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My First Card-Making Book: 35 Easy-to-Make Cards for Every Occasion for Children Aged 7+
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35 step-by-step card-making projects for children aged 7+ Whatever the occasion, you'll find the...
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated One Perfect Summer (One Perfect #1) in Books
Sep 6, 2019
This is my first 2 star rating for a Paige Toon book. I'm a big fan but I struggled to get into this one, it was only about the 75% mark that it started to really grab my attention and then it was full steam ahead.
Joe was great--I've noticed that she likes to write books about first loves and meeting them again years later. This must be the 3rd/4th I've read with that sort of storyline--and I liked the beginning where they spent a lot of time together. It was a little dark in places--Joe's brother--but also sweet at times.
I have to say that I think this book dragged a lot in the middle. There was a lot of bits that were irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, and that was probably why it's taken me so long to read.
Then we meet Lukas. He seems pretty normal to start with but the more of him we see the more controlling and demanding he became and I just wanted to scream at Alice. What was she doing?!
The ending was a little vague of names but it had to be Joe that she met. It had to be!
Joe was great--I've noticed that she likes to write books about first loves and meeting them again years later. This must be the 3rd/4th I've read with that sort of storyline--and I liked the beginning where they spent a lot of time together. It was a little dark in places--Joe's brother--but also sweet at times.
I have to say that I think this book dragged a lot in the middle. There was a lot of bits that were irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, and that was probably why it's taken me so long to read.
Then we meet Lukas. He seems pretty normal to start with but the more of him we see the more controlling and demanding he became and I just wanted to scream at Alice. What was she doing?!
The ending was a little vague of names but it had to be Joe that she met. It had to be!
Merissa (12066 KP) rated Once Upon a Forbidden Desire: Fairy Tales and Other Stories in Books
Sep 13, 2023
Anthologies can be hit-and-miss for me. Sometimes, you'll get a great collection. Other times, it will be a list of mediocre stories. ONCE UPON A FORBIDDEN DESIRE definitely belongs in the first category. If you love fairy tales, then you will adore this collection. There is a heat level here for everyone, with stories ranging from The Pied Piper of Hamelin to Hansel and Gretel, told with their own twist by each of the authors.
With an abundance of new-to-me authors, as well as old favourites, I now have a list of various stories and series that I want to read, based on their stories in this anthology. There was not a single one that let the side down.
This was a fantastic collection of fairy tale retellings, each with its own heat rating at the beginning. I loved every story and thoroughly appreciated the range of various fairy tales to enjoy. Highly 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, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Aug 19, 2022
With an abundance of new-to-me authors, as well as old favourites, I now have a list of various stories and series that I want to read, based on their stories in this anthology. There was not a single one that let the side down.
This was a fantastic collection of fairy tale retellings, each with its own heat rating at the beginning. I loved every story and thoroughly appreciated the range of various fairy tales to enjoy. Highly 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, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Aug 19, 2022
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated The Broken Girls in Books
Apr 9, 2019
Barrons, Vermont -- 1950
A young girl who is a student at Idlewild Hall goes missing. Idlewild is a school for wayward girls. The authorities believe she has just run away with some boy, but her friends and roommates know this is the farthest thing from the truth.
Barrons, Vermont -- 1994
Deb Sheridan another young woman is found dead in the field at Idlewild Hall, which has now been closed for many years. Her killer is her boyfriend at the time, Tim Christopher. Why would he leave her at this place?
Barrons, Vermont -- 2014
Someone has bought Idlewild Hall and plans to renovate it. But why? The place is nothing but a money pit. Fiona Sheridan is determined to find out who is buying the property and their motivation behind it. Will she be able to deal with all the secrets this place holds? When a body is found during the renovations, Fiona's attempts go into overdrive? Will she be able to find out who is behind this before she too becomes a subject of Idlewild?
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Going through this book, I was a little skeptical about what was going to happen. I'm not a big fan of books with ghosts, but this one wasn't too bad. I gave the book a rating of 3.5 stars. While the book was interesting, I found myself going for other things to do besides reading this book. The story flowed naturally even switching from the past to modern day.
