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She Has A Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be
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A haunting tale of suspense, rendered with the masterful skill only Barker could muster. After...
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Behind every Christmas tradition is a story — usually, a forgotten one. Each year, as we decorate...
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Wild Swans ( Timeless Fairytales book 2) in Books
Jan 5, 2022
3of 230
Kindle
The Wild Swans ( Timeless Fairytales book 2)
By K M Shea
Elise is the foster-daughter of the King of Arcainia, a mathematician, and the country's treasurer. She is not a hero. But when her step-mother, a wicked witch, curses Elise's seven foster-brothers - the princes of Arcainia - and turns them into swans, Elise is the only one who can save them. To break the curse, she must knit seven shirts made of stinging nettles, but there's a catch. She has to complete the shirts without uttering a word, and if she doesn't finish the task, Arcainia and her foster-brothers will be lost. THE WILD SWANS is a retelling of the German Six Swans fairytale and the Dutch Wild Swans fairytale. It is a story of humor, love, adventure, and magic, and it is part of the top selling Timeless Fairy Tales series - a series comprised of loosely related adaptations of your favorite fairytales. All Timeless Fairy Tales take place in the same world and can be read all together, or as individual, stand-alone books.
I must confess I’d never heard of this fairytale where have I been!! This was beautiful and a sure sign of love and strength. I love K M Shea her books are just so well written. Definitely recommended to those that love retellings of fairytales.
Kindle
The Wild Swans ( Timeless Fairytales book 2)
By K M Shea
Elise is the foster-daughter of the King of Arcainia, a mathematician, and the country's treasurer. She is not a hero. But when her step-mother, a wicked witch, curses Elise's seven foster-brothers - the princes of Arcainia - and turns them into swans, Elise is the only one who can save them. To break the curse, she must knit seven shirts made of stinging nettles, but there's a catch. She has to complete the shirts without uttering a word, and if she doesn't finish the task, Arcainia and her foster-brothers will be lost. THE WILD SWANS is a retelling of the German Six Swans fairytale and the Dutch Wild Swans fairytale. It is a story of humor, love, adventure, and magic, and it is part of the top selling Timeless Fairy Tales series - a series comprised of loosely related adaptations of your favorite fairytales. All Timeless Fairy Tales take place in the same world and can be read all together, or as individual, stand-alone books.
I must confess I’d never heard of this fairytale where have I been!! This was beautiful and a sure sign of love and strength. I love K M Shea her books are just so well written. Definitely recommended to those that love retellings of fairytales.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2456 KP) rated Paradise Plagued in Books
Nov 26, 2025
Jax Finds Vacation Turns Political
Jax, her new husband, and her closest friends are escaping to the Ogdam Oasis for a much-deserved vacation. She is going under an assumed name in a hope to truly be able to relax. However, Jax finds a dead body their first night there. When some things at the scene don’t add up, Jax determines that it was murder. Can she find a way to bring about justice without giving away who she really is?
It was longer than I intended before I returned to this series, but it was good to visit Jax again. All my favorite characters made the trip with her, and some of the others did get mentioned. Updates on the politics of the realm in the months since we last visited Jax slowed down the beginning, but I got caught up in the mystery once it really got going. I did figure one thing out early, but I was hooked all the way until the logical solution. A few of the characters didn’t come fully alive for me, but that was due to their limited page time. This story does move the series into a new direction, and I’m anxious to see what comes next. Fans will be glad they read this book and be ready for the next when they set this one down.
It was longer than I intended before I returned to this series, but it was good to visit Jax again. All my favorite characters made the trip with her, and some of the others did get mentioned. Updates on the politics of the realm in the months since we last visited Jax slowed down the beginning, but I got caught up in the mystery once it really got going. I did figure one thing out early, but I was hooked all the way until the logical solution. A few of the characters didn’t come fully alive for me, but that was due to their limited page time. This story does move the series into a new direction, and I’m anxious to see what comes next. Fans will be glad they read this book and be ready for the next when they set this one down.
