Reviews

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Review | "Scottish Witches" by Lily Seafield

6942475This week's review is a short one over a relatively difficult to find, Scottish, non-fiction book "Scottish Witches" which I bought on a whim in Edinburgh in February.
I don't have a Goodreads description this time around, so I will just get right into my thoughts.
Right away, I think this is a good book for people who are interested in the witch hunt periods throughout history or people who like lore and legends.  However, this isn't the most elaborate reference. It's a concise introduction that gives the reader enough information to have a better understanding or jump into more research.
The book itself had a few technical problems.
There were a few typos and missing words in sentences. It got repetitive at times and jumped around in ways that didn't stick to the chapter topics.
I enjoyed the book, it was a quick read, and it was fairly inexpensive when I bought it. Is it a must read for the topic it deals with? No, but if you have the chance, I would recommend giving it a try.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Review | "Losing Hope" by Colleen Hoover

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that in 2014 I read and later (much later as in this case) reviewed "Hopeless", a new adult (though all the characters are in high school) book by Colleen Hoover. I liked that book, it was a very addicting read that I finished in a few days...but there were a few things that I could see bothering people.
Well, as most of you probably know, there is a "sequel"- an alternate POV if you will, and that's "Losing Hope", essentially, it's the same story, told from Holder's perspective.
Before I get into my review, here's the book's Goodreads description:

17340050In the follow-up to Colleen Hoover’s #1 New York Times bestseller Hopeless, the charming and irresistible Dean Holder tells the passionate story that has melted thousands of hearts.
In Hopeless, Sky left no secret unearthed, no feeling unshared, and no memory forgotten, but Holder’s past remained a mystery.
Still haunted by the little girl he let walk away, Holder has spent his entire life searching for her in an attempt to finally rid himself of the crushing guilt he has felt for years. But he could not have anticipated that the moment they reconnect, even greater remorse would overwhelm him…
Sometimes in life, if we wish to move forward, we must first dig deep into our past and make amends. In Losing Hope, bestselling author Colleen Hoover reveals what was going on inside Holder’s head during all those hopeless moments—and whether he can gain the peace he desperately needs. 


The short version of this review:  If you liked "Hopeless" you'll like this book.
Now to get into more details. There were some issues to be had with this story, but less of those problems were with Holder...his intensity was a complaint in the first book, so I knew to expect it- and it was written well enough to not be so annoying I need to mention it again here. That being said...he was more off-putting and ridiculous in general. 
Holder's narration makes the whole story seem even more far fetched.
I think some...most of the background characters (professors, students, etc) were far too insensitive about what happened to Holder's sister and how he must be feeling. 
The Grayson ordeal from the first book seems even more pointless from his perspective. 
Technical critiques are that the story seemed slower from this perspective and some scenes that I really loved from the first book (the flea market shopping spree, for example) which I was looking forward to here weren't even mentioned, let alone played out. The ending also felt quite a bit more rushed and was too neatly put together with Holder's need for closure.
I recommend this book to fans of the first novel, but I do advise you to wait a while between books unless you absolutely loved the story. I waited around a year and still found myself struggling not to speed read because I was re-reading a lot of the less crucial scenes from "Hopeless" all over again. 
While this could technically be read as a stand-alone, I recommend reading the books in their published order because some things might not make complete sense if you're just reading them here.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Review | "All My Life" (First Things #1) By Rucy Ban

This week's review is over another Amazon free download that I recently read while travelling. It has a 3.5 star average on Goodreads, a 2.5 star rating from me, and two companion novels.
Before I go into more details as to my thoughts, though, here is the Goodreads description:

18584791
Seventeen-year-old Kari meets Neil Mars. “Neil as in Armstrong and Mars…as in Bruno.” A boy who beats every vampire, werewolf, highlander fantasy Kari has ever had. But she knows she can’t get close to him. Not ever. Because that would mean telling him everything. Coming clean. And Kari can’t bear the idea of changing the way Neil looks at her. Like she’s the only girl in the world. His reverence is something too precious to lose. Perhaps even at the cost of losing him.

But Kari doesn't know why Neil calls her his ‘Angel’ and when she finds out, she realizes what love is all about. Boundless joy, unending longing and a fuckload of heartache.

***
Full length New Adult Contemporary Romance. 


I had a few issues with this book.
That isn't to say it was horrible, but I definitely have a few thing to mention here. 
The writing itself was a little lacking. It read like someone trying too hard to seem like a teenager and the plot contained a lot of faulty reasoning that only served to push the story onward.
Really, this novel could have been wrapped up 20 pages in and it was frustrating to me personally that the characters seemed to lack the common sense to realize that. 
Also, the main character is 17, yet she's being let into clubs and parties that she shouldn't be allowed inside, which threw me off a little (but that's a technicality and could easily be ignored). 
The characters themselves weren't that likable. Kari was annoying, there were major cases of insta-love and insta-friendship (I admit that the latter is very possible, but it wasn't done in a way that seemed organic). 
The storyline all of a sudden goes insane. Twists and and action and plot points that are meant to shock, but once that wears off, just left me confused. 
In the end, I read the book in once sitting. It was a fast read, but I admit I had to skim through some of the more eye-roll worthy parts. 
This is the first book in a series, but it really should have stayed a stand alone, I think- and I don't plan on continuing on with the rest of the books.  

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Review | "Love Handles" (Oakland Hills #1) by Gretchen Galway

This week's review is over a romantic comedy, women's literature read that is available for free download from amazon (or was at the time I read it in March of this year).

This book averages around a 3.5 star rating on Goodreads, and my opinion falls just below it at a 3 star rating. Before I get into my thoughts, here's the book's description courtesy of Goodreads:

Love Handles (A Romantic Comedy)The world of fitness apparel isn't ready for Beverly Lewis. She hates the gym, is nice to everybody, and shops at Ross Dress for Less. When she's not teaching preschool, she's wearing yoga pants . . . to nap in. So when she inherits her estranged grandfather's fitnesswear company in San Francisco, nobody expects her to keep it. Fite Fitness needs a heartless suit to save it from bankruptcy, not a thirty-year-old woman who cries when her students leave for kindergarten.
Someone like Liam Johnson. A former Olympic swimmer, Liam is Fite's executive vice president. Unlike Bev, he's devoted his life to Fite's success. Managing one little preschool teacher--and his attraction to her--shouldn't be an issue. Right?
But Bev's tired of being underpaid and underrated, and refuses to step aside as an obedient figurehead. To everyone's shock and horror, she moves up to San Francisco, sets up an office, and dives into the business. Nothing--not mockery, not exercise, not sabotage, not a disastrously hot night with her aggravating VP--is going to scare her away.
As Liam realizes she's tougher than she looks, he discovers that losing Fite might not be nearly as bad as losing her . . .
A story about the pursuit of love, happiness, and the perfect yoga pants, Love Handles will speak to anyone who's ever had to face what scares her most.
 


As you can probably tell, this book isn't trying to be the next great american novel, like a lot of these books, it's supposed to be a fun read. 
That being said, I noticed some things that bothered me: 
For one, I couldn't understand how the company, the central point of the storyline, the cause of the conflict and resolution etc, could have been still in business to begin with. Everyone is annoying, not just in the first few chapters, but throughout the entire novel. I couldn't stand anyone and no one really seemed to be doing any work. 
I also noticed that there were a shocking amount of "heartless" characters. I know the world is cruel and not everyone is nice, but this was a little extreme. A preschool director said that teachers shouldn't care for their students...I mean, really? And whoever wasn't heartless was far too quirky to be real. Not everyone can be a manic pixie dream girl.
There was a lot of useless dialogue and arguing just for the sake of arguing without any real conflict. In fact, Bev kept defending people she's never met as if she's known them for ages while Liam doesn't act the way he should around someone who holds his career in their hands. 
I didn't buy the tension between the characters as a budding romance, and I can't stand the "guy with deep relationship issues who only dates girls he can't stand so they can just have flings" cliche. And it is, I've read far too many books now that use it as a plot crutch, and I'm sure I'll come across that plot tool again. It doesn't usually make the character endearing, usually whoever it is (guy or girl) come off as a creep.
These grown adults don't communicate....
The love scenes were a little....iffy. 
The whole thing wraps up a little too nicely and in a non-nonsensical sort of way.

In the end, it was free, I had a lot of free time when I read it, and I got the book over with pretty quickly, but I won't continue with the series if I have to purchase the books and I definitely say you can skip it.