Book Review: Big Red Tequila - Rick Riordan

Big Red Tequila - Rick Riordan

Everything in Texas is bigger...even murder.  Meet Tres Navarre...tequila drinker, Tai Chi master, unlicensed P.I., with a penchant for Texas-size trouble.

Jackson "Tres" Navarre and his enchilada-eating cat, Robert Johnson, pull into San Antonio and find nothing waiting but trouble.  Ten years ago Navarre left town and the memory of his father's murder behind him.  Now he's back, looking for answers.  Yet the more Tres digs, trying to put his suspicions to rest, the fresher the decade-old crim looks:  Mafia connections, construction site payoffs, and slick politicians' games all conspire to ruin his homecoming.  It's obvious Tres has stirred up a hornet's nest of trouble.  He gets attacked, shot at, run over by a blue Thunderbird--and his old girlfriend, the one he wants back, turns up missing.  Tres has to rescue the woman, nail his father's murderer, and get the hell out of Dodge before mob-style Texas justice catches up to him.  The chances of staying alive looked better for the defenders of the Alamo...

3/5 stars (liked it)

I liked Tres and especially loves his cat and wish Robert Johnson was in the book more.  Although I found it a little hard to keep track of some of the characters as it seemed like there was a lot of people from his past that came back.  Overall a good story and I think I would read more books in this series.

Book Review: Paper Towns - John Green

Paper Towns - John Green

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar.  So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life--dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge--he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school and discovers that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery.  But Q soon learns that there are clues--and they're for him.  Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.

2/5 stars (it was OK)

I did not like Margo at all, not the idealized version that Quentin had of her or the actual version of her.  So because of that it was really hard for me to care when she disappeared.  Quentin drops his life to find her along with his friends.  Then at the end I feel like it was just wasted.

Book Review: Ink & Bone - Rachel Caine

Ink & Bone - Rachel Caine

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses.  Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly--but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market.  Jess has been sent to be his family's spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library's service.

When he inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life--and soon both heretics and books will burn...

4/5 stars (really liked it)

I thought it was a little confusing at first in terms of what kind of world this was set in.  But once I figured things out I really liked it.  I like that the main character whose mind we are in is a male.  Also there is no great love story here although there are love interests.  All the students, even the ones I didn't like I enjoyed reading about.  The last 100 pages of the book really kept me reading and now I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.