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Caught in a Cycle
7.0
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What happens when a good kid gets harassed by a bully and caught in a cycle of lies trying to...
Lewis & Clark
7.0
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Tabletop Game
On November 30, 1803, the United States purchased Louisiana from Napoleon. U.S. President Thomas...
boardgames
The Problem (Single Dad Support Group #1)
9.0
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Laurence’s new lover is half his age. The problem? His relationship is about to make his life a...
Contemporary M_M M_Preg Romance
Merissa (14198 KP) rated Alex (Alex #1) in Books
Mar 6, 2024
ALEX is the first book in the same-titled series and we stay with him as we learn about how his life was, how it is now, and what he is going through.
Alex is a complex character - at times appearing like a small boy - which is no real surprise considering what he has been through. Jane is seven years older than him and has been by his side since he first came to her house, rescued by her dad. He is also a divisive character - some people like him, but a lot don't. Creg, Brad, and Dr Bennett, to name some. Alex also has friends in Angie, Justin, Becca, and Ben, the local police chief. It's a good job too, as he gets into situations that look bad for him.
If anything could go wrong for Alex, it did. He is kidnapped multiple times, gets attacked, tortured (again), assaulted, knifed, and shot at! I would be a nervous wreck. There was so much going on in this story, I sometimes forgot what the main storyline actually was, especially with so many characters, including some who just appear and seem to have no real purpose to the story.
On the whole, this was a gripping book with brilliant (albeit horrible) descriptions, but I was left wanting more that I hope will be covered in future books in the series - more about Alex, his past, and how he deals with his visions and migraines in the future.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Feb 22, 2024
Alex is a complex character - at times appearing like a small boy - which is no real surprise considering what he has been through. Jane is seven years older than him and has been by his side since he first came to her house, rescued by her dad. He is also a divisive character - some people like him, but a lot don't. Creg, Brad, and Dr Bennett, to name some. Alex also has friends in Angie, Justin, Becca, and Ben, the local police chief. It's a good job too, as he gets into situations that look bad for him.
If anything could go wrong for Alex, it did. He is kidnapped multiple times, gets attacked, tortured (again), assaulted, knifed, and shot at! I would be a nervous wreck. There was so much going on in this story, I sometimes forgot what the main storyline actually was, especially with so many characters, including some who just appear and seem to have no real purpose to the story.
On the whole, this was a gripping book with brilliant (albeit horrible) descriptions, but I was left wanting more that I hope will be covered in future books in the series - more about Alex, his past, and how he deals with his visions and migraines in the future.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Feb 22, 2024
Welcome Home to Murder
8.0
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From author Rosalie Spielman comes a heartfelt cozy mystery that proves sometimes coming home again...
Merissa (14198 KP) rated Annie's Day in Books
Dec 9, 2025
ANNIE'S DAY is a World War II novel that has a dual timeline between the early 2000s and the many years prior to that date. It is set in Australia, New Guinea, Berlin, London, and Cambridge, to name but a few.
The title is literally the story. Annie wakes up, and you go through the day with her as she gets lost in memories. It ends perfectly with her going to bed, and leaves a little extra to your imagination.
Annie is supported by her friends-Flo, Verna, and Iris. She also finds love along the way, although the path isn't smooth. You also see firsthand just how they felt about the various cover-ups, especially when it impacts them directly.
It is not an easy read as it tells, without glamourising, the horrors of war, specifically the war in the Pacific that doesn't get as much 'attention'. Told from Annie's perspective, you get to see what they had to deal with and just how much the nurses gave. I was surprised to read how nurses were given white feathers! That seems incredible to me, and such a slap in the face to them. While I enjoyed the writing style, it sometimes felt a little disjointed, and I would have to double-check something I'd read about a character or event. The Author's Note is definitely worth a read, and I dipped back to it more than once as the story progressed.
I would recommend this to any fan of historical novels, specifically World War II fiction.
** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Dec 9, 2025
The title is literally the story. Annie wakes up, and you go through the day with her as she gets lost in memories. It ends perfectly with her going to bed, and leaves a little extra to your imagination.
Annie is supported by her friends-Flo, Verna, and Iris. She also finds love along the way, although the path isn't smooth. You also see firsthand just how they felt about the various cover-ups, especially when it impacts them directly.
