would be.  But, that wasn't so.  Green did a fantastic job of writing this in a way that made you hurt for the characters, yet understand they were on a different wavelength when it came to their terminal illnesses.  Was I expecting the twist that was thrown at me?  Certainly not.  To me, the twist made this much more intense than it would have been, had it ended the way I thought it would.  Of course, I won't say much more than that, so as not to give anything away.

Green is quite the talented author as he weaved a beautifully sad and powerful story together of a teenager who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, which became something more.  She is shut off in her house surrounded only by her parents.  Despite having friends still, she just can't relate and they can't relate to her.  That is what makes this story that much better.  She evolves, despite her large setback.  What occurs is a beautiful love story most adults still only dream of. I was surprised I didn't cry, as I thought I would...but I also found some of my Goodreads friends didn't either.  I didn't need the passengers on the plane wondering what was wrong with me anyway.

From Goodreads:  Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

My rating:  5 out of 5 stars  ||  Goodreads Average:  4.41stars

Abducted by T.R. Ragan | Would I ever have picked this up on my own?  Nope!  After stumbling upon the third in the series, called A Dark Mind, on the First Reads giveaway page and reading the synopsis, I was intrigued and entered to win...and won a copy! But there's no way I was going to skip the first two, especially when I read the synopsis of this series starter.  

If you are a fan of movies such as Silence of the Lambs and/or Seven, you will love this one!  I don't normally read books like this, but yet, this is a new favorite.  It reads just like the above-mentioned movies...there may even be a bloody body part sent to someone in a box!  Maybe.  

Lizzy Gardner is a private investigator in Sacramento, California. (Shout out to my college years!...well, at least I was 1.5 hours north of it)  But flashback to 14 years prior to and you learn she was the lone survivor of a crazy serial killer who goes by the name of Spiderman.  You see, he thinks he is some kind of vigilante getting rid of teenage girls who don't respect their elders and the like.  Let me just put it to you this way...he's a crazy freak who loves his spiders way too much!  Gives me the willies just thinking about why they call him this though.  Anyway, back to the present...he suddenly begins contacting Lizzy again even though everyone thought he was in prison behind bars.  Think again.  

My rating:  4 out of 5 stars  ||  Goodreads Average:  3.89 stars

Dead Weight by T.R. Ragan |  I had high hopes for this one since the first was so darn good!  Sadly, it left a lot to be desired.  While Abducted read like some of my favorite thriller/suspense movies, this one reminded me a bit too much of a Scooby Doo cartoon. You know the moment when they are chasing some crazy person who is wearing a mask and they seem to go back and forth between whodunnit?  It wasn't nearly as cheesy or horrible, but it certainly lived up to its title a bit too much...dead weight.  But the great news is that the reviews for the 3rd are way better.  Phew!

This one picks up a couple months after the first one.  All the characters are trying to come to terms with what happened to them surrounding the Spiderman serial killer.  In other words, they are all a bit messed up in the head.  Yet, the plot never seemed to get moving enough and the side story about Hayley (one of the important characters in the first) felt like it didn't quite fit.  But her story is a large part of the 3rd it seems.  

If it wasn't for the 3rd book being sent to me, I may have glazed over the rest of the series.  Stay tuned for the next post and I'll let you know how the 3rd turns out.  

From Goodreads:  Hoping murder and mayhem are behind Lizzy, she delves into her first cold case: twenty-one years ago, a girl went missing and the girl’s dying mother is more desperate than ever to know what happened to her only child.

My rating:  3 out of 5 stars  ||  Goodreads Average:  3.70 stars

Please feel free to add me on Goodreads or follow my reviews there.  I absolutely love discovering new and interesting books that I may not have found otherwise.  

I'd love to know what you have been reading or have read lately!  Care to share?

If you feel up to it...link up with Amy.  She is hosting the linky party every other week.    That of course...being next week.  :-)