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The Giver by Lois Lowry
4.0
The main character Jonas is a 12 year old boy that inhabits a world where there is no disease or war. He lives in a community where everyone has been treated to become the same and at the age of 12 a member of the society is selected for a position that they will hold throughout their years as an adult. Slowly Lois Lowry provides glimpses of the true world that Jonas inhabits, but until the character meets the Giver, the reader and Jonas do not fully realize what is going on.
I initially read The Giver when I was in junior high. I remember at the time in class during English (always my favorite since most of the time we just read out loud books and had to take apart sentences by identifying the subject, predicate, and adjectives..ahh the memories) that we were always given a booklet of books that we could buy that would then be delivered to us by the following month. I would take mine home and my mom and I would pour over the books I wanted and she and my dad would ultimately check off what books I could get.
I remember reading "The Giver" and it was cold and dark outside. It could be because it was around winter at that point or it could have been just a regular rainy day in PA. The book was all shiny and I took that and some of the other books I had bought upstairs to my bedroom. I don't know why I did but I ended up reading "The Giver" first.
The book was a fast read for me at the age of 13 and it was an extremely fast read for me as an adult. I actually started this on a train ride at 3:35 p.m. and completed it by 4:15 when I disembarked. As a teenager I remember being slowly horrified by the world the reader is brought into that Jonas inhabits. As an adult I read but not with the same fear I did as a child. As I did when I was a child I held my breath during certain passages in the story and at the end being so worried about what would happen to Jonas next.
The only reason why I did not give this novel five stars was it was never really explained how The Giver could pass on things to Jonas the way he did. I wish that there had been more explanation about it. And I didn't understand how the memories would pass back to the community. As a teenager I just accepted it at face value. As an adult I scratched my head a few times and just continued reading.
Please note that I received this novel via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.
I initially read The Giver when I was in junior high. I remember at the time in class during English (always my favorite since most of the time we just read out loud books and had to take apart sentences by identifying the subject, predicate, and adjectives..ahh the memories) that we were always given a booklet of books that we could buy that would then be delivered to us by the following month. I would take mine home and my mom and I would pour over the books I wanted and she and my dad would ultimately check off what books I could get.
I remember reading "The Giver" and it was cold and dark outside. It could be because it was around winter at that point or it could have been just a regular rainy day in PA. The book was all shiny and I took that and some of the other books I had bought upstairs to my bedroom. I don't know why I did but I ended up reading "The Giver" first.
The book was a fast read for me at the age of 13 and it was an extremely fast read for me as an adult. I actually started this on a train ride at 3:35 p.m. and completed it by 4:15 when I disembarked. As a teenager I remember being slowly horrified by the world the reader is brought into that Jonas inhabits. As an adult I read but not with the same fear I did as a child. As I did when I was a child I held my breath during certain passages in the story and at the end being so worried about what would happen to Jonas next.
The only reason why I did not give this novel five stars was it was never really explained how The Giver could pass on things to Jonas the way he did. I wish that there had been more explanation about it. And I didn't understand how the memories would pass back to the community. As a teenager I just accepted it at face value. As an adult I scratched my head a few times and just continued reading.
Please note that I received this novel via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.
Better Than Your Dreams by Dee Ernst
3.0
I really loved "Better Off Without Him" and honestly laughed so hard while reading that novel that I was crying. "Better Than Your Dreams" was a letdown to me since there was really no humorous moments and I got really tired of the main plot less than halfway through this novel.
The main character, Mona Quincy, is happy that her relationship with Ben Cutler is still going strong four years later. She has been traveling back and forth completing a screenplay and is happy to be back in New Jersey once again with him and her family. However, after arriving home Mona is surprised but not one, but two members of her family announcing their engagement. Mona, is not a fan of marriage in general anymore. To make things even worse we have Mona and Ben coming to an impasse after he proposes since she doesn't see why things have to change when she is perfectly happy now.
Overall the novel had too much going on, repetitiveness of conversations with many characters, and a disappointing ending.
I really think there was just too much going on in this novel. We have two weddings being planned which took up a lot of the novel with discussions about clothing, shoes, locations. We then had Mona deciding she would change her career direction which was nice and all but could have been cut out of this novel since it does not actually add anything to this book to keep it in. We then have the introduction of new characters and also the appearance of characters from the previous books with shallow descriptions, characterizations, etc.
Having Mona struggle with her decision regarding her relationship with Ben was interesting at first and then it just got repetitive. We had constant talking about Mona's struggle with practically everyone over this course of this book. Frankly I understood her hesitation and I started to dislike the character of Ben for acting like all people needed were love to have a happy marriage. Yes love is great, but Mona's bigger points about two people taking time to get to know each other, get to know themselves was largely dismissed and criticized by him and other characters. And Mona's bigger point about her being happy to be dating him but living largely by herself I think was important. The character of Ben may not have had a bad marriage but Mona did. As the saying goes, 'once bitten, twice shy."
