Category: Reviews



The Dangerous Thaw of Etta CapstoneThe Dangerous Thaw of Etta Capstone by Karen J. Hasley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I want to thank my friend, Kimberly, for suggesting this read to me. I didn’t think I would like it. I’m not into cowboy westerns. Even though the main character is a strong female, this felt like the shows my dad used to love to watch. Those made me feel gritty, dusty, and tired. But I think the book is fairly close to how it must have been back then (1870?) in a Texas town. Had Kimberly not been the kind of reader I respect and share common tastes in literature, I might not have tried. I’m glad I followed through, though, and read it.

Kindle Unlimited is a wonderful feature on Amazon. You can borrow up to ten ebooks and there is no expiration date. When my friend suggested this one I was able to grab it and save it for when I was ready to read it.

Still, the old dusty-gritty feelings followed me into the book. Thank goodness I loved the characters. Etta, main character, is the kind of woman that protects those she loves but take no guff from anyone. It is obvious she grew into the person she is when we meet her. I like how we learn her history and are witness to her present growth.

Though there is a little romance in this story, that is a minor storyline. And it isn’t all squishy or angsty like a lot of modern books portray it. Just two grown ups who respect each other and their pasts and care for each other deeply. It’s a more natural flow of things, I think. And the story is much more about Etta and her friends. Looking at what I just wrote makes it look boring. But this story is strong. It leaves you feeling good, which is rare. Ms. Karen J. Hasley (author) made sure that all the threads winding through the book are all tied up at the end so you don’t feel a need for a book two. The only reason I might want one is that I will miss Etta and friends.

I think anyone, male or female, would like it.

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A Tale for the Time BeingA Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Over a decade ago, I met an online friend that would change or at least, modify my life. I met Judith on LiveJournal, you remember that old site, better than MySpace but not quite as social as FaceBook. Judith was chatting in her journal about Chris Baty and the NaNoWriMo scene (Which resulted in my first novel being written between the Ides of March and the Ides of April. I didn’t finish the novel then as we had to move to a new city and I just couldn’t stay with it. But I added more than enough wordage to that novel in November 2002 to “win”. (First of 10 or 11 novels since.)

The other thing Judith introduced me to was BookCrossing.com. The concept that grabbed me with BC was how my read book could be recycled to others and then the new reader and the old could discuss this story. The book could travel even when I couldn’t, so it felt like a message in a bottle thrown out to sea. It is fun to see where your book could end up and the friendships that develop over said book. I still belong but since my eyes aren’t what they used to be, I am happy for the invention of Kindle and other e-readers. So I release far fewer books nowadays.

Besides Judith, what do the above paragraphs have in common, and what do they have to do with ‘A Tale for the Time Being’? The art of writing and the art of reading. Both concepts play strong in this story. Rather than a message in a bottle, this message floats ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox in layers of freezer bags. The writer was in Tokyo, the reader/finder in Canada. Years separate the two. Yet a bond is formed. Oh, yeah, Judith read and reviewed this and hooked me in. I think she didn’t like the Zen parts of the book. I found that part delightful. I have to admit that most of the book is believable whereas the Zen bits are a little more ‘magical’. But the title twinkles with that magic. If you read it right.

Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend this book. I actually read it one and a third times. I borrowed the Kindle version from the library. Between reading it on my Kindle app on my Tablet and listening on my old Kindle text-to-speech, I managed to get to about 36% in. Then I found that my library also had the OverDrive version. So I restarted reading the book with the author’s voice. That pumped up my ratings for this wonderful tale. Each layer of depth into the story has its own built-in amazements. Level one, tree book, and the Kindle version, there are many footnotes and definitions to help with a deeper understanding of that time in history or that country, language. But the narration includes minor helps. Hearing a voice say the Japanese names or words adds to the believability of the whole story. Ms. Ruth Ozeki has an impeccable voice and narration, her variations of voices for each character supreme! I enjoyed rereading the first third with her help. I felt I gained deeper understanding just by hearing her. Please, if you get the chance to pair both versions, go for it!

By the way, I want to thank Jonelle Patrick and her Mysteries and website: http://jonellepatrick.me/ for introducing me to many contemporary Japanese subjects presented in A Tale for the Time Being. At least I was forewarned.

