Marjorie
Loved the world of weather controlling instead of the vampire/werewolf/zombie overdose that seems to be attaching the book shelves. The book was well written. The flashbacks were smooth and not confusing but after the twelfth flashback I just wish the story would be told all ready. I felt it slowed down the story's progress. Liked the main character female was confident but I couldn't get connected to her. Something about her was real enough for me.
It is not hard to love Georgina the main character. Yeah she is an evil Succubus but her geeky/book-loving tendencies makes her a relatable/likable character. The only thing was how didn't she know what her favorite author looked like. A few scenes like that made me give it four stars instead of five. Great Writing! Recommended read.
This was the second in the Iron Seas series and it was even better than the first. This story-line doesn't continue with the characters Mina or The Iron Duke but changes POV to Kick Ass Airship Captain, Yasmeen and Archimedes Fox famous explorer and hero of popular novellas in this steampunk world.
This story starts after the first book and Archimedes has reappeared after Yasmeen dropped him overboard in zombie-infested Venice.
First thing I loved, Archimedes is not an Alpha. Yasmeen was also another great head-strong, interdependent, and complex character. And Zenobia is a new character I would love to hear more about.
It was a fun adventure book. Maybe some of the mystery was solved a bit to clean and quick but it is a minor complaint.
I do miss the character Scarsdale from the first novel.
I like the future steampunk setting and the world building. All the characters where well developed. I loved the character, Bram. It is easy to become connected to his personality.
Multiple Point of Views was done in this book but I think some characters weren't needed and slowed down the story. I would pick up the second book. I would like to continue with the people I've read and find out how their stories end.
I'm thinking more of a 3.5 kind of rating. Angel, a high school drop out, addictive to pills, and lives with her drunk father, wakes up in the hospital thinking she has been in a serious accident but the medical staff tells her she was brought in from an apparent overdose. Fussy memories things only get stranger when she is released with a note and “bottled shakes”. Set up with a job she now must drive around dead bodies and assisting in autopsies. Things that use to disgust Angel out, like the site of blood, don't anymore. In fact they make her mouth water. So as Angel tries to come to terms with her undead life while still dealing with her dead beat dad and friends and an increased number of decapitated bodies keep turning up.
I liked Angel's voice. She was funny in a WTF is going on but hey still going to ride this rollercoaster sort of way. At times the corny was a bit too much, and I was a little shocked about how well she dealt with certain situation but it wasn't enough to pull me out of the story. Angel's interaction with other characters came across as authentic relationships. The author has a way of taking a gory topic and making it humorous and amusing.
The idea and concept of the book was great but somewhere the story line or pacing seemed to slow down that made the book drag. The ending was great. Made up for the sluggish parts and rapped up the mystery unfolding in the book.
The Pluto Files is the story of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson who found himself in the center of controversy of what to define Pluto. Dr. Tyson gives the history of Pluto from the beginning of discovery to present day (published in 2009). He doesn't just dive into the science but the culture and America's possible personal attachment to this icy rock. If you aren't a science, math type person that's okay because Dr. Tyson has a way of breaking down difficult concepts and making it easy to follow along.
The Pluto Files, with the addition of photographs, cartoons, song lyrics, quotes, and children's letters, is a fun, humorous, quick read.
Evie has a unique super-national sense of smell and can track down almost anything from missing keys to missing people. Boston has a magical underground, which Evie has stayed out of until a midnight phone call from a long vanished lover. To find the missing lover she is pulled into the secret world of magic by betrayal, and conspiracies. For the first time Evie is being hunted.
The character Evie, AKA Hound, was an intriguing first person protagonist. Nice world building, especially Boston's setting came alive from the page with a great use of Sox baseball and magic Celtic mythology. The plot starts off going in all different directions but the writing is thigh enough where you know this will all lead into one direction but mystery enough where you don't know how it will fold together. The plot moves steady until the end where it slows down, which makes it difficult to pick up the book. There were a few confusing paragraphs where senses and settings seemed to jump. Example, leave someone sleeping and walk ahead but next paragraph they are both exiting together.
Think it's great first attempt to a new series. Don't know if I'll pick up the second in the series.
I did receive this book copy for free from New York Comic Con.
This is the first book I have read by Graham Joyce. The story was well written with descriptive language. The characters were flushed out with great detail and interesting. The pacing of the story was slow at times, which made it easy to put down. One thing that jarred me was some language Tara uses at one point in the story. It seemed out of place and pulled out some of the believability from the character.
Straightforward language, honest situations, and helpful solutions. A must read for every teenage girl and woman in the world. Learn why and how to stop bullying, gossip, taunting, and abusing other girls. Learn how to survive or stop abuse from others. Learn how to stop bullying others. Inspiring quotes from famous female artists and athletes. Girls should stick together not tear each other down.
It starts out slow. I didn't really become invested in the story until about 100 pages into the book. You're given a lot of characters in the beginning which is hard to keep track of and their past stories which seems heavy at first but all characters mentioned in the book has a purpose. Be warned this twisted, violent world has many physical, psychological torture with abusive, and forced sexuality that every person in this world has undergone. Other than that this is a very well written and thought out book. If you like dark fantasy then you will most likely like this.