Mary Hand is a ghost that haunts the grounds of Idlewild. She will show you things that you may not want to see. But is a ghost behind all the strange things that happen at Idlewild Hall or is there another culprit. We know for sure that Deb Sheridan was killed by her boyfriend, but what about the body found during the renovations? In 1950 the school was full of wayward girls. Girls who in those days, parents could not be bothered by and mental health was a taboo issue. So they sent their daughters away to school. Four girls in room 3C became very close friends. Sonia, Katie, CeCe and Roberta. The book tells their story from 1950 leading up to the disappearance of one of them and Fiona's perspective from 2014, trying to find out the history of Idlewild Hall and the new owners.
Overall, for me the book was good, not great. This is the first book I have read by Simone St. James. If her other books deal with ghosts and spirits, I'm not sure if I will read them or not, but I may give them a chance.
If you like ghosts though, I think you should give this book a try, YOU may enjoy it.
A young girl who is a student at Idlewild Hall goes missing. Idlewild is a school for wayward girls. The authorities believe she has just run away with some boy, but her friends and roommates know this is the farthest thing from the truth.
Barrons, Vermont -- 1994
Deb Sheridan another young woman is found dead in the field at Idlewild Hall, which has now been closed for many years. Her killer is her boyfriend at the time, Tim Christopher. Why would he leave her at this place?
Barrons, Vermont -- 2014
Someone has bought Idlewild Hall and plans to renovate it. But why? The place is nothing but a money pit. Fiona Sheridan is determined to find out who is buying the property and their motivation behind it. Will she be able to deal with all the secrets this place holds? When a body is found during the renovations, Fiona's attempts go into overdrive? Will she be able to find out who is behind this before she too becomes a subject of Idlewild?
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Going through this book, I was a little skeptical about what was going to happen. I'm not a big fan of books with ghosts, but this one wasn't too bad. I gave the book a rating of 3.5 stars. While the book was interesting, I found myself going for other things to do besides reading this book. The story flowed naturally even switching from the past to modern day.
Mary Hand is a ghost that haunts the grounds of Idlewild. She will show you things that you may not want to see. But is a ghost behind all the strange things that happen at Idlewild Hall or is there another culprit. We know for sure that Deb Sheridan was killed by her boyfriend, but what about the body found during the renovations? In 1950 the school was full of wayward girls. Girls who in those days, parents could not be bothered by and mental health was a taboo issue. So they sent their daughters away to school. Four girls in room 3C became very close friends. Sonia, Katie, CeCe and Roberta. The book tells their story from 1950 leading up to the disappearance of one of them and Fiona's perspective from 2014, trying to find out the history of Idlewild Hall and the new owners.
Overall, for me the book was good, not great. This is the first book I have read by Simone St. James. If her other books deal with ghosts and spirits, I'm not sure if I will read them or not, but I may give them a chance.
If you like ghosts though, I think you should give this book a try, YOU may enjoy it.
Night Reader Reviews (683 KP) rated An Indelible Day in Books
Nov 25, 2020
An Indelible Day by Cairo Marques is a short story only about 30 pages long that shouldn’t take readers longer than a few hours to finish. Broken down into three parts there are easy to reach stopping points should a reader not be able to read the entire thing in one sitting. For those such as myself who do not know what ‘Indelible’ means I took the time to look it up and it is loosely defined as something that can not be forgotten.
It is difficult to write a summary of a book of this length without creating nothing but one big spoiler but I will try my best. C appears to be a nice man but something is fundamentally wrong in his life. It would seem that C has trouble not only feeling, processing, and expressing his emotions but also connecting with those in his peer group. Yet a rescheduled doctor’s appointment could lead him on a path to a potentially life changing encounter.
What I liked best was C’s character as he is very intriguing. There seems to be layers to him just asking to be uncovered. I couldn’t help but wonder about C’s past and why her has the difficulties he appears to be suffering from. Sadly what I didn’t like was that after finishing the book I found myself asking why this was important. What was the significance of these events? In the preface the author mentions most readers will probably fall into one of two categories. (1) Those who find it pointless and wanting their time back of (2) those wanting more. While I find myself in the latter categorize the vagueness of the ending really let me down.
Ideal readers for this book would be busy adults who don’t have the time or the concentration to read a long novel. As I can only classify this book as fiction there is no one genre preface that I believe would enjoy this book over another. The writing style is not so complex that it requires a high reading level, skill, or specific knowledge to enjoy. I rate this book 2 out of 4 or 3 out of 5. The book was very well written and was an enjoyable read. Yet it was too short for the amount of information it was trying to convey and the ending was unclear. Honestly the book would have gotten a higher rating if it was longer, contained more backstory, and gave more details about the results of the chance encounter. I also felt like there was some deeper meaning or point to this story that I was missing.
