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Shy Girl vs Popular Boy (Forever Love #3)
Shy Girl vs Popular Boy (Forever Love #3)
Jordan Ford | 2019 | Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Shy Girl vs Popular Boy is the third book in the Forever Love series, and now the focus moves to Bianca, Cam, and Stacey.

Cam likes Bianca but has a horde of girls who wants his attention. He doesn't think anything of it as he is not interested in them, but Bianca sees it. With her low self-esteem she wonders how he could ever really like her. These two swing backward and forward throughout the book, but it does give them a HFN finish.

Stacey plays a huge part in this book, and although her storyline does impact Bianca and Cam, I felt it almost overshadowed them at times. Don't get me wrong, what she goes through is horrendous, and Bianca and Cam SHOULD be there for her, just like everyone else. It just felt like this story almost matched Bianca's life - pushed to the background for Stacey.

Saying that, I still really enjoyed this story, and can't wait for the next installment in this series that is turning into a family saga rather than 'just' a contemporary romance. This family is intertwined, now and forever, and I sincerely want to continue to find out about all of them!

I have no hesitation in recommending this book, but due to the intertwining, I would recommend you start at book one, otherwise you will miss out!

* 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!
  
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Beckie Shelton (40 KP) rated The Treatment in Books

Oct 31, 2017 (Updated Oct 31, 2017)  
The Treatment
The Treatment
C. L. Taylor | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller, Young Adult (YA)
6
7.6 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm: https://www.beckiebookworm.com

The Treatment By C.L. Taylor was a decent enough read that I really quite enjoyed.


I also took into account when reading, that this was aimed at a much younger audience than myself, so I have been slightly lenient in my rating as I feel there were things I noticed that would probably go over the heads of this books intended demographic.


I would say this is a read my twelve and thirteen-year-old boys would really enjoy, Myself being a mum in my forties, well let's just say I enjoyed this, while not overtaxing my brain overmuch.


So The Treatment is about sixteen-year-old Drew Finch and her actions when her younger brother Mason gets expelled from yet another school and sent to Norton House, a residential reform academy.


so after being followed by the mysterious Dr Cobey and receiving a strange message about the treatment, her brother is receiving while residing at Norton House. Drew decides to investigate herself by getting herself admitted as a pupil.


So as I said this was an enjoyable read that does what it says on the tin.


There were no great surprises here, This was more, the underdog saves the day type of tale.


Drew herself, well I felt a bit sorry for her bullied by her ex-best friend (which there was no real explanation for).


Does one thing wrong and then gets shipped off to a reform academy, I know she needs to be for the story to work but jeez, her mum, hardly mother of the year actions are they.


Drew herself seems to be quite a resilient girl with a bit of a kick-ass attitude, more so maybe than I would expect from someone who's been bullied so relentlessly.<br/>But anyway she seems a very likeable pragmatic type of girl.


She teams up inside Norton with her roommate Mouse and the two try to coordinate an escape while steering clear of there other roomy Jude.


Jude is every mean girl cliche you can think off, horrid just for the sake of it. Shes even worse when Lacey, Drew's arch nemesis turns up like a bad penny and the two join forces to torment Drew.


I did find both Jude and Lacey to be slightly one dimensional in their behaviour.


So anyway to cut a long story short Drew strives to save the day, while rescuing her friends and brother along the way.


This is done in true kick-butt style with only the one extra unsurprising twist along the way.


So the wrap up of "The Treatment" I felt was a little bit rushed, I would have liked to have seen things eked out and explored in a little more depth.


But besides that, this is a great addition to the Young Adult/teen genre-leaning more heavily towards the Teen age group.


So I would definitely recommend this to the younger generation, It is a fun action packed clean read, that is well written and is sure to catch imaginations.


Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an Arc of "The Treatment" By C.L. Taylor this is my own honest unbiased opinion.


Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm: https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
  
Touch (Selfish Myths #1)
Touch (Selfish Myths #1)
Natalia Jester | 2021 | Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
177 of 250
Kindle
Touch ( selfish Myths book 1)
By Natalia Jester

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

A mortal outcast, a mythical goddess, and a forbidden desire that defies the laws of magic.

They say I'm a celestial bad girl. But they're wrong--I'm far worse.

My name is Love. I spend my immortal years hunting within a frosted forest, matching human hearts with each mischievous strike of my arrow.

But in all my centuries, I've never known desire--until now.

He's a mortal. And the longer I'm with him, the more I crave his touch.

Yet binding myself to this human is forbidden. Without a doubt, it's fatal.

When I discover that he possesses abilities beyond his knowledge--a force strong enough to eradicate my kind--I have to make a choice.

One, destroy him before he destroys my race.

Or two, contain his magic by sealing his heart with someone else's.

This was a strange read but strange in a good way I think. It was a sweet story of love finding love for herself. I loved the interaction with the other emotional gods they certainly all have a story. I just can’t put my finger on what was so odd about the book I’m certainly interested in reading more by this author. For now this would be 3 stars for me.
  
We Begin at the End
We Begin at the End
Chris Whitaker | 2020 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
We Begin at the End is described as a crime thriller, but it’s so much more than that.

