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If I Was Your Girl
If I Was Your Girl
Meredith Russo | 2017 | Children
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. The strange thing is she is really newly a girl as well. Having just left her old life behind and moving in with her father to finish her senior year, Amanda is hoping the school year will go off without any incidents. At her new school, she quickly makes friends and even meets a boy she is really interested in. Will she be able to go through keeping her secret or will her truth be revealed and she will have to relive all the horrible things she had just left behind.

When I first heard about this book, I was very intrigued by the description. When I finally got the book in my hand and read further about the author, I was a little shocked. LGBT books are not usually a genre I choose to read. I enjoyed the book and it helped to increase my awareness about these issues. I commend the author for tackling such a personal issue.
  
NR
NYPD Red (NYPD Red, #1)
James Patterson | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
6
8.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Detective Zach Jordan works for NYPD Red. A distinct branch of the NYPD that is in charge of cases involving the rich and famous He's about to het a new partner and a new case all in the same day. The new partner, Detective Kylie MacDonald is an old lover The new case comes at the start of Hollywood on the Hudson, where the L.A. elite come to examine movie making in New York City. So people in the T.V./movie business will be everywhere.
The Good News: NYPD Red will be busy.
The Bad News: They have a serial killer on their hands.

The first murder is at the Regency Hotel. A movie producer takes a nose dive into his breakfast plate. Not long after arriving on the scene, do they get a call for a murder at Silvercup Studios....and the day begins.

Will they find the killer before half of Hollywood is dead in NYC?

I'm a big James Patterson fan, and this book didn't have as much Umph to it that the Cross or Women's Murder Club books do.
  
A Late Summer Night's Dream
A Late Summer Night's Dream
Eleanor Harkstead, Catherine Curzon | 2019 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Late Summer Night's Dream by Eleanor Harkstead & Catherine Curzon
A Late Summer Night's Dream is the delightful story of a young man working on his P.H.D., who has a mix up with his seat at the theatre. What could have been an embarrassing evening turns into a night full of laughter and flirtation.

This is a genteel book, with an old-fashioned style of writing that perfectly fits this story. There is an age gap physically, but mentally and emotionally, these two are the perfect fit for each other. This is only a short book, but the pacing is spot on for it, not feeling rushed at all. The descriptions for Oxford will make many a person want to visit there.

With characters that are instantly recognisable, this is a heartwarming story I have no hesitation in recommending.

* 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!
  
PA
Prose and Cons (Magical Bookshop, #2)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
It’s time for the annual Food and Wine festival in town, and this year Violet Waverly is adding a Poe-try reading at Charming Books to the week’s line up. However, when one of the readers is found dead at the bottom of the shop’s steep stairs during the event, things take a tragic turn. The police quickly decide it was murder and start looking at Violet’s friend Sadie. An Violet prove her friend is innocent?

I absolutely love the bookstore in this series, a shop where the perfect book finds you. That’s really the only bit of magic in the series, and Violet is left to use old fashion methods to sift through clues and motives to find the killer. I did feel some of the characters could be stronger, but the mystery is strong with plenty of red herrings before things fall into place at the end.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/12/book-review-prose-and-cons-by-amanda.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
40x40

Gail (4 KP) rated Awaken in Books

Jun 4, 2018  
A
Awaken
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book was definitely unique in it’s plot line and characters. It gave you a little bit of everything. From biblical stories to fairytale magic you wont be disappointed with this read.
Sophia thought she was a normal 20 year old. What she wasn’t expecting was to be attacked by weird creatures. To have her family and friends threatened and hurt. I loved her hair. If I could I would rock that style.
This book was pure magic with the plot. The way the author weaved her own world around things we learn in bible school. The growth of her characters was perfect. Sophia went from following everyone’s word to standing her ground and voicing her opinions.
The plot twist at the end had me like WTF!!! I dislike cliffhangers but I am excited that the story isn’t over. I just hope this is just two books and not four. I don’t think I can take the wait. One thing I dislike was the long winded paragraphs and scenes that could've been shortened or cut out.
  
