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A Vampire's Embrace (Blood Rose Time Travel #2)
8.0
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Having lost his entire family, Mastyr Rez vowed never to love again… Rez has no use for a...
Paranormal Romance Time_Travel
Alison Pink (7 KP) rated Water for Elephants in Books
Jan 15, 2018
I heard time and time again how amazing, wonderful, fantastic this book was. How I just had to read it. How I would love it. How it is one of the best books so and so had ever read. Here's the thing, I enjoyed it, I really did. It was a great story with engaging characters and all kinds of twists and turns. But, was it all it was cracked up to be by the endless stream of people who suggested it to me? No.
Now before you go arguing with me, I am by NO means saying I didn't like this book! It tells the life story of Jacob. How whike he is in vet school at Cornell, his parents die in a car accident leaving him with nothing. He is so consumed by the news that he walks out on his vet school finals. He walks and walks eventually hopping a train, which he soon discovers to be a circus train. The rest as they say is history. There are healthy doses of romance, travel, alcohol, humor and violence without being overdone. For me this is just a case of a book not living up to my expectations after all the hype.
It is a marvelously entertaining read though. And now I can finally let myself.watch the movie!!
Now before you go arguing with me, I am by NO means saying I didn't like this book! It tells the life story of Jacob. How whike he is in vet school at Cornell, his parents die in a car accident leaving him with nothing. He is so consumed by the news that he walks out on his vet school finals. He walks and walks eventually hopping a train, which he soon discovers to be a circus train. The rest as they say is history. There are healthy doses of romance, travel, alcohol, humor and violence without being overdone. For me this is just a case of a book not living up to my expectations after all the hype.
It is a marvelously entertaining read though. And now I can finally let myself.watch the movie!!
Jamie (131 KP) rated The Shining Girls in Books
Jun 4, 2017
Ambitious & unique story line (1 more)
Handles the web of time paradoxes well
Mash-up of genres is disjointing (2 more)
Romance is distracting at best
Repeated murder scenes gets wearisome
A cool time travel thriller
The Shining Girls follows Harper, a crude serial killer from the 1930’s that can hop through time; and Kirby, the spunky young woman that got away. This book was incredibly ambitious in its premise and I spent a great deal of my time reading the book wondering if it could deliver and I can happily say that I wasn’t disappointed.
The story is a heavily character driven dive through recent American history, from the Great Depression in the 1930’s all the way up to the early 1990’s. I was impressed by the amount of research that was put into this book, each decade having enough detail to get a good feel for the era. Many of the characters were pretty well fleshed out for such short chapters, and I found myself liking many of them.
My favorite part of the story, though, was the tragedy that was Harper because of how very flawed and human he is. He views himself as commanding, charming, persuasive, but to many of his victims he’s just downright creepy. He thinks himself calculating yet he makes mistakes left and right. He has a drive to rise up from the trenches of poverty and starvation from his own era, to be powerful. His choice of victims are all women in a great act of femicide, because he has this dire need to feel masculine. He chooses women that he views as invincible, that shine with ambition in order to assert his dominance by snuffing them out. He thinks he has this divine purpose, a destiny to fulfill because he wants it so desperately, even though the reality is that it’s simply senseless violence with no real meaning. He obsesses over the murders, returning to the scene of the crimes over and over to get off. Harper is pathetic. It was a refreshing change from the stereotypical smooth, genius archetype that glorifies killers. I didn’t know right away that this book was meant to be a feminist novel, but that’s what I took away from not only Harper’s struggle with masculinity, but with the strong and fiercely independent female characters all throughout the book.
There were a couple of problems with the book, however, that I feel need to be addressed. The mash up of genres is both a good and bad aspect of the story. The middle chapters where romance comes into play to me was really distracting and feels out of place. The tagline describing the novel also states that “the girl who wouldn’t die hunts the killer who shouldn’t exist” but honestly, it didn’t feel much like Kirby was really hunting the killer. Looking for connections with other murder cases and investigating some wild hunches, yes, but really she spends most of the book developing her bond with Dan. I would have really liked for this to be more of a cat and mouse type of hunt between Kirby and Harper.
