Holiday Reading – A Year of Book Reviews

Dec25

Need a little inspiration when spending those amazon gift cards found under the tree? An idea for your next library visit? Something to read as you recover from the holiday?

Click on my gargoyle friend in the sidebar to scroll back though a year of book reviews. Follow this link to see the latest of my recommended reads.

Or click on the guy below to browse last five years of book reviews!

Then keep an eye out on Twitter over the next day or so as I revisit some of my favorites from the year.

I’ve heard said (from a favorite author of mine no less) that the best gift a reader can give an author is a book review. So, Merry Christmas to all my favorite authors! May you have a wonderful year of writing. After all, the best gift a reader can receive is a new great book!

Cry of the Sea by D. G. Driver

Dec16

High School Popularity Drama.

Big Oil.

Mermaids.

Three incongruous topics seamlessly melded together in one novel.

I know it sounds implausible, but I assure you not only is it true, but the book even includes a good dose of environmental lobbying, coming of age, and journalism in today’s online world.

I read this novel with what can only be described as awe that the author was not only able to pull off this plot line, but do it in a way that left me thinking, “Well, maybe it could happen…”

Then I got to the end.

I won’t spoil it for you, but it was one of those endings that left you satisfied that the book ended just exactly how it should have.

Would I recommend it? I didn’t much care for all the high school drama when I was in high school. I like it less now. It’s only because of that aspect of the book that I wouldn’t outright recommend it to my adult friends. But, I think back to myself as a teenager, and I would have loved this, drama and all. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to the young adults it was written for!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!

The Prince’s Man by Deborah Jay

Dec10

Solid.

This book was solid.

Solid in the sense that it was, and I quote from dictionary.com, having relative firmness, coherence of particles, or persistence of form, as matter that is not liquid or gaseous.

This newly created world is firm, there are no gaps or jumps of reasoning. One creature, idea, magic or bit of history flows right into the next. Characters that appear substantial at the beginning of the book do nothing but grow and evolve as their backstory unfolds behind them.

This is solidly written fantasy tale.

It was also solid in the, and now I quote form urban dictionary, cool or awesome aspect. .

In this land people play a deadly game that involves lots of spying. Of course along with spying goes the lying. And that’s where the awesome part came in because more than once, just as the main character figured out some sort of mystery, I figured it out too!

Not way ahead of time so that I spent my time reading thinking, “Oh come on! It’s so obvious why haven’t you got that figured out yet!” Or one of those stories where they tell you the big reveal and you think, ” Well there is no way I could have ever figured that out.”

But at the same time!

That’s not only a really cool feeling as a reader but really awesome writing from an author!

Would I recommend it? If you are a fantasy fan put this one on your to read list. There is more of this story yet to tell and I’ll be lined up to read the next one when it comes out!

Also by Deborah Jay: Desprite Measures (Which is, I suspect, why the water sprite was extra… rambunctious…)

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!

The Dead Dog Day by Jackie Kabler

Nov25

Conversation stops as my husband stares at me and asks, “How do you know that?”

There I stand, once again flummoxed that not everybody knows whatever random nugget of information just popped into conversation.

It can only mean one thing.

I read it in a book.

While it’s true that I love a good fantasy realm, many of my favorite books are grounded in fascinating reality.

Murder mystery and romance set amongst the facets of everyday life.

Not my everyday life but someone who lives in a different area. Works a different job. Lives a different life.

A single, childless, woman living in England who works as TV news reporter?

Yup, that’ll do for different!

While I hope never to be enmeshed in a murder mystery in any way, I suspect the life and times of a TV news journalist will filter to the surface from time to time. Once again conversation will stop as my husband gives me that questioning look.

“Oh” I’ll say, “I read about that in The Dead Dog Day.”

Would I recommend it? The beginning had me hooked. The end was riveting. I felt that the action fell off a bit in the middle as we muddled through the who-done-it with the main character, but it was consistently fun to hear about shenanigans at the news station.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!

Scotch on the Rocks by Lizzie Lamb

Nov18

“Romance novels are birthday cake and life is often peanut butter and jelly. I think everyone should have lots of delicious romance novels lying around for those times when the peanut butter of life gets stuck to the roof of your mouth.”

– Janet Evanovitch

Life had too much peanut butter in it. I needed a birthday cake of a romance novel and, thankfully, Scotch on the Rocks was on the menu.

Why a birthday cake of a romance novel?

Well… because like birthday cake, you aren’t expecting nutrition from your romance novel. You don’t expect your latest romance or slice of birthday cake to make you a better person. And you don’t actually want much of a surprise. “Surprise – your birthday cake has nuts!” Is not something anyone wants to hear.

The comfort of predictability, reliable sweetness, a touch of decadence, and a great big pile of happy… that’s what makes both a good birthday cake and romance novel.

Scotch on the Rocks was a true birthday cake of a romance novel.

The woman is beautiful, but in a girl next door way: Yellow cake.

