| The Third Floor by Judi Loren Grace Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Autobiography |
A naïve fifteen-year-old girl, who wasn't entirely sure if she had even had sex, is smacked in the face by fate. After learning that she is pregnant, she is sent to a home for unwed mothers. Judi tells her story in first person narrative as she revisits this painful part of her past.
| Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne Genre: Classic |
I may have been a little harsh when I'd said this book wasn't very exciting. It does start off a little slow, as different countries and cities are mentioned in succession. I'm geographically challenged, these names are lost on me. I may have heard of them, but I have no clue where they are.
There are several plot twists as different obstacles get into Phileas Fogg's way that made me wonder if he would make his journey in the allotted time. I had always assumed he does succeed, I've never heard contrary, but does he? I'm not going to tell and ruin it for you, you'll just have to find out for yourself.
This book was the children's pick for my goodreads group last month. Better late than never right? This was one of those books that I had a low grade interest in reading, but that was the point in joining the reading group, to expand my horizons a bit and help give me some direction as to what to read next. I have such a hard time deciding sometimes, there are just TOO many books to pick from.
| Creep by Jennifer Hillier |
When Dr. Sheila Tao tries to break off her relationship with Ethan Wolfe, he becomes the creep that every woman fears. You can read my review at Oh My Gosh Beck!
| Behemoth by Jonathon C. Leicht |
Could dinosaurs still exist today in any of the unexplored oceans and/or jungles? That is the theory explored in this fictional story. I reviewed it for A Goddess of Frugality and you can read about it here.
Hang onto your hats while I blog about something that has nothing to do with books or literature in any shape or form. It's actually more of a rant and/or vent. Today one of my favorite bands announced they'll be in town in July. I haven't been to a concert in years and probably wouldn't have thought THAT much about it. However, tickets go on sale on my birthday and my best friend will actually be in town the week of the concert. If those two things don't just scream kismet, I don't know what does.
I discussed it with my friend and we make tentative plans to go. I did some research and found that nosebleed seats way up in the rafters START at $120! Oh MY God, seriously? I saw this same band when I was in high school and paid $25-$30 for MAINFLOOR seats. Today it would cost $1200 for mainfloor tickets. I went to several concerts when I was in high school, it was one of our favorite sources of entertainment. I could not imagine growing up today where concerts just are NOT affordable at all, except to the wealthy few. Even if I could scrape up the money for tickets, there is no way that I could justify to my conscience spending that much money for one night of entertainment.
Corporate greed and overinflated prices not only makes me nauseous, they make me feel OLD! My children are in awe as I regale them with stories of being able to buy a bottle of Pepsi for a quarter when I was a kid. We thought we were rich when we found a nickel because we could buy SOMETHING with it. My daughter has to put that nickel into her piggy bank and save up to buy a candy bar. Poor kids today, I feel sorry for them. Nuff said.
 | Brother Number Three Book Two of series by Judy Serrano Genres: Romantic Suspense |
I seriously had mixed feelings for this series. Before I had even finished Easter's Lilly, I groaned to myself as I could see where this sequel was headed by the title. I tried, but I could not like Lilly, which is not a good thing when the book is written in a first person narrative from her point of view. I thought she was flighty, fickle, shallow, and an emotional basket case. Reading these books reminded me of the Twilight Series in the fact that two hot guys are fighting over an ugly chick with no personality. While Lilly is supposed to be known for her beauty, I had a hard time understanding what all these guys saw in her. Maybe I have become a prude in my old age, or I read too many classic stories, but I just had no sympathy or respect for Lilly at all.
However, the book is not without merit. I loved the brothers' bantering which had me chuckling several times. Though I'm not entirely sure that their good humor and teasing was entirely believable given the circumstances, but from their attitudes this wasn't the first time they had been in similar situations. The storyline itself was very compelling. Even though I found myself rolling my eyes a time or two, I would compare it to a good soap opera that you just cannot tear yourself away from.
Poorly edited books are one of my pet peeves that I complain about the most, but there were very few proofreading errors. Not perfect, but nothing too frequent or overly annoying. My biggest pet peeve, that I hate even more than editing errors, is cliffhanger endings. I feel gypped and cheated out of a real ending when books leave me hanging.
4 stars!
This post is brought you by Ever After PR.
If you missed my tour stop for the first book in this series, Easter's Lilly, you can read it here.
The Eighth Sea by Nancy Sprowell Geise was a historical romance that I downloaded as one of my monthly picks for March. I'm not very far into this book yet but I was impressed by a series of embedded flashbacks the author used to quickly show the past of the main character. Nineteen year old Brenna's abusive and drunken father harshly reveals that she is not his real daughter after his wife passes. The first flashback shows the reader Brenna's real parents, Emily and Weston, with their infant daughter in Emily's arms as they discuss the baby's blanket. The second flashback unfolds a scene of a pregnant Emily making a quilt for the baby. She proudly shows her husband the squares she has made for the quilt. The first square depicts Weston's parents. The story proceeds to a third flashback of Weston as a boy, speaking to his own father. Suddenly the boy brings us to our fourth flashback as he reminisces of a previous home they had moved from. At first, I was crying whiplash from all of the flashbacks, but after further consideration this is an ingenious way to reveal a lot of information in a relatively short frame of time. As I have often said, I'm not a real big fan of romances, but this one has definitely captured my curiosity.
| Listen to the Shadows by Joan Hall Hovey |
This was one of my monthly picks for March in the Mystery/Thriller genre. Every woman has been warned by a caring and/or concerned loved one about getting into their car without checking the backseat for some maniac lying in wait. Artist Katie Summers looks into her rear view mirror to find DEAD eyes reflected back to her from the back seat. She panics, swerves, hits a light pole, and spends 4 days in a coma.
This book is fairly fast-paced, full of suspense and hard to put down. I have to admit that I guessed early on who the bad guy was, but I tend to be very perceptive. There were a few red herrings that still lead me to doubt my choice of antagonist so the plot wasn't entirely predictable to me.
The editing had some serious issues. Not just the usual wrong words or misspellings that I normally harp about but MANY instances of a paragraph ending mid-sentence. I'm not sure if maybe this is an error that is made during the conversion to a Kindle file, but I found it occurring enough to be disheartening.
All in all a very enjoyable book. Sufficiently entertaining, tense, and apprehensive with a scoop of creepy on the side. Fair warning: this book is no longer free on amazon.
 |
The Coming Revolution: Signs from America's Past that Signal Our Nation's Future by Dr. Richard G. Lee |
The first portion of the book is an educational review of the history of our founding fathers. The author goes into great detail, annotating specific quotes and sources, of the social outrage against the King of England, and political fervor, that caused the separate colonies to forget their differences and unite to revolt again the tyranny of the King. Dr. Richard Lee argues his theory that today's social, economic, and political breakdown can be attributed to three major causes: the lack of religious spirit, the lack of patriotism taught in schools, and the breakdown of the traditional family unit.
To read my full review, please visit A Goddess of Frugality. | A Gathering of Light by Patricia Isles Genres: Paranormal, Historical Romance |
The story begins during the civil war, a Lieutenant for the North side, Hixon Morris is lying gut shot on the battlefield, with no hope of surviving. He awakes, in a small cabin, where he has been healed by a woman who is not only a southern "rebel", but a mysterious light gatherer.
Author Patricia Isles weaves a wonderful tale around the miraculous paranormal healer, with a touch of romance, history, and tragedy thrown in. The editing errors were almost to the point of annoying, with several instances of what I suspect was the wrong word choice chosen in spell check. This book was a fun quick read, with interesting characters, flowing dialogue, and entertaining storyline.
4 stars!
 
| Containment by Christian Cantrell Genres:Science Fiction, Dystopia |
As an attempt to save the human race from extinction, the Global Space Agency sets its sight on colonizing the solar system. Arik is born within the confines of the V1 colony on Venus. It is the only life he knows. His wife is pregnant and it is up to him to solve the problem of limited oxygen production so the colony can support another life form.