Review by Melissa Espenschied of nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com or bookreviewsatnight@gmail.com
It is difficult to write a summary of a book of this length without creating nothing but one big spoiler but I will try my best. C appears to be a nice man but something is fundamentally wrong in his life. It would seem that C has trouble not only feeling, processing, and expressing his emotions but also connecting with those in his peer group. Yet a rescheduled doctor’s appointment could lead him on a path to a potentially life changing encounter.
What I liked best was C’s character as he is very intriguing. There seems to be layers to him just asking to be uncovered. I couldn’t help but wonder about C’s past and why her has the difficulties he appears to be suffering from. Sadly what I didn’t like was that after finishing the book I found myself asking why this was important. What was the significance of these events? In the preface the author mentions most readers will probably fall into one of two categories. (1) Those who find it pointless and wanting their time back of (2) those wanting more. While I find myself in the latter categorize the vagueness of the ending really let me down.
Ideal readers for this book would be busy adults who don’t have the time or the concentration to read a long novel. As I can only classify this book as fiction there is no one genre preface that I believe would enjoy this book over another. The writing style is not so complex that it requires a high reading level, skill, or specific knowledge to enjoy. I rate this book 2 out of 4 or 3 out of 5. The book was very well written and was an enjoyable read. Yet it was too short for the amount of information it was trying to convey and the ending was unclear. Honestly the book would have gotten a higher rating if it was longer, contained more backstory, and gave more details about the results of the chance encounter. I also felt like there was some deeper meaning or point to this story that I was missing.
Review by Melissa Espenschied of nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com or bookreviewsatnight@gmail.com
Louise (64 KP) rated Goodbye Days in Books
Jul 2, 2018
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
Jeff Zentner has received such high praise for his debut novel ‘The Serpent King’ that when I saw this book I thought I would give it a shot.
The goodbye days follows Carver Briggs on the aftermath of the death of his 3 best friends. The problem is Carver has this terrible guilt hanging over him, if only he hadn’t sent that text his friends might still be alive. Instead his life is turned upside down with funerals, grief,anxiety and the fact that people actually blame him for the boys deaths. He agrees to a Goodbye day in honour of his friend, doing everything they would do with his family. News starts to spread and the other families want their own goodbye days.
I enjoyed this book, it’s quite nice to read a Young adult contemporary written by a male author. The majority of contemporaries I read are written by women and was just so refreshing to read something from the male perspective.
The writing in this book was really good and had no problem understanding the conversations. I like that he chose to write about this topic to make young adults aware of the dangers of using your phones whilst driving. I thought the way that he wove all the stages of grief into the book was very clever.
So I wasn’t too sure about the plot, the main pointer for me was that Carver could actually go to prison for negligent homicide – contributing to his friends deaths. I don’t know too much about the criminal justice system so I couldn’t believe that this could really happen. It wasn’t like Carver made his friends text him back. They should have had the common sense at 17 years old to maybe get a passenger to respond not the actual driver.
I liked pretty much all the characters, there were great parents, siblings, grandmothers and friendships that gave the book depth. There were no annoying tropes in this book either, so that gets a big thumbs up for me. The book had the occasional moment when Carver was having flashbacks/memories of his friends, they would say something really immature for their age and then would counteract it with something quite profound.
The reason I can’t give this a higher rating than 3.5 stars is that I felt no emotional connection to the characters and got a little confused about all the boys and their family dynamics, however you do get more of an insight in to each of the boys lives and characters towards the end of the book but I just found it a little too late.
Overall this book is good and would recommend it as this seems to be getting 5 star ratings and you probably don’t have a heart of stone like me.
Let me know if you think I should read ‘The Serpent King’.
I rated this 3.5/5 stars
Jeff Zentner has received such high praise for his debut novel ‘The Serpent King’ that when I saw this book I thought I would give it a shot.
The goodbye days follows Carver Briggs on the aftermath of the death of his 3 best friends. The problem is Carver has this terrible guilt hanging over him, if only he hadn’t sent that text his friends might still be alive. Instead his life is turned upside down with funerals, grief,anxiety and the fact that people actually blame him for the boys deaths. He agrees to a Goodbye day in honour of his friend, doing everything they would do with his family. News starts to spread and the other families want their own goodbye days.
I enjoyed this book, it’s quite nice to read a Young adult contemporary written by a male author. The majority of contemporaries I read are written by women and was just so refreshing to read something from the male perspective.
