Category: Reviews



The MeqThe Meq by Steve Cash

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What if your found out at twelve years old that you wouldn’t age any further? And that it is a hereditary condition that only a few have. And that there are others out there like you…. oh, and you have special powers (of course). Well, it might not work nowadays. No adventures can happen to that seeming twelve-year-old as you would be told you should be in school. And there are labor laws preventing your going out and finding a job. But around 1900 this might just work. And so it did in the book. The Meq was an imaginative story.

My cousin, Tammy, recommended this book to me. She thought it was great. Maybe I would have loved it too had I not just gotten out of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. Which was fantastic, by the way. Maybe it was because I didn’t have a narrator and had to use my text-to-speech on my new Fire. At first, I thought it was due to the fact that I was using the female voice which sounded like the boy’s mother was trying to tell the boy’s story. So I changed it to the male voice. But that voice sounded too grown up. At twelve the voice would have sounded spunky by in the treble clef. It did work better than the female voice. So I speeded up the TTS and found it helped with getting involved in the story.

And so, once I was involved, I found myself curious as to where the tale was heading. This wasn’t the best book I’ve read, but I have to admit that I do want to read the next book to see where the next adventure leads. Which reminds me, points given for lack of cliffhanger. Points taken for not only being rather expensive but not being loanable. Boo! Still it was interesting. Hey maybe by the time I get to the point I can afford the next book, there will be an Audible version to help me out.

There does seem to be quite a variety of ratings for this book. So maybe you will like it like my cousin did. Try it!

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Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3)Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You know that teary-eyed feeling you get near the end of a book/series where you start reading slower to stretch out reading the last words? Yeah, that happened to me. Even though it wasn’t necessarily sad, still I knew I was leaving my friends behind, possibly to never read about them again. I do hope that is not the case. But there was no cliffhanger. The threads, even those I had forgotten about were nicely tied up. So the chances are there might not be more. I will miss everyone from this series. Even the bad guys had depth.

But my favorites were the secondary characters: Zuzana and Mik. I LOVED them! Maybe even more than I loved the lovesick Karou and Akiva. I don’t hate the main couple. They do what they should to remain superheroes. Oh, and I want to mention one more person, but I don’t want to spoil it for others. I really miss that person. But I’ve missed him for two books. What I did learn today was there is a short book about ZuzaMik. Got it. Will read it VERY soon.

The writing of these books is my favorite kind of writing. It is fast and full with the right amount of dialog to counteract descriptions. I want to study how Laini Taylor’s writing more so I may be reading these books again and again.

And then there is the icing on the cake: narrator, Khristine Hvam. She brings the story to life. She adds attitude where it might only be suggested by the writing. I look forward to reading more by Ms. Taylor read by Khristine Hvam.

May I suggest that you make sure you have a couple days to dedicate to just reading. I didn’t do anything but for the past few days. reading way past bedtimes and food times, and nearly past pee times, oops! All of it was worth it! What a wonderful story!

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Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #2)Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Normally, when I get a book that has no text-to-speech and isn’t lendable I give it fewer stars in the rating. But since I love this series so much that I would give it more than five stars for each book, you can only go down to the limit of five from above. Dar rationalization. I’m sticking to it! Besides, without the narration of Khristine Hvam, I think, this book would just be average. Who am I kidding? I think it would still be fantastic. Khristine Hvam is just the icing on the cake–but isn’t that the best part?

Book two starts off immediately where book one left off. Good think I reread book one to understand that. The adventure continues with all the same players and a few new ones. I love that there are more points of view introduced in this book. Zuzana now has her own part to play as does her boyfriend, Mik. Their thoughts and histories add humor and wonder to a crazy world that Karou and Akiva already knew and showed us in book one. I love Zuzana so much. I love her sense of humor and excitement. I may love her more than the main character, Karou. But Mik is adorable, too. They add a lot to the story.

I want to write more, but book three is calling so loudly that I can’t think of anything else to say. Please, give this series a chance, preferably with the narration. I think you may love it as much as I do. Now let me go bury myself in the next book. Bye!

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Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1)Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Re-reading so I can remember the story and read the rest of the series. Done.

This reading was to make sure I knew where the story was going before I start on book two. I still loved it. Especially with the narration of Khristine Hvam. She reads this flawlessly. I can’t imagine reading this book without her talented voice in the background. I stand by the review I wrote in February 2014:

***
Oh. My. Gosh! I think this is the best book ever! Thank you to all that recommended it so highly. I, too, now sing its praises!

