Tag Archive: Fiction



The Awakening (The Dragon Heart Legacy, #1)The Awakening by Nora Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can’t decide which person I am most impressed with: Nora Roberts with the writing, or Barrie Kreinik and her versatile storytelling.

Fantasy usually bugs me. Too scary, too weird that ghosts, vampires, werefolk, etc. interbreed. I like the adventure and opportunity to travel to new lands, but the rest… Anyway, this book followed a different path. The romance wasn’t a gaga kind of love, but rather, different kinds of love are featured: friends and family, and a bit of romance. The main character’s trainer is tough and doesn’t take any flak from his new trainee, but you see that it isn’t out of hate or meanness, but rather out of a hope to instill enough fear in the newbie to take it seriously.

Apologies are always handy in this story. I rarely see that kind of person written about. I get upset with most books that they don’t take responsibility for actions or emotions.

Some would say this was boring, but I loved it more than I do most fantasy. And as I said before, the narrator was fantastic.

No sooner did I finish this book than I went back to Libby to borrow the next book in the series. I’m loving it, too!

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Cursed (Cursed Magic #1)Cursed by Casey Odell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A four-star rating is pushing it. Mainly because I decided to try to read Book Two, I’m hoping it will get better. I picked this first book up in 2013. I kept putting off reading it. I was getting tired of Young Adult books, even then. Most are so angsty. Sadly, thirteen years later, I feel the same way.

The story started interesting enough, but as soon as the main character gets with the elves, the angst starts. ‘Why doesn’t he pay more attention to me? I can’t help myself; I have to kiss him. I know he’s bad for me, etc., etc.’

I pushed myself to get through this with Kindle Text-to-Speech. But it still was hard to read/listen to.

Okay, I will admit I was probably not the preferred audience; 76 is not YA, except in my own mind.

By the way, you can get this as a Kindle Unlimited title. Maybe you’ll like it better than I did.

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The Mirror (The Lost Bride Trilogy, #2)The Mirror by Nora Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Brittany Pressley narrates this second book of the Lost Bride Trilogy as she did the first and third. She brings all the characters, embodied and disembodied, with clarity and humor.

Nora Roberts is becoming a favorite author for me. I am sure these books come across on the page as well as they do in audiobook form.

These aren’t terribly scary but there are moments of terror. Not so much that you can’t read it before sleep.

As the title suggests, this book takes it up a notch: the main character, Sonya, is forced to attend ancestors’ weddings in the past. Through the looking glass (Mirror)!

I enjoyed this so much that I immediately went to Libby and got the next book in the series. So far I am not disappointed.

Please read these if you get the chance.

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Inheritance (The Lost Bride Trilogy, #1)Inheritance by Nora Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m becoming a fan of Nora Roberts. After finishing my last read at midnight, I searched for available audiobooks on Libby. I saw one of hers and decided that would do it. Brittany Pressley narrated this contemporary story. With ghosts!

The main character has spirit to spare, and she takes over her inherited manor with a gusto she didn’t expect to find. The main characters are fun and keep the story going. There’s even a dog that plays an important role.

It only took two nights of reading to finish and start the next book in the series. I can’t wait to continue

If you get the chance, pick this one up. I think you’ll like it, too.

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Tom LakeTom Lake by Ann Patchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Meryl Streep narrated this story. It was fun to hear her voice. I do wish the characters had been a little different but that didn’t stop an intriguing story.

This wasn’t a story full of thrills or mystery but rather memory and family. A parent telling stories of her youth. This was a great read for bedtime. Just enougn to keep keep me awake and interested. No tension to add to bad dreams.

Libby supplied this audiobook. I hope you get the chance to read it.

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The Housemaid Is Watching (The Housemaid, #3)The Housemaid Is Watching by Freida McFadden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lauryn Allman and Ina Marie Smith bring Freida McFadden’s third book in her Housemaid series to life. This book was even more interesting in that it involved the family. The housemaid is married and has two children. She learns that what was easy as a single person is now four times as much.

The layers of personalities are complicated and yet full of love and suspicions. My favorite part was when we could see the issues from the child’s perspective. We often forget that our attempts to protect them can cause more harm than talking it out, painful as that might be.

Now I feel I can go watch the show

I was lucky to find this audiobook on Libby. I highly recommend this fun read if you like a thriller.

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The Housemaid's Wedding (The Housemaid, #2.5)The Housemaid’s Wedding by Freida McFadden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a quick read. Lauryn Allman and Edoardo Ballerini narrate this short story to heighten the intensity of paranoia it instills. I finished in less than an hour and a half. But once started, I knew I couldn’t quit until the characters were safe. Even then, I had trouble falling asleep. Please take that as a warning.

Frieda McFadden writes compelling novels. Now that I am nearly finished with the series, I can’t wait to see how they told the story on the show.

Though I had to wait on hold for a bit, it was worth the wait. Libby has all of these, but they are popular books.

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Three Sisters (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #3)Three Sisters by Heather Morris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

These three books were so good that I had to buy the Audible version so I can read/listen to them again and again. Heather Morris’s research and writing were fascinatingly well done! And Finty Williams’s narration just brought the characters to life. She made her voice sound different for every character. I never felt lost as to whose point of view was being expressed.

This book is about the worst and best of people, at the worst time in history. Three sisters are caught up in the worst conditions and separated after promising to stay together and protect each other. I love books about people who care for others, even for those who were seemingly on the wrong side. Even as it seems hopeless, these characters find ways to make it just one more day.

I hope everyone gets a chance to read these books. I was able to read/listen to them first from Libby, but as I said, I look forward to reading them many more times. I may yet buy the paper version, as there are a lot of facts in the afterward that I think I need to look at and absorb.

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Cilka's Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #2)Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Louise Brealey’s amazing voice narrated Heather Morris’s fascinating novel.

This series is so important to read. We need to feel what people felt as this actual crime happened in history. It may be the only way new generations will believe it. Even those who lived through it didn’t believe it until they were nearly dead from the cruelty.

This series is based on facts told to the author by the Tattooist himself. As many in that generation do, holding the unbelievable truths for the protection of body and soul, he finally wanted to talk. He needed someone to listen to his story.

The fiction in this story gives the listener/reader a basis for understanding the human issues involved. I couldn’t stop reading. The sun was up when I finished. The excitement and the truth the author conveyed at the end of the book kept me awake until morning. I wanted to start the next book in the series, but I attempted to sleep.

I was lucky to find this series on Libby, but I know I will have to read them again and again, so I will buy the Audible versions and maybe even the paperback for the record, when I get paid.

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WeywardWeyward by Emilia Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aysha Kala, Helen Keeley, and Nell Barlow narrated Emilia Hart’s three-layered novel.

“Witch. The word slithers from the mouth like a serpent, drips from the tongue as thick and black as tar. We never thought of ourselves as witches, my mother and I. For this was a word invented by men, a word that brings power to those that speak it, not those that it describes. A word that builds gallows and pyres, turns breathing women into corpses.”
― Emilia Hart, Weyward

That quote brought my opinion of this book way up. Up until I read that, I felt this to be very similar to the book I recently read, The Lost Apothecary. I like the narrators on that one far more than this, as the voices were very different. But the quote woke my spirit, and I started paying more attention. So, though this was a similar three-layered historical story, this was more in tune with nature, enjoying the trees and birds, and seeing a depth we don’t notice most of the time.

Libby supplied this audiobook. I’m so grateful for libraries that share great books for all of us.

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