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    Games

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    Follow.trail is a minimalist puzzle game, where the goal is to follow the trail of dots without...

Take The Shot (Philadelphia Bulldogs #1)
Take The Shot (Philadelphia Bulldogs #1)
Danica Flynn | 2020 | Contemporary, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
really good read x
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Sometimes, you just need a book that you just fall into, losing all around you, and reading about 2 people falling in love. And this is such a book.

Dinah lost her husband 2 years ago. Moving on seemed like a good idea, and a bad one, all at the same time. Her neighbour provides some eye candy, but he is so much younger than she is and she doesn't think he would want anything other than friendship. Noah lives in the next door apartment. Noah has lusted over Dinah for ages, but she was married, then widowed. He wasn't gonna make a move til she was ready. If she never did, he would be heartbroken, but he would rather have Dinah as a friend, than not at all.

This is a delightful read! I'm not the greatest fan of first person books, I make no secret of that, but I really rather loved this one!

Noah, bless him, 22 years old, lusts after Dinah, has done since he met her. But he kept it to himself, she was married. And after he died, he found himself helping her in more ways than he ever expected. But he waited, he WAS waiting for Dinah. Waiting for her to let him know she was ready to move on. He would wait, however long it took. Til his housemates gave him an ultimatum: Ask her out, or one of them would. They could see what Noah could not, that Dinah was lusting after Noah as much as Noah lusted after her. They just had to act on it.

And it is wonderful when they do! Yes, the attraction is powerful and hot, but there is much emotion here, not just steamy sex. There is much between these two, BEFORE they get to the bedroom, which would be spoilers to explain. And I really found those bits far better than the sexy bits, but thats not to say the sexy bits aren't good :-p

There is a supporting cast who have their own problems, and I hope they all get their story in this series.

The hockey bits, I will admit, I tended to flip over, but then something happened in one and I had to go back, so, yeah, I actually read the hockey bits after that!

There are a couple of lines that are repeated, more times than was really necessary. BUT! I've seen that this is the author's first book, so I'm not really complaining, I'm just saying!

A thoroughly enjoyable read, so for a first time author? Well done, Ms Flynn, very well done.

4 good solid stars

**same worded revivew will appear elsewhere**
  
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Relentless (Relentless, #1)
Relentless (Relentless, #1)
Karen Lynch | 2013 | Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Have you ever picked up a book and thought that you knew exactly where it was heading before you even started it? Well, that's what I thought about this book. I thought it would be a light, easy read where the story follows the 'set' pattern and it would while away a couple of hours. Boy, was I wrong!!!

This story is simply fantastic. It is fresh and incredibly well-written. There aren't many books out there that can blend fantasy with paranormal but Karen Lynch can and does with aplomb. The synopsis states that vampires are involved so fair enough but I certainly wasn't expecting trolls, imps, sylphs, undines and demons - to name but a few! There are enough characters in here so that everyone can have their favourite although I suspect I'm in the majority for thinking that Nikolas is just "Oh Yeah!". The relationships between Sara and her two best friends, Roland and Peter, are not only believable but also in the minority in books. Yes, people, you can be friends with a guy without any benefits apart from a solid friendship. It was so nice to read this part even with the explanation given by Aine as to the why.

Sara has special gifts, some of which can be explained by Nikolas and some that remain a mystery. Sara states that she is not a warrior. Warriors come in different shapes and sizes but Sara definitely is. She has much to learn and I'm really hoping that Nikolas will be there to help her.

Relentless is full of secrets which I loved reading about, it is also full of humour. Sara is a strong female lead and she is not afraid of speaking her mind, especially to Nikolas. One of my favourite parts is when she speaks to Nikolas on the phone and calls Chris "Dimples". It may not be funny here but read the story and you'll see what I mean.

This is book 1 of a trilogy with book 2 (hopefully) due out late this year. I am now stalking, I mean, following 😉 Karen Lynch on Facebook and GoodReads so that I can see it as soon as it's available. Good things come to those that wait and if this book is any indication, book 2 is going to be even better. So many things that I want to see happen. Definitely recommended for anyone who likes YA, Fantasy or Paranormal. Excellent!

* 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!
Mar 9, 2014
  
40x40

Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Sanctuary in Books

Apr 27, 2018  
S
Sanctuary
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
rating: 3.8/5

My Summary: Lea is a refugee who has survived for the past few months living in the wild and traveling from house to random house, just trying to stay alive. When she is found, ill, by American soldiers and taken care of and healed, she has a choice—leave the soldiers and spend the winter by herself, homeless, with no protection in the middle of a war, or trade sex for protection and safety from Major Russell. She chooses the exchange. But Lea and Russell both are not prepared for the outcome of the bargain—Love. Lea and Russell are married, and try to build a real relationship from their original bargain. Can they make it work…

Thoughts: I really hate it when a book has what I call “happy-land syndrome—” where everything works out nicely, relationships are smooth and when they’re rough their fixed quickly and painlessly, and everyone lives happily ever after. This book does have a happily ever after of some sort, but it most certainly does not have happy-land syndrome. This book was a picture of a real marriage—the ups, the downs, the arguments, the forgiveness. There were clear differences between passion, lust, and love (which is always refreshing), and there were arguments the way real arguments happen. There was pride, there was sympathy, and there was forgiveness.

There was a lot of humor in this book! Now mind you it was not a “funny” book, but there were some very good funny pieces of dialogue.

Plot: This book didn’t have a complicated plot, or any huge unexpected occurrences. It was a “simple” story line—but it was a very addicting read. That’s not to say that everything that happened was dull or boring or expected, it just means it was definitely not a sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of romance. It was more like a cuddle-up-with-a-cup-of-tea-and-a-blanket kind of romance. It flowed smoothly, and the pacing was very good—not to fast, not too slow. The only thing about the pacing was that the part where they realized that they’d fallen in love didn’t feel like any kind of climax. Which could have been the point, as it did sort of happen slowly.

Characters: I liked the fact that the characters in this book were like real people—they had their strengths and weaknesses, their qualities and their flaws. Lea was stubborn and rebellious, and not at all submissive to her husband, yet she was a sweet and kind girl, and was willing to make sacrifices for Russell. Russell was a very kind man to Lea, and his protective attitude was appealing, however his language and his anger were his downfalls.

Writing: The writing in this book was good. It wasn’t fantastically breathtaking (J.K. Rowling, Robert Frost, Paolini, Dostoyevsky etc.), it wasn’t mediocre (Stephenie Meyer, Becca Fitzpatrick) and it wasn’t atrocious (Meg Cabot.). I can’t really place it in any of those categories. It sort of fell between the first two. It was very readable, it wasn’t dull and empty of good words with barely acceptable sentence structure, but it wasn’t something that sounded like poetry read aloud either. Again, very readable.

Content: There was a lot of sex in this book. I mean, it’s a romance about a girl who trades her body in exchange for being kept alive by a horny soldier, and I expected it, so I’m not saying I was surprised. I think it could have still been a very good powerful romance without all the details. I skipped a few paragraphs here and there. There was also a lot of language. And yes, it is the military, after all. Soldiers swear. They did in the book, too. I guess some people aren’t bothered by stuff like that in books. It wasn’t so bad that I wanted to stop reading, but I thought some of the words (and again, details) could have been left out and the book would have been just as good.

Recommendation: Ages 16+ at least, and wait until you’re 18 if you are picky about content. I rate high for the wonderfully relatable and realistic characters, high-ish for my enjoyment, and medium for plot and writing.

Click here to read the first chapter of Sanctuary.