E-Book Worm Reviews

Jane Eyre

2010-01-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

I started to reread Jane Eyre over the weekend. I thought I'd go back to a classic that I enjoyed in college and to take a break from the typical romance novel.

I will admit that it has been a number of years since I read it the first time and I forgot alot of the first part of the book. I didn't remember that much about Lowood school in the beginning section. It's kind of fitting as the country is frozen in a deep chill as were the girls in the novel. I can't imagine sleeping in a room that is cold enough to allow ice to form on a basin of water! How spoiled we are!

Last night I just got to the part where she just met Mr. Rochester. Their meeting is certainly different than a typical romance might have portrayed it. I'll admit, I have been dozing off while reading which is something I don't normally do. I think that Bronte's writing style is very plain as it is written from Jane's point of view...or I could just be really tired lately.

I'd like to mention that I downloaded this book from the Gutenberg Project's website for free. They have a ton of free books! Mostly classics, so if there is a book you've been meaning to cross off your reading list check out their site and see if they have it!

If you've always wanted to read Jane Eyre or would like to reread it join me! We can meet at Ebook Worm Reviews Facebook page and chat or leave a comment!

Happy reading!

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/results

What Kind of E-Readers Do You Use?

2010-01-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

I think the title is pretty self explantory. I want to know what kind of device you use to read your ebooks on.

I would also like to know if you don't read ebooks and why?

Top Ten Favorites

2009-12-27T09:01:00.000-08:00

I just created a Facebook Fan page with a discussion area.

I want to know what your all time favorite books are. Limit of ten. At the end of January I'll post what everyone voted for.

My favorites are:

1.    Jane Eyre
2.    Breaking Dawn
3.    Lord of the Flies
4.    Mill on the Floss
5.    Clan of the Cave Bear
6.   The Count of Monte Cristo
7.    Pride and Predjudice
8.    Vanity Fair
9.    Interview with the Vampire
10. Wide Sargasso Sea

As you can see they are very different, but that's what I love about books. I can jump into each one and experience something completely new.

Let me know what your favorites are.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/E-Book-Worm/251540211604?v=app_2373072738

BooksOnBoard

2009-12-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

BooksOnBoard is a bookstore that specializes in e-books. There are many ebook stores on the web, this just happens to be the one that I use the most. I enjoy romance novels and they have a great selection of romance.

It's a lot like iTunes. You setup an account, log in, order and download. Each book has a professional review/synopsis along with any reader reviews if posted.

The site is really easy to navigate. The home page has 16 of the newest or most popular books on it which you can click to get more information. You can also search by genre, author or title.

Their books are provided in a number of different formats including: Adobe ePub, eReader and Mobipocket. Most of the formats cost the same, I think I've seen a couple that were different, but not by much....5 cents or less. When you go to check out you are prompted to download free software to read the book. I bypass this as I already have it.

The easiest way for me to manage the downloads is to save them to the desktop and drag them into my Adobe Digital Editions library.....from there I can drag them into my ereader. I'm sure there's an easier way to do it, but this works best for me.

If you happen to delete the book by accident you can redownload from the website. They have all your purchases on file.

I have had no problems with any books downloaded from this site. They have a great selection and reasonable prices.

Check'em out!!

http://www.booksonboard.com/index.html?ebooks=ebooks

His Lady Mistress - Elizabeth Rolls

2009-12-23T19:03:00.000-08:00

FREE BOOK ALERT!

http://ebookstore.sony.com/category/bargain-priced

Let me start off by saying.....this is a great book!

And it's free!!

This is the first book by Elizabeth Rolls that I have read and I am happy to report it is not the last.

If you enjoy historical romance that is full of emotional drama and a touch of sex, this book is for you.

Let me warn you.....the hero in this book is a bit of a jerk for most of the novel. He starts off as the knight in shining armour, then he begins to tarnish.

