Category: Books



Soul Slam (Soul Warriors #1)Soul Slam by Allie Burton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: A few months ago I was asked to read this little treasure for an honest review.

For my own future reference, and for those who might care, I have been busy. I actually finished reading this weeks ago. But here’s my day: Get up, breakfast. Work on DuoLingo Spanish and then German. That lasts about three hours. Then I research Loom Knitting ideas for the Hats I want to work on or my work in process. I finish about one hat a day unless I get into a complicated pattern or make mistakes I have to ‘tink’ (knit backward–unknit) or frog (completely unravel to start again). The hats and gloves and scarves are for charity and I love doing them. I feel I am doing something useful with my life while doing them. AND I can distract myself from the fibro pain.

The rest is watching shows with my hubby while continuing knitting. So my reading time is late at night. That has drastically reduced my reading and writing review time. After I get into a swing of things I might find more reading time while working on easy patterns.

AND I’m getting excited because friends are coming to visit and I want to decorate for Hallowgivingsmas as I know once we are dead into winter no one will be able to navigate the icy roads to see us.

And while none of this has to do with this sweet/fun book, I will need to know later how it was that I put off writing a review for so long.

Now on to the book: It was fun. I would have loved to read this as a preteen or teen. What I really liked was that though the main character is a female, I think this would be a great read for guys, too. The fun part was watching this girl deal with the male being that takes over her soul. King Tut was supposed to take over a young male but circumstances have it to where the poor girl is in the wrong place at the right time. Then farts and spitting become a part of her being, even while she tries to deal with new love.

The other thing I love is that this story takes place in San Francisco with most important things happening in the tourist attractions we all know and love. It is easy to picture the adventure happening on the Golden Gate Bridge or Fisherman’s Wharf, or Lombard Street. It makes the story that much more fun. But even if you haven’t been to SF, the author does a good enough job describing the area as it fits into the story.

Please give this a read and share with the young people you know. You will have a lot of fun! I’m glad I had the chance!

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Any Loom, Any Hat, Any Time: Loom Knitting HatsAny Loom, Any Hat, Any Time: Loom Knitting Hats by Scarlett Royale

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don’t usually buy books. I especially don’t spend over a couple dollars. But this one is not only worth the $9.99 I paid, I am hoping to get the paper version for even more. Meanwhile, I loved all the patterns so much I had to write them in my notebook (with proper attributions, of course) so I could work on these without my overheating laptop open.

I love how the author shares the formula for translating these patterns to smaller or larger looms. That is something I have always tried to do, see how to adapt patterns. But the formula Ms. Royale shares is so simple, and it works.

These patterns were well written and I finally chose the one I would use as my first from her book. The beret. She makes hers on the green (36 pegs) loom. I have a new, larger (48 pegs) size from CinDLooms that I used Scarlett’s formula on. IT WORKED! The hat was a good size to fit over my ponytailed hair so I think it will be a nice hat for someone who needs it.

If you have trouble interpreting the patterns and/or the formula, Ms. Royale has links in the book that lead to YouTube demonstrations to guide you through. For the most part, the tutorial helped me. May I put in here that I did have trouble seeing what I needed to see in the part where you need to do the Kitchener stitch. It seemed the camera didn’t show it up well and I finally gave up and just sewed the bits together. I would love Scarlett to do a separate tutorial of this stitch. I think another kind of formula would help. I kept looking around the webs for something that showed it better. Nope. didn’t find it. I wanted a written version that might say bottom down, top down, second peg upper up, first peg lower up, etc. That was about when I got lost. I attempted the whole thing, several times but it didn’t follow. But all in all, I was happy with the results and can’t wait to try it again on a smaller loom.

And, I can’t wait to try other patterns in the book. I will be buying more of Scarlett Royale’s books! BTW, here is the link to my Ravelry page with the hat I made: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Darra…

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Review: The BFG by Roald Dahl


The BFGThe BFG by Roald Dahl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I read a children’s book, I try to imagine what kind of read-aloud experience it would be for me and my children when they were small. My review reflects that scenario.

But first… this was a tree book. When I was younger I wouldn’t have found the font difficult. But I could only read a few pages at a time now. Thank goodness for the smaller paragraphs and pictures.
Pictures! Why don’t adult books have pictures? Even simple ones like in this book are such a blessing to tired eyes and an inspiration to the inner artist. But I don’t think the pictures would have won my young critics hearts.

The story, on the other hand, would have been a tough bedtime read. Thinking of how comical it would have been for Mom to be reading the words of the giant. Word of warning to parents about to try that, READ AHEAD. That way you can pronounce the words silently before exposing innocent ears to words you didn’t mean to say. No, the Giant’s words are all G-rated. But there are tongue twisters I know I would have fallen for. I can see my kids now rolling on the floor laughing at Mom for the mistakes.

Some say this story is scary. I suppose that may be true but my children would have been delighted.
The child, Sophie, and the Big Friendly Giant were great characters. The bigger giants were scary but the reader feels protected by the intelligence and common sense of BFG and Sophie.