It is not an easy read as it tells, without glamourising, the horrors of war, specifically the war in the Pacific that doesn't get as much 'attention'. Told from Annie's perspective, you get to see what they had to deal with and just how much the nurses gave. I was surprised to read how nurses were given white feathers! That seems incredible to me, and such a slap in the face to them. While I enjoyed the writing style, it sometimes felt a little disjointed, and I would have to double-check something I'd read about a character or event. The Author's Note is definitely worth a read, and I dipped back to it more than once as the story progressed.
I would recommend this to any fan of historical novels, specifically World War II fiction.
** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Dec 9, 2025
Debbiereadsbook (1846 KP) rated Melting His Grumpy Heart in Books
Nov 12, 2025
simply wonderful!
Independent reviewer for Neon, I was gifted my copy of this book.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Ms Ryecart does holiday stories like no other and I bloody LOVED this!
The last book Ms Ryecart wrote was dark and deadly. And this?? Is so very NOT those things.
Jake has been hiding himself away, working on his suruvual business. Ru finds himself stranded after his car breaks down and there is a blizzard. What follows is Jake slowly descending into life again, with Ru.
What I loved most about this, was that Jake really did not see it coming! It wasn't a meet cute, with Ru waking up with Jake's gun in his face, but even from that point, I think Ru saw it and jake just did not. And it was a lot, a LOT of fun watching him fall hard and fast and really getting blindsided by Ru, in the best way.
There is no real drama, and it's very low on the ansgt scale. Steamy, of yes! Once these two get down and dirty, it heats up nicely.
But it's emotional in a way I didn't quite see coming, and I'm really not sure why I didn't. Much like Jake, I was somewhat blindsided but I loved that I was. Sometimes, it's really great to be slapped upside the head with emotions that come out of nowhere! Might just be me, but just saying how much I loved the emotional attachment that these two develop.
This is, quite simply, a wonderful tale of 2 men falling in love around the Christmas period and it is Ms Ryecart at her very best.
5 full and shiny stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Ms Ryecart does holiday stories like no other and I bloody LOVED this!
The last book Ms Ryecart wrote was dark and deadly. And this?? Is so very NOT those things.
Jake has been hiding himself away, working on his suruvual business. Ru finds himself stranded after his car breaks down and there is a blizzard. What follows is Jake slowly descending into life again, with Ru.
What I loved most about this, was that Jake really did not see it coming! It wasn't a meet cute, with Ru waking up with Jake's gun in his face, but even from that point, I think Ru saw it and jake just did not. And it was a lot, a LOT of fun watching him fall hard and fast and really getting blindsided by Ru, in the best way.
There is no real drama, and it's very low on the ansgt scale. Steamy, of yes! Once these two get down and dirty, it heats up nicely.
But it's emotional in a way I didn't quite see coming, and I'm really not sure why I didn't. Much like Jake, I was somewhat blindsided but I loved that I was. Sometimes, it's really great to be slapped upside the head with emotions that come out of nowhere! Might just be me, but just saying how much I loved the emotional attachment that these two develop.
This is, quite simply, a wonderful tale of 2 men falling in love around the Christmas period and it is Ms Ryecart at her very best.
5 full and shiny stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
Merissa (14198 KP) rated The Lady Who Left in Books
Apr 4, 2025
THE LADY WHO LEFT is a heartwarming and heartbreaking historical romance that deals with emotional abuse on page. If this is a trigger then please be warned!
Marigold has put up with her abusive older husband for years and nothing she does is ever good enough. She copes with it though, for her own sake, but Mama Bear comes to the forefront when he threatens her son, Reggie. She threatens him with divorce, with every intention of following it through, but because he is a Peer of the Realm, no one will touch her with a barge pole. That is until she meets Archie. They have a history between them that neither expected, which only serves to confuse the issue. Archie does take on her case though, and it is make-or-break for both of them.
The connection between Archie and Marigold shone on the page and I loved every scene with them in it. Marigold will do whatever it takes to protect her boys, but that also means she doesn't see them at their full potential sometimes. Archie has had a different life from Marigold, harder in some ways, but that allows him to see possibilities that Marigold can't.