The writing in this book was really good and had no problem understanding the conversations. I like that he chose to write about this topic to make young adults aware of the dangers of using your phones whilst driving. I thought the way that he wove all the stages of grief into the book was very clever.
So I wasn’t too sure about the plot, the main pointer for me was that Carver could actually go to prison for negligent homicide – contributing to his friends deaths. I don’t know too much about the criminal justice system so I couldn’t believe that this could really happen. It wasn’t like Carver made his friends text him back. They should have had the common sense at 17 years old to maybe get a passenger to respond not the actual driver.
I liked pretty much all the characters, there were great parents, siblings, grandmothers and friendships that gave the book depth. There were no annoying tropes in this book either, so that gets a big thumbs up for me. The book had the occasional moment when Carver was having flashbacks/memories of his friends, they would say something really immature for their age and then would counteract it with something quite profound.
The reason I can’t give this a higher rating than 3.5 stars is that I felt no emotional connection to the characters and got a little confused about all the boys and their family dynamics, however you do get more of an insight in to each of the boys lives and characters towards the end of the book but I just found it a little too late.
Overall this book is good and would recommend it as this seems to be getting 5 star ratings and you probably don’t have a heart of stone like me.
Let me know if you think I should read ‘The Serpent King’.
I rated this 3.5/5 stars
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated A Courtesan's Scandal (The Scandalous Series, #3) in Books
Apr 27, 2018
A Courtesan’s Scandal by Julia London
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Historical Fiction
My Summary: Kate is a courtesan who only lives the way she does to keep herself from being tossed into the streets. She is “sold” to the Prince of Whales, but as the price is married, he cannot afford a scandal. While the prince divorces his wife, he instructs the Duke of Darlington to be seen in public with Kate so that nobody suspects him. But Kate and Grayson, the Duke, aren’t expecting to fall in love.
Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it was pretty entertaining at times, but on the other it was hard to sit down and read more than a few chapters at a time. I found the story rather trivial, really it was all silly politics and unfaithfulness in marriage.
I couldn’t finish this book. I got to the part where they fall in love (a little more than halfway) and just didn’t have the patience to finish it. There wasn’t much of a story line besides, again, politics and reputation and sex.
Characters: The characters were the strong point in this book. They were very real and well developed immediately, and I enjoyed their dialogue.
Writing: The writing was also very good. It’s very refreshing to read a novel that uses good sentence structure and a wide range of vocabulary. The prose flowed nicely.
Content: There was no language, but some sex in the book. The scenes were pretty outlined and there were a few pages I skipped. Occasionally a man is drunk and says something a bit odd, but other than that there are no major alcohol references.
Recommendation: Ages 16+ (18+ if you’re picky about content) to lovers of historical fiction and romance, and quick easy reads.
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Historical Fiction
My Summary: Kate is a courtesan who only lives the way she does to keep herself from being tossed into the streets. She is “sold” to the Prince of Whales, but as the price is married, he cannot afford a scandal. While the prince divorces his wife, he instructs the Duke of Darlington to be seen in public with Kate so that nobody suspects him. But Kate and Grayson, the Duke, aren’t expecting to fall in love.
Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it was pretty entertaining at times, but on the other it was hard to sit down and read more than a few chapters at a time. I found the story rather trivial, really it was all silly politics and unfaithfulness in marriage.
I couldn’t finish this book. I got to the part where they fall in love (a little more than halfway) and just didn’t have the patience to finish it. There wasn’t much of a story line besides, again, politics and reputation and sex.
Characters: The characters were the strong point in this book. They were very real and well developed immediately, and I enjoyed their dialogue.
Writing: The writing was also very good. It’s very refreshing to read a novel that uses good sentence structure and a wide range of vocabulary. The prose flowed nicely.
Content: There was no language, but some sex in the book. The scenes were pretty outlined and there were a few pages I skipped. Occasionally a man is drunk and says something a bit odd, but other than that there are no major alcohol references.
Recommendation: Ages 16+ (18+ if you’re picky about content) to lovers of historical fiction and romance, and quick easy reads.
rating: 4.5
The Big Book of Socks has some pretty amazing sock patterns. There are tube socks, patterned and textured socks, Fair Isle socks, lacy socks, beaded and decorated socks, socks from the toe up… all sorts of socks. 75 different kinds of socks, actually. The variety is great! There are socks for everyone, in all needle sizes, all yarn types, all patterns that you can possibly imagine.
