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The Truth in Love: Virgo (Zodiac Shifters #14)
The Truth in Love: Virgo (Zodiac Shifters #14)
K.C. Stewart | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Truth in Love: Virgo (Zodiac Shifters #14) by K.C. Stewart
The Truth in Love: Virgo is the latest instalment in the Zodiac Shifters series. Emilie is the Virgo of the story, going through the motions of being happy with her (human) fiance. Things get interesting for her when he finds her shifting and, not realising that it is her, shoots her. He then declares Emilie is dead. She, being completely alive, makes her way to where her brother lives. She has managed to call him before she arrives, so he knows the story of what has happened to her, and makes it as easy as possible for her to start again. Things get a bit more complicated when Carter, her next door neighbour and landlord, is added to the picture.

This is a well paced story that features characters I am already acquainted with. It was a nice touch to see them again, to see how they are faring, whilst actually being vested in someone else. There were no editing or grammatical errors that disrupted my reading flow, and the only hiccups were actually part of the story! This was a thoroughly enjoyable book, and I can't wait to read the next Zodiac Shifters book! Highly recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
TL
The Lopsided Christmas Cake
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
In trademark fashion, Wanda Brunstetter, along with Jean Brunstetter, has created another captivating Amish novel. It's a fantastic start to a new series, and kept me hooked until the end. The blended writing style of these two talented ladies was a refreshing experience! 

Thelma and Elma's characters stole my heart completely! Their characters are unique! They are identical twins, but they are older, in their 30s. That's unusual in books like these but I loved that twist to the story! They are twins, yet so different. These sweet ladies really kept me smiling! Their devotion to their grandparents, God and to each other was really wonderful. The mishaps of their lives, the possibility of being old maids and never finding love, the quirkiness woven into the story, all of it kept me engrossed in the story. Watching one lopsided yummy cake change that, well it was not what I was expecting but was also refreshing. 

I loved Joseph and Delbert's characters, too. They really livened up the story! 

This is definitely  a book worth 5 stars and 2 thumbs up. It's going to the top of my list of 2017 top reads. If you love yummy cakes, quirky characters, God and family, be sure and snatch this one up! You'll be left wanting more mishaps from these lovely twins! <a href="http://cafinatedreads.com/review-the-lopsided-christmas-cake-by-wanda-and-jean-brunstetter/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Cafinated Reads</a>
  
The Brides of the Big Valley
The Brides of the Big Valley
Wanda E. Brunstetter, Jean Brunstetter, Richelle Brunstetter | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Romance
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Three unique perspectives into Amish life.
   The first story is about a widow and her son with Down Syndrome and how she finds love again with a man she least expects. I loved the perseverance in this story! No matter what obstacles many come your way we can't give up but need to figure out ways to over come those obstacles.
    Second we have a women at a crossroad in her life, she has to trust fully that God will lead her in the right direction even when it seems everyone around her is against what she believes God is telling her to do. I think this one was a great story on listening to God and not giving in to what the world wants you to do.
    Last we have a story about a young women who is very shy who learns to overcome her fears to find love, loss, and a family of her own. This one was probably my favorite. It really is true that you have to stop thinking about what people might think of you and just be yourself or you will never grow into the person you are supposed to be.
    I loved this book and would highly recommend adding it to your TBR pile.
I volunteered to read this book from Barbour Publishing in exchange for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
The Temptation of Gracie
The Temptation of Gracie
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book kept me gripped and made me smile (0 more)
I usually read these types of books so was looking forward to it.
I enjoyed the romance in this book and the different stories of the other people involved. You got the full story - past and present. It wasn't hard to keep track of the past and present which can sometimes be the case. I think this was because the story was told in a story.
It took my about a couple of chapters to get into the book but once I did I was hooked. I couldn't put it down.
I was happy when reading the book and I fell in love with the characters. It gave me a good feeling.
The story stated the characters would grow and the author made sure this happened. I got to watch and feel the characters change, mature and grow.
I don't feel the book was aimed at a specific age. When I first started reading I thought it may of been for an older audience but as I read on I don't feel like this anymore. Anyone can read and love this book like I did.
The descriptions of Italy in the book made me want to visit. It sounded so serene and was described so well and in great deal. You can just see the place as your read the book.
The book exceeded the blurb. The blurb caught my attention but the book had me gripped.
  
