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readingwitherin's reviews
1613 reviews
Buying Samir by Kimberly Rae
4.0
"I ran away to find my brother, and I succeeded. I sacrificed to free him, my first step toward putting my family back together, and in that I failed."
After having read the first book in this series Capturing Jasmine, I was really interested in finding out what exactly happened to Samir after him and Jasmina were separated.
This book starts off just a little while after the first one ended, and we see that Jasmina is still wanting to find her brother and to buy his freedom and for them to return to their parents and become a family again. With the help of Grandmother they went in search of all the rock quarry's to try to find him and to get him back. When this is unsuccessful though Jasmina decides to go back alone to try to talk to some of the men in charge... This causes Jasmina to be put into some very scary situations just to be able to talk to her brother. But when she finds out who he is now and later on what it is exactly that he is doing it killers her inside and makes her hate him. I did like that we sort of found out what happened to their parents as well even though it just made me dislike the father even more for believing such lies.
"We are all of us snakes and charmers, Jasmina. No one is truly free."
This book goes into far more detail about things that were just briefly touched in Capturing Jasmina are gone into more detail in this one and we really see the scary truth of trafficking of women and children and how it so easily happens with no one realizing it until it is too late.
I will give it up for Jasmina in this one though while she does make some stupid decisions she is also extremely brave and ends up doing the right thing even though it put her brother's life in jeopardy.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
See more reviews like this on my blog
After having read the first book in this series Capturing Jasmine, I was really interested in finding out what exactly happened to Samir after him and Jasmina were separated.
This book starts off just a little while after the first one ended, and we see that Jasmina is still wanting to find her brother and to buy his freedom and for them to return to their parents and become a family again. With the help of Grandmother they went in search of all the rock quarry's to try to find him and to get him back. When this is unsuccessful though Jasmina decides to go back alone to try to talk to some of the men in charge... This causes Jasmina to be put into some very scary situations just to be able to talk to her brother. But when she finds out who he is now and later on what it is exactly that he is doing it killers her inside and makes her hate him. I did like that we sort of found out what happened to their parents as well even though it just made me dislike the father even more for believing such lies.
"We are all of us snakes and charmers, Jasmina. No one is truly free."
This book goes into far more detail about things that were just briefly touched in Capturing Jasmina are gone into more detail in this one and we really see the scary truth of trafficking of women and children and how it so easily happens with no one realizing it until it is too late.
I will give it up for Jasmina in this one though while she does make some stupid decisions she is also extremely brave and ends up doing the right thing even though it put her brother's life in jeopardy.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
See more reviews like this on my blog
Capturing Jasmina by Kimberly Rae
4.0
MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
"I cried out my grief at having my childhood taken away, at being sold like a trinket, at being rejected by my father."
Starting this story Jasmina and her brother Samir are sold to a man to go and get an "education" by their father who never tells them why he is selling them and completely ignores their mother begging him not to do it. Jasmina knows it is a common thing for girls in her country to be sold, but not the boys. The boys always get to stay with their parents. While being confused and scared by their father's choice they are taken to a sweat shop of children where they are forced to work off there debt from being bought, driven to the sweat shop, given food, and being forced to live in the upstairs room until the man thinks he has broken there spirit from being able to runaway.
When disaster strikes at the sweat shop all of the children runaway and Jasmina and her brother get away to. Where they are then tricked by another man and sold back into slavery and forced to work at a rock quarry. While they are both terrified about what will happen to them next and how to get out of being a slave, Jasmina and several of the other girls are sold once again to another man who only wants "the pretty girls". In a very dangerous escape plan Jasmina gets away and gets taken in by a woman who gets her cleaned up and takes her to an orphanage for children like her. Jasmina is afraid of this place though and runs away because she thinks she is being sold again.
"I would rely on myself only. Never trust anyone again. Never give in to the weakness of hope."
As a street kid Jasmina became very angry at the world and what had happened to her. She was fueled by her anger to make it through day to day life on the streets where she had to always be one step ahead of everyone else and to always be on the lookout so she wouldn't be sold into slavery again.
