Latest Book Reviews and Comments

I first read Mistborn in 2017. The magic and world Sanderson has created are original, gloomy and the Inquisitor characters are terrifying. The story is fast-paced fantasy, full of plot twists and multifaceted characters. The plot is good. The main character, the young Vin, is the story’s weakest link. It’s okay for her to be naive given her age, but she’s yet another member of that group of heroes who are super-talented. Sanderson’s fantasy is fairly conventional, which is okay.

This was a really enjoyable Retelling of Mulan full of interesting characters that I enjoyed getting to know. It was nice getting to see Mulan as she grew into the person she was when she decided to take her fathers place. It had been awhile since I last read any of Cameron Dokey's fairy tale retellings and I really enjoyed this book and hope to get to some of her other retellings still on my TBR list sooner than later.

Overall, I liked the book.  This story comes at a time when everyone is frazzled with all aspects of life, job, family, house etc. and artificial intelligence is now a reality.  Everyone is really afraid of this technology taking over so the story is very timely.  Hurwitz does a great job developing the characters and I especially liked his description of the autistic daughter.  The family decides to procure an advanced AI robot to solve all their problems.  The book kept my interest throughout, but my only complaint was the ending was too predictable.

This book was just ok.  I thought the characters were not developed early enough or in enough detail for me to be invested.  The main characters behaviors were inconsistent with what you would expect from seasoned assassins in their 60’s.  They behaved like teenagers which made the story less believable.  I also found the ending part of the story unbelievable.

This was a really fun start of a new series and I enjoyed getting to know Doren & Emma. The two of them made a really good couple and I loved how both of them were with Ari. Even though Ari is still a baby she is an entertaining character with her own important role in this story and I hope to see some more of her as well as Doren & Emma in future books. There were a few references to characters to other books by Honey Phillips that I haven't read yet that will probably be fun for readers who do recognize them since it's always nice to catch a glimpse of characters you liked and catch up on how they are doing. I look forward to continuing this series through the alphabet.

This was my first book by Melanie Cellier and while I am sure I would have enjoyed the story even more if I had read some of the previous books to have a better background of some of the characters it worked well as a standalone as well. I loved both Hanna and Stefan in this quick Retelling of Cinderella and was happy with how everything worked out for the two of them. I look forward to reading more by this author and plan to add more of her books to my TBR list.

This is a different Retelling of Snow White with a unique take on the story. It wasn't as enjoyable for me as some of the others in the series but was still decent and just not my preferred story. This story leaves off with an open ended ending rather than an HEA.

This was a very interesting Retelling of Princess and the Pea. While this is a short story it manages to get do a really good job of telling this story with an engaging plot and interesting characters. I liked both Rachel and Prince Benjamin and was happy with how things worked out for them. I look forward to reading more from this series of short stories.

This was a quick and fun Retelling of Snow White and Rose Red and was my favorite book of this series. I enjoyed getting to know both sisters in this story as well as Bear and seeing how everything ties together. While this book is connected to both stories in this series and I read them all in a row I believe this one could probably stand on its own.

I am not familiar with King Thrushbeard so I don't know how true to the story this retelling is but I thought it was a quick and entertaining story that continues Olivia & Kieron's story from the previous book in the series.

I enjoyed this Retelling of Brother and Sister and am glad to have been able to read it since I enjoyed the original by the Brother's Grimm and it isn't one with many Retellings. I loved all the characters and seeing how the story came together as well as the various couples that were together by the end.

I loved this Retelling of 1,001 Nights and getting to know Kamaran & Rana. The two animal companions Spot (tiger) and Zade (Rana's fennec fox) were both amusing and entertaining characters. This story has a lot of fun scenes and the fun banter I have learned to expect from a Sarah Beran story and the epilogue was really sweet as well.

Love, Mom is a thriller that offered a clearly positive reading experience—not exactly an everyday experience. In it, a young woman investigates the death of her famous author mother with the help of mysterious diary entries. The story is full of plot twists and momentum, but fortunately, it stays firmly on track. I read the whole book in one sitting. Of course, the story has its predictable moments and some implausibilities, as well as a few stereotypes, but they didn’t detract from my reading experience.

