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At Love's Command (Hanger's Horsemen, #1)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Have you ever read a book by Karen Witemeyer? If not, you are missing out on some of the best fiction books out there. At Love’s Command is the first book in a new 3 (or 4) book series and wowzah what a fun start to the series it book was. Even if you do not like westerns, I can guarantee that you will like this one. Karen Witmeyer has a similar writing style to that of Mary Connealy, and Ronie Kendig.

I think I smiled within the first few pages of At Love’s Command as Karen Witemeyer brought forth her character's fun wit and charm. I loved their believable personalities and their willingness to be strong in their beliefs. Matthew is now one of my favorite male characters ever. He showed humility, leadership, love, and most of all a deep trust in turning to God with any problem that came his way. Dr. Josephine was also a most likable character, I loved her “10-dollar words”, and the verbal sparring she sis with Matthew and others from The Horsemen gang. She was also a strong independent woman, but she was humble and showed wisdom when she knew others had better knowledge of the situation than she did. I will say it again, I LOVED this combination of characters.

The storyline pulled me in right from the very beginning, as I said, I was smiling from some of the interactions within the first few pages. It was so believable, combined with the bits of history thrown in, interwoven with some good action, and the theme of turning to God in every situation made this book so enjoyable for me. I will definitely be reading the rest of the books in this series. <br/>I give this book 5 out of 5 stars for the great characters, the intriguing storyline (that I am so looking forward to reading more of), and for the characters continually pointing back to God as their source of strength and wisdom. I HIGHLY recommend this book.

*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.

https://travelingwife4life.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/at-loves-command-bethany-house
  
The Reject and the Rebound (Leighton #3)
The Reject and the Rebound (Leighton #3)
Hannah Heyward | 2023 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
WARNING - contains a spoiler!
THE REJECT AND THE REBOUND is the first book by this author I have read, although this is book three in the Leighton series. I do wish I had read the other books, but I don't feel as though it made a huge difference by not having done so.

Owen is the first one we meet, and he is trying to recover from his boyfriend walking out on him with no notice whatsoever. Alex is in a similar situation with his wife but further down the line. Both guys knew each other at school, although they ran in different circles. The attraction was there and maybe their time for acting upon it is now.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story! There were a few things I wanted more of, but on the whole, this was a hug-of-a-book. It is fast-paced in that Alex and Owen get together quickly. Because of that, when life throws Alex a sh!tty curveball, there is a bit of angst between the two of them. But, do you know what? They both took time to think about the situation and dealt with it as mature men. Loved that part!

SPOILER




Maybe it's because it's part of a series, but this is one of the rare romance books where everything isn't tied up with a pretty bow at the end. We get the feeling that these two are it for as long as they live, but as the book ends, they are still living apart and are not engaged. I'm still unsure how I feel about that! 🤣 Life isn't neat and tidy, I know that, but I do like my romances with a HEA! Hopefully, as the series progresses, they will get theirs.



End of Spoiler


A great read by a new-to-me author that I definitely recommend.

** 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!
Dec 8, 2023
  
Lady Midnight
Lady Midnight
Cassandra Clare | 2016 | Children
8
9.0 (13 Ratings)
Book Rating
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I was lucky enough to be approached by LoveReading to review and join the blog tour for The Dark Artifices series by Cassandra Clare. Starting today, and posting every Wednesday, you will get to see what I thought about this series.

<b><i>Series: The Dark Artifices</i></b>

#1 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2843390110">Lady Midnight</a> - ★★★★
#2 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2865130437">Lord of Shadows</a> - ★★★★★
#3 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2865131320">Queen of Air and Darkness</a> - ★★★★★

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Welcome back to a whole new series about the Shadowhunter world. If you haven’t read the Mortal Instruments, you will find this book full of spoilers on what happened before. You could still read it, though, but you will miss a lot of hidden gems throughout the book. I will try not to spoil a lot, but please proceed at your own risk
  
