Category: Reviews



Bold: Stories of Strong WomenBold: Stories of Strong Women by Sandy Ward Bell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I won this book from GoodReads Giveaway. Though I knew it was an anthology of short stories I thought reading about strong women would make it worth my while. So thank you for letting me read your book.

BUT, I just don’t like short stories. Yes, the women seemed to have opinions but I didn’t see them as any stronger than others. Maybe with more story, I would have been impressed with them but, not so much. And it is worse is you read with text-to-speech as it is hard to know when the last story ended and the next story starts. I can’t tell you how many times I had to go back and figure out why it wasn’t making sense suddenly. OH! It’s a new story. I guess that is something to keep in mind when writing for the Kindle market, make sure to put a something there at the end and start the new one with a hashtag or something.

I finished this book a week or so ago but life got busy and I had to wait to write the review. I honestly can’t remember any of the stories to say more about them. Obviously, there are folks that loved these stories so go read their reviews. You may be one who loves them, too. But give me a series and depth of characters. The stories are well written, I do remember that. I like the cover!

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The Litter of the Law (Mrs. Murphy, #22)The Litter of the Law by Rita Mae Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was given this book by a friend who read it on her vacation and left it with me when she visited. It took me so long as the font is rather small so I could only take it in bits and pieces. There was enough dialogue to break up the page so I could read it in tiny doses.

The book kept my interest. I did want to find out more about the farming and life of these farm people. I loved reading about the characters. I found the Native American research interesting though it added to the shame of how our founders dealt with the original inhabitants of our country.

I absolutely loved the drawings. Yay for adult books that have pictures!

What I found annoying and distracting from the story: talking animals. But I suppose that is where the ‘cozy’ comes in for this mystery.

I love Halloween but I never go to ‘haunted house’ features because I worry that real blood could be involved with no one knowing. And I hate things jumping out at me to make me scream or be startled. This book just reinforced those fears. It is what made this a gruesome mystery rather than cozy. But others of you may love it and can read it with the grain of salt that is implied. I’m glad to finally be finished and to pass it to the friends of the library.

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Still LifeStill Life by Isobel Hart
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Though I finished this book about a week ago, I just haven’t been able to say something nice about it. And though I obtained this book through NetGalley for an honest review, I can’t give it a good one. But thanks anyway.

Give me a good mindless zombie story. Don’t give me a reason to read rape and abuse scenes and blame it on a virus. Please don’t read this if you have issues with either of those. If you can get past that you might feel intrigued to see what might happen in book two. Me? Not so much.

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The Missing Girl: A Short Chapter BookThe Missing Girl: A Short Chapter Book by Gita V. Reddy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love getting books from my favorite writers for review. It’s the best of both worlds. Getting to see their writing, getting to read new books.

Ms. Gita V. Reddy has created another fun story, mystery(?) for middle grades. I don’t want to give anything away here, but the story didn’t go the way I thought it would. But neither is it as scary as the title might imply. So go ahead and read it. It’s free right now on Amazon.

There is a bonus story in this book. If it wasn’t about a boy, I would have thought that Gita knew me in grade school. Yes, I was the talker that teachers moved around the room trying to find the person that would encourage silence in me. Nope. Didn’t happen. In fact, and I hate to admit this, even in college as a 40 something-year-old adult, even when I sat next to the teacher I found them interesting and willing to share conversation with me. Being social is a good thing and can teach you more than silence. On the other hand, as a teacher, I understand the disruption to the lesson plan. I did see that it can be useful for bringing up questions the class might have been afraid to bring up. I loved the kid of my heart in the second part of the book.

Both stories made for good reading before bed. You or your children might have fun with these, too.

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ShiftShift by M.A. George
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. How could I resist? I love Ms. George’s writing. The minute I open one of her books I know I am in for a fun ride. Shift is no exception. I added to my sleep deficit by spending too many hours after bedtime looking for a good place to stop reading for the night. But I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters in this story.

I finished Aqua, which I also loved, a bit ago and couldn’t wait for more. My biggest disappointment was that this book is a stand-alone. I love a long and deep series. But for those that don’t like that this will be more up your alley. Still, I won’t rate this lower than five stars as it kept me going.

I can’t wait for more!

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AquaAqua by M.A. George
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was a surprise. And a few nights of nearly four o’clock in the morning reading. Forcing myself to pull away from the story and into sleep. That was hard to do!