This book will not give you advice on how to find a publisher or and agent. This book is does not give you writing prompts or ideas. This book's soul purpose is to give you encouragement and inspiration in whatever art you have passion for. If you are overwhelmed by critics, “rules”, or market this book can put help beginning artist. The author was very kind almost too kind and I think far too many footnotes, which become a distraction.
I think Anne Lamott's “Bird by Bird” more helpful.
Michelle Moran's historical fiction Madame Tussaud provides an interesting and informative look at the French Revolution time period. The story has a good pace. Moran's writing style is engaging. I enjoyed Marie's story. This is a talented, headstrong woman living in a difficult time. Marie straddles two worlds, the nobility and the National Assembly. I like that the focus wasn't from the royals POV.
Moran does a very good job of telling the frightening and gruesome history. The history seems very accurate, which I LOVE! So many historical fictions take to many liberties that are just distracting. I love Moran gives small summaries after the end of the story for many of the character's lives and a historical note of what was changed, left out, or added and why?
Don't be fooled by the title or sub-title. While this book does focus on polyamory, open relationships and more it mostly works on the bases of having a a healthy relationship with communication, honesty, sex, and working out underlining problems like outside influence that could be breaking down your relationship's or your own happiness. This isn't trying to force you into an open relationship lifestyle but if you have an unmovable idea of what relationships or people should be don't read this book.
This book is written with a good sense of humor and doesn't read like a psych textbook or thesis paper.
This novel has great characters and great character interaction. It is fast-paced plot with lots of action. Disappointed the storyline leaves a lot hanging for the rest of the series. This first book seems to be mostly the building of characters and relationships. I just wouldn't consider this book hard core science fiction.
Story was good. Liked the building plot. Great description of charcters. Very A, B, C type of story. Every character had its place in the plot. No piece of information in the story was usless. No character was useless. The book dragged in the middle for me. I think it was the repeative word choice and the sex scenes didn't seemed very descriptive. The scenes felt unnaturally quick. I feel I want to rate this a two and a half.
Changeless had the same returning pleasures the first book produced. The character interactions were smooth, amusing and the humor was still present. The pacing was good, and the story overall was decent. I was happy the reader does find out a little more about Soulless people along with the character, which I felt was really lacking in the first book.
I didn't like that the sister disappeared through the action scene and then reappeared after everything was all done and over at a silly dinner scene. The disappearance stayed in the back of my mind. I can't help but think (or hope) she shall have a more evil role in the next book because if her only role was to be an instigator I feel it was a poor on the writers part but I have more faith in this writer's talent. Over all it was distracting. Also, a bad technique was the cliffhanger ending I didn't need it to read the next book. It is also not stopping from continuing on in the series.
The Wolf King is the final book of a three-book series. The first book, The Silver Wolf, was the favorite for me. The main character from that novel, Regeane, returns as well as others. There are many plot lines that don't start becoming clear until halfway through the book. What I thought to be a major plot/character storyline is solved before the book is close to done and then just a few loose storyline was wrapped up very abruptly.
So, according to goodread's rating system 2 stars is “it was ok.” I might have given it 2 and half stars if I could. In the end, for me, it was ok.
Soulless is slow to start. Language is a bit different but once I got use to the rhythm of speech it is a quick read. Soulless is fun, light hearted read. One thing I had a major problem with it the concept of being without a soul isn't explained very well. I like when the pace of the plot quickens. The action and story really seem to pick up. The main characters, Alexia and Conall, are well developed and entertaining. An enjoyable read.
3 ½ stars.
This is my first time reading the steampunk genre.
The first chapter dives into this world and I was jarred by the new terms at first but I'm glad I stuck with the story. A good mystery story with exciting action, fun banter, and zombies. The female protagonist, Mina, a strong heroine, who does her job well, and isn't a constant badass or whiner. I loved Scarsdale, the drunken navigator who's afraid of heights and Yarmeen, the everything has a price adventurist captain of the airship Lady Corsair.
Didn't love the main character, The Iron Duke Rhys Trahaearn. His physical description seemed off sometimes. To me Rhys just another dominating male character that gets what he wants and protects what's his. Also, I don't think the author every really showed why Rhys needed/wanted Mina. What made her so special?
I think I would continue to read the series in the future.
I wish I could rate this with a 3.5. I liked this book. It is shocking, disturbing, and thought provoking. Easy read with a serious, thought provoking topic. I'm impressed that this is for teens. I first I thought one of the character's voice used to many cliques but then I guess he started to grow and they disappeared. The characters and their stories are well developed. It does read like a movie flipping from POV and scene to scene but I don't think it takes away from the story. Easy read.
This was my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. I have to say this was the first “smutty” book I've read. I found the story original, creative and interesting. I felt the author created a very convincing world. The author did a great job explaining the Psy-Changeling worlds, which felt plausible. The serial killer murder was always in the backdrop of the story. It was never lost in the couples budding romance but the urgency of finding the killer wasn't, I think, as clearly felt throughout the whole novel. The chemistry and romance between the two lead characters was realistic. The romance/sex scenes were well written. Not to clique.
Good book, I recommend. I almost feel guilty I shunned the Romance genre but I think if it weren't for the paranormal world I wouldn't have gotten through this type of book.