kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
First booklist for the year! No 5-star books yet, but a ton of 4-star ones! :-)

The Naughty, the Nice and the Nanny - Willa Nash, 4/5, Audiobook ~4hrs
A short listen - only around 4 hours - but very sweet even if very predictable. Despite the title and cover, it's not actually a Christmas story at all, so can easily be read at any time of year.

I enjoyed it a lot. It was fun, charming and, probably due to its length, wonderfully lacking in the miscommunication trope that is otherwise so prevalent in the chick-lit genre.


Bookshops & Bonedust - Travis Baldree, 4/5, Audiobook ~8hrs
This prequel takes place while Viv is still young and eager to fight, and is therefore not quite as charming as "Legends & Lattes", because you know that everything is by necessity temporary.

But still - what's not to like about Viv helping out at a bookstore?? I loved Fern and would very much like to see what kind of book she'd recommend me! I definitely wouldn't have minded even more pages about the bookshop, and was almost sorry when the plot took Viv away from Murk.... both temporarily and permanently.

I did appreciate the epilogue though. It tied a nice knot on everything.

This audiobook was read by the author himself, which added a nice touch.


Kongeord - Kong Frederik & Jens Andersen, 4/5, 109 pages
(Royal Words)
Short, but well worth reading. It took me about an hour to read, and I enjoyed this insight into what King Frederik actually meant by his motto and why he chose the exact wording that he did. An interesting read, and it left me with a sense of ... pride? affection? can't find the exact right word for it... for our new king.

I especially enjoyed the last few pages on how he plans to follow up on his mother's legacy and which of her traditions he intends to make his own. That was lovely to read, and strengthened my opinion of him as "a man of the people".


The Golden Enclaves - Naomi Novik, 4/5, Audiobook ~15hrs
The third and final book in the series. At first I was worried that it would also be the weakest of the lot, as it was no longer set at the Scholomance, which had been part of the charm of the first too. And too be honest, it did take a few chapters to get properly going, but once it did, I found that the progression of the plot really worked.

I still preferred the two first books, as I was completely fascinated by the Scholomance itself (plus, I've always enjoyed books where the main character had to study something or the other), but this tied up a lot of the loose ends in ways that I hadn't really seen coming, but which totally worked and made sense within its own universe.

Very enjoyable series - highly recommendable!


Lurituri - Gunnel Linde*, 4/5, 81 pages
This used to be a firm favourite when we were kids - to the point that Dad had to insist on reading at least one other book between each time he read us this one X-D Something made me think of it recently, so I felt like rereading it. It was still cute. A lot simpler than I remembered it (duh :-P ), and a lot more obvious that Lurituri was just a figment of Kvidretoppen's imagination, but charming all the same -- and at 81 pages, a super-quick read!

I'd forgotten that the sheet music for all the songs had been included at the end. I can't remember any of them off the top of my head, so will have to try to play some of them, to see if they ring a bell once I hear them.


Kรฆrlighed for kontrolfreaks - Pia Konstantin Berg, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
(Love for Control Freaks)
I was introduced to Pia Konstantin Berg last year, and the first book I read by her ("Kys din kรฆreste pรฅ rejsen") was a clear 5-star read, so I think this book probably suffers quite a bit in comparison. It's very likely that if I had read this first, I would have rated it higher.

I liked the general concept of the book. Reading about the ins and outs of managing a hotel/restaurant is almost always fascinating - even if I have no clue how close to real life it is. It was quite interesting to read this such a short time after reading "The Northern Lights Lodge" by Julie Caplin though, because there were a LOT of similarities between the two. But in a good way.

I wasn't quite as taken with the characters though, and their constant lack of communication / jumping to conclusions really frustrated me. I don't remember that being as bad in KDKPR.


Happy Place - Emily Henry, 2.5/5, 386 pages
Emily Henry is very hit-and-miss for me, and unfortunately, this was a miss.

Like with "People We Meet On Vacation" (another miss) pretty much ALL the issues could easily have been solved if people had just chosen to communicate - making for an extremely frustrating read and very much not a comfort book.


The Ordinary Princess - M.M. Kaye*, 4.5/5, 123 pages
I felt like revisiting an oooooold favourite I used to love as a kid. It was first read aloud to me when we were in France in 1986 and my dad would translate from English to Danish 'on the fly' while reading. Meaning that parts of it I still recall more vividly in Danish than in English X-D

And even without the nostalgic element, it is a sweet fairy-tale, and one that I wish more people knew.

Books Read: 11
Book of the Month: Probably Kongeord... with Bookshops and Bonedust as a close second though.
Biggest Disappointment: Happy Place. Definitely not a book I'd recommend to anybody.
lovedandamazed: (Default)
[personal profile] lovedandamazed
 "๐‘†๐‘–๐‘›๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘Ÿ ๐‘†๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘‡๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘ฆ" ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐ฝ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘๐‘’๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ
These Christmas novellas were perfect reading for a busy time. One Christmas-obsessed family, three sisters, and an annual tradition that plays a big role in their romance.

"๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘“๐‘ข๐‘™ ๐‘Š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐ฝ๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’๐‘  ๐ป๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘ก" ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐ฝ๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’๐‘  ๐ป๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘…๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘’ ๐‘ƒ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’
People have been telling me for years that I should read James Herriot, so I jumped on the chance to review this audiobook, which is read by the actors from the current Masterpiece TV show. This book combines some of James Herriot's familiar stories with sections of the biography written by his children. I really enjoyed it!

"๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘ค ๐‘†๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ " ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐ด๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘Ž ๐ต๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘ก
My first Amanda Barratt novel. Occupied Warsaw, WWII. I had expected it to be intense, and it certainly was.

"๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘€๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘†๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘" ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐ด๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘™๐‘ฆ๐‘› ๐‘€๐‘๐พ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘™๐‘Ž ๐‘‚โ„Ž๐‘š
A wonderful conclusion to Ashlyn's Climbing Higher series. I was honored to beta read it, but the rest of you will have to wait until spring to get your hands on it. ๐Ÿ™‚

"๐ถ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘โ„Ž๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘Ÿ" ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐ฝ๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘ฆ ๐ป๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘
The start of a new series set in 1849 St. Louis. I had some real issues with this novel, including a cholera sickbed scene that was supposed to be romantic but was gag-inducing for multiple reasons.

๐“๐จ๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ ๐‘๐ž๐š๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘: ๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ’
๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ• ๐›๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ, ๐Ÿ• ๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐š๐ฌ
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
Lรธbende tjener - Dennis Jรผrgensen, 4/5, 487 pages
(Running Servant)
Dennis Jรผrgensen's talent cannot be denied. He writes ridiculously readable books, and this was no exception. It took me all of 5 pages to be hooked, and if I hadn't had Christmas plans I'd probably have finished it in a day.

