Why is there a book review and last day of NaNoWriMo on One-Liner Wednesday?
Tag Archive: Review
The World According to Bob: The Further Adventures of One Man and His Street-Wise Cat by James Bowen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Warmed my soul! I have to thank my friend, Cher, for recommending this book to me.
This was actually book two. My library didn’t have book one on Kindle or OverDrive so I’ll have to wait until I have the money to buy it. Still, I didn’t feel lost. Bob continues to be the author’s savior and best friend. I can certainly understand how furry friends help us all. And Bob looks like my Teddy! He has helped me when I feel my worst with my fibromyalgia.
Though the title is The World According to Bob, it is more or less the story of James Bowen and how his cat has helped him. He doesn’t try to get into Bob’s head and try to understand things from the cat’s point of view. This stays with James’s interpretation of the world while being buddies with a wonderful feline.
I recommend this book to all. It is heartwarming. We all need that kind of tale from time to time. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
COME, THE DARK: by Rebecca Hamilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A while back I picked this Kindle edition for free from Kindle Unlimited. I was lucky to find book one for free soon after. I’m glad I was able to work it out that way. This was a fun read.
This book two, could have been read separately as the main characters from book one are not in this book. The concept of “Forever Girl” is explained fairly well. So I don’t think anyone would feel lost if they had to read these out of order.
One of the things I felt most off with this book, that didn’t occur in book one, is the language and historical issues feel unmet. Our main character is able to smoothly make the process from modern-day Georgia to the years of the Salem Witch Trials with no one noticing her modern speech or clothing. But if you get used to that kind of thing and remember it only as a story, that isn’t a problem.
The book begins with a rape/incest trigger warning. If you have had these things happen to you, then be warned. Even though the main character is able to leave the situation it is always in her mind and is brought with her, as such a situation would live within anyone. One of the things that bothers me is: If you go back in time and hopefully fix the problems of the past, you could cease to exist, and the newborn babe you’ve left behind. If Pa had remained a loving father the babe would cease to exist, too.
Though the main character remembers a time when her parents and life were happy, before the darkness, why does she never wonder if she could go back and help her folks by her newfound abilities? Maybe the baby she only knew one day would cease to exist, but she could save the lives of those she once loved. But this poor girl only remembers her one-day-old baby.
Regardless of the problems I mentioned above, the story is suspenseful and is quite the adventure. Ms. Rebecca Hamilton is quite the writer. There were editing errors, but the story kept me involved so I couldn’t get involved with the mistakes. And I can’t wait to see if there is more to the series, even with the problems I’ve mentioned.
The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I became aware of this book one when I picked up book two for free with Kindle Unlimited. Notwithstanding the inside out reading of Marie Lu’s Legend series, I prefer to read books in their prescribed order.
As the title ‘Forever Girl’ implies, this is a young adult book. And though I loved the storyline and the characters, I just got ill with the sexual teen-angst. If you don’t want to have sex with the guy, don’t sleep with him and then dwell on all things sexual. And, okay, the main character is out of school, in her twenties, still a virgin though I can’t see how. She seems immature. Oh, but don’t get me started on the centuries old vampire with another label. Why has he no more self-control than a child especially when he says he cares for her and wants to wait until she is ready to go adult? But vampires and sexual ambiguity seem to be the theme in young adult books these days.
Had I realized that I would be reading about vampires I might not have read this. It is a worn-out cliche, to say the least. But the drawing card, for me, is the awakening of the witch. Even then the main character was so wishy-washy about moving forward.
Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t hate this story. The writing was well-done. The story carried me past any errors that might have been there. This next problem I put on me. I started getting mixed up by the extras in the story. It was near the end of the book that the name Paloma came up. I still can’t quite figure out who she was.
It was four o’clock in the morning when I finished the story and quickly opened the next book. So that interest in the story kept me from going to sleep. Read this during the day. The end is hair-raising.
A Matter of Faith by Sophia DeLuna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sorry it has taken me so long to review this. I picked this up so long ago that I can’t even remember when or why. But since I was feeling my addiction to Sophia De Luna’s writing, I thought now was the time.
Okay, this was a short story. Not my favorite kind. It was long enough to care about the characters and for a storyline to develop. But, as is my customary response: I wanted more. This could make a marvelous epic fantasy with LBGTQ flavors. Tell me more about the world, the kingdom, the characters and their families. Why doesn’t the secondary character have faith in herself or life itself? How were the talents of healing discovered and are their other talents?
