August 2015 RECAP

Hello,

I`ve been away for awhile but now l`m back!

A little recap of the book I`ve read in the month of August 2015

Out of time (2015) by Beth Flynn

This is the second book from the Nine minutes series. It picks up days after the execution of Grizz. Ginny and Tommy are trying to pick up the pieces but there are still some secrets that remains. You cannot read this one without the first book. There are a lot of references from the first one. I love this series. The first one was recommended by someone in a group on Goodreads and I could`t stop reading. The third installment will be out in 2016. 5/5 stars

The  Exiled Queen (2010) by Cinda Williams Chima

Also from the Seven Realms series, this one is the second installment. Han and Raisa both go to Oden`s Ford, him to school for the wizard and her escaping her mother and the Bayars. By chance the reconnect but things go different from when they first met. Great Fantasy/Ya novel. There`s still two more book to this series which I`ll read in September and October. 5/5 stars.

Method 15/33 (2015) by Shannon Kirk

Pregnant, 16 and kidnapped. You would think that her days are numbered. In reality the kidnapper chose the wrong girl to kidnap.The moment she enters the small room she already has a plan: to escape and to make her kidnapper pay. Imaginative, tense, a tally gripping book that what happens in the end is totally not what I expected. 5/5 stars

The paying guests (2014) by Sarah Waters

1922, Frances and her mother are renting the upstairs room to a couple, the Barbers. Frances life completely changes in unexpected ways. This is a historical love story with a little suspense. Even though at times it was a long, at times repetitive, I did enjoy reading this novel. 5/5 stars

Deadly messengers (2015) by Susan May

I received this novel directly by the author. Very fast, gripping and exciting book! it keeps you guessing all the way to the end. What made three people who have ordinary lives do the unthinkable and kill 4 people? They seem to have one thing in common: the twisting of their necks and the phrase “Straight and true”, what does it mean? Freelance journalist Kendall Jennings and detective Lance O’Grady are on the case and will be shocked when they are face with the answer. A truly intelligent suspense/thriller novel! 5/5 stars

Cinder (2012) by Marissa Meyer

What a creative retelling of Cinderella set in the future featuring cyborgs!
Great story, imaginative and great fun to read. Of course the ending is predictable but since it`s a series it will go further than the classic fairytale. 4/5 stars.

Miss Peregrine`s home for the peculiar children (2011) by Ransom Riggs

 

 The first in the series. As a child, jacob`s grandfather used to tell him stories about a mysterious island the people living there. There was a house run by Miss Peregrine and had the most peculiar children living there too. Not only was he telling him the stories but also had pictures. Jacob didn`t believe him.

A horrific family tragedy sets  Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. 

Great story, an imaginative way to start a series. Book two is already out and the third is coming late September 2015. 4/5 stars

August: Osage County (2013) by Tracy Letts

A father disappears, the mother his high on drugs, The whole family gathers  and all hell breaks loose. Secrets are revealed, fights between mother and daughers, wife and husband and between sisters. Dark humour at it`s best. 5/5 stars

Review Call me Grim by Elizabeth Holloway

Call Me Grim by Elizabeth Holloway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book for my honest review.

Call me Grimm is about teenager Libby who almost gets hit by a truck but is saved by mysterious guy named Aaron. He saved her for a reason, he’s a Grim and he wants her to take her place.She doesn’t believe him but starts to see glowing light around people and after witnessing Aaron take the soul of an elderly woman she starts to believe what he says is true.

She only has two days to decide if she will take his place or she will die. She doesn’t want to but something happens, her best friend Kyle is marked and will commit a crime. Now she has a difficult decision to make: take the job and try to save Kyle or refuse and die in two days.

This is Ms. Holloway’s debut novel and it’s good. This paranormal story is original and well written. You do not get bored reading this book, it’s a fast paced book. All the characters were well-developed and interesting.

There is some romance but it’s so minimal and it doesn’t get in the way of the main story. I loved her concept of what happens when we die and the purpose of having Grim reapers when that happens.

Original, action-packed can’t wait for the sequel. Amazing job from Ms. Holloway!

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Great review from 52 Books or Bust – Us Conductors by Sean Michaels

Us Conductors by Sean Michaels.

The Nightingale Circus

The Nightingale Circus by Ioana Visan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received this book from the author for my honest review.

What a great original story. Intriguing, well written characters. Great introduction for the Broken people series. Reading this prequel makes you want to know more about the characters, to the telecharger, the knife throwers, the balerina, the singer, the pole dancer and the robot and let`s not forget the owner of the Circus, Dino with the green skin. I wanna go see this circus!

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The Novel – a Sneak Peek

The Novel – a Sneak Peek.

The Cabinet Of Curiosities

THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES BY DOUGLAS PRESTON AND LINCOLN CHILD (2001, 466 pages)

Bones are discovered on a construction site. In total 36 bodies are found, the were mutilated more than a 100 years ago.

