Book Reviews from the Summer Reading Hamper Sweepstakes (October 2019)

10/24/2019

Here's some background for those who are new.

I won the SUMMER READING HAMPER Sweepstakes and was given a boat load of books and got on twice as many author newsletters.

It was awesome!

But it's a lot like eating a Cinnabon. The sweetness is overwhelming.

Each book & author is given a chance no matter the genre. Beware, I like many genres, but there are some I gravitate more than others. Those with a paranormal, romance, sy-fy, fantasy or contemporary flavor will attract me first.

Then there's the book cover.

If I find the cover intriguing, I'm going to open the book.

However, the blurb is also considered.

Slow as I read, the books I really like are ones finished in a day or two.

This did not happen with the previous books I reviewed, which you can see those reviews HERE.

What I consider books I can recommend are books that interest me.

Take in mind, if I was not able to finish the book my tastes are eclectic.

With all the different distractions of t.v., other books, games, and various activities for fun & pleasure, if a book is put down it doesn't mean the story is bad. It just means I was not interested in it and I explain why in my reviews.

With that said, I have a few I can recommend!

Books I Will Shove in your Face to READ!:

(So that we can talk about them)

What the Cat Knew: Reg Rawlins, Psychic Investigator (Book 1)
by P.D. Workman

I'm elated to tell you about What the Cat Knew by P.D. Workman.

This book right here is my shindig. It took me two days to read and for me that's lightning fast. I loved how she did. not. tell. anything. I also saw subtle nods to Discworld.

She explained after the fact which is not the same as telling. It's exposition.

The author showed us "Reg's" childhood in flashes that were significant to the story. While this is not always my favorite way of showing the past, this book did everything right.

It wasn't "formulaic" but it hit all the high notes I want in a book. I can do mystic about something and not have a freaking care but the characters made me really like them.

While I'm not "in love" with Reg Rawlins, I like watching her. I could grow to love her very much. The allies were allies and the one ally that you didn't know about was both an ally and a antagonist.

When I pick the book apart I see all the formulaic elements but it got me involved enough to forget about structure, plot points and everything else.

THAT'S what a book should do. Drive me forward.

What the Cat Knew was to keep me engaged, and I most certainly was.

I will be buying her next books because this series is worth the price.

Tales from the Apocalypse
by Baileigh Higgins

Holy crap! This was the sleeper for me in this round!

I have one tiny grumble. The ebook that was given to me did not have the awesome cover and only a place-holder with the title. Boo. I'll have to visually associate another book with the author because I AM BUYING MORE OF HER BOOKS.

I no like zombie books.

Since this was under the books I will shove in your face to read it should tell you the genre bias I have for this genre was overcome by the writing. Unlike "Icehaven" (click to see my review) these are normal people surviving the apocalypse Walking Dead style.

Gritty. Real. Intriguing.

Being sucked into a book, going along with the lives of these people is exactly what I got and exactly what I want to do to my own readers.

Good Story Telling Transcends Genre

And that is what Tales from the Apocalypse has done for me. I can now look at other stories in this genre in a new light. Zombieland aside, all others pale in comparison. So, thank you Baileigh, I'll be looking forward to more!

Books I Can Recommend if your Bored:

(Or looking for some off-the-wall reads)

Journey to Osm: The Blue Unicorn's Tale
by Sybrina Durant

Simple. A little repetitive, but cute. I can recommend this because it's not your usual New York Times best seller and held my attention enough to finish.

While I had some issues with the book, the story was good. It reminded me of the third installment of another unicorn story I'd been waiting for and I went and bought that one and read the last installment after this one.

Seducing Her Prince (Rich and Royal) Book 1
By Jen Katemi

This one was also a short, simple read that had me flipping pages to the end. It doesn't dive too deep into the story, meaning, I could see a lot more twists and turns happening in the story to give it more depth but it's a dark side Princess Diaries.

Because the writing is decent and the author knows how to tell a story, I read the first chapter of the second story. When I'm looking for royal romance, I'll pick up the series.

Books that weren't for me:

Please take the tile of this section seriously. These books ARE for someone else. Just not me.

Additionally, I give you the reason why they aren't for me so you can determine if you might like it.

My honest opinion will show if our reading tastes are the same, and I'll pinpoint why you should just go read the ones I'd love to talk about above.

The way I define books that aren't for me... but could be for someone else, are:

Books I couldn't get into and Did Not Finish (DNF)
Books I finished to see if they could be redeemed (good start, bad finish) GSBF
Books I finished to see if I wanted it to get better (awesome premise, poor execution) APPE
Books I finished, barely, because of the saggy middle. (SM)

I start with the status of the book, DNF, Read through the train wreck, stopped half-way, etc. Then I give a short reason why the status is as is, followed by a longer explanation.

So, let's get started.

Loving Me For Me

Naleighna Kai

Status: SM (saggy middle)
Reason: Sentence structure, unidentified time line, continuity inconsistencies

First, this was a phenomenal premise, but I didn't tag it with APPE because I felt that this could totally be my jam with a bit of editing.

It was grueling to read, not because of the scenes but because of the way it was said/written.

Basically, the writing could have been polished.

Snappy language (don't confuse that with word choice of the narration) kept me going, but the time line threw me off so much it was a distraction. I stopped several times trying to figure out where the couple were in their relationship.