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated Love Hurts in Books

Dec 17, 2018  
LH
Love Hurts
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Love Hurts is a young adult book containing several stories compiled together by the well-known Malorie Blackman. There are a few new short stories however most are extracts from pre-existing novels. The short stories are written by a variety of different authors such as Susie Day, Lauren Dockrill, Lauren Kate, Catherine Johnson and James Dawson. Many readers will be familiar with these authors as well as some of the books that the extracts are from, for example: More Than This, If I Stay, I Am The Messenger and Northern Lights.

The aim of this anthology is to explore what love means. Love is not a simple, straightforward concept. There is love lost and love found, bitter love and sweet love. Each story focuses on a different perspective. Some are about teenagers, some are about adults. Some are about homosexuality and others are not.

Love Hurts is an interesting concept and it is interesting to see different authors' understanding on the term "love". The biggest problem with this book however is due to most of the entries being snippets of other stories as it is often difficult to understand what was going on and who the characters were.

Another issue for me was I found some of the stories uninteresting and difficult to get into; and as they were short there was not a lot of time to appreciate the different concepts and styles of writing.

Although it would have been a challenge, it would have been better for all the stories to be brand new and unique. On he other hand, Malorie Blackman has done an excellent job at sourcing all the content.
  
Geekerella (Once Upon a Con #1)
Geekerella (Once Upon a Con #1)
Ashley Poston | 2017 | Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult (YA)
8
7.8 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
My review can also be found on my blog: www.diaryofdifference.com
When the typical Cinderella story meets a geeky girl, a comic con and an actor instead of a prince, you get Geekerella. A story unlike any other Cinderella like stories, full with wittiness, geekiness and style.

We have Elle, who is our Cinderella. Her father passed away and left her with her stepmom and her two stepsisters. Elle is also a vivid lover of Starfield, sci-fi series similar to Star Trek and Star Wars. She is also a blogger, where she writes all things Starfield.

On the other side, we have Darien, who is an actor and just got the main character role for the new remake of Starfield. While he deeply loves Starfield, he is not allowed to show those emotions and let everyone knows he is a fan, because it will ruin his reputation. And that is the sole reason why fans don’t like him – he is just another guy that goes for the money and ruins their favourite fan fiction (we have all been there though, haven’t we?).

When fate somehow connects Elle and Darien together, under unknown circumstances they start texting to each other, without revealing who they really are. And that is when everything changes.

A story about love and friendship, but most importantly – a story that teaches you to “Look to the stars. Aim. Ignite.” A story that reminds you to keep believing in who you are and why you are doing what you love. This is an amazing reminder to all of you – to be the people you want to be, because once you are comfortable with who you are and what you love to do – nothing can stop you in being great! And most importantly – HAPPY!

While there were bits and pieces that I couldn’t resist but to cringe on, such as the falling in love through texting, or not being able to say no to your step sisters, or being afraid to tell your fans that you are a fan, while they keep accusing you that you don’t care. (How could this ruin a reputation? It could only make it better)…

While there were things that bothered me, this story was still a great revolution to the Cinderella retelling. No other story has shown a girl to fight for what she loves as strongly as this, without the help of magic or a pumpkin – even though her best friend Sage was really the fairy in this situation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quirk Books, for providing me with an ARC copy of the book.

If you haven’t read it already, please do! It is worth reading it, as it has a powerful message inside of it. I recommend it to all of you out there!
  
Fallen (Fallen, #1)
Fallen (Fallen, #1)
Lauren Kate | 2009 | Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult (YA)
2
7.2 (36 Ratings)
Book Rating
So, Fallen. What do I think? Well I’ll start with the phrase, “I’ve read worse.” But not many.