I wish that we had seen a different ending than what we got since that would have made the novel more interesting to me and very true. Not all novels have to have a cookie cutter happy ending. There was an alternative I think that Dee Ernst contemplated but she ultimately just dropped it and pushed for everything to be wrapped up in a tidy bow.
The main character, Mona Quincy, is happy that her relationship with Ben Cutler is still going strong four years later. She has been traveling back and forth completing a screenplay and is happy to be back in New Jersey once again with him and her family. However, after arriving home Mona is surprised but not one, but two members of her family announcing their engagement. Mona, is not a fan of marriage in general anymore. To make things even worse we have Mona and Ben coming to an impasse after he proposes since she doesn't see why things have to change when she is perfectly happy now.
Overall the novel had too much going on, repetitiveness of conversations with many characters, and a disappointing ending.
I really think there was just too much going on in this novel. We have two weddings being planned which took up a lot of the novel with discussions about clothing, shoes, locations. We then had Mona deciding she would change her career direction which was nice and all but could have been cut out of this novel since it does not actually add anything to this book to keep it in. We then have the introduction of new characters and also the appearance of characters from the previous books with shallow descriptions, characterizations, etc.
Having Mona struggle with her decision regarding her relationship with Ben was interesting at first and then it just got repetitive. We had constant talking about Mona's struggle with practically everyone over this course of this book. Frankly I understood her hesitation and I started to dislike the character of Ben for acting like all people needed were love to have a happy marriage. Yes love is great, but Mona's bigger points about two people taking time to get to know each other, get to know themselves was largely dismissed and criticized by him and other characters. And Mona's bigger point about her being happy to be dating him but living largely by herself I think was important. The character of Ben may not have had a bad marriage but Mona did. As the saying goes, 'once bitten, twice shy."
I wish that we had seen a different ending than what we got since that would have made the novel more interesting to me and very true. Not all novels have to have a cookie cutter happy ending. There was an alternative I think that Dee Ernst contemplated but she ultimately just dropped it and pushed for everything to be wrapped up in a tidy bow.
Just for Fun by Rosalind James
3.0
The fourth book in the series is about Nic Wilkinson and Emma Martens.
Nic is a rugby player for the New Zealand All Blacks. Emma is a single mother doing her best to support herself and her son. Nic runs into Emma again several years later after they spent a week together having 'cough' fun 'cough'.
Not everything will be an automatic hit in life and though to me the first three books in this series were downright perfect or almost perfect the fourth one was just a miss to me. I still rated it three stars but I ended up just finding myself not as immersed with this book as I was with the first three. This was due to the main storyline and my inability to get on board with the main heroine or hero.
The surprise secret child romance trope that Rosalind James had in this book was just a non-started for me. I have never been a fan of the surprise secret child romance novels since to me it seems to be a lazy way to get two people together. Having a child together does not equal instance romance to me but maybe it does to other people.
When the book first starts off Nic is engaged to another woman. However, after spending I think just two days with Emma he finds himself responding to her (eyeroll again). Frankly I wish that either Nic was not engaged when he met Emma or was having some serious problems in his relationship. Instead I found his behavior towards Emma gross. I didn't think to myself, "Aww these two people are meant to be together". Instead I was thinking "I hope they get together so they don't inflict themselves on other people".
It also didn't help that I found Emma to be annoying and way too sanctimonious about what rights Nic had and just all together unpleasant. I should have felt sympathy for the character when we find out about her back-story but I didn't. Unlike with the other books I did not read the books and delight in the two leads I just plodded my way through until I got to the end. Maybe Ms. James realized that these two characters were not a hit with her audience since I don't recall them being mentioned at all in the latest book I read in the series, "Not Just Mine."
Also unlike with previous books the writing did not flow naturally to me. The book goes back and forth with Emma's past and what led up to her meeting Nic and the present day.
Still an okay read, just not a fantastic one.
Please note that I received this novel via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.
Nic is a rugby player for the New Zealand All Blacks. Emma is a single mother doing her best to support herself and her son. Nic runs into Emma again several years later after they spent a week together having 'cough' fun 'cough'.
Not everything will be an automatic hit in life and though to me the first three books in this series were downright perfect or almost perfect the fourth one was just a miss to me. I still rated it three stars but I ended up just finding myself not as immersed with this book as I was with the first three. This was due to the main storyline and my inability to get on board with the main heroine or hero.
The surprise secret child romance trope that Rosalind James had in this book was just a non-started for me. I have never been a fan of the surprise secret child romance novels since to me it seems to be a lazy way to get two people together. Having a child together does not equal instance romance to me but maybe it does to other people.