The chapters with Harper were much more interesting, but even those became a little repetitive. We as the reader follow Harper as he stalks his victims in childhood, waiting for the right time to strike when they reach adulthood. While it was necessary for the plot to detail the characters to both connect them to the greater chain of paradoxes and to show Harper’s descent, the violence is excessive and extremely detailed, and after a while it started to feel more like torture porn. It just got tiring after a while.
Despite its flaws, I thought this book was good, and I mean really good. I loved the way that the time paradoxes were handled, time travel stories tend to be tricky and usually end up with a couple of glaring loop holes. The loops are handled in a way that I found satisfying and this book is easily my favorite time travel novel I’ve ever read. It is truly unique and a story I won’t soon forget.
The story is a heavily character driven dive through recent American history, from the Great Depression in the 1930’s all the way up to the early 1990’s. I was impressed by the amount of research that was put into this book, each decade having enough detail to get a good feel for the era. Many of the characters were pretty well fleshed out for such short chapters, and I found myself liking many of them.
My favorite part of the story, though, was the tragedy that was Harper because of how very flawed and human he is. He views himself as commanding, charming, persuasive, but to many of his victims he’s just downright creepy. He thinks himself calculating yet he makes mistakes left and right. He has a drive to rise up from the trenches of poverty and starvation from his own era, to be powerful. His choice of victims are all women in a great act of femicide, because he has this dire need to feel masculine. He chooses women that he views as invincible, that shine with ambition in order to assert his dominance by snuffing them out. He thinks he has this divine purpose, a destiny to fulfill because he wants it so desperately, even though the reality is that it’s simply senseless violence with no real meaning. He obsesses over the murders, returning to the scene of the crimes over and over to get off. Harper is pathetic. It was a refreshing change from the stereotypical smooth, genius archetype that glorifies killers. I didn’t know right away that this book was meant to be a feminist novel, but that’s what I took away from not only Harper’s struggle with masculinity, but with the strong and fiercely independent female characters all throughout the book.
There were a couple of problems with the book, however, that I feel need to be addressed. The mash up of genres is both a good and bad aspect of the story. The middle chapters where romance comes into play to me was really distracting and feels out of place. The tagline describing the novel also states that “the girl who wouldn’t die hunts the killer who shouldn’t exist” but honestly, it didn’t feel much like Kirby was really hunting the killer. Looking for connections with other murder cases and investigating some wild hunches, yes, but really she spends most of the book developing her bond with Dan. I would have really liked for this to be more of a cat and mouse type of hunt between Kirby and Harper.
The chapters with Harper were much more interesting, but even those became a little repetitive. We as the reader follow Harper as he stalks his victims in childhood, waiting for the right time to strike when they reach adulthood. While it was necessary for the plot to detail the characters to both connect them to the greater chain of paradoxes and to show Harper’s descent, the violence is excessive and extremely detailed, and after a while it started to feel more like torture porn. It just got tiring after a while.
Despite its flaws, I thought this book was good, and I mean really good. I loved the way that the time paradoxes were handled, time travel stories tend to be tricky and usually end up with a couple of glaring loop holes. The loops are handled in a way that I found satisfying and this book is easily my favorite time travel novel I’ve ever read. It is truly unique and a story I won’t soon forget.
MaryAnn (14 KP) rated The Noble Guardian (The Bow Street Runners #3) in Books
Nov 4, 2019
A Cross-Country Trip through Regency England Brings Intrigue, Rogues, and High Adventure
The must-read conclusion to Michelle Grieps Bow Street Runners Trilogy: Life couldnt be better for Abigail Gilbertbut its been a long time in coming. Having lived with a family who hated her, its finally her time for love. Abby sets off on a journey across England to marry one of the most prestigious gentlemen in the landuntil highwaymen upset her plans and threaten her life. Horse patrol captain Samuel Thatcher arrives just in time to save Abby. But shes simply another victim in a job hes come to despise. Tired of the dark side of humanity, he intends to buy land and retire. Abby pleads with him to escort her for the rest of her journey. He refusesuntil she offers him something he desperately needs to achieve his goal. . .money. Delivering her safely will give him more than enough to buy property. So begins an impossible trek for the cynical lawman and the proper lady. Each will be indelibly changed by the time they reach her betrothed, if they dont kill one another firstor fall in love.
My Thoughts: This was an interesting and well-researched book. Author Michelle Griep once again brings to her readers an exciting read! The storyline is interesting; written in the time period when women did not travel alone, much less in dangerous territory. Abby is a strong character, which has been built by years of abuse from her stepmother. This makes her a very intriguing character for this novel. I enjoyed her character and felt empathy for her in many ways. All the characters make up for a good story in this novel and are not far fetched at all. For those who like historical romances, this is the one for you. It's full of action, romance and real to life instances that make up the storyline in this novel.
Michelle Griep has written another winner.
The must-read conclusion to Michelle Grieps Bow Street Runners Trilogy: Life couldnt be better for Abigail Gilbertbut its been a long time in coming. Having lived with a family who hated her, its finally her time for love. Abby sets off on a journey across England to marry one of the most prestigious gentlemen in the landuntil highwaymen upset her plans and threaten her life. Horse patrol captain Samuel Thatcher arrives just in time to save Abby. But shes simply another victim in a job hes come to despise. Tired of the dark side of humanity, he intends to buy land and retire. Abby pleads with him to escort her for the rest of her journey. He refusesuntil she offers him something he desperately needs to achieve his goal. . .money. Delivering her safely will give him more than enough to buy property. So begins an impossible trek for the cynical lawman and the proper lady. Each will be indelibly changed by the time they reach her betrothed, if they dont kill one another firstor fall in love.
My Thoughts: This was an interesting and well-researched book. Author Michelle Griep once again brings to her readers an exciting read! The storyline is interesting; written in the time period when women did not travel alone, much less in dangerous territory. Abby is a strong character, which has been built by years of abuse from her stepmother. This makes her a very intriguing character for this novel. I enjoyed her character and felt empathy for her in many ways. All the characters make up for a good story in this novel and are not far fetched at all. For those who like historical romances, this is the one for you. It's full of action, romance and real to life instances that make up the storyline in this novel.
Michelle Griep has written another winner.
JT (287 KP) rated The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
It’s hard to do something different with romance these days. Girl meets boy or vice versa. Boy falls in love with girl or vice versa. So every now and then it needs to do something a little different in order to give it a unique twist.
Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore had Ghost, Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, The Lake House so The Time Traveller’s Wife had to go one step further. Special collections librarian Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) has a genetic anomaly that allows him to time travel; however, he is not able to control the moment or the destiny of his voyages.
The film is based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger and not having read the book it’s hard to say whether or not the film did it justice? That said, it’s elegantly shot and Bana and fellow on screen love interest Clare (Rachel McAdams) seem perfectly suited to their roles.
Bana is a likeable actor and has been portrayed in some pretty powerful films including Chopper, Black Hawk Down and Munich
A man who only has the love for one woman but is unable to control his ability in disappearing, he is desperate to find a cure and won’t let anything stand in his way. The time travelling plot is a little stupid. Henry is unable to control when he goes but always seems to pop up in similar places both in the past and the future, and always naked?
In the beginning he visits his wife Clare on more than one occasion as a child and as she grows older. Certainly it’s a better directed film than the Butterfly Effect in which Ashton Kutcher time travelled more often than a gas meter reader pops into your house.
The Time Traveller’s Wife is a film with nagging questions and at times head scratching conclusions but this is a love story of beauty, and for that it’s worth a watch.
Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore had Ghost, Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, The Lake House so The Time Traveller’s Wife had to go one step further. Special collections librarian Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) has a genetic anomaly that allows him to time travel; however, he is not able to control the moment or the destiny of his voyages.
The film is based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger and not having read the book it’s hard to say whether or not the film did it justice? That said, it’s elegantly shot and Bana and fellow on screen love interest Clare (Rachel McAdams) seem perfectly suited to their roles.
Bana is a likeable actor and has been portrayed in some pretty powerful films including Chopper, Black Hawk Down and Munich
A man who only has the love for one woman but is unable to control his ability in disappearing, he is desperate to find a cure and won’t let anything stand in his way. The time travelling plot is a little stupid. Henry is unable to control when he goes but always seems to pop up in similar places both in the past and the future, and always naked?
In the beginning he visits his wife Clare on more than one occasion as a child and as she grows older. Certainly it’s a better directed film than the Butterfly Effect in which Ashton Kutcher time travelled more often than a gas meter reader pops into your house.
The Time Traveller’s Wife is a film with nagging questions and at times head scratching conclusions but this is a love story of beauty, and for that it’s worth a watch.
Just Jorie
8.0
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Some believe that special someone is out there just waiting to be found. Jorie Andolini is one of...
Lesbian Romance
Mitchell Manor
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Mitchell Manor is a place that holds a lot of secrets. The Mitchells were one of the most...
mystery paranormal mystery
Caffeinated Fae (464 KP) rated Morrigan's Cross in Books
May 17, 2019
Magical & beautifully written
I was gifted this book by Nora Roberts herself as a “thank you” for putting together the #CopyPasteCrisList & helping bring all of the plagiarism by Cristiane Serruya to light. Needless to say, when I opened the package I cried tears of excitement & dived into Morrigan’s Cross almost immediately. This is my very first Nora Roberts, and I can guarantee that it won’t be my last.
I’ve always been hesitant to read Nora Roberts. When I first got into romance, I avoided many of the well-known authors simply because I felt the need to be “cool.” Luckily, I got out of that phase because I would have missed out on some of the best books I have read. Morrigan’s Cross by Nora Roberts is beautiful. The writing is spectacular, and I didn’t know what to do with myself after finishing it. The writing style was so formal and elegant. I’m a quote hoarder, and this book was heaven. There were so many quotable moments and phrases that I had to stop myself from highlighting the entire book.
One thing that struck me with this book was just how developed each character was. Many of the books I have read can’t compare. It was refreshing and beautiful to read a book that was so flushed out. It was like every sentence had a purpose, and every character was there for a reason. Because of this, it took me a while to read this book. I realized about halfway into the book that this book needed to be savored and not devoured like I was used to. Everything was just so well done that I took my time entirely immersing myself into this book.
The plot was something completely different. I loved all of the various plot points to it. The time travel aspect was a fun twist, and I loved having both vampire and wizard elements. The romance was also top notch and kept me swooning the entire time.
I could keep going with how amazing this book was, but my words can’t do it justice. This book was beautiful, and I can see why Nora Roberts is a household name.
I’ve always been hesitant to read Nora Roberts. When I first got into romance, I avoided many of the well-known authors simply because I felt the need to be “cool.” Luckily, I got out of that phase because I would have missed out on some of the best books I have read. Morrigan’s Cross by Nora Roberts is beautiful. The writing is spectacular, and I didn’t know what to do with myself after finishing it. The writing style was so formal and elegant. I’m a quote hoarder, and this book was heaven. There were so many quotable moments and phrases that I had to stop myself from highlighting the entire book.
One thing that struck me with this book was just how developed each character was. Many of the books I have read can’t compare. It was refreshing and beautiful to read a book that was so flushed out. It was like every sentence had a purpose, and every character was there for a reason. Because of this, it took me a while to read this book. I realized about halfway into the book that this book needed to be savored and not devoured like I was used to. Everything was just so well done that I took my time entirely immersing myself into this book.