At 15 years of age, Vincent King is sent to an adult prison for the murder of Sissie Radley. He doesn’t dispute this - he was driving the car, he didn’t realise he’d hit her, but he had hit her all the same. He goes to prison for 30 years, leaving his best friend Walk, and his girl friend Star Radley, Sissie’s sister, behind. Thirty years later, he’s released and returns to his hometown and his parents house.

In the meantime, Star has had two children: Duchess and Robin. Star clearly has problems with alcohol, and Duchess often has to look after her when she’s incapable of looking after herself. She also takes care of her younger brother, Robin s a mother would.

I don’t actually want to go in to too much detail, because there’s a lot of detail to go in to! Suffice it to say, that when I wasn’t reading this, I was thinking about it. It’s a beautifully written, melancholy story, and I became so attached to the main characters: not just the children, but also Walk, the Sheriff, and Vincent King himself. There are so many twists and turns. Just when you think you know what’s happening, something else comes along and changes everything. And the ending broke my heart! I spent the last Pigeonhole instalment blinking away the tears so that I could read it. If this book doesn’t win awards, then something is very wrong with the world! Wonderful, wonderful writing.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book, and for Chris Whitaker for popping in now and again to answer questions. It has been one of my favourite Pigeonhole books.
  
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated Gone Girl in Books

May 30, 2017  
Gone Girl
Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.7 (142 Ratings)
Book Rating
Seriously Messed Up
“Thriller of the year” according to Observer; it makes you wonder what all the other thrillers were like. Gone Girl is a contemporary crime thriller by American author Gillian Flynn. Likable “Cool Girl” Amy Dunne is missing; the police think her husband has something to do with it, but what really happened?

Flynn begins the novel with an epigraph: “Love is the world’s infinite mutability; lies, hatred, murder even, are all knit up in it; it is the inevitable blossoming of its opposites, a magnificent rose smelling faintly of blood.” – Tony Kushner, The Illusion. This implies that love and hate, and perhaps murder, will be the main issues within the novel. It hints that relationships may not be all that they first appear, which becomes evident as you read deeper into the book.

Split into three parts, the first section alternates between a first person account from Nick Dunne, the husband, of what is occurring on the day in which Amy disappears and the following days when both he and the police are attempting to determine the truth about what has happened and trying to find out where Amy is; and diary entries from Amy dating as far back as 2005.

To begin with I did not think much of the story and did not particularly like Amy, despite her being portrayed as a likable character; however I soon got into the story siding with Nick and wanting him to be innocent even though evidence and suspicion were mounting against him.

Initially I assumed that the truth would not be revealed until the end of the story rather than on the first page of part two. For the remainder of the book Nick’s narrative remains the same, progressing from where it left off at the end of part one; whereas Amy, instead of diary entries, she is telling the reader the truth about what happened on the 5th July – the day she went missing – and the subsequent days and weeks. At this point I became a bit bored with the story; as the reader we know the truth and it is frustrating that the police are getting it wrong. However part three contained more suspense than the rest of the novel.

So, why only three stars? As I already mentioned it did not seem that great at the beginning and to be honest I did not feel satisfied with the ending either. One of the main things that bothered me was the use of swear words. I understand that many people swear and so it is inevitable that these words would end up in novels; however in my opinion there is swearing and then there is swearing. This was beginning to border on the latter. Yes some of the characters were angry but I thought the use of expletives was slightly overdone.

Despite these misgivings it was a well-written piece of fiction that I think others may enjoy – the ratings on Goodreads certainly suggest that; but for me it was not anything special.
  
Show all 3 comments.
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Hazel (1853 KP) Jun 13, 2017

I've not seen the film. I've heard good things about it, though.

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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) Aug 21, 2017

Just a quick question - should I still read it if I already know what the twist is? Can't decide whether to buy the Kindle deal today.

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Hazel (1853 KP) rated Gone Girl in Books

Dec 7, 2018  
Gone Girl
Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.7 (142 Ratings)
Book Rating
“Thriller of the year” according to <i>Observer</i>; it makes you wonder what all the other thrillers were like. <i>Gone Girl</i> is a contemporary crime thriller by American author Gillian Flynn. Likable “Cool Girl” Amy Dunne is missing; the police think her husband has something to do with it, but what really happened?

Flynn begins the novel with an epigraph: “Love is the world’s infinite mutability; lies, hatred, murder even, are all knit up in it; it is the inevitable blossoming of its opposites, a magnificent rose smelling faintly of blood.” – Tony Kushner, <i>The Illusion</i>. This implies that love and hate, and perhaps murder, will be the main issues within the novel. It hints that relationships may not be all that they first appear, which becomes evident as you read deeper into the book.

Split into three parts, the first section alternates between a first person account from Nick Dunne, the husband, of what is occurring on the day in which Amy disappears and the following days when both he and the police are attempting to determine the truth about what has happened and trying to find out where Amy is; and diary entries from Amy dating as far back as 2005.

To begin with I did not think much of the story and did not particularly like Amy, despite her being portrayed as a likable character; however I soon got into the story siding with Nick and wanting him to be innocent even though evidence and suspicion were mounting against him.