When the book first starts off Nic is engaged to another woman. However, after spending I think just two days with Emma he finds himself responding to her (eyeroll again). Frankly I wish that either Nic was not engaged when he met Emma or was having some serious problems in his relationship. Instead I found his behavior towards Emma gross. I didn't think to myself, "Aww these two people are meant to be together". Instead I was thinking "I hope they get together so they don't inflict themselves on other people".
It also didn't help that I found Emma to be annoying and way too sanctimonious about what rights Nic had and just all together unpleasant. I should have felt sympathy for the character when we find out about her back-story but I didn't. Unlike with the other books I did not read the books and delight in the two leads I just plodded my way through until I got to the end. Maybe Ms. James realized that these two characters were not a hit with her audience since I don't recall them being mentioned at all in the latest book I read in the series, "Not Just Mine."
Also unlike with previous books the writing did not flow naturally to me. The book goes back and forth with Emma's past and what led up to her meeting Nic and the present day.
Still an okay read, just not a fantastic one.
Please note that I received this novel via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.
The Perfect Match by Kristan Higgins
3.0
I initially had no idea when I selected this book for review that I had read the first book in the series and did not finish it. That first book was pretty bad in my opinion so it was with trepidation when I started this one since I thought I had unintentionally shot myself in the foot.
My general opinion of this book in Kristan Higgin's "Blue Heron series" was this was an okay romance book.
The second in Kristan Higgin's Blue Heron series follows Honor Holland who is the sister of Faith whose romance was showcased in the first book, "The Best Man." I actually remember Honor a little bit from the first book in the series and actually liked her in that one and ended up despising her sister Faith.
In this book we have Honor finally deciding to propose to her childhood best friend and sometimes lover, Brogan. Holland and Brogan have a friends with benefits situation (dear women everywhere this never works out well for you) and is crushed when she finally asks him to marry her, that Brogan turns her down. Surprises are in store when she finds out that Brogan is now engaged to her best friend Dana. Honor finds herself despairing about what happens next when she meets Tom Barlow. Tom moved to New York from England to be close to his almost stepson Charlie. If Tom doesn't find a way to stay in the states he will have to return home. Tom thinks that a paper marriage to Honor will help him stay in the U.S. and Honor wants to show the world that she is doing okay after Brogan and Dana get together.
So the above shows a very typical romance ploy used in other novels and though parts of it do work (the heat between Honor and Tom was great) I really wanted Honor to stand up for herself more in this book. It didn't help though besides the interaction between Honor and Tom the book really fell flat. There was very little interaction between Honor and her sister or for that matter any other characters. Anytime she got together with her family it was just chaotic and I could not follow a thing.
Regarding the main plot point regarding Holland trying to get over what her best friend did to her I have to say that everything that happened was a bit too much. I know all readers have probably heard of bro code but there is also girl code too and I completely despised the character of Dana so kudos to Ms. Higgins for eliciting such a reaction from me. That said, the character of Dana became such a cartoon villain that I wanted to smack her and the character of Brogan for being deaf, dumb, and blind when it came to seeing who he was actually engaged to.
Please note that I received this book for free via the Amazon Vine Program.
My general opinion of this book in Kristan Higgin's "Blue Heron series" was this was an okay romance book.
The second in Kristan Higgin's Blue Heron series follows Honor Holland who is the sister of Faith whose romance was showcased in the first book, "The Best Man." I actually remember Honor a little bit from the first book in the series and actually liked her in that one and ended up despising her sister Faith.
In this book we have Honor finally deciding to propose to her childhood best friend and sometimes lover, Brogan. Holland and Brogan have a friends with benefits situation (dear women everywhere this never works out well for you) and is crushed when she finally asks him to marry her, that Brogan turns her down. Surprises are in store when she finds out that Brogan is now engaged to her best friend Dana. Honor finds herself despairing about what happens next when she meets Tom Barlow. Tom moved to New York from England to be close to his almost stepson Charlie. If Tom doesn't find a way to stay in the states he will have to return home. Tom thinks that a paper marriage to Honor will help him stay in the U.S. and Honor wants to show the world that she is doing okay after Brogan and Dana get together.
So the above shows a very typical romance ploy used in other novels and though parts of it do work (the heat between Honor and Tom was great) I really wanted Honor to stand up for herself more in this book. It didn't help though besides the interaction between Honor and Tom the book really fell flat. There was very little interaction between Honor and her sister or for that matter any other characters. Anytime she got together with her family it was just chaotic and I could not follow a thing.
