Review: Never Too Far

Never Too Far by Abbi Glines

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



A terrific follow up to Falling Too Far. The story of Rush and Blair continues and this book explores the damage lies and a lack of trust, even when the lies are lies of omission, even lies of omission meant to protect one from hurt, can do to a relationship. There is so much I cannot talk about without giving important plot points away though. Let me just say the sex is steamy, the story powerful, and though the story wraps up beautifully it leaves one wanting to know about the future of these characters.

As much as I've loved so many other Glines books, her Low is my #2 ever book crush, I think with each book she gets better at her craft. I wonder how much longer than can continue because she is already so darn good at spinning a compelling and unforgettable story filled with rounded and believable characters.



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Review: Double Play at Short

Double Play at Short by Matt Christopher

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I'm having a hard time deciding how to rate this. I'm looking for books for a friend for their young son who is not a big fan of reading but loves sports. I checked this one out. A good story but sometimes the long description, inning by inning of baseball games gets in the way of the narrative. On the other hand I suspect those descriptions will be exactly what draws in the young man in question who is sports obsessed, especially baseball.

Underneath the baseball is a sad story just barely explored, but enough for the age group. One could make a great YA book out of this story-line I would think if you advanced the age of the protagonists a few years.



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Review: The Summer I Learned to Dive

The Summer I Learned to Dive by Shannon McCrimmon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, wonderful characters, a compelling story. Watching people grow and change in realistic ways. A self-contained story but obviously ripe for a sequel, which I just bought. LOL

A different spin on coming of age than I have read. It only missed 5 stars in my eyes because it didn't have quite the pop of a [a:Nyrae Dawn|5784345|Nyrae Dawn|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1354150152p2/5784345.jpg] or [a:Colleen Hoover|5430144|Colleen Hoover|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1333056335p2/5430144.jpg] or some others. As a first book though I am very impressed and as I said, as soon as I tweeted I had finished it I bought the next book from my Kindle. That pretty much says it all.



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Review: Flyaway

Flyaway by Helen Landalf

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I'm giving this one 3.5, wasn't quite a 4 star book, but was certainly more than a 3.

A sad story of a young girl dealing with a mother who has a lot of problems of her own. I can't go too far into it without giving away serious plot points. As I finished it, I was not real happy with the end, but after thinking for a few moments I decided it was real, and right.

My biggest suggestions to the author would be develop your characters a little more. The female MC was quite well done, her mom a little less, and then down the line. The male characters were mostly just empty shells with a few interesting things knwon about them, but none of them ever developed. I'd suggest that Ms Landalf read some [a:Nyrae Dawn|5784345|Nyrae Dawn|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1354150152p2/5784345.jpg] to see how a master at writing male characters does it.



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ABC's Nightline gets it completely wrong on New Adult Fiction!

  Tonight I watched ABC's Nightline and frankly it pissed me off.  They did a feature on New Adult fiction featuring Colleen Hoover.  They referred to her book Slammed, and the whole genre as "smut."  they kept comparing her books, and Jamie McGuire's, and the rest of the emerging NA glitterati to that drek 50 Shades of Grey, which was poorly written smut IMHO.  I've left comments on their page, and let them know how disappointed I was by a show that is usually journalistic ethically  excellent would talk about books obviously not a single person on their staff had ever read.

  I challenge people to read books by authors like Colleen Hoover, Jamie McGuire, Jessica Park, Nyrae Dawn, Steph Campbell, Jolene Perry or Liz Reinherdt and see if they consider ANY of it smut.

  Great stories about love and loss, coming of age, finding yourself and healing after trauma, even those that contain some erotic parts (as does life itself I might note!) are NOT smut.

From the free online dictionary

Smut:  A: Obscenity in speech or print
           B: pornography

Review: Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story

Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story by Kelly Milner Halls

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



This look really good, but I was left disappointed. I normally like short story collections, even though sometimes they are hit or miss, this one mostly missed. For one, just because it is short doesn't make it a short story. Most of these were story fragments, no start or no end or both. a short story should be more than just a chunk out of the middle of a story. Also, for stories that were supposed to be the same from two points of view, sometimes they didn't resemble each other at all.

All in all pretty much a miss, but there were a couple of decent ideas in them.



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Review: The Gold Crew

The Gold Crew by Thomas N. Scortia

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This was a very scary book. The one set of nuclear weapons not directly under control is that set on submarines. What happens if due to some miscalculation an environmental toxin gets introduced to a closed system that results in mental instability of the entire crew of a nuclear missile submarine? Not much good likely. Scary, plausible, and gripping book.



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Review: The Prometheus Crisis

The Prometheus Crisis by Frank M. Robinson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This book would still be relevant today, amazing when you consider I first read it in 1976. All about greed, terrorism, shortcuts and nuclear power and the damage those things together can do. Starts a tad slow, but before long you are racing to a gripping and scary conclusion.



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Review: We Shook the Family Tree

We Shook the Family Tree by Hildegarde Dolson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



We did this play when I was a senior in high school so I also read the book. A series of very funny essays about the family life of teenager Hildegarde Dolson. Anyone who has a crazy mixed up family (That being most of us) will recognize their lives to some degree here. Funny stuff for all ages.



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Review: After

After by Amy Efaw

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This was not a fun book. Dark, dismal, depressing, profoundly sad. Yet it was a great book. A sad, sad story of a young girl and her struggle with an unplanned pregnancy and what she did. Even though what she did is horrible, she is not an unsympathetic character. Very well written, compelling, hard to put down, and yet so very disturbing at the same time.

This is a book young people should read.



