Tag: books

1/5 Stars: Meow, by Skye MacKinnon

If I could give this book a negative star review, I would.

It was horrible. I read 25% of it and gave up – and that’s saying something. I don’t give up on books very easily, and I am typically able to at least complete them before judging. This book is the exception. It’s poorly written, (very) poorly edited, makes no sense, and is just plain bad. I received the book free and even that didn’t convince me to make it through to the end. Do yourself a favour, read something worthy of your time. This isn’t it.

1/5 stars

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1/5 Star Review: Starry Night by Debbie Macomber

I’ve been a Debbie Macomber fan in the past when I wanted something lighthearted to read that wasn’t going to involve too much brain power. The books were simple, sweet, and I have a collection of them sitting on my bookshelves.

I purchased this book expecting the same – and it was nothing like previous books I have read. It focused on an unbelievable tale, and repeated the same story over and over. I couldn’t connect with the main character (woe is me, I’m beautiful and thin and smart too and I have to write the society pages when I really want to write about what’s going ON out there) nor did I connect with the love interest (I hate the world, I’m angry at my Mother – I hate this lady who just showed up – gasp, she’s beautiful, I love her, I want her, nope, don’t want her after all, gasp, love her!)

What REALLY irked me though, was the judgmental ideas sprinkled throughout the book about “kids who spend all their time playing video games instead of exploring outside” – the love interest writes his book ‘Alone’ because he felt that too many people were playing video games and having screen time instead of exploring.

There is a way to write about exploration and the excitement of exploring that doesn’t talk down or judge your potential audience. It felt very off putting, very forced, and it made me uncomfortable to read it worded that way. We do not need to judge people like that.

Review: Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan

I’ve never been one to write a review where I talk about the entire contents of a book because I really don’t want to spoil it for people. I know plenty of people who write those types of reviews, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them, but it’s just not my jam. I just wanted to put that out there.

When a book enters my TBR pile it usually happens one of three ways. One, a friend recommended it. Two, I read about it some place online. Three, I happened to be browsing ‘what should I read next’ lists or recommendations off of sites like StoryGraph or even here on GoodReads. ‘Age of Myth’ entered my pile from all three of these methods. I was searching for an epic fantasy book to read because I hadn’t read one for some time, and this one popped up on my feed. After I purchased the book I noticed that the back cover has a brief review from Mogsy over at the BiblioSanctum, who I adore and have been friends with for a number of years. We don’t always like the same books, but when she gives a 4.5/5 star review, I know it’s going to be a good read.

I was not disappointed at all with Age of Myth. It was everything I wanted – but not perfect. It was a book I found hard to put down, beautifully written (the world building is absolutely top notch) with a fascinating story. There are multiple story lines going at once, so if that’s something that doesn’t interest you, you might want to take a pass – on that same note, the stories do converge fairly early on, making it much easier to keep track of everyone.

Female protagonists, epic deities, a ‘big bad’ – and let me say that’s one thing that I actually think the book did not need. Further on you meet ‘a big bad’ on top of a few other ‘bads’ wandering around. You’ll know who I’m talking about when you meet him, and it is a very stereotypical ‘big bad’ and one that I think the book absolutely did not need. It felt a bit like HBO trying to force blood/gore/elicit emotion that I was already feeling before the ‘big bad’ even showed up. I’m not even sure their role was needed at all. I might be alone in that feeling, but it seemed unnecessary.

I finished this book within a week, it was that good. It was a great epic fantasy read, and exactly what I was hoping for. Thankfully the second book is already out, and I’m thinking of picking it up as an audio book because Tim Gerard does the reading and apparently it’s quite amazing.

5/5 stars

Review: Crow Lake, by Mary Lawson

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In an attempt to branch out from my typical genres, I decided to join a book club hosted by Random House, and this was their current book selection, along with a chat with the author taking place on December 3rd. When I initially signed up I did not expect to finish the book in time because there was less than a week to go, but I found myself pulled into the story right away and finished it with lots of time to spare.

Crow Lake is beautifully written, and incredibly emotional. You follow the story of a family who lives in a small farming community, from the perspective of a middle child. They undergo incredible tragedy early on and must either learn to cope, or lose the closeness of their family.

I had a bit of an issue with the main character’s perspective but I think it was because I found her hard to relate to. She was incredibly aloof and I found her to be self centered masked behind a “this is what I think is best for the family” persona.

The book also (in my opinion) ends rather abruptly. You’re very slowly and cautiously lead through the happenings of this family, painstakingly falling into their world bit by bit and it all builds up to one moment where everything is unleashed – and ends, within the same last section. It left me wondering and wanting more, which I suppose is the purpose.

Still, I’m very glad I picked up Crow Lake and highly recommend it. A wonderful book by a fantastic Canadian author.

The Humble eBook Bundle II (thoughts)

Humble eBook Bundle II
Humble eBook Bundle II

Who doesn’t like a great deal on books, especially when the funds are going towards charity? I first heard of the Humble Bundle through their video game sales, but quickly fell in love with the ebook bundle that they started putting out. The sale is simple. You can make a donation for any amount that you want, and you’ll get four books. If you donate above the minimum amount, you’ll get two extra books on top of it. It supports charity and you get to decide how much money goes where. The books are DRM-free and come in multiple formats, so you don’t have to worry if you’ve got a kindle or an ipad etc.

The books in their second bundle include:

A fantastic collection of fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, and a little humor. I’ll be honest, since I’m not exactly a huge fan of science fiction I probably wouldn’t have given these books a chance, but a good deal will always win me over – and who knows, my reading taste is constantly shifting (hence the nomadic part of this blog) and there’s nothing stopping me from becoming a huge fan of the genre. I don’t personally see it happening anytime soon, but there’s always that ONE book out there that just completely wins you over that you never expected.

Being more of a fantasy reader of course I have read The Last Unicorn, and highly recommend it for those who haven’t read it yet. I’ve always been far more enthralled with reading books than watching movies, and that really holds true in this case.

The sale is on for another 9 days so if you’ve been sitting on the ledge about it keep in mind the money goes towards a great cause and you really can’t go wrong getting so many books at that price.