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3101 reviews
Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews
5.0
This novel started off as a free book on Ilona Andrews's website. I read the entire Clean Sweep novel online except for the last couple of chapters since I wanted to remain unspoiled. The husband and wife team are leaking out chapters for the next novel in this series on their website so you should take a look at it when you have a chance.
This main heroine in this book is Dina Demille. She runs a bed and breakfast in a small town in Texas. Though Dina looks normal she is not. She is actually an innkeeper who has magic powers tied to her home which she uses to keep her guests (mostly not human) safe. Due to some strange deaths of her neighbors animals Dina realizes that something dangerous is prowling her neighborhood. Because of the deaths Dina makes the acquaintance of her neighbor Sean who is a werewolf and a vampire named Arland who is also investigating the deaths.
This book really fired for me on all cylinders. I loved the characters of Dina and Arland. I loved the idea behind the innkeepers and what makes them so powerful. I also liked that there is another layer added to the plot with Dina trying to find out what happened to her parents.
One reason why I liked the online version so much is that they also included pictures so you could picture certain people or places in your head. What really made this book rock for me is that it also keeps some of the illustrations. Since I have a Kindle Fire the images looked really good. I would recommend trying to read this via your PC or tablet if you don't have a Kindle Fire.
The only thing that I really didn't care for that didn't work for me was the attempt to have a love triangle and that the character of Sean had so many shades of Curran (from Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series) and the uber alpha male boss thing is getting played out for me in urban fantasy novels.
This main heroine in this book is Dina Demille. She runs a bed and breakfast in a small town in Texas. Though Dina looks normal she is not. She is actually an innkeeper who has magic powers tied to her home which she uses to keep her guests (mostly not human) safe. Due to some strange deaths of her neighbors animals Dina realizes that something dangerous is prowling her neighborhood. Because of the deaths Dina makes the acquaintance of her neighbor Sean who is a werewolf and a vampire named Arland who is also investigating the deaths.
This book really fired for me on all cylinders. I loved the characters of Dina and Arland. I loved the idea behind the innkeepers and what makes them so powerful. I also liked that there is another layer added to the plot with Dina trying to find out what happened to her parents.
One reason why I liked the online version so much is that they also included pictures so you could picture certain people or places in your head. What really made this book rock for me is that it also keeps some of the illustrations. Since I have a Kindle Fire the images looked really good. I would recommend trying to read this via your PC or tablet if you don't have a Kindle Fire.
The only thing that I really didn't care for that didn't work for me was the attempt to have a love triangle and that the character of Sean had so many shades of Curran (from Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series) and the uber alpha male boss thing is getting played out for me in urban fantasy novels.
Love and Leftovers: A Novel in Verse by Sarah Tregay
3.0
The main character in this novel is 16 year old Marcie who moves suddenly from Idaho to her mother's family's summerhouse in New Hampshire. This is due to Marcie's mother leaving her father after he admits to having an affair and falling in love with another man.
As readers we get to see Marcie's private thoughts as expressed in her notebook. However, as many teens before her have done, Marcie has written some really bad poetry to express how she feels about her mom, her dad, and leaving her friends and boyfriend Linus behind in Idaho. For Marcie and her friends consider themselves leftovers since they really don't fit in with any one social group at their school. Though Marcie misses her friends she really misses the fact that she no longer has someone that she can kiss, hug, just be with and that causes her to feel badly about thinking about cheating on her boyfriend Linus.
So for me this was just a typical teen angst novel that with a twist due to all of the chapters being written as poetry or in some cases just exact language from IMs or conversations that Marcie has with her friends and family are written.
I think that if Ms. Tregay had told this as a straight forward coming of age story I would have liked it more. Instead I found myself getting annoyed with some of the poems that were included because it just reminded me how completely aggravating and clueless I was at that age when writing my bad poetry. And not to knock the character of Marcie or anything but she at times comes across as extremely selfish and clueless about things which makes her a tough character to side with while reading.
As readers we get to see Marcie's private thoughts as expressed in her notebook. However, as many teens before her have done, Marcie has written some really bad poetry to express how she feels about her mom, her dad, and leaving her friends and boyfriend Linus behind in Idaho. For Marcie and her friends consider themselves leftovers since they really don't fit in with any one social group at their school. Though Marcie misses her friends she really misses the fact that she no longer has someone that she can kiss, hug, just be with and that causes her to feel badly about thinking about cheating on her boyfriend Linus.
