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oashackelford's Reviews (353)
This book had a lot better pacing that the fourth one and I thought that it had good balance between the characters and the two big bads. This one reminded me a little bit of the fifth Percy Jackson book in how well it was balanced and the action scenes.
Nancy Wake is an Australian ex-pat working for the British to help Nazi occupied France during WWII. Unlike other women of her time, the men under her command respect her and follow her leadership as they thwart Germany at every turn. Code name Helene is her story. The story of how she came to lead the French Resistance, how she ended up working for England and how she married the great love of her life.
This novel is historical fiction, but it is based on the real Nancy Wake and I think it is the best book I have ever read set in WWII. I think that Nancy was a force to be reckoned with, and although the author took some liberties with timelines and a few smaller characters in the book, she did so to further the plot and drive the story. Often I find that books about WWII have slow pacing, but this one moves quickly, and the author's choice to jump between timelines in Nancy's life helps create suspense and make the book exciting and hard to put down.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is curious about the different roles that women played during the second world war. Some worked in factories, some helped Jewish refugees escape, and a select few were able to lead others. It was really cool to read about a woman who was so widely respected by her men.
This novel is historical fiction, but it is based on the real Nancy Wake and I think it is the best book I have ever read set in WWII. I think that Nancy was a force to be reckoned with, and although the author took some liberties with timelines and a few smaller characters in the book, she did so to further the plot and drive the story. Often I find that books about WWII have slow pacing, but this one moves quickly, and the author's choice to jump between timelines in Nancy's life helps create suspense and make the book exciting and hard to put down.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is curious about the different roles that women played during the second world war. Some worked in factories, some helped Jewish refugees escape, and a select few were able to lead others. It was really cool to read about a woman who was so widely respected by her men.
Isadora Bentley is unhappy. She is celebrating her 30th birthday alone, and buying junk food at a grocery store when she sees a tacky magazine claiming that it has 31 surefire steps to becoming happy. Thinking that there is no way 31 little steps could make you happy, she buys the magazine in order to prove it wrong.
In addition to her happiness experiment, Isadora has just been assigned to organize the research of a professor on the campus that she works at. After the last professor that she worked with ripped of her work and broke her heart, she wants nothing to do with working with anyone else again. Unfortunately her boss, Gary, is requiring it. I guess it is just one more way that Isadora will be stepping out of her comfort zone this year.
I really liked this book. I know that it is put in the romance category, but I liked that it wasn't the entire plot of the book. The main idea of the book is still that Isadora wants to be happy and the different tactics that she tries to explore her happiness. I thought the book started off really slowly, but towards the middle it picked up, and the relationships with the people that she meets become deeper and more meaningful.
I liked the different ideas that were brought forward in the book. Is it possible to decide to be happy? Can someone else make you happy, or is it your responsibility? Is it better to close your self off so that you can't be hurt? Or, is life more worthwhile when you risk being hurt in order to form deeper relationships with the people around you?
In addition to her happiness experiment, Isadora has just been assigned to organize the research of a professor on the campus that she works at. After the last professor that she worked with ripped of her work and broke her heart, she wants nothing to do with working with anyone else again. Unfortunately her boss, Gary, is requiring it. I guess it is just one more way that Isadora will be stepping out of her comfort zone this year.
I really liked this book. I know that it is put in the romance category, but I liked that it wasn't the entire plot of the book. The main idea of the book is still that Isadora wants to be happy and the different tactics that she tries to explore her happiness. I thought the book started off really slowly, but towards the middle it picked up, and the relationships with the people that she meets become deeper and more meaningful.
I liked the different ideas that were brought forward in the book. Is it possible to decide to be happy? Can someone else make you happy, or is it your responsibility? Is it better to close your self off so that you can't be hurt? Or, is life more worthwhile when you risk being hurt in order to form deeper relationships with the people around you?
3 1/2 Stars
I love Jane Austen, and I love the movie adaptation for this book, but I guess I didn't realize how much the movie cut out of the book.
The movie is really faithful to the book, but it does cut out a lot of the nonsense that made up high society in regency era England. The book has countless scenes of Emma visiting someone, or being visited by someone, that almost seems to just show time passing and does not add any value to the main story. Every time someone comes to visit, Emma has to share her thoughts on this person as well as ask them about their everyday comings and goings, even though they all live in this same small village.
