When Rains Became Floods: A Child Soldier's Story
Margaret Randall and Lurgio Gavilan Sanchez
Book
When Rains Became Floods is the gripping autobiography of Lurgio Gavilan Sanchez, who as a child...
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated The Forgotten Child (A Riley Thomas Mystery #1) in Books
Oct 3, 2018
I found the pacing to be fairly consistent for The Forgotten Child. For the most part, it was a fast paced read which I thoroughly enjoyed! There were a few times that the pacing slowed down a bit, and I was wishing for it to speed up again. However, those moments weren't very often.
The plot for The Forgotten Child has been done before, but Ms. Jackson made the story line interesting enough for me to enjoy the story. Riley, the main character, gets roped in to going to a house that has been featured on a popular ghost hunting show and known to be very haunted. It was also the site of some very brutal murders. Riley is reluctant to go due to her ability to see and interact with ghosts and because of something that happened when she was 10 years old involving a spirit. While there, she interacts with the ghost of a little boy as well as the infamous serial killer who used to live there. After getting completely freaked out by a ghostly encounter with the serial killer's ghost, she leaves early to go back home. However, the ghost boy has followed her home. She feels sorry for the little boy and vows to find out what happened to him. Finding out what happened to him won't be easy, and it will put her in grave danger. While trying to uncover the mystery of the little boy, she also is juggling her love life with her new boyfriend. I felt like there were no plot twists, but there were plenty of spooky moments! There was one point in the story where I was really regretting my decision to read The Forgotten Child late at night due to a very spooky scene! Even though this book is part of a series, there were no cliffhangers. All of my questions were answered by the end of the book which I was thankful for. I wish this focused more on Riley's abilities and on the ghostly aspect instead of Riley's relationship with Michael, but that's just a personal preference. I also could have done without the sex scenes between Riley and Michael as I felt like they didn't really fit the tone of the book. Perhaps that's just a me thing though.
The world building for The Forgotten Child was written fairly well. There were some times where I was wondering about the dialogue in the book. Some of the choices of phrases used were a bit cheesy. I hadn't heard anyone use some of the phrases used in the book ever! However, the dialogue was still very believable for the most part. I loved the way some of The Forgotten Child was set a creepy ranch in a spooky house. I do wish more of the action took place here, but I still enjoyed the book.
I enjoyed the characters in The Forgotten Child. Melissa Erin Jackson did a fantastic job in making each character feel like a real person. Not one of the characters was lacking. I found each one to be interesting. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Riley and Michael. I enjoyed their banter a lot even if I wish the book would have focused less on their physical and romantic relationship. I also enjoyed reading about Jade and Riley's friendship. You could feel how strong their friendship was. I loved how Miss Jackson wrote about Orin and Hank. I could feel the evilness of both Orin and Hank oozing from the pages! Both of them made fantastic evil characters.
Trigger warnings include a lot of swearing, violence, a few graphic (but not too graphic) sex scenes including a non-graphic rape, murder including child murder, drinking, an evil spirit, and other scenes dealing with the occult.
All in all, The Forgotten Child was a good read. I loved how spooky it was as well as how great the characters were written. I would definitely recommend The Forgotten Child by Melissa Erin Jackson to those 18+ who love a good paranormal mystery. I will definitely be reading the next book in the Riley Thomas Mystery series.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2200 KP) rated The Problem Child (The Sisters Grimm, #3) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/05/book-review-problem-child-by-michael.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 4: Sadly Never After
Book
What a started as a normal, everyday, child-sucked-into-a-magical-land-to-fulfill-an-inane-quest has...
David Betteridge (327 KP) rated Dumbo (2019) in Movies
Mar 27, 2020
Therapy with Infants: Treating a Traumatised Child
Inger Poulsen and Inger Thormann
Book
When a child without a fully developed language experiences physical and psychological stress that...
Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Not Visited and Never Will
Book
Born on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall, as a child Judith Schalansky could travel only through...
The Forgotten Girls
Book
In a forest in Denmark, a ranger discovers the fresh corpse of an unidentified woman. A large scar...
Liliannar (58 KP) rated Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children in Books
May 29, 2018
Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Books
Jan 19, 2021 (Updated Jul 13, 2022)
Following Harry after losing his parents, finding out he is a wizard and then all of his antics at Hogwarts took me right back to my first time reading this as a child. Although very similar to the films, the book (as is the case most of the time) was so much better and had a few changes and scenes that weren’t in the film, which would have been amazing to see on screen.
Harry, Ron and Hermione are the lovable Golden Trio of my childhood. But I was amazed at just how long into the book Harry and Ron became friends with Hermione, I didn’t think it was that long! I loved the introduction to magic that we had and all of the different basic classes that young witches and wizards have to be taught before they can start practising magic. Hogwarts is such an amazing place and this fictional castle has always held a special place in my heart!
This has only strengthened my love of Harry Potter and I will be reading through the rest of the series in the next few weeks to see what else I have forgotten!!