Laini Taylor is the storyteller’s storyteller. Once I started into the world that she created I didn’t want to leave. In fact, though the copies I had of the hardback and the CDs were borrowed from the library, I couldn’t bear to return them had I not gone ahead and bought the Kindle and Audible versions to read again. And while I was at it I picked up the next in the series.

Oh, and I need to sing a few praises to the narrator, Khristine Hvam. I was caught up in the sound of her voice and her ability to wring out every nuance each word and even syllable the book had to offer.

The main character, Karou, is real, palpable. I could see through her eyes, smell what she smelled, anguish in choices to be made or mistakes that resulted. The cast of characters surrounding her were also real. I keep trying to come up with another word, after all this IS fantasy, but that is all I can come up with, real.

Magic is in abundance in the book, whether it is meant to be or not. Yet it is highly believable. And always leads to hope. Hope is the theme, I think. It made me feel it deep inside in places that haven’t felt it for a while. Hope. How many books give you that? That is a priceless commodity.

Please read this book with the audio along side. It immerses you into this world and you will feel hope, too.

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Horseback Riding-How to Ride a Horse and Improve Your Horse Riding SkillHorseback Riding-How to Ride a Horse and Improve Your Horse Riding Skill by Rick Tomson

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

While I was on my equine wishing, I ran into this freebie. Glad it was free. As it was, I couldn’t finish. I read to about 60% in before I just couldn’t handle it anymore. For having two authors listed, this seems written by one in grade school. Aside from the many editing errors, the authors couldn’t decide which money to bid on switching from pounds to dollars in turns. As much as I wanted to learn something about riding a horse, I found myself running to Google to see how much it would cost to ride a bought versus a rented horse, whether I was in England or the USA. And the bits about actual riding had so many errors that I just couldn’t feel I could trust the instructors. Sorry guys.

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Keeping a Backyard HorseKeeping a Backyard Horse by Marguerite Madden

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In my latest research on all things possible on that acre I will, I hope, be living on soon, I thought I would entertain my twelve-year-old self with a bit of horsing around. When this book presented itself as free, I had to grab it. I wasn’t disappointed.

This book is chocked full of information a newbie would need before acquiring a backyard horse. Imagine that, a backyard horse. Yeah, this fed the imagination. Don’t know if a 65-year-old has any hope of starting out with a horse, especially with my osteoporosis. But I can dream, can’t I?

Okay, the only thing I did find a problem with beyond the possibilities, is that this book attempts to be written from the horse’s point of view. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hold true very long. I think the author would have done better by not incorporating this idea. The changing viewpoints made me dizzy. That is the only reason I am not giving this book five stars. Because other than that method of writing, the book was quite interesting. And made me wish…

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Locavore U.S.A.: How a Local-Food Economy is Changing One Community - A Chapter from the Book Change Comes to DinnerLocavore U.S.A.: How a Local-Food Economy is Changing One Community – A Chapter from the Book Change Comes to Dinner by Katherine Gustafson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an interesting read. Rather than a how-to farm like I have been reading a lot of lately, this was about how to make the urban life work for communities. The author doesn’t offer hard answers to the questions of how to live a more healthy lifestyle, eat organic, chemical-free foods, and try to make money for your community. Instead, she takes us to a couple communities that are trying to do that with food co-ops and community manufacturing plants.

The fun part about this book wasn’t due to what I read. It was how I read it. I just picked up a Kindle Fire 6 HD that has text-to-speech. Oh. My. God! If I thought the 2nd Generation Kindles were good, this wipes them out of the water. I could set the speed of the narrator, who sounded like a real person. And I found that you could download other voices like those with British or Australian accents, male and female. I can hardly wait to use these. And you can download other languages so when I want to play with Spanish or German I will have someone to pronounce these out to me in story form. Seems like a great way to improve language skills.

Anyway, back to the book. I recommend this book to everyone. This is a conversation we all need to get involved in. How healthy is it to eat food shipped from across the continent or even from around the globe. How healthy is it for our planet to keep moving food in this fashion. It is a short read but powerful.

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Homesteading: 22 Amazing Lessons That Will Teach You How to Become a Homesteader and Why Those Skills are Important (Homesteading, Homesteading books, homesteading skills)Homesteading: 22 Amazing Lessons That Will Teach You How to Become a Homesteader and Why Those Skills are Important by Roman Reese

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

So far in my studies about homesteading, this is the worst. It is less than a primer. The editing was done by spell-check and not a reading by impartial eyes. Even so, I found a couple things that I hadn’t thought up before. Still, not worth the time it took me to read it. Sorry.

