Review: The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx by Linda A. Cadose

Title: The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx

Author: Linda A. Cadose

Publisher: Authorhouse

Release Date: 17th January 2012

Find on: Goodreads

Quick Review: American archeologist Dr. Cliff Post and his friend Egyptian archeologist Dr. Abdul Saad discover a hidden chamber in the right paw of the Great Sphinx. Inside they find an ancient supercomputer left there thousands of years ago by ancient aliens. A terrorist group seeks to obtain possession of this supercomputer. The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx is the first in a series featuring the adventures of American archeologist, Dr. Cliff Post. Be sure to read the second in the series, The Underwater Pyramid in the Bermuda Triangle.

Detailed Review: I didn't really have a good first impression of the book when I was first exposed to the story and the cover through a review request from a publicist. It didn't sound YA to me (call it my sixth sense)

I was right, to a certain extent. What I was wrong about, was that twist in the end. I thought it was IMPOSSIBLE. But the author did it. I give her credit for that. This brought my rating up a level. I didn't see that coming. The story was OK, and probably needed a little more excitement and pace to keep the reader's attention going. 

What made me continue reading was the flawless writing- as in, very few grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes and great choice of words. I am a sucker for those. I could feel the potential behind the words; they just needed a much better outlet than the story in The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx. The setting was also a very important key. It was good to have the story set in somewhere common, which I found a bit mainstream. The last one, was that the author wrote the book based on real facts (characters were imaginary but the hidden chamber exists) and to me, it seems quite hard to write a story based on real facts because I end up going off the topic.

The characters probably needed a little more depth but it didn't mean that I couldn't connect with them. I especially found Matt an entertaining character with his enthusiasm and energy. 

So overall, I think that The Hiddem Chamber in the Great Sphinx was a good debut. I'm hoping for a better story next time!

Brief Review: Linda's efforts in trying to engage the reader doesn't go unnoticed, from facts about Egypt to the theory that aliens actually built the Pyramids of Giza. She has potential to become a great writer and I hope to read more of her works! I'd love to read more of her the flawless writing and unique settings again!

Final Rating: 4/5 'Really Liked It'

Your Reviewer:

ARC Review: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Title: The Naturals

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Release Date: 5th November 2013

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Find on: Goodreads

Quick Review: Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides— especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

Detailed Review: <ARC received from NetGalley> 

I was hooked from the first page. That's enough said.

But on second thoughts, let me give you a brief overview of what to expect from The Naturals. Expect a love triangle, some very bloody and gory visuals of women with cut-up faces, hidden messages, and one hell of a twist with varying points of views from Cassie and a serial killer who's more dangerous and closer than you ever thought he/she was.

Prepare to be surprised. 

THE CHARACTERS: They were amazingly well-portrayed and written. They had depth and character. I especially liked how each of the teenagers of the program had an unusual past, which helped develop and shape their abilities. 

So here are the 5 kids from the program:

Cassie was a great heroine. She's everything an awesome heroine should be: bold, stubborn, smart, determined, caring. She is also a very gifted profiler, who can tell you things you never knew about someone with just a single glance. Cool right? 

Then there's Michael. He's the one who can read emotions. I love how he antangonises Cassie by telling her what emotions he's reading from her. And no matter how much she tries to profile him, from the first time they met, she ends up empty-handed.

Dean: He's considered the most dangerous because of his past. He can get into a killer's head easily. Michael also antagonises him by asking him questions related to his past. He pushes everyone away every time they approach him. But Dean does have a soft spot, when it comes to Cassie especially.

Lia: She's the lie detection expert. She knows when you're lying and is very good at lying herself. She's the one who tries to have fun, and she's just unpredictable sometimes. One day she's nice, one day she's not.

Sloane: She is described as the walking encyclopedia in the book. If say you were talking about eggs, she'd tell you which eggs are the most common in America and whether most people who eat them are male or female. I feel like she breaks the tension between the other characters with all these facts, which I sometimes found funny. But when she gets really scared, the facts she spews out are not that funny after all...

And the killer? You wouldn't have expected the killer to be so close to you and related to you in so many ways.

Brief Review: This book is a great thriller and the action simply escalates throughout the book. The love triangle is bound to make the story better and that twist at the end just makes The Natural worth reading even more. If you are looking for a boon that keeps you guessing and your pulse racing, The Naturals is your best bet. 

Final Rating: 5/5 Totally Amazing!