I do love the story of Emma though. I love that she is arrogant and a little mean sometimes, and that she reconciles this in herself by the end of the book. I love that she has so much love for the people that are close to her, and she learns by the end of the book to have love for those that she did not understand well enough during their time in Highbury.
I do wish though that some of the info that does not drive the plot had been cut from the book in Jane Austen's time.
I love Jane Austen, and I love the movie adaptation for this book, but I guess I didn't realize how much the movie cut out of the book.
The movie is really faithful to the book, but it does cut out a lot of the nonsense that made up high society in regency era England. The book has countless scenes of Emma visiting someone, or being visited by someone, that almost seems to just show time passing and does not add any value to the main story. Every time someone comes to visit, Emma has to share her thoughts on this person as well as ask them about their everyday comings and goings, even though they all live in this same small village.
I do love the story of Emma though. I love that she is arrogant and a little mean sometimes, and that she reconciles this in herself by the end of the book. I love that she has so much love for the people that are close to her, and she learns by the end of the book to have love for those that she did not understand well enough during their time in Highbury.
I do wish though that some of the info that does not drive the plot had been cut from the book in Jane Austen's time.
this was a good read, but to be honest, I don't think that I "got" the book. I feel like I kept waiting for the book to make a big point that tied together all of the other ideas and themes in the book, and what I got instead was just a continuation of their lives.
I think that there could have been a poignant speech at the end, like in the outsiders, that would have tied this together for me, but as it stands I am thinking that maybe I wasn't the intended audience.
This book is about love in its many forms. The platonic love that we have with friends, youthful love, love of family, and romantic love. While the book explores three people whose lives are intertwined by circumstance, and also by their company, it mainly explores the relationships that they have with each other, with their work, and with people outside of their trio.
I think that there could have been a poignant speech at the end, like in the outsiders, that would have tied this together for me, but as it stands I am thinking that maybe I wasn't the intended audience.
This book is about love in its many forms. The platonic love that we have with friends, youthful love, love of family, and romantic love. While the book explores three people whose lives are intertwined by circumstance, and also by their company, it mainly explores the relationships that they have with each other, with their work, and with people outside of their trio.
I thought that this was a really fast paced read. I loved that the author made the reader feel paranoid for Esme during her different ordeals. I also thought that the author was good at laying the clues in plain sight. I did guess some of the plot, but not the whole thing, and when I thought about it, the clues were there the entire time.
The only thing that I wished that there was more of was that I wished there had been more explanation for why some people feel the need to control other people. I think that the inclusion of a therapist for esme after the fact, or her talking to Simone's therapist or psychologist would have given the book some additional context. I also wish we had some insight to the aftermath that Esme would have had at home after all the incidents concluded.
The only thing that I wished that there was more of was that I wished there had been more explanation for why some people feel the need to control other people. I think that the inclusion of a therapist for esme after the fact, or her talking to Simone's therapist or psychologist would have given the book some additional context. I also wish we had some insight to the aftermath that Esme would have had at home after all the incidents concluded.
I think that this one started a little slower than the first three, but it quickly becomes fun again. While Elizabeth is having to deal with some personal problems at home, Joyce and the gang take over for her with Joyce acting in Elizabeth's place. Someone has killed their friend, Kuldesh Sharma, over a little bit of heroine, and they need to find out who. They also need to find the heroine because drug dealers are starting to drop like flies.
I love this series. I love that it deals with so much more than just the crime they are solving at the moment. It deals with love between friends, and the love between spouses, and being there for one another when things are hard. I like that in the face of death the Thursday Murder Club can remember what the most important thing is, and they forget their petty squabbles and make sure they are good in their relationships with one another.
I do wish that the pacing at the beginning had been a little better, but I thought that this was one of the more fun books in the series. I cannot wait for him to write another one.
I love this series. I love that it deals with so much more than just the crime they are solving at the moment. It deals with love between friends, and the love between spouses, and being there for one another when things are hard. I like that in the face of death the Thursday Murder Club can remember what the most important thing is, and they forget their petty squabbles and make sure they are good in their relationships with one another.
I do wish that the pacing at the beginning had been a little better, but I thought that this was one of the more fun books in the series. I cannot wait for him to write another one.
Este wants to be closer to her deceased father, so when the opportunity arises to attend his old boarding school she jumps on it. Something weird is going on at this school though, and it seems as though her father knew all along. Now she has to work out the small clues that he left her all while contending with the fact that she can see the schools ghosts.