Regarding the main plot point regarding Holland trying to get over what her best friend did to her I have to say that everything that happened was a bit too much. I know all readers have probably heard of bro code but there is also girl code too and I completely despised the character of Dana so kudos to Ms. Higgins for eliciting such a reaction from me. That said, the character of Dana became such a cartoon villain that I wanted to smack her and the character of Brogan for being deaf, dumb, and blind when it came to seeing who he was actually engaged to.
Please note that I received this book for free via the Amazon Vine Program.
The Book of You by Claire Kendal
4.0
So this is not a book that I would usually seek out but I have been reading more mystery/thriller books these days.
"The Book of You" written by Claire Kendal will cause your pulse to race and your hair to stand on end at times.
The main character Clarissa is dealing with an obsessive co-worker named Rafe. Clarissa is still reeling from a breakup with a man and attends an event for Rafe. Feeling lonely and a bit sorry for Rafe she stays and unfortunately one night which she cannot fully recall has caused Rafe to start stalking her everywhere she goes. Clarissa starts to keep a journal of everything that Rafe does hoping that she will eventually have enough evidence to provide to the police to keep him away from her. However, Rafe is able to twist things around to make it seem like he and Claire are in a relationship and she is just mad at him.
I really thought this book worked but I gave it 3.5 stars because including the jury trial that Clarissa was part of and the actually subject of that trial (gang rape) was just too much for me to read at times. I think that delving into two women's stories ended up taking away from the main story of Clarissa and what she was experiencing with Rafe.
Also I thought that the way the story was written with going back and forth between what occurred in the past with Rafe and also intermixing it with Clarissa's relationship with her ex and her friends was also hard to wade through. When the character of Robert was introduced I thought that it honestly didn't make much sense based on what Clarissa was experiencing with Rafe. I was surprised that as written the character would be okay with starting up a relationship with someone knowing that Rafe is stalking her and not going away.
Additionally, I can honestly say that there were some scenes towards the end I found very hard to get through and the ending was so vague that I was left perplexed by what it all meant.
Would warn potential readers that this book deals with stalking and rape.
"The Book of You" written by Claire Kendal will cause your pulse to race and your hair to stand on end at times.
The main character Clarissa is dealing with an obsessive co-worker named Rafe. Clarissa is still reeling from a breakup with a man and attends an event for Rafe. Feeling lonely and a bit sorry for Rafe she stays and unfortunately one night which she cannot fully recall has caused Rafe to start stalking her everywhere she goes. Clarissa starts to keep a journal of everything that Rafe does hoping that she will eventually have enough evidence to provide to the police to keep him away from her. However, Rafe is able to twist things around to make it seem like he and Claire are in a relationship and she is just mad at him.
I really thought this book worked but I gave it 3.5 stars because including the jury trial that Clarissa was part of and the actually subject of that trial (gang rape) was just too much for me to read at times. I think that delving into two women's stories ended up taking away from the main story of Clarissa and what she was experiencing with Rafe.
Also I thought that the way the story was written with going back and forth between what occurred in the past with Rafe and also intermixing it with Clarissa's relationship with her ex and her friends was also hard to wade through. When the character of Robert was introduced I thought that it honestly didn't make much sense based on what Clarissa was experiencing with Rafe. I was surprised that as written the character would be okay with starting up a relationship with someone knowing that Rafe is stalking her and not going away.
Additionally, I can honestly say that there were some scenes towards the end I found very hard to get through and the ending was so vague that I was left perplexed by what it all meant.
Would warn potential readers that this book deals with stalking and rape.
The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher
4.0
This was a very light read for me and I have to say a welcome read as well. I read this as part of the USA by the book summer challenge (as far as I am concerned it is still technically summer somewhere in the world) and this book represented the state of Delaware.
This book is told in the first person by Adrienne. Adrienne for her 11th grade English class has to read 5 books on the summer reading list and has to learn at least 20 new literary terms and include them in an essay that is due when she starts school in the Fall.Adrienne's mother and a few other girls mothers who are included in this book insist that their daughters create a book club so that they can all meet up and discuss the books as the Summer progresses.
The other characters besides Adrienne are three other girls, CeeCee,Jill, and Wallis. Although we do get Adrienne's comments on the other girls because of the essay style structure of the book we don't get a chance as readers to really delve into the other girls' personalities at all. I would love to read another book by this author from the other girls' perspectives some time since all of these girls had a lot of things going on.
Additionally, the books that the girls choose are pretty interesting and besides "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley I have not read any of them.
If you are interested in what the books the club read they are: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin; The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros; and The Awakening by Kate Chopin.
The set-up of this book was very good and as I said the essay style format worked for me since you know this is ultimately what Adrienne turns into her teacher when school starts. It also cracked me up how some of the vocabulary words were used. This is a very good young adult novel and nothing included in here I think would be too racy for kids under the age of 14 or 15.
