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Winging It (Hockey Ever After #1)
Winging It (Hockey Ever After #1)
Morgan James, Ashlyn Kane | 2022 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
so glad I gave this a go!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

I will admit, hockey themed books tend to be a bit and miss for me, depending on the level of detailed descriptions about the actual playing of hockey. I have no interest in hockey, and it's not a very popular sport in the UK. So, when a blurb grabs me, about a hockey book, I walk into it with an open mind and give it a good go.

I was VERY pleased I took this on!

Gabe is far in the closet and has no plans to be out. Dante is not, in the closet nor out of it but a door opening at the wrong time, gets Dante a glance at Gabe in a man's arms. Dante's mind then goes into overdrive. Gabe is all, aside from hockey, he thinks about. When gabe is outed by an ex, Dante stands by his man. Cos Gabe is his, he just doesn't know it yet.

What I especially liked about this, was how things crept up on Dante. Gabe, for his part, liked Dante, and he played a part in Gabe's dreams, but Dante was a ladies man, before Gabe and that does throw him a little bit. Once he gets his head round it, Dante is happy to admit he is bi. And Dante goes all out to get Gabe in his bed and his heart.

Gabe is more cautious, and rightly so. He's been hurt before and doesn't want to be again, but sometimes, fate has a way of stuffing your plans out the window!

I loved the guys on the team, all of them even Kitty. He does a bad thing here, but he does redeem himself, beautifully! And the way they all pull together to help Tom was amazing. They saw he was off, and pulled a bit of an intervention to get to the bottom of it and then they all helped. Loved that.

I found the level of hockey descriptions just enough for me. Some may say there isn't enough, but fo ME, they were just detailed enough for me not to skip them, which is good, cos I would have missed some important bits had I skipped!

The level of steam is fairly high, but not ever so explicit and I liked that here. This is more about seeing what's in front of you, dealing with your past and planning for the future.

Book 2 has a different set of leads, so I'm wondering if that book follows this one, given what is said in the blurb, and given what happens here. I do hope we can catch up with Gabe and Dante though.

First I've read of either of this pair of authors, I will read more!

A very enjoyable 4 star read.

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
The Deception (The Secret Tales #2)
The Deception (The Secret Tales #2)
Sanna Brand | 2024 | Romance
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Patrick and Charlotte are perfect for each other!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 2 in The Secret Tales series, but can totally be read as a stand alone. I would say, as a personal point, that you will get a better understanding of the ladies of this time, and what they have to do to stay safe. It's also a stunning 5 star read, so you know, get to it!

I loved The Bond, and I loved this one too, for very different reasons!

The Bond is a slow burn, low steam book. Very much a fade to black book. And this one? Not so much! It's a tad steamier, but not explicit, at all. Patrick and Charlotte are perfect for each other, even if they were never meant to be. And I loved that difference about the two books, I really did.

I loved how Patrick deals with his injury: by not letting it get the better of him. Being confined to a wheelchair after a life at sea would be hard for anyone to deal with, but Patrick and his family set out to make his life easier, but not limiting. I gather from reading this, that injuries of this sort at that time were far more devastating than they are in this time. But once Patrick got his head round what HE needed, he got to it, and devised his new wheelchair, adapted his house to accomodate his chair. I love that his sister devised a new saddle for him to continue to ride his horse.

Lottie's forging her father's work is their only real stumbling block, but once Patrick knows WHY she does it, he understands, but makes sure Lottie knows it cannot continue once they are married. But that takes a nasty turn, and I really did not see that coming at me!

I had to giggle though, out loud! It was so funny, reading about what Lottie thought was going to happen on her wedding night. She really had no clue and it was Rose who educated her. Proper made me laugh! I loved that Rose and Rhys (since Rhys is Patrick's brother) play a huge part here, it was so lovely to catch up with them.

I wrote at the end of my review for The Bond that I thought one of Rose's sisters was the second book, but I cannot remember which one! However, Lottie is not one of Rose's sisters and one of LOTTIE'S sisters has the next book.

