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As Old As Time

as-old-as-timeAs Old As Time by Liz Braswell

So when I was at Barnes and Noble recently, I walked in and saw this beauty (no pun intended). There’s just something about a really cool cover; the fact that it was a Beauty and the Beast telling made it a win for me. The internet connection is always awful at my Barnes and Noble location, though, so I wasn’t able to check reviews before buying it. Wish I had been able to, because they weren’t the greatest. I am, however, not going to let those reviews affect my own.

I put down the book about halfway through after flipping to the end to see what the point of all of it was. It’s basically an exact telling of the Disney movie, word for word, in the chapters that have to do with Belle and the Beast. The other chapters are devoted to Maurice and meeting and then loving Belle’s mother, who is a powerful Enchantress. Those scenes weren’t very compelling, and if I want to read the scene-for-scene version of the Disney movie…I won’t. I’d rather just watch the movie. (Side note: which is why I won’t pick up the screenplay versions of movies coming out.)

Anyways, I don’t really care about Maurice falling in love, so that makes the chapters not devoted to the retelling of the movie boring. There are a couple of things I liked, though, which were the explanations as to why we never hear about Belle’s mother (could she have been enchanted to forget?) and if Belle might end up suffering from Stolkhom Syndrome, which she recognizes and disagrees with (love that it’s brought up). I noticed that a little after halfway through it starts going off track from following the movie to a T, but I longed stopped caring.

I was expecting an imaginative retelling, not something that was an exact telling with a romance involving crazy old Maurice peppered in.

one-star

Different

different Different by Alicia Linwood

Tainted Element Series:
Book 1

Moira is an elemental, along with many other people in this world. There are people with pure elements, which are considered strong, and sub-elements, which are considered weak. Moira is starting to develop a second pure element: fire. It’s kind of freaking her out because that’s supposed to be unheard of. After traveling to an island where her mom might be able to help find answers, help finds Moira instead. Noah appears out of thin air to tell her there are others like her and that he can help. And so starts the adventure.

With so much to understand about this world, it was tough to figure it out when I had to keep rereading confusing sentences, such as:

“…I could feel myself reaching for it, but I couldn’t feel fire, which obviously didn’t mean I didn’t have it.”

There are many of these sentences with negative contractions throughout the sentence. It just makes it more difficult to read, because I have to keep going back to see that I’m thinking what it means to tell me. It’s just unnecessary when a simpler sentence would do. Also, everyone seems to be licking their lips before they say anything. Is the air dry there? On an island? I don’t think so. I don’t want to keep reading about every single person licking their lips before they need to speak.

Timing was off whenever cooking was involved with dialogue. In one scene, someone starts making pancakes (or french toast in another scene), and dialogue goes back and forth twice and all of a sudden the pancakes (or french toast) is done. What? Not even 30 seconds have gone by! That’s a bit too much liberty with the time there.

So the above issues coupled with the grammar and editing issues left much to be desired. I didn’t even care about the cliffhanger because I just didn’t really care about anyone. I do have to say that I loved the loyalty and trust Moira had towards her parents; that was really commendable and it made her a stronger heroine. But the start of what was looking like a weird love triangle despite the lack of romance amidst the mind control and elementals hunting other elementals, just isn’t really interesting me.

However, because of how much rereading I had to do to make sure I understood this world, it’s tempting to continue on with the series in the hopes it gets stronger. I invested myself enough to understand the world, I might as well give it one more book to see if I’ll really stick around.

two-stars

Scary Mary

scary-mary Scary Mary by S.A. Hunter

Publication Date: August 18, 2010
Read Date: December 10, 2016

Series: Scary Mary
Book #1

THIS. I absolutely adored this short story. Mary is what is deemed a clairaudient. She can’t see ghosts, but she can hear them and speak to them. Growing up in a small town, everyone remembered when she was a kid and used to talk to herself on the playground. She is now labeled as a freak and is bullied in high school. She does her best to look past it, but she can’t help the snarky comments that come out of her from time to time. Who can blame her?