Can I just say that I would have killed for something like this to be assigned to me in high school? I read like it was my job as a kid and summer was the best time of year for me to just read as much as I want without being forced to go to school and participate in classes I was not interested in at all (looking at you Algebra 2). As soon as dawn broke we were watching cartoons, eating breakfast, and then we were outside all day. We were riding bikes, playing games, wading in the nearby creeks and rivers surrounding our little town. I always used to sneak back into the house and just read. My cousin who lived five doors down from me had different books than I did and I used to take as many as I could carry home and bring them back as soon as I finished them.
This book is told in the first person by Adrienne. Adrienne for her 11th grade English class has to read 5 books on the summer reading list and has to learn at least 20 new literary terms and include them in an essay that is due when she starts school in the Fall.Adrienne's mother and a few other girls mothers who are included in this book insist that their daughters create a book club so that they can all meet up and discuss the books as the Summer progresses.
The other characters besides Adrienne are three other girls, CeeCee,Jill, and Wallis. Although we do get Adrienne's comments on the other girls because of the essay style structure of the book we don't get a chance as readers to really delve into the other girls' personalities at all. I would love to read another book by this author from the other girls' perspectives some time since all of these girls had a lot of things going on.
Additionally, the books that the girls choose are pretty interesting and besides "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley I have not read any of them.
If you are interested in what the books the club read they are: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin; The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros; and The Awakening by Kate Chopin.
The set-up of this book was very good and as I said the essay style format worked for me since you know this is ultimately what Adrienne turns into her teacher when school starts. It also cracked me up how some of the vocabulary words were used. This is a very good young adult novel and nothing included in here I think would be too racy for kids under the age of 14 or 15.
Can I just say that I would have killed for something like this to be assigned to me in high school? I read like it was my job as a kid and summer was the best time of year for me to just read as much as I want without being forced to go to school and participate in classes I was not interested in at all (looking at you Algebra 2). As soon as dawn broke we were watching cartoons, eating breakfast, and then we were outside all day. We were riding bikes, playing games, wading in the nearby creeks and rivers surrounding our little town. I always used to sneak back into the house and just read. My cousin who lived five doors down from me had different books than I did and I used to take as many as I could carry home and bring them back as soon as I finished them.
If You Could See What I See by Cathy Lamb
2.0
The last Cathy Lamb book I read was "The First Day of the Rest of My Life" back in 2011. I did not like it. There was way too many things crammed into that book and I started to get sick of reading Ms. Lamb's characters having the same weird quirks and voices from book to book. I picked up "If You Could See What I See" because it was available via the Amazon Kindle Unlimited. Good thing I didn't pay for this book because I found this just as disappointing as the last book I read.
This newest offering centers around Meggie O'Rourke and her family's lingerie business. Meggie has recently returned home to help her grandmother's struggling lingerie business in Oregon. She is still recovering from her marriage and husband's death and is doing her best to draw her two sisters' in closer. Her sisters Lacy and Tory both work for her grandmother's company and have left things go into a tailspin since they are still embroiled in childhood drama even as adults. Meggie's grandmother Regan is still a sexy in control woman in her eighties but she now wants her granddaughters to step up and help save the family business.
Though the plot didn't exactly feel me with excitement I hoped that it would be more along the lines of "Henry's Sisters" and "Julia's Chocolate". I can deal with some quirkiness with my characters but if the whole thing reads as a weird pacific northwest Gothic fiction novel I am just not interested. Sadly the more I read, the more I realized that I was right to pass up on her last book before this one.
We get some insight into Meggie's character but it takes a lot of time and reading before you find out what is going on with that character and how her husband died. I really wish that things had not been spoon-fed to the reader a page or two here and there since we would read a bit and go back to Meggie dealing with her sisters, or taking care of the menagerie of pets Regan (her nephew) kept bringing over. I was sympathetic to Meggie once I read the whole back-story and felt for her and found myself getting frustrated and annoyed with the love interest for her in this book (by the way Ms. Lamb does not do subtle, as soon as Meggie meets the character you know this is only going one way) because of the ham-fisted way he kept treating her. I felt upset on her behalf and honestly wanted her to just say to him:
"Based on my past I am allowed to act this way and just because you want X, Y, Z from me does not mean it is going to happen on your speed."
I don't want to get too spoilery in this review but there was legitimate reasons why Meggie was hung-up the way she was about starting something new. It makes me really annoyed when an author sets up a reason why a character would be reacting the way they are whether it is due to a past abusive relationship, rape, etc. and the male character is all but I love you so that is all that should matter. Um no, not in real life. Even in romance or other books I read, I still read for realism and to something I can relate to. There was some realism in this book but often it gets overshadowed by silliness and quirkiness that I just got tired of real quick.
