Posts tagged Book review

BOOK SYNOPSIS

On Dolvia, the women of the savannah serve under the burka, but Kyle Le was denied that covering by tribal leaders. Only her gift of second sight and the mortgage on her father’s land protect her and her three sisters. 

Kyle Le meets Brian Miller, a Softcheeks who teaches her about offworld politics and accumulating wealth while she teaches him the words of power from Mekucoo. 

Working alongside the warrior Cyrus, they labor against the mining enterprise that robs teh savannah of its mineral wealth and leaves the tribes with only the scarred and suffering land. 

BEC’S RATING

BEC’S REVIEW

Sufferstone is one of those stories told in multiple parts, with each part being a different first person perspective. As a result there were times when it took a few pages to work out whose perspective I was reading. Further, some of the parts start (and in one case finish) before the beginning or the end of the previous part, making it difficult to construct in your mind a linear progression of the story. As the story itself can move months, weeks or only hours in a few paragraphs, this task of trying to get a sense of time is made even more difficult. As such I never had an idea how long had passed between events in the story. This was not helped by long paragraphs with no visible gaps between events. 

To read more of this review click here

Or to purchase this book either click the cover image above or this link. 

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Daisy Gardner wants to be a detective just like dime novel heroine Honey Beaulieu. To her delight, her sister shot a bank robber and he got away, so now she even has a crime to solve. But her parents insist she marry a man whose farm is miles from town. She can’t solve crimes stuck out there. What better solution than to marry the new marshal! 

Rancher Cole Richards saves his friend from robbing a bank, but is shot for his efforts, and now is a wanted man. His friend takes him to Oreana to see the doc, where Cole’s mistaken for the new marshal. Now he faces a dilemma few men have to face—tell the truth and hang, or live a lie and end up married. Either way could cost him his freedom.”. 

DEBBIE’S RATING

DEBBIE’S REVIEW

This is a story about a botched bank robbery on his part and mis-identification on her part. Cole is shot while trying to stop his friend from robbing a bank. When Daisy meets Cole for the first time, she mistakes him for the Marshall that she has just hired sight unseen, because she was informed that the Marshall had been shot. 

To read more of this review click here

Or to purchase this book either click this link or the book cover image above. 

BOOK SYNOPSIS

High school senior, Lydia Hawthorne, is less than grateful when Oberon has her snatched from the mortal world and she finds out she’s actually Fae. And not just any Fae, but a trueborn with enough inherent magic to tip the balance between Oberon and Titania’s warring Bright and Shadow courts. 

But that’s their game and she doesn’t want to play by their rules. Together with Clive Barrow, a Bright Court Fae with embarrassing family ties to the mortal world, Lydia fights to regain her old life, fueling her magic with the very human power of love and loss, challenging the essential nature of Faerie itself. 

BEC’S RATING

BEC’S REVIEW

Stories involving the Fae are many and varied. This story takes on the fae from a young adult stand point, where a young girl discovers her whole life is a lie and that she really is one of the Fae. Forced to choose between Titania and Oberon and their Shadow and Bright courts, Lydia must make a choice while not knowing who to trust. For while the Fae tell no lies, they don’t always speak the whole truth. 

To read the rest of this review click here

Or to purchase this book either click the cover image above or this link.

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Ever since Kait Swanney could remember, the old crones of the village have been warning her to stay away from the selkies. They claim that like sirens of old, the seal men creep from the inky waters, shed their skins, and entice women to their deaths beneath the North Sea. But avoiding an encounter becomes impossible when Kait is spotted at the water’s edge, moments after the murder of a half-selkie infant. 

Kait is woken unexpectedly by a beautiful, naked selkie man seeking revenge. After she declares her innocence, the intruder darts into the night, but not before inadvertently bewitching her with an overpowering lure. 

She obsesses over a reunion deep beneath the bay and risks her own life to be reunited with her selkie. But when she lands the dangerous lover, the chaos that follows leaves Kait little time to wonder—is it love setting her on fire or has she simply been lured? 

BEC’S RATING

BEC’S REVIEW

There are a lot of romance stories out there involving (generally) a mortal female falling for a supernatural being and this one is pretty similar. Kait, being the human female unsatisfied with her lot in life and the marriage her brother is trying to arrange falls for Edmund, a young selkie male. I was a little disturbed at one point when it was revealed how young Edmund was, but I guess selkie’s mature faster than humans. 

To read the rest of this review click here

Or to purchase this book either click the book cover image above or this link. 

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Spencer’s an infamously well-known “god” uninterested in his own fate. He turns nineteen-years-old on the first day of his last year at Colt Academy, the academic institution for gladiators. To celebrate, he unwillingly mentors a mysterious nerd, watches his family’s helicopter plunge into the ground, and meets a strange Louisianan boy that may want to kill him. With the future of his family’s fortune on the line, Spencer not only has to fight the occasional trip to Hades, but also train with his most hated childhood friend, discover the truth about his mother’s death, and reestablish his legend as America’s savior. 

