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Awakening (Rapture's Edge #1)
Awakening (Rapture's Edge #1)
Caris Roane | 2014 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Before I start, I need to say that this series is preceded by two related books: BRINK OF ETERNITY and THE DARKENING. RAPTURE’S EDGE is part of the Guardians of Ascension Saga!

However, I haven't read any of those prior to starting this book although I sure as hell want to read them now! This is not due to any plot holes or confusion in this book, it just sounds like such a great place, I want more.

This is an in-depth and full-of-action story that mainly revolves around Duncan and Rachel. There is a lot going on and you also need to understand that they are going through a mating bond which throws a caveman into the mix too. With psychotic women, strange powers and at least six Earths that I read about, this story has it all. I loved that the main two in this book had a history together, it wasn't just insta-love! That is always a bonus for me. So many other characters that intrigue and enchant though. One such character is Endelle - now I can't say that she's enchanting but I did love her attitude and her honesty. I can't wait to read more about her.

A thoroughly enjoyable start to the series which will definitely leave you wanting more. Definitely recommended.

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

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jul 7, 2015
  
Dear Aaron
Dear Aaron
Mariana Zapata | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I feel pretty bad for giving this 3 stars. I normally love this author's books but the first 54% or whatever amount it was with the letters/emails/IM's/text messages I was not a fan of at all. This is the third book I've read with them in, and the first I've actually finished. It just all seems so impersonal. I like to read about the body language and facial features after things get said so I can see how the characters react.

From 54-99% I enjoyed it, that first phone call was so good after so long, and then when they first met at the airport? Sigh... that was so sweet, if I did have a few tears in my eyes like Ruby at the time. Then the slow progression from friends to more...it was cute!

But then came the ending. I wanted more. It was like we didn't really get to see them end happily. And then we were back to the IMing... Ugh.

I think I've pretty much read all the author's books now apart from the Malykhin one, which is next on my list.
  
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ClareR (6054 KP) rated Sundial in Books

Mar 26, 2022  
Sundial
Sundial
Catriona Ward | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Horror
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book just blew my mind.

I read Sundial with my heart in my mouth, horrified, not knowing what could possibly happen next. Honestly, I thought I knew what type of story would be coming my way after reading The Last House on Needless Street, but this is nothing like that, yet at the same time, it’s still totally Catriona Ward! Everything seems a little off kilter, a bit strange. People don’t behave in quite the same way as ‘normal’ people would.

I mean, a bonding experience in the Mojave desert between a mother and her daughter, in the childhood home where her parents experimented on dogs (this is a horror book. Horrible things happen to not just the people, but the animals as well). How could anything possibly go wrong, I ask you!

I hadn’t read horror in quite a while before I read Needless Street, and now I seem to be on a roll. This book reminds me why I read a lot of this genre as a teenager. It’s that feeling of being transfixed, unable to turn away whilst horrific things happen. The mind games as well!

Love, love, loved this.

And now I need to go and read Ward’s backlist, and make sure I read whatever comes next!

Thanks to the marvellous Pigeonhole yet again for an amazing serialisation!! Keep it up please!
  
The Spring Girls: A Modern-Day Retelling of Little Women
The Spring Girls: A Modern-Day Retelling of Little Women
Anna Todd | 2018 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fantastic Read
I'm not quite sure why this book has received the ratings it has but that's the beauty of having an opinion. With that being said I will now share my thoughts and start my review by saying that I enjoyed reading this. I found the characters easy to relate to and able to see and experience the differences on each one. The author's writing made this retelling a fantastic read for me. -YA/NA Book Divas

{I requested a copy for reviewing purposes and made no guarantee of a favorable review. The opinions expressed herein are unbiased and my own.}
  
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Kiss of Darkness ( Charmed book 2)
By Brandon Alexander and Constance M Burge
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Something changed Prue Halliwell on New Year's Eve, when a stranger gave her the most passionate kiss of her life. Now Prue feels driven to kiss every man she meets. At first this is fun, but when Prue starts to grow weaker with every kiss, the Charmed Ones know evil is afoot.


This was a fun nostalgic read. It was so good to read a new charmed story! I really do miss this show and I’m so glad I discovered the books.
  
The little mermaid (2023)
The little mermaid (2023)
2023 | Fantasy, Musical
5
5.6 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I know I've seen the 1989 original.

I don't remember much about it, other than the basic outline of the plot.

I do know that this follows the same story, almost beat for beat, and that there was lot of controversy around the casting of Ariel herself (believe it or not) coming up to the time of release.

Having now watched it on Disney Plus, I found it to drag somewhat; more drawn out than it needed to be.

Halle Bailey does silence her critics in the lead role, with Melissa McCarthy's Ursula also lighting up the screen when she is on it, but it feels like if had been extended (in running time, by nearly an hour over the original or so I have read) just because they could!
  
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David McK (3676 KP) rated Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7) in Books

Jan 28, 2019 (Updated May 10, 2020)  
Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7)
Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7)
Jim Butcher | 2006 | Fiction & Poetry
8
9.0 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
<2020 update>

Sue the Zombie T-Rex :-)

That is all.

<2016 update>

This is the Zombie-themed one, that ends with Sue the Tyrannosaur and also (I think) has the first appearance of Waldo Butters as one of the main players. In this, Thomas is also now lodging with Harry, who has now found out his relationship to the former, with Thomas trying to change his lifestyle. Karen Murphy is also absent for most of the novel, off on holiday with Kincaid.

<2011 notes below>

Magic - it can get a guy killed

Book number 7 in Jim Butchers Harry Dresden series, this is one where I think it is highly advisable to have read the previous entries first, as it ties several plot lines from those earlier novels into the events of this one.

Having said that: this is, as always, a good read, but maybe not the best in the series so far (which, to use an over-coined term, seems to be getting progressively 'darker' in tone)
  
The Minds of Billy Milligan
The Minds of Billy Milligan
Daniel Keyes | 1981 | Crime
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Admittedly, I wanted to read this book after watching Split, and hearing that Billy Milligan inspired the character.
It seems like there are two camps in the psychology field, ones that believe in Multiple Personalities (now DID), and ones that do not. While at some points I thought to myself, surely, this couldn't be true. But, the brain is weird, and I believe it. I was also hesitant to believe a lot of the details because a)conversations were completely recreated and b) the author was the dude that wrote Flowers for Algernon.
This begins as a true crime novel, then goes into a narrative of Billy Milligan's various lives, then what happened after he told the author his story. I preferred the true crime section to all else, but it was all intensely interesting.
Now, the Split connection; there were some personalities straight up lifted from Milligan's case, and the fact there were 24. Split took a lot from this book.
Overall, an interesting, and at times, unsettling, read.
  
Mould (Liam Tate #1)
Mould (Liam Tate #1)
Steven Jenkins | 2023 | Horror, Paranormal
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A really good, short story that despite its shortness, was packed full of great characters and a general overriding sense of the creepy.

I don't really read a lot of supernatural books now but every now and again I like to hark back to my teenage years and indulge myself in a bit of creepiness and Mould definitely hit the spot and I very much look forward to reading more in this new series to see which eerie place it takes me to next.

Many thanks to Steven Jenkins for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of Mould and for making me a part of his Advance Reader Team but this in no way influenced my thoughts on this start to a new series which I thoroughly enjoyed.
  
Ravage (Ravaged World Trilogy #2)
Ravage (Ravaged World Trilogy #2)
Iain Rob Wright | 2015 | Horror
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I just love a good horror book every now and then as it enables me to put all believability aside and just go along for the ride ... this one did the job and is another great story from Iain Rob Wright. Despite it being the second in the series ("Sea Sick" being the first), it can easily be read as a standalone.

I don't read an awful lot of zombie apocalypse books so don't have anything to compare this one with which, I think, is probably a good thing as I had no expectations but I was a lover of The Walking Dead and I do think this is similar in it's plot, i.e. a band of survivors coming up against hordes of the living dead and various miscreants in society where no one is safe and anyone can meet their end at any time regardless of their importance.

There is your usual set of characters in this book from the nice to the downright nasty some of which are more developed than others which I think is out of necessity as there are many of them. The various settings are perfect and "normal", the writing is set at a good pace and is easy to read. There are, as you would expect, many scenes of peril and death with a good smattering of blood and gore (not always due to the zombies) but also more tender moments that provided some relief and softness in what would otherwise be a bleak read.

I felt the addition of "The Path of Infection" at the end was excellent and provided an explanation as to how the virus spread from when it came ashore to reaching one of the main characters, Nick, and it makes you think just how easily this could happen in the real world with any virus or infection such as flu, Ebola, etc.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read and now I'm off to read "Savage", the last in the series.