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The Chocolate Lady (94 KP) rated Winter Sisters in Books
Oct 6, 2020
Albany, New York, January 1879; two young girls go missing during a deadly blizzard and are only found weeks later, when the city is amid a devastating flood. This new novel by Robin Oliveira follows some of the same characters from her 2010 best-selling novel, “My Name in Mary Sutter” but if you haven’t read that, don’t let that stop you from reading this book. Find out why in my latest #bookreview of “Winter Sisters” on my blog here.
https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2018/02/20/chilling-childhood/
https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2018/02/20/chilling-childhood/
The Chocolate Lady (94 KP) rated Little Breton Bistro in Books
Oct 7, 2020
Nina George’s newest novel is about Marianne, a German woman who, at the age of 60 decides to kill herself while vacationing in Paris with her husband. Of course, she fails at her attempt, and that (as the poet says) has made all the difference. This novel is as charmingly written as her previous one, but I think I liked that one just a little bit better. Find out why in my newest book review on my blog here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2018/06/09/leaping-late-in-life/
Erika (17788 KP) rated Star Wars: Captain Phasma in Books
Sep 28, 2019
This graphic novel was published during the hype leading up to TLJ. Of course, Phasma's part ended up being anti-climactic and trash.
This picks up right after TFA, and Phasma's quest to hunt down the First Order officer that gave information to the Resistance so they could blow up Starkiller. Obviously, it was Phasma that did it, but she's on a quest to pin it on someone else.
Other than demonstrating Phasma's ruthlessness, there was no real additional information given about her character.
This picks up right after TFA, and Phasma's quest to hunt down the First Order officer that gave information to the Resistance so they could blow up Starkiller. Obviously, it was Phasma that did it, but she's on a quest to pin it on someone else.
Other than demonstrating Phasma's ruthlessness, there was no real additional information given about her character.
Gisell Middleton (189 KP) rated The Passengers in Books
Sep 15, 2019
This novel is in every way original, thrilling and compelling. The issues of morality, ethics, politics and self-interest come across clearly and are thought about long after the book has been read. The fact that this novel can accomplish all that while delivering a truly interesting and plausible concept in a page turner is nothing short of genius. While the character development may be a little one dimensional and the writing stilted and trite at times the plot propels this story forward much like an uncontrollable self-driving car.
Red Joan (2018)
5.6
Rate It
Movie Watch
Adaptation of Jennie Rooney's novel of the same name, inspired by the life of real-life spy Melita...
The Latitude
10.0
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Book
The Latitude by Pete Clements is a timely new romance thriller novel that will captivate readers...
thriller romantic thriller bookbuzz
Kelly (279 KP) rated The Passage in Books
Dec 4, 2018
In depth, well thought out characters (2 more)
Intelligent plot
A nobody is safe story line!
A ‘could not put it down’ read.
The passage is the first of three books which span centuries, covering before, during and after a vampire apocalypse.
I have to say, I was hooked on this novel from the start. Originally picking it up, without even reading the synopsis or reviews, I was surprised to find out that this is actually a novel about vampires (which I did not expect from the title). The build up to the vampire apocalypse is well thought out, flawless planned and written, demonstrating expert skill by Justin Cronin.
The characters are complex, and demonstrate both strengths and flaws, nobody is perfect in this novel not even Amy or Peter, who are the main characters the story centres around. We grow to love these characters, just as much as we grow to strongly dislike characters such as Babcock and Grey. I believe that the emotional connection that I was able to apply to these characters, is what drew me further into the novel. Equally all characters face hardships during the novel, some worse than others, but I found myself wishing that those characters I deemed to be good, would face better times, and those who I felt were bad individuals would soon face their comeuppance. Good or bad however, Cronins’ concentration on the back grounds of the characters does allow us to emphasise and understand why the primary characters within the novel act the way they did, even if this was in conflict with our own values and morals.
As the story unravels, Cronin does jump between different time periods (pre, during and post apocalypse). Although Cronin does give each period a fair amount of time within the book, I did find it difficult to leave the characters from one period behind, in order to move onto another, partially due to the attachment that I had created with the characters. Although the time jumps were carried out at deliberate timings and are not too frequent, I did find them a little distracting.
The story itself makes sense as a stand alone novel, but makes even more sense when read with the rest of the series. When read with the other two novels, The Passage is merely a scene setting novel, for the books that are to come, and as such, has a lot less of a biblical undertone than the series as an entirety (there are a lot of references to the Old Testament in the books that follow). Despite this, the book is a highly enjoyable read, and is not your usual vampire/ apocalyptic novel.
I have to say, I was hooked on this novel from the start. Originally picking it up, without even reading the synopsis or reviews, I was surprised to find out that this is actually a novel about vampires (which I did not expect from the title). The build up to the vampire apocalypse is well thought out, flawless planned and written, demonstrating expert skill by Justin Cronin.
The characters are complex, and demonstrate both strengths and flaws, nobody is perfect in this novel not even Amy or Peter, who are the main characters the story centres around. We grow to love these characters, just as much as we grow to strongly dislike characters such as Babcock and Grey. I believe that the emotional connection that I was able to apply to these characters, is what drew me further into the novel. Equally all characters face hardships during the novel, some worse than others, but I found myself wishing that those characters I deemed to be good, would face better times, and those who I felt were bad individuals would soon face their comeuppance. Good or bad however, Cronins’ concentration on the back grounds of the characters does allow us to emphasise and understand why the primary characters within the novel act the way they did, even if this was in conflict with our own values and morals.
As the story unravels, Cronin does jump between different time periods (pre, during and post apocalypse). Although Cronin does give each period a fair amount of time within the book, I did find it difficult to leave the characters from one period behind, in order to move onto another, partially due to the attachment that I had created with the characters. Although the time jumps were carried out at deliberate timings and are not too frequent, I did find them a little distracting.
The story itself makes sense as a stand alone novel, but makes even more sense when read with the rest of the series. When read with the other two novels, The Passage is merely a scene setting novel, for the books that are to come, and as such, has a lot less of a biblical undertone than the series as an entirety (there are a lot of references to the Old Testament in the books that follow). Despite this, the book is a highly enjoyable read, and is not your usual vampire/ apocalyptic novel.
Phil Bradley (0 KP) rated The Wasp Factory in Books
Sep 29, 2017