So for me this was just a typical teen angst novel that with a twist due to all of the chapters being written as poetry or in some cases just exact language from IMs or conversations that Marcie has with her friends and family are written.
I think that if Ms. Tregay had told this as a straight forward coming of age story I would have liked it more. Instead I found myself getting annoyed with some of the poems that were included because it just reminded me how completely aggravating and clueless I was at that age when writing my bad poetry. And not to knock the character of Marcie or anything but she at times comes across as extremely selfish and clueless about things which makes her a tough character to side with while reading.
That Autumn in Edinburgh by Ciji Ware
1.0
The main characters in this book are Fiona Fraser and Alexander Maxwell. After an impromptu "meet cute" in New York City in 2009 and fall instantly in love. Too bad that Alexander is already married. Alexander goes back to Scotland and dreams of Fiona. And Fiona stays in New York and dreams of Alexander.
Fast forward five years later when Fiona contacts Alexander again in order for her to create a Scottish home furnishings collection (yeah I forgot to mention Fiona is a designer and Alexander is an owner of a mill that weaves tartan cloth). Combine all of this with more baggage than a normal relationship could carry, shallow development of secondary characters, and Fiona and Alexander investigating their relatives from 250 years ago you will end up ready to scream.
The main problem I have with this four seasons quartet books is that they are actually spin-offs of Ms. Ware's earlier books. I had no idea about that going in since if I wanted to actually read the back story of the relatives that Fiona and Alexander are investigating I should have started with "Island of the Swans". I assumed (stupidly) that the quartets were connected to each other, but they are not.
I could maybe have overlooked that if this book was just not boring and wrong regarding bloodlines and a few other things.
First of all, reading about people investigating their ancestors is boring. About 60-70 percent of this book was Alexander telling Fiona the history of Jane Maxwell, Duchess of Gordon and Thomas Fraser (supposedly Alexander and Fiona's ancestors). You know how exciting it is to read a book where one character is telling you about everything that went on 250 years ago. And honestly there is no rhyme or reason for this plot to take up so much of the book. Who cares if your ancestors were in love 250 years ago? The fact that Fiona and Alexander spend so much time investigating them made the romance between them when it does occur seem like an after thought and assured since hey if my ancestor sexed up your ancestor 250 years ago this means we are meant to be together!
Second, Ms. Ware tries to bring in a plot-line involving memories through DNA (I hate romance novels that have been doing this lately). It is beyond absurd and just crazy. I felt like screeching DNA does not work like that while I was reading. I could have maybe ignored all of this mess except for one problem. Alexander Maxwell is not a freaking descendant of Jane Maxwell so it makes no sense how he somehow got memories from her. It is explained in pain staking detail in the book and through a genealogy chart that he is descended from her brother. And that the descendant from her brother was a nephew at best who then slept with a chamber maid. Apparently in Ms. Maxwell's world that doesn't matter since DNA just kinds of hangs out for 200 plus years and provides random relatives several times removed with memories. There is a reason for this of course when we read on later in the book but it just jarred me to keep reading about this whole thing and everything saying that Maxwell's family was direct descendants. At one point the character Alex refers to Jane Maxwell as his great grandmother (big sigh).
Third, at times when you read about Fiona's past you think she was raised in the 1950s, 1960s south. I don't want to divulge too much but seriously, it makes no sense about any of the events that she later spills to Alexander. I swear her whole storyline just gave me heartburn. Plus the 180 with her family was not heartwarming to read about. I just rolled my eyes.
Fourth, the author got the main premise behind "When Harry Met Sally" wrong! At one point Alexander tells Fiona about his past relationship and likens it to When Harry Met Sally by saying that he and another woman were not in "love" with one another that way. Seriously? Did the author not see this freaking movie? That is not what the movie is about. It's about the fact that two people who initially could not stand each other met decades later, became friends, slept together, stopped being friends, and then fell in love. It is a movie I break out every time I am having a bad day since it just warms me up from the inside out. To have a misunderstanding this big regarding this movie just kind of thrown into this novel just soured me from that point on.
