The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

I have always been told that The Stepford Wives book was better than the movie. Truth be told I'm not so sure about that opinion now.

I'm a true fan of the movie version featuring Nicole Kidman and as I began to read Ira Levin's story I felt as though the plot was sticking rather well to the movie. But somewhere around the time when there was suddenly no details to the life within Stepford did I become increasingly lost. Yes, the daily grind that Joanna goes through is described along with the sudden fear in which she harbors, but this was not until the end.

The book felt empty compared to the movie. But more compounding was my utter confusion in the end. I understand based on the movie what happens, but there was no evidence of the robotic clones as evidence throughout the book. Do the women change? Yes, but without explanation, leaving the reader lost. The behaviors of these women just changed.

Could be drugs, hypnotism, or as in the movie computer chips. Could the missing pieces to allow for the reader to build their own story? What about the politics within the community? Maybe by watching the movie more times than I can count I found myself lost on this book.

Overall it's a good read, but I found so much to be missing that the ending was more confusing than it was fulfilling. I would have to say that the movie was better than the book this time around.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

When you find a good book you just want to tell everyone so they can enjoy it just as much!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is just that for me. I know they say never judge a book by the cover. But honestly that's what attracted me to this book. I passed it by numerous times in Walmart; creeped out by the peculiar image on the cover, however intrigued none the less.

Without reading much of the summary I decided to toss it in my cart and call it a day finally. A week later, after finishing whatever book I was reading at the time, this book called out to me. I just had to know and understand what the picture was all about.

This normally doesn't happen to me, when I finish a book I usually pick one that has been on my shelves for months or even years. But as I have learned when a book calls to you there is a reason.

I had been on the hunt for a new favorite author for a very long time and with this book I found one.

Riggs intertwines the fantasy world of Miss Peregrine's Home with random and fascinating pictures, each of which is a character within the book. This book is a true page turner as you learn and explore the depths of this world with Jacob as he attempts to understand the world in which his grandfather grew up in.

Without giving details away, the book left me wanting more, wanting to know what will happen to the children and Miss Peregrine and the world in which they live. What I got was a new favorite author. I can't wait for the release of Riggs new book Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, in which I hope that this turns into a continuous series of which I will follow until the end!

Carrie by Stephen King

My first Stephen King book ever. I'm not sure if it was a good choice or not at this point. I'm not a die-hard fan at this point, but I'm not counting him out. Horror or Thriller books are not my usual choice, but since this is a challenge I'm reaching outside of my box.

The format in which King wrote confused me at first. I felt lost throughout the book, but once I started to ignore the headers of each new insert I felt the pace move more smoothly, however I did get lost every once in a while after that.

I found it interesting that he decided to use research papers, newspaper articles and book excerpts to progress the story. You learned of Carrie, her mother, and the many different people within her life. All of which gave off different perspectives of what was going to happen based on their interactions with Carrie.

You could feel the love and fear Carrie held for her mother in her thoughts. Still apologizing in the end even though she ended the terror of her own life.

I don't want to give away the in's and out's of the story, that's the thrill of reading the book yourself! But overall I truly enjoyed the book. It never had a dull moment and even though I knew the story through the movies, the description left within the book was more in-depth and exciting.