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Rumble of the Crumble (The Rhubarb Effect #7)
Rumble of the Crumble (The Rhubarb Effect #7)
JP Sayle, Sue Brown | 2025 | LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Butch will go slow (but not too slow) and wait for Leo, scars and all.
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is the FINAL book in this series, and you really should read the other 6 books before this one. They are a lot of fun, but there is an ongoing story arc that you need to follow.

Leo is a lion, and an Alpha. Butch is the town's sheriff, a rhubarb and also an Alpha. Two Alphas should not be mates, should they?

Ok SO! I have thoroughly enjoyed these books, every one has been a solid 4 star read and I was hoping that this one would give me the answers to the questions my book brain has been throwing around. But in true Sayle fashion, she does not, in fact, give me the answers but I am at least able to voice the questions! I'll come back to those, though!

Leo is scared, he suffered badly at the hands of the monster alpha Amell in their old pride. But Butch will go slow (but not too slow) and wait for Leo, scars and all. Until someone tries to kill the entire pride, babies and all. Leo and Butch know they have to work together to get Amell, and put a stop to his reign of terror, once and for all.

I liked that Butch would wait for Leo, he knows the lion has scars, some not as visible as others, and he knows WHY Leo is so scared, but Butch knows Leo is his mate and Leo just needs time.

I liked that Leo felt safe with Butch. He didn't feel that way with anyone else but his pride. Leo knows Butch will never hurt him, even if they never fully mate after completing the bond that stopped Butch from wilting.

I even liked the way it all went down at the end! I did not see that happening, I thought someone else might be the one to do it.

So, like I said, thoroughly enjoyed these books!

BUT questions! Now, I might have missed the answers to these questions, I'm not sure but I'm sure someone will tell me!

While we know that Leo has scars from Amell, I wanted to know WHY Amell did what he did to Leo, and just WHAT he did, I really did. That's what my book brain was screaming at me, through the whole series, really. However, now I'm typing this up, I'm changing my mind. These books are, for the most part, a lot of fun, with a bit of drama thrown in, and a hella lotta smexy times between the various couples. If we had all the gory details about what Amell did and why, it might have taken these books down a much darker path and I really don't think they needed them. So, I'm gonna let that knowledge go.

As the final book, and due to me letting those questions go,

a full and shiny 5 stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
Future Home of the Living God
Future Home of the Living God
Louise Erdrich | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
3
4.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Minority Representation (1 more)
Interesting premise
NO ANSWERS (1 more)
No resolution
Well that was a waste of time. This book spends its entire length asking one real question. Will the main character's baby survive? There are a number of smaller questions - Will the baby be born normal? Why is evolution turning backwards, or sideways? What happened to the main character's father? What happened to her friend from the hospital? What happened to her husband? Does she ever find freedom?

THE BOOK ANSWERS NONE OF THESE QUESTIONS.

I am really frustrated with this book. Why did I bother reading it if it refuses to resolve any of its plotlines?

We're going to get a little bit into writing theory here. It has been a classic recommendation to have the climax of your book 2/3 of the way through the book, and have the last third be denouement. Wrap-up. Show us how the climax affected the characters and the world. John Green does this well - all his books follow a standard plot line. Character A is introduced. A meets B. B changes A's life. B leaves A's life. (Those last two are usually incorporated in the climax of the book.) A has to learn how to live without B in a world changed by B's existence in it. It's a little formulaic, but it works for Green, and his books are great. Some books do not do this so well. Wheel of Time had 5-6 pages of denouement after the series climax, and nothing was really revealed about how the events changed the world for the better. Future Home of the Living God had TWO. TWO PAGES AFTER THE CLIMAX. AND THEY ANSWER NOTHING. The main character talks about missing winter.

I finished the book and almost threw it across the room. I probably would have, except for two things: I was at a friend's house, and it was a library book. That's all that saved it from that fate. I have stacks of books I want to read, and I feel like I just wasted a few hours on this piece of crap.

The writing was actually pretty good, and the main character is an Ojibwe Indian, so there's minority representation, but the book as a whole was just CRAP. Wrap up your plotlines. Answer the questions you ask. (At least the ones having to do with your plot - you can leave unanswered philosophical questions, that's fine.)

Hard pass on this book.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
  
40x40

ClareR (5906 KP) Aug 2, 2018

I’m ok with no resolution - in fact I like a book or film like that (I know, I’m a bit weird). I just felt it was all a bit copied from The Handmaids Tale. She tried hard with the whole ‘evolution going backwards’ thing, but I don’t think it was quite enough for me.
I liked her writing though, and I liked Cedar, so I think that’s why my rating is a bit higher.

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Marvel's Spider-Man
Marvel's Spider-Man
2018 | Action/Adventure
Excellent combat system (5 more)
Changes it up a lot
You are Spider-Man
The story is incredible
Rewards you for being a fan but doesn’t alienate newcomers
References everywhere
Can be repetitive in places (1 more)
Could be considered short (15 hours gameplay)
One of the best games I have played in a while
Spider-Man PS4 is one of the best games I have played in a while. I was dubious getting it at first. It’s the first Spider-Man title I have bought and played all the way through. The game is designed so that while you start with a lot of Spidey’s powers initially, you build upon them to become, as the tagline says, greater. It treats the gamer with respect. You build upon your powers the way you want to progress and how you fight. The story is incredible and one of Spidey’s best (I’ve read a few graphic novels in my time about Spider-Man!). It mixes emotion with great story telling that builds to a very tense climax. Sure questions are left unanswered for a sequel but that raises two questions: how do they go on from there and if this game is great, how do they make it better?
  
AI
Asya in the Tilt of the World
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Asya in the Tilt of the World is the first book in The Asya Trilogy. Asya is a quiet girl, studious, and loves working in the garden. Her family is very different from her, being loud and boisterous most of the time. Her world changes one evening as she meets with James and Christian. From there it becomes everything she never dreamed of.

The premise of this book is a good one, and I love how some vampires are working for the benefit of the earth, and others aren't, plus how credit is given for past 'inventions'. There are some well developed characters that help draw the story along.

Although I enjoyed this story, I didn't really feel a connection between our three main characters. There were questions raised about how she reacted to them, versus how she reacted to others, that just didn't seem to fit. This may be a story that will build up, but be prepared to be left with plenty of questions after reading this book.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa

Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
The Letter for the King
The Letter for the King
2020 | Action, Adventure, Family, Fantasy
6
6.2 (5 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Intriguing concept, beautiful scenery, good cast (0 more)
The characters and relationships were not built up enough and the plot left too many questions without answers (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
I love fantasy tv shows, so I was excited to give this one a try. The concept was very intriguing and it was a fun watch. However, the show had a lot of good ideas but the follow-through left it feeling a bit flat. While I thought that the cast did a great job, the script (while not bad) didn't take the time to build up the relationships between characters which meant that emotional moments felt weak. The show also raises a lot of questions but the final episode spent too much time trying to build up a second season, and not enough time giving a satisfying ending. The pacing of the show was also strange. It is only six episodes but the plot seems to move really slowly while the character dynamics move too quickly. I would have like to dig deeper into the characters as they did have interesting setups but the show just didn't give time to that. All in all, the show was fun to watch with my family but left me without strong emotions about it one way or the other.