Tag: reading

Book Review: Off Script, by Kate Watson

Title: Off Script
Author: Kate Watson
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5

Emma Crawford is a teen starlet home for the summer. She’s preparing for the role of a lifetime, playing matchmaker to her friends, and trying to keep her brother—also a star—out of trouble. Emma’s new assistant, Brittany, is her current project. She’s determined to groom Brittany for a future as a star—that’s what Brittany wants, right?

Liam is the only one brave enough to call Emma out. He’s a soccer star and brother to Emma’s former best friend, and Emma isn’t used to people who dare to criticize her. But as Emma finds out things in Hollywood that have always been hidden, she’ll need Liam’s honesty to help her make sense of this new world.

Off Script is an easy, fun read. It’s a re-telling of Emma, by Jane Austen, but it’s been so long since I’ve read it that the comparison is lost on me. The book is about Hollywood stars, so there’s a large amount of self-centeredness and self-absorption, but Emma is likable enough to counteract her ego (usually). Liam is sweet and funny, but none of the characters really grabbed me.

Kate Watson was born in Canada and now lives in Arizona. Off Script is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of North Star Editions/Flux in exchange for an honest review.)

What I Read In January (2020)

Books Read in January: 20

Books Read for the Year: 20/200

Topical Books/Monthly Goal Books:

I changed it up a bit this year. Instead of reading one book in each of my five categories (spiritual, classic, nonfiction, cultural, TBR), I’m still reading five books…but one classical, one spiritual, and three from my TBR, which has gotten completely out of control.

Keep It Shut, by Karen Ehman (spiritual). This was a good read, full of solid suggestions.

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame (classic). Eh. Toad was annoying enough to kind of ruin the whole thing for me.

Nine Perfect Strangers, by Liane Moriarity (TBR). I really wasn’t impressed with this at all. I had high hopes, but it was very slow.

A Conspiracy in Belgravia, by Sherry Thomas (TBR). I thoroughly enjoyed this! Charlotte and her multiple chins…

All That’s Bright and Strange, by James Market (TBR). This was quite odd.

For Review:

jan anonymous

Jane Anonymous, by Laurie Faria Stolarz. This was a…I don’t know, sad, hard, inspiring, difficult, take your pick of adjectives…read. Jane has a normal teenage life until she is kidnapped by a stranger and held captive for seven months before she manages to escape. She makes friends with a fellow prisoner, and his support is what helps her make it through. But going back to her old life is not so simple.

the night country

The Night Country, by Melissa Albert. Dark fairy tales are back in this excellent follow-up to The Hazel Wood. I think I liked it better than the first one!

the little bookshop

The Little Bookshop on the Seine, by Rebecca Raisin. I loved this book! I loved both bookshops, and, although Paris isn’t really on my list of places, I really enjoyed Sarah’s adventures there. Even better that this is not really a romance, but a story of a woman coming into her own.

westering women

Westering Women, by Sandra Dallas. I loved the idea of an all-women wagon train headed west, but the actual execution didn’t live up to my expectation. The writing felt rushed and abrupt in places.

a beginning at the end

A Beginning at the End, by Mike Chen. This was not your typical dystopian novel. It pretty much avoided telling about what exactly happened to kill off most of the world’s population, and instead focused on a detailed look at a handful of characters a few years later, as they struggled with their own problems in a world turned on its head.

i've seen the end of you

I’ve Seen the End of You, by W. Lee Warren, MD. This was an incredible read! Nonfiction, written by a brain surgeon who thinks he knows how each of his patients will fare, which causes him to struggle with his own faith—until he experiences an unfathomable personal tragedy.

everywhere holy

Everywhere Holy, by Kara Lawler. I enjoyed this so much!