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Farming For Beginners: The Backyard Animal Farm Guide To Farming Sheep, Raising Chickens, Turkeys, Pigs, Milking Cows, Goats, Honey Bees, Cattle Farming, ... Cows, Goats, Honey Bees, and Cattle Book 1)Farming For Beginners: The Backyard Animal Farm Guide To Farming Sheep, Raising Chickens, Turkeys, Pigs, Milking Cows, Goats, Honey Bees, Cattle Farming, … Cows, Goats, Honey Bees, and Cattle Book 1) by Frank Begley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This wasn’t exactly what I wanted to study, It was evident when the first chapter was about cows. I won’t have enough room for a cow. Nor will I have the money to feed it. And being a vegetarian, who has trouble with cow milk in most forms (except cheese), I felt this was not up my alley.

Still the writing was easy to read. The author had a bit of a sense of humor making it not a dull read. And just past the cows chapter the other animals listed were of interest to me. Well, except pigs. What is that called when you don’t much like certain animals? I know, pigs are smart and make pets for some people, but I doubt I could ever become one of those people. I might more likely have a cow for a pet instead. But both animals are too big for me. And I don’t want to butcher animals. I know. What kind of farmer will I be? Greenhorns are allowed to be less than farmers.

Now the goats, sheep, poultry and bees fit more in my realm of interest. I have had goats and loved them. No, never killed them either. I loved the milk and the process of getting it. I had chickens, too. No kill, free-range easter egg hunts. Worst farmer ever! Loved all my animals!

Anyway, this book got into the husbandry of all these animals. And the nice part is that there are quite a few links to YouTube instructions and other websites with charts and graphs and more instruction.

I will refer back to this book often once I am settled on the land.

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I Have PeopleI Have People by Taylor Dean

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Now, that’s unusual, you might be saying. Dar is giving a romance novel five stars. Yep. I am. That is because this is a cautionary tale of what all those romantic ideals can hand those who are blind in their love for the romantic partner. Notice, I said partner. Notice I didn’t just identify this as a fem issue. I realize that there are relationships of all kinds where one partner uses the other for a punching ball physically and or mentally. That is NOT love, folks.

Let me take a moment out to warn those with PTSD who have been in bad relationships, this book does have triggers. Even so, if you can live past them there are lessons to be learned here. Granted the outcome is much better than most real life situations might have. It is fiction after all.

BUT climb into the mind of the intelligent yet emotionally unstable young woman, Holly Sinclair. That is what Taylor Dean, the author, did quite well. I, personally, recognized many of Holly’s thoughts. These are the thoughts romanticized in many young adult/romance novels. They are angsty. At least Ms. Dean gave Holly a narrative of conflicting thoughts that rationalize both the healthy thoughts and the not so healthy ones. That gives the person who may be going through this additional thoughts to play out in their own minds. Remember, survival is more important than dead or maiming done in the name of ‘love’.

The most important lesson of this book is in the title: I Have People. The most important thing a person who is being abused needs to know is that they have people. To go find help. Pride be damned. Safety is more important. And though the women’s shelter was an option in the book that was tossed aside, I have known friends that gained a lot by going to the shelter and learning new ways to live their lives.

Meanwhile, for the rest of us who have relative safety around us, BE THE PEOPLE. As those around Holly notice and gracefully befriended her and drew her into safety. We need to be that kind of friends. Don’t hide from this situation. Do what you can to help make the abused person safe.

What I didn’t like was the lack of help for the abuser. I know he chose his own way, but we need as a society to find ways to recognize these people and bring them to re-education in places that keep others safe from them while they get the help they need, nonnegotiable help.

This is a social issue. The book should bring up discussion. Even so, it was a very good book that I couldn’t stop reading. It was well after 5 AM when I was finally able to go to sleep. The other caution. Smile. From about 50% in make sure to give yourself a chance to take care of yourself. It gets heavy!

Oh, I won this book initially in a contest held by the author. I picked it up on Smashwords then promptly forgot I had it. Sorry. Then I saw it as a freebie on Kindle. Picked it up. And to show how mixed up I really am, I read this on my MoonReader Pro because I could use its text-to-speech on my tablet in the dark. Soon I will be able to read these on my new Fire which has that feature. Can’t wait for that to get here! Anyway, the book is $2.99 on Smashwords and $3.99 on Amazon. Well worth the price! Sorry, Ms. Dean, for getting to it so late.

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