A True Crime Review

I just finished reading A Descent Into Hell by Kathryn Casey, who Ann Rule deems as one of America's finest true crime writers today. To anyone that knows anything about true crime, Ann Rule is considered the queen of this genre, and is highly respected.

As I had said before, I do enjoy a good true crime book from time to time. As far as true crime books go, this was one was very well written and followed the story the whole way through. Some true crime writers are very over the top and try to dramatize the story to make it sound like a novel... I don't think crimes should be dramatized or glamorized. They need to be told just as they are and how they happened, and this book did a nice job of doing that. It was very realistic and honest. I was also happy to see that justice was, for the most part, served at the end.

This story was about a crime committed in Texas in the summer of 2005. A scholarship student who some viewed as "brilliant" attended UT and while there, turned to drugs and alcohol, becoming a hardcore drug dealer and user. His life did a complete 360, and he took the life of his friend, Jennifer, in a very disturbing way.

This, of course, was a very sad story to read, but it did a nice job of commemorating and remembering the life of Jennifer, who was only 21 at the time of her death. The story also takes us through the entire trial and aftermath. We are able to see the effects Jennifer's death had on her family and friends. Colton showed little to no remorse, and got sentenced to 55 years in prison. I hope he stays there the entire time, if not longer. If you are interested in reading true crime, this is a great one to read and I highly recommend it.

True crime books are certainly fascinating reads, but not for everyone. If you are interested in shows such as "Criminal Minds," "CSI," or the crime documentary shows such as "48 Hours," or if you have an interest in criminal psychology, you may enjoy this genre, but keep in mind they can get very graphic and detailed. This was a very well written book that I would recommend to true crime fans.

Currently Reading: The Girls From Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship, by Jeffrey Zaslow.

New Books, Book Giveaways, and Banned Books Week!

Well this is just a brief update of sorts. I haven't finished my current book, but should be finishing up within the next couple of days. School always gets in the way of my reading! I think the next two books I'll be reading are The Girls from Ames, followed by The Time Traveler's Wife. I refuse to see the movie until I've read the book, as is usually the case with me. I had it on the hold at the library and it finally came in so I'm looking forward to reading that. I hear the movie is good, but I'm sure the book is better. Isn't that how it usually goes?

This weekend I went to an estate sale with my parents and picked up a ton of new books which is always exciting. I got a couple of biographies (Helen Keller, Sylvia Plath) and a bunch of books by Jonathan Kellerman who I'd never heard of before, but is a suspense writer. The books look really interesting. My dad found the estate sale online and wanted to bring me because it was advertising a collection of thousands of books. We went into the basement which was virtually a library. Shelves and shelves of books, all organized by genre and author... it was amazing (except for the tons of other pushy people in a compact area). I've always wanted a library in my house, and this one was somewhat like the one I envision for when I finish college and get my own place. Most of my books are on shelves but I've run out of room and now have boxes full of them too. I hate that. They should be on display. :-)

I buy the majority of my books used at garage sales and thrift stores so I get them fairly cheap which is how I have such a large collection. Since I buy so many, I sometimes find that I have duplicate copies of books. If I get more readers on this blog, I'd eventally like to start doing some book giveaways in order to clean out some of my duplicate copies. When and if the time comes that I get enough readers, I'll definitely be posting the information on that.

Also of note, this week is Banned Books Week which I always find to be entertaining. Some books that have been banned by various schools and organizations are: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Forever by Judy Blume, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and lots of others, many of which are classics. So be badass, and read a banned book!

I've finally finished my homework for the night, so now I'm off to read for a bit!

"Marshmallows for Breakfast" - Dorothy Koomson

I recently finished reading Marshmallows for Breakfast by Dorothy Koomson. She's a British author whose written several books, but some of them are harder to track down here. This particular book, as well as her bestseller My Best Friend's Girl, are easy to find though. Anyways, she is FANTASTIC, and I would recommend both of these books. I preferred My Best Friend's Girl so I would strongly recommend that one, but Marshmallows for Breakfast was great as well.

Marshmallows' story line was a bit... much, and by that I only mean that there were a lot of different things going on, but everything comes together eventually. It's a story of secrets, pasts, family, and love. The main character, Kendra, is from England but moved to Australia to escape a past event that really haunted her. The story starts off with her moving back to England (for reasons that are later revealed), and renting a flat in the back garden of the Gadsborough family house. The Gadsborough's are Kyle and his 6 year old twins Summer and Jaxon. Their mother is no longer living there as she and Kyle are going through a bitter divorce. Again, the reason why is revealed later on in the story, but it plays a vital role in the family dynamics. Because their mother is not present, Summer and Jaxon instantly bond with Kendra or "Kendie" as they call her and she becomes their "other mumma." The plot is more exciting than this sounds because there are a lot of secrets that begin to unravel at different points throughout that really make the story. It may not sound too exciting but I can't really give away much without ruining the story, believe me though, there is quite a story there.