The book is about a girl who is orphaned at fifteen when her father dies. She is foisted onto the terrible aunt and uncle who treat her miserably. In comes the powerful Earl of Blakehurst who is a blast from her past. She remembers him as kind and gentle, which is true....kind of.

Verity seeks him out in a desperate attempt to leave her life behind and to become his mistress.....all well and dandy......until he learns her true identity. Then all hell breaks lose! He weds her, as he feels he should, and a new kind of misery begins for Verity.

The middle section of the novel is where the Earl really shows his ass. He is angry because he feels that he was trapped into the marriage and treats Verity with cold civility. Verity does everything in her power to win him over and prove that she did not trap him.

Some women may hate this section of the book, as the heroin is seemingly powerless. I like this part of the novel. It brought me to tears both times I've read it. I don't know if its hormones or relating to the endless frustration with men, but I dig it.

The last section of the novel is about the Earl trying to win her back after he realizes he loves her.

I really enjoyed this book. Not only is it free, but it's also entertaining. The antagonist is visible for a short period of time and we get to hate the hero for a spell. I loved the fact that there wasn't an abduction or carriage chase, which is typical for historical romances.

As with all romances it gives us a chance to experience what a heroic man is like and to feel cherished. I love my husband, but he's as romantic as a house plant....so I get my fix from books.

I will review A Compromised Lady soon. It has a few characters in it from this book.

This book can also be downloaded from Harlequins website.

I got it free for their 60th anniversary celebration.

http://www.eharlequin.com/store.html?cid=1317

Midnight Sun - Rough Draft

2009-12-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

For those of you who do not know, Midnight Sun is Twilight told from Edward's point of view. It is not complete, hence rough draft, but still an entertaining read.

This book was free from Stephanie Meyer's website. She states that it was a character study gone overboard......300+pages. She decided to offer this book on her site as there were many leaked copies and wanted to give her fans something to read. I believe she plans on finishing the book which will be great.

Now to the review.

I can't be too hard on this as it is a rough draft, having said that.....it's really good. Aside from a few typos it is enjoyable. I like the idea of seeing things from his point of view. You really get to see the struggle that Edward must go thru when he first meets Bella. Imagine the meeting scene on the big screen....fade to his thoughts.....murdering the entire class after he drains Bella dry! Crazy right! But that's something he considers.

Another plus to this book is the expansion of some of the other characters. As you know, Edward can't read Bella's mind, so he listens in on those around her. Jessica's mind is that of a jealous teenager, not very flattering of her, but realistic.

Unfortunately she did not get to the part where James, Laurent and Victoria arrive, which I believe will be the most interesting part. It will be great to see how Stephanie writes the rage that Edward feels when Bella is in danger.

Honestly, I think that Stephanie could easily write this from Alice's point of view and still provide an entertaining product. I would love to see her write a book about Alice and Jasper, with or without Bella.....it would still be interesting. Lot's of places to go with this franchise.

In all, a thumbs up for Midnight Sun. Check out her website and download it for free. I dowloaded it as a PDF and could read it on my Sony 505 e-reader.

Follow this link to download your copy of the book!
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html

The Vampire Diaries

2009-12-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

I know this is a blog about books, e-books, to be specific, but I will meander off that path for a moment.

For the 3 people who have read my blog....I know I said that I was not a fan of Secret Vampire, so imagine my surprise when I decided to watch The Vampire Diaries on the CW.... and liked it! The show writers have taken the basic concept from the book and made it so much better.

It's a high school based show, however the only parts shown in the school are classroom shots with the two leads gazing at each other across the room. I am well removed from high school, but still find the show refreshing.

I think part of what makes it good is the character of Damon. He is the leads brother and plays a great antagonist part. Sometimes you hate him, sometimes you love him. He is flawed and selfish, something that most people can relate to. The lead is Stephan, he's the tortured "vegetarian" who falls for the girl......he's also a bit boring and self righteous.