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated River Road in Books
Feb 8, 2018
Nan Lewis is a creative writing professor at a state school in upstate New York. She lives alone after the tragic death of her young daughter, Emmy--an incident which her marriage could not survive. She's recently been denied tenure by her school and is upset and agitated the university's holiday party. On her way home, she hits a deer, but cannot find the animal when she goes to check on it. Nan eventually makes it back home in a snowstorm, leaving her car at the bottom of her icy, unplowed driveway. But when she wakes in the morning, she learns that one of her prized students, Leia, was killed in a hit-and-run the night before on River Road: the exact road where Nan hit the deer. Because her car was damaged from hitting the deer, Nan is the prime suspect, and she quickly loses the support of her colleagues, who point out that she has become a functioning alcoholic since her daughter's death. Even worse, Nan starts seeing signs that remind her of Emmy's death. Are Emmy and Leia's deaths related? How much did Nan have to drink the night she hit the deer? Will she clear her name before her entire life is destroyed?
I'm honestly not sure why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. It had several things working against it: 1) an unlikable narrator who drinks heavily; 2) a storyline that heavily involved dead children and pets (why?!); and 3) an easily guessed villain. Still, I found this one compulsively readable and stayed up far past my bedtime to finish the second half of the book. Nan grew on me, and I found myself almost protective of her. The lead policeman in the novel, Joe, was a favorite of mine. While I figured out the villain fairly early, I didn't understand the motives, so the plot kept me guessing until the end. Goodman weaves several storylines together--which intersect, but loosely--and somehow they all work. There are several supporting characters, including the woman who killed Nan's daughter and a young single mother from one of Nan's classes, who give the novel a surprising depth.
Anyway, despite some of the craziness, I found myself enjoying the book and racing to finish it. I first fell in love with Goodman due to her novel [b:The Lake of Dead Languages|120274|The Lake of Dead Languages|Carol Goodman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320554718s/120274.jpg|3159707]. That book was impressive and still sits on my bookshelf to this day. If you haven't read it, I certainly recommend it. However, [b:River Road|25111007|River Road|Carol Goodman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1454544060s/25111007.jpg|44804735] is a fun thriller and a worthy diversion.
I'm honestly not sure why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. It had several things working against it: 1) an unlikable narrator who drinks heavily; 2) a storyline that heavily involved dead children and pets (why?!); and 3) an easily guessed villain. Still, I found this one compulsively readable and stayed up far past my bedtime to finish the second half of the book. Nan grew on me, and I found myself almost protective of her. The lead policeman in the novel, Joe, was a favorite of mine. While I figured out the villain fairly early, I didn't understand the motives, so the plot kept me guessing until the end. Goodman weaves several storylines together--which intersect, but loosely--and somehow they all work. There are several supporting characters, including the woman who killed Nan's daughter and a young single mother from one of Nan's classes, who give the novel a surprising depth.
Anyway, despite some of the craziness, I found myself enjoying the book and racing to finish it. I first fell in love with Goodman due to her novel [b:The Lake of Dead Languages|120274|The Lake of Dead Languages|Carol Goodman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320554718s/120274.jpg|3159707]. That book was impressive and still sits on my bookshelf to this day. If you haven't read it, I certainly recommend it. However, [b:River Road|25111007|River Road|Carol Goodman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1454544060s/25111007.jpg|44804735] is a fun thriller and a worthy diversion.
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated A Different Kind in Books
Jan 23, 2020
A Different Kind follows Payton Carlson, a high school who has a perfect life as a cheerleader and on top of the social pyramid at her school, at least until she starts getting strange dreams that are actually her being abducted by aliens.
A Different Kind definitely isn't my favorite book, contrary to the stellar rating. It reminded me a lot about Lux, which I actually have a like/hate relationship:
~ Aliens. Obviously. On the bright side, the name isn't complex, although Lux certainly isn't complex. But Latin is most certainly complex. Here, they're just called Greys. Simple. Easy.
~ DOD, aka Department of Defense, or maybe some sort of government interference. The DOD checks up on fellow Luxens in Lux. It's pretty much a similar case here, although it's simply someone. Chances are it's the DOD. That's up to Lauryn to confirm.