The plot was something completely different. I loved all of the various plot points to it. The time travel aspect was a fun twist, and I loved having both vampire and wizard elements. The romance was also top notch and kept me swooning the entire time.
I could keep going with how amazing this book was, but my words can’t do it justice. This book was beautiful, and I can see why Nora Roberts is a household name.
Chelsee R Clawson (23 KP) rated Beautiful wreck in Books
Mar 18, 2018
Beautiful wreck. A beautiful book!
Step right up ladies and gents for the next time travelling extravaganza! Move over Jamie fraser Heirik's the new guy in town! With outlander on the continuous rise to the top it gives other time travel romances a good run for their money and rightly so who doesnt love jamie fraser and his swoon worthy quotes and fiery lingering gaze. He had me wanting to marry a fictional character from the get go!
Beautiful wreck by the not so well known author larissa brown deserves alot more attention and credit than it has been given. The story is about a woman named ginn who ends up travelling to tenth century iceland I've copied the description off the back of the book to give you a better taste of what the book is about;
In a bleak future built on virtual reality, Ginn is a romantic who yearns for something real. She designs environments for people who play at being Vikings. But when her project goes awry, she's stranded in the actual 10th century, on a storybook farm in Viking Iceland. Heirik is the young leader of his family, honored by the men and women who live on his land. But he is feared and isolated because of a terrible curse. Ginn and Heirik are two people who never thought they would find a home in someone else's heart. When forces rise against them to keep them apart, Ginn is called on to decide-- will she give up the brutal and beautiful reality of the past? Or will she have the courage to traverse time and become more of a Viking than she ever imagined?
Doesn't it sound awesome!? ?
Don't worry I'm not going to spoil the story but I will say that this book in my view is a high contender for the top spot in the time travel/ romance genre. it is so beautifully written and detailed that it feels like your actually there going through the trials and celebrations right along with ginn. It could also have something to do with my overactive imagination but I think it's the former in this case ? I will admit the ending seemed a little rushed, it could've had a bit more detailed but that is just my opinion. With the second book 'so wild a dream' following on in the series I'm not sure how it can get much better than beautiful wreck.
Overall an excellent and enjoyable read, this book will definitely be on my re-read list in the near future.
Beautiful wreck by the not so well known author larissa brown deserves alot more attention and credit than it has been given. The story is about a woman named ginn who ends up travelling to tenth century iceland I've copied the description off the back of the book to give you a better taste of what the book is about;
In a bleak future built on virtual reality, Ginn is a romantic who yearns for something real. She designs environments for people who play at being Vikings. But when her project goes awry, she's stranded in the actual 10th century, on a storybook farm in Viking Iceland. Heirik is the young leader of his family, honored by the men and women who live on his land. But he is feared and isolated because of a terrible curse. Ginn and Heirik are two people who never thought they would find a home in someone else's heart. When forces rise against them to keep them apart, Ginn is called on to decide-- will she give up the brutal and beautiful reality of the past? Or will she have the courage to traverse time and become more of a Viking than she ever imagined?
Doesn't it sound awesome!? ?
Don't worry I'm not going to spoil the story but I will say that this book in my view is a high contender for the top spot in the time travel/ romance genre. it is so beautifully written and detailed that it feels like your actually there going through the trials and celebrations right along with ginn. It could also have something to do with my overactive imagination but I think it's the former in this case ? I will admit the ending seemed a little rushed, it could've had a bit more detailed but that is just my opinion. With the second book 'so wild a dream' following on in the series I'm not sure how it can get much better than beautiful wreck.
Overall an excellent and enjoyable read, this book will definitely be on my re-read list in the near future.
Shake Loose the Border (Thunder On The Moor #3)
Book
With Will and Maggie’s wedding just a week away, the last thing they need to stumble upon is...
Historical Time Travel Romance Scottish Scotland