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The Black Witch
The Black Witch
Laurie Forest | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
9.6 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
Captivating, thought-provoking, relevant and timely message (0 more)
ALL. THE. FEELS!!
This is hands down the best book I have read so far this year, maybe ever. I absolutely LOVE it. Literally got me in all the feels. The author's storytelling ability is amazing. There's so much I could say about this book (I have posted reviews in several places already lol) but I encourage everyone to read it for themselves, it really is just that damn good.

Side note: For those who check out book ratings and reviews on Goodreads before making a decision to read a book (like me lol) please do NOT let the rating fool you. Read the reviews and you will see that most have loved the book. There's been a bit of controversy surrounding the material and one certain blogger's negative review instructed her minions to give it a low rating based on her opinion alone, without actually reading the book themselves. So please don't let that affect your choice to read it!
  
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Alison Pink (7 KP) rated Outlander in Books

Jan 15, 2018  
Outlander
Outlander
Diana Gabaldon | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
8
9.4 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
Okay so like pretty much everyone else I'd heard of this series & heard great reviews. I was very unsure about diving into the series because I am not & never have been a "romance novel" fan. It took me winning a copy of this book on Goodreads to actually pick it up & start reading. I have to say that I am glad I won it.
Outlander is NOT your typical trashy romance. The story is very well written & it hooks the reader in from the very first chapter. Are there typical romance novel things in it? Of course, but they were NOT out of this world sex scenes that make you uncomfortable reading it. In fact, I was more into the story line & the character development throughout the book than I was getting into that part of it. It was more a necessary component to move the plot along than a gratuitous sex scene that was just stuck in there for fun.
I can't wait to continue reading the series & find out what happens to Claire, Jamie, & yes, even Frank.
  
YB
Young Bess (Elizabeth Trilogy, #1)
Margaret Irwin | 2010 | Fiction & Poetry
2
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
While I was reading this book I had my moments where I was thinking “this is nice…this is cute…” the writing was very eloquent and good. However the plot was just… nonexistent. By page 85 not much had happened. I had no urge to continue reading and even though I enjoyed it while I was reading it, I had to force myself to sit down and read it. And you should never have to force yourself to read a book (except for school). I felt the same way about The Midnight Charter. Both of these were similar in that they both had a bit of politics in them.

I did like the characters (Loved Tom Seymour!) and the writing, again, was great. But nothing made me want to keep reading.

I didn’t get far enough into the book to be able to say what content was in it.

Young Bess was re-published by Sourcebooks March 1st. Please know that I am in the minority for those who didn’t like/finish it. See other reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
  
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b.Young (97 KP) created a post in Bookworms

May 6, 2018  
Just curious...How many of you are involved in a Book Club? And is it online or IRL?
How do you choose your books each month?

My Book Club is IRL and we meet on the 3rd Saturday of each month.
We have a calendar set up with a genre assigned to each month. At the end of our meetings, those who want to suggest a book do so and we post a 2-day poll on our FB page so everyone can vote for the next month's book.
Although we have about 30 ladies in our club, we get 10-12 that actually show up for meetings, so we do a FB Live of our meeting for the ones that aren't able to make it! We also have our group set up on Goodreads for discussion while reading the book (because you can't really warn with a spoiler alert on a FB post). It also gives the ladies who can't make it to the meetings a way to discuss with others as well!
  
Show all 8 comments.
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Sarah (7798 KP) May 9, 2018

That sounds great ? why don’t I put a separate post on here to see if anyone is interested in joining our very own Smashbomb book club? And if we don’t get much interest then I’m happy to join your groups and we could always promote them on here for anyone that’s interested?

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b.Young (97 KP) May 9, 2018

That sounds great, Sarah! I'll be looking for the post!

One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
B.J. Novak | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.8 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Funny (at parts) (1 more)
Some stories provoked good thought.
Most stories were out of place, long, and really hard to get through. (0 more)
It took me almost four months to read and it wasn’t even 300 pages.
“I have been reading this damn book off and on since October of 2018. I honestly really struggled with it. I honestly only bought it and started reading it because it was written by @picturesoftext and I was REALLY curious to read some of his work. Some of the stories were actually really cute, or funny, or thought-inducing. However, a lot of it was filled with weird stories that I didn’t quite understand (though I’m sure that’s the point). I would have enjoyed it more if some parts of the separate stories intersected or crossed over. Anyways, this is definitely the kind of book that I could have seen BJ’s character on The Office writing while at his temp desk! .
.
I gave it 3/5 stars on Goodreads, and be sure to look out for my review of it tomorrow on Smashbomb!”