I had no way of knowing when a scene was, as in, if this was past, present or future in any given place in the book which left my sense of connection broken.

There was no true way to tell what was happening when. The story seemed to jumble around from time-line to time-line. Or, the author didn't go back and fix the continuity of the story and just said, meh... they'll figure it out.

A second POV of the sister was not necessary and went nowhere. Not to confuse the character progression, but I saw the character grow without her POV. So it really, really was unnecessary.

I skimmed the epilogue because I was just done. It was all happy and was the happy ending we all wanted but I couldn't pay close attention because I wanted it to be over.

Sad, I know. That's not the reaction a reader is supposed to have.

I was not impressed with this writing so I won't be looking into other books from this author. Unfortunately, there are so many good books out there. I want to stick to authors I love and not have to "power" through.

The time it took to read this book slowed my progress down for all the books. In the time it took to read this, I could have read The Phy series in the time it took me to read this one book.

But, I want to leave on a good note.

This book was worth the read for the hero and how a woman should be treated. I liked the initial vibe of the story and at first it did catch my eye. From the cover I thought this book would be up my alley, but it wasn't. I liked the premise and would love to see one of my favorite authors tackle this type of story. It would have more impact on me if read from an author I adore.

Purple Kitty

Chariss K. Walker

Status: DNF (Did Not Finish)
Reason: too much back story, rape and violence

This is A Serena McKay Crime Novel, Book 1 and starts out dark, heavy but interesting.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the rape, the beating, the rape, the more rape and more beating and the more rape. This was all within the first three chapters.

It's not that I'm opposed to showing rape, torture, beatings and all the bad things that happen in real life, but it becomes less effective when that's all that is happening within the story.

I know, I know, your thinking, how do you know when all you did was read the first three chapters?

Well, I didn't finish because I believe in the promise of the author's delivery.

What's the promise of the author's delivery?

It means that more of the same writing in the beginning of the book will come throughout the story.

Basically, it started out as a kidnapping mystery and went headlong into the MC's abusive training to become a detective. I think she was raped every other day from the sounds of it.

There was not one decent man in the book that did not rape her.

It was dark, and I'm not in the mood for dark. At least not this dark. The cover depicts how dark this story is.

Also, the main character was an introvert with psychological problems that I just wasn't into.

If the main character gets over all the enormous things she has to get over, awesome. I just don't think I want to travel through it all to get to the main story of a kidnapped child.

Children in peril make emotional stories but going into the main characters background so soon turned me off.

When I did get to the point of the story that was promised in Chapter 1, I was no longer interested.

You could say I had to exercise the demon of this book out of me.

Annals of Alasia
(The Collected Interviews)

by Annie Douglass Lima

Status: DNF (Did Not Finish)
Reason: Interviews of characters I have not met are not my thing

So, this was weird.

If I'd known Annie Douglass Lima better and I'd read her book that this leads into, I might be interested.

But nothing the characters that were interviewed did or said anything of interest.

Interview of a Vampire this was not.

It would be one thing if this were something I got after reading and loving her book that this relates to, but I have not and it doesn't make me interested.

This should be a bonus at the end of the book. I think those that love the story would dig this.

For me, I was quite confused when I started reading. I didn't know what was going on and figured out ohhhhh... these are interviews of characters I've never met.

(duh, The Collected Interviews) Maybe not looking at the cover makes me dumb, but it also shows me that shoving a freebie after a whole bunch of freebies doesn't make me want to buy your book.

I count this as a "I must have a lead magnet so let's throw these blog posts together and send it out".

Yikes.

Left confounded and feeling used, I did not get the desired effect because I have not read the book yet.

My hope is that the author doesn't give this out first in her newsletter expecting people to be interested in characters they haven't met.

Dracones Primalthorn (Prequel)

by Sheri-Lynn Marean

Status: APPE (awesome premise, poor execution)
Reason: too much back story, conflict came too late, writing style could not hold my attention

I skimmed this one after the point of what I call "no return".

Writing can only pull me in so much.

Phenomenal writing can make a story interesting but that's not the case here.

I felt as though the author wanted to show how happy the dragons were but it got to the point where nothing was happening.

Props to the cover, just like The Dragon Collector, but I'm afraid this dragon story too has left me bereft and has killed my love of dragon stories just a little more.

But I still have hope.

If a 15 year old boy can make a great dragon story (Christopher Paolini author of Eragon), then I know there are others out there.

The search continues.

And, I will give Sheri-Lynn Marean one more chance with her other dragon book that I got for free because I'm hoping this was just a "oh my gosh I need a magnet to get leads" type of thrown together story.

Because that's how this felt.

I hope her other story will make-up for this one.

4 Readable, 4 Uninterested

So that concludes this round of reviews.

Next month I'll bring you more as I plow through all these lovelies!!

Even though I might not like all of them (and my blunt honesty might seems like I'm book bashing) I DO APPRECIATE what these authors are doing.

GUTS.

That's what these authors have.

I'm evaluating the ones I want to continue with and those I don't. It's all a matter of taste.

I will say that they don't have to have a series in the freebies, but it does help. I look for writing style and story.

Until next time...
...happy reading!

♥ ~ Stephy

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