Fifth, there were just sentences that made no sense. Such as:
"Expensive leather pumps shod her aristocratic-looking feet, and small, simple gold earrings complimented her stylish attire."
I don't even get how your feet can look aristocratic. Are they smoking a pipe?
"Looking directly at her boss, she announced, "There are thirteen million citizens of Scottish descent in the U.S. and Canada alone, and probably another three million outside of Scotland worldwide. There are millions more in North America and elsewhere with some claim to Scottish heritage, and even more who wished they had Scottish DNA."
Good grief. The U.S and Canada are in North America so that next part of the sentence is just basic geographic fail. Second, who the heck is running around claiming to be Scottish or wishing to be Scottish? Is this a thing now? What am I saying. Apparently people like to decorate their homes in Scottish furnishings (the whole point of Fiona going to Scotland to hunt down Alexander). Suffice it to say because of the above speech everyone in the boardroom feels shaken to their core about taking something from another culture and turning it into furniture for people to buy. She even at one point says this furniture may appeal to Saudi princes and Russian billionaires...
So yep, I am done. Happily with this book. I am going off to read "Little Women" to soothe myself.
Fast forward five years later when Fiona contacts Alexander again in order for her to create a Scottish home furnishings collection (yeah I forgot to mention Fiona is a designer and Alexander is an owner of a mill that weaves tartan cloth). Combine all of this with more baggage than a normal relationship could carry, shallow development of secondary characters, and Fiona and Alexander investigating their relatives from 250 years ago you will end up ready to scream.
The main problem I have with this four seasons quartet books is that they are actually spin-offs of Ms. Ware's earlier books. I had no idea about that going in since if I wanted to actually read the back story of the relatives that Fiona and Alexander are investigating I should have started with "Island of the Swans". I assumed (stupidly) that the quartets were connected to each other, but they are not.
I could maybe have overlooked that if this book was just not boring and wrong regarding bloodlines and a few other things.
First of all, reading about people investigating their ancestors is boring. About 60-70 percent of this book was Alexander telling Fiona the history of Jane Maxwell, Duchess of Gordon and Thomas Fraser (supposedly Alexander and Fiona's ancestors). You know how exciting it is to read a book where one character is telling you about everything that went on 250 years ago. And honestly there is no rhyme or reason for this plot to take up so much of the book. Who cares if your ancestors were in love 250 years ago? The fact that Fiona and Alexander spend so much time investigating them made the romance between them when it does occur seem like an after thought and assured since hey if my ancestor sexed up your ancestor 250 years ago this means we are meant to be together!
Second, Ms. Ware tries to bring in a plot-line involving memories through DNA (I hate romance novels that have been doing this lately). It is beyond absurd and just crazy. I felt like screeching DNA does not work like that while I was reading. I could have maybe ignored all of this mess except for one problem. Alexander Maxwell is not a freaking descendant of Jane Maxwell so it makes no sense how he somehow got memories from her. It is explained in pain staking detail in the book and through a genealogy chart that he is descended from her brother. And that the descendant from her brother was a nephew at best who then slept with a chamber maid. Apparently in Ms. Maxwell's world that doesn't matter since DNA just kinds of hangs out for 200 plus years and provides random relatives several times removed with memories. There is a reason for this of course when we read on later in the book but it just jarred me to keep reading about this whole thing and everything saying that Maxwell's family was direct descendants. At one point the character Alex refers to Jane Maxwell as his great grandmother (big sigh).
Third, at times when you read about Fiona's past you think she was raised in the 1950s, 1960s south. I don't want to divulge too much but seriously, it makes no sense about any of the events that she later spills to Alexander. I swear her whole storyline just gave me heartburn. Plus the 180 with her family was not heartwarming to read about. I just rolled my eyes.
Fourth, the author got the main premise behind "When Harry Met Sally" wrong! At one point Alexander tells Fiona about his past relationship and likens it to When Harry Met Sally by saying that he and another woman were not in "love" with one another that way. Seriously? Did the author not see this freaking movie? That is not what the movie is about. It's about the fact that two people who initially could not stand each other met decades later, became friends, slept together, stopped being friends, and then fell in love. It is a movie I break out every time I am having a bad day since it just warms me up from the inside out. To have a misunderstanding this big regarding this movie just kind of thrown into this novel just soured me from that point on.