One day while on the streets Jasmina sees a strange group of women in the bad part of town going to one of the brothels and praying out in front of it before going in. When the women come out Jasmina follows them curious as to why they are there and what they want with these women. When she herself ends up being taken in by these women she learns that they just want to help and that a lot of them are women that had also been slaves, but had escaped and now want to help others get out as well.
"It is puzzling how you can live in danger for so long, but as soon as safety wraps around you like a comforting blanket, the idea of facing danger again seems so much more ... dangerous."
What I loved throughout the whole story is that you felt like you were right there with Jasmina and that all of the things she was facing were things that most likely are actually happening somewhere in this world. I never stopped cheering Jasmina on and wanting her to be free and to find someplace safe to live where she didn't have to live in constant fear. To get answer. Even though I knew it most likely would never happen I also wanted her to get answers from her father on why he did what he did.
This book is going to stick with me for a very long time and I can't wait to see what happened to Samir.
I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
See more reviews like this on my blog
"I cried out my grief at having my childhood taken away, at being sold like a trinket, at being rejected by my father."
Starting this story Jasmina and her brother Samir are sold to a man to go and get an "education" by their father who never tells them why he is selling them and completely ignores their mother begging him not to do it. Jasmina knows it is a common thing for girls in her country to be sold, but not the boys. The boys always get to stay with their parents. While being confused and scared by their father's choice they are taken to a sweat shop of children where they are forced to work off there debt from being bought, driven to the sweat shop, given food, and being forced to live in the upstairs room until the man thinks he has broken there spirit from being able to runaway.
When disaster strikes at the sweat shop all of the children runaway and Jasmina and her brother get away to. Where they are then tricked by another man and sold back into slavery and forced to work at a rock quarry. While they are both terrified about what will happen to them next and how to get out of being a slave, Jasmina and several of the other girls are sold once again to another man who only wants "the pretty girls". In a very dangerous escape plan Jasmina gets away and gets taken in by a woman who gets her cleaned up and takes her to an orphanage for children like her. Jasmina is afraid of this place though and runs away because she thinks she is being sold again.
"I would rely on myself only. Never trust anyone again. Never give in to the weakness of hope."
As a street kid Jasmina became very angry at the world and what had happened to her. She was fueled by her anger to make it through day to day life on the streets where she had to always be one step ahead of everyone else and to always be on the lookout so she wouldn't be sold into slavery again.
One day while on the streets Jasmina sees a strange group of women in the bad part of town going to one of the brothels and praying out in front of it before going in. When the women come out Jasmina follows them curious as to why they are there and what they want with these women. When she herself ends up being taken in by these women she learns that they just want to help and that a lot of them are women that had also been slaves, but had escaped and now want to help others get out as well.
"It is puzzling how you can live in danger for so long, but as soon as safety wraps around you like a comforting blanket, the idea of facing danger again seems so much more ... dangerous."
What I loved throughout the whole story is that you felt like you were right there with Jasmina and that all of the things she was facing were things that most likely are actually happening somewhere in this world. I never stopped cheering Jasmina on and wanting her to be free and to find someplace safe to live where she didn't have to live in constant fear. To get answer. Even though I knew it most likely would never happen I also wanted her to get answers from her father on why he did what he did.
This book is going to stick with me for a very long time and I can't wait to see what happened to Samir.
I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
See more reviews like this on my blog
The Library: Where Life Checks Out by Carmen DeSousa
2.0
My original rating for this review was three stars, but I have no changed it to two stars.
I did think this was a good story. But if I hadn't of been listening to it on Audio I don't think I would have finished it. I say that because while there was a mystery it wasn't the main focus of the story.
The main focus of the story was Romance between Mark and a character we meet in the beginning of the story. What parts of the mystery we did get I loved them and found it very interesting. I feel like this story could have just been fully focused on the mystery and what had happened withe paranormal things and it would have been far more interesting.
I don't think I will be reading/listening to anymore of DeSousa books in the near future.
The audio narrator for this story is the only thing that got me through the mystery lacking parts. I can't wait to listen to more of her narration in the future.
Received book in return for honest review from the audio narrator (Michelle Babb)
See more reviews like this on my blog
I did think this was a good story. But if I hadn't of been listening to it on Audio I don't think I would have finished it. I say that because while there was a mystery it wasn't the main focus of the story.