This is a suspense novel much in the same style as Chris Carter's Robert Hunter series - although fortunately not quite as graphic in its violence. I'd guessed some of the twists ahead of time, but definitely not all of them... and there was also something I'd thought was a twist, but which may just be setting up something for one of the later books in the series. I was slightly disappointed by the ending - it seemed too easy, somehow.

Though the first in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone novel too. The main plot is nicely contained, although there is an overreaching arch that's left open.


Holiday Romance - Catherine Walsh, 4.5/5, 354 pages
I loved this book and read it in just two sittings! The relationship between Molly and Andrew is adorable, and I loved seeing it grow from friendship to something more. The progress seemed natural and believable with that sudden burst of, "Wow! I think I love you in a different way now!"

The setting itself was a bit contrived, but worked within the bounds of the story, and I loved reading about their families and their different ways of doing Christmas, once they made it to Ireland.

It's not high literature, but a sweet comfort read, that I could see myself rereading on a fairly regular basis.


Snowed In - Catherine Walsh, 3.5/5, 384 pages
Not quite as good as the first book in the series. I still really liked both Christian and Megan, but their relationship wasn't quite as adorable as that of Andrew and Molly. I do love a good fake-dating trope though, and when added to the forced proximity of being snowed in together, you definitely end up with a charming story regardless.

The way Megan cut off everybody from her past, as well as people's reactions to Megan returning didn't quite ring true though, but that just may be because I'm not from a "small town community" myself. The Christmas aspect was a lot weaker in this one too.

But I still liked it well enough to finish in two days :-D


The Northern Lights Lodge - Julie Caplin, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~13hrs
Not quite as good as the two previous books I've read by Julie Caplin, but as always she writes her settings so well, that I'm always extremely eager to go visit whatever place she sets her books in - and this was no exception. I actually found myself WANTING to go to Iceland in November when it's cold, dark and wet! Now THAT is a real achievement!

All the subterfuge annoyed me - both with regards to Lucy and her past, as well as Alex and his reason for being there. The latter sort of made sense (and was fortunately explained in the book), the former less so, once Lucy began to make friends with her colleagues, but thankfully she spoke up about it before Bob could end up being too much of a nuisance. And I loved the way first Alex and then the girls handled Bob and Clive!


Heartstopper Volume 4 + 5 - Alice Oseman*, 4/5, pages total
I got volume 5 for Christmas, so wanted to reread volume 4. They're still adorable!


The Roommate - Rosie Danan, 3/5, 336 pages
I liked it well enough, but it was a lot more unrealistic than I had expected it to be - even within its own universe. Too insta-lovey and too much wish fulfillment. The end especially had me rolling my eyes. I actually didn't mind the wish fulfillment part until then, but the final confrontation happening on live radio? Nope - not buying it. Waaaay out of character


Books Read: 112
Pages Read: 22,732
Hours Listened to: 336
Book of the Month: Probably Holiday Romance. It was just plain sweet :)
Biggest Disappointment: The Roommate - it wasn't bad - it was just that I had had higher expectations for it.
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
Only just made it past 100 books for the year this month. There's no WAY I'm going to reach my goodreads goal this year! But then I have been listening to a lot more audiobooks, and they take a lot longer than physical books.


Delia Suits Up - Amanda Aksel, 3.5/5, 287 pages
Getting my complaints out of the way first... The writing had some issues. Delia's bag was constantly referred to as "her gucci". "I picked up my gucci...", "I put my gucci down next to me..." etc. I almost wish I had an ebook version so I could do a search for the word 'gucci', because it was mentioned FAR more often than it had any right to.

Also, there were a few scenes where the second-hand embarrassment was so severe that I had to put down the book for awhile and pretty much psych myself up to continuing the scene. I get that Delia hadn't tried to be a man before (that sentence makes sense when you've read the book, I promise!), but had she forgotten how to be human. Good grief!

And of course everything happened to be just a biiiit too convenient for it to ring true... even within the book's own universe.

But with that said, I did find the book extremely readable. It pulled me in right away and was very difficult to put down. I finished it in just two sittings - getting to bed way too late last night, as I really wanted to know what happened next. It's an easy read - doesn't require much from the reader, and with great return for the investment. So not at all high literature - but very entertaining.


The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~9hrs
Basically "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for grown-ups :-D
- A sad backstory for the main character? Check.
- The main character really needs money for something noble? Check.
- A mysterious recluse suddenly reappears after many years' silence? Check.
- Same recluse invites a bunch of people to an exclusive contest on his island/factory? Check.

It was heartbreaking in places though... hearing about Lucy's childhood just made me want to snatch her up myself and hug her close. Some 'parents' just don't deserve that honorific.

But fortunately, there was a lot to love about it too... I loved (most of) the characters, I loved the riddles (and guessed most of them ahead of time too! Go me! ;-) ), I loved Clock Island, and I really loved Christopher. He was utterly adorable! The ending was a tad too quickly/easily tied up, which is what subtracted the last half star - but up until then it was a clear 5-star read, and I definitely understand why it was nominated for Goodreads' book of the year.


The Wake-Up Call - Beth O'Leary, 4/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
Sweet and funny novel - one of Beth O'Leary's best. At first I was a bit frustrated by Izzy and Lucas' inability to just TALK things through, but then I realized that this was only because it was a book. In a real life situation I actually understand why they would just leave well enough alone instead.

A nice comfort-read. I enjoyed how Beth O'Leary used a hotel as the setting and would have loved a further look behind the scenes.

Izzy and Lucas' relationship mostly rang true, but was of course exaggerated for emphasis. Their friendships with people outside the hotel were lovely and very well written.


The Last Graduate - Naomi Novik, 4/5, Audiobook ~13hrs
It's difficult to think of anything to say about this book that I didn't already say about the first one. We're still at the Scholomance, but now instead of trying to get the seniors out safe, El wants to get EVERYBODY out safe.

The book begins the very same day the last one ended, and not much has changed, except that people are slowly starting to accept El, and trust that she might actually know what she's doing. There's still a lot of telling rather than showing going on, but for some reason it just works! It fits with the atmosphere of the book, and I was completely drawn in from the very beginning. It didn't seem as much as the middle book in a trilogy as I had expected it to, so I'm very curious as to how the third book will be handled. Alas, there's a 7 week waiting list at the library if I want to continue with the audiobooks (which I do - the narrator is awesome!), so I'll have to stay patient for awhile longer.


Hvordan man bygger en enhjรธrningefarm - Julie Clausen, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~9hrs
I liked it, but never really fell in love with the book the way I had hoped to. Emily seemed almost unrealistically naive at times, but I liked her, and reading about her trials and tribulations setting her grandfather's house to rights was oddly comforting.

The romance was a bit too much tell and too little show, but the potential triangle was handled very well and in a realistic and timely manner.


Ruined Memory - Jordan Miland, 4/5, 306 pages
Stating my bias out of the gate - my nephew wrote this :-D However, it would have been right up my aisle either way. Dystopian fiction that includes dragons? Yes please! And I had the delightful and kinda weird experience of constantly forgetting who the author was. Really well written, and with turns of phrase that seemed well above his years.