For example, the character of Lacy has three kids that I swear could have come out of central casting. For example, Lacy's son, Regan is sweet and cries at a drop of a hat but also is phenomenal in sports and reminds me so much of Lance from "Such a Pretty Face" that I had feelings of deja-vu anytime that character spoke. Her daughter Cassidy is a slut. It's okay though since she is such a great baker and cook. No I am not kidding about this and no I don't run around calling characters that either, but her aunt and her own mother call her that several times and several times say it so that she can actually overhear. I was just flabbergasted. Lacy's other son Hayden is going through wanting to have surgery to become a girl. I definitely feel for those who are going through being transgendered and all that it entails but besides one or two show-downs with people who have problems with it who of course are just total caricatures of every racist and bigot out there we don't get much insight into the character of Hayden. This is probably because there are a lot of moving parts to this novel that Ms. Lamb had going on and she did not have sufficient space to tell a truly compelling story about any character since she was trying to jam fit so much in one book.
Meggie's two sisters' are just shallow characters we don't get much insight into except that Tory is just selfish as the day as long and I got tired of reading her tirades about everything.
The story wraps things up clumsily and then the ending just kind of happens. I can say that I was most disappointed with the ending to Meggie's storyline and leave it at that. The other characters I really didn't care that much about either way. I would suggest passing on this.
Please note that I received this novel via the Amazon Kindle Unlimited program.
This newest offering centers around Meggie O'Rourke and her family's lingerie business. Meggie has recently returned home to help her grandmother's struggling lingerie business in Oregon. She is still recovering from her marriage and husband's death and is doing her best to draw her two sisters' in closer. Her sisters Lacy and Tory both work for her grandmother's company and have left things go into a tailspin since they are still embroiled in childhood drama even as adults. Meggie's grandmother Regan is still a sexy in control woman in her eighties but she now wants her granddaughters to step up and help save the family business.
Though the plot didn't exactly feel me with excitement I hoped that it would be more along the lines of "Henry's Sisters" and "Julia's Chocolate". I can deal with some quirkiness with my characters but if the whole thing reads as a weird pacific northwest Gothic fiction novel I am just not interested. Sadly the more I read, the more I realized that I was right to pass up on her last book before this one.
We get some insight into Meggie's character but it takes a lot of time and reading before you find out what is going on with that character and how her husband died. I really wish that things had not been spoon-fed to the reader a page or two here and there since we would read a bit and go back to Meggie dealing with her sisters, or taking care of the menagerie of pets Regan (her nephew) kept bringing over. I was sympathetic to Meggie once I read the whole back-story and felt for her and found myself getting frustrated and annoyed with the love interest for her in this book (by the way Ms. Lamb does not do subtle, as soon as Meggie meets the character you know this is only going one way) because of the ham-fisted way he kept treating her. I felt upset on her behalf and honestly wanted her to just say to him:
"Based on my past I am allowed to act this way and just because you want X, Y, Z from me does not mean it is going to happen on your speed."
I don't want to get too spoilery in this review but there was legitimate reasons why Meggie was hung-up the way she was about starting something new. It makes me really annoyed when an author sets up a reason why a character would be reacting the way they are whether it is due to a past abusive relationship, rape, etc. and the male character is all but I love you so that is all that should matter. Um no, not in real life. Even in romance or other books I read, I still read for realism and to something I can relate to. There was some realism in this book but often it gets overshadowed by silliness and quirkiness that I just got tired of real quick.
For example, the character of Lacy has three kids that I swear could have come out of central casting. For example, Lacy's son, Regan is sweet and cries at a drop of a hat but also is phenomenal in sports and reminds me so much of Lance from "Such a Pretty Face" that I had feelings of deja-vu anytime that character spoke. Her daughter Cassidy is a slut. It's okay though since she is such a great baker and cook. No I am not kidding about this and no I don't run around calling characters that either, but her aunt and her own mother call her that several times and several times say it so that she can actually overhear. I was just flabbergasted. Lacy's other son Hayden is going through wanting to have surgery to become a girl. I definitely feel for those who are going through being transgendered and all that it entails but besides one or two show-downs with people who have problems with it who of course are just total caricatures of every racist and bigot out there we don't get much insight into the character of Hayden. This is probably because there are a lot of moving parts to this novel that Ms. Lamb had going on and she did not have sufficient space to tell a truly compelling story about any character since she was trying to jam fit so much in one book.
Meggie's two sisters' are just shallow characters we don't get much insight into except that Tory is just selfish as the day as long and I got tired of reading her tirades about everything.
The story wraps things up clumsily and then the ending just kind of happens. I can say that I was most disappointed with the ending to Meggie's storyline and leave it at that. The other characters I really didn't care that much about either way. I would suggest passing on this.