The main focus of the story was Romance between Mark and a character we meet in the beginning of the story. What parts of the mystery we did get I loved them and found it very interesting. I feel like this story could have just been fully focused on the mystery and what had happened withe paranormal things and it would have been far more interesting.
I don't think I will be reading/listening to anymore of DeSousa books in the near future.
The audio narrator for this story is the only thing that got me through the mystery lacking parts. I can't wait to listen to more of her narration in the future.
Received book in return for honest review from the audio narrator (Michelle Babb)
See more reviews like this on my blog
Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult
3.0
“I think that when you live in a world with limits... when you've met everyone and seem everything you're going to see - you lose the hope that something extraordinary will happen in your life”
It has taken me awhile to review this one because I've had a lot of mixed feelings about it.
While I did really enjoy this story and did fly through it, I couldn't help, but notice the repetitive nature of it, and how most of the time I was annoyed with the two main characters.
Delilah and Oliver were both very lovely characters on their own and that is how I liked them.
Delilah I went back and forth on being annoyed with her and understanding why she was so obsessed with this book and kept it hidden from everyone else so they wouldn't think she was crazy. What I didn't understand about Delilah though was how she didn't trust her best friend with this until the very end. If she had just explained what she thought was going on and shown her best friend what was happening in the story I think she would have tried to help her a lot sooner and made certain things easier.
I really loved seeing Olivers life inside the story and how it was all different then how it was written and how they played out the story while the reader was reading, but when no one was reading the whole story changed and all of the characters had their own lives.
As for Olivers character he seemed nice, but he was also rather naive which was to be expected because he had a very narrow viewpoint of the world, but at times that naivety made him rather annoying because he wanted certain things and was willing to risk everyone else to get those things.
For me what really made me love this story was the side characters in Olivers story. I loved how they all had their own little stories and things they enjoyed doing.
While I did like the ending I wasn't really in love with it and I'm still unsure how Delilah is going to explain certain things. It will be very interesting to read the companion book to this one to see how certain things get worked out.
See more reviews like this on my blog
It has taken me awhile to review this one because I've had a lot of mixed feelings about it.
While I did really enjoy this story and did fly through it, I couldn't help, but notice the repetitive nature of it, and how most of the time I was annoyed with the two main characters.
Delilah and Oliver were both very lovely characters on their own and that is how I liked them.
Delilah I went back and forth on being annoyed with her and understanding why she was so obsessed with this book and kept it hidden from everyone else so they wouldn't think she was crazy. What I didn't understand about Delilah though was how she didn't trust her best friend with this until the very end. If she had just explained what she thought was going on and shown her best friend what was happening in the story I think she would have tried to help her a lot sooner and made certain things easier.
I really loved seeing Olivers life inside the story and how it was all different then how it was written and how they played out the story while the reader was reading, but when no one was reading the whole story changed and all of the characters had their own lives.
As for Olivers character he seemed nice, but he was also rather naive which was to be expected because he had a very narrow viewpoint of the world, but at times that naivety made him rather annoying because he wanted certain things and was willing to risk everyone else to get those things.
For me what really made me love this story was the side characters in Olivers story. I loved how they all had their own little stories and things they enjoyed doing.
While I did like the ending I wasn't really in love with it and I'm still unsure how Delilah is going to explain certain things. It will be very interesting to read the companion book to this one to see how certain things get worked out.
See more reviews like this on my blog
Dead of Night by Carlyle Labuschagne
3.0
"The MOMENT YOUR UNIVERSE SPINS OUT of control and collides with something so much greater than yourself, your initial reaction is shock and fright-a deep-seeded fear that runs through every inch of your body and brain. As you are jounced from your course, silence surrounds you, haunting you as the world around you tilts off its axis. All you can do is wait for the fall."
In this book we follow both Opel and Aecker. Opel can't remember anything that happened before Aecker found her and took her in to "The Gate" which is an outlawed community of people who have escaped from the Old City of Cupola.
