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Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Battlemage in Books

Apr 27, 2018  
Battlemage
Battlemage
Stephen Aryan | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Battlemage was so exciting. It held on tight and didn’t let go. I was hooked from the very first few sentences from the first chapter and from there it just got better. It was everything I’d hoped it would be. It had an exciting, well thought-out plot, complex and interesting characters, good writing, great humor, and amazing war-time magic. It had an interesting (subtle) religious and political commentary running through it that added dimension to the world. It made it more real. And it had a character that I had to really think about, really pay attention to, to figure out his true identity! I love that. I love a book that makes me think, and that surprises me.

I love good-guy/bad-guy magic. Magic that can take you to higher levels of selflessness and servant-hood and kindness, and that same magic can be used to pull you and everyone around you into filth and degradation. The Source is so powerful that, if used in the wrong hands, can completely break and ruin a person. And we see that in the battlemages. That’s my favorite kind of magic.

The narration was very good. Addis created a perfect voice for the personalities of the characters. He has superb accents and articulation, spoke clearly at a good pace, and took a book that was at 100% great and made it 200% great (which is exactly what the narrator should do! Add to the experience, not take away from it.)

The only thing about Battlemage I thought was slightly lacking was the very end. It was a little abrupt and open. Open in a good way, meaning it immediately demands a sequel. But I felt like the author was like “Hah! It’s over! bwahahahah!” rather than the kind of gentile ease away that leaves the reader feeling satisfied but still excited for what is to come. However I was still highly satisfied with the story, would totally read/listen to it again, and recommend it to anyone 18+.
  
C(
Corralled (Blacktop Cowboys, #1)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Cowboy rodeo erotica? You have my interest. From the moment I saw this book on goodreads bookswap, I could not wait to read it. I love me some erotica. Add some cowboys in the mix and I am happy as a clam. Until I read it.

Because I don’t really have much to say about this book, here goes.

The good: the erotic scenes, the character development, the dialogue,
the writing

The bad: the plot (which bored me senseless), the favoritism

The ugly: the situation

While there is nothing actually wrong with the novel, I just could not get into it. James has a great easy style to read. The erotic scenes were great, some of the best I have read, especially when dealing with such an awkward situation. And oh was it awkward. The dialogue was realistic and had me not only laughing, but cringing as well. The characters and the emotions were also very believable. I found myself becoming attached to them

The plot seemed a little lackluster, however. I will gave James points for having one of the few erotic novels with a well developed plot in the first place. As I said before, however, it was just not a story I was interested in. It was clear from the beginning who the lead female was going to end up with. I don’t think James did it on purpose, but her clear favoritism for one man over the other was apparent from the beginning.

This was not an easy book to read in the first place due to the circumstances of the love triangle. All of the ménage a trios novels I have read before, the couples were into it as a threesome. In this novel, two men are vying the attention and love of one woman. It was…awkward at best, especially since the men were childhood friends.
  
Baking Me Crazy (Donner Bakery #1)
Baking Me Crazy (Donner Bakery #1)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
So this starts with Levi and his best friend - and love of his life - Joss heading to Donner Bakery where Joss is starting work. He's been in love with her for the past five years but she just sees him as her best friend. It's on her first day at the bakery that she meets an attractive new guy who openly flirts with her and buys her a cupcake and Joss suddenly has all these feelings running through her. Levi eventually finds out about the guy and realises he has to do something to make Joss see him as more than best friend material.

I'll be honest, this took a lot of getting into initially. It was a slow build up. We know he's in love with her, she just sees him as a friend. It took until somewhere around half way through before anything really happened. It was cute after that. And then we have the PT job that Levi applied to a while ago and how that's going to affect their relationship.

I think this may be the first book I've read where a character is in a wheelchair. Joss was having physical therapy to try and help her walk better since she was only paralyzed from the knees down but she was amazing with her chair. She did pretty much every sport that was possible from her chair, worked out regularly with Levi and could pop a wheelie whenever she wanted.

This was a rather sweet story but it took a little too long to properly get going, in my opinion, so my attention had started to wane by the time they did finally even think of turning their friendship into more.

I read a Winston Brothers book a while ago and I have to admit I wasn't the biggest fan but Cletus popping up in this has made me want to read his and Jenn's story at least.
  