I found this to start very slowly but it was okay by the end.  If I didn’t know this was a good series from my reading friends, I might not be continuing.  I still recommend reading to get character backgrounds, etc. 

I think it was not a bad novel, considering it was her first, but not up to the hype.  The story was interesting in that everyone (after they are past teenage) is a Mono ( can only remember the past 24 hours) or a Duo (that can remember 48 hours).  Interesting story but left me with so many questions how that world could even function (like how they remember prior schooling).  Told from separate points of view from 4 main characters which was interesting and kind of held my attention.  I also liked the twist of the ending which I did not see coming.

Interesting to read about the events that lead up to the James Cameron film "Aliens", released in 1986.

This was my first book by Lisa Carlisle and I really enjoyed this Beauty and the Beast Retelling between Hadrien (Gargoyle) & Lilia (Green Witch). I thought this was a very well done retelling and thought it was creative how the curse affected Hadrien's Gargoyle abilities as well as the various nicknames he uses for Lilia. The epilogue at the end was sweet and I look forward to reading the upcoming Red Riding Hood Retelling Red and the Gray Wolf.

I believe that it is a good story, it needs a bit more to follow up. I also think adult topics can be in a book without also accusing the reader nor the writer of being into those topics. Many books where murder takes place are not written by murderers. Many books lack sincere evil. That is why pushing sincerity can be interesting. Plus the writer is a Mormon. I'm not a Mormon, but no way a Mormon is thinking ill or fetishizing in a book publicly. It's just good dark adult writing.

This is the first book by Erin Halbmaier that I have read and I thought this was a really fun Retelling of The Goose Girl full of interesting characters that worked well as a standalone but is probably even better when you know the world better. I loved getting to know Raoul & Daphne in this story and their relationship while Daphne was River- Bug and unable to tell Raoul who she really was was entertaining. I look forward to exploring this series more and hope to discover the truth about what happened with Daphne's brother.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is a book whose protagonist is neither a human nor any other clearly defined creature. From a human perspective, Shesheshen is a monster that kills people. The creature uses both the bodies of living beings and objects to create a body for itself. Shesheshen’s body is associated with a great deal of physical horror; the descriptions are at times excessively graphic. From the monster’s own perspective, existence is something else entirely. She wants to reproduce and falls in love. She wants to understand what her love is. In all its graphic horror, the work is, in a way, beautiful. It grants permission to be exactly as one is, to feel needs and be demanding, to be accepted. Even love is frightening; it can kill. The work is more than just a story.

Halcyon Years is a standalone novel of about 330 pages, with Yuri Gagarin as the main character. Gagarin does odd jobs as a private investigator aboard a generation ship. However, not everything on the ship is as it should be, as people are being murdered and even the robots are no longer as reliable as they once were. Gagarin finds himself investigating events that are too dangerous to ask about. Halcyon Years is a noir detective story set in a science fiction world. The atmosphere is fitting. Of the books by Reynolds I’ve read before, Permafrost has been the most interesting. This one reaches at least the same level—maybe even a little higher. Reynolds knows how to wrap things up!

Ghost hunting using modern Police techniques.

Not the best of the series, but still a good story where the Chinese are the bad guys trying to destabilize Thailand with a bomber (a for hire former seal) blowing up different several locations around the country while making it look and feel like the bombs are being created by Cambodia.

This book was cyberpunk which I don’t normally read but this fit the tomorrow category of the Goodreads ATY challenge.  Overall, the author did a great job building the dystopian world of Pittsburgh and the characters.  In this world, everyone was hardwired with adware in the brain and constantly received news and ads related to their location.  Solving a few related murders was the theme and it held my interest.  I downgraded my rating because I thought there was way too much pornography and violence throughout.

The second book of the Wayward Children series, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, tells the backstory of Jack and Jill, the twins who appeared in the first book. The beginning was like a Grimm’s fairy tale, and the ending was like something out of a classic horror novel. The series’ title aptly captures the twins’ essence and helped me understand what happened in the first part and why. In that sense, it’s a very successful sequel.