The Butterfly Lion
9.0
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ILLUSTRATED BY CHRISTIAN BIRMINGHAM. A lyrical and moving tale of a young boy growing up in Africa,...
Strangers on the 16:02
8.0
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It's a hot, crowded train. Helen Summers is on her way to see her sister Jill to tell her an awful...
To Sir With Love (1967)
7.0
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Engineer Mark Thackeray arrives to teach a totally undisciplined class at an East End school. Still...
BeardyJim (611 KP) rated Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1) in Books
Oct 25, 2021
I listened to this via Audible, and really enjoyed it... So I'd urge anyone to pick up these books (either physical, or audiobook), as it's extremely enjoyable.
The style of writing is excellent, and Carriger has a wicked sense of humour.
I now need to start the Finishing School series!
The Twist and Shout Murder
8.0
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In 1962, Dot Morgan was told the best thing she could do besides being a nurse or teacher was to...
Charlotte (184 KP) rated The Voinico's Daughter (The Vanator Vampire Hunters #1) in Books
Dec 24, 2021
What a brilliant start to what looks to be an awesome new series!
The Voinico's Daughter has everything you need to hook you into this cracking world of vampires, mystery and family dynamics. From high school to high profile, Nicoleta has a lot of adjusting to do and with some very powerful vampires to deal with learning the "trade" becomes even more if a priority.
I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to read this and I can't wait for the next installment.......I'm so impatient!! This is definitely a box of chocolates worthy, add in comfy pajamas and you'll be transported to Romania in luxury.
Oh Danny Girl
10.0
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Attorney Danny O’Brien thought her biggest problem was that her middle-aged widowed mother went to...
In Darkness: The Werewolf
8.0
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Souls shrouded in darkness… On her own in England, Vicki trains at a prestigious fencing...
Contemporary Paranormal Romance
David McK (3372 KP) rated The Law (Dresden Files #17.4) in Books
Dec 27, 2023
The last full-length novel of which was Battle Ground, from 2020, and in which the supernatural world spills over into Chicago (and in which Harry suffers a personal loss)
As this starts, Harry is still smarting from that loss, but - before long - is hired, ostensibly as a PI, in the case where a school teacher is being blackmailed by a former convict over her former life as a hooker.
Of course, being a Dresden Files case, things are more than they seem ...
In short, this will tide the reader over until the next full length novel!
Jayme (18 KP) rated Underwater in Books
Mar 28, 2018
I found myself connecting to Morgan more than any other character within the book, and that connection began early on in her description of the day her younger brother was born.
"I think of Ben on the day he was born, all chubby and pink and bald. … I think of the newborn Ben next to my mom’s hospital bed and rocking him under dim lights while he slept in my arms. I fall asleep to the feeling of a love I never knew until my brother got here."
Being the youngest in my family and having no experience with anyone I knew having children, I was especially excited when my only sister got pregnant with her first child. I sat in an uncomfortable chair across the room from my sister’s hospital bed for thirteen hours while she was in labor. When she was finally ready to push, I stood at her side giving words of encouragement, and she even gave me the honor of cutting my nephew’s umbilical cord. I remember the warmth of my tears as I heard my nephew cry out, sucking in his first breaths of air. I left the hospital shortly after his delivery, allowing my sister to get some rest. I returned a few hours later and held my tiny nephew in my arms for the first time. I love plenty of people in my life, but it wasn’t until I watched my newborn nephew as he slept swaddled in the hospital-issued blanket that I fully understood the depths of the love I was capable of producing. The astonishment I felt holding my precious nephew can be compared to the feelings Morgan had toward her brother the day he was born.
What I found to be most fascinating about this book is the way the author tackles the problem of school shootings in a way that humanizes the shooter and his victims. Instead of making the shooter out to be a merciless attacker, he was demonstrated as a victim of neglect among his peers who deserves forgiveness for his mistakes. There have been one hundred and seventy-four school shootings in America since the year 2003. School shootings are a recurring issue in our society.
"Before Aaron’s Facebook was disabled, news outlets released photographs from his profile. They found the worst ones. The ones that painted the picture of a kid who was angry and alone. They interviewed neighbors who said Aaron spent weekends tinkering in the garage. His mom revealed Aaron had been in therapy since middle school. His dad revealed he kept guns in the house. For protection. From the world. Not from his son. Those were guns Aaron brought to school onOctober fifteenth. … And the only person who could give us answers, who could tell us why, was gone."
The media is quick to make the shooter out to be a monster instead of acknowledging the idea that people make drastic decisions, like one of shooting up a school, because they have no one to turn to.
Other personal accounts of shootings have been written, but there is nothing like this fictional demonstration of the aftereffects of such occurrences. Misty Bernell, the mother of a student killed in the Columbine High School shooting taking place in 1999, wrote the book She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martydom of Cassie Bernall as a way of commemorating her daughter and spreading awareness of the lives lost in the tragic massacre. Reichardt manages to establish a point of view that allows readers to show empathy toward a victim in the shooting the same way Bernell does without downplaying the internal struggles Aaron, the shooter in the novel, may have been experiencing.
The successful manner in which Reichardt explores a real-time societal issue from a unique perspective provides enough grounds for me to recommend the book. However, I was also able to find many characteristics that made me feel invested in the well-being of the each of the characters within the novel. Morgan works especially hard to go outside in order to see her brother perform in his kindergarten play, the psychiatrist meets with Morgan for free because the psychiatrist wanted Morgan to know she was being heard, Evan offering his old prepaid cell phone to Morgan so they could send text messages to communicate the problems Morgan was too afraid to talk about out loud, and the way Morgan’s mother compromises with Morgan and attempts to understand her feelings. Each character demonstrates selflessness and unconditional love while maneuvering through a situation where love and support are crucial to the mental health of everyone involved. Reading about people who truly care about each other and work to build each other up in a difficult time instead of worrying only of themselves is refreshing.