Her best friend, Rachel, is the only friend she has until a new boy starts at the school and takes a liking to her. This all goes downhill when a trip to his house makes her realize his house is haunted, and not by a very nice ghost either.

The humor is awesome; the sarcasm is spot on. Rachel is the greatest. This is honestly a story I would reread over and over because I enjoyed it so much. There’s an invisible dog she plays fetch with, how much more fun can this get? Also, the random ghosts that are anchored throughout the town that she can listen and talk to are so great.

I pulled out one of my favorite quotes from Rachel to Vicky, the resident mean girl:

“Hey Vicky,” Rachel called, “I’m sorry too, but I can’t make it either. I gotta be in Aspen this weekend. You understand, right?”

“So what?” She said. Her voice dripped with disdain.

“Oh, I just wanted to be a part of the rejection. Buh-bye,” she said giving her the beauty queen parade wave.

And then this one from Mary to Vicky:

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fakest of them all? Oh never mind, I see her.”

Those will be even funnier when you read the book, which I highly recommend doing. The only issue I have with it is that there are some spelling and grammar errors, but I loved this so much, I can’t even dock a star for that.

five-stars

Wicked

wicked Wicked by Joanne Fluke

In this modern adaptation of Agatha Christine’s Ten Little Indians, we have a group of college kids staying in this old mansion for a writing workshop. Things start to go very wrong when they’re stuck on the property and fellow peers start getting picked off one by one, eerily like one student’s thriller, “Ten Little Writers.”

When starting this book, I was confused because I had no idea these were going to be college students, and then I had no idea what year of college they were even in. One girl, Angela, was going to be a freshman, but that’s all I got for deciding what age they were. It kind of read more like a young adult novel in that sense.

There wasn’t too much character development aside from our main girl, Eve. She went from being the mean girl who was going to reign the sorority and the school to being relaxed and caring. Because she was the only one who was fully developed, understandably as the MC, I didn’t care when a fellow student was picked off. There was no reason for me to care other than  “Oooo I wonder who is going to be killed next and when they’re going to start accusing each other.”

My biggest issue, and I don’t really recall it being explained, was WHY does NO ONE have a cell phone? The phone lines are disconnected to the house so they can’t call for help. You’re telling me that none of these college kids brought a cell phone with them? Yeah freaking right. College students are attached at the hip with their cell phones; I know, I used to be one. Even if the workshop had said that cell phones weren’t allowed, they still would have snuck them in to at least have them at night or during downtime. So that was wholly unrealistic to me.

I was able to figure out who the killer is pretty simply; the red herrings thrown in never detracted from who I knew it would be. There were some spelling errors, but other than that, it was still a fun and fast read.

three-stars

The Sound of Rain

the-sound-of-rain The Sound of Rain by Gregg Olsen

I have grown accustomed to female leads that are just kick ass detectives. So, at first, this one was a little hard for me to stomach. Nicole is a great detective with the extreme issue of being a total pushover and a gambling addict. They’re not a good combination at all as she takes out her stress of not saying anything to the people who manipulate her by gambling.

We know that Nicole has a downfall. We know she loses her job. But it was still tough for me to read. I just kept wanting to tell her to grow a spine and speak up for herself. But when she finally did, it was too late and it cost her dearly. This honestly would have been five stars for me if I hadn’t been so irritated with her, despite understanding why she was like that, I still wanted her to get a grip.

Part two of this book though…my God. Incredible. So many twists and turns, you really have no idea who the bad guys or the good guys are. It was an absolute roller coaster of discovering what exactly happened to the little girl whose case cost Nicole everything.