~ Telepathy. Need I say more? O_O I did find "We mean you no harm" funny though... it's probably made me think of the weird voice going "We come in peace."
<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C7DVLiXJ_jg/U3FdCxE4PMI/AAAAAAAADQI/JNNizFBzwVw/s1600/we_come_in_peace.jpg"; height="240" width="320">
<b>What Made Me Enjoy A Different Kind?</b>
~ Logan's humble. At least, that's what it seems to me. He certainly doesn't need an ego check AT ALL. I don't think he even has an ego. I'm not saying all book boys with an ego need a check. Some I just don't like. Some I don't like in the first but I like them by the second, and if I don't like said boy by the second book, he's toasty. No pun intended.
~ Telekinesis over metal, which I find majorly cool. Blacksmiths would be uber happy if this were an actual power. Oh, and there would be less hospital bills. ;)
~ Despite the fact I disliked Payton in the first half of the book, I actually liked her by the end. She makes a major character change from being a complete jerk to someone who realized that she didn't want to be popular after all and for her entire life, she's been acting like someone that everyone expected her to be. I did have a problem with her being drunk a lot though. But that was before her change. I suppose that means strong character development. :3
MORAL: Be Yourself
<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-inMi1-dfOq4/U3FdRYX9AwI/AAAAAAAADQQ/6xhvm2InqUo/s1600/be-yourself-Favim.com-368618.gif"; height="179" width="320">
------------------
Review copy provided by the author
Original Rating: 4.5
This review and more can be found over at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-a-different-kind-by-lauryn-april.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gi5Rk5yLloA/UtliaUbdL3I/AAAAAAAACbE/J27z92_qrYU/s1600/Official+Banner.png"; /></a>
A Different Kind definitely isn't my favorite book, contrary to the stellar rating. It reminded me a lot about Lux, which I actually have a like/hate relationship:
~ Aliens. Obviously. On the bright side, the name isn't complex, although Lux certainly isn't complex. But Latin is most certainly complex. Here, they're just called Greys. Simple. Easy.
~ DOD, aka Department of Defense, or maybe some sort of government interference. The DOD checks up on fellow Luxens in Lux. It's pretty much a similar case here, although it's simply someone. Chances are it's the DOD. That's up to Lauryn to confirm.
~ Telepathy. Need I say more? O_O I did find "We mean you no harm" funny though... it's probably made me think of the weird voice going "We come in peace."
<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C7DVLiXJ_jg/U3FdCxE4PMI/AAAAAAAADQI/JNNizFBzwVw/s1600/we_come_in_peace.jpg"; height="240" width="320">
<b>What Made Me Enjoy A Different Kind?</b>
~ Logan's humble. At least, that's what it seems to me. He certainly doesn't need an ego check AT ALL. I don't think he even has an ego. I'm not saying all book boys with an ego need a check. Some I just don't like. Some I don't like in the first but I like them by the second, and if I don't like said boy by the second book, he's toasty. No pun intended.
~ Telekinesis over metal, which I find majorly cool. Blacksmiths would be uber happy if this were an actual power. Oh, and there would be less hospital bills. ;)
~ Despite the fact I disliked Payton in the first half of the book, I actually liked her by the end. She makes a major character change from being a complete jerk to someone who realized that she didn't want to be popular after all and for her entire life, she's been acting like someone that everyone expected her to be. I did have a problem with her being drunk a lot though. But that was before her change. I suppose that means strong character development. :3
MORAL: Be Yourself
<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-inMi1-dfOq4/U3FdRYX9AwI/AAAAAAAADQQ/6xhvm2InqUo/s1600/be-yourself-Favim.com-368618.gif"; height="179" width="320">
------------------
Review copy provided by the author
Original Rating: 4.5
This review and more can be found over at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-a-different-kind-by-lauryn-april.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gi5Rk5yLloA/UtliaUbdL3I/AAAAAAAACbE/J27z92_qrYU/s1600/Official+Banner.png"; /></a>
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated The Winner's Curse (The Winner's Trilogy, #1) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
You never know what kinds of books you'll find when you take your time at the library.
