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The Home For Unwanted Girls
Book
Philomena meets The Orphan Train in this suspenseful, provocative novel filled with love, secrets,...
Historical Fiction 1950s
The Perfect Lap (Racing Hearts in Serenity #2)
8.0
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Book
His job is to drive fast. Hers is to put the brakes on him. When sparks fly, will love cross the...
Contemporary Romance
Merissa (12817 KP) rated Had a Great Fall (The Wish Makers #4) in Books
Apr 14, 2023
Desiree has been left in charge by Kaf, leaving her to deal with irate Guides and no clear idea of what to do or how to do it. Dara is there as the youngest Guide but is more interested in spending time with her family. And, Robin, poor Robin, he's the maker of the wish that Dara is in charge of Guiding.
Wow, this book had me in tears! For about the last 25% of the book, I had a massive lump in my throat as Robin did what he thought he had to. Dara was neglectful in her duties but then she didn't really make the choice to be a Guide anyway. I won't give anything about the story away as that would be unfair of me. Suffice it to say, this is another star in the crown of Shawn McGuire's Wish Makers series.
The story and plot line flowed smoothly and seamlessly. The characters grow and develop throughout the book, especially Desiree as she learns to find her own path and make choices that she can live with. There were no grammatical or editing issues that I found.
To get the best out of this series, I would recommend reading them in order. Although each story stands by itself, the characters mentioned and how other characters react are all down to the previous stories. I really can't recommend this series highly enough. I love it!
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Aug 3, 2015
Wow, this book had me in tears! For about the last 25% of the book, I had a massive lump in my throat as Robin did what he thought he had to. Dara was neglectful in her duties but then she didn't really make the choice to be a Guide anyway. I won't give anything about the story away as that would be unfair of me. Suffice it to say, this is another star in the crown of Shawn McGuire's Wish Makers series.
The story and plot line flowed smoothly and seamlessly. The characters grow and develop throughout the book, especially Desiree as she learns to find her own path and make choices that she can live with. There were no grammatical or editing issues that I found.
To get the best out of this series, I would recommend reading them in order. Although each story stands by itself, the characters mentioned and how other characters react are all down to the previous stories. I really can't recommend this series highly enough. I love it!
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Aug 3, 2015
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2336 KP) rated An Almost Purrfect Murder in Books
Jul 30, 2022
Who Committed Murder on an Alaskan Cruise?
A cruise to Alaska isn’t Frankie’s idea of a vacation, but when her best friend, Penny, decides to get married in the middle of a cruise, she goes along, especially since she’s the maid of honor. The first night, Frankie watches the entertainment, which includes a cat trainer. She surprised to find one of the cats outside her door the next morning transmitting some weird messages that only begin to make sense when she finds the dead body of the trainer on the lifeboat below her cabin. Can she convince anyone that he was murdered?
In a moment of serendipity, I read this book on an Alaskan cruise I took recently. It was fun and strange to read about Frankie in places I was visiting, just in a different order. Yes, this is one of the few paranormal cozy series I read since Frankie can communicate with animals, but it’s a minor part of the story. The plot was uneven with the wedding and romantic subplots taking up pages as well. Since the book is the third in the series, I was definitely invested in those stories, but a little more time on the mystery would have been nice. Still, I was impressed with how all the clues came together in the end. Most of the characters were new, and I enjoyed getting to know them, suspects and family members alike. I laughed multiple times as I was reading at the antics of the two and four legged characters. Overall, this is a fun book that fans of the series will enjoy.
In a moment of serendipity, I read this book on an Alaskan cruise I took recently. It was fun and strange to read about Frankie in places I was visiting, just in a different order. Yes, this is one of the few paranormal cozy series I read since Frankie can communicate with animals, but it’s a minor part of the story. The plot was uneven with the wedding and romantic subplots taking up pages as well. Since the book is the third in the series, I was definitely invested in those stories, but a little more time on the mystery would have been nice. Still, I was impressed with how all the clues came together in the end. Most of the characters were new, and I enjoyed getting to know them, suspects and family members alike. I laughed multiple times as I was reading at the antics of the two and four legged characters. Overall, this is a fun book that fans of the series will enjoy.
Merissa (12817 KP) rated Bad Best Friend (Billionaire's Club #14) in Books
Mar 1, 2022 (Updated Jul 3, 2023)
BAD BEST FRIEND is the fourteenth book in the Billionaire's Club series, and we meet Cora and Rafe. Now, as you may recall, I started this series at book thirteen, so there's a pretty good chance that the couples mentioned have their own stories that I haven't read. That didn't impact me in any way though.
Cora is the baby of the family, over-protected by her brothers and their best friend to try to make up for the death of her father when she was too young to remember him. She had dreams about Rafe but it obviously wasn't meant to be. That is until he moves in and realises she is a woman and all grown up.