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie: Mugen Train (2020)
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie: Mugen Train (2020)
2020 | Action, Adventure, Animation, Fantasy, Horror
I will preface this by stating I have not watched the Demon Slayer show, nor did I read a synopsis of what had happened prior to the characters getting onto the Mugan Train. I wanted to see this film for two reasons, 1) It’s the largest grossing Anime of all time apparently, in Japan and 2) My Regal theater opened finally.
So obviously, as the title suggests, this takes place on a train. There are three main characters introduced, and I did look up their names, so I’m not insulting: Tanjirô (kid with a scar), Zenitsu (blond kid), and Inosuke (a kid that wears a boar mask…). They hop on this train, because apparently people keep going missing, and there’s a demon behind it. They come across this other warrior guy, named Kyôjurô (flame dude), and he’s pretty good at slaying these demons.
You can tell there’s something creepy occurring on this train, and it was quite atmospheric and suspenseful. Then, more nightmare fuel appeared, a disembodied hand that had eyeballs and this crazy set of teeth. So, there’s our demon. Our heroes get trapped in dreams and can’t wake. Obviously, our heroes do eventually wake up, but not before Tanjirô’s sister, Nezuko, hops out of the box that he carries on his back to help wake her bro up. Apparently, Nezuko is a demon and has to be kept in a box.
The majority of the time, I was so confused, but I still enjoyed the movie. The final battles are great, and the animation was great. I do plan on watching the anime now. If you are going to choose to watch this film, I recommend either watching the anime series first, or just go with it and enjoy it as much as you can.
  
The Dark Divine (The Dark Divine, #1)
The Dark Divine (The Dark Divine, #1)
Bree Despain | 2009 | Young Adult (YA)
4
6.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This has taken me a long time to read because it didn't grab my interest in the slightest. I can't be doing with any sort of religious people in books. They just drive me a little crazy. So with her having a pastor for a father and being all good with church related stuff, I just had to roll my eyes a little.

Nothing about this pulled me in, not the characters, not the plot...I was bored for all of it but considering the last few YA books I've read have been DNF's I decided to stick with it. I read books for the romance mainly and I had no idea where that bit came into it but by the end they loved each other.

There was a bit of a high point at the end where everything started to make sense which pushed my rating up an entire star, simply because the pace picked up finally ands something actually happened beside school and dates and dances.

Shapeshifters are not my favourite paranormal creatures to read about and although I have the next book in the series I dont think I'll be reading it.

Not for me at all.
  
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Rhys (240 KP) rated The Outsider in Books

Jun 30, 2018 (Updated Jul 7, 2018)  
The Outsider
The Outsider
Stephen King | 2018 | Thriller
10
8.7 (31 Ratings)
Book Rating
Good pacing, three diamentional characters, introduction to new mythology. (0 more)
Hardly ‘bad’, but this is technically a kind of sequel to the Finders Keepers novels. (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
‘The Outsider’ is a crime/horror novel of four distinct parts. The first is the murder and investigation described in the blurb. This part is more traditionally crime novel than horror and introduces the main characters, giving them all distinct personalities and building up to the twist. Part two takes place after said twist (obviously, giving this away would destroy the enjoyment of the first part) and involves a new focus on the ‘antagonist’ of the third part: Ralph Anderson.


Part three introduces Holly, a character from the Finders Keepers books (that I have not read at this time) and continues for most of the book. This part is heavily inspired by several vampire novels and series including ‘Dracula’ and ‘The Strain’ but keeps a distinct Stephen King feeling.
(Part four is epilogue, which ties up loose ends and ensures that the characters who survive, as well as some who do not, have a happy ending.)

Previous King novels can feel forced, or full of ‘fluff’ that exists only to pad out the time between gruesome murders and intense horror. In this novel, every piece of dialogue has a purpose, whether to build on a character’s.... character... or to make the world seem more real, ground the supernatural in reality.

Despite what is said on the ‘bad’ section, this novel works well as a stand alone. Holly, the character that connects this to previous works, is written as though it will be a reader’s first encounter with her. She is built up from scratch and goes through development at the same rate as the other characters (her previous appearances are described enough that a reader will know the gist, but do not give away anything from the ‘Mr. Mercedes’ trilogy other than that Bill Hodges at some point dies.)

(For context, I am not a regular reader of King’s novels, having tried ‘It’ and ‘Insomnia’ but quickly loosing interest in both.)