This is a must read. My only other issues besides the slow pacing of part one and Nicole’s immobility to defend her opinion, are the spelling errors and missing words in sentences. It pulls me out of the story every single time, especially because I’m an editor myself. Also, I don’t really think the title fits well with the story; I think there could have been something stronger.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this awesome read!

four-stars

Walk Into Silence

walk-into-silence Walk Into Silence by Susan McBride

Jo Larsen Series:
Book 1

So when I first started this book, I had felt like the adrenaline was kind of pushed, and it didn’t really get me into the story. That could have just been my mindset when I started reading, though. Because after I pushed through the first couple of chapters, I could not put this book down.

Jo is a detective whose gut instincts have definitely gotten her far. She was referenced a couple of times as being like a dog with a bone–very determined. A strong female lead is always enjoyable to read, especially when she doesn’t really question herself. She may have this past that’s incredibly painful that she’s trying to get away from, but it’s exactly that past that makes her a stronger detective.

The story of Jenny and her past as a parallel to Jo and her own past was really striking. It was so sad to read, to see how other people look at you when you’re consumed with grief. Jenny’s son had tragically fallen from a tree and died during her first marriage. The three-year anniversary is coming up and Jenny is seeking answers, no matter the cost. I loved all of the writing from Jenny’s perspective. Really, really great work there.

I adored Jo’s boyfriend, Adam, one of the medical examiners. He was so strong and determined to be there for Jo, even if she thought she didn’t need him. She really needed that foil against her mother who was not there for Jo when she needed her most. It was an important distinction to make her a stronger detective.

One thing I would have changed though is the formatting. There are two different perspectives in this book, Jo and Jenny, and those perspectives are in the same chapter while still being first person. It would have been better just to split each perspective into its own chapter. It was difficult to distinguish sometimes who was supposed to be talking and I had to keep going back to double check. This could have been a formatting issue with the Kindle and it could be fine for print.

Kind of funny how often Coke was the drink of choice in this book, it almost felt like an advertisement. Sorry if this review came off more like an essay, it just felt so right!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

four-stars

Sneaky Snow White

sneaky-snow-white Sneaky Snow White by Anita Valle

While I absolutely loved Sinful Cinderella, I did not love Sneaky Snow White. The big difference for me was that despite Cinderella being selfish and bad, she still had reasons for me to empathize with her. She had some redeeming qualities that made sense, so I actually cared what happened to her when evil started to get its clutches on her.

Snow White…had no redeeming qualities. She was never the sweet girl who was supposed to rule the kingdom. She never had a great relationship with her father, she didn’t get the chance to know her mother, but that didn’t give her a redeeming quality anyways. She was selfish and naive, fully believing that the only way she could keep Hunter loving her was by using a Love Apple, enchanted to keep their love going forever. If she had faith in their love and nurtured it instead of taking from it, she would have seen that she didn’t need the apple, but never did she think that way. She only ever cared about her own happiness, whether it made Hunter happy or not.

So I didn’t care what happened to her one bit as opposed to what happened to Cinderella. I honestly think I pushed through this one because of the scenes with Cinderella. That, and I know with how strong Sinful Cinderella was, there’s got to be a great chance that the future installment Rotten Rapunzel can be just as great and I don’t want to be behind.

two-stars

 

Sinful Cinderella

sinful-cinderella Sinful Cinderella by Anita Valle

THIS STORY. I absolutely loved it the moment I started reading it. I even told a few of my friends about it right after I started it because I needed them to read it too. It’s a short story, which does have its disadvantages. While I love a quick read, there were some things I wish could have had more development, but because of what we have for the length, I can’t really complain.

I’ve seen some reviews that wish she could have been more evil, and I was completely inclined to agree with that point of view, except that it would counteract the white magic. She has to be good to get more white magic, which is how she makes herself more beautiful,and to do something bad would take away the magic she needs. So she actually can’t be more evil at all.

