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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2434 KP) rated Dating Dead Men in Books
Mar 9, 2018
A call from her brother sends Wollie off on a wild ride while she's in the middle of a dating project and trying to help her greeting card store take off. Has her brother really witnessed a murder? Or is it his paranoid schizorenia acting up again? A twisty novel with great characters. Just pay attention at the beginning because a lot is thrown at you quickly.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/02/book-review-dating-dead-men-by-harley.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/02/book-review-dating-dead-men-by-harley.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2434 KP) rated Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out (Mr. Monk, #10) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
When Monk is fired by the SFPD, Natalie tries to find them both jobs. Meanwhile, Monk is obsessed with proving a man under house arrest for his ponzi scheme is also guilty of murder. The set up was a bit too familiar since it was also used a couple of books ago. A few of the characters also seemed over the top. Minor complaints in another great tie in novel.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/01/book-review-mr-monk-is-cleaned-out-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/01/book-review-mr-monk-is-cleaned-out-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Dana (24 KP) rated Oliver Twist in Books
Mar 23, 2018
I can honestly say that I did not enjoy this book. For me, Charles Dickens' works are all very repetitive. There's an orphan who continuously falls onto bad times, then suddenly figures things out and gets his life turned around. Everything happened too slowly and was way too drawn for me or it was important information told in passing. The chapters jump around a lot so it can get confusing temporally. There are too many characters with similar names to keep track of. Overall, I didn't enjoy this novel.
Dana (24 KP) rated Siege and Storm in Books
Mar 23, 2018
I need the next book now. The development of Alina and the other characters was beautifully written. I loved that the story was taken out of Ravka and we got to explore more of the country. I also loved how we learned more about the politics of this country. I found new characters to love and I am so happy about that. The more heavy scenes made my heart hurt as much as the light hearted scenes made me exuberant. An amazingly written novel. I would definitely recommend this to my friends!
Dana (24 KP) rated Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in Books
Mar 23, 2018
I very much enjoyed this novel. Not only do I love Arthurian tales, I love ones with weird storylines. I really like how this was written by some unknown guy and was only recently rediscovered. (well recent-ish). This translation is great because it has the crazy Middle English along with the modern English translation on facing pages. This makes it easier to use both wordings to analyze. If you enjoy reading romantic/Arthurian stories, pick this one up! I am really glad I had to read this for one of my classes!
Erika (17789 KP) rated Red Rising in Books
Apr 3, 2018
I had been wanting to read this book since it came out. Well, and since Buzzfeed did an article about how attractive Pierce Brown happens to be.
The first few chapters in, I wanted to give up. The beginning was extremely predictable, and I was wondering when Katniss Everdeen was going to show up.
I'm glad I kept going, because I became completely enthralled with the story. It was intricate and complex. Darrow himself is complex, makes mistakes, and learns, finally, character development. I can't wait to read the next novel in the series.
The first few chapters in, I wanted to give up. The beginning was extremely predictable, and I was wondering when Katniss Everdeen was going to show up.
I'm glad I kept going, because I became completely enthralled with the story. It was intricate and complex. Darrow himself is complex, makes mistakes, and learns, finally, character development. I can't wait to read the next novel in the series.
Cynthia Armistead (17 KP) rated The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files, #1) in Books
Mar 1, 2018
I don't give many 5-star ratings, but <i>The Atrocity Archives</i> deserves one. You may need to read it with a web browser open to look up references using Wikipedia or Google, but if you enjoy Torchwood, Men in Black, or [b:Snow Crash|830|Snow Crash|Neal Stephenson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157396730s/830.jpg|493634], I think you'll enjoy this one.
The volume actually includes the novel and a novella, <i>The Concrete Jungle</i>. Both are good reading, and I recommend giving yourself time to enjoy the foreword and afterword, as well.
The volume actually includes the novel and a novella, <i>The Concrete Jungle</i>. Both are good reading, and I recommend giving yourself time to enjoy the foreword and afterword, as well.
Cynthia Armistead (17 KP) rated Alien Infection in Books
Mar 1, 2018
I kept wanting to look at the author's name again, to be sure I wasn't actually reading an old Heinlein novel updated with some 21st century concepts like throwaway cell phones. That's not a bad thing, depending on how far along Mr. Bain is in his own career, I suppose. I'm not really familiar with him, as I believe this is the first of his novels that I've read. In any case, it was a fun read, if a wee bit predictable to those of us who have read the master's works.
Cynthia Armistead (17 KP) rated Midnight's Daughter (Dorina Basarab, #1) in Books
Mar 1, 2018
I enjoyed this book more than Chance's Cassie Palmer novels set in the same universe. While I think I would have twigged to some bits more quickly if I had paid more attention to the earlier trilogy, this novel does stand alone (mostly). The references you don't get aren't truly necessary to understand the characters and the plot.
I did get rather annoyed at the characters who brought pain to themselves because of making too many assumptions about people around them, but I suppose poor communication skills are very common, even in fantasy worlds.
I did get rather annoyed at the characters who brought pain to themselves because of making too many assumptions about people around them, but I suppose poor communication skills are very common, even in fantasy worlds.
Cynthia Armistead (17 KP) rated Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2) in Books
Mar 1, 2018
While it dragged a little in some places, overall this was a wonderful book. Royce and Hadrian bring back fond memories of characters from past RPGs. That isn't to say that Theft of Swords feels like one of those dreadful "I wrote down what happened in my D&D campaign and called it a novel" things, because that certainly is not the case! It's more that I felt as if I knew these characters, that I was there with them, and I seldom get that from any author.