Fifth, there were just sentences that made no sense. Such as:
"Expensive leather pumps shod her aristocratic-looking feet, and small, simple gold earrings complimented her stylish attire."
I don't even get how your feet can look aristocratic. Are they smoking a pipe?
"Looking directly at her boss, she announced, "There are thirteen million citizens of Scottish descent in the U.S. and Canada alone, and probably another three million outside of Scotland worldwide. There are millions more in North America and elsewhere with some claim to Scottish heritage, and even more who wished they had Scottish DNA."
Good grief. The U.S and Canada are in North America so that next part of the sentence is just basic geographic fail. Second, who the heck is running around claiming to be Scottish or wishing to be Scottish? Is this a thing now? What am I saying. Apparently people like to decorate their homes in Scottish furnishings (the whole point of Fiona going to Scotland to hunt down Alexander). Suffice it to say because of the above speech everyone in the boardroom feels shaken to their core about taking something from another culture and turning it into furniture for people to buy. She even at one point says this furniture may appeal to Saudi princes and Russian billionaires...
So yep, I am done. Happily with this book. I am going off to read "Little Women" to soothe myself.
Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews
5.0
"Magic Breaks" takes place a very recently after the events in "Magic Rises". We still have Kate dealing with the events that happened in the preceding book. In this new book Curran is called away and Kate is left in charge of the Pack.
Being called to meet with the Conclave Kate is told that a member of the Pack murdered one of the People. If Kate does not find the murderer then the People will declare open war on the Pack.
I am sitting here reeling of the sheer awesomeness that was this book. I can't even get words out right now it was so good. After the last book in the Kate Daniel series, "Magic Rises" I was worried that Ilona Andrews had maybe hit a slump. With trepidation I started this novel this morning at around 3 a.m. and except for a break here or there just read the whole thing in one day. The plot never lets up, twists are thrown in, and the ending totally shocked me.
Ilona Andrews added a very nice character list at the beginning of the book which was greatly appreciated. I honestly remembered all of the characters she mentions but it was nice to see a refresher. Also the novel starts off with Barabas (the Pack lawyer) diary which was a nice touch. We are always in Kate's head while reading so it was nice to start off with Barabas's perspective on events to date.
I am also very glad that Ilona Andrews acknowledges the events in the last book, such as Aunt B's death and how that still haunts Kate. We still have Pack politics aplenty and a better explanation from a new character about why Kate will never be totally accepted by the Pack. We also have back the Kate and Curran that we know and love and no more manufactured drama that is out of character for our two heroes.
Finally, and most importantly to me, unlike with the last book I felt as if we as readers were provided more detail and we actually get to hear more about Kate's family on both her mother and father's side. The pacing in the last book felt off to me and the ending was rushed in my opinion. This book in contrast keeps up an unrelenting pressure on you as you read (why I couldn't put it down) and the pacing was absolutely perfect.
Ilona Andrews is able to tie together so many religious and other races myths into a really cohesive book.
There was also some humor dabbled throughout the book which at times cracked me up. It was so insane to me to go from freaking out that something was going to happen to one of the characters I have grown to love (Derek girl here by the way) to laughing at something that Kate thought in her head or said outside. There were also some lovely quite moments with fan favorite characters like Doolittle that made me happy to see.
There is also a really cool short story included in this book "Magic Tests" that concerns Julie that I really enjoyed.
I don't know how I am going to wait for the next book to come out.
Being called to meet with the Conclave Kate is told that a member of the Pack murdered one of the People. If Kate does not find the murderer then the People will declare open war on the Pack.
I am sitting here reeling of the sheer awesomeness that was this book. I can't even get words out right now it was so good. After the last book in the Kate Daniel series, "Magic Rises" I was worried that Ilona Andrews had maybe hit a slump. With trepidation I started this novel this morning at around 3 a.m. and except for a break here or there just read the whole thing in one day. The plot never lets up, twists are thrown in, and the ending totally shocked me.
Ilona Andrews added a very nice character list at the beginning of the book which was greatly appreciated. I honestly remembered all of the characters she mentions but it was nice to see a refresher. Also the novel starts off with Barabas (the Pack lawyer) diary which was a nice touch. We are always in Kate's head while reading so it was nice to start off with Barabas's perspective on events to date.