After the discovery of the bones, similar murders are happening in the streets of New York. Is there a copycat on the loose or the murderer from a 130 years ago still alive?

Agent Pendagast is back for a third time. D’Agosta and Margo Green are gone so he gets the help of Nora Kelly, a archeologist working for the Museum. The story still takes place in New York and also back is Bill Smithback, the journalist looking for his Pulitzer prize and is also Nora’s boyfriend. A new character is also in the mix, Patrick O’Shaunessy, a cop who a couple of years ago was accused of taking a bribe and now his boss is making him work with Pendagast as a punishment.

This suspense, horror, fantasy book is great. Pendagast is such a great character, intriguing, weird and who has a few tricks on his sleeve. Smithback is your typical journalist but tends to put his ffot in his mouth a little too often and gets to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. For me they are both the main reasons the books works. They both bring the serious, emotional and funny side that makes the book a joy to read.

They are some parts that are far-fetched more on the fantasy side so be prepared that it’s part of the charm the authors bring to this novel.

This book can be read as a stand alone since the references from the two previous book are so minimal that you don’t really miss anything that makes you wonder what they are talking about.

Great thrilling, suspense book. 4.5 stars.

Colleen Oakley Before I Go

2015, 309 pages

For I’d like to thank Simon and Shuster and Goodreads for the ARC of this book.

Daisy is dying. She beat cancer three years ago but now at 27, she has lots of Cancer and only has months to a year to live. She’s a list writer junkie and on top of her list : Find a wife for her charming, disorganized in training veterinarian. She goes online, bookstores, dog park with the help of her best friend Kayleigh for the perfect woman who will take her place when she’s gone. Is this a good plan, does she really want to push her husband towards another woman before she dies?

This is a sad book but in a good way. This book is told in the point of view of the main character, Daisy. She’s a great character, you feel sorry for her because she’s dying but sometimes during the book I felt I just wanted to shake her and make her realize the bad choices she was making regarding her husband. The interaction between Daisy and her BFF Kayleigh are real, funny and touching. The love that she has with her husband is beautiful and you just want to root for them to have a happy ending.

It also delves into her past and the relationship she has with her mother. Her mother is suffocating her but she still wants a close relationship but is afraid to show her that side.

We go though all her ups and downs during this novel, it will make you laugh and also shed a tear.

A beautiful debut novel worth reading.

‘Arrow’: Is Oliver Queen really dead?

Is the Arrow dead?

Whistling past the graveyard

Whistling past the graveyard bu Susan Crandall (2014, 308 pages)

First I want to thank Simon and Shuster and also Goodreads for the opportunity of reading this novel.

Summer 1963, in Cayuga Springs, Mississippi, feisty 9-year-old Starla is living with Mamie, her strict grandmother, while her father is working in an oil rig and her mother is becoming a famous singer in Nashville.

Afraid of being sent to reform school for misbehaving, she decides to run away and go to Nashville and reunite with her famous mother, the singer she hasn’t seen since she was 3. On her way she gets a lift by a black woman Eula and in a basket a baby.. who is white. Starla may be young but in 1963 a black woman and a white baby means trouble.

After Eula’s husband Wallace cruelty and an unfortunate accident, Starla and Eula decide that they can only do one thing is to go straight to Nashville. This road trip becomes a life changing course for both of them.

This book into the world of segregation, Starla who is the narrator, we see through her eyes the innocence that and also her eye-opening truth that she never witnessed. It also delves into domestic violence between Eula and Wallace and the truth about her upbringing and the broken spirit that made her take a white baby and raise him even though she knew it was not the right decision.

Never been to Mississippi, the author takes you there, the roads to the colored not being served in restaurants, makes you realize the misery that they lived through. The characters were right on point, to the good (Miss Cyrena, Starla’s father), to the bad (Mamie, The Jenkins).

This is a beautiful story about searching for a better life, love, friendship and what the meaning of having a family, bounded by love of not means. After reading the book,i got invested in the characters, I wanted more, where would the characters be after 10-20 years.

A touching book worth reading!

The Savvy Reader’s Best Books of 2014

Check out The Savvy Reader’s beat book of 2014

It’s here! After sharing our Best Books of 2014 (So Far) list in July, we’ve been keeping track of which books to add to the definitive list of the Best Books of 2014. It was a very difficult task, and appreciate the help from fellow Savvy Readers and 50 Book Pledgers who helped us narrow down which books should be included.

The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld: Many words have been used to describe The Enchanted, Rene Denfeld‘s debut novel: Remarkable. Haunting. Beautiful. Unexpected. But none of these words can do it justice. Simply, it is a powerful story told through the eyes of a death row inmate who seeks escape from his grim surroundings in his books and the fiction he creates. Read our review of The Enchanted here.

In addition to being chosen as HarperCollinsCanada‘s Book of the Year by their 130,000+ Facebook fans, The…

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