Steph Reads: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One follows teenager Wade Watts as he plugs into the virtual reality Oasis on the daily as his avatar, Parzival. Wade is obsessed with the creation of the Oasis, more specifically the Easter Egg hunt hidden within laid out by the creator of the virtual world following his death. The prize for completing the hunt is control over the Oasis as well as a fortune beyond belief. After Wade unlocks the first clue in the egg hunt, both his reality and virtual lives hinge on his ability to complete the quest for the ultimate prize.

If you like books that focus on world building, then you will LOVE this book. Cline does a fantastic job of explaining the rules of a world living almost solely in virtual reality. From currency to crime, he covers it all.  Though some elements are a bit fantastical, there are some hard truths about living in a virtual reality and being addicted to technology that Cline shines a light on. I found this book incredibly entertaining from start to finish though I do think in the latter half of the book some plot elements and climaxes were resolved a little too simply and cleanly for my liking. You do not have to be an 80s video game fan to enjoy this book as there are plenty of pop culture references to enjoy regardless of your interests and experience in gaming. This novel is being adapted into a film directed by Steven Spielberg and will surely be a fun one!

Check out my other Steph Reads posts!
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends by Courtney Robertson
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Lianne Moriarty
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
Splintered by AG Howard
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Beneath the Glitter by Elle and Blair Fowler

Steph Reads: 'The Guardian' by Nicholas Sparks

   I was looking for a good book to read while on my cruise a couple weeks ago and stumbled across this Nicholas Sparks novel at my local thrift shop.  I had never read a Nicholas Sparks book before but thought this would be exactly the type of fluffy read I would enjoy while getting some sun in Mexico, so I made the $0.50 splurge!
   This book follows young widow Julie who receives the gift of a Great Dane from her late husband and the promise that he will always watch over her. Julie decides she is ready to date again and that decision comes with some serious complications: a romance with a best friend, new love, and a crazed stalker.
   This book was Nicholas Sparks' first attempt at a thriller, branching away from his normal romance novels (The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, The Lucky One... to name just a few!) and I certainly found this to be a page turner. This book had realistic characters who I could connect with and a plot line that made me at times feel just as helpless as our protagonist, Julie.  Overall I really enjoyed this suspenseful novel and was even emotionally invested enough to well up a little at the end (shhhhh don't tell anyone!).

What's your favorite Nicholas Sparks novel??

xxSJ

Check out my other Steph Reads posts!
Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
Splintered by AG Howard
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Beneath the Glitter by Elle and Blair Fowler

Steph Reads: 'Splintered,' by A.G. Howard

I love all things Alice in Wonderland so I was completely drawn to this book, the story of a descendent of Alice who discovers that maybe the young girls tales were real after all. 'Splintered' tells the story of Allison who, after years of thinking her institutionalized mother is crazy for believing in anything Wonderland related, discovers that her family has been cursed ever since little Alice went wandering down the rabbit hole. The story follows Allison down the same rabbit hole and her attempts to fix everything that Alice disturbed during her visit so many years ago.
    I liked the beginning of this book as everything in Wonderland was revealed to be a much darker and twisted version of the famous Carroll tale. There are so many familiar characters but each with a slight variation on their well-known tales such as a rabid pygmy rabbit cursed with a flesh eating disease and a hatter with a hat measuring device growing out of his head. It was great fun reading this book and learning some more intricacies of Wonderland.
   This book kind of lost me in the second half when things take a turn and there is deception amongst the main characters in the book. I lost track of what Allison's motives were as they changed a bit and the romance toward the end of the book got a little bit teenage angst for me.
   For the most part, I really liked this book and would recommend it to all Alice in Wonderland lovers for a different take on the classic tale. By the end of the story, I got the vibe that this is the type of book perhaps written for goth or punk-loving teens looking for a romance story where the weird girl finishes first in the end.  I would pass on this if you're not that interested in Alice. I don't think I have much interest in reading the sequel.

On a different note, because I'm me I got completely inspired by the cover of this book. The art work is super captivating to me so I decided to do my best to emulate it!

On my eyes: various shadows from the 88 color BH cosmetics palette, Urban Decay eyeliner in 'Perversion.'
Cheeks: NYX Blush in 'Bourgeois Pig,' Hula Bronzer by Benefit
Lips: NYX red lipliner, Covergirl lipstick in 'Spellbound'

Pretty fun, huh?

Anyhow, the book was good but kind of lost me toward the end and made me feel like I wasn't the perfect audience for it. I could definitely see some people LOVING it, however!

xxSJ