It's been ages since I'd come across a new dystopian novel (some people would claim that it's because we've been living a dystopian future these past few years, and I'm not altogether sure I disagree :-P ), and I was delighted to get my hands on one again. I'm usually a bit hesitant with books that intertwine past and future, but it was done well here - reminded me of "Project Hail Mary" more than anything else - and I enjoyed piecing together the pieces of the puzzle as Duncan remembered more and more of his past.
lovedandamazed: (Default)
[personal profile] lovedandamazed
 "๐‘ฑ๐’–๐’๐’Š๐’‚ ๐‘ด๐’๐’๐’“๐’๐’† ๐‘ฉ๐’†๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’๐’” ๐‘จ๐’ˆ๐’‚๐’Š๐’" ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘น๐’†๐’ƒ๐’†๐’Œ๐’‚๐’‰ ๐‘ด๐’Š๐’๐’๐’†๐’•
This is a fun over-40s romcom. Young widow Julia has just sent her last child off to college and her life is in a new season... but she never expected her first love to come upend her world once more.

"๐‘จ๐’๐’'๐’” ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐’Š๐’ ๐‘ณ๐’๐’—๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’“๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’Ž๐’‚๐’”" ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’“๐’‚๐’‰ ๐‘ด๐’๐’๐’›๐’๐’
This workplace romance takes Christmas to the next level, as Mackenzie and Jeremy try to out-Christmas the other in order to earn a promotion.

"๐‘ฒ๐’Š๐’”๐’” ๐‘ด๐’† ๐’๐’ ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’“๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’Ž๐’‚๐’”" ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’“๐’‚๐’‰ ๐‘ด๐’๐’๐’›๐’๐’
I already wanted to read this novella, but when it was nominated for a Christy Award it rocketed up to the top of my TBR. A YouTube star and a single mom with a neurodivergent son form an unexpected connection while helping plan a short-notice Christmas wedding. I haven't had time to review this one yet, but it was a 5-star read. โญ

"๐‘ฎ๐’๐’๐’“๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’๐’๐’”" ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘ฑ๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’๐’† ๐‘น๐’๐’”๐’„๐’‰๐’†
I've finally read all of Janine's backlist! Childhood friends Thomas and Blue are reunited, but are now separated by deep griefs and heartache. Will love finally have a chance to bring healing? I haven't reviewed this one either -- the past couple weeks have been crazy busy.

๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜†-๐—ข๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ: ๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฎ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐Ÿฐ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
Highlands Christmas - Amy Quick Parrish, 2.5/5, 128 pages
A quick read. I finished it in less than an hour. It's very simplistic, very stereotypical and very unrealistic. However, it's also very charming, and while I found myself noticing all the issues with it, it never really made me consider giving up on it. I really enjoyed the setting (there's just something about (Scottish) village life - especially at Christmas time!) and the friends Melissa made along the way. I even liked Colin... even if he was clearly being awfully unprofessional and blatantly ignoring a serious conflict of interests ;-)

I would love for the author to take a second shot at this - find a better editor, and work out some of the kinks. Because plot-wise it has great potential, and if the charm hadn't been diluted by the stereotypes in both characters and events, it would end up being a very sweet Christmas novella indeed.


Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree, 4/5, Audiobook ~7hrs
This was recommended to me as "cozy fantasy", and I definitely see what they mean... reading about an orc trying to open a cafรฉ and introduce gnomish coffee to a city who've never heard of any warm drinks other than tea? Yeah, it doesn't get much cozier than that :-D

I had wondered if Travis Baldree could stick to the 'cozy' part, or if it would end up serving as the basis for a more traditional fantasy style novel, but to my great delight the main focus of the book was indeed on the establishing of "Legends & Lattes" - expanding the menu, gathering a following and becoming an established business in the neighbourhood. I know it doesn't sound like that ought to make for thrilling reading - and it doesn't... but it does make for very cozy reading. The fantasy aspect almost took a back seat to the worldbuilding, which I really appreciated.

Of course there had to be some sort of crisis in the end, but it didn't actually come from the direction I had expected it to... and I greatly enjoyed the follow-up afterwards.

So far it seems to be a stand-alone novel (although there is a prequel), but I wouldn't mind reading more about Legends & Lattes in the future :-)

I read this as an audiobook, narrated by the author himself :-)


The Witch is Back - Sophie H. Morgan, 4.5/5, 384
Such a delightful read! I was utterly charmed, and while I loved that it was a stand-alone novel, I still want to read more from this universe! I hope companion novels will be made about Leah or Tia at some point - or Sloan!

Alright - getting my (few) complaints out of the way first. I will admit that the book is rife with cliches. The "good guys" are good through and through and the "bad guys" have no redeeming factors whatsoever. I lacked some sort of motivation behind Clarissa's actions. Also, I'm never too keen on the main character keeping secrets from the reader - although it served a purpose in this case. Finally, it took Emma and Bastian waaaaaaay too long to actually COMMUNICATE!!! But I appreciate that they did so before everything blew up in their faces.

I loved the friendship between Leah, Tia and Emma, I loved the relationship between Sloan and Emma and would love to read more about how that evolved. I loved this different take on the "fake dating" trope and was charmed by the tattoos of the joining. I loved Kole and Bastian's parents and I adored how Bastian stood up to Clarissa.

I can fully see how some people might find this book trite or twee or some other t-adjective - but to me it worked, and I polished it off in two quick sittings.


A Deadly Education - Naomi Novik, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~11hrs
Naomi Novik has been a bit hit and miss to me. I wasn't too impressed by "Uprooted", but loved "His Majesty's Dragon", so I was a bit reluctant to start this series. However, it came strongly recommended by a friend whose taste in books I trust, so when I found it at the library, I decided to give it a shot.

I'm so glad I did! I listened to 11 hours in just a week and loved every minute of it. This is Harry Potter if Hogwarts was evil and out to get you! I will admit that the writing style takes some getting used to - there's a lot more telling than showing going on in the beginning, but for some reason it worked with the atmosphere of the book, and I was instantly drawn in.

I loved reading about El's growth and almost reluctant way of making friends, and was fascinated by the way magic works in this world - crocheting to gain manna seems like the perfect deal to me! (which I know means it wouldn't gain me much, but hey - a girl can dream, right? ;-) )

The end was a bit more sudden than I had expected, and I'm very intrigued to see what will happen next!


Chef's Choice - T.J. Alexander, 3/5, 336 pages
Not as good as the first book, unfortunately. I loved "Chef's Kiss", but never felt I got to know Luna and JP as well as I did Simone and Ray - nor was I as charmed by them.

A shame, as I usually love the fake-dating trope (and that part was done really well), but since I felt the relationship was a lot more tell than show, I never truly bought that their feelings changed.

That said, I did appreciate that it was more "slow-burn" than "third act break-up", and I loved the confrontation with JP's grandfather near the end.