The problem with Opel being there is that she isn't human ... or well not fully human at least. She's a Tracker "Trackers are soldiers, spies, assassins. They are here to kill any Inborns and infiltrate their hideouts. To bring violent death to Believers and make examples of their flaws."
The problem is though that she doesn't remember being a tracker and she can feel things and understand them unlike most trackers.
Along the way to getting Opel's freedom and trying to figure out exactly what she is, Aecker and Opel fall in love. Which is considered a flaw in the new post-nuclear fall-out world. Their love for each other is used against them and could be their downfall.
My feelings on this book are kind of mixed. I did enjoy it and I really liked how this was a different take on a dystopia. I wasn't expecting love to be the main premise of the book when we got past the halfway point. This didn't make it bad or make me enjoy it any less was just a bit of a disappointment when I figured there was going to be more about the world itself and how they were going to stop the bad people that were now in control. I am interested in what will happen in the next book and how things will end for Opel and Aecker.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
See more reviews like this on my blog
In this book we follow both Opel and Aecker. Opel can't remember anything that happened before Aecker found her and took her in to "The Gate" which is an outlawed community of people who have escaped from the Old City of Cupola.
The problem with Opel being there is that she isn't human ... or well not fully human at least. She's a Tracker "Trackers are soldiers, spies, assassins. They are here to kill any Inborns and infiltrate their hideouts. To bring violent death to Believers and make examples of their flaws."
The problem is though that she doesn't remember being a tracker and she can feel things and understand them unlike most trackers.
Along the way to getting Opel's freedom and trying to figure out exactly what she is, Aecker and Opel fall in love. Which is considered a flaw in the new post-nuclear fall-out world. Their love for each other is used against them and could be their downfall.
My feelings on this book are kind of mixed. I did enjoy it and I really liked how this was a different take on a dystopia. I wasn't expecting love to be the main premise of the book when we got past the halfway point. This didn't make it bad or make me enjoy it any less was just a bit of a disappointment when I figured there was going to be more about the world itself and how they were going to stop the bad people that were now in control. I am interested in what will happen in the next book and how things will end for Opel and Aecker.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
See more reviews like this on my blog
Plain Fame by Sarah Price
3.0
"The public owns you, Princesa. They love you. They hate you. They want to be you. They want to destroy you."
This was a very different take on Amish fiction for me. In this story we have Amanda who is an amish woman and Alejandro "Viper" who is, a very famous Cuban singer.
They meet due to an accident where Amanda was hurt. At first Alejandro only acts like a caring person to make the media not hate him, but after awhile we see that he really is a very caring person underneath his "Viper" persona.
Alejandro very quickly starts liking Amanda as a person and seeing the world through her eyes. She hasn't been influenced by the media and could care less about how famous he is. Once Amanda is released from the hospital Alejandro takes time off from his busy schedule (He needs a break from being "Viper") to get her home safely and maybe stay for a while if her family will have him.
In the week that he is their we learn so much about both of their childhoods and see how different they were. Not surprisingly the more they get to know each other they start to fall for each other. As that starts really happening though Alejandro is spotted and is forced to leave to try to protect Amanda and her family. Sadly it's already too late and the media and public want to know more about Amanda and won't leave her or her family alone.
While I did like this story and I am interested in seeing what happens to Amanda next and how she deals with so many things suddenly changing in her life. I'm not sure how soon I will be reading the next four books in the series. (It is a series now right? I know it was originally a trilogy, but I believe a fourth book is to be released sometime this month.)
One thing I will say about this book though is it made me realize how much time I do actually spend on my phone and maybe I should cut back a little and focus more on other things.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
See more reviews like this on my blog
This was a very different take on Amish fiction for me. In this story we have Amanda who is an amish woman and Alejandro "Viper" who is, a very famous Cuban singer.
They meet due to an accident where Amanda was hurt. At first Alejandro only acts like a caring person to make the media not hate him, but after awhile we see that he really is a very caring person underneath his "Viper" persona.
Alejandro very quickly starts liking Amanda as a person and seeing the world through her eyes. She hasn't been influenced by the media and could care less about how famous he is. Once Amanda is released from the hospital Alejandro takes time off from his busy schedule (He needs a break from being "Viper") to get her home safely and maybe stay for a while if her family will have him.
