Waiting on Wednesday [2]

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating! The book that I am waiting to purchase has already been released just a week ago! And I'm pretty sure many of you out there already have your hands on it =)

Title: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Publication date: January 10th 2012

From Goodreads:
Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Salem's Lot by Stephen King

Title: Salem's Lot 
Publisher: Pocket 
Published date: November 1st 1999
Edition: Paperback, English


Salem's Lot is a small New England town with white clapboard houses, tree-lined streets, ad solid church steeples. That summer in Salem's Lot was a summer of home-coming and return; spring burned out and the land lying dry, crackling underfoot. Late that summer, Ben Mears returned to Salem's Lot hoping to cast out his ow devils...and found instead a new unspeakable horror.

A stranger has also come to the Lot, a stranger with a secret as old as evil, a secret that would wreak irreparable harm on those he touched and in turn on those they loved.

All would be changed forever--Susan, whose love for Ben could not protect her; Father Callahan, the bad priest who put his eroded faith to one last test; and Mark, a young boy who sees his fantasy world become reality and ironically proves the best equipped to handle the relentless nightmare of Salem's Lot.


My Thoughts


Salem's Lot was my first Stephen King novel, and I absolutely loved it. Who does't like a good Vampire book? I mean real vampires. The story begins with a prologue that will capture the reader's attention immediately. We know immediately something terrible has happened, and the prologue leaves the reader wanting to know more as to what happened. The way King introduces Salem's Lot, the town, we just know something is about to happen. The town is your typical town where nothing out of the ordinary occurs. Everyone knows each other's names, and nothing goes amiss. Nothing until Ben Mears arrives, and when the Marsten Mansion is bought.

I enjoyed the plot of the book very much. Although as a reader I knew some of the things that were going to happen, many things took me off guard, and kept me guessing. The plot was very engaging, and I zoomed through the book without ever dreading to read 500+ pages. King's writing is well understood, and does not drag into the boring category. King provides details about other character's in the town and what is/has happened to them. I found this very interesting, because it lets the reader know what is going on in Salem's Lot and not just the main characters. Many chapters were given to different characters, and the Lot itself, which I found to be a nice way to get to know some of the characters more in depth.

The characters were well developed (the main ones) and the reader had the opportunity to glimpse into the lives of the other characters. Mark has to be my favourite character because he is shown to be more courageous  then the grown up characters. Ben was also an interesting character because he had his own personal fights to concur. I also enjoyed the way King keeps the main antagonist in secret, leaving the reader guessing who it might be. Thumbs up for awesome suspense.


All in all, Salem's Lot is one of the best vampire books I've ever read. Number one spot is always Stoker's Dracula. I would recommend this book to anyone who reads and enjoys a good horror stories, with vampires that are real. Vampires that don't shimmer/glitter :P

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot is Austen's most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne's family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. All the tension of the novel revolves around one question: Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?

My Thoughts:

As a huge Jane Austen fan I dived straight into this book knowing I would absolutely love it. Although this is my second Jane Austen novel, I am absolutely enchanted with the way she writes and constructs her novels. My first Jane Austen book was, as you all know, Pride & Prejudice. To this day P&P stands as my all-time favourite novel ever. If you have read an Austen book, then you will know that there is not much action in it. The same goes for Persuasion. There is no action, instead there is a lot of drama and social activities. These alone have the potential to grab a reader's attention, because it definitely does to me. I immensely enjoy the social class of the Victorian era and learning what everyone's role is.  Jane Austen's works are like fact books, they tell us, readers about how people interacted with one another back then.


The only thing that probably disappointed me was the fact that I wanted to know more of what Captain Wentworth was thinking. Austen leaves us guessing as to his feeling towards the whole situation with him and Ann having to be in the same presence. We get to see a lot of what Anne Elliot is thinking and her emotions towards Wentworth. Although, we do get to read about Wentworth's feelings near the end of the novel, I still wanted more. 


As for characters, I loved Anne Elliot. Anne is the oldest heroine in Austen's books, and I did not mind that at all. Anne was mature and well collected. Her manners are perfect and she is anything but selfish. All these traits that Anne possess are completely different from her sisters. Mary, and Elizabeth are self absorbed and are vanity driven. I had a love/hate feeling towards Captain Wentworth. His coldness towards Anne unnerved me, even if he had a reason for it. 

I enjoyed reading Persuasion, and would recommend this to friends, families and readers everywhere! But if you have not read any Jane Austen's books before, I would suggest starting with Pride and Prejudice. Happy reading everyone!