What happens next?
I loved it so far. I want more!
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have never read a series of books so out of order as I have had to with this series. It was too expensive to buy each of the three books so I consulted the library. They had the large print hardback book and the CDs to listen to available right away. They didn’t have the first book and the second was already borrowed. So I read/heard book three first. I was very impressed with the author that the story line and characters held together without the background of the first two books. Soon the second book became available in only the OverDrive (audio) version. So I took my chances.
Once again, I am impressed with how well the story holds together even reading it so out of order. As with book three the narrators: Mariel Stern (June), Steven Kaplan (Day) keep the story moving from within the characters’ points of view. Though the ending of book two felt like the narrators were hitting their stride, the beginning felt a little unrehearsed. Still, I think this is a great way to tell a story from the male and female viewpoints. I think it makes the book more accessible to both genders. That’s my guess. I wonder how males react to this way of telling a story. Both June and Day are fearless and human and show they deeply care for each other and their people. Both are trying to make a dystopian world a little more livable for all. I imagine that the audio versions of this story add so many more layers of believability to the story.
This was the first book I have had to rely strictly on the audio version. There was no Kindle or tree-book available to read along on. With my ADD that made it hard to stay within the story. But I limited my visual stimuli to crocheting a mundane pattern or closing my eyes. I think if I had a car, this would be a great ride along story. It isn’t so exciting as to make the drive dangerous, but it keeps your attention.
Now that I know how the story ends, and how the middle is told, I will have to read the first part. I found I had one credit on Audible so as to ‘buy’ book one. Once my finances are better I will grab the Kindle version to go with it. I may eventually reread the story in the right order to see how much different it comes across. I highly recommend these books for young adults and older. The romance isn’t horrible sticky. Rather it adds another layer of depth to the story. Enjoy!
Wake Up, I’m Fat! by Camryn Manheim
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
‘Camryn Manheim. Isn’t she the beautiful woman with all those earrings on that legal show?’ That’s what I thought a long time ago when I didn’t quite know who she was. She still remains the one I remember. The others were men or skinny minnies. They all look and acted the same. Not much has changed since in Hollywood’s movies and television. For someone that has a hard time differentiating faces of actors and actresses (remember how I told you I had a hard time with Rob and Jon on Game of Thrones?) Give me individuals! Ms. Manheim is a grand individual. I have tried to catch her on every show on the big screen or small. I was sorry to see her leave Ghost Whisperer. But then again I did love Aisha in the friend role. She, too, is unique. Both these two friends were more interesting that the overly sexed main actress.
So when my friend, Michele, offered to let me read this gem I was excited. A couple years later I have taken it off the shelf and actually read it. Sorry it took so long, Michele.
Now to the meat of this book. Fat. I’ve been skinny, I’ve been–well the size I am now. But I always felt fat. In my family were folks of all sizes so I felt accepted no matter what size I was. But go to the store and I often couldn’t find my size or the styles were ugly. The worst was when my daughter wanted to go shopping together. She didn’t inherit my size or anything else. We were at opposite ends of the rack. We rarely could find a store with both our sizes. But she liked the younger looks so I would get relegated looking at jewelry or standing around doing nothing. We stopped shopping together.
Camryn had it worse. Her chosen profession was into the world of men who only love skinny actresses. Her parents didn’t accept her. Well, don’t let me tell her story. See what one of us has gone through. Watch how she handles her life and grows. If you didn’t love her from the beginning like I did, hopefully, you will love her at the end of the book. Even more, this should be required reading for everyone who doesn’t shop Lane Bryants, or the flowered muumuus at the XX end of the rack. You think skinnies are the norm? They’re not. If you think telling the larger person to diet is going to change things, you are wrong. How about love. What happened to kindness and love?
By the way, the reason this book took me so long to read was the font size. I had to take it in bits. But those bits with a bookmark and bright light got me through. Still I would have liked the Kindle version better.
New Hire by Veronica Victorian
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Disclosure: this was a free for review read from Rooster and Pig publishing.
Meh. In the beginning of the book, I felt like I was getting to know a character and a storyline. But then it took off into what I consider a straight guy’s wet dream of lesbian lust. Okay, I am not so much a prude as to not have felt anything. There were hot places. But just about when I might feel an emotional bond or honest need, I read words I have read of straight erotica that always yank me back to reality.