In the week that he is their we learn so much about both of their childhoods and see how different they were. Not surprisingly the more they get to know each other they start to fall for each other. As that starts really happening though Alejandro is spotted and is forced to leave to try to protect Amanda and her family. Sadly it's already too late and the media and public want to know more about Amanda and won't leave her or her family alone.
While I did like this story and I am interested in seeing what happens to Amanda next and how she deals with so many things suddenly changing in her life. I'm not sure how soon I will be reading the next four books in the series. (It is a series now right? I know it was originally a trilogy, but I believe a fourth book is to be released sometime this month.)
One thing I will say about this book though is it made me realize how much time I do actually spend on my phone and maybe I should cut back a little and focus more on other things.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
See more reviews like this on my blog
I Heart Bloomberg by Melody Carlson
2.0
Kind of disappointing
My feelings towards this book went from this is good to I'm really not liking this to I it was okay.
See my full review on readingwithwrin.blogspot.com later this month.
My feelings towards this book went from this is good to I'm really not liking this to I it was okay.
See my full review on readingwithwrin.blogspot.com later this month.
Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter
4.0
"Every decent con man knows that the simplest truth is more powerful than even the most elaborate lie."
I loved getting back into this world and how fun it is. Carter has once again done an amazing job of writing not only a funny story, but a nice little mystery/thievery as well.
This book starts a few months after the Henley Kat is drunk on the high from successful heists that she has been doing alone. Meaning her family isn't very happy with her and when she gets an offer to try to steal back the Cleopatra Emerald she jumps on the chance to help another family get back something that appears to be rightfully theirs.
But when they don't turn out to be who they said they were Kat's world goes into chaos and she has to turn to her family while also keeping it a secret from certain people in the family as well.
With having to ask her family for help comes the very complicated relationship she has with Hale. For once in a story I don't mind the romance aspect because of how their relationship is and until about halfway through the book Kat still doesn't realize that Hale likes her and would do almost anything for her and to keep her safe. But when she finally does take action it all goes somewhat wrong and makes things slightly awkward between them. But now back to the heist and getting the Cleopatra back, but when the identity of the person who actually hired Kat is found out it was a surprise and showed a lot of Kat's family's past and why certain people were very particular when it comes to doing certain types of heists.
I really did love how Kat handled the situation and found a way to outsmart someone who appeared to now every heist that they could have possibly done.
With the majority of the same characters from the first book in the series you really start getting a feel for the family dynamic and how it all works.
I can't wait to read the third book in the series to see what they get up to next.
See more reviews like this on my blog!
I loved getting back into this world and how fun it is. Carter has once again done an amazing job of writing not only a funny story, but a nice little mystery/thievery as well.
This book starts a few months after the Henley Kat is drunk on the high from successful heists that she has been doing alone. Meaning her family isn't very happy with her and when she gets an offer to try to steal back the Cleopatra Emerald she jumps on the chance to help another family get back something that appears to be rightfully theirs.
But when they don't turn out to be who they said they were Kat's world goes into chaos and she has to turn to her family while also keeping it a secret from certain people in the family as well.
With having to ask her family for help comes the very complicated relationship she has with Hale. For once in a story I don't mind the romance aspect because of how their relationship is and until about halfway through the book Kat still doesn't realize that Hale likes her and would do almost anything for her and to keep her safe. But when she finally does take action it all goes somewhat wrong and makes things slightly awkward between them. But now back to the heist and getting the Cleopatra back, but when the identity of the person who actually hired Kat is found out it was a surprise and showed a lot of Kat's family's past and why certain people were very particular when it comes to doing certain types of heists.
I really did love how Kat handled the situation and found a way to outsmart someone who appeared to now every heist that they could have possibly done.
With the majority of the same characters from the first book in the series you really start getting a feel for the family dynamic and how it all works.
I can't wait to read the third book in the series to see what they get up to next.
See more reviews like this on my blog!
Let Them Eat Fruitcake by Melody Carlson
3.0
"The truth is I'm still trying to figure things out myself," she admitted. "Sometimes life doesn't seem totally black and white. I think I used to believe that. But the older I get, the more I question this."
