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Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated To All the Boys I've Loved Before in Books
Dec 20, 2018
I picked this up mostly because the trailer for the Netflix adaptation looked AMAZING. It's the first book in a trilogy, and I really want to read the other two now! Lara Jean is the middle daughter in a house of three daughters, being raised by their widower father. The relationships between the four of them play a large part in the book, as they are all adjusting to the eldest daughter being away at college. Everyone's roles are changing, and in the middle of that, Lara Jean's private love letters get mailed to the boys she wrote them to, throwing her love life into chaos as well.
I loved almost every character in this book - even Lara's troublemaking best friend has a good heart. I definitely need to watch the Netflix show now, because I really want to see how Chris - aforementioned best friend - is represented!
The family scenes around Christmas really tugged at my heart - Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, and the author absolutely NAILED the nostalgic, slightly dreamy, loving holiday atmosphere.
To All The Boys I've Loved Before was a cute, sweet read, and really my only negative thing to say about it is the ending left me hanging! Which is part of why I really need to read the other two books, so I suppose it was a good strategy. But man I hate cliffhangers!
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
I loved almost every character in this book - even Lara's troublemaking best friend has a good heart. I definitely need to watch the Netflix show now, because I really want to see how Chris - aforementioned best friend - is represented!
The family scenes around Christmas really tugged at my heart - Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, and the author absolutely NAILED the nostalgic, slightly dreamy, loving holiday atmosphere.
To All The Boys I've Loved Before was a cute, sweet read, and really my only negative thing to say about it is the ending left me hanging! Which is part of why I really need to read the other two books, so I suppose it was a good strategy. But man I hate cliffhangers!
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Deborah (162 KP) rated The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant, #5) in Books
Dec 21, 2018
I've read this several times before, but it has been a while and I'd forgotten just how good a book this is! It's really almost like a play in some ways, as the action takes place entirely in one location - a hospital ward. Mentally of course, the reader follows Inspector Grant's mind as he finds an intellectual exercise that ends up absorbing him and taking him right out of the hospital bed!
Josephine Tey may have been writing in the golden age of detective fiction, but she's didn't stick to the accustomed 'rules' and went her own way, making for some very interesting books. The Daughter of Time is probably her best known book. It's a book that works on more than one level as it's about what it's ostensibly about, but I also see it as a comment on the meaning of Truth (The Daughter of time of the title) and of course, Tonypandy! In our modern age with 24 hour news, social media, 'fake' news, I'd say this book is more relevant than ever!
It's just a very well written book and I'll finish with one bit that really came out to me this time as simply a fantastic thought, beautifully put: "...perhaps a series of small satisfactions scattered like sequins over the texture of everyday life was of greater worth than the academic satisfaction of owning a collection of fine objects at the back of a drawer."
Josephine Tey may have been writing in the golden age of detective fiction, but she's didn't stick to the accustomed 'rules' and went her own way, making for some very interesting books. The Daughter of Time is probably her best known book. It's a book that works on more than one level as it's about what it's ostensibly about, but I also see it as a comment on the meaning of Truth (The Daughter of time of the title) and of course, Tonypandy! In our modern age with 24 hour news, social media, 'fake' news, I'd say this book is more relevant than ever!
It's just a very well written book and I'll finish with one bit that really came out to me this time as simply a fantastic thought, beautifully put: "...perhaps a series of small satisfactions scattered like sequins over the texture of everyday life was of greater worth than the academic satisfaction of owning a collection of fine objects at the back of a drawer."
Sara Cox (1845 KP) rated The End of the Ocean in Books
Nov 18, 2019 (Updated Mar 15, 2020)
This story follows two characters in two different timelines. The older timeline is following a woman who is an environmentalist and is fighting to keep the ice in the northern countries. It follows her relationship from childhood with Magnus. He disappoints her by becoming involved with the business society of the modern world and forgetting what was in important to the Earth. To prove a point she steals some ice that he is deporting for the use of drinks in this high society and sails across the sea to show it to him. The newer timeline follows a young father and his daughter during the world's biggest drought. He worked in "desalinity" (if that's even a word) and as the oceans started to dry up and spontaneous fires ignited across the country he had to flea to find a place that was cooler and with water. Along the way he looses track of his wife and son and plan to wait at a refugee camp for them. The atmosphere becomes tense among the refugees as water and food become even more scarce. He and his daughter takes walks away from the camp and find a boat.
