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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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Book
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!
  
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.
  
40x40

David McK (3485 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.
  
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.
  
A Gift-Wrapped Holiday
A Gift-Wrapped Holiday
Amy Aislin | 2022 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
"A Christmassy hug-in-a-book!"
A GIFT-WRAPPED HOLIDAY is a brilliant book for the Christmas season. It will give you the warm fuzzies, even though serious topics are covered.

Luca and Mal are the perfect pair even if they don't act on it immediately. I loved that about the book though. They don't play games and mess around but they also don't rush into a relationship where a child is involved without thought.

There is little-to-no angst in here but it didn't need it. The characters move the story along brilliantly by themselves. The pacing is wonderful and it shows the connection between Luca and Mal, giving it time to deepen before there is any steam. I loved the world of Lighthouse Bay and now I want to read the other books. I don't feel that it impacted me negatively at all that I hadn't read them before this one.

One thing I have to add is I LOVED all the research that went into Luca's shop. It was a brilliant idea that worked perfectly. I just wish there was a store like that near me!

This is the second book by this author I have read (the other being On The Ice) and both books have been 5-star reads. Absolutely brilliant and highly recommended by me.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* 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!
  
A Game of Thrones
A Game of Thrones
George R.R. Martin | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.8 (87 Ratings)
Book Rating
Let me say first that, this is not at all the kind of book that I usually find myself drawn too. I had seen previews for the series on HBO & thought it looked good. I hesitated for a long while on whether to read it or not & decided that while I was on vacation I would read it. (I was advised to wait because you need to concentrate on the book in order to keep all the characters straight, which is VERY true!)
Now I wish I'd read it when I first got the urge. It is SOOOO incredibly well written. The characters are all so different, but so well fleshed out that you can picture them without much trouble. There are a great deal of them & it does take a hundred pages or so to get a handle on them. But, if you stick with it I know you will be pleasantly surprised & glad that you toughed out the first few chapters.
The story is haunting & beautiful. I loathe reviews that spoil the plot so I will not even begin to tackle it here. I could go on all day about it with all its twists & turns. Suffice it to say, I will be picking up the 2nd in the series as soon as I'm done typing here!
Take the risk, don't let the sheer size of the book intimidate you! You will not be disappointed.
  
TO
The Overseer
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I never had any interest in reading the Da Vinci Code, and if I'd heard about this, I might not have been interested in it, either. But somehow I picked up a damaged copy of it, and got terribly interested but it was in such bad shape that there was no way to go on reading. I found that I had to request it from the library, and as soon as it arrived I started over at the beginning. I've read it in chunks since then.

If I'd read this book when it was first released, back in 1998, I'm sure it would have been much more chilling. It was quite effective, even in 2011. I can easily remember the public figures who are echoed in Rabb's books - there are certainly similar ones in the news every day right now (some of them the same ones!)

I did, however, enjoy The Overseer for what it was. I didn't find myself chafing at the flaws other reviewers here have mentioned. Yes, government agents in such thrillers have to be nearly superhuman, and the protagonist, in order to survive, has to learn new rules very quickly. But the reader also has to suspend her disbelief, or she has no business reading such things. If the hero is an idiot, I'll accept that he's a slow learner and likely to die - but then he wouldn't be the hero, would he?

All in all, a decent read if you enjoy thrillers.