THE VANISHED BIRDS

The Vanished Birds, by Simon Jiminez. I’m…a little mad I finished this, because I feel like it was a waste of my time. The writing is great, but the story just wasn’t for me.

big lies in a small town

Big Lies in a Small Town, by Diane Chamberlain. This started off a little slow, but eventually the dual timelines both had me intrigued.

don't read the comments

Don’t Read the Comments, by Eric Smith. Although about a serious subject—cyber-bullying and sexual harassment—the tone was light and made the entire book quick to read.

the prized girl

The Prized Girl, by Amy K. Green. I realized when I finished this that I really didn’t like any of the characters.

echoes between us

Echoes Between Us, by Katie McGarry. I thoroughly enjoyed this! Flawed characters, and the MC’s quirks made me want to hang out with her—and her friends.

Off Script, by Kate Watson (review forthcoming). I’m still a little undecided about this. It was a fun read, but the self-absorbed characters almost did me in.

Highfire, by Eoin Colfer (review forthcoming). This was such a unique take on dragons and their mythology! I really enjoyed it and the tone/voice of the entire book

Everyday Hero, by Laura Trentham (review forthcoming). Redemption and renewal are the focus of this book. I loved snarky Greer, and Emmett was an amazing character!

Left Unfinished:

Lean on Me, by Pat Simmons. I loved the cover! But…the characters felt so cliched —like caricatures—I just could not make myself care.

The Companion, by Kim Taylor Blakemore. Dark, depressing, and all the characters were unlikable.

Zed, by Joanna Kaavenna. I couldn’t get all the cutesy tech/app/AI names straight, and the POV was too distant for me.

Dark Mother Earth, by Kristian Novak. This might have been a really good book—I loved the premise—but the MC started out as someone who just sat around and felt sorry for himself, and I just wasn’t in the right mindset for that.

Followers, by Megan Angelo. Definitely a case of the book just not being a good fit for me. I’m not a fan of social media in general, so a book focused on that just succeeded in annoying me. My issue, not the book.

Book Review: Echoes Between Us, by Katie McGarry

Title: Echoes Between Us
Author: Katie McGarry
Genre: YA
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Veronica is the weird girl at school. Before, she had her small circle of friends to keep her grounded, but this year, she’s alone. Veronica sees ghosts. Well, she sees her mother’s ghost. With the blinding headaches—a symptom of her benign brain tumor—she’s afraid to tell anyone she sees ghosts. She doesn’t want to speak the possibility the ghosts are something more into existence—even when the ghosts start bothering the downstairs tenants.

Sawyer is a golden boy at school: handsome and the star swimmer on the school team. But Sawyer is hiding dark secrets. His mom is an alcoholic, so Sawyer takes care of everything at home and his little sister. And Sawyer is addicted to thrill-seeking. That’s how he broke his arm—although he’s never told anyone the truth. But when Sawyer gets to know Veronica, he realizes that maybe he’s not the only one with demons to conquer.

Veronica is such a great character! I mean, denial is clearly her modus operandi, but I can’t really blame her for that. She’s strong and feisty, yet she struggles with what she’s lost and is afraid to let anyone else in. Sawyer is just as good at keeping others out, but his secrets affect more than himself. And I love the secondary characters and their friendships with Veronica and Sawyer. I’d love to read more about these characters!

Katie McGarry is a writer and a mom. Echoes Between Us is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Tor Teen in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Everywhere Holy, by Kara Lawler

Title: Everywhere Holy
Author: Kara Lawler
Genre: Christian
Rating: 5 out of 5

Life doesn’t have to be sweeping vistas and larger-than-life dreams. It can be small and ordinary and still be filled with God and love. For Kara, life is best lived in the mundane, everyday routines that fill her life, and God meets her there and opens her eyes to the beauty and grace that surrounds her.

I don’t have kids or a small farm like Kara does, but I enjoyed every page of this read. Kara’s writing isn’t flowery, but every sentence is filled with a simple grace that touched me. Peace and simple joy fill every page, and I highly recommend it.

Kara Lawler is a mother and a writer. Everywhere Holy is her newest book.