I love this group of ladies, and the men who fall for them and I really look forward to catching up with the supporting cast in future books, cos there are some interesting side characters!

Loved it, so it can only get:

5 full and shiny stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
Feathers and Foxes (Brodyr Alarch #2)
Feathers and Foxes (Brodyr Alarch #2)
Morgan Sheppard | 2024 | Paranormal, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I love hearing from everyone! It fills the bigger picture with more colour and detai!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 2 in the Brodyr Alarch series, but it's not necessary to have read Slippers and Songs, which is book one, nor is it necessary to read Sealed with a Curse, which is the sort of introduction to this world and to the princes who are Brodyr Alarch. Not necessary, but I think you should. It will give you a better view of what the princes did to warrant getting the curse that turned them into swans, and how they got out of their predicament. They are very good books, I gave them Sealed 4 stars and 5 stars to Slippers and Songs.

And 5 stars for this one too!

Two things I'm loving the most about these books.

I don't know the Brothers Grimm tales that Sheppard is using to form the basis of these books. They are the lesser known ones, and I'm almost intrigued enough to go and read The Brothers Grimm tales, just to see if I can match them up! Almost, but I won't. Cos it might spoil my enjoyment of these books.

They are CLEAN. Totally and utterly and so beautifully clean. I will, more often than not, say I like my books on the steamier side and I make no apologies for that, but I am LOVING that these books are not at all like that! Oh don't get me wrong, there is love and passion here, but there is no explicit steam. Not for Terrwyn and Sulien, nor for Selene and Conway (from Sealed) as we catch up with them a couple times in the book.

In my review for Slippers, I said I wanted to hear from Tesni, but we didn't. But here, we get Sulien! And a few others too. I love hearing from everyone! It fills the bigger picture with more colour and detail, and I loved that.

Again, the Welsh Gods play a part, and again, I'm not going to try to name them cos I can't say them, let alone spell them, but they get up to their tricks in helping the Brodyr Alarch find their love, even if things do go a little off plan here!

Macsen is up next, given the little epilogue that those aforementioned Goods have, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! But Gerallt's book is the one I'm waiting for, and I strongly suspect his will be the last one! Gerallt is the prince who kept a swan wing, to remind himself of what he did. I want in his head so bad!

Anyway, enough rambling, but in case I forgot to say:

I loved this book!

5 full and shiny stars!

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
LT
Lips Touch: Three Times
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Genre: Young Adult, paranormal/fantasy, romance
ISBN: 9780545055857
Published: October 1st 2009 by Arthur A. Levine Books
Rating: 5

Three stories. Three kisses, all with horrible—or wonderful?—consequences. Goblins hunt girls who long for what they don't have. The most beautiful voice can't be heard, even by a lover, or all who hear it will die. A young girl has been thrown into something she never chose, for a reason she doesn't know, with memories that aren't her own. Welcome to paranormal love.

These stories were fantastic. There were three things that stuck out about them:

1. None of them had happyland syndrome (description of Happyland Syndrome here: http://haleymathiot.blogspot.com/2010/06/unique-phrases-call-for-definitions.html) endings where everything wraps up perfectly. In fact only one of them ends at the end of the story: the others solve the main conflict and wrap up nicely. Taylor didn't have to write all the way to the end because I knew what was going to happen and was satisfied exploring the rest in my mind.

2. They pulled me into the story with the first sentence. There was no "I'm going to give this a try and maybe it'll be worth reading." No, it was enchanting and enticing from the first word, and it was because of the creativity in the prose and the language.

3. Great writing. Beautiful intricate descriptions that stuck with me and gave me the feelings Taylor wanted me to have—whether they be enticing and sensual, or terrifying and upsetting.

Here are my thoughts on the individual short stories:

Goblin Fruit

Really?… Wow… why was that so good even though it had a horrible ending?… and was it really that horrible? Yes, it really was. I had to double check and make sure that it really was the end! I'd been wondering for a while 'can an author write a good book with a good ending that isn't happy?' answer, Yes. Laini Taylor can.

Spicy Little Curses Such As These

This story was horrid and sweet at the same time. I had a thought of how the story would end, but the ending turned out to be much different. It wasn't perfect, but it was perfect enough to leave me smiling and feeling satisfied for the characters.

The Hatchling

I could not visualize how this story would have a happy ending, and it certainly wasn't perfect—there is one character whom I still fear for her sanity. But I was so amazed an the unwinding of the mysteries and secrets of the plot and was more pleased than I thought I would be with the conclusion.

For wonderful writing, creativity, and fantastic characters, I give this one five stars and two thumbs up—get it, first chance you can.

Content/recommendation: Ages 15+ for some language, little sensuality. No explicit violence or language, no sex.

This review is copyright Haley Mathiot and Night Owl Reviews 2010. Original Review: http://haleymathiot.blogspot.com/2010/10/review-lips-touch-three-times.html
  
The Sugarless Plum
The Sugarless Plum
Zippora Karz | 2009 | Biography
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Zippora’s memoir is touching, inspirational, dramatic, and profound. I felt 100% in her shoes through her story, not just because I am a dancer and can relate to a lot of the experiences, but because of the way she has written it. She writes like the whole thing is magic—because Ballet is magic. I just can’t think of words to describe how much I loved this book.

There was a lot of information about Diabetes in the text, and I did skip over a paragraph occasionally. But for the most part it all fit in perfect. She described how she worried about how much Insulin to take before a show so that she wouldn't faint on stage. She told about how she was in complete denial for a while. She told about the horror to find that after she broke down and tested her blood after eating off-diet for so long, and her reading was off the charts—and another time, while she was having short black-outs, her reading was so low she didn’t know that a human’s blood sugar level could get that low… and how she felt in all those situations.

How Zippora felt was a key element running through the book. It wasn’t just “this is my story, hope you enjoy.” No, it was “First this happened. It looked like this, it felt like this, it smelled and tasted like this. Then this happened!”

Would a non-dancer relate to this book? Yes I believe they would. Maybe they wouldn’t have the same respect for what she went through as I do, but they would still relate. I danced through injuries and illnesses and partnered people who could at any moment throw up all over me and had six hour rehearsals en pointe and stayed at the studio from 8:00am to 7:30 pm with only a few crackers and water keeping me alive and ate dinner at 11:30 at night. I remember how it feels. But Zippora’s memoir tells us how it is in the professional world—which is all that I mentioned to a higher degree—and does it in a way that you don’t have to have that background to understand and relate to it and feel it (Although dancers will know what a pirouette or a tendue is without the explanation that she gives. At least the better if they call themselves dancers :).

THE SUGARLESS PLUM wasn’t just for dancers. It’s for anyone who dreams of the stage. Any athlete who suffers from an illness or an injury, either Diabetes or otherwise. It shows people that although they may not be able to overcome or fix a chronic disease, but it is possible to achieve your goal and cope with it and still achieve what you dream of most.

Content: There is one scene with brief mention of sex but no explicit details, and there is no language.

Recommendation: Ages 12+ to anyone who has ever dreamed about the stage, any athlete who suffers from Diabetes and needs encouragement, or anyone who loves a touching and inspirational memoir.
  
40x40

Janeeny (200 KP) rated The Pisces in Books

May 9, 2019 (Updated Jun 10, 2019)  
The Pisces
The Pisces
Melissa Broder | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Lucy is a student who doesn’t really know what she wants in life, and after an acrimonious break up from her boyfriend. Her sister throws her a lifeline, giving Lucy a break from her desert life in Phoenix, her sister asks Lucy to housesit for her whilst also attending a local therapy group. So Lucy heads to Los Angeles and it’s here that she has an awakening and a lurid affair with a merman.

I read this as this months book club book. The lady that suggested it did mention that there are a fair amount of sex scenes and sexual references so I was prepared. However I must say that, for me, none of the sex scenes were gratuitous, they formed part of the story. If you took out the sex scenes the book really wouldn’t make a lot of sense or would at least be a bit weaker for it. The language she uses isn’t cliche or cringey either (there’s no heaving breasts or throbbing body parts) it’s very ‘real’.

This book is a bit like the ones you’re given to read in English literature classes in school, that are rife with meaning and symbolism that you have no idea about until your teacher points it out. I feel there is a strong feminist message in there somewhere, as most of the women in the book are trying to fight a sexual reliance on men. It’s also heavily underlined by the fact that literally all the male characters are weak in one way or another.
To that point I really did not like Theo, the main love interest. He seemed a bit too weak, not as a character but as a person. This is a book with a strong feminist message, so it wouldn’t do to have your heroine overshadowed by a man so that is understandable. (A little side note, a member of my book group bought up the interesting idea that the ‘weakness’ is just an act and he’s psychologically preying on Lucy’s vulnerability)

There are a lot of references to Sappho, which again I feel hints at a feminist message. I’m sorry to say that even though I am aware of Sappho I have barely any knowledge about her. I have now acquired a couple of books from the library to remedy this.

There were some quite strong opinions on this in book group. Whilst I liked the book for it’s style of writing, one of the other ladies liked it for its controversy, but most of the group really didn’t like it at all. The strong feeling against it came, mostly, from the explicit language that was used, whilst one member was so bewildered by the events within the book she was convinced the main character was just on a big drug trip and hallucinating the whole thing.

A couple of us did take something away from the book, I took away a strong interest in the works of Sappho, and one of the other members took away a deeper understanding of a past friend whose behaviour she recognised in some of the characters in the book.

I think we’re going for something a little less controversial next month
  
WHo We Truly Are (Enhanced #2)
WHo We Truly Are (Enhanced #2)
Victoria Sue | 2017 | LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wanted to punch Talon so bad!
Independent reviewer for Divine Magazine, I was gifted the AUDIO copy of this book.

This is book two in the Enhanced Series, and you really SHOULD read or listen to book one, Five Minutes Longer, before you start this one. It's a continuation of Talon and Finn's tale, and not all is repeated here.

Talon and Finn are partners in all ways, it's just not common knowledge. When Finn is sent undercover to try to locate the missing Enhanced children, Talon has to dig deep within himself to let Finn do his job, and then for Talon to do his, when Finn turns up missing too.

For most of this book, I wanted to punch Talon in the face so bloody hard!! He's such an idiot when it comes to Finn doing his job, he really is! I get he cares for Finn, very much so, but Finn came into Talon's world as his WORK partner, and that has to be front and centre. But no, Talon's reaction to Finn going undercover is to bury his head in the sand, and ignore Finn. So much so, Finn thinks to leave Florida and find himself some who really appreciates him.

But in Talon's defense, he is dealing with his ever increasing powers, taking on the powers of the other team members, and it does take its toll on him.

I found this one a little more explicit than book one, as Talon and Finn's physical relationship seems to be the outlet for their work situations frustration, for BOTH of them. No complaining, min, no ma'am not at all! Even though I wanted to punch Talon, he does somewhat redeem himself when they get home!

The missing children has *some* conclusion, but there are still some unanswered questions. We meet some new people, both Enhanced and regular.

When Talon finally gets his head out his ass, and *literally* explodes, it's Finn that brings him back from the brink. Finn's words said to him, that words Talon longed to hear, and indeed say, manage to clear his mind and focus in time to save them both.

Nick J Russo again narrates. I love his narration again. His voices are clear, and consistent across both books, and I have no trouble following multi person conversations. His reading voice is deep and even, making it such an easy listen!

Russo gets all of Finn's emotions when Talon almost blanks him, and I felt for Finn, I really did. Listening to a book is such a different experience to reading, and the narrator makes listening to this book such a pleasure.

Of course, a narrator can ONLY reads the words he's given and if Victoria Sue continues to write about these guys, I'm gonna be listening! (I don't like to flip between listening and reading in a series, I find I lose something if I do!)

Off to listen to book three, Beneath The Mask. I've a feeling Gael is in a world of hurt and the guys don't really know how deep it goes!

5 stars for the book
5 stars for the narration
5 stars overall

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**