I am also very glad that Ilona Andrews acknowledges the events in the last book, such as Aunt B's death and how that still haunts Kate. We still have Pack politics aplenty and a better explanation from a new character about why Kate will never be totally accepted by the Pack. We also have back the Kate and Curran that we know and love and no more manufactured drama that is out of character for our two heroes.
Finally, and most importantly to me, unlike with the last book I felt as if we as readers were provided more detail and we actually get to hear more about Kate's family on both her mother and father's side. The pacing in the last book felt off to me and the ending was rushed in my opinion. This book in contrast keeps up an unrelenting pressure on you as you read (why I couldn't put it down) and the pacing was absolutely perfect.
Ilona Andrews is able to tie together so many religious and other races myths into a really cohesive book.
There was also some humor dabbled throughout the book which at times cracked me up. It was so insane to me to go from freaking out that something was going to happen to one of the characters I have grown to love (Derek girl here by the way) to laughing at something that Kate thought in her head or said outside. There were also some lovely quite moments with fan favorite characters like Doolittle that made me happy to see.
There is also a really cool short story included in this book "Magic Tests" that concerns Julie that I really enjoyed.
I don't know how I am going to wait for the next book to come out.
Invisible Ellen by Shari Shattuck
3.0
This was just an average read for me. I have never read Shari Shattuck before and I probably won't go out of my way to start reading her after this.
The book started off really well but ended up sliding right into a so-so read. The main character, Ellen Homes has perfected the art of being invisible and does her best to hide away from the world. One night she saves a blind woman named Temerity from a mugging and the two forge a fast friendship.
I will say that this was a fast read but in the end it was not anything spectacular. I initially loved the first few books by Jennifer Weiner that this author was compared to. However, maybe the blurb comparing this book to Jennifer Weiner's works meant some of her more recent books since those for me ended up being a so-so read too.
Though I did love the overall premise but after the characters of Ellen and Temerity meet up this book just slid into one cliche after another. There was nothing exciting or new in this book and I found my attention wandering while reading. The author turning Ellen and Temerity into some sort of dynamic duo caused me to keep hearing the theme song for the 1960s Batman in my head (FYI I had more fun humming the theme song while reading this book then just reading this book).
The book started off really well but ended up sliding right into a so-so read. The main character, Ellen Homes has perfected the art of being invisible and does her best to hide away from the world. One night she saves a blind woman named Temerity from a mugging and the two forge a fast friendship.
I will say that this was a fast read but in the end it was not anything spectacular. I initially loved the first few books by Jennifer Weiner that this author was compared to. However, maybe the blurb comparing this book to Jennifer Weiner's works meant some of her more recent books since those for me ended up being a so-so read too.
Though I did love the overall premise but after the characters of Ellen and Temerity meet up this book just slid into one cliche after another. There was nothing exciting or new in this book and I found my attention wandering while reading. The author turning Ellen and Temerity into some sort of dynamic duo caused me to keep hearing the theme song for the 1960s Batman in my head (FYI I had more fun humming the theme song while reading this book then just reading this book).
2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino
4.0
A debut novel from Marie-Helene Bertino that works very well with an interesting cast of characters.
"2 A. M. at The Cat's Pajamas" starts Christmas Eve, Eve (or two days before Christmas).
One of the main characters in this book is 9 year old Madeline. Madeline hopes to be a jazz singer that will perform at "The Cat's Pajamas" in Philadelphia, PA one day. Madeline is of course precocious (is there any other kind when a child ends up being one of the main characters) who is doing her best to deal with her depressed father while trying her best to live by her late mother's advice.
A second character is Madeline's teacher, Sarina, is worried about attending a party where she will see her love from high school.
The third character in this book is the owner of "The Cat's Pajamas", Jack Francis Lorca who is going to be forced to close his club unless he comes up with $30,000.
I can honestly say I am not familiar with jazz at all so this book really did stretch my comfort zone some.
The author Marie-Helene Betrtino tells this story from the third person point of view. She also has all of the chapters broken up showing the time at the very top until the reader gets to the before mentioned 2 a.m. We also go beyond 2 a.m. to read about the characters we have come to know as well, which was nice. The chapters were short and I found myself very surprised to get to the end of the book. The ending was a little bit too twee for me but it works.