(Galley courtesy of Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Prized Girl, by Amy K. Green

Title: The Prized Girl
Author: Amy K. Green
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5

Virginia lives on sarcasm and depression, with a side helping of torture in the form of weekly dinners with her distant father, overly controlling and needy stepmother, and her annoying younger half-sister, Jenny.

But when pageant queen Jenny is found murdered, Virginia decides the cut-and-dried answer of who killed her—the cops say it’s the most obvious suspect, an obsessive fan—might not be the truth, and decides to investigate herself. So Virginia starts asking questions. And the answers she finds lead her both back to her own path and down a path that is far more twisted than she imagined.

I finished reading this just to find out who killed Jenny. But…I didn’t like any of these characters. Virginia has issues-with-a-capital-I, and these issues get in the way of life for her, much less seeing the truth of any situation involving a figure from her past. Her Dad is a jerk, and his secret doesn’t make his treatment of his family okay. Her stepmother was horrible. Even the scenes from Jenny’s viewpoint didn’t make me like her. Did I figure out who the killer was? No. Did I have any liking for any of these characters, also no. The writing was solid, but the characters made me dislike the whole story.

Amy K. Green lives in California. The Prized Girl is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Penguin/Dutton in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review and Blog Tour: Don’t Read the Comments, by Eric Smith

Title: Don’t Read the Comments
Author: Eric Smith
Genre: YA
Rating: 4 out of 5

Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya—better known as popular streaming gamer D1V—regularly leads her #AngstArmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising-star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay the rent.

Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun—and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer D1V.

At home, Divya and Aaron grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each other to face infinite new worlds…and the growing legion of trolls populating them. Soon the virtual harassment seeps into reality when a group called the Vox Populi begin launching real-world doxxing campaigns, threatening Aaron’s dreams and Divya’s actual life. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone Divya cares about is on the line…

And she isn’t going down without a fight.

Don’t Read the Comments is about serious subjects—cyberbullying and sexual harassment—but the tone and voice of the novel are light and personal. I loved both the main characters, and I think the author did an excellent job with both male and female viewpoints. Divya’s growth from someone who doesn’t read the comments the trolls post to a warrior who stands up and takes action is organic and believable. She doesn’t just change overnight. And Aaron finally realizes his own strength and dares to stand up for himself. I loved the voice in this, and I’m not a gamer at all and still found it thoroughly enjoyable.

Eric Smith is an author and literary agent. Don’t Read the Comments is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin TEEN/Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Blog Tour and Book Review: Cast in Wisdom, by Michelle Sagara

Title: Cast in Wisdom
Author: Michelle Sagara
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5 out of 5

In the aftermath of the events in the High Halls, there are loose ends. One of those loose ends is the fieflord, Candallar. In an attempt to understand his involvement—with the Barrani, with the High Court, and with the much hated Arcanum—Kaylin has been sent to the fiefs.

She has mixed feelings about this. There’s nothing mixed about her feelings when she discovers a very unusual building in the border zone between two fiefs, and far more questions are raised than are answered. Her attempt to get answers leads her back to the Imperial Palace and its resident Dragon librarian, the Arkon.

Things that were lost in the dim past were not, perhaps, destroyed or obliterated—and what remains appears to be in the hands of a fieflord and his allies—allies who would like to destroy Kaylin’s friends, the Emperor, and possibly the Barrani High Court itself. This is bad.

What’s worse: The librarian who hates to leave his library has a very strong interest in the things that might, just might, have been preserved, and—he is leaving his library to do in person research, no matter what Kaylin, the Hawks, or the Emperor think.

He is not the only one. Other people are gathering in the border zone; people who believe knowledge is power. But power is also power, and it might be too late for the Empire’s most dedicated Historian—and Kaylin and her friends, who’ve been tasked with his safety.