Greatest Hits by Nina Simone
Greatest Hits by Nina Simone
2003 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"As an artist, Nina Simone has inspired me so much. I think she was my introduction to artistry. Especially coming from a woman, it really changed the way I viewed music and gave me an incentive to learn piano. I was probably about nine or 10 when I first heard her music – it was my Dad that played me a live rendition of a song that she’d done two days after Dr Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. It was called “Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)”. I remember waiting for my Mum outside work, he used to play that song. As soon as I heard her voice I was just hooked on it. ""'I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl' is one of my favourite songs of hers to sing. I have been thinking about [covering it]! It has so much room in it melodically to freestyle, maybe improvising some of the lyrics to make it more relevant to my life. I’d probably do it just on piano instead of with the full band. There’s times when I’ve seen Nina combine classical music with jazz, so I’d probably attempt some of that. It’s such an open song – I think that’s what I love about it. I just love the space in in it. Even the title’s quite metaphoric: sexy, but quite poetic at the same time. ""Nina Simone showed me that there are really no rules with music. The more you learn in any direction, it can only empower what you’re doing. Reading about her history, at first her dream was to be a classical pianist! It’s so effortless – she’s not even looking at the keys, she’s not even thinking! And then she’s singing a pop song on top of a classical jazz fusion! She definitely inspired me to become accomplished where I can, just to add more freedom to express myself more deeply."

Source
  
Power Corruption & Lies by New Order
Power Corruption & Lies by New Order
2009 | Rock
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I love Power, Corruption & Lies. I also love Movement and I play it all the time, as it was the first album after Joy Division. It still has a bit of that Joy Division darkness, almost with a sense of defeat about it, which is kind of how I felt when I was a teenager in the late fucking '70s. But I think Power, Corruption, the record after it, there's more light in it. It's more joyous, it's more lyrically lighter. And I think Bernard Sumner found his own voice, loosened up and just became Bernard when he came out of Ian Curtis's shadow. This album is a huge inspiration and I was fascinated at the time by the way that New Order would take electronics and the sequencer sound, which I loved from Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love', and they took it and applied it to rock & roll. They first did this with 'Temptation', which was released before 'Blue Monday'. I was previously in a band on Factory called The Wake and we'd opened for New Order. I'd had a tape recorder and I'd recorded some of their shows. They were playing 'Temptation' live, long before it was released as a single. I was obsessed by the way they took that tut-tut-tutut-tut-tut-tut sequence inspired by Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's arpeggio sound. To this day, that's still a big influence on Primal Scream. I'm just saying thank you to Bernard, Hooky, Stephen and Gill because I remember buying that record when it came out with a beautiful Peter Saville sleeve. The reason there's no writing on the album cover of Screamedelica is in total homage to Saville and Factory Records. A lot of our albums have no writing on the cover either. I mean, 'Age Of Consent': What. The. Fuck. Is. That? Playing with New Order back in the early '80s was like a fucking dream at the height of their fucking power!"

Source
  
A Season on the Wind
A Season on the Wind
Suzanne Woods Fisher | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Learn about different rare birds (0 more)
This book is about two lovely Amish folks. One named Micah and his older sister Penny. We meet a fellow twitcher who looks a little lost and does not seem to want to remember his past. Will he remember Penny Weaver? Or will he be a stranger?

We have birds, and bird logs mentioned at the end of each chapter. Will Ben see his way back to the Amish and find that his love is the one that sparked his love for birds? Will there be romance sparked for Penny and Ben and maybe even Micah? Ben's cousin seems to may have found a love interest.

Ben seems to need to get over an illness but does not know he has it. While he is in town, Happ seems to recognize Ben, and so does Penny when she first steps and arrives at Lost Creek Farm. What will Ben do, and will Ben go bird searching with Micah? They seem to be on a rare hunt for a White-Winged Tern.

We are getting more of the relationships from Natalie and Boyd. Micah seems to be interested in Shelley Yoder. But is Shelley into Micah? Ben seems to be on the edge of his past life and does not want to see his father. All because of his brother Levi. But will Ben come around soon? He keeps getting memories of this little brother Levi. Are they good or not? It seems the lord is working on them all. Including Penny. Will Ben and Penny get together?

The CBC is around, and all of them are trying to partner up for the big event. The Christmas Bird Count is the first for StoneyRidge. How will it go, and Will Ben catch his rare bird? It seems to be evading Micah and Ben, this little White Tail Tern. Natalie may be falling for Boyd, but will she run away too? I hope she stops comparing Boyd to her ex-husband Joel. But we will have to see.