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Review: Stealing Parker

Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is the third time in a month the second book I have read in a series has been significantly better than the first one. I liked CATCHING JORDAN a lot, other than the ridiculous idea that an over-protective father would allow a teenage boy to sleep regularly in his teenage daughter's bed because they were, "Just Friends" (Let me tell you, as a father of daughters, not even a particularly over-protective one, this just is not going to happen!. This book, however had better characters, not a ridiculous plot point like that, and was more heart-felt and compelling all around. It got a little preachy from time to time, but the family church was an important plot point and despite the fact people droning on and about about god gives me a rash, it worked in the story.

Well worth the read and looking forward to the third in the series.



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Review: The Believer's Daughter

The Believer's Daughter by Caitlyn Duffy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This book surprised me. I'd liked the first book in this series well enough that I bought the second. This book was considerably better. The characters were more rounded and interesting, the source of conflict in the book was also a lot more interesting I thought. I'm off to buy the 3rd book in the series now.



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Review: Losing Connor

Losing Connor by Amanda Alberson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



A powerful and emotionally wrenching story of loss, and choices, and time. I find it very hard to believe this is a first work. I am impressed and looking forward to more from this author in the future.



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Review: The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



To say I found this book to be amazing, to say I loved it, to say I found it emotionally both wrenching and touching would not even begin to give this book the credit it deserves. An amazing read, not at all your typical "kids with cancer' type of book. Much more real, and gritty, and I feel as it it made me understand some truths of the universe better for having read it. Go read this book!



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Review: Always There

Always There by Carol Ann Albright-Eastman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I had the honor of being the first to read this book, and I just loved it. I do not want to do much to spoil anything but I will say a part of this book deals with what happens after death, and that part is original, interesting, and I cannot get it out of my mind days down the road.

There is also a heart touching love story, a story about life and going on, a story about the nature of love, existence and what it means to live. I cannot say anything I want to say without spoiling stuff better left read and to surprise you.

Suffice it to say, I have now read this whole book twice and parts of it three times, and I will indeed read it again. A major book hangover inducer, two books down the road I still cannot stop thinking about it.



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Review: Make Me Yours

Make Me Yours by Kendall Ryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I liked this book better than the first in the series (Unravel Me. A much better story, and a more sympathetic main character in Eliza/Liz. Her past, and pain and awakening were all done very well. However a couple of pet peeves. Once again EVERY MALE has freakishly large genitalia. when everyone is freakishly large, it is no longer freakish. . . Cohen couldn't manage to get a condom on? Puh-eeeeze. You can put one over a watermelon. I have a friend that spent years doing porn, and he is freakishly endowed even for a male porn star, he has no problem getting a condom on.



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Review: Beta Read 02 2012

Beta Read 02 2012 by Beta Writer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Got done doing a beta read of a book I cannot name yet by an author I cannot name yet. Loved it! I predict this book will do very well. Interesting and different, and with characters that become utterly real to you.



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Review: Unravel Me

Unravel Me by Kendall Ryan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



My wife liked this book, and really liked the the follow up recommended this to me. It was an enjoyable story for the most part, and an interesting premise though I do not think they explored it enough. I had 2 big problems with this book though. First is my standard pet peeve, it seems as if so many authors think a man has to have freakishly large genitalia to be a good lover. Freakishly large is just that freakish. At least in this case the male MC didn't rely solely on possessing a giant anaconda to make love and had a few other moves. Secondly he was really disrespectful in bed to the female MC. I have never liked that.

Let me ask my female friends, do you only get turned on by porn star sized genitals, and do you enjoy being disrespected during sex?



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Review: Tripwire

Tripwire by Lee Child

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Exactly what you'd expect for a Reacher novel. Good action, complex mysteries, a little violence and a beautiful woman. Very enjoyable, this was my third, reading them in order. I'll keep going through the set if they stay this good.



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Can the ESA build a lunar base just by using a 3D printer? | The Space Reporter

  A fascinating idea!!

Can the ESA build a lunar base just by using a 3D printer? | The Space Reporter

Review: Happily Ever After?

Happily Ever After? by Jean Haus

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I liked this, but not as much as the first story in the set. For one, for two people who were meant to be together and are totally in love, they spend a lot of time not listening to each other and not trusting each other. At the end of this I had a hard time believing they had any future together. Any relationship rife with distrust and a lack of communication is pretty doomed.



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Review: Sleeping Handsome

Sleeping Handsome by Jean Haus

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



An odd love story, but written in a way you really feel for the characters. I also love how an old school fairy tale was made into a modern day love story. I got done with it and immediately started the sequel. I like the way [a:Jean Haus|5403174|Jean Haus|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1349054121p2/5403174.jpg]writes.



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Review: Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend

Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend by Becca Ann

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Several friends added this to their TBR's, and I read the blurb and it looked interesting. So I got it and read it, boy am I glad I did. This was a wonderful book. First off let me say I get so tired of people thinking women should look like they just escaped from some sort of Nazi Death Camp. I love a woman that has some curves, in short I love women that look like women not pubescent boys. This story touched on that and some other things as well that are near and dear to my heart, including how brainwashed even the women are these days that if they are not a size 0 they are fat.

On top of the message there was a wonderful sappy, happy, love story. I know what it feels like to fall for the girl that nobody, not even you, expects to fall for. I too love the quirky and different. I just plain loved this book, and the people in it. Go read it.




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Review: Sound Bites: A Rock & Roll Love Story

Sound Bites: A Rock & Roll Love Story by Rachel K. Burke

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I got this book as a freebie from Amazon, it was an enjoyable story. Pretty standard band related girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy back story-line, nothing ground breaking, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. I like the author's taste in music and sense of whimsy. Interestingly it contained a one chapter teaser for her next book, which looks even better than this. I'm thinking of going to buy it.



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