I really felt for Cora in this. She took a lot that I don't think I could have. And Teresa was spot on with her prediction. Rafe is a good guy and I do understand where he was coming from. It just didn't fit with the picture I got in my head from the blurb.
Told from both Cora and Rafe's perspectives, this was an easy read that flowed well. The pacing was spot on and there were a few steamy moments.
Another great read from Elise Faber and recommended by me. Now, I really must get those books on the backlist!
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Mar 1, 2022
Cora is the baby of the family, over-protected by her brothers and their best friend to try to make up for the death of her father when she was too young to remember him. She had dreams about Rafe but it obviously wasn't meant to be. That is until he moves in and realises she is a woman and all grown up.
I really felt for Cora in this. She took a lot that I don't think I could have. And Teresa was spot on with her prediction. Rafe is a good guy and I do understand where he was coming from. It just didn't fit with the picture I got in my head from the blurb.
Told from both Cora and Rafe's perspectives, this was an easy read that flowed well. The pacing was spot on and there were a few steamy moments.
Another great read from Elise Faber and recommended by me. Now, I really must get those books on the backlist!
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Mar 1, 2022
Merissa (12817 KP) rated The Long Way Home (Coming Home #1) in Books
Feb 28, 2025
THE LONG WAY HOME is the first book in the Coming Home series and begins with Marcus and Cory, both broken characters in different ways.
Marcus was a troubled teen/trust fund child who got together with Declan, someone out of the same group of people who actually wanted to spend time with him. Unfortunately, Declan became seriously ill and made Marcus continue on with his life without Declan being in it. Cory became a dad at 19 and a single dad six months later. His whole life revolves around his daughter and his family. The sparks fly when these two meet, but not for the reasons Marcus thinks.
I will say, most of this book is angst between the two, with lots of misconstrued signals and attempts to speak. Considering they're both adults, this became frustrating very quickly. You could cut out half of this and still have a decent-sized novel, as this was a LONG read.
I found both characters to be slightly inconsistent in how they thought and behaved, especially Cory. Considering how he'd been earlier in the book, there was a bit of whiplash involved when he and Marcus actually had their first date.
On the whole, this was a good read that I would give 3.5 stars to (rounded up). It is a debut novel and there is plenty of potential for future stories.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Feb 28, 2025
Marcus was a troubled teen/trust fund child who got together with Declan, someone out of the same group of people who actually wanted to spend time with him. Unfortunately, Declan became seriously ill and made Marcus continue on with his life without Declan being in it. Cory became a dad at 19 and a single dad six months later. His whole life revolves around his daughter and his family. The sparks fly when these two meet, but not for the reasons Marcus thinks.
I will say, most of this book is angst between the two, with lots of misconstrued signals and attempts to speak. Considering they're both adults, this became frustrating very quickly. You could cut out half of this and still have a decent-sized novel, as this was a LONG read.
I found both characters to be slightly inconsistent in how they thought and behaved, especially Cory. Considering how he'd been earlier in the book, there was a bit of whiplash involved when he and Marcus actually had their first date.
On the whole, this was a good read that I would give 3.5 stars to (rounded up). It is a debut novel and there is plenty of potential for future stories.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Feb 28, 2025
Jodie Barker (70 KP) rated Random Minds in Tabletop Games
Dec 14, 2018
Multiple games to play (3 more)
Very funny and unique cards
As many players as you like
Fun party game
This is a very funny card game to play with friends/family who have a rude/silly sense of humour. You can play with as many people as you wish, and the more people you play with the more funny stories you make up. There are many different cards and different types of card (Action/Person/Object) so you can make a lot of unique combinations to make each other laugh. There are several different game modes you can try and even a drinking game.
I have only played a couple rounds of the normal game mode of this so far where one deck acts as your "base" cards and then you get 5 cards of each of the other decks. With your 10 cards you have to make a story including your base card from the pile you have selected. The base card is your starting point and can be anywhere within the story you create (beginning/middle/end). You can play as little or many cards as you like to make your story (10 Max) and the goal is to make your selected person laugh more than anyone else. Your selected person for that round chooses the winner out of everyone's stories and then they win the base card which acts as a point, and then you replace your used cards with new ones and the next person selected chooses the winner out of the next round. That is just one game mode and there are more that you can try out.
The only cons with this is that the instructions are not the clearest to understand, but once you figure it out and get used to it you can have plenty of fun with this game. And also even though there are decent sized decks to play with, if you have a few people playing you can go through the cards very quickly and then you could get the same cards over and over again, which isn't a problem but I hope the release new expansion packs in the future so you can get some new cards you haven't seen before.
** This is a very fun party game but it can also be offensive, rude and vulgar so it is best played with people of a certain kind of humour who will not get upset at the topics in this game.
I have only played a couple rounds of the normal game mode of this so far where one deck acts as your "base" cards and then you get 5 cards of each of the other decks. With your 10 cards you have to make a story including your base card from the pile you have selected. The base card is your starting point and can be anywhere within the story you create (beginning/middle/end). You can play as little or many cards as you like to make your story (10 Max) and the goal is to make your selected person laugh more than anyone else. Your selected person for that round chooses the winner out of everyone's stories and then they win the base card which acts as a point, and then you replace your used cards with new ones and the next person selected chooses the winner out of the next round. That is just one game mode and there are more that you can try out.
The only cons with this is that the instructions are not the clearest to understand, but once you figure it out and get used to it you can have plenty of fun with this game. And also even though there are decent sized decks to play with, if you have a few people playing you can go through the cards very quickly and then you could get the same cards over and over again, which isn't a problem but I hope the release new expansion packs in the future so you can get some new cards you haven't seen before.
** This is a very fun party game but it can also be offensive, rude and vulgar so it is best played with people of a certain kind of humour who will not get upset at the topics in this game.
Banyan Tales - Adventure Series & Morals for Kids
Education and Book
App
Get BanyanTales, the best socio-emotional learning app for children up to 8 years old, and watch...
World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European
Anthea Bell, Stefan Zweig and David Pearson
Book
'The time provides the pictures, I merely speak the words to go with them, and it will not be so...
TravelersWife4Life (31 KP) rated How the Light Gets in in Books
Feb 24, 2021
It is actually hard to write this review.
I want my review to reflect the depth of emotion, character, and linguistics that Jolina Petersheim used to convey the touching and beloved story of Ruth. It. Is. Hard.
Most everyone who knows me would say that I love books I read a lot of them (and I do mean a lot). Because of that I kind of get bored of the same old same plot that most stories today use, so when I actually find that Diamond in the Ruff (I just watched Aladdin sorry) I share it with my family saying "This book can change your life, please take the time to read it". This book is one of those.
"How the Light Gets In" by Jolina Petersheim is a wonderful modern retelling of the Biblical story of Ruth & Boaz. I am not usually one to read retellings of Biblical stories, as I think that the Bible tells them best. This however is more of an applied story if that makes sense. Jolina takes the story of Ruth & Boaz and uses it to make you really think and see the life altering impacts that Ruth, Boaz, Naomi and Ruth's kids went through. It’s filled with so much emotion, laughter, tears, and reflective peace that I couldn't imagine the story ending. It does though, and in such a beautiful way. I never cry (well almost never), but this story, man this story, I was so invested in the characters I could see Ruth's thoughts I could feel her sadness. I cried for her, I cried imagining myself having to go through that situation and how I might handle it. At times I would laugh out loud or smile and my husband would ask why I told him the same thing I would tell you. You need to read the book to understand why.
Words cannot express how much I hope that each person who reads this post would pick up a copy of How the Light Gets In and read it, then share it to help change the way we look at our daily lives. I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars rating for having depth to the characters, making me think, and making me smile through the tears. You really knocked this one outta the park Jolina Petersheim.
I volunteered to read this book in exchange for my honest review, the thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
I want my review to reflect the depth of emotion, character, and linguistics that Jolina Petersheim used to convey the touching and beloved story of Ruth. It. Is. Hard.
Most everyone who knows me would say that I love books I read a lot of them (and I do mean a lot). Because of that I kind of get bored of the same old same plot that most stories today use, so when I actually find that Diamond in the Ruff (I just watched Aladdin sorry) I share it with my family saying "This book can change your life, please take the time to read it". This book is one of those.
"How the Light Gets In" by Jolina Petersheim is a wonderful modern retelling of the Biblical story of Ruth & Boaz. I am not usually one to read retellings of Biblical stories, as I think that the Bible tells them best. This however is more of an applied story if that makes sense. Jolina takes the story of Ruth & Boaz and uses it to make you really think and see the life altering impacts that Ruth, Boaz, Naomi and Ruth's kids went through. It’s filled with so much emotion, laughter, tears, and reflective peace that I couldn't imagine the story ending. It does though, and in such a beautiful way. I never cry (well almost never), but this story, man this story, I was so invested in the characters I could see Ruth's thoughts I could feel her sadness. I cried for her, I cried imagining myself having to go through that situation and how I might handle it. At times I would laugh out loud or smile and my husband would ask why I told him the same thing I would tell you. You need to read the book to understand why.
Words cannot express how much I hope that each person who reads this post would pick up a copy of How the Light Gets In and read it, then share it to help change the way we look at our daily lives. I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars rating for having depth to the characters, making me think, and making me smile through the tears. You really knocked this one outta the park Jolina Petersheim.
I volunteered to read this book in exchange for my honest review, the thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.