The man is gorgeous: Chocolate frosting.

And rich: Chocolate ganache frosting.

The banter between the two is witty: Two layers!

The steamy scenes are steamy without being raunchy: Extra big slice!

He, on occasion, wears a kilt: Frosting roses!

There is a super sassy parrot: Sparkler candle!

But then, of course, there is the terrible, everything has to fall apart so they can get back together section.

I hate that part.

It’s like when your husband pretends to steal all your frosting and then gives it back right at the last second. You’re pretty sure that since he hates frosting, he’s going to give it back but it’s always a relief when it’s back on your own plate. Just in case this is the time he changes his mind.

Sure, it adds some drama to the experience but I don’t actually want drama. I just want to eat my frosting and be happy. It was a relief that, while reading this birthday cake, frosting was merely scooped off my plate with a flourish before I received a wink and it was plopped right back on top!

Would I recommend it? Well… do you like cake?

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Nov11

So, Cinderella’s a cyborg…

And now I know three quarters of you just dismissed this book with that information but hold on!

It’s Cinderella.

Cinderella!

A timeless fairy tale that’s been told all over the world, if you are going to make a step into the realm of science fiction, this is the place to do it!

Would I recommend it? Yup, I would. I know. Crazy, right? But Cinder’s no wimpy Disney princess, she’s a cyborg mechanic! But I do have to warn you, there are two more books after this and the fourth is coming out really soon and they are fantastic and large and really hard to put down!

The Grayson Trilogy by Georgia Rose

Nov4

Putting down the third book and wiping away tears I mulled things over, trying to pin point just what it was that pulled me in.

What was it that had me reading the last two books of this trilogy in a marathon afternoon into evening read?

It wasn’t the flowery language or exquisitely turned phrases. In fact the language of this book is very simple. Coffee is made, horses are cared for, the thoughts in Grayson’s head are just like thoughts that might be in mine.

Just, normal – stuff.

And I think that was it, what I thought at first was over simplified writing, that was the key. Because when everything goes decidedly not normal, whether for good (the tall, dark, handsome, possessive man, yeah, it totally goes there) bad ( I won’t ruin anything but let’s just say there are baddies and they’ve got guns) or sometimes crazy (again, no spoilers here, but when I tried to tell my husband what was going on and why I couldn’t talk to him even though he’d been at work for the last 12 hours, he raised his eyebrows and told me I read “weird stuff”), it was still believable.

I’d already been riding along in Grayson’s life, for all the everyday mundane things. So when the not so everyday, bordering on crazy, happened, her reactions didn’t surprise me. Of course she did that, of course it was believable (even if when you tell your husband in the kitchen after midnight it’s so not) and of course I was so emotionally involved.

Buckets of tears involved.

Would I recommend it? I’d call this trilogy a tear soaked, romantic adventure. If that kind of thing is your style go pick them up – all of them. They only get better as they go!

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Oct28

Do you trust me?

If I told you I had a book for you to read would you read it?

You see, the thing is, if I tell you that this book is a dystopian future version of Cinderella set up like a season of The Bachelor, I’m afraid I’ll lose your interest in a sudden fit of scoffing and eye rolling.

Would I recommend it? This book is approximately 12 bajillion times better than it sounds – forget all that other stuff and trust me!

Book Two of The Medoran Chronicles

Oct22

I’ve got exciting news!

Book two of The Medoran Chronicles comes out in February!

And in even more exciting news!

The cover looks like this:

Just in case you are wondering, “Yaayyy! Oooooo! Ahhhhh! and Wooowww!” should be your by reaction now.

If it’s not I suspect it’s because you haven’t yet read Akarane.

You’ve only got until February remedy that – get reading!

In case you still need more convincing here is the review I wrote when it came out.

Akarnae by Lynette Noni

The evening I finished Akarnae I sat down in front of the fire to write, unordered thoughts swirling in my head.

Do I go with the, “It’s like Harry Potter mixed with X-Men and The Chronicles of Narnia” quote? Can I describe the pure awesomeness of Alex without giving things away? Characters, focus on characters. No friendships? The ways it’s better than typical young adult fantasy? The fun alternate world? The fantasticness that it is the first of a series…

Stymied by my enthusiasm, I decided to start at the beginning – the title.

People are going to need to know how to pronounce the title so they can find it and then tell all their friends about it.

I pulled the book out and started skimming through the first chapter knowing the phonetic spelling was hiding in it somewhere. Soon the skimming turned to reading, the pronunciation forgotten, and before I knew it I’d read the first quarter of the book again.

Would I recommend it? Just in case that wasn’t clear, let me tell you again. The evening I finished the book I sat down and accidentally re-read the first quarter of the book- after reading the entire thing in less than two days.

I really liked this book and, because I know you’re still wondering, it’s pronounced Ah-kar-nay.

Now you can go find it, tell your friends about it and then, this is the really important part, after you read it tell me so we can sit down and talk about all the things that make it awesome!