Winter Solstice Winter by E.J. Squires

I received this book via the Goodreads giveaways, and was very excited, as I had previously read the synopsis and was interested in the book. Boy, was I disappointed. This is a young adult novel, but the writing style lends itself to a much, much younger age. The characters are shallow and one-dimensional and nearly indistinguishable from each other. Dialogue is stiff and unnatural and many of the conversations are unrealistic for the era this is supposed to take place in (Medieval Scandinavia). The protagonist is uninteresting, the antagonist (usually the one I cheer for) is uninteresting and the story is just boring. Aside from all that, the grammatical errors and editorial errors are unforgivable.









Rated 1 star on Goodreads

Gabriel's Hope by Lizzy Ford

Finally, a romance novel that focuses on character development and conflict instead of constant, graphic sex and easy solutions to problems. The main female protagonist, Deidre, has a very literal fatal flaw-- an inoperable brain tumor-- that even immortal deities like Death can't heal, remove, or otherwise cure. It is refreshing to break from the pattern of "I have this horrible problem smut suddenly I find my mate and I'm cured and suddenly super-powered!" that a lot of romance novels espouse. Instead, Deidre turns down Gabriel's offers of a civil arrangement instead of whirling romance, she waffles between the hope of surviving cancer and ending it all. She and Gabriel have an actual adult conversation about making a relationship work and the steps to achieve it. Most romance novels don't have that, instead going from a night of steamy sex to immediate, deep love. I enjoyed the conflict between them, as well as the issues they were dealing with on their own time (hello, the Grim Reaper sucking at his job and not being able to usher souls to the underworld? That's a problem). The characters are dynamic, interesting, and multidimensional. And for once, a romance novel that does not end with a happy ending!-- but one hell of a cliffhanger all the same. I may just pony up the funds for the second book soon.



Rated 4 stars on Goodreads

The Millennium series by Stieg Larsson

Here is my first ever review of a whole series, instead of one book out of the series. I chose the Millennium series specifically because it lends itself best to being reviewed as a whole instead of by its individual parts. Often, books in a series can be reviewed individually because they stand alone well, which in this case is only true with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. In fact, the book stands alone so well that American filmmakers didn't bother to make any more movies after the movie based on this book (it could be, however, due to poor revenue generation). It starts out with a very in-depth introduction to Mikael Blomkvist and his legal woes. Honestly, the book progresses a little slowly. Then Lisbeth Salander is introduced, and you start to wonder "what do these two characters have to do with each other?" The characters of Salander and Blomkvist become well-established and develop throughout the first book, which is only deepened through the following two. By the end of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest the characters have changed and grown, which is a mark of a good writer.

Where The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo can easily stand alone as its own story, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest are dependent on each other. In fact, I felt the third book was merely an extension of the second, chopped into its own book. Throughout these two books, we follow Blomkvist and Salander as their paths cross again and intrigues in Sweden. The third book did drag on a bit and got a little political for my tastes, however.

Despite the obvious plot lines in the books (murder, social ruin, corporate corruption) there is an over-arching theme of feminism that I couldn't help but notice and appreciate. Topics of physical and sexual abuse toward women, sexual discrimination/harassment, and sex trafficking weave themselves throughout and become major topics in the main plot lines. Larsson also intersperses quotes and statistics about violence against women throughout the books. The focus on feminist topics lends itself to the development of Lisbeth Salander's character, changing the reader's perspective on a character that is first introduced as somewhat violent and antisocial.

Overall, the Millennium series is an engrossing read. Also, the original Swedish movies are incredibly well done, if lacking a lot of the incredible detail that Larsson packed into his novels (there is a lot of historical background and all of the characters have chapters developed to their own pasts).



Each book individually rated 5 stars on Goodreads

Reading for the New Year!

I haven't reviewed a book in ages, and I apologize! I am reading, but so many are series/books that have been out a while. I have a stack of books to start on for the New Year (Santa and Amazon were very kind to me) and a load of ebooks loaded into the Kindle app on my phone. I have been tossing around the idea of reviewing books as a series, so I may try that out with the Millenium series by Steig Larsson (we'll see). With my job, I haven't been able to read as much as I'd like to (aside from training materials that I teach, but I can't really review that). 

Happy New Year, and happy reading!

Dark Chocolate by Love Barkhurst

Love Barkhurst is a friend of my sister's, and had this not been a free download, I would have borrowed her copy. For what it is, it's an okay book. The love story itself is a little trite: the typical "lust at first sight" but it is refreshing to see a biracial couple in a romance novel. I couldn't relate to the characters though; Lila is a privileged white woman who comes from money, living in an affluent area of Connecticut with her own catering business. Jay is a streetwise rap star. I just couldn't like them or really care much about them. Some scenes seemed rushed and under-researched, others seemed way over the top (Lila is the victim of a violent crime twice in a few months. Why are we commodifying violent crime against women again? Oh yes, so Jay can be the hero. Right.).

The thing that really detracted from my reading experience, however, were the glaring grammatical errors. Inappropriate apostrophes, lack or overuse of commas, even spelling errors. I know this is self-published and by the very nature of self publishing, you have to do the work yourself, but couldn't someone have given this a few go-overs before sent to the printer? Love, I don't know you, but send a manuscript to my sister and I will happily edit for you, free of charge. This was a first novel. With proper editing, character development (the characters were shallow and unrealistic), and revision, she could have the potential for a successful second book.

Overall, it was an easy read to get me through a slump. If you want something you don't have to think too hard about, this is a good book for that. If you're looking for depth and complex characters, this isn't it.

Rated 3 stars on Goodreads

Soul Destruction: Unforgivable by Ruth Jacobs

I downloaded Soul Destruction: Unforgivable during a free download weekend. It sounded good, but this book dragged on and on. I almost feel criminal with the in-depth description of mixing a hit of heroin and crack because the author goes into great detail in several chapters. I couldn't help but think "is there a point to this book?" In fact, the plot doesn't even pick up until about 70% of the way through, and even then, the author just kind of muddles through. The main character, Shelley, isn't a sympathetic character at all, and there are times when she's downright detestable. Chapters seem unfinished and for the most part left me asking "and then what happened? Why?" There was just a sense of vagueness around the whole thing.









Rated 1 star on Goodreads

"Not the One You Had in Mind," said the Lord by Gail D. Bentley

I came to know Gail professionally in late January of 2013 as she traveled to Maine to train myself (and 30 others) on a job. Over two months, I came to know this wonderful woman of God, and have finally gotten a chance to read her book. I will preface this with a few things: Gail was called upon by God to write this book, and admitted to me she is not a big fan of reading or writing in general. It's also self-published. I bring these things up because this was a labor of love on her part, and editing was not done  by a big corporate publishing firm prior to print, so there are a few errors.

The message presented-- and very candidly so-- is a clear and concise guide for anyone of the Christian faith who is wondering when that special someone will come into their life. Gail tells the story of her own rebirth into Christianity and the path she took which eventually guided her to her husband. Well-researched with relevant passages from the King James version of the Bible, "Not the One You Have in Mind" is written for the person who may not enjoy reading but is  seeking a guide to find their one true spouse. At only 90 pages, it is a quick read, which allows the reader to stay engaged, and for more avid readers, an easy opportunity to re-read and absorb the messages within.


Rated 5 stars on Goodreads