I wish, though, that the bad giants were given a chance to show they could learn to be good. All in all, this was a fun book that I was glad I got to read. Now I can watch the movie!

By the way, I want to thank Julie at our library for picking this up for me. Yay! Librarians!

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Bury the Living (The Revolutionary Series, #1)Bury the Living by Jodi McIsaac

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: NetGalley is a wonderful program where you can find books to read and review. This is one of the gems I’ve picked up from them.

This was a good book! It started a bit slow, but it included a bit of history of Ireland that I’m not schooled in. I’m sure those who are well-versed in their Irish history may find that part a bit boring. But it’s necessary for those here in America who didn’t get that history in their regular education. Meanwhile, you’re getting to know the main character and what is going on in her life, and how history has affected her.

I thought writing this review would be easy, it was such an exciting book I couldn’t put it down! But I’m finding it hard not to put spoilers in my review leaving it sounding pretty boring.

Modern day, Nora O’Reilly turns to her Catholic church when it seems all is lost, finds sisters of the flame who lead her to new adventures in 1923. Can she change history by saving the right people? And how can she do that?

This book kept me up reading, two nights in a row. I love time travel books. And the concepts of possible changes to timelines. This one keeps you thinking.

There is only one problem in this book as far as I’m concerned. It doesn’t quite end. Though it doesn’t leave you on the cliffhanger, you know there’s more to read. I hope there’s a book two.

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The New Guide to Knitting and CrochetThe New Guide to Knitting and Crochet by Marie Jane Cooper

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I did not read every word here. But there are a lot of patterns and advice on knitting and crocheting. Unfortunately. these are old fashioned patterns. You can tell by the titles of the patterns. Worst of all there are no pictures. I just don’t know how well the finished product is supposed to look without that reference. It might be fun to try.

Because of the frequent advice, I will not delete this book from my library as it may hold gems I need to be better at these crafts.

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Summer Court: A Paranormal Romance (The Tarot Witches Book 4)Summer Court: A Paranormal Romance by SM Reine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, Sara Reine has written another winner. Not for kids, this one. But with all the fast moving adventure of the rest of her books.

I need to take a time out to disclose that this book was given to me for an honest review.

No one could say that Ms. Reine is bigoted in any way. She employs characters from across the gamut of known and unknown beings. In this case, the main character, Samita Madin, is a paraplegic who is pregnant. And if I interpret it right, she is Indian. She is in love (in lust?) with Slater Reinhard who is a recently turned werewolf. That in itself is a story, but Sara placed this one about the time of the world ending. If Samita didn’t have enough against her, she has received a tarot card. Yeah, in this series that is what certain witches receive and it sets a course for them whether they accept it or not. In this case, Death is the card. Could her life get any worse?

The problems I had with the book are not due to the author. I found I had to reread a lot of parts of the story because I sometimes got lost. Anyone else have this problem in the summer? The days last so long so my reading time is later than usual. I’m usually more tired and my ADD is at its highest. So ‘shiny things’ distract me from my reading.

It is disappointing to see my reading goal so far from being hit. I am about 17 books behind. Yikes! But I love summer! So I will try to find some short books to catch up.

Anway, if you have started reading SM Reine from Six Moon Summer (Seasons of the Moon #1) on you will be happy to enter back into her world. Just remember, though, this is a book for adults, there are a few erotic scenes if that is not your thing. But they don’t distract from the story so, speed past and keep enjoying the rest of the story.

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Children's book: I Voice my Choice - I Choose My-self: (good values, Help kids learn assertiveness skills, short stories for children)Children’s book: I Voice my Choice – I Choose My-self: by Ilana Even

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Okay, this book has promise. I was given this book for an honest review. So here goes…

The pictures in this book are adorable. The colors are eye-catching. The idea behind the book is way overdue. But the execution of where the writing appears and its redundancy loses all the good points.

First of all, a book like this should be set up so that text-to-speech is a given. But it didn’t work. So after the initial reading it to your child, I don’t think the child will want to come back to the book. There are places where the text is repeated on two pages and I don’t know how to fix that. I just know that the parent reading it to the children and the children will find that very boring.

I did like the idea that an organized house and organized closets smile at the person who has finished doing those chores. I think given those kinds of ideas the child would be more inclined to want to clean up and stay organized. But I think it could all be said with fewer words. Since this is a book that supposed to be empowering the children I think the children could discover this themselves. Sure the mom could initiate what’s going to happen but the children need to take over. When my children were children they discovered to stay organized meant their favorite things were where they left them and were clean and the things they didn’t like just needed to leave. It was a lot less what they learn from me that what they learn from their own experiences.

Also, I feel this was written by someone who’s not a native English speaker. And some of the ideas don’t flesh out quite right. Still I think this book is full of good ideas and wonderful pictures I think it has a chance of being a very good book.

