Category Archives: Review

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to admit that YA is normally not my thing, but in an effort to broaden my horizons this year, i have started to explore different genres and authors, with YA being just one of them. Having read previous novel by her (Speak) and enjoying it, I decided to seek out more of her books. Fever 1793 provides an account of a teenager who lived through the Yellow Fever epidemic that hit Philadelphia in, yes you guessed it, 1793. It was a relatively short read (I managed to finish it up in about 2 hours), but it was an area of history I am unfamiliar with and will likely seek out some more about it in the future. I look forward to reading more books by Laurie Halse Anderson. Next up on the pile by her is Wintergirls.

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Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It takes a really good author for me to actually stop and put random status updates with comments about the book, mostly because its stuff I want to remember. But Chloe Neill managed to do it once again with this book. I loved the third installment in the Chicagoland Vampires series – the only problem is that now i have to wait until April/May for the next installment (totally not cool!) I did a happy dance when Merit and Ethan finally hooked up – heck it only took them two and a half books and then 2 chapters later wanted to hit Ethan upside the head when he did the, what I term, typical male routine! I’m still up in the air over whether i want to forgive him or not…it shall be decided in book 4, but he’s walking a thin line right now.

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Against the Wind by Kat Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this copy of the book as an ARC from NetGalley. It has been a while since I’d read any Kat Martin and her last few books just hadn’t interested me (in fact, her last trilogy is still sitting on my TBR pile). But with a new contemporary series, I figured I would give her a try again. It wasn’t a hard read and was mildly entertaining, but everything in it just seemed so cliqued – Sarah is returning home after her abusive ex-husband is murdered and falls for her high school love (Jackson) – but there are bad guys still after her trying to get her back for stuff her husband did…

However, it was an entertaining read – I loved seeing the interactions between Jackson and Holly (her daughter), as well as the supporting characters (Nan, Jimmy and his sons, as well as Jackson’s brothers). The mystery/suspense part sort of just fizzled out for me – it was like it kept going and going with no solution until miraculously it was solved with about 15 pages to spare.

I’m ambivalent as to whether i’ll read the next 2 books in the trilogy, the only brother to sort of interest me is Dev, but the former spec ops guy is also an overdone story arc, so it will be interesting to see if Ms. Martin can come up with something unique.

Overall, i’d give the story a 3 (so it is inline with the goodreads stars) and would probably recommend to people who like lite suspense with their romance, but not the other way around.

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The Persimmon Tree by Bryce Courtenay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book has actually been sitting on my TBR shelf for about a year and a half now, so I figured it was about time to read it (plus there was the incentive that it fit into a challenge category here on Goodreads). I found it to be a typical Bryce Courtenay book, lots of vivid detail that makes you feel like you are experiencing both Nick and Anna’s time during the way without leaving your bedroom. Although, it was a bit disconcerting when he used the vocal speech of Kevin Judge (who is a "Yank"), but you couldn’t really place where in the US he was from, if I recall it was Chicago, but this stylistic technique is also used by him in other books, so it wasn’t as disconcerting this time. My other complaint is that the book just seemed to end…I know that there is a sequel to it, but the ending here was just weak (without going into any spoilers). I would recommend it, however, I say have the sequel on hand and ready to read, so that can see what happens to Anna and Nick. I have to wait to get my hands on a copy.

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Snow Angels by James Thompson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of my goals over the next year is to extend my reading and try to read books set in various locations around the world, aside from the typical United States, England settings which seem to occur quite often. The book was one that I saw recommended on another reader’s list, a murder mystery set in the northern part of Finland.

I was pleasantly surprised by the novel, it was the first that I had read set in this part of the world, tightly written, and I didn’t identify the killer until it came to the conclusion. Or rather, I thought it might have been the person, but I dismissed it because it seemed too out of character for them, based on what I knew as a reader.