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The Ocean at the End of the LaneThe Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can see my friends faces as they shake their heads and murmur, “It’s about time!” So. Yeah. This is my first Neil Gaiman. Note the five stars. I know! He’s written Doctor Who episodes that I loved. How could I not love his other writing? I do have another book and narration sitting around waiting for me to get around to it. But this one took priority. Library book. They always take top of the list because of their due date. So, sorry other authors, waiting for me to get to your books. When a book comes off hold and lands in my lap, I have to read it first.

Do I dare say I would have love to have a teacher read this aloud to my class as a kid. You know the chapter books that you would have to put your head on your desk as the teacher read. Yeah, it had it’s scary parts, but I think a child could handle it.

Okay. I can, also, hear mumbling about my reading goals of strictly female writers with strong female characters. Well, it’s not written in stone is it? Sometimes a person has to stray to see the color of the grass or, in this case, interesting writing of the others.

Though the main character is a young boy, the heroes of this story were women. Strong women! Witchy, magickal womyn! Without these womyn, this story would be BORING! But you never get to know them or get inside their heads. This is all from the boy’s head. In fact, you never even learn his name or where he is. And since there are references to place in gestures, food, accents, it seems unnecessary to name it. Funny how that bothered me, but I didn’t care if I had the kid’s name. Really. Did I miss something? My guess is this is somewhere in southern US. But other clues made me wonder if it were in some British colony (Australia? South Africa?). Hmmm.

But enough about needing labels. This story was the most imaginative I have read in a while. And yet, maybe because it is coming from inside the head of a kid, the most believable. Ocean in a bucket. I want that bucket! I miss the ocean so here in the Nevada desert I could have my beach!

Oh, and talk about brilliant! The transitions between the boy and his adult self, are seamless. And the character remains the same person. I am more amazed by the book the more I think about it! How is that possible?

So I plan to read more Gaiman very soon! And watch more Doctor Who. Thanks, my friends, for being patient while I catch up! 😉

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Outsider: The Flawed Series Book TwoOutsider: The Flawed Series Book Two by Becca J. Campbell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was given the ARC by the author for an honest review. Because of it being an ARC, I will not count into this review any of the editing errors that I did pick up. In fact, the story caught me up so firmly that I hardly noticed these oopsies.

About that story! Wow! Told from the viewpoints of the main character, Josh, and his female interest, Alex, and their nemesis, Nic who is out to kill Alex. I like that you can get into the heads of each of these people. Sure, one could guess at the insecurities young people have about starting a new relationship, but Ms. Becca Campbell (author) gives us deeper insights than those surface issues. Put into that mix suddenly awakening abilities and one can understand the deep confusion. And seeing what was motivating the bad guy was ingenious!

This series is so much fun! It keeps one on the edge of one’s seat wondering what is going to happen? How will they get out of this one? Try to read this one so that the last half is long before bedtime. I was lucky that I was able to finish long before sleep. There are nightmare elements that I didn’t want to have entering my subconscious. (Course the next book I picked up then was by Neil Gaiman, gulp!)

It had been a long time since I read the first of the Flawed series, Flawed. Even so I found a reread wasn’t necessary. Enough review is set up in this book two that one wouldn’t feel lost. In fact, one could read this without having read the first book. But the depth you would have from reading the series in order is unbeatable. I highly recommend reading this series if you are inclined to read fantasy books about new or young adults. This one was more contemporary than other fantasies. In that way, it is fun to visit Colorado and California as they are.

I can’t wait to read the next in the series!

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COME, THE DARK: (Forever Girl Series Book Two)COME, THE DARK: by Rebecca Hamilton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A while back I picked this Kindle edition for free from Kindle Unlimited. I was lucky to find book one for free soon after. I’m glad I was able to work it out that way. This was a fun read.

This book two, could have been read separately as the main characters from book one are not in this book. The concept of “Forever Girl” is explained fairly well. So I don’t think anyone would feel lost if they had to read these out of order.

One of the things I felt most off with this book, that didn’t occur in book one, is the language and historical issues feel unmet. Our main character is able to smoothly make the process from modern-day Georgia to the years of the Salem Witch Trials with no one noticing her modern speech or clothing. But if you get used to that kind of thing and remember it only as a story, that isn’t a problem.

The book begins with a rape/incest trigger warning. If you have had these things happen to you, then be warned. Even though the main character is able to leave the situation it is always in her mind and is brought with her, as such a situation would live within anyone. One of the things that bothers me is: If you go back in time and hopefully fix the problems of the past, you could cease to exist, and the newborn babe you’ve left behind. If Pa had remained a loving father the babe would cease to exist, too.

Though the main character remembers a time when her parents and life were happy, before the darkness, why does she never wonder if she could go back and help her folks by her newfound abilities? Maybe the baby she only knew one day would cease to exist, but she could save the lives of those she once loved. But this poor girl only remembers her one-day-old baby.

Regardless of the problems I mentioned above, the story is suspenseful and is quite the adventure. Ms. Rebecca Hamilton is quite the writer. There were editing errors, but the story kept me involved so I couldn’t get involved with the mistakes. And I can’t wait to see if there is more to the series, even with the problems I’ve mentioned.

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Omega (War of the Alphas, #1)Omega by S.M. Reine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclosure: I received this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.

But, hey! This was another Sara Reine adventure! How could I not love it? Yet another series is grown from the Six Moon Summer beginning. How it is possible Ms. Reine can be so prolific? She’s the alpha writer!

I have to admit to being a bit lost at first. What in the world is an Omega shifter? But that is, indeed, what the question of the book is. Even though we get to see Rylie for a bit, this story isn’t from her point of view. Now we get to see what has happened to the world since it ended and started again. Yet evil still exists and causes all kind of problems. Our Omega shifter must learn to deal with it all and figure out where she fits in.

This was not my favorite of all the books, but it was fun to revisit old friends and see that there is still hope of more story yet to come.

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Zentangle For Beginners: Elevate Your Life With Zentangle Art, Patterns and Shapes for Creativity, Focus & Well-Being (Zentangle, Zentangle for Beginners, ... Zentangle Basics, Zentangle Books)Zentangle For Beginners: Elevate Your Life With Zentangle Art, Patterns and Shapes for Creativity, Focus & Well-Being by Charlotte Pearce

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Of the freebie Kindle Zentangle books I’ve read so far, this has been my favorite. It was well written, describing the process of getting into the tangle, with zen and scientific results. I got so anxious about this just being wordy. But finally! There are enough illustrations of good Zentangles to give the beginner a chance to decide if this is for them. Worth the price (free) and maybe even worth a little more. After all, you can pick up most of this information from the website: Zentangle.com. Still it is nice that the author shared very different artists work. Try it, you’ll like it!

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The Forever Girl (The Forever Girl #1)The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I became aware of this book one when I picked up book two for free with Kindle Unlimited. Notwithstanding the inside out reading of Marie Lu’s Legend series, I prefer to read books in their prescribed order.

As the title ‘Forever Girl’ implies, this is a young adult book. And though I loved the storyline and the characters, I just got ill with the sexual teen-angst. If you don’t want to have sex with the guy, don’t sleep with him and then dwell on all things sexual. And, okay, the main character is out of school, in her twenties, still a virgin though I can’t see how. She seems immature. Oh, but don’t get me started on the centuries old vampire with another label. Why has he no more self-control than a child especially when he says he cares for her and wants to wait until she is ready to go adult? But vampires and sexual ambiguity seem to be the theme in young adult books these days.

Had I realized that I would be reading about vampires I might not have read this. It is a worn-out cliche, to say the least. But the drawing card, for me, is the awakening of the witch. Even then the main character was so wishy-washy about moving forward.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t hate this story. The writing was well-done. The story carried me past any errors that might have been there. This next problem I put on me. I started getting mixed up by the extras in the story. It was near the end of the book that the name Paloma came up. I still can’t quite figure out who she was.

It was four o’clock in the morning when I finished the story and quickly opened the next book. So that interest in the story kept me from going to sleep. Read this during the day. The end is hair-raising.

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Desert Wind Desert Wind by Sophia DeLuna

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a delightfully different kind of story. Beyond this, I plead ignorance. I haven’t heard of the deities mentioned in the story. I assume this was a world and goddess that emerge from the author’s imagination, yet I think I could bow to the higher being who shows miracles of kindness.

As the title suggests the story takes place in a desert land. Other than that I can’t say I know where in our world or when it may have happened. Still this couple is pregnant. It’s wanted but if both parties are lesbian, how and with whom had the mother conceived?

Now, I admit to loving this story more than other short stories by Sophia DeLuna. Still I beg, plead! Please tell more! This could not only be a book. It could be a series! I loved it!

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Fire and IceFire and Ice by Sophia DeLuna

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Oh, how I wish this were a book rather than a very short story. A writer writes at the coffee shop. Truth being better than fiction? We will never know. Please, Ms. DeLuna, tell us more!

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