So a good book - but not a great one.


Wonder - R.J. Palacio*, 5/5, 316 pages
Definitely not a book for everybody. I can easily see how it could be too twee for some and just too much for others, but personally, I absolutely adored it! Without a doubt one of the best books I've read this year. It had me both laughing and crying with joy, and I had tears - happy tears - running down my cheeks as I read the last page. It was probably a too perfect ending, but it worked for me, and I just wanted to gather everybody up and give them all huge hugs.


Auggie & Me - R.J. Palacio*, 4/5, 380 pages
It didn't blow me away the way "Wonder" did, but I still really liked it.
It was good to see things from Julian, Chris and Charlotte's point of view, and I liked that Auggie was just a minor characters in these stories.
I liked Julian's story the best - but with Charlotte's as a close second.


The Rosary - Florence L. Barclay*, 4/5, 389 pages
Hadn't realized it had been 11 years since I read this last!

The last half is by far the best - I do love reading about Jane as Rosemary Grey - but it baffles me that nobody seems to mind that she deceived Garth in that way by pretending to be somebody else. It's just... glossed over as being completely inconsequential.

Ah well. Still a beautiful story... if a bit over the top in some places.


Tre piger i en bil - Estrid Ott*, 4/5, 205 pages
I read this often as a kid, but somehow hadn't picked it up for 18 years, so figured it was about time! Fortunately - as with most of Estrid Ott's books - it stood the test of time. Sure, it was terribly dated in some aspects, but then it WAS written almost 100 years ago (almost exactly - it's from 1925), so it's to be expected.

It was quite funny to read this after just having been to NYC myself, and actually being able to picture some of the places described... even if in a "slightly" more modern setting ;-)


Sue Barton, Student Nurse - Helen Dore Boylston*, 4.5/4, 244 pages
A quick read (took me no more than an hour or two), but a good one. It's a wonder I've never wanted to be a nurse or a doctor, as much as I love reading about their work. It's a feel-good book of the old-fashioned style and I greatly enjoyed it.


Books Read: 94
Book of the Month: A toss between The Witch is Back and A Deadly Education. I loved both!
lovedandamazed: (Default)
[personal profile] lovedandamazed
  "๐‘พ๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐‘น๐’Š๐’”๐’†" ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘จ๐’”๐’‰๐’๐’š๐’ ๐‘ด๐’„๐‘ฒ๐’‚๐’š๐’๐’‚ ๐‘ถ๐’‰๐’Ž
Two sisters. One hawk. Beautiful Colorado setting. These characters are so real and I love the strong faith themes.
Step back to the time of King Saul and experience Israel's upheaval through the eyes of four young men.
The loss of Beckett's mom has left her agoraphobic, and now her father's death may mean the loss of her beloved bee farm. Her father left the property in a trust to Beckett and an unknown woman named Callie. Who is Callie and is she going to force Beckett away from the home she loves?

๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜†-๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ: ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿต, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐Ÿฏ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€
 
lovedandamazed: (Default)
[personal profile] lovedandamazed
Continuing to catch up... wow, this was a good month for reading! Lots of good ones here.

"๐‡๐ข๐ฌ ๐‡๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ญ ๐‘๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‚๐ฒ๐ง๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐š ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ง
A sweet story set in the heart of the Ozarks. Can two people who have suffered broken engagements find healing and love again?

"๐“๐ก๐ž ๐–๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐’๐ฅ๐ž๐ž๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐†๐ซ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐Š๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง๐ž๐ซ
I loved this story about Pete, a garbage man in a small Montana town. He sees a side of people that most do not—and I'm not just talking about their trash. He sees beauty and value in others that may be overlooked by those not paying attention.

"๐€ ๐๐ž๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‘๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ง๐š ๐Œ. ๐–๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž
Speaking of seeing things that other people do not, Lady Marigold and her brother run a secret spy ring to find hidden information among highbrow society in Edwardian London.

"๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐จ ๐ƒ๐ž๐›๐ฎ๐ญ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐€๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฅ๐š ๐‘๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ 
Screenwriter Gemma believes police lieutenant Karson is her new muse, but things go very, very wrong when she signs up for Citizen's Safety Academy to spend time with him. This is a fun romantic comedy with strong faith themes.

"๐Œ๐ฒ ๐ƒ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐€.๐–. ๐“๐จ๐ณ๐ž๐ซ
As a huge fan of Tozer, I was thrilled to learn that some of his writings have been compiled into a daily devotional. I was quite blessed by this volume and would recommend it highly.

๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜†-๐—”๐˜‚๐—ด๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ: ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฐ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐Ÿฏ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€
lovedandamazed: (Default)
[personal profile] lovedandamazed
 Normally I try to post a book review roundup every month or two, but my records show I've fallen behind. I'll try to catch up over the next few days. ๐Ÿ˜€

"๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐๐ž๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ฆ
I loved this story! Penelope ventures across the ocean to help restore a 100-year-old family-owned theater. Along the way, the pure joy of her personality proves infectious, even in the face of difficulties.

"๐Ÿ,๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐‘๐ž๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐‡๐ž๐š๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐“๐จ๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐•๐š๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐
I'd hoped that this book might be helpful in connecting actions with emotions as I write, but it was a little more simple than that. It's literally a list of body movements. I could see it being helpful for some, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for.

"๐ˆ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‡๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ž ๐‡๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐’๐š๐ซ๐š๐ก ๐„. ๐‹๐š๐๐
A young widow is reunited with the sweetheart of her youth, who is tasked with protecting her from danger. A sweet Regency story.

"๐€๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐š๐ญ๐ก" ๐›๐ฒ ๐Œ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข ๐Œ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ
This is a Victorian tale with Romeo and Juliet overtones. The characters are quite young so I didn't really connect with them, and there were some other factors that made this not my favorite Mimi Matthews story.

๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜†-๐—๐˜‚๐—น๐˜† ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ: ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿต, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐Ÿฏ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€ 
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
A bit late this month, as I haven't really been online much lately. But here we go...

Chef's Kiss - T.J. Alexander, 4/5, 308 pages
Really sweet book. It came highly recommended by a friend whose tastes I trust, so I was already inclined to love it and it did not disappoint.

I really enjoyed seeing how Simone and Ray's friendship evolved, and how Ray got Simone to open up in other areas of her life as well. I loved the cooking aspect and only wish it had taken up a bigger part of the book than it had.

The transphobia annoyed me - but it was supposed to. I just wish we had seen more of a comeuppance to the people involved, but I guess it's more realistic this way. I thought Simone's reactions to both Luna and Ray seemed realistic - not perfect, sometimes making it more about her than it needed to be, but she tried her best, and worked on improving herself when she failed.

I'll definitely check out more of this author!


Kys din kรฆreste pรฅ rejsen - Pia Konstantin Berg, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~5hrs
Set in the time of the first Copenhagen corona lock-down it really captures the feeling of "this is nothing... huh, a press conference... crap! It's definitely NOT nothing!"