BEC’S RATING

BEC’S REVIEW

From the start of this book I felt like I was missing some important information and struggling to catch up, a feeling that continued the whole book. There was little background information about the Barcodes or how they worked or even why the Gods powers were channelled in this way, rather the story seemed to expect you to know all this and while some bits were later explained these explanations were not enough to make up for the lost feeling that continued throughout the book. A few paragraphs in the introductory chapter would have been enough to stop me from feeling like I was playing catch up. 

To read the rest of this review click here

Or to purchase this book either click the book cover image above or this link.

BOOK SYNOPSIS

For Keirlan de Corizi—the legendary ‘Blue Demon’ of Adalucien—death seems the only escape from a world where his discolored skin marks him as an oddity and condemns him to life as a pariah. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise: Tarquin Secker, a young woman who can travel the stars with a wave of her hand. 

But Quin has secrets of her own. She’s spent eternity searching through space and time with a strange band of companions at her back. Defying her friends’ counsel, Quin risks her apparent immortality to save Keir. She offers him sanctuary and a new life on her home world, Lyagnius. 

When Keir mistakenly unleashes his dormant alien powers and earns instant exile from Quin’s home world, will she risk everything to stand by him again? 

BEC’S RATING

BEC’S REVIEW

This book reads more like two shorter stories as opposed to the novel it is, albeit two sequential short stories. While this may put some people off, in that the major plot seems to change halfway through with the first half dealing with Keir’s heritage and parentage, I still found myself enjoying the story (or stories). Even with the two halves seeming to have few connections in terms of plot beyond the shared main characters, both halves have a way of drawing you in and making you wish read more. 

To read more of this review click here

Or to purchase this book either  click the cover image above or this link.

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Jason Vanderholt is the hottest actor in Hollywood. Chloe Winters hasn’t gotten around to watching most of his movies. When they meet by chance, he is smitten and Chloe becomes the woman every other woman is dying to be, but it just isn’t her fairytale. 

BEC’S RATING

BEC’S REVIEW

Movie Star falling for your average girl and whisking her away to her happy after. I know, we’ve heard it all before right? Well except for the fact that Chloe doesn’t want to be part of that lifestyle and would rather be just friends with said movie star. Add a jealous, straight male, best friend and remove the sex that inevitably seems to go with this kind of romance story and you’re left with Someone Else’s Fairytale. While you know how this story is going to end when you pick it up it is refreshing to have a girl who resists being swept off her feet by the riches and extravagance of the famous lifestyle and who just wants normal and who isn’t willing to just fall into bed with a guy. 

To read more of this review click here

Or to purchase this book either click the book cover above or this link

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Kevin Tobin is a relatively ordinary twelve-year-old dealing with the aftermath of his father’s death. To escape his emotional turmoil, Kevin has developed his imagination into a dangerous foil and powerful ally. After a mysterious package arrives at his door, Kevin and his best friend are hunted down by a ruthless villain determined to retrieve the package, unknowingly spinning Kevin into a battle for control over time itself. Set in Boulder, Colorado, this imaginative story, appreciation for the powers of family ties, the desire of young boys to both escape reality and prove themselves within it, and the fast-paced, adventure-filled storytelling style make this a book with wide appeal for readers of all ages.

BEC’S RATING

BEC’S REVIEW

For a book called Kevin’s Point of View this book spent less than half the time telling the story from Kevin’s point of view. The rest of the story was split between Kevin’s best friend Tony and the villains, Pudge and Devin. However once you get past the misleading name it was clear that this is a ‘boy’s book’ in that boys aged 10 and upwards would enjoy it (or girls who are into car chases and the like, I’m not saying girls can’t like it). The book is filled with action and chase scenes as Kevin and Tony try to escape Devin, with this escape filling about 80% of the book. As the boys in question are quite young themselves this book will especially appeal to young or teenage boys who enjoy seeing two kids outwit an adult and I do recommend the book for this group. 

To read more of this review click here

Or to purchase this book either click the cover image above or this link.

Review by Bec

It is sometimes scary to read a book set in the future and sit there, on finishing it, thinking how probable that future is. For me, the Hunger Games is that book. In a world where we have reality television shows on everything from Teen mums, to Survivor, the Hunger Games is just the reality tv show of the future, a fight to the death organised by those who hold all the power and money, and thus need something to entertain them, forcing those who serve them to compete. 

To read more of this review click here

Or to purchase the book click here

And don’t forget, The Hunger Games Movie is out in cinemas now. (I know I can’t wait to see it)