I just really loved this story. The different twists that were put on the Cinderella story are crazy and dark and awesome. I don’t even want to go in more detail because it’s so short that everyone should read it.

five-stars

I Let You Go

i-let-you-go I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

Tragedy befalls a single mother. We are then in the perspective of Jenna Gray, who is so devastated, that she decides to leave her home and try to start new somewhere a lot further away to help move on. The other perspective we’re in for part one of this book is of Detective Ray Stevens, who struggles with trying to maintain his family life while trying to promote up, all while feeling an undeniable connection to his new trainee. In these particular scenes, I am not familiar to the correct UK terminology for the police department, so I get quite confused and don’t remember what those acronyms mean. Not that that’s an issue with the book, it just pulls me out because I really should remember these things!

Quick note here: There is domestic violence in this novel. If that’s not something you can stomach–don’t pick it up.

Part one was honestly pretty slow. I understood why the pacing was that way and how it related to the story. The slowness was a parallel to the lull in the case for the detectives, and the recovery process Jenna was going through.

Part two, though…that’s where things really started picking up and I virtually could not put it down. A third perspective is introduced in this part and it is… quite chilling. There may be something sick and demented about enjoying the writing in this perspective, but it’s written very well, so it’s difficult not to appreciate it.

I didn’t really care too much about the relationship between Stevens and Kate, the trainee. It made sense with the book though, showing how tough the job can be while trying to stay happy with the home life you almost never see. He starts growing an attachment to the person he’s with for several hours, so it makes sense, I just feel like that was a subplot that didn’t pull me into the mystery of the book.

I really liked seeing the beginning of Jenna’s relationship with Ian, and how the manipulation process started. Again, I know it sounds creepy with me saying that, but to be inside of a man that…manipulative. Good stuff. I think this one is definitely worth the read. I know everyone and their mom has talked about the twist, but I liked that twist too. 😉

four-stars

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After

dreadfully-ever-after Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith

So it’s more like a 3.5 stars, because while still being fun, it was definitely not the strongest of the trilogy. But I still loved it! It starts out with Elizabeth being kind of depressed because as a married woman, she’s supposed to hang up her katana. This funk leads to Darcy being bitten and then her world is over. Except maybe it’s not. Lady Catherine still loved her nephew, despite her misgivings about Elizabeth, and she will do anything in her power to save him. So Elizabeth is forced to leave Darcy with her while she embarks on a mission to steal a supposed cure.  This is where I really felt like there was much to be desired. Because Elizabeth has to go undercover and be away from Darcy, we get little to no interaction between the two, which is exactly why I wanted to read the sequel in the first place–I want more Elizabeth and Darcy!

Anne, Lady Catherine’s daughter, plays a much, much bigger role in this narrative, while Georgiana ends up taking a step back (which I found as a disappointment). Kitty gets a bigger role now that she’s no longer living in the shadow of Lydia, though we do get plenty of the ‘La!’s still, which is perfect. I enjoyed Kitty really figuring herself out as both a warrior and a woman.

Onto the spoilers…
We know that the man in the box is Master Hawksworth, but we never get to see the family’s reaction to finding out. I would have loved to see how Elizabeth would have reacted. With the two orphans that Elizabeth takes home from the “hospital,” would I be right to assume that Mr. Bennet would actually take them home instead? Because Mrs. Bennet was scaring off any suitors for Kitty and Mary because she didn’t want to be alone and she wanted to have warriors at home. That’s not fair to Kitty and Mary, though, who at the end of the novel, find their own love interests. It’s assumed they’re going to not want to live with the Bennets anymore, so it would make sense to have the orphans go home with them so Mrs. Bennet has two children that she can take care of as well as them taking care of her. I believe Mr. Bennet alluded to it, I just wish it hadn’t been so open-ended when it was definitely going to be the last book. Also, I was disappointed to see Georgiana not come back till the very end. There were a few times where I thought she would have shown back up after being tricked into leaving, but that never occurred.

While it was nice to see certain characters get their chance to shine, I really missed the interaction between Darcy and Elizabeth, which is really what I read it for. I’m glad to take away the knowledge of them continuing to be badass together, I just wish I could have seen more. Again, I got the audio book, Katherine Kellgren is the best.

four-stars