I thought that this was a fun read, it was just also predictable. I figured out who the Heir of the Fades was right after they finished explaining what the Heir of the Fades was. I think that sometimes Authors feel like they need to have a twist, and that if we don't know who the real killer is that it will make the book more dramatic, but I think that it is way overdone. Every author puts a twist in their books now which makes them easier to spot if they aren't done as well. I wish we had known who the heir was the entire time, while Este was still trying to figure it out. I think that would have been a lot more dramatic.
I did like her developing relationships with the ghosts though. I would have liked her to get to know the other ghosts a little better though because I felt like those relationships could have been more interesting.
I thought that this was a fun read, it was just also predictable. I figured out who the Heir of the Fades was right after they finished explaining what the Heir of the Fades was. I think that sometimes Authors feel like they need to have a twist, and that if we don't know who the real killer is that it will make the book more dramatic, but I think that it is way overdone. Every author puts a twist in their books now which makes them easier to spot if they aren't done as well. I wish we had known who the heir was the entire time, while Este was still trying to figure it out. I think that would have been a lot more dramatic.
I did like her developing relationships with the ghosts though. I would have liked her to get to know the other ghosts a little better though because I felt like those relationships could have been more interesting.
Spoiler
I also wanted to know if the other ghosts knew that Lillith had betrayed them, and why Mateo didn't just tell her not to trust Ives. It seems like from the yearbooks that she found that all of them knew a 15 year old lillith, so I don't understand why they wouldn't warn her. And did the whole school find out about the Ghosts and just rolled with it? I know it was in their newspaper, but I feel like as a student and a skeptic I would have questions about four new students that came from nowhere claiming to have been born in the past.
Annaleigh Thaumus is one of twelve sisters, but not for long, because someone is killing them off one by one. The first three seemingly died of natural causes, but Annaleigh has reason to believe that her sister Eulalie was murdered. The town will have nothing to do with them anymore because they are believed to be cursed. At this rate the remaining Thaumus sisters are all going to die alone and lonely. It is up to Annaleigh to find out who has it out for them and stop them before they take all of the sisters out.
I thought that the world building for this book was incredibly well done. Craig manages to give the people of the various lands enough backstory to make them seem real, without spending longer than necessary on their folklore. I thought that the book had really good pacing and moved along at a good clip. It had a good mix of mystery, thriller, and romance and it was a really enjoyable read. I particularly liked the budding romance between Annaleigh and her beau, although I did feel at one point it went from progressing at a realistic pace to way too fast.
I thought that the world building for this book was incredibly well done. Craig manages to give the people of the various lands enough backstory to make them seem real, without spending longer than necessary on their folklore. I thought that the book had really good pacing and moved along at a good clip. It had a good mix of mystery, thriller, and romance and it was a really enjoyable read. I particularly liked the budding romance between Annaleigh and her beau, although I did feel at one point it went from progressing at a realistic pace to way too fast.
Vera Wong is the ultimate Chinese mother. She wakes up every day at 4:30 a.m. and goes for a lengthy walk. She texts her son frequently to remind him of good habits he should be keeping. She runs her tea shop, which now has only one regular customer, in a neat and efficient manner, and her life runs like clockwork. That is, until the day she finds a body in her tea shop.
I love Vera. I think that she is the ultimate example of an older person with a big heart who just wants people in her life to show love to. When she meets her four suspects for the murder, she likes them too much to want to see them in jail and starts to push her way into their lives and turn them around for the better. the relationships that she forms in the book are so cute and powerful that until the last twenty pages I was pretty sure they were never going to reveal who killed the man in her teashop.
I think this might be the weirdest whodunnit that I have ever read, but it also immediately became one of my favorites. I think that Jesse Q. Sutanto built these relationships in a genuine way, so it doesn't feel forced, and I think that every scene feels earned. I am excited to check out her other books now.
I love Vera. I think that she is the ultimate example of an older person with a big heart who just wants people in her life to show love to. When she meets her four suspects for the murder, she likes them too much to want to see them in jail and starts to push her way into their lives and turn them around for the better. the relationships that she forms in the book are so cute and powerful that until the last twenty pages I was pretty sure they were never going to reveal who killed the man in her teashop.
I think this might be the weirdest whodunnit that I have ever read, but it also immediately became one of my favorites. I think that Jesse Q. Sutanto built these relationships in a genuine way, so it doesn't feel forced, and I think that every scene feels earned. I am excited to check out her other books now.