Not that this is primarily a story about corona though. It's a story about a new romance... about getting yourself out of an increasingly toxic relationship... about overbearing parents... about unusual friendships in the most random places.

It made me laugh out loud more times than I can count (I LOVED Caroline's and Casper's initial messages to each other), and was sweetly poignant in places too. Everybody ought to have a 94-year-old friend when times get tough. I want to be John when I get old!

The third-act breakup was unnecessary and made me subtract half a star... but it was realistic and also realistically resolved, so I've rounded up rather than down here on Goodreads. There was a lot to love in this book, and I'd like to add it to my library at some point.


The First to Die at the End - Adam Silvera, 4/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
Better than the first one (or the second one, I guess... since this is a prequel). I just liked Orion and Valentino a lot more than I did Mateo and Rufus, and enjoyed the plot more too. Loved how it took us through a lot of New York and reminded me of places I'd been myself. And the relationship between Orion and Valentino really worked for me - it seemed believable and natural.

I still wish we'd gotten to hear more about how Death Cast works - including what was in that secret vault, and how the kinks got worked out. I do understand why Adam Silvera decided to gloss over that though - it would have made for a completely different story! - but a story I would love to read, eventually.


Stray - Andrea K. Hรถst*, 4.5/5, 273 pages
Lab Rat One - Andrea K. Hรถst*, 4/5, 232 pages
Caszandra - Andrea K. Hรถst*, 4.5/5, 357 pages
Gratuitous Epilogue - Andrea K. Hรถst*, 5/5, 128 pages
Apparently I reread this series every second year :-P It's one of my comfort series, and I just wish it had become more popular than it has. I would LOVE to see a movie adaption of it at some point.


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling*, 4/5, 607 pages
I can't believe it's been FIFTEEN YEARS(!) since I read this last. I wanted to reread the end to see how closely the "Dumbledore's Army" fanfic matched the canon events (very, very close as it turned out!), and the writing did once again draw me in and made me want to read other bits and pieces as well. I didn't read the entire thing... JKR writes dialogue and relationships well - action scenes not so much - but I did enjoy being reminded of elements I had forgotten.

Crumbs - Danie Stirling, 5/5, 384 pages
Ridiculously cute. I NEED this for my own library. The last few chapters made me tear up, but so, so, SO worth it!
An instant favourite!


Love at First Psych - Cara Barstone, 5/5, Audiobook ~5hrs
Okay, this was super cute! I loved it almost as much as "Call Me Maybe". The cast recording worked well for me, and I enjoyed seeing the friendship grow between Robbie and Marigold.

The interviews were interesting to listen to, as were the follow-up conversations of whether or not something counted as "love at first sight" and how even small things showed devotion... or lack of same.

Such a cute book. I loved it!


The Last Man at the Inn - R. William Bennett, 4/5, Audiobook ~5hrs
Really interesting take on Jesus' life. Kinda simplistic in places, but told from an unusual POV which I appreciated.

Books Read: 82
Pages Read: 16,864
Hours Listened to: 254
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
A VERY slow reading month... but then I did read about 2000 pages' worth of HP fanfic, so I guess I'm excused ;-)

Heartstopper volume 1-4 - Alice Oseman*, 1376 pages total
Reread after watching season 2 ♥

The Third Person - Emma Grove, 3/5, 920 pages
Don't be intimidated by the length - due to its form, it's very quickly read and I finished it in just a few hours.

I'm not entirely sure what I thought of it. Parts of it were very jumbled and confusing to read, but that was explained in the end, when Emma explained the process she went through to write the book, so I guess it couldn't really have been any different. Also, I sometimes got confused which 'person' was presenting... but again, I think that was more or less deliberate and we weren't supposed to.

Mostly I got insanely frustrated by Toby. Possibly an extremely incompetent therapist - DEFINITELY a bad fit for them, and he should have pushed harder on getting them to see a different therapist. I know he tried - but still. I know very, very little about D.I.D. - only what I've learned through following D.I.D. creators online, which I know is terribly flawed - and even I could see some of the mistakes he made.

But all that aside, it was a very interesting book, and I'm glad I've read it.


Christmas Every Day - Beth Moran, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
Really, really cute book. And despite the title, not at all Christmassy, so it didn't matter that I read it in July/August :-)

Getting my few complaints out of the way first...
Incredibly predictable, of course, but that kinda comes with the genre, so didn't bother me at all. I wasn't completely thrilled with the foreshadowing, but it was typically revealed within a few pages of the foreshadowing occurring, so didn't bother me as much as it normally would. Also, Jenny made a few bad choices that could REALLY have come back to bite her, but fortunately that didn't happen - although I will say that was more down to sheer dumb luck rather than anything else.

Apart from that, I loved it. I loved the small-town community, I loved the book club, and I loved how Jenny found her feet after having lived under her sister's thumb for far too long. I loved reading about the house renovations and would have been very keen to give her a hand - I love rummaging through old stuff and separating the junk from the treasures :-D

Definitely a feel-good comfort read that I may eventually need to get for my physical library as well.

Books Read: 71
Pages Read: 14,475
Hours Listened to: 229
Book of the Month: Christmas Every Day
Biggest Disappointment: None this month.
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
Slow month, but I've also read a bunch of novel length 9-1-1 and Ted Lasso fanfics which haven't made it on to this list.

The Cornish Midwife - Jo Bartlett, 4/5, Audiobook ~8hrs
Sweet story, set in a very charming village close to an area of UK that I'm familiar with, so I recognized many of the place names ;-)

The plot in itself wasn't really anything special, but it was charmingly written (and narrated) and definitely turned out to be a feel-good novel. I was slightly worried about how the third act conflict would shape out, but it fortunately turned out to have a quicker resolution than I had feared.


Identity - Nora Roberts, 4/5, Audiobook ~15hrs
Pretty stereotypical Nora Roberts. But I like stereotypical Nora Roberts, so that suited me just fine :-) I really like that with the obvious exception of the "bad guy", people are generally just genuinely nice in Nora Roberts novels. It makes for pleasant reading.

I really enjoyed reading about Morgan's job at the resort. I always find it fascinating to read when people are passionate about their work, and this really shone through here. I don't know if Nora Roberts has bartended herself, or if it's all made up for the book, but it worked for me regardless.

Not sure how realistic the bad guy was here, but it worked in the context of its own universe, so that's fine by me.


About a Boy - Nick Hornby, 3/5, 278 pages
I've never seen the movie, so I went into this read completely blind. It was very different from what I had expected, but well-written and poignant. I actually really appreciated that the main relationship wasn't romantic, but the relationship between Will and Marcus. I also liked Ellie a lot, and was happy to see how that friendship turned out.

It's not a book I'm likely to reread - and I don't know that it made me want to watch the movie either - but I'm glad to have read it.