The first impression that I got from the title was that this would be another mermaid book for young adults. Nope. But I won’t tell you more about it. Spoilers!

The story kept moving. It seemed not to give me a chance to push pause, even to get up and get something to eat or to go on a potty break. That’s how good Ms. George’s writing is. The book is a decent length but not so short or immature as you might think. Though there was a bit of a romance it wasn’t the angsty stuff of most young adult books. It was respectful of each other and seemed healthy.

I think others will love this book, too. It is cleverly written and far from the norm for this genre.

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The Host (The Host, #1)The Host by Stephenie Meyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It has been weeks since I finished ‘reading’ this book. I couldn’t decide how I felt about it. I think it is somewhere between hating it and being okay with it.

Kate Reading was the narrator. I nearly returned the Audible version. The voice seemed all wrong for the alien. And all wrong for the strong host.

The story did start to get interesting about halfway in. We finally meet the human tribe hiding from the aliens. I liked some of them. But the narrator’s voice seemed wrong for these characters, too. It amazes me that I stuck with this book in spite of how I felt listening to it every night.

The ending was a surprise for me and satisfying. I know a lot of people loved this story. The writing was good. But it didn’t do much for me.

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The Girl on the TrainThe Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This audiobook (CD) was in the put-away-bag at the library and I couldn’t resist. I knew it was a fairly recent movie so I couldn’t wait to try it out.

Ah, but I wasn’t crazy for it. You would think it would do it for me. I used to take the train to work every day. I know how that imagination can take you places the train doesn’t. In fact, riding the train was how I wrote my first book. So that part of the first character grabbed me. That she had stories in her head about the people she saw in the homes she passed made her an interesting character to me. But somehow I mostly didn’t like her.

It was when the next character voice came in that I perked up my ears. Her voice reminded me of Gilly, Sam’s crush on Game of Thrones. I guess it is just her accent but having that familiar voice had me listening more closely. And I did like this character.

About the time I got into the story my CD player gave up. I ended up using my credit on Audible to get the audio onto my Kindle. That worked out better.

It has been over a week since I finished this book. Lots of life has happened since. So my memories are eroding. Still, I remember how I stayed up until 3 the last part of the book. It was well written and kept me interested.

The narrators: Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey, India Fisher were fantastic and different enough to keep me from getting the characters confused.

As the librarian had warned me, don’t read the last bit at night before sleep it is a thriller and it will keep you awake. Still, it was a good read. I’m glad I read it.

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Testimony Testimony by Anita Shreve
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Our little library now has books on CDs. I saw them the last time I was there and decided I should grab a couple to encourage this new accommodation.

This was one I remember hearing about so I thought I couldn’t go wrong. The librarian said I shouldn’t read it at night, but that is the only time I can sink my teeth into a book.

I realized early on why I don’t like reading with only the audio version. There is no way to look at words or pages to clarify what I just heard. And this book has many points of view incorporating second-person on a couple of them. It didn’t quite work for me. And the actors playing the different characters weren’t always the best, I didn’t think.

This topic is worth talking about with the ‘Me, too’ movement. It shows the other side of the rape story. I don’t think it should send us back to women not being heard. But to remind us that there are those women who don’t care who they ruin with accusations. The main male character wasn’t on a power trip or trying to hurt someone. This story does need to be told. It needs to be read.

But I don’t have to like it. I didn’t hate it either.

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Lonesome Paladin (A Fistful of Daggers #1)Lonesome Paladin by S.M. Reine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Though Cèsar and Lincoln are not my favorite characters, this book had me a Reno. I love it when Sara Reine centers her stories in my old haunts. Once I am immersed in the town, I care about what happens there. Who knew there were so many demons, vampires, were-creatures, fae in Reno? I’ve thought I’ve seen a glimmer here and there, but I figured it was a figment of my imagination–or was it?

I started this book around 9 PM last night and couldn’t stop reading until finished a little after midnight. It was a wild ride! While I told you my non-favorite characters, I was excited to know we would get to see Ophelia, Cèsar’s sister. And I enjoyed getting to know Sophie Keyes.

I always enjoy Ms. Reine’s books. That’s why I’m always happy to receive a request to read and review them. Thanks for the opportunity! And I love the side topic Sara was able to present in this book to make an educational moment or two.

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