Initially I assumed that the truth would not be revealed until the end of the story rather than on the first page of part two. For the remainder of the book Nick’s narrative remains the same, progressing from where it left off at the end of part one; whereas Amy, instead of diary entries, she is telling the reader the truth about what happened on the 5th July – the day she went missing – and the subsequent days and weeks. At this point I became a bit bored with the story; as the reader we know the truth and it is frustrating that the police are getting it wrong. However part three contained more suspense than the rest of the novel.

So, why only three stars? As I already mentioned it did not seem that great at the beginning and to be honest I did not feel satisfied with the ending either. One of the main things that bothered me was the use of swear words. I understand that many people swear and so it is inevitable that these words would end up in novels; however in my opinion there is swearing and then there is <i>swearing</i>. This was beginning to border on the latter. Yes some of the characters were angry but I thought the use of expletives was slightly overdone.

Despite these misgivings it was a well-written piece of fiction that I think others may enjoy – the ratings on <i>Goodreads</i> certainly suggest that; but for me it was not anything special.
  
The Texas Cowboy
The Texas Cowboy
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
3.5 stars.

Once again I was attracted to the cover. Attractive guy. Cowboy hat. (I seem to like cowboys in stories, so I was sorted!)

The thing I feel I have to mention first is Laura. She is so annoying! She’s so reliant on image, it’s unbelievable. I wanted to smack her several times throughout the book.

Then I’ll mention Jack. That first meeting of eyes across the street, the wink and his words: “I’ve never been to England, but they say it’s real pretty. Welcome to Texas, Vicky. Give me a call sometime and I’ll show you the sights. I might even be able to show you a few things that your cousin doesn’t know about.” He gave he another broad wink and tipped his hat.” I liked him right then.

And as for Vicky. Good for her for wanting to go out with Jack, even while her cousin disapproves! As an English girl myself, I was cheering her on. Who doesn’t think about cowboys wanting to sweep you off your feet? Okay, probably not everyone but I like the idea.

The storyline seems to follow a series of unfortunate events between Jack and Vicky where they miss each others calls or see the other with someone else and jump to the wrong conclusions. When it all got resolved it was all very sweet and romantic.

It was a short read, just over 100 pages, but it was quite romantic when they finally got together and I liked it. If you’re looking for a short romance or a nice cowboy read then you should give this a try.
  
Mythology (Mythology #1)
Mythology (Mythology #1)
Helen Boswell | 2012 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The world of Hope Gentry has always been a little strange but it's about to become surreal.

Hope is a girl with a gift and a history, not all of it good. She is just trying to make it through High School as easily as possible without freaking everyone out. Then along comes Micah. A guy with his own problems who blows Hope away (in a good sense). Let the story commence!

This story is fantastic! At 418 pages long, it is big enough for you to sink your teeth into and completely immerse yourself in their world. Speaking of which, the premise of this book is extraordinarily well thought out and the abundance of characters, with their individual quirks and wittiness, is a pleasure to read. There are some amazing one-liners in this book including one which resonated with me - "Give me Dante's Inferno or Homer's The Odyssey over a math problem any day"!!! I completely get that!

The characters interact with each other brilliantly and I loved Micah. That boy is something else! As wrong as this will sound (unless you've read the book) I loved the interaction with Jonathon. You could almost see the sparks that flew between those two. Jonathon's wit and ability are just two of the things that make him shine. And Hope is a breath of fresh air. She is blunt, sometimes at the expense of tact, and is not some cowering wallflower.

I was gutted when I finished the book as I needed more but I am happy to say that Book 2 is to be released this month (according to GoodReads) and it's already on my to-be-read list.

Highly recommended!!!

* Verified Purchase on Amazon *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Sep 14, 2013
  
Warrick (Rocky Mountain Pack #2)
Warrick (Rocky Mountain Pack #2)
Liza Bee | 2025 | Paranormal, Romance
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
WARRICK is the second book in the Rocky Mountain Pack series, and although the official line was that you don't have to have read the first book to enjoy this one, I think it would have been slightly better if I had. That said, I still enjoyed this one.

Warrick and Aspen were dating when Warrick cheated on her. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, he has another girl grinding in his lap when their bond snaps into place. This pattern continued for four years until Warrick stormed into Aspen's workplace and demanded she accept the bond. Yep, Warrick is a d!ck! During this time, Aspen has been heartbroken again and again, until she has a situationship with a mountain lion shifter called Chase. He basically keeps her sane when Warrick is pushing all her buttons.

The unusual thing with this second-chance romance book is that the reader actually sees Warrick acting like an immature teenager (because he was) and cheating on Aspen on multiple occasions. Usually, the book will start with them trying to repair the past hurts. Now, don't get me wrong, Warrick was also trying to do that too, once he got his head out of his a$$, but still, I thought it a bold move by the author to actually show that.

I found it to be well-paced with plenty of secondary characters to support their storyline. I wasn't completely invested in the characters or their story, but I did enjoy what I read. I would continue with this series.

** 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 18, 2025