The story tends to drag a bit at some places (nearly 500 pages), and isn't really an exciting read, more of a touching story. That said, I would recommend it, but not with raving reviews. I do have rave reviews for My Best Friend's Girl, though, which I read about a year ago. This was about a woman, Kamryn, whose ex-best friend, Adele, has contacted her after years of not speaking. Adele had slept with Kamryn's fiance years ago, and their friendship was destroyed. Now Adele is dying of cancer, and has a final wish: that Kamryn will adopt her 5 year old daughter, Tegan. This book was fantastic. I loved it, and read it very quickly. I also loved the name, Tegan, or Tiga (pronounced TEEga), as she is nicknamed, so much, that I decided that when I have a daughter, that will be her name. FUN FACT!

So in summary, I would recommend both of these novels, but I highly recommend My Best Friend's Girl.

Currently Reading: A Descent Into Hell by Kathryn Casey. This is a true crime book. Yes, I am an English major and I read true crime sometimes. This probably seems silly, but true crime is a very interesting genre if you give it a chance. It's not for everyone, but I am very interested in learning about crime and the inner workings/psychology of criminals.

First review - "The Order of Things"

I finished up The Order of Things by Lynne Hinton a couple of days ago, but was not excited enough about the book to jump right into reviewing it. I found this book to be pretty dull and uneventful. There is not much plot, story, or action. Though the idea is a decent one, the story was just not as well executed as I'd have liked to see.

Summary: Andreas is a thirty-something librarian at a college. Throughout her life, she has had several severe bouts of depression. She has fallen into one of these bouts again but nothing is working to help her fight it, including therapy. When it begins interfering with her life, and her coworkers begin to complain about her work, she decides to check into Holly Pines, a mental hospital. While she is there, a prison inmate, Lathin, is checked in and placed in the room next to hers. The majority of this story takes place during one night where they stay up for hours talking through the vents in their rooms about life, their childhoods, and the events that occurred in their life that changed them.

While it sounds like it could make for a decent story, the characters are just too unrealistic and it's hard to care about them or get to know them. I understand that the beauty of fiction is that you can make it as fantastical and magical as you'd like it to be, but in this book, the author seems to want them to be realistic characters, which they are just not.

I wouldn't say this book was unenjoyable; it has its moments, but it's just not great. It's only okay. Some of the lessons it strives to teach are good ones, but nothing too wonderful, touching, or unique.

I won't be recommending this book to people, but I also wouldn't strongly advise against anyone reading it either. For me, there was just not have enough happening in the story to make it interesting or intriguing.

I was hoping to start off my book reviews with a bang, but I plan on reviewing all of the books I read, good or bad, and this just happened to be the one I was reading when I started this blog. The next one looks more promising.

Currently Reading: Marshmallows for Breakfast by Dorothy Koomson. She's the author of My Best Friend's Girl, which I highly recommend. She's also British. Yay!

What am I doing and Who is StephTheBookworm?

Oh hey, I'm Steph, a college student in my early twenties and a HUGE bookworm.

I'm currently in college working towards my Bachelor's degree in English Literature. Once I finish up, the plan is to get my Master's Degree in Library and Information Science and become a public librarian. Basically, books are my true love and I want to spread that to the community by being a librarian. Until then, I am a full time student, and work part time as a pharmacy technician.

Reading and writing are my true passions in life and someday I'll utilize that . . . for now, I'll write book reviews.

I've been writing since I was young, and still do when I'm feeling inspired. I mostly write poetry and short stories. More importantly though, I've been reading ever since I was old enough to . . . so about 3 months old. (FACT . . . just kidding). I've always loved books for as long as I can remember. I have a gigantic collection that has literally taken over my room. I haven't seen the floor in months. No joke. And I just keep on buying . . . my family treats it as though it's some kind of heinous drug habit or something. "MORE books? Where are you going to put them?" It'll be alright. Once I get my own house, I plan on having my very own library.

Anyways, I will read practically anything. I mostly enjoy contemporary fiction, women's fiction, chick lit, romance, YA, suspense, paranormal, urban fantasy, memoirs, and true crime. I don't read historical romance, or political/legal thrillers, and that's about it as far as my "don't read" category goes. I typically read a book a week, more or less depending on my work and school schedule. My favorite places in the world are the library and Barnes and Noble. Yes, I am a nerd and damn proud of it.

I have a very close knit trio of friends. I'm incredibly quiet and very hard to get to know, but when you do know me, I won't shut up. My friends and I are quite quirky, and when I'm not reading, talking about books, or blogging about books, you can find me doing something with my friends. We love to play board games and card games, and make horribly cheesy movies and music videos. I am dead serious.

*Contact Me*
--You can contact me at stephaniet117(at)yahoo(dot)com
--I'm also on Goodreads, you can see my profile here.