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TS
The Supernatural Enhancements
8
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
It's hard to describe this novel. On the one hand there is a pretty straightforward mystery at its center, full of clever puzzles and hints of conspiracy. On the other though is a possible haunting, a weird romance, and a very unusual narrative structure. The book is told in the form of journal entries, letters, notepad scribblings, security camera transcripts, and other means. This method can be very effective at slowly revealing answers, and may make this possibly the first "found footage" novel, but it also somehow removes the suspense in many scenes, and periodically makes things unnecessarily confusing. Still, I enjoyed reading this book, and would be interested in a sequel, so that should say something.
  
Authority (Southern Reach #2)
Authority (Southern Reach #2)
Jeff VanderMeer | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
'Ok' is a perfect word to describe the second installment in the Southern Reach Trilogy. I was expecting something a lot like Annihilation. But, this novel was office-based and kind of boring. The last part of the book was the most exciting, after slogging through the first parts. This novel is about the Southern Reach itself, and it's impending collapse. Is the border advancing? What is Area X? Welp, this book still wasn't sure about these questions. The only reason I'm going to complete the series is that I want to know what Area X is.
At least in this installment, they finally use the term 'alien', it only took a book and a half.
  
His Risk to Take (Line of Duty, #2)
His Risk to Take (Line of Duty, #2)
Tessa Bailey | 2013 | Erotica, Romance
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was a guilty pleasure book for me. I really enjoyed it. The Hero was... well... he was a dirty mouthed, pained, sexy, troubled, and all around alpha male. I liked the banter between the characters and I liked that both characters were damaged.

This was a short novel so I didn't get the character development that I would have liked. I liked that there was still some depth to the characters, not enough, but enough for you to understand their motives.

All in all, this was an extremely quick and easy read. If you're looking for an easy smut novel with a dirty mouthed alpha male, this is the book for you.
  
NS
Nerilka's Story (Pern: Dragonriders of Pern, #5)
Anne McCaffrey | 1987 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
A nice sidestep novel in the world of Pern
I enjoyed this book and really like the fact that Anne McCaffrey often tells the same story but from a different character viewpoint or world. She does this with Nerilka's Story and it really helps to flesh the whole world out as well as giving us a different view on the World's events. I rated this book as ok because, although I enjoyed it, it didn't really continue the story very much and also I couldn't connect with the characters as easily as I can do in a much longer novel.
This was a fun little sidestep book to the continuing Pern novels.
  
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Becs (244 KP) rated Sea of Strangers in Books

Oct 29, 2018  
Sea of Strangers
Sea of Strangers
Lang Leav | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the cutest and most aesthetically pleasing novel
"But you're not the kind of girl who builds her house from sticks; you are a fortress, stubborn and strong. Do not give away the keys to the kingdom to anyone less than a king."

I can not get over how much I love this little poetry collection. It wasn't your typical poetry collection and had a lot of underlying feminism within the context. I will definitely be holding this novel close to my heart and will be rereading it again. Everybody should be watching Lang Leav and should be grabbing her novels like they will be going out of style because she is an amazing author.
  
V(
Valiant (The Lost Fleet, #4)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The 4th entry in Jack Campbell's (the pen-name of John Hemry) Lost Fleet series, this picks up almost directly from the end of the precious novel (Courageous), where the Alliance fleet - caught far behind enemy lines - was almost trapped and destroyed by the Syndic forces in Lakota.

This novel further develops the relationships between 'Black Jack' Geary and the commander of his flagship, Tanya Desjani, as well as between Geary and co-president Victoria Rione. Starting and finishing with space battles, it also sees the news of the alien intelligence on the far side of Syndic space becoming surhter circulated among the fleet, as well as conspirators within his own fleet stepping up their attacks on Geary.
  
Thank You, Jeeves
Thank You, Jeeves
P.G. Wodehouse | 2003 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The first full-length novel to feature Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves (or #5 by setting), this one has barely begun before Jeeves hands in his notice, after Bertie Wooster's somewhat untuneful playing of the banjolele.

Off Bertie goes to visit his friend Chuffy in the countryside, setting the scene for the typically-somewhat-convoluted set of circumstances that, or course, only Jeeves is able to sort out by the end.

To modern eyes, parts of the story may be somewhat uncomfortable (I'm talking, in particular, the sub-plot concerning the entertainers hired and Wooster's attempts to mimic them); however you do have to make allowances for the time the novel was written/set in.
  
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Deborah (162 KP) rated The Last Queen in Books

Dec 21, 2018  
TL
The Last Queen
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The start was a bit shaky - a few Americanisms thrown in there (Why 'visit with'??! It's a daft, redundant sort of expression!) but when I got in to it I found it to be a really rather compelling novel! This is the story of Juana 'The Mad', Quuen of Castile, daughter of Ferdinand & Isabella, the catholic kings. Gortner has an interesting take on Juana's 'madness' which he develops in the novel.

It's not altogether a comfortable read though! so many times I felt myself to be frustrated for Juana and the situation she found herself in - manipulated by others.

An interesting and thought-provoking read about a queen perhaps not much known outside of Spain.
  
I really expected to like this book, but it didn't really live up to my expectations. Plot is aristocratic family, land rich and cash poor and what are they going to do about it. Nothing really new there either. Some other reviewers have seen this as a brilliant satire, but I'm afraid for me it was just a novel with lots of characters, many very undeveloped and most of them not even very likeable.

It is supposed to be the first part of Weldon's Love & Inheritance trilogy, but a lot of lose ends are tied up and this could really be a standalone novel. Certainly I'm far from feeling the compulsion to read the next two volumes.
  
A Bad Day for Sunshine
A Bad Day for Sunshine
9
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is a fantastic novel! The well rounded characters, interest backgrounds and fast pace make for a can’t-put-down page turner. I enjoyed the several layers to each sub-plot and how certain people/events were connected and some were not. It takes a skilled writer to be aware of how much to include as well as how much to omit. This author is amazing! Most of the questions we, the reader, start out with in this novel are answered by the end in a way that gives us the satisfaction of “an ending” but leave enough hanging so that we are intrigued by the possibilities and will be waiting for the next installment. Great book!