There's also lots of tips and suggestions in the front of the book, a list of resources, and a glossary with every definition in the back.
The book is just a little hard to figure out. There are some pictures, but not quite enough for me. Some of the patterns are just variations, so they don't have their own pictures. In some cases, there is one sock, and four or five ways to make it: for instance, there is one basic tube sock, and variations like picot hem fingering weight, contrast cuff fingering weight, ribbed fingering weight, worsted weight, etc.
Also, some of the patterns say "do this and then follow the toe pattern on this page" and then when you go to that page, you have to follow the pattern in this category starting on this number row, and you have to work it like this pattern over here… and it's a little confusing. It would have been better if it had just had the pattern printed right there with the rest of it, instead of jumping from page to page to find the rest of the pattern.
If you adore socks and are looking for one book with every pattern for every occasion and every person, this is the way to go.
The Big Book of Socks has some pretty amazing sock patterns. There are tube socks, patterned and textured socks, Fair Isle socks, lacy socks, beaded and decorated socks, socks from the toe up… all sorts of socks. 75 different kinds of socks, actually. The variety is great! There are socks for everyone, in all needle sizes, all yarn types, all patterns that you can possibly imagine.
There's also lots of tips and suggestions in the front of the book, a list of resources, and a glossary with every definition in the back.
The book is just a little hard to figure out. There are some pictures, but not quite enough for me. Some of the patterns are just variations, so they don't have their own pictures. In some cases, there is one sock, and four or five ways to make it: for instance, there is one basic tube sock, and variations like picot hem fingering weight, contrast cuff fingering weight, ribbed fingering weight, worsted weight, etc.
Also, some of the patterns say "do this and then follow the toe pattern on this page" and then when you go to that page, you have to follow the pattern in this category starting on this number row, and you have to work it like this pattern over here… and it's a little confusing. It would have been better if it had just had the pattern printed right there with the rest of it, instead of jumping from page to page to find the rest of the pattern.
If you adore socks and are looking for one book with every pattern for every occasion and every person, this is the way to go.
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Patti's Luck (Sleepover Friends, #1) in Books
Feb 15, 2019
My rating is based on how much I would have liked this as a ten-year-old. For some reason, I never read any books in the Sleepover Friends' series, even though it's a kind of a cousin-once-removed to the Baby-Sitter's Club series. So when I saw this and another one at a recent library book sale, I figured, why not?
This book has a little of everything most girls like: sleepovers (duh), junk food and baking, talk of boys, games, makeovers with purple hair gel, movies, the paranormal, school fairs, field trips, new friends, and who knows what I've forgotten! Plus, a moment when Stephanie's father cross-dresses as fortune teller at the school fair. That gave me some thoughts about secrets in that family. Maybe that's why they moved from "The City." There's some moments of suspended belief, the biggest is when Patti and Lauren chase after a car (homework was put on the bumper and apparently it stuck real good :P), Lauren (the narrator) loses track of Patti, gets back to school and tells their teacher that Patti's lost. The teacher, being told of a new student unaware of the area being lost, says not to worry(!), that someone will point her back to the school. What?! All I'm thinking is good thing this isn't the real world! Abduction, anybody? There's also a lot of baking these fifth-graders do, they talk surprisingly well, probably better than I do, and have heaps of common sense, but hey, it's a harmless kids' book that I would have gobbled up when I was that age. Overall, it's a cute book that I think even girls today would enjoy.
This book has a little of everything most girls like: sleepovers (duh), junk food and baking, talk of boys, games, makeovers with purple hair gel, movies, the paranormal, school fairs, field trips, new friends, and who knows what I've forgotten! Plus, a moment when Stephanie's father cross-dresses as fortune teller at the school fair. That gave me some thoughts about secrets in that family. Maybe that's why they moved from "The City." There's some moments of suspended belief, the biggest is when Patti and Lauren chase after a car (homework was put on the bumper and apparently it stuck real good :P), Lauren (the narrator) loses track of Patti, gets back to school and tells their teacher that Patti's lost. The teacher, being told of a new student unaware of the area being lost, says not to worry(!), that someone will point her back to the school. What?! All I'm thinking is good thing this isn't the real world! Abduction, anybody? There's also a lot of baking these fifth-graders do, they talk surprisingly well, probably better than I do, and have heaps of common sense, but hey, it's a harmless kids' book that I would have gobbled up when I was that age. Overall, it's a cute book that I think even girls today would enjoy.