The Name Curse - Brooke Burroughs, 3/5, 333 pages
Can't quite make up my mind what I thought of this book. It had a strong start, but then sagged at around the mid-way point, and never fully gained traction again. Thus it took me MUCH longer to finish that it ought to have done.

I think one of my issues was that I had expected the Denali hike to take up a much larger part of the book than it actually did - this is NOT a "book about a hike" it's a "book about the people you meet on a hike"... which is well and good, but wasn't what I was looking for.

I did like the characters though, so never considered giving up on the book. It was just a more run-of-the-mill chick-lit than I had hoped for when I set out.


Zero at the Bone - Jane Seville*, 4/5, 293 pages
Hadn't read this in ages, and had forgotten most of the plot - I just remembered the basic premise, so it was fun to rediscover it. The plot is fast-moving and captivating - kept me intrigued from the first page, and I found the concept interesting - reading about the ins and outs of the life of a hitman and a person heading towards witsec.

Still the real strength of the novel lies in the characterizations and the dynamics between Jack and D. I loved seeing how Jack slowly but surely was allowed to see through D's facade and got under his skin enough to see him without his mask.

I LOVED Jack in court. Let our a loud "HA!" when he got the better of the other lawyer :-D I did think there were a few things there that weren't completely followed up on afterwards, but nothing important, and I can see how the details of the aftermath of the court case could get lost in the details of Jack and D's relationship.

Books Read: 63
Book of the Month: Identity
Biggest Disappointment: None this month.
lovedandamazed: (Default)
[personal profile] lovedandamazed
I started leaning pretty heavily into questions as I wrote this brief snippets. What do you think? ๐Ÿ˜‰ 


"๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐‘๐จ๐š๐" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐š๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐‘๐จ๐ฌ๐œ๐ก๐ž
A disgraced megachurch pastor finds a new career as a cook near Yellowstone National Park, where he seeks healing and soul restoration. Review: 

"๐Œ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐‹๐š๐ง๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ค๐ฒ ๐–๐š๐๐ž
This was a reread—except this time I listened to it on audio! Still 5 stars. Original review HERE.

"๐‰๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐„๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐‹๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐Ž๐ง" ๐›๐ฒ ๐’๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ž ๐Ž'๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ง
My Bible study group took two years going through this book, and I feel like we all got a lot out of it. Recommended!

"๐…๐š๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‡๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ญ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐Š๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ง ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ฒ๐ž๐ซ
If you like fairy tale retellings, this one is Snow White set in historic Texas! I thought it was fun and clever. 

"๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐„๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐Œ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐š๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐‘๐จ๐ฌ๐œ๐ก๐ž
What if the tragic accident that took the life of your teenage son also took the last six years of your memory? What if the past you can't remember is actually what you'd rather forget? 

"๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‡๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ˆ๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ฒ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐€๐ง๐๐ซ๐š ๐‹๐จ๐ฒ
A fun novella about a tourist who makes a deal with someone who can't stand tourists. What will happen with a bit of magic? This story was written by one of my critique partners. You can read it free HERE.

"๐ƒ๐ž๐๐ข๐œ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ž๐ง๐ž ๐ˆ ๐‹๐จ๐ฏ๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐๐ž๐ญ๐ก ๐Š. ๐•๐จ๐ ๐ญ
What happens when two stubborn writers are forced by their editors to work together? Lots of arguing, that's what! And maybe a spark of romance.

"๐–๐ž๐๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ญ ๐’๐ž๐š" ๐›๐ฒ ๐Œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐š ๐“๐š๐ ๐ 
Can two decades-old mysteries be solved? Can two people who have never gotten along plan a wedding for someone very dear to them? 

๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐š๐ฌ ๐ˆ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ ๐š๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ
Names withheld. I rated both of them 3 stars.

๐ต๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜๐‘  ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› 2023: 25, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ 3 ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘  
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
The True Love Experiment - Christina Lauren, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~11hrs
Sort of a sequel to "The Soulmate Equation", but focusing on Fizzy rather than Jess. So it's not absolutely necessary to have read TSE first, but it definitely helps.

I really enjoyed it. I liked Fizzy, and thought her growing friendship with Connor was very well written - definitely show rather than tell! Her plans for the reality show had me laughing out loud, as did the stereotypes she asked Connor to cast. It worked really well. I'm glad to we got to "see" so many of the episodes being filmed - I'd been worried that they'd do the first few and last few and skip the rest, but that wasn't the case at all, fortunately. For once the "third act conflict" was really well handled too, and was actually a believable conflict, rather than one that could have been prevented by simple communication - which meant that it rang true, and didn't leave me wanting to shake the two people involved.

Very sweet book. Perhaps a tad heavy on the spice in places, but very cute.


How to Be a Movie Star - T.J. Klune*, 5/5, Audiobook ~12hrs
Okay, so this is not going to be a coherent review - instead I'm just going to squee here. Because this book? EVERY BIT as good as "How to Be a Normal Person". And so CUTE! So, so cute! I just about died of the cute! I laughed out loud more times than I can remember, and closed the book with a sigh and a hitch in my voice. I didn't want it to end... EVER!

Well done, T.J. Klune! I didn't think you could write characters I'd love as much as Sam, Gary, Tiggy and Ryan, but you managed.

Loved it!


Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas*, 4/5, Audiobook 13 hrs
I loved reading about the training and the tests (although I do wish we'd gotten to see more of the tests "on page" rather than just being told about them afterwards), and though I do understand some readers' complaints that it is rather superficial, that wasn't something I noticed myself until afterwards, so obviously it didn't bother me.

I thought it nicely self-contained, but still liked it enough, that I'll probably continue with the sequels as well.


The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams*, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~14hrs
The original BBC radio broadcast version of all 5 books. I'm going to count it even if it's not technically a book, because as great as the books are, these versions are loads better.

... and then 2 novel-length fanfics by the always amazing Mad_Lori ๐Ÿ˜„

Books Read: 57
Book of the Month: The True Love Experiment
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
The Forgotten Room - Lincoln Child, 3/5, 290 pages
Fairly boilerplate suspense novel, but enjoyable enough. It's listed as the fourth book in a series, but absolutely works as a stand-alone novel as well. I never even noticed it wasn't a stand-alone novel until I came to goodreads to register it, and saw how it was listed.

It'll probably turn out to be one of those books that you read and then forget all about, as there's nothing that really stands out about it, but I enjoyed it while I was reading it, and found the plot engaging and the suspense believable, so a good read - even if possibly not one I'm likely to read again.


In the Lives of Puppets - T.J. Klune, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~12hrs
I'd probably categorize this as "good, but not great", and as I'm used to T.J. Klune being great, it was a bit of a let-down. I liked it, but it never blew me away like some of his other books did. I liked Victor and Nurse Ratched and Rambo was cute with his definite shades of Wall*E. But I never really took to HAP. I think there was too much telling and not enough showing when it came to him, so he just never really grew on me.

