The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Categories:
Originally written in a language not your own.
Set in a country starting with S 
To Be Read Pile 
4 out of 5 Stars

   This was the last book in my winter book challenge!! WHOOP WHOOP! I did pretty good for my first challenge, I finished 2 weeks ahead of schedule! It also fit into my other 2 challenges nicely so that rocks!  Now on to the book, it was originally written in Swedish and translated to English which is lucky for me because I don't know Swedish. I really enjoyed this book. The overall plot was really well done, although there were some dull moments including a whole page dedicated to a cheese sandwich. I had seen and enjoyed the movie, the one with Daniel Craig, so I was excited to start reading this. I knew there would be several differences as is custom with books and movies but I was surprised at just how much the movie had changed. To me the details they changed with the plot were pretty significant. Here is the blurb from goodreads.com 

   A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue.

.. It’s about the disappearance 40 years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden... and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.... It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance... and about Lisbeth Salander, a 24-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age — and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it — who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism, and an unexpected connection between themselves.

The mystery is very intriguing and even though I had seen the movie the book's ending plays out quite differently and I was pleasantly surprised. Overall a really good book, I will be reading the the rest of the series! 

Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons
Category: A genre you don't usually read
5 out of 5 Stars

 

 This was a really cool book! I read The Da Vinci Code several years ago and enjoyed it, not sure why I waited so long to read this one. I was fascinated with the lore of the Illuminati and the Church and couldn't wait to see how the story unfolded. Dan Brown's ability to weave fiction and fact together is remarkable. I was constantly looking things up to see what was actually true and what was myth.Here is the blurb from goodreads.com:
    World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization--- the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on the earth... the long-forgotten Illuminati lair. 
     I also really enjoy this movie and although there are some notable differences the grand scheme and most of the plot points are the same, and hey who doesn't love Tom Hanks. I can't wait to read the rest of Dan Brown's books!!! Hope you'll check this one out too! 

PS : Just one book left in my Winter Book Challenge!! WHOO HOOO!!!

I Got You, Babe

I Got You, Babe 

Category: Song Lyric in the title 

2 out of 5 Stars 

Ok, I know its been a long while since I posted but I started a new job, and took a break to binge watch some Netflix. Also I had a really hard time getting into this book. It wasn't terrible it was just slow. Here is the blurb from goodreads.com 

She picked the wrong man . . . 

On the run for a robbery she didn’t commit, Renee Esterhaus is stuck in the middle of Texas with a broken car and a sadistic bounty hunter hot on her trail. Desperate for a way out, Renee decides to make a promise she never intends to keep–offer the first man she meets a night of unforgettable pleasure in return for a ride. A night to remember, all right, since the handsome guy turns out to be a cop with a pair of handcuffs and zero tolerance for sweet-talking criminals.
. . . only to find Mr. Right.
John DeMarco was supposed to be on vacation, far away from the lowlifes he endured on a daily basis. Even with his guard down, he doesn’t expect to be duped–especially by a beautiful blonde con artist whose claims of innocence and tempting curves are nearly impossible to resist. Renee is not a woman he can trust . . . so why does he feel himself falling in love? 

     Sounds promising but it just took me a while to get into it. I think because there were too many details about things I thought didn't matter. The story finally got interesting in the middle and by the end I was wanting these two to end up together and hoping things would work out. I think if the author cut the book in half it would have been better but over all a cute little read, maybe good for the beach or something but not really my cup of tea.