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King Neptune's DeliteKing Neptune’s Delite by Gita V. Reddy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever noticed how the most popular children’s books have children who have no parents? Hopefully, that is because parents keep children safe. But without that safety what kind of trouble could children get into on their own? King Neptune’s Delite is my proof in point. Orphaned children raised by the community were still orphaned children. And when it came to adventure, they chose adventure over the older sister’s cautions.

I would hope. Parents would read this book with their children. There are so many educational opportunities in this book that parents and teachers could implement. And maybe mature children who already have a good sense of caution could read it and not get caught up in the adventure they might have if they followed the younger siblings leanings. But should the adventurous child read this book it does become a cautionary tale. I suppose much worse could happen no no no no no no do need to do that than happens to the children of the story, but it was pretty bad as it was.

Thank you, Gita V. Reddy, for letting me read this book. It was quite the thriller from beginning to end. I found myself caught up in the story to the point of forgetting to eat or go to sleep. I just wanted to see that the kids would be okay, and if so how?

Gita is quite the storyteller! Her stories take place in her country, in India. So it gives us an education of culture and histories other than our own. I like that her stories lead us to see what we have in common with others. Example: boys who went to go fight the pirates. In this day and age, since Disney has given us Pirates of the Caribbean, even we adults might like to go on that kind of adventure. No wonder a child would!

I worked very hard not giving spoilers in this review. So instead, I say read this book; it’s a lot of fun! And grab a kid to read it to, while you’re at it! Wait, the didn’t sound quite right. But you know what I mean, I hope. 😉

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30 Day Novel (How to write a book in a month)30 Day Novel by Tara Maya

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a book I’m going to have to read again and again. It is chock-full of ideas both light and serious in the art of writing.

As some of you might know I’m attempting to do JuNoWriMo. I hadn’t planned on doing this but it been a while since I put out the effort for NaNoWriMo and I missed writing like that. Like what? You may ask. Like a crazy idiot who’d just vomits words. When ideas fly around your head and make you crazy. When plot-bunnies plot to kill you. Yeah, I’m not sure why I’m doing it either. And with two days of thunderstorms where the electricity goes out, I’m two days behind now. But I think I could make up two days.

I did one novel where I outlined the socks out of it long before I started writing in November. That book turned out to be the very best book I’ve written so far. So as much as I enjoy the creativity of seat-of-your-pants writing I like to have a bit of a plan as I go into it. Then if some crazy ideas take hold of me I know how to find my way back to the plan.

Tara Maya’s 30 Day Novel works using outlines and storyboards and other great ideas. Some of these ideas I have tried before and they didn’t work quite so well as I would’ve wanted. But she spells out the process in a way that I can understand and I may institute some of these ideas in my plans, maybe for November’s novel. It’s kind of too late for this one. Although if I get too far behind for JuNoWriMo, I may institute some of these ideas for Camp Nano in July.

This is a quick read and the author keeps it moving along. I highly recommend it to all writers to glean what they can from it.

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Catherine Dickens: Outside the Magic CircleCatherine Dickens: Outside the Magic Circle by Heera Datta

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes a person needs to read something they don’t entirely enjoy. And it is for the fact that I didn’t really enjoy reading this book, that I only gave it three stars. The writing was absolutely grand. And it was good to learn about the information this book has. And it was wonderful that the author gave voice to someone who didn’t have much of a voice in our history. But it was a tough read for me.

In another life, well, that’s what it seems to me to be, at this point in my life, I got to be in the musical ‘Oliver’. I got to play Old Sally. It was a lot of fun and I made a lot of friends. But that opening scene where the workhouse Meister is asked by poor little Oliver for ‘more’, kept coming to my mind as I was reading this. That puny little voice probably was any one of his children, the Dickens you say!

‘It was the best of times it was the worst of times’ compares Mr. Dickens to Mrs. Dickens. He getting all the glory and she having a Baker’s dozen of children and then tossed aside when she wasn’t what he wanted anymore. A good thing to keep in mind when we watch all the versions of a Christmas Carol every year at that time. Now I rather hope that he is the one in chains and she is the one haunting him!

My goal in life is to read as many books by women about women or strong female characters. I don’t like reading about women from codependent pasts. I don’t much like reading about women who are put into the role of barefoot and pregnant and woefully in love. But I’m glad I read the book. It gave voice to the woman who had no voice. I hope a lot of people read this book and that we as a society can start growing when we see how bad it is for women still and not that far back in our own history English/American. Our whole language needs to change. And not just English but many languages. I’ve been taking Duolingo language classes, Spanish and German lately. Everything has a gender but human females get the lesser names. Try to do a history of your own female ancestors and you will find how hard that is to do. Females do not hold history. It is time to change that.

AND books like this one hopefully will do that.

Okay, I have talked myself out of the three-star rating. If I want others to read this I have to give it its due, rather than how enjoyable a read it was. Take that! It now has five stars! (Though I hope never to read it again. Nor will I seek out Chuck Dickens work ever again. What a TOAD!)

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