The story telling of this book is amazing! I really enjoyed reading it. A lot of the way through I was curious as to how these timelines interlinked. I'm glad I stuck with the curiosityy because the way that they do is truly beautiful.
The story telling of this book is amazing! I really enjoyed reading it. A lot of the way through I was curious as to how these timelines interlinked. I'm glad I stuck with the curiosityy because the way that they do is truly beautiful.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2609 KP) rated Cobblered to Death in Books
Nov 27, 2019
Clobbered by Cherry Cobbler
Courtney Archer has become known to her fans from the TV cooking show, The Farmer’s Daughter. Just one catch – she is actually the daughter of a doctor from Chicago. She hates keeping this secret, but is even more worried when her secret is discovered. The man who makes the discovery is Mick, one of the contestants on The American Baking Battle, a new show that Courtney is co-hosting. Courtney isn’t the only one having issues with Mick. Still, Courtney doesn’t expect to find his dead body on the second day of filming. Worse yet, Mick was hit over the head with a pan of Courtney’s cherry cobbler. Who killed him?
This book started out well, and I was quickly hooked. The setting is a lot of fun, and the characters are wonderful. I was drawn to Courtney and wanted her to succeed. I enjoyed watching her friendship with another character grow, and her producer is a strong character as well. The plot started out strongly, setting up suspects and the victim before killing Mick off. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough suspects to sustain it, and the twists and clues were fewer than they needed to be in favor of time spent on the set of the baking show watching everything being filmed. I suspect the characters and setting will be strong enough to draw people to this new series, but I hope the plots get stronger as the series progresses.
This book started out well, and I was quickly hooked. The setting is a lot of fun, and the characters are wonderful. I was drawn to Courtney and wanted her to succeed. I enjoyed watching her friendship with another character grow, and her producer is a strong character as well. The plot started out strongly, setting up suspects and the victim before killing Mick off. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough suspects to sustain it, and the twists and clues were fewer than they needed to be in favor of time spent on the set of the baking show watching everything being filmed. I suspect the characters and setting will be strong enough to draw people to this new series, but I hope the plots get stronger as the series progresses.
Based on a real place and a real period of history, Jordan Elizabeth imagines fictional characters living in the settlement of Hillside, New York in the 1890s. The main character, Viola, is a young school teacher at a one-roomed school where nothing out of the ordinary happens. That is until she learns her dying Aunt Helen is harbouring a huge secret.
Aunt Helen revealed she abandoned a daughter and Viola decides to surprise her by finding her long lost daughter, Bessie. But in finding Bessie, Viola discovers the reason Aunt Helen ran away from home, putting everyone who lives in Hillside in grave danger.
Although short, Jordan Elizabeth packs in romance, family, murder and historical fiction into her novella Hillside, the second instalment of theEchoes of New York series. The story does not follow on from the previous book, however, it is set in the same area. The amount of research the author has done to create an accurate setting is clear from the authenticity of the story.
A tiny element of the supernatural appears inHillside, although not as much as in the previous book in the series. This is by no means a bad thing, however, since it does not detract from the storyline and historical accuracy.
Personally, I did not think Hillside was one of Jordan Elizabeth's best books but it is a good story to read when you need something to pass a short time.
Aunt Helen revealed she abandoned a daughter and Viola decides to surprise her by finding her long lost daughter, Bessie. But in finding Bessie, Viola discovers the reason Aunt Helen ran away from home, putting everyone who lives in Hillside in grave danger.
Although short, Jordan Elizabeth packs in romance, family, murder and historical fiction into her novella Hillside, the second instalment of theEchoes of New York series. The story does not follow on from the previous book, however, it is set in the same area. The amount of research the author has done to create an accurate setting is clear from the authenticity of the story.
A tiny element of the supernatural appears inHillside, although not as much as in the previous book in the series. This is by no means a bad thing, however, since it does not detract from the storyline and historical accuracy.
Personally, I did not think Hillside was one of Jordan Elizabeth's best books but it is a good story to read when you need something to pass a short time.
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