The Rose of Fire by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Talk about disappointing.  From the author who brought us amazing books like The Shadow of the Wind and The Prisoner of Heaven (also The Angel’s Game, which was good but not amazing), there’s The Rose of Fire.

Supposedly this short story will explain the origins of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.  I was so excited to read it (thanks to Mel @ The Book Musings who told me it existed).

What a disappointment for real.  While now I know a little more about the Cemetery of Forgotten books, I don’t even care.  The information is crap.

Just think about it like this: His 3 Cemetery of Forgotten Books stories are full of intrigue, mystery, and kept me on the edge of my seat.  Was there a teensy bit of magic involved?  You’ll never be sure because it’s kept very realistic.

Then you move on to The Rose of Fire.  It’s a full-on fantasy with a dragon.  What is that about?  Nothing like the first three novels.

My advice?  Check out The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game, and The Prisoner of Heaven and skip skip skip The Rose of Fire.

Have you ever had a book in a series severely disappoint?

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – Book 93

The Prisoner of Heaven is the third book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon hooked me with The Shadow of the Wind (Book 1), left me desiring a little more with The Angel’s Game (Book 2), but tied it all together fabulously with The Prisoner of Heaven (Book 3).

The author says that the books can be read in any order, and when you change the order, you change the way you experience the story.  This seems to be true, however, I loved reading the books in the order they came out, where The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game were somewhat related, but I wasn’t sure how until The Prisoner of Heaven came along and basically slapped me in the face with its awesomeness.

The Prisoner of Heaven may have been my favorite of the three books.  I could not put it down, reading all 300 pages in less than a day.

Daniel Sempere is happily married and running the family bookstore with his father and best friend Fermín Romero de Torres.  Fermín will soon be married, but something is in the way.  When Fermín opens up to Daniel about what really has occurred in his past, secrets are revealed, questions are answered, and more questions arise.

The Prisoner of Heaven was a phenomenal read that sucked me in and kept me turning the pages without wanting to put the book down.  Carlos Ruiz Zafon did a great job tying up loose ends while still leaving the book open at the end for another in the series (which I would read in a heartbeat if you are writing it!).  And of course, Daniel visits the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, which is one of my favorite fictional places in the entire world.

I highly recommend that you read all three books in this series, but I have to say, I think this book was the best of all three so far!

Who’s up for a trip to Barcelona???

Connect with Carlos Ruiz Zafon through his website, Facebook, and Twitter!

I received this book from TLC Book Tours in exchange for a fair and honest review.

What do you think about reading a series out of order?

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – Book 92

I loved The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and after having read that novel, I was told by another book blogger, Mel @ Book Musings, that the book was actually part of a trilogy.

Then I was given the opportunity to review the third book in the series by TLC Book Tours (coming tomorrow), which basically meant I needed to suck it up and get the second book in the series read ASAP!

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is the second book in The Cemetery of Forgotten Books trilogy, although it actually is a prequel.

Remember when I talked about The Cemetery of Forgotten Books?  Basically it’s heaven on Earth for book lovers: a secret labyrinth of a place where books go so that they will never be forgotten.  On your first trip, you get to chose your own book (or does the book choose you?) that you must protect.

David Martin is a prospective writer who is given the opportunity to write trashy crime novels under a pen name and reap very little benefit.  He is propositioned by a stranger and given a book offer he cannot refuse. . . but it comes with a terrible price.

I LOVED The Shadow of the Wind.  I liked The Angel’s Game.  Both stories are connected but are also books that can be read independently.  I just missed The Shadow of the Wind as I was reading.

My opinion?  Check out The Shadow of the Wind because that book is well worth it!    And then I’ll let you know what I think of the 3rd book in the series, The Prisoner of Heaven, tomorrow!

What’s your favorite series to read?

Happy 3 Month Anniversary to my Blog!

Today is the 3 month anniversary to my Love At First Book blog!  If this anniversary was for a real significant other, my blog would be expecting chocolates gripped by a cheesy teddy bear.

But alas, it’s a blog, not a person, so I felt like the best way to celebrate was to review my blogging journey so far!

First of all, I want to say thank you to anyone who reads my blog, follows my blog, comments on my blog, tweets about my blog, and/or just knows that my blog exists!  In just 3 months, I have had over 2,500 views on my blog from over 30 different countries.

My favorite books that I have reviewed so far include:

• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – Mystery and mayhem surround Daniel in his quest for the truth involving a special novel.
• The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker – The Earth’s rotation slows. . . what will happen to the people of Earth, and Julia and her family?
• Damn You, Autocorrect! by Jillian Madison – Probably the funniest book I have read in my LIFE!

The award for “I can’t believe I actually liked this book” book goes to Muck City by Bryan Mealer!  This is a book about the lives of those in Belle Glade, a very poor area about 40 minutes from where I grew up, disguised as a football novel.

The best weepy book was A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron.  If you enjoyed “The Art of Racing in the Rain” you’d love this book too!

The best historical fiction was 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  Hello? It’s Stephen King. You know it’s going to be good!

The most controversial book was definitely My Guantanamo Diary by Mahvish Khan.  Great book in general and raises many interesting questions and controversial topics.

My “I could not STAND this book” award would be for The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells.  Blech.  Classic, but I did not enjoy it! 

The best guest blog post (and my only one so far!) goes to The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell (thanks Steph!).

I also started my own feature called Book Thoughts, which are basically anything book related.  Looking back through them, I found that I missed my favorite places to read in Florida, but love that I discovered such a fabulous library (and pink library card) here in Denver!

I started working on a few challenges, participated in my first read-a-long (which is like a digital book club), and have made some great blogging friends.  I discovered many new book blogs, and hopefully have and will continue to improve my blogging and reviewing.

I have a Facebook page!  I have a Twitter account!

I still completely struggle with forgetting to tag and categorize each and every post! I cannot remember to do that and always have to go back to tag!!!!  (And right now, I just stopped writing in order to tag so that I don’t forget on this post!)

I also am continuing to think about how to make my blog a better place, myself a better blogger, and to find something unique that I can offer readers of my blog.

Love At First Book is a work in progress, but hopefully I am moving in the right direction!

What are you going to get my blog for our 3 month anniversary?

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca

 

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – Book 14

Can you believe I haven’t written a book blog post since August 31????  You might be wondering where I have been!  Well, I’ll tell you!  My husband and I are lucky enough to do some traveling for his job, so on September 1, we packed up and drove with our dog from Florida to Denver, Colorado.  We finally got to Denver last Tuesday, unpacked, got settled, and all that jazz.

Unfortunately, I thought I’d have plenty of time to read, like in the car, at the hotel, once we got to Denver, but that didn’t happen.  Therefore, I got pretty far behind in my book, “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

But now I’m done, and ready to tell you what a fantastic book this was!  “The Shadow of the Wind” hooked me from the very first moment.  The entire first chapter, “The Cemetery of Forgotten Books” could have been a short story on its own.  I was blown away by how hooked on this book I got, just by that first chapter. Not to mention, how jealous I was that the actual Cemetery of Forgotten Books is a place I would never be able to visit!

Daniel is a boy who is introduced to a book