As always, I love the books in this series! I feel like Kaylin, with her fierce desire to help others, tendency to speak—and act—without thinking, and ability to find trouble even when not looking for it, could be me. The relationships in this series grow deeper and more complex with every novel, and the world and cultures more vibrant. I was eager to see where this adventure led—and of course it did not disappoint! Highly recommended!

Michelle Sagara is the author of The Chronicles of Elantra. Cast in Wisdom is the newest—and fifteenth—book in the series.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/MIRA in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Big Lies in a Small Town, by Diane Chamberlain

Title: Big Lies in a Small Town
Author: Diane Chamberlain
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5

In 2018, Morgan Christopher’s life has been put on hold. Serving three years for a crime she didn’t commit, she’s given up all hope of a career in art and just wants her prison stay to be over—until a stranger offers her a deal that will mean her immediate release: restore an old mural in a small southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, and the deadline is something not even an experienced restoration artist could meet, but as Morgan starts work on the painting, she realizes it hides evidence of madness, murder, and lies in a small town.

In 1940, Anna Dale wins a contest to paint a post office mural in North Carolina. She’s thrilled for the opportunity—but Edenton isn’t what she expected at all. Her life in New York gives her no frame of reference for understanding this small southern town—full of prejudice, secrets, and expectations she refuses to meet—which just might end in murder.

I didn’t immediately connect with the characters, but I ended up loving this book! I connected with both Morgan and Anna, and I admired them both. They are such strong women. They don’t always make the best choices, but they do stay true to themselves and grow from their experiences.

Diane Chamberlain is a bestselling author. Big Lies in a Small Town is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Vanished Birds, by Simon Jimenez

Title: The Vanished Birds
Author: Simon Jimenez
Genre: Sci-fi, literary fiction
Rating: 3 out of 5

Nia Imani spends her time traveling through the stars and time—where mere months pass for her, for everyone she knows, decades and lifetimes pass—so apart from her crew, she has no other relationships. The job is her life. Until a mysterious naked boy crashes on an agricultural planet and his care is given to Nia.

The boy doesn’t talk. Instead, he spends his time playing an old flute and following Nia around the ship. They become a family of two and Nia finally has someone to care about besides herself. But the boy might possess powers only rumored before—making him a target for the greedy and powerful, and Nia will do whatever she can to keep him safe.

While the writing in The Vanished Birds is wonderful, I was not a fan of the story. I didn’t care about any of the characters. I’m not sure what the first 15% of the story had to do with anything. I felt sorry for the boy, but there were so many references to things in the past that might have made me connect with him or the other characters but remained only references, leaving me frustrated and annoyed. In short, the author has skills, but I don’t feel like this was a good choice for me.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Del Rey in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: I’ve Seen the End of You, by W. Lee Warren, MD

Title: I’ve Seen the End of You
Author: W. Lee Warren, MD
Genre: Nonfiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

A Neurosurgeon’s Look at Faith, Doubt, and the Things We Think We Know

Dr. Lee Warren, a practicing neurosurgeon, had seen enough cases of glioblastoma to know when he diagnosed the patient, that he’d seen the end of them. With a 100% fatality rate, he knew how it was going to end. But that never stopped him from praying for his patients, even as he knew there was no hope. Even as he experienced doubts about just what God was doing. Even as he asked Why, God? It wasn’t until Lee faced a personal tragedy that he finally came to the end of himself—and rekindled the hope that had been hiding in the darkness for so long.

I’ve Seen the End of You was an incredible read! I don’t normally get enthralled in nonfiction, but I could not put this book down! Dr. Warren’s raw honesty about his fears, his questions, his grief resonated with me, and the strength it must take to face such seemingly hopeless cases every day with a prayer and an offered bit of hope is inspirational and uplifting. For anyone going through any kind of tragedy, this is a wonderful read!

Lee Warren is a brain surgeon, inventor, Iraq War veteran, and writer. I’ve Seen the End of You is his newest book.

(Galley courtesy of WaterBrook in exchange for an honest review.)

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