Vampyres and Robots and Jane Austen, oh MY!

Time for Tuesday’s book review! This is either going to be really short or really long, because I’m tired and I have two books to review this week.

Book One: The Stepford Wives, by Ira Levin

The Review: So I was pretty excited to read this book, because I’ve seen both movies (and am going to watch the newer one when I’m done with this review) and I LOVE the older movie version with Katharine Ross. Amazing.

Overall, though I was a little disappointed in the book. Which… doesn’t surprise me. I’m a very critical reader.

First thing that bothered me was the crude manner in which sex and desire and… other awkward bedroom-only subjects were thrown in. There are no actual sex scenes, but it is smattered with curses as well as the aforementioned bedroom stuff. Which was awkward. You know, there are some people who can write about subjects like that with grace, and there are people who don’t. Levin, unfortunately, was one of the “don’ts”. The book, like the movies, would probably get a PG-13 rating from me.

But on the other hand, I think that the premise and the ending are both brilliant. You never do find out definitively if the Stepford wives are all robotic- it’s all left up to you to assume that they are. Several facts are presented, but the actual statement “Oh my gosh, the Stepford husbands are making their wives into robots!” is never said. Which I love.  I adore books that leave you hanging.

I would have liked a little more description throughout- it seemed a little rushed to me… and I  never really did get attached to the main character. There were two side characters that I loved- Bobbie and Charmaine both had a lot of spunk and life in them, and they were very easy to like. But Joanna Eberhart was… I don’ t know. I just couldn’t connect with her, and I’m not sure if that’s because I’m really hard to please, or that the book was a little rushed.

For most people, though, it would probably be a moderately enjoyable read. I’d give it three stars out of five.

Book Two: Mr Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange

 

The Review: Can I just have a moment to gush about the cover? Because I love it. It’s so simple and creepy and amazing. I expected very great things from this book based on the cover. I mean, they always say “never judge a book by its cover,” which even for this is true… don’t judge it based on its cover. It looks amazing, but it didn’t quite meet my expectations.

Overall, I did enjoy the book. My biggest complaint was that Mr Darcy’s Vampyre status didn’t really come forth as strongly or feature as much as I would have liked it to, and throughout the entire book… they were going. Always going.

I know that this is a spinoff of a classic story, and the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth has already been developed by Jane Austen, but I would have liked them to have more bonding moments in Mr Darcy, Vampyre. I felt that the few scenes of contact they DID have weren’t enough, even given Darcy’s attempts to sort of stay somewhat apart from Elizabeth in order not to have her for a snack.

What is it with vampire-human love stories? The vampires always say “you shouldn’t be my friend/I shouldn’t have befriended you” and yet they do nothing about it. Silly vampires.

ANYway. So I would have liked Darcy’s vampirism to be more prominent, as it only really shows up in the last few chapters, and since it’s all from Elizabeth’s point of view, you know that he’s a Vampire, but she doesn’t… and that’s kind of odd.

The other complaint I have is the description, which felt kind of stilted to me. There needed to be more flow, and more… everything. More character development, more scene descriptions, more thoughts, more intensity.

It was enjoyable, though. I felt like it dragged on a little too long, and there wasn’t quite enough suspense in the scary scenes for it to really be great, but then I read it in three hours… and that’s the first time in forever that I’ve actually read a book all in one sit. So I’d give it three stars. It was enjoyable, and Mr Darcy is always dreamy.

Yes. My view of the book is influenced solely by the fact that it’s Mr Darcy.

Come on. Who can resist him?

Noooobody.

Unless you’re a straight male. In which case… um… you probably wouldn’t like this book.

But for all you girls out there who like vampire/human romances AND Jane Austen characters, you’d probably like it.

Allrighty! That’s it for this week. I’m off to watch Stepford Wives, but first to use all the beautiful Lush skincare I bought yesterday. (100% natural skincare. I already love it, and I’ve already seen results though I’ve only used my products last night and this morning.)

A… not really an outfit picture, though you can see part of what I wore. I tried to take pictures but my room’s lighting is bad. So instead, you can just see how tired I am and how amazingly still my cat was being for the camera. Quite rare for her to actually stay calm in my arms for that long.

Oooh! And all my Lush products:

(Clockwise from the tiny pot on the left: Ultra Bland cleanser, Catastrophe Cosmetic face mask (smells like roses and blueberries!), Skin Drink moisturizer, Angels on Bare Skin cleanser, and Ocean Salt exfoliant.)

Also, go check out yesterday’s WWC post, I’ve updated it with my morbid friend’s submission to last week’s challenge.