Please note that I received this novel via the Amazon Kindle Unlimited program.
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
5.0
So I have been told by many friends that if I love the Mercy Thompson and Kate Daniels series that I would have the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. Since the amount of books I am reading feels like it is never ending I was reluctant to start a new series. Last week I finally bit the bullet and bought the first book in the Dresden Files, Storm Front.
This book was insanely good. And I don't just mean good. I mean everything fired on all cylinders.
The world building that Jim Butcher does in this first novel just works. Having this be an alternate to Chicago where wizards can put out a shingle advertising their services just seems plausible. I also like how Mr. Butcher takes the time out to describe how things feel, what they smell like to Harry, and he does not just give a general description of areas. I felt like I could truly walk around Chicago and see the same things that Harry does. I would say that for some readers they may feel at times things get too be drowned a bit in way too much detail but since this is the first novel in the series and for fantasy books you need to set up some world building that I rather have too much detail than not enough.
I also got a great handle on all of the characters in this book like Karrin Murphy (Lieutenant of Special Investigations) and Dresden's cat and also fell sort of in love with the Harry Dresden.
I promptly bought the next two book in this series. I highly recommend!
This book was insanely good. And I don't just mean good. I mean everything fired on all cylinders.
The world building that Jim Butcher does in this first novel just works. Having this be an alternate to Chicago where wizards can put out a shingle advertising their services just seems plausible. I also like how Mr. Butcher takes the time out to describe how things feel, what they smell like to Harry, and he does not just give a general description of areas. I felt like I could truly walk around Chicago and see the same things that Harry does. I would say that for some readers they may feel at times things get too be drowned a bit in way too much detail but since this is the first novel in the series and for fantasy books you need to set up some world building that I rather have too much detail than not enough.
I also got a great handle on all of the characters in this book like Karrin Murphy (Lieutenant of Special Investigations) and Dresden's cat and also fell sort of in love with the Harry Dresden.
I promptly bought the next two book in this series. I highly recommend!
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
4.0
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher is phenomenal. I really did like this book but I still gave it four stars after thinking about what did and did not work for me as I was reading this.
We have Harry Dresden dealing with the fall-out from the events in Storm Front and having to deal with the cold shoulder he is getting from Karrin Murphy from Chicago's Special Investigations unit. Harry is making very little money and is starting to worry that if he doesn't get some cash soon he is going to be unable to pay rent on his home or office space. I will admit at this point of the novel I was honestly perplexed that as a wizard Harry could not conjure up some food or something but I quickly forgot about that issue once the action started going.
Though Murphy is initially hesitant to bring Dresden in to help her after what happened in Storm Front she brings him to a scene which points Harry to a possibly werewolf killing. And I have to say I loved Butcher's take on werewolves and the different types of werewolves there are out there.
Having Harry battling Murphy, the FBI, and also a local club I at times wondered if he was just going to end up dead by the end of the book after all of the near misses the guy kept having.
The pace of the book after you get to the middle keeps on going non-stop so I felt at times a lot of information was being thrown at me that I was not given enough time to process.
Also I need a little less back-story on all of the characters. I understand why Jim Butcher does that because in the first couple of books in a new series you have to make sure that a brand spanking new reader is following everything. However, I rather authors just assume that people have read the previous books. You can refer to events in a previous novel quite simply and not spend a lot of time on it.
Finally, there is a new character that we are introduced to in this book and in her case I wish we had been given more back-story on her or at least had more scenes with her and Harry. That way I would have felt more connected to the character and got a idea about what Harry was feeling when this character was referenced.
The ending of the book was a total surprise and I moved on quite happily to book three, Grave Peril.
We have Harry Dresden dealing with the fall-out from the events in Storm Front and having to deal with the cold shoulder he is getting from Karrin Murphy from Chicago's Special Investigations unit. Harry is making very little money and is starting to worry that if he doesn't get some cash soon he is going to be unable to pay rent on his home or office space. I will admit at this point of the novel I was honestly perplexed that as a wizard Harry could not conjure up some food or something but I quickly forgot about that issue once the action started going.
Though Murphy is initially hesitant to bring Dresden in to help her after what happened in Storm Front she brings him to a scene which points Harry to a possibly werewolf killing. And I have to say I loved Butcher's take on werewolves and the different types of werewolves there are out there.
Having Harry battling Murphy, the FBI, and also a local club I at times wondered if he was just going to end up dead by the end of the book after all of the near misses the guy kept having.
The pace of the book after you get to the middle keeps on going non-stop so I felt at times a lot of information was being thrown at me that I was not given enough time to process.