<i>The Winner's Curse</i>, to say the least, is perhaps one of the best, if not <i>the</i> best, book I've read so far in 2015. The characters, the writing, the world, the plot – I loved it all (or most of it, but technically it's still all of it).
Kestrel may be one of my favorite characters – I just love how she resists (flouting them may be more accurate) her father's and society's rules, values, and expectations throughout the entire book, and even how she resists being bossed around by Cheat near the end.
<blockquote>"If a woman can fight and die for the empire, why can't a woman walk alone?"</blockquote>
Frankly, it's fantastic. It's fantastic how she doesn't really care too much about what society thinks of her relationship with Arin, despite the fact the rumors weren't true at the time. And it's even more fantastic how loyal Jess and Ronan are to Kestrel – they stick around even while Kestrel's reputation is obviously going down the drain with each action she takes that society looks down upon (though Ronan may be questionable).
<blockquote>"It doesn't matter what they think. Dance with me."</blockquote>
Then there's the writing – it's beautiful. The parallel structure the author uses occasionally throughout seems almost poetic, or if not poetic, then there seems to be a rhythm every so often.
<blockquote>She would have stopped him. She would have wished herself deaf, blind, made of unfeeling smoke. She would have stopped his words out of terror, longing.</blockquote>
I'm also not typically a fan of authors revealing what really happens through another character (while another character hears differently), but with <i>The Winner's Curse</i>, I find I rather enjoy Rutkoski revealing what really happens through Arin while Kestrel hears something else. Perhaps it's just the character itself, as Arin <i>is</i> an intriguing character and seems to have an air of mystery about him right when he is first sold to Kestrel – the author reveals that there's something up with him, but is vague enough not to give too much away.
The ending to <i>The Winner's Curse</i> is full of tension – with the second book already released or being released soon, I <i>really</i> want to read the next book, in hopes the sequel is as wonderfully written and unpredictable as the first to the <i>Winner's Trilogy</i> is.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-the-winners-curse-by-marie-rutkoski/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<i>The Winner's Curse</i>, to say the least, is perhaps one of the best, if not <i>the</i> best, book I've read so far in 2015. The characters, the writing, the world, the plot – I loved it all (or most of it, but technically it's still all of it).
Kestrel may be one of my favorite characters – I just love how she resists (flouting them may be more accurate) her father's and society's rules, values, and expectations throughout the entire book, and even how she resists being bossed around by Cheat near the end.
<blockquote>"If a woman can fight and die for the empire, why can't a woman walk alone?"</blockquote>
Frankly, it's fantastic. It's fantastic how she doesn't really care too much about what society thinks of her relationship with Arin, despite the fact the rumors weren't true at the time. And it's even more fantastic how loyal Jess and Ronan are to Kestrel – they stick around even while Kestrel's reputation is obviously going down the drain with each action she takes that society looks down upon (though Ronan may be questionable).
<blockquote>"It doesn't matter what they think. Dance with me."</blockquote>
Then there's the writing – it's beautiful. The parallel structure the author uses occasionally throughout seems almost poetic, or if not poetic, then there seems to be a rhythm every so often.
<blockquote>She would have stopped him. She would have wished herself deaf, blind, made of unfeeling smoke. She would have stopped his words out of terror, longing.</blockquote>
I'm also not typically a fan of authors revealing what really happens through another character (while another character hears differently), but with <i>The Winner's Curse</i>, I find I rather enjoy Rutkoski revealing what really happens through Arin while Kestrel hears something else. Perhaps it's just the character itself, as Arin <i>is</i> an intriguing character and seems to have an air of mystery about him right when he is first sold to Kestrel – the author reveals that there's something up with him, but is vague enough not to give too much away.
The ending to <i>The Winner's Curse</i> is full of tension – with the second book already released or being released soon, I <i>really</i> want to read the next book, in hopes the sequel is as wonderfully written and unpredictable as the first to the <i>Winner's Trilogy</i> is.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-the-winners-curse-by-marie-rutkoski/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>