"2 A. M. at The Cat's Pajamas" starts Christmas Eve, Eve (or two days before Christmas).
One of the main characters in this book is 9 year old Madeline. Madeline hopes to be a jazz singer that will perform at "The Cat's Pajamas" in Philadelphia, PA one day. Madeline is of course precocious (is there any other kind when a child ends up being one of the main characters) who is doing her best to deal with her depressed father while trying her best to live by her late mother's advice.
A second character is Madeline's teacher, Sarina, is worried about attending a party where she will see her love from high school.
The third character in this book is the owner of "The Cat's Pajamas", Jack Francis Lorca who is going to be forced to close his club unless he comes up with $30,000.
I can honestly say I am not familiar with jazz at all so this book really did stretch my comfort zone some.
The author Marie-Helene Betrtino tells this story from the third person point of view. She also has all of the chapters broken up showing the time at the very top until the reader gets to the before mentioned 2 a.m. We also go beyond 2 a.m. to read about the characters we have come to know as well, which was nice. The chapters were short and I found myself very surprised to get to the end of the book. The ending was a little bit too twee for me but it works.
Inferno by Dan Brown
1.0
I can absolutely say I adored "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons". They were very interesting plots with intriguing characters with tons of symbol and history thrown in. They were not the best books ever written but they were 100 percent entertaining. "The Lost Symbol" in my eyes was just a mess of a book. Besides giving facts about D.C. wrong, the ending was a joke, and the entire novel was strung together like a screenplay. Even though I saw all of the bad reviews for "Inferno" I still bought this because I wanted to see if Dan Brown rebounded from "The Last Symbol". However, "Inferno" merely shows that Dan Brown has reverted back to his style of writing (that I was not that big a fan of) from his earlier efforts.
Professor Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital in Florence with amnesia. Seriously everyone seconds, and I mean seconds after awakening a short spiky haired woman (that many reviewers noted seemed similar to Lisbeth Salander from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) tries to assassinate Langdon. A doctor he just meets named Sienna flees with Langdon to Venice. Langdon and Sienna get started unraveling clues and symbols related to Dante's Inferno in order to find out who is after Langdon.
Seriously the writing was just awful. When you find out the main plot and why someone is after Langdon it was beyond dumb. I think I lost a couple of brain cells.Are evil geniuses really a thing? Really? I don't want to spoil for anyone that may read this in the future for something to do but just like with "The Lost Symbol" I felt as if Dan Brown was writing this book in mind of a potential future movie. I don't think he thought about the absurdity of the plot. I think he imagined Tom Hanks flying in and out of really cool places with a hot co-star and someone playing the mad evil genius like Benedict Cumberbatch.
And because of the above I don't think he thought much about how absurd the entire plot really was.
Also as other reviewers noted there is so much repetition that you just start skimming the novel in self defense. I as a reader do not need to be reminded two minutes later who someone is and what their background is.
Coupled of with really weird segues into Langdon teaching his class and him just regurgitating facts at Sienna started to drive me nuts. Does the man know everything in the world and what the meaning of every little thing is? Seriously? There was no tension in this novel since you knew how it would play out from the very first pages.
I do not recommend this novel.
Professor Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital in Florence with amnesia. Seriously everyone seconds, and I mean seconds after awakening a short spiky haired woman (that many reviewers noted seemed similar to Lisbeth Salander from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) tries to assassinate Langdon. A doctor he just meets named Sienna flees with Langdon to Venice. Langdon and Sienna get started unraveling clues and symbols related to Dante's Inferno in order to find out who is after Langdon.
Seriously the writing was just awful. When you find out the main plot and why someone is after Langdon it was beyond dumb. I think I lost a couple of brain cells.Are evil geniuses really a thing? Really? I don't want to spoil for anyone that may read this in the future for something to do but just like with "The Lost Symbol" I felt as if Dan Brown was writing this book in mind of a potential future movie. I don't think he thought about the absurdity of the plot. I think he imagined Tom Hanks flying in and out of really cool places with a hot co-star and someone playing the mad evil genius like Benedict Cumberbatch.
And because of the above I don't think he thought much about how absurd the entire plot really was.
Also as other reviewers noted there is so much repetition that you just start skimming the novel in self defense. I as a reader do not need to be reminded two minutes later who someone is and what their background is.
Coupled of with really weird segues into Langdon teaching his class and him just regurgitating facts at Sienna started to drive me nuts. Does the man know everything in the world and what the meaning of every little thing is? Seriously? There was no tension in this novel since you knew how it would play out from the very first pages.
I do not recommend this novel.
Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery
1.0
I swear the main reason that this series is called "Fool's Gold" is because many of the women in this series seem to believe that the men they are interested in. despite them being particularly horrible to them,still seem to believe that this is love. I can honestly say I have never turned so fast on a series before in my life. Since I absolutely adore Susan Mallery's other series, "Blackberry Island" I have such a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that the same author wrote these two series. Maybe this series does get better over time. Too bad I have no intention of finding out.
This is book #2 in the "Fool's Gold" series and centers around thriller writer Liz Sutton and Ethan Hendrix. Liz ran away from Fool's Gold when she was 18 after having her heart broken by Ethan. Eleven (or 10 years based on the first few chapters, which then switched to 11) years after she left Fool's Gold, Liz is called back to help her two nieces who are without any adults in their lives and were left to fend for themselves.
Liz left Fool's Gold because Ethan when he was in college started secretly dating her and denied her to his friends. He keeps up with the denying of his interest in her throughout this book, so much so that I wish that Susan Mallery had called him Peter instead of Ethan.
Also Fool's Gold residents are nosy and opinionated. Seriously, several residents come up to Liz throughout this novel and tell her about herself. This also includes Ethan a few times during the course of this book (what a guy).
What makes this book really infuriating is that you still have Liz desiring Peter, I mean Ethan for no good reason that I can think of at all. The character talks all of the time how Ethan can see the real her (yes somehow after not seeing her for 11 years since she was 18 he knows her inside and out) and she finds herself falling back in love with him. The love scenes were by the numbers and I can say that I found absolutely no chemistry existing between these two characters at all.
I seriously wish that the book had ended differently with Liz getting out of Fool's Gold or more groveling or something occurring on Ethan's end. I just wound up feeling dissatisfied when I finished with this book.
This is book #2 in the "Fool's Gold" series and centers around thriller writer Liz Sutton and Ethan Hendrix. Liz ran away from Fool's Gold when she was 18 after having her heart broken by Ethan. Eleven (or 10 years based on the first few chapters, which then switched to 11) years after she left Fool's Gold, Liz is called back to help her two nieces who are without any adults in their lives and were left to fend for themselves.
Liz left Fool's Gold because Ethan when he was in college started secretly dating her and denied her to his friends. He keeps up with the denying of his interest in her throughout this book, so much so that I wish that Susan Mallery had called him Peter instead of Ethan.
Also Fool's Gold residents are nosy and opinionated. Seriously, several residents come up to Liz throughout this novel and tell her about herself. This also includes Ethan a few times during the course of this book (what a guy).
What makes this book really infuriating is that you still have Liz desiring Peter, I mean Ethan for no good reason that I can think of at all. The character talks all of the time how Ethan can see the real her (yes somehow after not seeing her for 11 years since she was 18 he knows her inside and out) and she finds herself falling back in love with him. The love scenes were by the numbers and I can say that I found absolutely no chemistry existing between these two characters at all.
I seriously wish that the book had ended differently with Liz getting out of Fool's Gold or more groveling or something occurring on Ethan's end. I just wound up feeling dissatisfied when I finished with this book.
Cassidy Lane by Maria Murnane
2.0
I have read Maria Murnane's "Waverly Bryson" series and have been a fan. I also read her novel "Katwalk" and thought that was a good read. Not exactly compelling but I liked the overall plot and the characters in that book. However, with this novel, "Cassidy Lane" I have to say that if it wasn't for me having previously read Ms. Murnane I would have quit the book more than halfway through.
The main character, Cassidy, is a romance author living and working in New York City. She has friends and family, but so far has been unlucky in love. Going back to her 20 year high school reunion in CA she finds herself reconnecting with Brandon Forrester. Cassidy meets up with Brandon again in New York and we have the character quickly developing feelings for Brandon quickly. Even though after this one date in person the two characters spend most of their time exchanging texts and talk on the phone we have Cassidy immersing herself in Brandon.