-From my bookstagram account, @rorythereader
  
Enchanted (Woodcutter Sisters #1; Books of Arilland #1)
Enchanted (Woodcutter Sisters #1; Books of Arilland #1)
Alethea Kontis | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received this book for free through the firstreads Goodreads program =)

Loved, loved, loved this book!! I read it all within 24 hours save 17 pages. I love how this book weaves other fairy tales in to its own plot. It's also done in such a graceful way and a way that makes sense. It seems a lot of the popular classic fairy tales find their way into this story.

The characters are so easy to love as well. I loved Sunday. Wednesday was also a favourite of mine.

I also must admit that during the ball scene, I had to stop and watch the video to "Love Story" by Taylor Swift as that scene reminded me so much of the video! After that, I kept picturing Sunday as Taylor Swift and Wednesday as Amy Lee (of Evanescence).

I can not fault this book in any way, shape or form. There is nothing bad about this book except that it ended =)

I'm hoping that there will be a second book since I loved this one so dearly!
  
SC
Sage Courage
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I liked this book. The plot was good, and I loved the characters. I had a soft spot for Storm the most. The characters seem fleshed out enough to be enjoyable even if Leila is a little over the top emotionally.

The writing and dialogue was confusing sometimes, but it didn’t happen often or at critical times, so it didn’t really take away from the story. The editing could have been a bit better. There were question marks where periods should have been. Sometimes there were periods after only one word as if it was a mistake.

The ending does seem a little rushed in trying to tie up loose ends, but it does answer some questions although I still have one unanswered question about Maria which I won’t get into due to spoilers.

All in all, this is a good read. I enjoyed it. For the most part, it was a well written story. I would definitely recommend it.

(I received a copy of this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway).
  
I received this book from the publishing company through Goodreads for free in return for an honest review.

As a person who loves historical fiction I was excited to et my hand on a new book that was within a genre I enjoy.I have read previous books that Janette Oke wrote which I enjoyed immensely. At the core, Where Trust Lies, is about relationships. Relationships between mothers and daughters and sisters.

In general the character, Elizabeth, was boring but she made up for it with her kind and loving heart. I like seeing the relationships between the different characters and how their choices effected their life. At the end of the story the plot changed and not for the good but even still the family held on their strong faith in God.

One of my biggest frustrations in a book is when it is predictable. When a book is predictable I am easily distractible and do not want to finish the book. Oke did a great job of ending the book, especially is a nice romantic way.
  
The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror
6
7.5 (29 Ratings)
Book Rating
I must say this book was fairly predictable. From the minute the focus was put on Elanor above all else I was like, something is fishy with this one here. She seemed like an overgrown child the whole of the book.

Now, I did listen to the audio book version of this, so perhaps that swayed the way that I had interpreted this book, but I did not enjoy her at all. Theodora was my favourite character - I wonder why, again, perhaps the way she was read to me.

The house concept was cool, the way the whole theme and story was lay out was pretty awesome as well - the progression of the story was quick and deliberate. There was some laugh out loud funny moments - I'm pretty sure the house was turning people quite mad.

Overall it was an alright book - 3.5 stars (again, goodreads, let us have .5 stars alright) - not at all scary though (perhaps again that was the audio book talking), but good for a read nontheless - especially in October :)
  
Like Vanessa
Like Vanessa
Tami Charles | 2018 | Children, Contemporary, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
EVERYTHING! (0 more)
Not enough Tanisha! (0 more)
From Goodreads: 13-year-old girl from the '80s sees the first black woman win Miss America, which inspires her middle school to throw a pageant to boost moral. What could possibly go wrong?

Normally, I would say everything.

This book, nothing went wrong. In fact, Tami Charles did everything right.

You get an interesting main character. You have her going through real problems. You have this story take a look at a real problem with young black girls when it comes to what level of black skin is beautiful. You have major plot twists at every turn (And I don't take that sentence lightly.) And I actually don't hate the parental character this time (Because seriously, a lot of them try to make these characters awful for no reason at all). And you have the main character drop their walls to tell their vulnerable story to the audience.

In short, I love this book. One of the best middle grade and young adult novels I have ever read.