The abuse Marigold goes through is hard reading, especially for someone who has been through it. Remember that trigger warning! And to have Archie's fear become a real possibility was horrifying. I imagine the research into this subject was in-depth and not at all pleasant, but it did make for a great read.
Thoroughly enjoyable and definitely recommended by me.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Apr 3, 2025
Marigold has put up with her abusive older husband for years and nothing she does is ever good enough. She copes with it though, for her own sake, but Mama Bear comes to the forefront when he threatens her son, Reggie. She threatens him with divorce, with every intention of following it through, but because he is a Peer of the Realm, no one will touch her with a barge pole. That is until she meets Archie. They have a history between them that neither expected, which only serves to confuse the issue. Archie does take on her case though, and it is make-or-break for both of them.
The connection between Archie and Marigold shone on the page and I loved every scene with them in it. Marigold will do whatever it takes to protect her boys, but that also means she doesn't see them at their full potential sometimes. Archie has had a different life from Marigold, harder in some ways, but that allows him to see possibilities that Marigold can't.
The abuse Marigold goes through is hard reading, especially for someone who has been through it. Remember that trigger warning! And to have Archie's fear become a real possibility was horrifying. I imagine the research into this subject was in-depth and not at all pleasant, but it did make for a great read.
Thoroughly enjoyable and definitely recommended by me.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Apr 3, 2025
Greek mythology is my catnip, and Elektra was the only thing I wanted to listen to for the week it took me to finish it (work and families can be really inconvenient sometimes!).
Elektra by Jennifer Saint is told from three female perspectives: Clytemnestra, the sister of Helen, the wife of Agamemnon; Cassandra, a Princess of Troy; and Elektra, Clytemnestra and Agamemnon’s youngest daughter.
The things these women had to put up with! Clytemnestra’s husband Agamemnon, acts like a madman (but it’s ok, it’s all for the Gods!) and she’s supposed to accept it all. Except she doesn’t.
Cassandra is treated like a madwoman after she’s cursed by Apollo. She can tell the future, but no-one believes her. So they only have themselves to blame when Troy is destroyed.
And then there’s Elektra. She seems to have fully bought into the whole “men/ daddy knows best, and anyway, he’s a hero” story. She’s a young woman who adores her father and believes he can do no wrong. She can’t understand her mothers reaction to the sacrifice of her eldest daughter and Elektra’s sister. Can we blame Elektra though? Probably. She certainly knows how to play the long game.
The narrators were well chosen, and really helped to add life and vigour to the characters of the three women. Listening to these Greek myths haas added something extra special to the stories - after all, I’ve read these stories so many times over the years in different forms. And I still can’t see a time where they’ll get old. In every retelling there’s a different angle, and I don’t think I can express enough how much I enjoy the story told from the women’s points of view.
Elektra is just fabulous - a timeless story about strong women.
Elektra by Jennifer Saint is told from three female perspectives: Clytemnestra, the sister of Helen, the wife of Agamemnon; Cassandra, a Princess of Troy; and Elektra, Clytemnestra and Agamemnon’s youngest daughter.
The things these women had to put up with! Clytemnestra’s husband Agamemnon, acts like a madman (but it’s ok, it’s all for the Gods!) and she’s supposed to accept it all. Except she doesn’t.
Cassandra is treated like a madwoman after she’s cursed by Apollo. She can tell the future, but no-one believes her. So they only have themselves to blame when Troy is destroyed.
And then there’s Elektra. She seems to have fully bought into the whole “men/ daddy knows best, and anyway, he’s a hero” story. She’s a young woman who adores her father and believes he can do no wrong. She can’t understand her mothers reaction to the sacrifice of her eldest daughter and Elektra’s sister. Can we blame Elektra though? Probably. She certainly knows how to play the long game.
The narrators were well chosen, and really helped to add life and vigour to the characters of the three women. Listening to these Greek myths haas added something extra special to the stories - after all, I’ve read these stories so many times over the years in different forms. And I still can’t see a time where they’ll get old. In every retelling there’s a different angle, and I don’t think I can express enough how much I enjoy the story told from the women’s points of view.
Elektra is just fabulous - a timeless story about strong women.