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Tour: The Trial Show: The Resistance Rises

Konstantina P.

(0 Ratings) Rate It

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Forced into the shadows while waging war on an oppressive regime intent on controlling those born...

Speculative Fiction Spy Thriller

Strike a Pose (Model Love, #1)

Jackie North

10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Make a wish on a shooting star. Cry to the moon like the coyotes do. There are so many things Sid...

Contemporary MM Romance Found Family Opposites Attract Hurt/Comfort

Merissa (12069 KP) rated Heart of the Warrior (All The King's Men, #2) in Books

Jun 2, 2023

Arion has it all... maybe. He has domineering parents who want what is their version of what is best for him. He has been best friends with Io for many years, but Io is a man-whore homophobic. Then Severin shows up at AKM and all of Arion's pre-set ideals get blown out of the water.

Donya Lynne deals with some serious subjects in this book - peer pressure, familial pressure, coming out, betrayal, one-parent families, and racism to name just a few. It never feels like it is forced in any way though. It is all relevant to the story of Ari and Sev, which makes it all the more poignant.

I loved how Micah got to show off his sagely wisdom, in his own inimitable style; with Trace and Sam there with him every step of the way.

Extremely well-written, packed full of emotion, and certainly no editing or grammatical errors that I found, this is a book to savour, to devour, and enjoy again and again! Highly recommended.

* 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!
Apr 13, 2016

Kudos

Merissa (12069 KP) rated Yes, Forever (Yes, Forever #1-5) in Books

Jun 6, 2023

Yes, Forever (Yes, Forever #1-5)

Bailey Bradford | 2016 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

This is the story of John and Benji. John suffers from a mental illness, a chemical imbalance which causes depression. Benji has just moved in with his granddad due to his previous relationship breaking down. These two have instant chemistry but have their own road bumps to sort out before things smooth out.

This is a story with many parts - you not only have John with his depression, but you also have Benji with his own issues, plus John's best friend Henry with his. You also have families thrown into the mix, the issue of having sex without protection, and a 'gay' church.

I found it difficult to find any empathy with either of the main characters. I would lean more towards John as I have also suffered from depression and can understand his feelings. Benji didn't come across quite as Bailey Bradford wanted him to I think. I'm glad these two are together, but they didn't 'grab' me like other characters of hers have.

* 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!
Apr 16, 2016

Kudos

The Olympian Affair (The Cinder Spiers #2)

Jim Butcher

8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The fate of the Cinder Spires may be decided by crossed swords in the next exhilarating fantasy...

Ashley Catron (66 KP) rated Suite Francaise in Books

Mar 7, 2018

Suite Francaise

Irene Nemirovsky | 2007 | History & Politics

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Suite Francaise by the talented Irene Nemirovsky is divided into two "books," so to speak. The first part, Storm in June, begins with the French fleeing parts of Paris and surrounding areas to avoid the German occupation. The story focuses on two families and one couple primarily: the Michauds, the Pericands, and Gabriel Corte with his mistress, Florence. Throughout the book the characters' stories are intertwined with one another beautifully in vignette style chapters. The first book covers June 1940 through the end of November in 1940. The main story in Storm encompasses the fear and desperation that so many French people experienced at the beginning of the war-fear they would never return home, fear they would be killed in an air raid, fear they would just not survive. In Dolce, the second part, covers how the French are handling things back at home after the Germans have begun occupying various cities and have begun living with the French in their homes. This part in the story covers Easter Sunday 1941 through the end of July 1941, so a much shorter time frame than Storm. This section focuses on a different set of characters, involving the Angelliers, the Sabaries, and the Montmorts. The main come away from this is, how do you put up with someone who may have killed your loved one in the war?

Overall, this book was incredible. I don't typically go for this type of book (war-themed), but I was intrigued and I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Irene Nemirovsky was a French-Russian who was writing these books while all of this was happening around her in France. While the characters in the stories are fictional, the emotions they feel and the thoughts they have are very real and very comparable to what others were feeling during this time. In the beginning, yoiu will find your heart racing as everyone flees their possessions, their livelihoods, their families, just to escape the Germans and the certain death they bring. Your breath will catch at the description of the sirens and the air raids, and you will be angry at these Germans for what they have done. However, in the second part, you will find yourself sympathizing with the Germans, even after the brutalities explained in the first part. You will find yourself thinking about the French and how torn they were seeing how kind and generous the Germans were, how the children loved them so, not understanding what horrors they had committed against others. Irene paints such a beautifully descriptive landscape that you will feel like you are experiencing all these accounts first hand. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in war-era books, and even those who have never read it before.