I'm not normally a big science fiction fan but this book just grabbed my attention for some reason, and I'm glad that it did. As Arik investigates an anomaly he discovers while experimenting if the Venusian soil could sustain plant life, for every question answered, more are raised. The plot is fast-paced and hard to put down. So hard in fact that while staying in a casino hotel with friends, I found myself wishing that I had my Kindle with me. Of course, I don't have good enough luck to make gambling more fun for me than reading. As intuitive as I am, I did not guess the plot twist which left my jaw scraping the floor.
I have a few criticisms. The plot flips back and forth between Arik's investigation before his mysterious accident which leaves him with partial amnesia, and his attempt to retrieve the memories that he has lost. The author doesn't distinguish between when the passages occurred and is confusing at first. But as you get into the story it does become fairly apparent. There were fairly frequent editing errors, but not overly annoying. While all the i's were dotted, t's crossed, and ends tied up; the conclusion seemed fairly abrupt.
All in all this was an enjoyable read and I'm glad I included it in my February picks. But fair warning, it is no longer free.
4 stars!
Spent some time today catching up on reviews. There are several books that I have reviewed that I haven't copied the review to goodreads or amazon. I have two new reviews to write that I hope to get to this weekend, Containment by Christian Cantrell and A Gathering of Light by Patricia Isles. Both were free picks from amazon in February. I haven't even looked at my group reads for March yet to see what they are. I'm so behind right now and can only blame myself. I KNEW getting back into Sims was a bad idea but spoiled myself with a new expansion pack anyways.
Getting ready to leave on a road trip but wanted to jot down my first impression of book I'm currently reading, as I am getting out of the habit of posting regularly. Containment, by Christian Cantrel, was one of my picks for February. The premise is that humans have destroyed Earth, a running theme with me lately for some reason, and have set up a colony on Venus. The next generation of Venus residents have come of age and are given the task of trying to figure out how to increase their oxygen creation so the colony can expand and multiply.
Some of the text can be a little dry as different technologies are explained. I find this common in science fiction as I just don't have the superbrain to comprehend some of the highly technical futuristic science stuff. The plot is compelling and I'm finding the book hard to put down as each chapter reveals more information and yet raises even more questions that I can't wait to find the answer to.
Once again I am behind on my reading. I've got tons of books to read for review on one site or other. I really need to fit in a "just for fun" book every now and then. I still have high hopes of getting to some of these books, and again, even if I can't read them now, they won't always be free. This month, I've decided to not even bother with books that are part of a series. I just don't have the time for that kind of commitment. I already have plenty of series that I have started and would like to finish but there are just so many books, and so little time.
Mystery/ Thriller My review |
 Historical Romance First Impression |
Nonfiction - Memoir My review |
 Paranormal - Ghosts My review |
 | Inheritance Book Two in The Dark Gifts series by Willow Cross Genres:Paranormal, Young Adult |
The second book in Willow Cross's Dark Gifts series is just as compelling as the first. Two orphans find they have a family with a dark secret after they come of age. At first I thought this first book was completely unrelated to the first, only linked by the fact that the characters have a dark gift. I was well into the story before I realized that instead of this plot merely being a continuation of the first story, it was a separate thread that Willow was expertly weaving into the whole saga.
As usual, I'm going to complain about editing. Willow has assured me that it is being re-edited by her new editor. I strongly recommend that you buy this book from amazon, as they will email you notification and send the updated file when the book is re-edited. I don't mean to snub any other vendors, but as far as I know, amazon is the only one that does this with Kindle books. That's all I'm going to say on the subject as it is in the process of being fixed, but feel that it should still be mentioned as it does take away from the enjoyment factor of a good book.
All in all, another excellent story from Willow Cross. Love the premise and can't wait to read the third and final book in the series to see how it concludes.
4 stars!