Why not full marks? Around half way through the novel there is a scene that simply does not fit in with the rest of the story. The character that will eventually become King’s equivalent of Renfield from ‘Dracula’ meets the Outsider in the bathroom, with said character appropriately terrified. Why is this such an odd scene? Throughout the tense conversation (in which the Outsider’s powers are shown in full) Jack is suffering from an upset stomach (and King seems strangely obsessed with describing.) Horrible, yes, but horror it is not.

Overall, I would recommend this novel to a fan of Stephen King or to someone who wants to get into his writing.
  
Don&#039;t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer
Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer
2019 | Crime, Documentary
Fascinating
This is a story that I have to admit I know nothing about. Most likely because I couldn't handle the tales of animal cruelty. However I watched this because I was whole heartedly assured that you don't actually see any animal cruelty.

For anyone out there worried about watching this, i can confirm you don't see the whole of the animal cruelty videos. It's still not pleasant hearing about them, and this is one of my bigger issues with this documentary as it gets a little too uncomfortable at times. That said, this is still a fascinating series to watch and almost incredible that these internet sleuths have manage to uncover the killers identity. This has obviously been Hollywood-ised and very overdramatised, but this doesn't make it any less enjoyable. There are some irritations with the internet sleuths, especially when they start sticking their noses into the police investigation after the suspect is identified, and the monologuing at the end is hilariously cheesy.

The story behind this though and the killer's motives are almost like something out of a film, and makes for an almost unbelievable story. There are some holes in the story too which make for interesting pondering afterwards.
  
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Dana (24 KP) rated The Raven King in Books

Mar 23, 2018  
The Raven King
The Raven King
Maggie Stiefvater | 2016 | LGBTQ+, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
8.3 (15 Ratings)
Book Rating
I am actually giving this a 4.5-5 Star review.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this series. I have loved and lost characters and little bits of my heart and soul because of it.

This series, but specifically this book, is just so beautifully written. Every moment is circular in the end. Each character is written with so much care, affection, and love that it breaks my heart.

Maggie Stiefvater is a poet as well as an author. There were so many passages in this book that I underlined as being so beautiful. I cried a lot because of the writing style, in a good way.

Many of the event in this book had been foretold in the previous books, which I thought was cool. Even though we knew what was going to happen, we didn't exactly know how it would happen, so that was surprising and a lot of fun.

Henry Cheng was a surprising character to say the least. I didn't know how I felt about him at first, but he started to grow on me. (As Ronan would probably say, "like a fungus" because he's a smartass like that.)

***THE REST OF THIS WILL HAVE SPOILERS IN IT SO BE WARNED***

I loved how my ships were resolved in the end. I didn't want anyone to be hurt or to be alone, and they weren't. Blue and Gansey are just so freaking cute together because they are so opposite! And Ronan and Adam are just hilarious in their interactions. They just seem so angry at each other so often.

I was really sad, but also understanding, of how Noah had to move on. I just thought he was so sweet, but it was his time.

Also, the whole mess with Glendower himself was not easily predictable at all, at least for me. I did not see that one coming. Their whole quest was for not, but they ended up better for it anyway.

Orphan Girl is also so adorable. I love how much like Ronan she is, especially in her temper.

Cabeswater being from Ronan, that was a twist. Also, loved how he is going to dream another one!!

I just love this book so much and even though I know it has to end, I don't want it to.

Sorry if this got a bit rambly and weird, I just have so many emotions about this book!!
  
TD
The Dan Diaries
D.D. Marx | 2018
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
In the Dan Dairies we get to see Dan’s POV. It in point of view that we see how it is for him and his friend Frank. It mostly the journey of Dan and how he helps his loves one and including Hank.

It starts out with Dan and transition. What he needs to do and help the main man up head and what need to direct one person path to her destiny. Will Dan succeed or will he not? To me this is more a summary of the 3 books that are before this one. It goes over summary of some of the big events that Hank has to deal with and Dan having to convince Hank (Olivia Henry).

Frank is a part of this, with Dan is it mostly about Dan and though his point of view. If you have not read the Beyond Trilogy. This is only the summary of it. This really concludes the series and helps define some of the holes or to see Dan and his view point. If you want the story and details of Olivia and Finn story, you will need to read Beyond Trilogy - books, Beyond Believing, Beyond Love, Beyond Forever.

The author does a really good job of this. She really show the Dan’s life in the afterlife and his point of view well.