I love the vampire genre and the variety of ideas on the topic. Some vampires glitter in the sun, some can't go out in the sun, while others wear rings to protect them from it. As I've said, the ideas are limitless.

Check out the Vampire Diaries on reruns and watch for the new season starting January 22nd!

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-vampire-diaries

Secret Vampire - Book 1 - Review

2009-12-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

This book was a free book on the Sony website. I didn't know anything about the author or the series, I merely got because it was FREE.

It was not the first book I read on my e-reader, but as it was free and is still freely available I decided to review it first.

The vampire genre has always been popular. My love of vampire novels started in high school when I was introduced to Anne Rice and now I can say that L.J. Smith writes a decent vamp book as well.

Secret Vampire is by no means a literary masterpiece, but the writing style is easy to read and entertaining. Smith's take is that of a secret night world consisting of witches and vampires, which is a bit different as most authors have been writing the vampire versus werewolves bit.

The tale is that of a young girl who has a crush on her best friend, who happens to be a vampire. She does not know that he is a vampire until she is diagnosed with a life threatening disease. Can you see where this is headed? He has broken a night world law by changing her, but.....they have an out. She and her brother are witches unbeknowst to them and are members of the night world anyway.

Chaos ensues when the lead fakes her death and meets her vampire's cousin. The cousin is a sketchy guy who tries to kidnap her and takes her into the secret places of the night world.

I don't want to give everything away, so I'll start with my review.

The book is entertaining, but not on the same level as the Twilight series or Anne Rice. These novels are clearly written for the teen to possibly tween level reader. Smith is not super descriptive in her writing, so much is left to the reader to imagine. The emotional connection and intensity between the two lead characters is not as strong or urgent as that of Bella and Edward.

I would have to say that I feel...meh...about this novel. It was free and fun, but I don't think I would pay money for this book. Will I look into the other books in the series....maybe.....if they're free too!

Trading in my traditional books.....

2009-12-03T19:46:00.001-08:00

Hi, my name is Patty and I love books!! I have been an avid reader my entire life. I love the art work of the covers, the heft of a hardback, I don't even crease the spine on my paperback books....I also hate to part with a book. I have boxes and boxes of books ranging from the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to romances and anthologies. As you can imagine, I have no more room in my home for anymore books.

My interest in e-readers was peaked around this time last year. I was checking out the iPods at
Target and noticed a new display. They had a Sony E-reader out that you could play with. So I went over to check it out.

Now, I have worked at jobs that required hours of staring at a computer and have suffered the vision loss associated with that, so I was highly sceptical. To my surprise, the e-reader was very easy to read and was not hard on my eyes.

The screen as a matte finish and the pages look very similar to an actual paper page. There is also the capability to increase the font size as well. You can download a ton of books on the reader and it has increased capacity via removeable memory cards.

After playing with it for a few minutes I decided it was something I'd like to have.....but, the price was prohibitive. Coming in at $300 I just couldn't justify spending that much....so I waited. Everytime I was in the store I would go over and caress it with a sigh.

Lucky for me I'm an impatient person and I purchased it three weeks later with my Target rewards card for 10% off. YIPPEE!!!

When I got home with it I tore it open and read the directions (yes, I read directions) and was disappointed to learn that it had to charge for a few hours. After an agonizing wait of 3 hours I fired it up.

It came downloaded with a few excerpts, but the Sony eBook site had lots of free books that were available. I picked some out and loaded it up!

As I started to read the first book the reader gave me a scare and locked up! Holy crap!! Did I just waste my money on something that's not going to work???? After a few minutes of waiting for it to reboot it came back to life.

I have since learned that it cannot be rushed.

The first few pages took some getting used to. The page turns have a bit of a delay, which I had to adjust to, but other than that it was fine. I really liked the fact that it was one small page to hold as I like to read laying down in bed, so this was much lighter than balancing a big hardback over my head.

As a whole I love my Sony Reader. I even upgraded to the lighted case and can read in a darkened room without any problems.