The Necromancer&#039;s Apprentice
The Necromancer's Apprentice
Icy Sedgwick | 2014 | Children, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
6
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is not a Harry Potter copy (just so's you know!)
I liked this little book (it’s very short), and can’t help but think that it’s all set up to be the start of at least another book! But perhaps not!
Jyximus Faire is a student at the magical academy, and gets caught reading what he shouldn’t be. Instead of being expelled, he is given over to the city’s Necromancer to become her assistant.
I thought this was going to end up a copy of Hogwarts, but it’s not. It’s very much it’s own story, and the characters are not copies of any other books characters. The Necromancer is a woman who doesn’t stand for any nonsense, and I quite liked her. Her Wolfkin servants are the strong silent type, and Jyximus is a very curious boy who wants to run before he can walk!
A great little story ideal for children as well as adults. I think my 11 year old would have loved this as much as I did!
  
By the Shores of Silver Lake  (Little House, #5)
By the Shores of Silver Lake (Little House, #5)
Laura Ingalls Wilder | 2007 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.7 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
I'll keep this short and sweet again as it's hard to review these books without repeating yourself!

This book looks at Pa making more money to finally get the Ingalls family settled on their very own homestead. A sad start to the book which made it quite difficult to get going really, and which changed the dynamic of the family somewhat.

The story and lives of the family progress nicely, with a few scary moments which keep the book moving and flowing and of course some old friends show up again, even if it is just a quick mention! It's lovely how Ingalls Wilder captures the feeling of those bright pioneers who were determined to keep going west and open up America.

Well written, and enjoyable once it finally got going, to the point where it was actually quite difficult to put the book down! The sneak preview of the fact that Royal and Almanzo Wilder have homesteads to the north of the new town is lovely as the mind begins to run away with you, knowing that they are her future family.
  
Clash (The Arinthian Line, #4)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Probably my favorite book in the series so far.

I read a bunch of reviews where others disliked this book a lot. I don't understand. This one was GREAT.

We get more arcanery (magic), we get new friends, magic TOURNAMENTS, an old magic school with history and lore, understanding of the past, hope for the future. We get more action, more excitement, and more AWESOMENESS.

People mention things like "pacing" or "teenage angst" or "there were some grammatical errors". COME ON PPL Get over yourselves, I don't see you writing incredible stories in awesome worlds with legit magic-systems, etc! I'll take your reviews seriously when you write something this good. Really, I didn't even notice ANY of that junk because of how good the book was.

Really I was able to read all of the books in a series in a row, didn't have to wait for book 5 to come out. But if I had finished this and had to wait for book 5, I don't know what would have happened...
  
Sharpe&#039;s Devil (Sharpe, #21)
Sharpe's Devil (Sharpe, #21)
Bernard Cornwell | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The final (*sniff*) of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe books, this is set 5 years after the battle of Waterloo (so, in 1820) and sees Richard Sharpe - now happily settled and living with Lucille in Normandy, and his particular friend Patrick Harper (now running a bar in Dublin) off to Chile in a quest to find an old friend (from all the way back in Sharpe's Rifleswho is missing, reported dead - a report his wife refuses to believe.

While at first it seems that the 'pit-stop' in Saint Helena to meet/gawk at the defeated Emperor Napoleon - pretty daring of Cornwell to put such a famous historical personage in the novel! - is just that, this actually later proves to be an essential part of the plot: I'm not going to give anything away by saying how!

Bit sad that the series is finished now; I guess I'm just going to have to go back and (re)read them all again, as I have been doing over the last couple of years!
  
Before I Wake (Soul Screamers, #6)
Before I Wake (Soul Screamers, #6)
Rachel Vincent | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
7
7.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I died on a Thursday-killed by a monster intent on stealing my soul. The good news? He didn't get it. The bad news? Turns out not even death will get you out of high school... Covering up her own murder was one thing, but faking life is much harder than Kaylee Cavanaugh expected. After weeks spent "recovering," she's back in school, fighting to stay visible to the human world, struggling to fit in with her friends and planning time alone with her new reaper boyfriend. But to earn her keep in the human world, Kaylee must reclaim stolen souls, and when her first assignment brings her face-to-face with an old foe, she knows the game has changed. Her immortal status won't keep her safe. And this time Kaylee isn't just gambling with her own life...




It was ok! I usually devour these books but this took a little longer. I’m so bored of Nash and things were just meh. I was a little disappointed and got a little bored in places! But still gotta love a Vincent book!