QUOTE: To Cassie, about her past. 

Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing what to do is the worse kind of suffering---Paulo Coelho

Your Reviewer:

Review: A Comedy of Terrors by Graeme Smith

Title: A Comedy of Terrors
Author: Graeme Smith
Publisher: MuseitUp Publishing
Release Date: 14th June 2012
Find on: Goodreads, Amazon

Quick Review: 
Segorian Anderson’s an Idiot. But that’s fine with him. It’s a well paying job with no heavy lifting.

Nobody ever remembers Segorian. It isn’t magic - he just has the sort of face his own mother could forget, and she’s been trying to for years. But being forgettable is a job requirement for an Idiot.
No, he's not the Court Jester. He doesn’t wear motley (whatever motley may be). That's a different union. He’s the Idiot. In a Queen’s castle, wine spilt down the wrong dress can lead to war, so someone unimportant has to be blamed for it. That’s the Idiot’s job. He’s the Idiot that did it, for any value of ‘it’. Of course, as soon as he’s exiled-for-life out of the castle gate, he uses his back-door key and sneaks back in. But that's not all. Someday, something really bad will happen. Really, really bad. Badder than a bad thing on a very bad day with extra badness. When the world’s about to end (or the washing up won’t get done – whichever comes first), who you gonna call? No, not them. They haven’t been invented yet. You call the Idiot, someone nobody will miss if things don’t work out. And now Peladon has a case of dragon.

But the dragon may be the easy part. Segorian has woman trouble, and he’s the only person in the castle who doesn’t know it. Because to Segorian, women are an open book. The problem is, he never learned to read.


Detailed Review: << review copy given by the author himself >>

I really loved this book! I found it extremely funny and comical. Especially the main character who is called Segorian Anderson, the Idiot and the grounded dragon who are about to start a wonderful journey of idiocy and quick thinking. A strange concept but it's absolutely a book that you, comedy-lovers might become hooked at reading.

I found this book to be funny and hilarious but other times just plain stupid. Somehow comedy writing has become over-rated and entirely sensual to us human beings. A Comedy of Terrors was actually quite upbringing. The story is written in a weird form, portraying a really 'dumb' mind and other times, the setting is described in detail. 

Interesting and funny, the story portrayed a comical detailing of characters. I feel like this story was simple and ludicrous when the description part came in. 

I prefer more 'intellectual' characters because there's more depth to the storyline instead of a bland, dry comedy. 

I find a more story-building plot more exciting and comical. But of course, Graeme Smith has planned the story with such a fun 'flair' to suit and somehow make the character's personality more realistic. But it didn't really suit my style of what I like to read.

But I really appreciate the feeling of being the character and reading what they're feeling and seeing but I can't help but think that this book could do better. 

But of course, all books can't suit one reader! 

Soooo... just to finish up my point of reviewing, I kinda of liked it and at the same time, I had second thoughts of this book. 

However based on what I've read so far I kinda wished that it was more exciting and more not-so... I don't know what to say... really... but I had a fun time reading and laughing out loud!

Brief Review: Graeme Smith has written a mixture of different forms that has comically told us a story about an idiot human being and a smart dragon. Though the story was kinda slow for me however A Comedy of Terrors has described to us a very fun and interesting story that will manage a laughter across a page!

My Rating: 3/5   "Quite Liked!"

                                    QUOTE: Just for the 'Idiot'

  

"Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men,

and makes the biggest idiots clever."

~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Your Reviewer: 

TGIF - Feature & Follow Friday #179

FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY is a blog hop that is designed to provide as much exposure towards other bloggers as well as yourself, and to expand following. It's hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each whom feature a chosen blog for a week, it's also an interesting way to get to know one another bloggers.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
Bookselling Time: Go to your biggest bookcases. Go to the second shelf from the top and pick out the sixth book. Hardsell that book to us - even if you haven't read it or if you hated it. (If you don't have bookcases, don't have six books on one shelf, etc. pick a book at random.)

I haven't read this yet so... this is gonna be hard... Well all I can say is that the story is pretty interesting and basically I buy books based on appearance (cover wise) hehehe... I don't why... So far, all my books with good looking covers have such amazing story lines (well, most of them anyway) Hmm.. I guess this story is based on parallel worlds that intersect and interconnect with each other so basically anyone can be your doppelgänger. It's pretty cool! 

Well, you should buy it anyway! hahaha