Ms. Murnane paints Cassidy as a wallflower in high school that never had a boyfriend or went to prom. I think this can help explain why she kept acting like a high school girl throughout this novel. This entire novel deals with Cassidy crushing on Brandon and hoping that he likes her. She is 38 years old at the beginning of the novel and proceeds to act like a 18 year old girl for most of it.
I think that this novel would have worked better as a YA novel. Everyone could have been aged down by more than 20 years and you could have had the smart but shy girl getting to know the popular boy who hurts her because he starts pulling away. Reading an adult woman going through this was maddening since I kept wanting for someone to tell Cassidy to let it go and move on.
Ultimately I found the novel boring and disappointing. The author provides two false endings for this book before we hit upon the final one which did not leave me with any feelings of hope, just a overall feeling of disappointment. I think that if Ms. Murnane had been trying to say something to evoke a response of out the reader she could have had the novel end differently. That at least would have made me feel as if I had not wasted my time.
Please note that I downloaded this book via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.
The main character, Cassidy, is a romance author living and working in New York City. She has friends and family, but so far has been unlucky in love. Going back to her 20 year high school reunion in CA she finds herself reconnecting with Brandon Forrester. Cassidy meets up with Brandon again in New York and we have the character quickly developing feelings for Brandon quickly. Even though after this one date in person the two characters spend most of their time exchanging texts and talk on the phone we have Cassidy immersing herself in Brandon.
Ms. Murnane paints Cassidy as a wallflower in high school that never had a boyfriend or went to prom. I think this can help explain why she kept acting like a high school girl throughout this novel. This entire novel deals with Cassidy crushing on Brandon and hoping that he likes her. She is 38 years old at the beginning of the novel and proceeds to act like a 18 year old girl for most of it.
I think that this novel would have worked better as a YA novel. Everyone could have been aged down by more than 20 years and you could have had the smart but shy girl getting to know the popular boy who hurts her because he starts pulling away. Reading an adult woman going through this was maddening since I kept wanting for someone to tell Cassidy to let it go and move on.
Ultimately I found the novel boring and disappointing. The author provides two false endings for this book before we hit upon the final one which did not leave me with any feelings of hope, just a overall feeling of disappointment. I think that if Ms. Murnane had been trying to say something to evoke a response of out the reader she could have had the novel end differently. That at least would have made me feel as if I had not wasted my time.
Please note that I downloaded this book via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.
Just for Now by Rosalind James
4.0
The third book in the "Escape to New Zealand" series is about Jenna McKnight and Finn Douglas. Jenna is reeling from her divorce and moves to New Zealand in order to start over. She ends up becoming a nanny to Finn's two children. As previous readers know all of the male leads in these books play for the All Blacks, New Zealand's premier rugby team. Finn also plays on the team and we get welcome interactions from previous characters from "Just This Once" and "Just Good Friends".
For me this book was just more of the same. When I say that though I mean that in an entirely good way. We still have characters we can relate to and a slow steamy build-up to the romance between Jenna and Finn. The love scenes like in previous books is more explicit than most mainstream romances these days. However, I really like that and didn't have a problem with it.
Ms. James continues to keep the story-line moving and I was happy to see that there was a realistic build-up to the romance between Jenna and Finn. I hate romances that have the two leads falling in love at first glance. Or the two people are completely ill-suited to one another but have a chemistry they cannot deny (you can't see me but I am rolling my eyes right now). There was also some tension in the story due to Jenna's position and past concerning her husband. I was glad to see that not everything was just smooth sailing and red hot sex.
Please note that I downloaded this book through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.
For me this book was just more of the same. When I say that though I mean that in an entirely good way. We still have characters we can relate to and a slow steamy build-up to the romance between Jenna and Finn. The love scenes like in previous books is more explicit than most mainstream romances these days. However, I really like that and didn't have a problem with it.
Ms. James continues to keep the story-line moving and I was happy to see that there was a realistic build-up to the romance between Jenna and Finn. I hate romances that have the two leads falling in love at first glance. Or the two people are completely ill-suited to one another but have a chemistry they cannot deny (you can't see me but I am rolling my eyes right now). There was also some tension in the story due to Jenna's position and past concerning her husband. I was glad to see that not everything was just smooth sailing and red hot sex.
Please note that I downloaded this book through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.