When I first started this book I was very unsure of it. Thankfully it surprised me and the majority of the problems I had with the first one weren't in this one. Well besides Kendall, but she is a work in progress and she did start growing up a little in this one.
In this one I really did see what everyone else was saying about Megan being a preachy Mary Sue type character. I really wish she would stop and think a little before she tried to act so high and mighty towards the other girls.
As for Anna and Lelani I really like how they have grown as characters and even though they did have issues to sort out this time around they ended up making up and working together and I can't wait to see how they grow as friends in the future.
Honestly I don't have much to say about this book because it is a quick read that was filled with several surprises and of course Kendall's shenanigans.
See more reviews like this on my blog!
When I first started this book I was very unsure of it. Thankfully it surprised me and the majority of the problems I had with the first one weren't in this one. Well besides Kendall, but she is a work in progress and she did start growing up a little in this one.
In this one I really did see what everyone else was saying about Megan being a preachy Mary Sue type character. I really wish she would stop and think a little before she tried to act so high and mighty towards the other girls.
As for Anna and Lelani I really like how they have grown as characters and even though they did have issues to sort out this time around they ended up making up and working together and I can't wait to see how they grow as friends in the future.
Honestly I don't have much to say about this book because it is a quick read that was filled with several surprises and of course Kendall's shenanigans.
See more reviews like this on my blog!
The Island by Jen Minkman
1.0
"If you don't like someone's leadership, you have to step up and become a leader yourself. But if you can't there's nothing you can do about it."
I didn't really know what to expect going into this story. After getting this book for free, on my kindle app earlier this year I just ended up forgetting about it sadly.
At first I just thought this was a normal dystopian type of story. After awhile of reading it, though I realized that it was very Star Wars oriented. I don't feel like this really took awhile from the story much, besides the fact that any time the character names were mentioned the star wars characters were the ones I would see first. I would like to say that this is not Star Wars fan fiction like a lot of people have said in their reviews.
Now for what the story is actually about. Leia and Colin are twins and have reached there tenth birthday. In this society once the children reach their tenth birthday they leave their parents' house and go live with all the other children in the town so that they can learn to provide for themselves.
The only problem with this though is at the moment they have a dictator of sorts Saul and his younger brother Ben who have taken over the children's home and decided to become the rulers of it. If it had been anyone else besides these two it could have worked sadly it was not and Saul and Ben made everyone else's lives hell unless they were big enough or not as smart as them and then they made you their minions who had to do the dirty work.
I'm not going to talk about all of the characters since this is a novella. But I would like to talk about Leia and how even though she did end up a liking a guy she didn't let that become her main focus. Instead, she turned into this really strong young lady who took control of situations and did what needed to be done to save her community.
I would recommend this book if you're looking for a short read with a strong female character.
See more reviews like this on my blog!
I didn't really know what to expect going into this story. After getting this book for free, on my kindle app earlier this year I just ended up forgetting about it sadly.
At first I just thought this was a normal dystopian type of story. After awhile of reading it, though I realized that it was very Star Wars oriented. I don't feel like this really took awhile from the story much, besides the fact that any time the character names were mentioned the star wars characters were the ones I would see first. I would like to say that this is not Star Wars fan fiction like a lot of people have said in their reviews.
Now for what the story is actually about. Leia and Colin are twins and have reached there tenth birthday. In this society once the children reach their tenth birthday they leave their parents' house and go live with all the other children in the town so that they can learn to provide for themselves.
The only problem with this though is at the moment they have a dictator of sorts Saul and his younger brother Ben who have taken over the children's home and decided to become the rulers of it. If it had been anyone else besides these two it could have worked sadly it was not and Saul and Ben made everyone else's lives hell unless they were big enough or not as smart as them and then they made you their minions who had to do the dirty work.
I'm not going to talk about all of the characters since this is a novella. But I would like to talk about Leia and how even though she did end up a liking a guy she didn't let that become her main focus. Instead, she turned into this really strong young lady who took control of situations and did what needed to be done to save her community.
I would recommend this book if you're looking for a short read with a strong female character.
See more reviews like this on my blog!