The plot itself didn't do much for me either, but I didn't really realize that until after finishing the book. T.J. Klune's strength has always been his characters, and many of his books are far more character-driven than plot-driven, which has never really been an issue for me.


You'll Be the Death of Me - Karen M. McManus, 4/5, 326 pages
Most of the plot of this book took place over the course of a day, which I thought was an interesting change from the other books I've read by Karen M. McManus. I did find it highly unrealistic in places, but it stayed reasonably true to its own universe, so it didn't bother me as much as it would have otherwise.

I liked how the relationships between Ivy, Mateo and Cal evolved and changed through the day, and appreciated how realistic they felt. Sometimes people do rotten things - sometimes those things can be forgiven.


Slaget om Kejserstaden - Claus Holm, 3.5/5, 455 pages
Last book in Claus Holm's trilogy. It's not quite as good as the two others, although I cannot say exactly why. Perhaps just because there are so many threads to tie together?

I still enjoyed reading it though, so rounded up to 4 stars on Goodreads.


The Single Mums' Book Club - Victoria Cooke, 3.5/5, 304 pages
Chick-lit for an older audience. It doesn't have anything I haven't seen done before in other books, but I appreciated that it focused just as much on making friends as an adult, handling co-parenting in a sensible way and handling how to introduce children to a new partner as on the romantic aspect... in fact, in some ways the romance seemed almost like an afterthought!

I did occasionally put down the book in frustration over some of Stephanie's less intelligent decisions, but they were always made with the best intentions at heart, and she did quickly get over herself, so in the end it did actually come across more as a realistic depiction of dating with kids than Angst!(TM), and even the "third act breakup" was handled a lot better than I often see.

It never turned into a page-turner, which is why I rounded down rather than up on goodreads, but it was an enjoyable read all the same.


Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir, 5/5, 476 pages
Just as good the second time around :-D I loved "The Martian" but actually think this one is even better.

It's best not to know too much about the story going into it, so I'll just leave it at that I loved Grace, I loved Rocky and I wish the book had been much, much longer than it was. I couldn't put it down, but didn't want to see it end.

Awesome book!


Interworlds - Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves, 2.5/5, 239 pages
Quick read, but very easily forgettable. It was an interesting concept, but I don't think they got quite as much out of it as they could have. There was a LOT more to explore, and while I do know that that may happen in the next books in the series, there wasn't enough in this one to make me interested enough to continue on with the others.

Books Read: 47
Book of the Month: You'll Be the Death of Me (since I don't count rereads)
lovedandamazed: (Default)
[personal profile] lovedandamazed
 I read a lot the past two months (thanks in good part to spring break, a road trip, and some shorter selections), but honestly, there's really only one book I truly enjoyed in this lot. A couple of these I ended up skimming, and one was so uninspiring I kept forgetting the main characters' names while I was reading. ๐Ÿ˜› Hopefully we'll get to some better selections soon!

"๐€ ๐๐จ๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐Œ๐š๐ฌ๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ซ๐š๐๐ž"
"๐€๐ง ๐„๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐…๐š๐œ๐š๐๐ž"
"๐€๐ง ๐”๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ"
"๐€๐ง ๐ˆ๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ž๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฒ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐Š๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข ๐€๐ง๐ง ๐‡๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ
The Hawthorne House series focuses on four siblings in Regency England. The second one was my favorite by far (review HERE). I actually actively disliked the rest and can't imagine reading them again.

"๐๐ž๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐š๐ซ๐จ๐ง" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐จ๐š๐ง๐ง๐š ๐๐š๐ซ๐ค๐ž๐ซ
This was a quick and easy read loosely based off Beauty and the Beast. By "loosely based," I mean I might not have picked up on it except for the title.

"๐“๐ก๐ž ๐†๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ง ๐๐ž๐ง๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐ฅ๐
I dipped into some non-fiction but had a hard time with the underlying tones, finding this not at all what I was looking for. 

"๐๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฉ ๐›๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ž๐š" ๐›๐ฒ ๐ƒ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐‡๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ
This book would have been better if the main characters were 40 instead of 25. So unrealistic and not relatable at all.

"๐“๐ก๐ž ๐๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ƒ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ž๐ซ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐Š๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐‚๐š๐ฆ๐›๐ซ๐จ๐ง
This was another tough read. It was split time with both timelines being set during WWII. I was so confused that I never could connect with the characters. 

"๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‡๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐‹๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ˆ๐ฌ๐š๐๐จ๐ซ๐š ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฒ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐–๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ก
Most of this book is brilliant. However, without any sort of faith aspect, it left me wanting. 

"๐‚๐จ๐ฐ๐›๐จ๐ฒ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‹๐š๐œ๐ฒ ๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ฆ๐ฌ
This was a spur of the moment read. It set Jane Austen's "๐‘ƒ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ƒ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘—๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘๐‘’" in the Old West. I found some parts overdone and some woefully underdone.

"๐‡๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ž๐ง ๐“๐จ ๐‡๐จ๐ฉ๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐š๐ง๐ž๐ญ ๐–. ๐…๐ž๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง
Wedding planner Hope heads to Wyoming to plan the last-minute wedding of a good friend. This is one of those "everything that can go wrong will go wrong" stories, with a dash of faith and unrequited romance.

๐ต๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜๐‘  ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› 2023: 18 
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood, 4.5/5, 383 pages
Sweet and funny book that greatly exceeded my expectations. I love the fake dating trope when it's done well, but sometimes the "third act breakup is so annoyingly avoidable that it ruins the entire book for me. Fortunately that wasn't the case at all here. Instead it was so minor that it basically didn't register, and was handled very well and very quickly by everybody involved, so yay for that.

I loved Olive and Adam's chemistry, and found their relationship (including how it changed) believable. Olive's friendship with Anh was perhaps more tell than show, but her friendship with Malcolm was sweet :)

Very enjoyable read. To those concerned about the level of spice - it's limited to one chapter that's very easily skipped.


Fairy Tale - Stephen King, 4/5, 579 pages
I read the first 200 pages in no time flat, struggled with the next 100 pages as it transitioned, and then read the last almost 300 pages in no time as well :-P Stephen King's talent is undeniable, but the book changed genre completely about half way through, which threw me a bit, and it took me awhile to readjust my expectations and get back into the scope of things. Once I did, I loved the rest as well :-)

I enjoyed Charlie's growing friendship with Mr. Bowditch, and think that their relationship is a huge part of why I liked the first half of the book so much. I always love found family when it's done well - which it is here.

It took me longer to warm up to the characters of the other place... they didn't seem as fleshed out, but then, characters in fairy tales never are, so it made sense in its own way... just meant I didn't grow to love them as much as I would have liked. I do think it changed somehow after Charlie was thrown into prison - his relationship with the other prisoners definitely seemed more real than his relationship with Dora, C. or even Leah.

The ending threw me for a loop, but it worked, and I'm kinda glad it ended the way it did, as it seemed to give more closure than pretty much any other ending would have.


Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery*, 5/5, Audiobook ~9hrs
Anne of Avonlea - Lucy Maud Montgomery*, Audiobook ~9hrs
Anne of the Island - Lucy Maud Montgomery*, Audiobook ~9hrs
Rilla of Ingleside - Lucy Maud Montgomery*, Audiobook ~10hrs
Found these for free on audible and felt like rereading them. First three were perfect comfort reads... last one not so much :-P It's still a terrific book, but a lot darker than the others and always makes me cry.


Rebecca - Mary Christner Borntrager, 2/5, 183 pages
Not very well written, unfortunately, but a quick read, so it wasn't too much of a hardship to get through it anyway. I did appreciate this insight into the life of the Amish though. As the author herself was born to Amish parents, I'm assuming it's fairly accurate - at least from that period of time.


The Final Gambit - Jennifer Lynn Barnes, 4/5, 374 pages
Can't think of much to say here that won't spoil the first two books, but a fitting end to the trilogy. It was a bit lighter on the riddles and a bit heavier on suspense than the others, but I still enjoyed it, and felt it rounded the trilogy off nicely.

A fun YA series that I'm glad to have read.


Miss Tippy - Janet Lambert, 3/5, 192 pages
I wish I had read this when I was younger - I would have adored it. I still really liked it, it was every bit as charming as I've come to expect of books from that period, and while I don't have access to any of the other books in the series, I'm glad to have read it.

Books Read: 36
lovedandamazed: (Default)
[personal profile] lovedandamazed
 Click on any title to read my full review.

"๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‹๐š๐ฎ๐ซ๐š ๐…๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ณ
A Scottish lord must take in a pretty and educated English refugee who is his opposite in every way. Rich historical fiction! 

"๐ƒ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐‡๐ž๐ง๐ซ๐ฒ, ๐‹๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐„๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก" ๐›๐ฒ ๐๐ž๐œ๐œ๐š ๐Š๐ข๐ง๐ณ๐ž๐ซ
A mix-up leads Henry and Edith to share a house without ever having met. He thinks she's an elderly widow, and she thinks he's a nice little old man. What a fun story! 

"๐–๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ˆ๐œ๐ž ๐Œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฌ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐€๐ฌ๐ก๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ง ๐Œ๐œ๐Š๐š๐ฒ๐ฅ๐š ๐Ž๐ก๐ฆ
Addisyn is a competitive figure skater whose dreams have not worked out. She retreats to the mountains for anonymity and healing. Strong faith themes. 

"๐˜๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐๐š๐ฒ'๐ฌ ๐“๐ข๐๐ž๐ฌ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‘๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ง๐š ๐Œ. ๐–๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž
This split-time story gives the reader both a WWI and WWII storyline, all centered on an island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. 

"๐Œ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐‹๐š๐ง๐ž" ๐›๐ฒ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ค๐ฒ ๐–๐š๐๐ž
Remy rescues a man suffering from amnesia. As she helps him find his memories, she fights to keep her own at bay. 

"๐“๐ก๐ž ๐’๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‹๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐’๐š๐ซ๐š๐ก ๐’๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ข๐ง
The Danish resistance during WWII takes center stage. A baron and a physicist must both decide what they will do to protect their country and save their friends. 

"๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐‚๐จ๐ฐ๐›๐จ๐ฒ" ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐‡๐ž๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ง๐
Mistaken identity blurs with marriage of convenience to bring two strangers together. High conflicting stakes drive this historical romance. 

๐ต๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜๐‘  ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› 2023: 7
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
I only managed 5 books (+ 1 novel-length fanfic) in February!! But I have been obsessed with a new TV show, so would watch that while knitting, rather than reading. I did manage two complete books while off on vacation though!

Spare - Prince Harry, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~16hrs
There are always three sides to any story - his, theirs and the truth. As this is probably the only version we'll ever hear, I have no clue how close this is to the others. With regards to the UK news media? Probably very. With regards to the rest of the royal family? Who can say.

I will say that it was very engagingly written though. I don't know if Prince Harry had a ghostwriter or if he just happens to be a good writer, but I found the book really interesting, and appreciated this look behind the scenes. But those two boys had no chance of being normal, growing up the way they did. With that kind of trauma at a young age and absolutely no follow-up in terms of being sent to therapy and learning how to deal with it - it's a wonder they managed as well as they did!

Prince Harry has had an interesting life so far, and I enjoyed reading about his education, his travels (Africa especially), his time in the army and his vain attempts at having a 'normal' life. I loved reading about his relationship with Meghan - he is so obviously crazy in love with her, and that's always wonderful to read.

The book did not come across as sensationalistic to me. In fact, the back blurb is a lot more drama-filled than the book itself is. Prince Harry didn't downplay the things he did wrong, and he didn't go out of his way to paint others in a bad light either. It seemed a very sober take on things, and didn't seem like he tried to take advantage of the fact that he's probably going to be the only one to put out his side of the story. The way the press treated him and Meghan was awful, but everybody knew that ahead of time - it's not like they were being subtle about it.

I read this as an audiobook, narrated by Prince Harry himself, which was a nice touch. I always love it when memoirs/autobiographies are narrated by the authors themselves, as I think it adds a dimension that wouldn't have been present otherwise.


Quarantine Comix - Rachael Smith*, 4/5, 224 pages
A graphic novel about 2020 - I basically bought it as a time-capsule type thing, and it captures the atmosphere quite accurately. But I'm almost surprised by how far away it seems, just these few years later.


Elder - Audrey Faye*, 4/5, 336 pages
Sentinel - Audrey Faye*, 4/5, 208 pages
Finishing up my reread now that the next book in the series has been published :-D


Tir-Nรขzrals arving - Mads Schack-Lindhardt, 3.5/5, 340 pages
(The Heir to Tir-Nรขzral)
The first book in a new fantasy series, sent to me by the publisher for review :-) I like the universe the author creates - a universe where books become reality could not be more appealing to a bookwork like myself, and I'm just sad we only got to explore one of the portals this time around. But hopefully more will follow in later books.

The author did sometimes try to do too much, too quickly, and it seemed obvious that it was his first book, as it would have benefitted from being tightened up a bit more. But I still really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.


Books Read: 18

Book of the Month: None stood out. I really enjoyed Spare but it's not the kind of book that will be a regular reread.
kiwiria: (Default)
[personal profile] kiwiria
Somehow I managed a book every second day for the first three weeks of the month, and then all of ONE book since then! So I'm only just on track to make my goal, and really need to step it up! But I've found a new TV-series to obsess about, so watching that and knitting is more fun :-P Audiobooks are still awesome though.

I've been very fortunate with my books so far though! So am very happy with that.
Read more... )
Book of the Month: The Queen's Gambit - although The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches comes a close second, and will probably be reread more often.

Profile

christianreader: (Default)
Christian Reader - Book lists, discussion, writing

June 2025

S M T W T F S
123 4567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 12th, 2025 10:28 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios