Search

Search only in certain items:

Black Hearted (Black Knights Inc: Reloaded #2)
Black Hearted (Black Knights Inc: Reloaded #2)
Julie Ann Walker | 2023 | Contemporary, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
BLACK HEARTED is the second book in the Black Knights Inc: Reloaded series. I haven't read the first book in this series but I don't feel as though it impacted me greatly, although I do believe it would have been better if I had read it.

Sam thinks of Hannah as the thirteen-year-old little sister to his ex-girlfriend, not realising that she is now twenty-nine, with thoughts and dreams of her own. It doesn't help that most of those dreams revolve around Sam, the childhood crush she never grew out of. Hannah walks away at one time (presumably after the first book finishes) but some time down the line, she needs Sam's help. Hannah has been framed and is classed as a traitor. She goes to the one person she knows will help her.

I found this story to be both fast-paced and also slow-burn, as the multitude of events and miscommunications built up. Told from the third person, you hear from Sam and Hannah, but I loved the snippets from Eliza and Fisher. And the poetry quotes were exceedingly well chosen.

A story filled with terrorism, hacking, love, and miscommunication. If these things float your boat, then I can definitely recommend it.

** 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!
Oct 23, 2023
  
Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy arrives at the scene of Dr. Edmund Blackwell’s death thinking it is a suicide. However, as soon as he views it, he realizes it was murder. By that point, he’s already involved midwife Sarah Brandt as she is attending the dead man’s wife, who has gone into labor from the shock. Dr. Blackwell was a magnetic healer, bring relief to people suffering from pain. Who would want to kill a man like that?

And just like that, we are once again traveling back in time to 1890’s New York City. The book really does a great job of bringing the time and place to life. Frank and Sarah are fantastic main characters who share the sleuthing and page time as our third person point of view characters. The mystery is sharp with plenty of secrets to be uncovered. I thought I had it figured out early, but I was missing a big piece of the puzzle.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/09/book-review-murder-on-gramercy-park-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
40x40

Deborah (162 KP) rated Normal People in Books

Jun 18, 2019  
Normal People
Normal People
Sally Rooney | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
1
6.8 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ummmmm, it's relatively short? (0 more)
Everything! (0 more)
Badly written and just really dull
This was another book club pick - not my choice. It seems to be pretty hyped up everywhere, but from a personal viewpoint, it's pretty much the worst book I've ever read and I read a lot!

It's written in the third person, present tense, which was unusual, but I didn't think the writing was brilliant as I kept wanting to rearrange sentences into better English. The author for whatever reason, has decided not to use quotation marks. I found this a little hard on the eye and also just silly. There was no real reason for it and it just seemed a bit pretentious!

Other than that, the character were really quite flat and uninteresting. I just couldn't care about this book at all. Reading is one of life's pleasures for me and this was just a chore.

Even the people at my book club who said they liked it didn't give it more than 4 out of 5, but I was far from the only one who wasn't impressed.
  
Robin Hood and the Caliph&#039;s Gold
Robin Hood and the Caliph's Gold
Angus Donald | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The 9th entry in Angus Donald's Robin Hood Outlaw series of books, although chronologically I think this is the third (set after Holy Warrior).

As such, this starts with Robin and his men trying to make their way back to England from the Holy Land, with the entire story told (as are all the others) in first person narrative, and from the point of view of Alan a Dale, the true protagonist of these stories (let's face it, Robin isn't always a very nice man...)

Shipwrecked on the way home, this sets off a series of circumstances and encounters that sees Robin and his men hatching a plan to steal the Caliph's Gold (it's all there in the title!), with many a ferocious battle and deeds of derring do throughout.

Having recently just having read one of Angus Donald's other historical works (the Blood series: last one I read was Bloods Campaign), I have to say: I think I prefer the medieval setting of these novels better, with Alan a Dale coming across as a more relatable character than Holcroft Blood.
  
40x40

Kristina (502 KP) rated Six of Crows in Books

Dec 7, 2020  
Six of Crows
Six of Crows
Leigh Bardugo | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
6
9.2 (45 Ratings)
Book Rating
I've seen recommendations for Six of Crows repeatedly throughout the last year or two. Favorite Series? Six of Crows. Best female assassin? Six of Crows. Best fantasy book? Six of Crows. There has been a lot of hype around this series, from what I've seen. I finally decided to give it a try - it's not necessarily part of my usual read, but I figured, if I could love the Throne of Glass series, then certainly I could get into this. I did. I enjoyed it, even with the many different point of views and third person perspective. However - and here is where I make my enemies - I didn't absolutely love it. Perhaps, like TOG, it gets better with each book, but while this first installment gets 3 stars from me (and it's a steady 3 stars, honestly), I don't believe I could rate it any higher than that. I do plan on continuing the series, full of hope that I might eventually begin to love it, but until then, I suppose I'll have to go with: "I liked it."