Interspersed throughout the novel as Vaara tries to solve the murder, are the struggles of his wife, Kate – an American citizen, trying to adapt to life in Finland; where she doesn’t speak the language. In that instance, it was similar to another novel that I read recently called City of Veils: A Novel, which has experiences of a woman who moved to Saudi Arabia interspersed throughout the novel.

I would highly recommend this for people who like reading mysterys; or books set in exotic locales around the world.

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Little Bee by Chris Cleave
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book, I really did…it seemed to have so much promise. The story of a Nigerian refugee who ends up in England and at the house of the woman who saved her life by giving up her finger a few years previously and yet, it just didn’t live up to the hype.

I initially picked it up as part of a challenge where we had to read a book from 1 of three lists…individuals had voted on what book they would like to read and this was one of three that could be chosen from – the others being Mockingjay and The Passage. Since I hadn’t read the previous books to Mockingjay I couldn’t read it and the Passage just didn’t interest me, so I kept plugging away through this one.

The alternating perspectives of Little Bee and Sarah was interesting. Little Bee’s were enjoyable, but Sarah’s just seemed dull and pointless. Personally, I think the book would have been better if written entirely from Little Bee’s perspectives. There were so many things that the author seemed to throw into the story (although I won’t mention them here becaues they are spoilers), but it was like huh? and then the book just ended, you never really knew what happened to Little Bee, to Sarah, to Batman (Sarah’s son)…really, the only person who got their ending was Andrew, Sarah’s husband, early on in the book.

I’m sure there are people out there who like this book, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

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Tangled Up In You by Rachel Gibson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rachel Gibson is very quickly becoming an auto-read author for me and Tangled Up In You is no exception. an entertaining story with some comedic elements, some sweet spicy scenes between the hero and the heroine and a satisfying HEA (although in this one, it did feel a bit rushed)

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Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

***I won this book as part of a GoodReads First Reads Giveaway***

I have to say when I first got the notification from Goodreads saying that I had won this book, I wasn’t sure if i would enjoy it. So it got put on the overly full bookshelves with the intention to "get to it eventually" as with most of my books. Then I discovered that I needed a book about immigrant experiences in the United States and found that over half of the book, fit the bill and so decided to read it.

I was pleasantly surprised while reading Li’s authobiography. Having studied through various history courses a bit about Communist China, I sort of knew what to expect but he portrayed it in such vivid detail that those images will remain in my mind.

His experiences when he arrived in the United States, the perceptions of how China lied to him about them being the richest people in the world and the United States being the poorest were poignent. After he decided to defect to the United States, it felt like my heart was being torn-out after reading about his experiences.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading a personal experience of living under a communist rule, as well as students who are studying those areas of history.

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The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes the good thing about partaking in a reading challenge is that it makes you push your boundaries and read a book you normally wouldn’t – I read the Cookbook Collector for just that reason. I’d seen it previously in stores, but it just never gained by attention enough that I read it. However, I’m glad that I did. Its a marvelous story about learning who you are and finding your place in teh world, about living each day as it comes and not putting off today what can be done tomorrow. I highly recommend it.

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Title: Soul Bonds; Rush in the Dark; Edward Unconditionally
Author: Lynn Lorenz
Series: Common Powers 1, 2 and 3
Genre: Erotic Romance: M/M
Date Read: October 2010

Review
This was a series of books (only 3 in the series) where I felt the need to include all three in the review, because I sat down at read them 1 after the other over the period of about 2 days. I enjoyed them all, but they definately did get better as the story progressed. The series takes place in Houston, TX, as well as in a small town a few hours outside of Houston and focuses on three couples: Mitchell/Sammi (Soul Bonds); Rush and Brian (Rush in the Dark) and Edward/Jack (Edward Unconditionally). As with other great series, I’ve read, characters from previous books make an appearance in later ones so you can catch up with what has been going on with them. These were the first books that I had read by Lynn Lorenz but they won’t be the last.

Rating
Soul Bonds – 3.5 stars
Rush in the Dark – 4 stars
Edward Unconditionally – 5 stars