Whilst that doesn’t seem like a good place to start it’s pretty much all I have for this book. A story based around ‘star-crossed lovers’, fallen angels, slight love triangles, blah, blah, blah, your get the picture. So the story centers on Luce, a girl who has been sent to a reform school and goes through her first couple of weeks there. The love element starts pretty quickly but in my opinion never really goes anywhere. He blows hot and cold and then there is a big realisation of love. It feels like a rehash of every other YA romance/para going.

The author has tried really hard to make it a different type of YA book. But seemed to lack the ability to structure the book in a way of you coming to realisations on your own as a reader. There were often times a Luce would be in a conversation, and then ‘think’ so far ahead of the story you felt push to that conclusion, or that it had been handed to you on a plate rather than having a light bulb type moment due to good writing.

I know there are others in this series, so it may be hard to judge this as a stand-alone book as the story seems to go somewhere within the last two chapters. But I honestly don’t think I liked it enough to bother with the rest. It felt like a chore to read and I don’t think it’s even worth reading to form your own opinion of it. Pretty disappointing on the whole.
  
Devil&#039;s Cry : Shade of Devil Book 2
Devil's Cry : Shade of Devil Book 2
Shayne Silvers | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
If you like Classic Vampires mixed with a bit of Urban Fantasy then you will love this book (0 more)
If you dont like Fantasy or are easily offended then dont read it. (0 more)
I'd Follow This Devil Anywhere!
What a great Continuation of Sorin's story.
Gosh! I loved every minute of this book. Shayne has a true talent for making us fall In love with his main characters. Sorin Is no different! He is powerful, charismatic and Sexy with a very human side that makes him extremely endearing for a Vamp. You either want to bed him or be his best mate and frankly, when you see who he hangs out with you will be biting at the bit ... or the neck ...to join the gang!

The story continues with Sorin's quest to take Down Dracula, but straight of the bat several new threats make themselves known, the least of them the Witches who complicate matters For Sorin and add some great action scenes to this story.

The emotional and sexual build up in this book creates a lovely tension that sits nicely in between the action and all the story driven sequences and I found that I flitted from emotion to emotion. From feeling sad for his losses, Angry that he was wronged, Affection for his love Interests.... and a couple of spicy scenes that made me sit up a little straighter in my seat.

All In all I really enjoyed this book. It had a feeling of familiarity as it very much reminds me of a classic vampire tale.... but then it surprises you with some lovely new mysteries.
I really can't recommend this book enough!
And Can't wait to see were the next book takes me!
  
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Sara Cox (1845 KP) rated Slumber in Books

Feb 23, 2020  
Slumber
Slumber
Becky Bird | 2019
9
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I love a good twist on a classic fairy story. This fairy story was Sleeping Beauty. But what if the true love’s kiss that woke her wasn’t her’s?
In this story a vein Prince is in need of a Princess to marry to rule his kingdom. He hears of the sleeping princess and her beauty, and so decides that she shall be the one he marries. Of course there has to be some source of evil and in this case it’s the royal family’s advisor and holy man – his character remind me a little of Disney’s Jafar (not a bad thing I might add). And so because of the magic and this evil sorcerer’s desire to have the kingdom to himself, our Prince gets into a bit
of bother. He meets a orphan girl and her friend along the way and they set off on the Prince’s quest fighting all evils along the way. I love her character, a “I don’t need a man” heroine. Someone a bit rough around the edges Someone who is quite vocal about his vein and unrealistic views. No need to say their personalities clash a bit. But they teach each other a lot along the way. Their relationship is written well, if you’ve read enough and seen enough love stories you can see where
this relationship will end up.
When Aurora awakes, I must admit I find her character tedious and shallow. I found her quite unrealistic and unbelievable. Prince Phillip was an interesting character to read; honest, sly and manipulative – but not in any malicious way. I actually really enjoyed his character. He I found was written far better than Aurora, and therefore I thought that their characters wouldn’t blend that well. But this story isn’t really about them, is it?