Serendipity by Lisa Clark O’Neill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
It was an interesting story. What grabbed my attention was the main character, Ava, is a capable person who is out to protect others. She is a veterinarian after all.
There is romance. It gets a little bit too much for me. But it plays a part in the suspense and mystery.
It’s worth the read. Especially if you like mysteries.
Hell’s Hinges by S.M. Reine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this a bit ago. I was busy and couldn’t write a review yet. And it wasn’t up to post on yet. So now I can write this.
For anyone who lives in Reno, this is such a fun book! Anyone who has been reading S.M. Reine since Six Moon Summer will love this book. So many old friends come back. Well, not exactly come back. We get to go on another timeline or two and get to visit friends and situations we’ve seen before but new things are done to change things a bit. I love this idea. Let’s not stay on a linear way of life if we are fantasy or sci-fi. Let’s explore every incident and person from many angles. By the way, this doesn’t mean it is all fun. It is exciting and often scary as deities and demons are involved. I hated putting it down so I could get some sleep.
BUT by golly, I love seeing Reno from Ms. Reine’s eyes! Even though I haven’t lived there for three years I still can see the bars and the river and Idywild park. It just makes me happy to see this world.
If you get the chance please read all of Sara’s books!
The Payback Society by Cidney Swanson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Once again, Cidney Swanson pulled me in and delivered a good story, one I didn’t like to put down for the night. Cidney knows how to write stories that are believable. The characters and plot are always well developed.
As a young adult, I think I would have loved this even more. The romance is not the most important aspect of the story. Of course, it is there. They are teens. But this story goes deeper. One guy thinks everyone should worship him. When our main character refuses all hell breaks out and payback is required. The reader will feel the need and satisfaction of said payback.
I want to say more but I’m afraid I will end up slipping serious spoilers.
If you get the chance pick up any of Cidney Swanson’s work and you will be on adventures you cannot believe. Of course, my favorite still remains the Saving Mars series. All others are fun, too.
Excerpts of Things I Will Never Say: by Nagham AB
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I was a teen I was into poetry. For the most part, I find it too emotionally crippling. Or vague enough that a poem written about a stubbed toe can mean it was about your true love. Yes, I write it on occasion. And yes I read it sometimes.
In the case of this book, I felt, often, like I had walked into someone else’s life. It felt autobiographical. So how can I judge it? This is the author’s feelings about things that have happened in their life. It was well written. Deep feelings reached out. Never once felt like I would quit reading. But none of the excerpts or poems seemed to lead into others. Yet I wanted to hear (text-to-speech) what the author had to say.
I know others will love this, will relate to it deeply.
Mary Poppins: 80th Anniversary Collection by P.L. Travers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I was in fifth grade, I was a library regular. I would check out the limit of ten books at a time. Mary Poppins was a series I got into and read all of them. I never had seen Julie Andrews version. We weren’t allowed to go to movies in my family. Maybe that’s the reason I am so into movies now?
Anyway, I wasn’t a fan of the illustrations, still don’t care for them. I got irritated with Michael getting so much attention. I felt that this read through, too.
Something that I noticed that I don’t remember my childhood thoughts on. How prideful Mary Poppins was, and how grumpy/bossy she was. But now that it’s been a couple days since I finished this quartet of books I think I’m glad she was that way. She didn’t feel she needed to tell the family when she’d be leaving. She rarely admitted to the kids about her friends or her habits with them. It was like she had her own life apart from the wards of her job. I think she shows women and girls that they don’t have to tell everything and they can be independent.
Since I read these four books in a row using text-to-speech, I didn’t notice where one book ended and another began–except when she left and said she wasn’t coming back–but then she came back.
I don’t remember finding the adventures tedious as a child. But as an adult, I see they are far too similar and I lost interest sometimes.
Particular to this version, the Audible available as whispersynch to this book was just for the first book. Most folks would probably read on without a problem. I need the text-to-speech to take over and it was hard to make my Fire understand that. The good news was that I called Amazon and they made it all good. I had loved the Audible narration. I just didn’t have the money to get the rest of the books at that time. They let me remove it and then my text-to-speech with the British voice that always sounds like Julie Andrews got me through the rest of the books.
Now I feel ready to watch the new Mary Poppins movie.
Wandering Koala rides The Phantom Coach comic 1 by Jeff Thomason
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Sorry, just couldn’t get into this one. Even when I finished, it wasn’t and I don’t feel like buying the next book.
The Boy Who Flew With Eagles by Ben Woodard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Overall, I loved this story. Having been on a female author/leading female character entertainment diet, I saw how female empty this book was. (My youth was spent on a diet fed to females by males).
Yes, the book spoke to sharing and caring for others on the planet, but it is entirely lacking female, except for the mother eagle. Even the boy had no mother or sisters. No human fem anywhere.
If, in fact, this kind of book was to help reluctant males to read, why do they go on and get better jobs and never get judged by what they wear or their size? If the males that read this kind of book were actually addressed, why is ecology poohed upon by the heavily male corporate and politicized world?
The overall lesson I learned from this book is that we have gentled males of their own responsibility for themselves and others to the point that if this book were about the female equivalent the boys wouldn’t have read it? How sad! Not only didn’t this story get the point across, but it also didn’t even embrace it, itself! Sharing and caring.
The minor truth was that father eagle flew away and gave the job to the mother eagle cause he couldn’t handle it!
No, I didn’t lose sight of the main objective of the book. It is marvelous that the boy got to learn how to fly and help the eagle family and eventually his own tribe. That is why the story got four stars. But the rest is lost for society.
Little monsters, it’s time to go to bed!: How to put little monsters to sleep with a toothbrush and dental floss by Olivia Longray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When my second oldest was a toddler he saw the commercial about how the tooth-monster can attack teeth that aren’t brushed. I never had to remind him to brush his teeth. That was an effective commercial for him. This book would have had the same effect for him and probably lots of children who might be reluctant to dental hygiene.
The pictures are delightful. The fantasy goes a bit too far but it just gives the readers more pictures to enjoy and there is plenty of room for discussion about tooth care.
The Alien Within: Book 2 of The Alien Chronicles by Robin Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think I like this book better than the first one. There was a little more sanity and well thought out decisions made. Of course, there was a little teen angst but it seemed the major characters thought with true love and caring for the object of the love.
The author chose to go into the heads of the major characters to give the reader insight into their souls. I think I would have loved this book as a teen. I liked it a lot as an adult.
The ending came far too soon but at the appropriate time. I can’t wait to read the next book! I’d love to see the author take us to the cloud to meet the other aliens that were still in their own form and see how this Alien turned human affects their thoughts and ways of living.
50 Loom Knitted Stuffed Animal Pattern Collection by Scarlett Royale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is kept for its reference capabilities. I have not made every animal in the book. But I have made enough to know that I am happy to have the book.
One of the problems I have with the book is that sometimes the patterns can be confusing and there are a few errors. But the best part of this book is the links to the tutorials. They take you right to the YouTube teaching how to make what you want to make. My latest is the snowman, that looks so cute! And it had very little sewing.
I would like to someday get the paper version so I don’t have to be on the computer while making these little cuties. But in the meantime, this will do!
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 100 books for the 2013 Reading Challenge! 115 of 100 (115%)
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 225 books for the 2012 Reading Challenge! 225 of 225 (100%)
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 200 books for the 2011 Reading Challenge! 204 of 200 (102%)
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