Sunday, May 15, 2011

Book Review: Nick of Time - By Tim Downs

**This is not my photo**
I just finished reading "Nick of Time" by Tim Downs; a book in the series of "Bug Man Novels".
Personally, I was a bit skeptic when I first read the description of this book but I was introduced to a whole new kind of writing and I actually really like it! Don't be fooled by the description if you are one to decide on reading books by the back cover, I personally thought it sounded stupid and more like a book a 9-year-old would read. But I was completely wrong.
I am happy to post this description of the book...

Forensic entomologist Nick Polchak lives in a world of maggots and blow flies and decomposing bodies. No wonder he's still single. 
But Nick has finally found a woman as strange as he is - a dog trainer Alena Savard, a woman who is odd, reclusive, and can seemingly talk to animals. It was a match made in heaven. 
Nick and Alena are scheduled to be married on Saturday - but there's one small problem. Nick has disappeared.
Caught up in a murder case involving an old friend, Nick finds himself on a manhunt that's drawing him farther and farther from the church where Alena is waiting. But will he make it back in time? Could Nick's single-minded focus cause him to forget his own wedding? Is he really pursuing a killer, or is he running away from something else? 


I have to say, I was very uneasy about reading this book, I was quite afraid I would have very little positive things to say about it ha-ha. But I rest my case, I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. This book had to be one of the most strangest reads I've ever picked up, but the character development is interesting, and the quirky ways of Nick and his VERY amusing antics and dialogues made it a fun and mysterious/suspenseful book! Never thought by looking at the back of the book that this book would be anywhere near making me laugh pretty hard.
Nick is a complete jerk sometimes, but the way he does things is REALLY funny. He's very sarcastic, and loves snapping at everyone (especially policeman ha-ha).
The story I would have to say is very intriguing, I don't really have anything much to say about the plot of the book, other than its very unique. Overall I really did like this book, it was a nice story with humor, mystery, and suspense. That's another thing; it constantly kept me on my toes when I got to probably around the middle of the book...

Negative stuff I suppose, there is a few references to beer but no one get's drunk, and there is no inappropriate content such as even a little kissing. And there is one scene with Alena, she took shelter in a bar to wait out of the rain for a call from Nick, and there is a man who flirts with her and follows her out of the bar when she rejects him. And it suggests that he was cheating on his wife at home, and there is a little bit of confrontation that suggest something bad might of happened if she hadn't done something about it, but nothing bad does happen so don't worry.
Those things don't bother me personally, but I thought I should throw that out there in case there is anybody who happens to come across this and doesn't like reading that kind of stuff. Along with that stuff there is some violence things, but that's what comes along with being a forensic scientist/entomologist.
But the things that do bug me; (haha, not meant to be a pun with the "Bug man" ;) is that I couldn't tell who was talking half of the time sometimes, I think that's a pretty amateur mistake on a writer's part, I mean I'm only fifteen and I try to throw a few "He said" "she said" things in there every now and then.
But there wasn't very much besides a couple of descriptions in between phrases, and those were the only times I knew who was talking.
That bugs me a lot, I have to go back and make sure I know that was Nick who said this... and not the other person.
I was also a bit disappointed with the ending, but I suppose not all books can end the way you wanted it to. I think the thing I like about the ending is that it leaves it open for sequels, or not, so the readers can imagine the future of Alena and Nick by themselves.
That's all I have to say negative about it though.

One more thing though...
There is a pretty radical twist in the book! You will be just as surprised as I will be! I am not going to say anything about it but... WOW. I was totally not expecting that twist in the book, Tim Downs caught me completely off guard lol!
That's it for my review. =) Hope you pick up this book and read it, if you like things like I just described.

Overall I rate this book four out of five stars. 

~Jazmine

Thanks to booksneeze.com for supplying me with this free copy of the book for purely reviewing purposes. 

NOTE: I am not obligated to write a positive review, only an honest one.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

My Secret Life: Disappointments and Fears

     Hey all, 


     I figured I should update the blog since I haven't in quite a bit. Nothing really exciting and/or happy has been going on lately I suppose, I will get to my main reason for posting in a moment, but other than my brothers and I getting the stomach flu (all gone for now PRAISE GOD!) nothing really has happened actually ha-ha. Which brings me to my point for posting; disappointments. I have two of them I'd like to talk about, and just the general subject of disappointing things. Because of me getting the stomach flu I had to miss horseback, which I'm not to happy about right now, but I look on the upside; my birthday party is this weekend and I won't miss it. =) Yay! And my second one... just the general subject of writing I suppose. There's a contest thing going on the Go Teen Writers blog by Stephanie Morrill, and I'm just disappointed quite a bit because there has been 7 contests that I've entered, and I haven't even placed 20th in a single one. It just frustrates me I guess, because you have to write the next 100 words from a writing prompt the blog author posts and send it in by a certain time; and then you place in a spot.
     Well I haven't placed in squat... 
     It makes me extremely jealous and angry that I can't seem to get my stupid writer brain to work and figure out what they want in 100 words, I was positive I was going to place 20th this time around... but I was wrong... again. Its like luck of the draw or something!
     I can't leave out too little information, and I can't cram to much information in those 100 words. I thought I did perfectly this time around, but like I said I was wrong again. This will blow off by tomorrow most likely, but it just frustrates me and makes me very disappointed in myself that I can't seem to figure out how in the world to get a perfect 100 word thing that will AT LEAST give me 20th place. That's all I want right now, 20th place. I don't think that's to much expentancy, now is it? 
     ...Which leads me to my next subject; fears. 
     That contest is making me quite fearful that I'll never be good enough unless I place somewhere on that contest, because if I can't write a decent 100 word thing... HOW in the world will I get a publisher to even take a glance at my work? It stink! Because I know I'm wrong. =( And then I question myself, and say "Should I even bother writing? Whats the point? I'm not even good enough anyway." Which in reality I'm probably not, because I'm a teen, and teens don't get published. 
     I'm feeling like this right now, and I'm trying to remind myself that I can be whoever I wanna be and nobody can stop me. And I HAVE to get 100+ rejections before I quit sending in manuscripts to publishing companies, or at least 62 rejections like J.K Rowling did. Or enough rejection letters like the author of the famous comic; Garfield had... he had enough to cover an entire room with the letters. So I'll end this ranting message with happiness...


     I am trying my hardest to look to God right now, but it is sooooo hard not to just drop it all and quit. I'm not even going to go any further with how I feel on the matter of keeping on moving on something that seems absolutely pointless if no success is going to come out of it. *sighs*
     I'm just hoping and praying that my dreams will come true one day, because I know for sure not everybody can become a successful author... not everybody can be a Stephenie Meyer who sucks at writing yet didn't even have to barely try to get into the publishing business. 
     Just gotta keep my chin up high... 


~Jazz