Also I need a little less back-story on all of the characters. I understand why Jim Butcher does that because in the first couple of books in a new series you have to make sure that a brand spanking new reader is following everything. However, I rather authors just assume that people have read the previous books. You can refer to events in a previous novel quite simply and not spend a lot of time on it.
Finally, there is a new character that we are introduced to in this book and in her case I wish we had been given more back-story on her or at least had more scenes with her and Harry. That way I would have felt more connected to the character and got a idea about what Harry was feeling when this character was referenced.
The ending of the book was a total surprise and I moved on quite happily to book three, Grave Peril.
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
4.0
One of the great things about reading books in a series back to back is that you get a flavor for an author right away. You also are more ably to see I think any continuity issues too since if you are lucky you are picking up book #2 just a few days after finishing book #1.
In my case, I started reading Grave Peril 15 minutes after I finished up with Fool Moon. I actually had to stop reading after a few pages and went looking at Mr. Butcher's blog to make sure that I had not missed a book and Amazon had not incorrectly labeled this as book #3 in the Dresden Files.
This book starts right in the middle of Harry and his friend Michael (who he has known for several years and we only hear about for the first time in this book) racing as fast as they can to save some newborns from a ghost.
Harry and Michael we find have been working overtime in Chicago since a lot of ghost activity has increased with people being hurt all over. This case ends up touching some of the cops we have come to known in the Special Investigations unit closely and we have Harry fighting to keep them safe.
If that's not enough to deal with he is also trying to figure out his relationship with his girlfriend Susan and doing his best to warn her off of going to an event that Bianca (the vampire we come to know in Storm Front who is still mad and seeking revenge at Harry) has formally invited Harry to since he is a member of the White Council.
There is a lot going on in this book and honestly I feel like there should have been a separate book dealing with Harry and Michael and a fourth book dealing with the vampires.
Everything got thrown in together and nothing really worked. We also had new characters introduced and barely any information provided about them but for some characters we got a lot of information. It was very un-even.
I for one was very interested in Michael and would have loved a story of how he and Harry first met. Hearing about Michael and how he was provided his sword Amoracchius was great and I wish there could have been a novella between Fool Moon and this book.
We don't get a chance to really delve into Michael though because Mr. Butcher takes the ghost phenomenon and Harry finds out that the vampires may somehow be involved. I still don't quite like how Mr. Butcher loops everything together and it really made absolutely no kind of sense to me once we got to the end. In fact I remember thinking okay that was interesting.
I think just reading about the different types of vampires and what their powers were was just a bit too much for me to digest.
I think one way that would led me to enjoy this book more would be if Mr. Butcher had included a prologue that introduced the event that got referenced in a dream later on by Harry.
Even though I rated this 3.5 stars I am still very much enthralled with this series and can't wait to start Summer Knight.
In my case, I started reading Grave Peril 15 minutes after I finished up with Fool Moon. I actually had to stop reading after a few pages and went looking at Mr. Butcher's blog to make sure that I had not missed a book and Amazon had not incorrectly labeled this as book #3 in the Dresden Files.
This book starts right in the middle of Harry and his friend Michael (who he has known for several years and we only hear about for the first time in this book) racing as fast as they can to save some newborns from a ghost.
Harry and Michael we find have been working overtime in Chicago since a lot of ghost activity has increased with people being hurt all over. This case ends up touching some of the cops we have come to known in the Special Investigations unit closely and we have Harry fighting to keep them safe.
If that's not enough to deal with he is also trying to figure out his relationship with his girlfriend Susan and doing his best to warn her off of going to an event that Bianca (the vampire we come to know in Storm Front who is still mad and seeking revenge at Harry) has formally invited Harry to since he is a member of the White Council.
There is a lot going on in this book and honestly I feel like there should have been a separate book dealing with Harry and Michael and a fourth book dealing with the vampires.
Everything got thrown in together and nothing really worked. We also had new characters introduced and barely any information provided about them but for some characters we got a lot of information. It was very un-even.
I for one was very interested in Michael and would have loved a story of how he and Harry first met. Hearing about Michael and how he was provided his sword Amoracchius was great and I wish there could have been a novella between Fool Moon and this book.
We don't get a chance to really delve into Michael though because Mr. Butcher takes the ghost phenomenon and Harry finds out that the vampires may somehow be involved. I still don't quite like how Mr. Butcher loops everything together and it really made absolutely no kind of sense to me once we got to the end. In fact I remember thinking okay that was interesting.
I think just reading about the different types of vampires and what their powers were was just a bit too much for me to digest.
I think one way that would led me to enjoy this book more would be if Mr. Butcher had included a prologue that introduced the event that got referenced in a dream later on by Harry.
Even though I rated this 3.5 stars I am still very much enthralled with this series and can't wait to start Summer Knight.