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Long Time Gone (Hell or High Water, #2)
Long Time Gone (Hell or High Water, #2)
S.E. Jakes | 2013
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I find the authors works very wordy, as in they use words and language that is very apt for the jobs their characters do and sometimes I have no idea what the hell they're talking about so I can sometimes find it hard to get into.

That being said, I really like Tom and Prophet. It may have taken me a while to read this but since it was a story about those two I persevered and enjoyed learning more about them. In the last one I think I was more of a Tom fan and in this I was more for Prophet.

One quote near the end had me smiling happily:

<i><b><blockquote>"You'll end up with a man whose name starts with E."</blockquote></b></i>

Not that I'm going to tell you what his real name is, you'll have to read it for that.

I look forward to reading more books about these two at a later date. (And I'd really like to know what's going to happen next for Cillian and Mal, too)
  
All We Ever Wanted
All We Ever Wanted
Emily Giffin | 2018 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
10
8.2 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow. Just wow. This book is SO relevant right now with the #metoo movement and #timesup. It breaks my heart to realize how often stories like this happen, to anyone, of any age or social/financial status - there is no discrimination, and sadly there just isn't enough conversation about these topics. I applaud Emily Giffin for writing this book.

I had no idea in detail what this story was about when I requested it from NetGalley. I like to be surprised with Emily's books, and I've never read one I didn't like. And I sure was surprised by this one! It's almost like, "If you could walk in someone's shoes" - I felt like i was dropped into this book, as if I was in on a secret, and I just sat back and watched the secrets unravel and unfold.

Something happened to Lyla. Something not good at all. It started with a bunch of elite private high school kids (and some not-so-privileged) at a party, with a lot of alcohol... and you can just imagine it from there. Something happens. Accusations fly, lies are told, people unravel, secrets come out, and trusts are broken.
This books tells the story from several angles and I found myself so attached to them all. They are so well written I honestly felt as if I was in a mother's head, a father's mind and in the thoughts of a 16 year old girl.

I sailed through this, as I do most of Emily's books because I love her writing style and how easily I can just jump into her stories. I wanted to find out more, I wanted justice, and I craved a neat and tidy resolution, but we all know these types things are never neat and tidy.

This book is important. I wish everyone would read this. Although every #metoo story is different, this casts a glimpse into how each and every incident causes so, so much pain, to so many people - and ultimately how getting these types of stories out in the world, can hopefully ease some of that pain by helping and educating others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to review this amazing book.
  
Half Cast (Helheim Wolf Pack Tale #4)
Half Cast (Helheim Wolf Pack Tale #4)
Lauren Dawes | 2018 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
slipped a bit from book 3!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 4 in the Helheim Wolf Pack Tale, and you really SHOULD read all three previous books before this one. There is MUCH that is referenced, but not fully covered here from those books. MUCH. So, don't say I didn't warn you!

We met both Alex and Saskia in book 3, and they met too. They fell in love over a single kiss and now Saskia is mated to another, and Alex is now Bitten.

So, in my review for the third book, I said things were beginning to make sense, and I could kinda see where this was all going. You read that, right? I said it?? Well, now? I lost it all again! I still got an inkling, but I've lost something in the couple of months since I read book three, I really did and I didn't pick it back up here, not fully.

To that end, I didn't enjoy this as much as book 3.

However, I don't think that me losing whatever I did is the full reason. There is more, and it revolves around what Alex and Saskia did, to Ezekiel, in their home. They both felt guilty about that, and well they should but it didn't sit well with me! I would like to see Ezekiel happy in a later book, he needs some happiness now.

Saxon (Saskia's brother) meets HIS mate, but this book ends on a cliffhanger about that. Brax is smitten by someone he meets but not sure where thats going.

As usual, everyone important has a say. And you really do need that here, more so than in the other books.

Like I said, I lost something, and didn't quite get it back and whatever it is, I missed it!

Books one and two got 4 and 4.5 stars respectively. Book 3 is by far my favourite of them all so far and got 5 stars. We've slipped a bit here, and so....

4 solid stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
Doors:  Field of Blood
Doors: Field of Blood
Markus Heitz | 2021 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Finally at an end
This the third and final book in this set (though they aren't to be read in any specific order) was consistent with the first two books. The beginning, shared, quarter sets up an intriguing tale of a group of disparate experts tasked with rescuing the missing daughter of a rich businessman, who has disappeared after going through a mysterious door.
This book sees the group enter a door that takes them to an alternate version of middle-ages France/Germany and the reign of the Frankian empire. As with the World War II element of the second book, this was more or less a passing interest to the book rather than a key element of the story.
The group have found themselves in a version of history where women rule the empire and generally take positions of power, and a building conspiracy among men seeks to reverse this and look to change this in the history books. For me, this was the most interesting aspect of the book, and one that could be plausible. Sadly, I couldn't see past some modern day people apparently conversing comfortably with people from the 9th century without issue, and there being no attempt to address this at all.
Meanwhile in the real world, we learn more about the doors, their use and the mysterious agency controlling them. We learn more in this one book than the other two put together, and between the three we now have a good amount of knowledge about these portals. Some aspects of their use don't add up though, as with any sort of time travel/portal notion.
The book ends fairly abruptly with a long voyage which is skipped over in a very 'sod it, that's the word count reached, wrap it up' style.
Overall, I was very disappointed with these books. While I liked having to piece together things from each book and start to get a feel for the world, I felt so much of it fell short. As with the other two books, it offered so much promise but fell flat.
  
Death Note (2017)
Death Note (2017)
2017 | Drama
The story and the lead character (0 more)
The horrid demon (could have been way more detailed and realistic) (0 more)
Death Note
Having never seen anything about Death Note gives me a special ability to actually rate the movie and not berate it because it didn't follow the comic books. Even the comic creator liked the take. I enjoyed most of the movie and glad they chose Netflix to air it. The ending quite surprised me, and movies these days pretty much are easy to figure out. Comic book fans clearly don't like It, But at least enjoyable to the rest of us.
  
This boom contains essays which analyze the Hunger Games trilogy from many different viewpoints. It discusses everything from society, to decadence, to reality television and how these aspects of our culture are represented within the series. For the most part the essaya were very well written and researched. A few of them made me think about the books on a deeper level. At the same time though some of them began to sound the same.
If you are a fan of the series you will enjoy the perspectives presented in this collection. Just don't expect too much.
  
The Couple Next Door
The Couple Next Door
Shari Lapena | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
7
8.0 (75 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great read until the ending
I didn't really know anything about this book, having picked it from the Richard & Judy book club list, but I was pleasantly surprised.

It starts off well, lots of tension and suspense and some interesting flawed charscyers. It has you questioning all of the characters motives to figure out "whodunnit". My issue is that this was dragged out for far too long and that by the time you got to the ending, it was all a little too predictable. Good writing though and i would definitely read any more books by Shari Lapena.