Book Review: Billy Bobble Makes A Magic Wand by R.S. Mellette

Billy Bobble Makes A Magic Wand by R.S. Mellette
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this fun action adventure story for middle grade readers. Billy Bobble and his friend Suzi are exceptionally smart students who are the youngest students in high school, due to skipping grades. Billy and Suzi deal with bullying, and Billy has issues at home with a mentally ill mom, and together they begin to discuss the idea of using science to explain magic. The story starts with Suzi at the police station trying to explain a strange explosion that occurred at school, and the disappearance of Billy. A cross between Harry Potter and Enders game, where science meets fantasy, this was a fast paced book that was a lot of fun to read. A few of the science concepts might be challenging for some middle school readers, but overall I would recommend this book for pre-teens.

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Book Review: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Signature of All Things is a lengthy story with captivating characters. The main character Alma is a naturalist who grew up with a very wealthy self-made man for a father and a less than warm Dutch mother. Alma struggles to relate to her aloof, adopted sister, to please her demanding parents, and then to understand her sensitive, fragile husband. She is extremely intelligent, and spends the majority of her life in the study of the natural world, specifically she becomes an expert in the area of mosses. Despite its length, the book held my attention well, and the historical facts kept it interesting, but I did feel like the story dragged on at times, and although Alma is portrayed as a strong, confident woman, it is hard not to see her also as a very tragic figure. The author raises many questions about the nature of god and the how science cannot answer all questions.

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Review: Come Along With Me by Linda Lee Schell

Come Along With Me by Linda Lee Schell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book is described as a children's fantasy adventure, but I felt like the language was overly challenging for children and the story was confusing at times, and lacked any real character development. The fantasy elements were simplistic and uninteresting, and the adventure of the book was tedious and unexciting. Set in a farm, a little kangaroo like creature from another world develops a friendship with an abandoned cat and they must first figure out how to survive and then they have to protect a very unlikeable farmer from two rats bent on everyone's destruction. The author mixes overly simple kid language (Gracie has a pouch of 'get well stay well' magical stuff) with elaborate descriptions of Russia, where Gracie wants to visit, making the book feel disorganized. For me this story was very bland and the characters were dull. I had a hard time even finishing the story and I would not recommend this book for children or adults.

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Book Review: #Berlin45:The Final Days of the Third Reich by Philip Gibson

#Berlin45:The Final Days of the Third Reich by Philip Gibson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The idea of Hashtag history is to put history in the context of today’s social media, by telling the story of important historical events through short 140 character tweets. While it is an interesting idea, I did not enjoy this book. There were too many characters and it became difficult to keep up with the various generals and commanders. The author made a good attempt at choosing the most salient comments and showing a variety of perspectives, but somehow reducing such a significant event to brief snippets felt stilted and the reader can quickly lose interest. It was an interesting notion, but without any illustrations it simply fell flat.

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Book Review :Midlife Cabernet: Life, Love & Laughter after Fifty by Elaine Ambrose

Midlife Cabernet: Life, Love & Laughter after Fifty by Elaine Ambrose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author Elaine Ambrose is funny and very entertaining, but this book felt jumbled and thrown together. It read more like a random collection of blog posts, rather than an organized book. Women of a certain age (like me) will really enjoy the musings about growing older shared by the author, and I really enjoyed her overall outlook on life. If you are over 50, grab a glass of wine and enjoy!

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Book Review: The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My book club chose this book & I am very glad they did. The Good Girl is the story of a young girl named Mia who is abducted, but the paid thug who has taken her has a last minute change of heart and drags Mia to a remote cabin in the woods to protect her and himself from the criminal who has arranged the kidnapping. The story follows three perspectives, the detective searching for Mia, Mia's mother Eve and Colin, the man who has taken her. As the story progresses we learn more about each character and how they are dealing with the stress. We never learn Mia's perspective until the very end of the story. Although some of the characters are stereotypical (the distant almost cruel father, the poor little rich suburban housewife etc) the three main voices in the story show us how life and its circumstances can change a person and their outlook. It was a fast read that kept my attention throughout. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a god psychological thriller.

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A new year and new blog just for reviews

I have been doing so many book reviews lately, that in an attempt to become more organized I decided to start a separate blog page just for my book reviews.  

I am hoping this will help my current blog page feel less jumbled and will help readers more easily find my reviews.

I have already added several of my recent reviews to the page, along with a link to the books on Amazon so you can purchase the book if it sounds good.

If you have a book that you would like me to review, check the bottom of the page for review guidelines

Mashups for Teens: From Sleeping Beauty to Beyonce by Melissa Wilson

Mashups for Teens: From Sleeping Beauty to Beyonce by Melissa Wilson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The author spent the whole book explaining mashups, and including a detailed explanation of her choice of Aurora and Beyonce and why they were ‘mashedup’ together, but she never actually writes a ‘mashup story’. The author actually describes Beyonce’s life as ‘hard’ because it’s not easy to be successful in the music business and then goes on to retell the story of sleeping beauty “in case anyone is not familiar with the story.” From the description I thought this would be a story mixing the two, but the author spends the whole time time explaining about Aurora and Beyonce and why they should be mashed up, that she never really mashes them up. It was not at all what I expected and I actually only skimmed through the last half of the book, which detailed Beyonce’s top ten songs and the fact that the horns on Angelina Jolie’s head for the character Maleficent were very heavy. It is clear the author is a fan of Beyonce and Disney films, and it could have been a fun story idea, but there was no actual story included. It reads more like a compare contrast essay from high school and not a story. Sorry, but I would not recommend this book to anyone.


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The Three Little Pigs Get an Extreme Home Makeover & other Modern Mash-ups by Caprice Hokstad

The Three Little Pigs Get an Extreme Home Makeover & other Modern Mash-ups by Caprice Hokstad
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I did appreciate the humor in these modern day versions of classic story tales. The author is very witty, but I am afraid these stories might be a bit too sarcastic for their intended audience and the stories seem to loose their original charm. It’s a fun idea, but it just didn’t work for me.

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Book Review:Venus Rising by Celia Kennedy

Venus Rising by Celia Kennedy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautiful and moving love story that spans two continents, Jared and Akshaya are both struggling to deal with their own scars of the past as together they navigate their way towards their future. This story shows the challenges of letting go of deep seated fears, and the bumps and bruises along the path to find love and acceptance. The story is filled with vivid imagery. The author does an amazing job of describing the sights and sounds of cold, wintery Massachusetts and the lush tropical sights and smells of India. Readers will be transported as Jared and Akshaya begin to understand themselves better in order to be able to fully give themselves to another person.

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