New Hire was so much less than learning the ropes of a new company for the new hire. In fact, once the boss takes over, she takes over! I would have loved more fleshing out of the characters. No pun intended. I think the author tried, but just didn’t quite get there.
Maybe it is just me. Try it and see if it is a book for you.
Relic: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 1 by Anne Hagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
One of the book clubs I belong to mentioned that this book was free a while back. I went over to Amazon and found it free on Kindle Unlimited. Then a couple days after that the book was really free, so I turned in my ‘borrowed’ copy and got my own.
Look, um, I’m not crazy about mysteries or suspense/thrillers, so I was hesitant to read this. Turns out it wasn’t too anxiety producing. So I could move to my bedtime book. Well, that is, until near the end of the book when I realized I was still awake reading at 4 AM.
I did like the main characters. I liked how the author, Anne Hagan, divided the points of view between both of them. That way she could let us in both women’s thoughts and actions.
For most of the book, I found the writing fair. Towards the end though, sentences were hard to understand and there were words that should have been other words. Like the word ‘man’ should have been ‘main’. Maybe earlier in the book I wouldn’t have noticed but here we are in the thick of trying to solve the crime and the tempo of action has sped up. I often had to reread passages to understand what happened.
In my opinion, using cuss words should be full out, and in this case warranted, or not used at all. I felt spelling a cuss word with asterisks felt like cheating. It was another thing that pulled me out of the book. The other cheat was in how the book ended. We’re in the middle of the shake-down (or whatever that part of the arrest process is called and we don’t get to see what happened until later. Sorry, I nearly threw in a spoiler. Then when it is all explained, it felt anticlimactic. Then the next book has a preview which is that scene duplicated. Truly a letdown. I do understand why the things in that last part of the book got jumbled. When I write a fast scene or erotica I find my grammar and spelling give up the ghost. And my descriptions are horrid. Note the above review. But I hope that part and the beginning of the next book can live up to the rest of the first book.
By the way, this book can be rated “G”. What I mean is the sex scenes are kept to the minimum. For me, this story didn’t call for long erotic scenes. Maybe in the next book or so? Mostly the story kept to the mystery. Relationships are building, but the main characters try to keep it ‘professional’. I won’t say how successful they were, but the author did a good job keeping it real.
I hope I haven’t been too critical. I did like the book and do look forward to reading the rest of the series. Like I said, I liked the story and the characters. Worth the read, folks!
My Melancholic Diary by Iva Kenaz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I want to thank my GoodReads friend, A.S. Johnson for recommending this treasure to me. She was right, I did love it!
Once I got the recommendation I found that I could get it through Kindle Unlimited so I set about getting it right away. I already had tons of books ahead of it on my ‘currently reading shelf’, but I got around to it finally. So glad I did!
Where was this book when I was growing up? Oh, yeah, the author probably wasn’t born yet. What a great way to learn how fanciful a diary could be! When I was a young teen I had one of those diaries that had a little lock on it. Why I needed a lock always made me laugh. I rarely wrote anything in it beyond “I breathed in and out today.”
That a person in grade school chose to stay the last year of grade school with her eccentric father in the countryside near Prague in the Czech Republic so that she and he could iron out their differences, shows the maturity of the main character, Lisa, who is 14 nearly 15. But the book is full of mature themes but not in a preachy way. I think there is so much depth in this book that anyone of any age would find something to glean from it.
Lisa, the diary writer, the main character, of course, has a romantic heart and the adolescent inadequate self-esteem. Not too different from most people her age, but when you are that age, you don’t realize that. In fact, I wonder how many people outgrow that?
So seeing Lisa’s musings of her life and loves didn’t feel far from most people I know. Except for the fictional character that becomes alive for her. At first, that is shocking in such a mature girl, but as you watch the rest of her life you see that this ghost from another book guides her as much as she guides him. It is the one relationship that is working for her. What a grand idea! We should all have our own fictional hero/heroine who can speak to us while we write out the character’s destiny. Oh, yeah, we who write do just that! That is if we are writing daily. Gulp. We should be writing daily. Note to self…
Anyway, I highly recommend this book to everyone. I think even males will like it.
Darswords 
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