True Blue

Burnout Diaries was an absolutely amazing book.  It chronicles the life experiences of Janna Donovan when she transferred positions in her company to one in Malaysia.  At first eager and excited to start a new chapter in her family’s life, she quickly spiraled into a personal nightmare.  The book is organized into journal entries and emails, making it a less dense read.

Donovan’s struggle was so real to me and I related so much.  I have been in her position with having so much stress piled on me that a burnout was imminent.  I managed through it but this book would have been helpful at the time that it happened.     

I also enjoyed the ending of the book, which read more like your typical psychological help book.  This was a very informative section and also very interesting. 

I highly recommend this book for people going through work stress.  It is a very beneficial read and proves there is light beyond the darkness.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Claire Beckett starts out as our average run-of-the-mill officer.  Events transpire in which she gets herself into some trouble and she ends up transferred to being an officer in Crescent City.  Here, she learns about a whole new side of the world she never knew existed, one that she just happens to be part of.

This book was a fast, fun read.  It was very well written and everything tied up nicely, except of course the main mystery that carried over into the next book.  

I’m torn between liking and being annoyed with Claire.  She’s a strong protagonist but at the same time is very annoying.  She deliberately goes out of her way to break the rules and seems surprised when she gets caught.  She’s rude to almost everyone she interacts with.  However, she has a lot going on.  From the deaths of her mother and best friend to finding out she’s a witch, it’s a lot for a girl to handle.  Hopefully her character will develop better in the subsequent books.

The story itself was great.  It moved along quickly and was utterly entertaining.  I enjoyed the X-Files feel to it.  It left off perfectly to tie into the next book in the series.

I rate this book 5 stars.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. 

This was a very cute, cozy mystery. I really enjoyed the lack of swearing, making it a wholesome read.  All of the characters were really engaging if not fully developed.  I think that if this had been a full novel, more time and attention could have been given to character development.  For this book, most of the focus was on Maggie, the main character.  She was very likable and pretty decently developed.  

I enjoyed the mystery behind the third sister, Millicent, and did not see the twist that came toward the end.  Johnson did a very good job making the reader follow one idea and then throwing the big surprise in the mix.  I love a good twist like that.  

The big mystery of Ellie’s death or not-death, depending on how you look at it, was also a central part of the book.  Johnson did a nice job of leaving that mystery hanging to tie the next book in.  

A major pet peeve of mine is editing.  This book was not edited thoroughly and for that reason I can only give 4 stars.  I also would have recommended making it a full-length novel so that the characters would have had more development.  Regardless, I really enjoyed reading this book and I am looking forward to continuing the series.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.  

The book was a decent read and had a lot of promise.  However, it needs to be thoroughly edited.  There are a lot of grammatical errors and in many places the wording is either awkward or just doesn’t make sense.

That being said, the story itself was still entertaining, if a bit jumbled.  We start off with a runaway, abused wife who just happens to run into her husband’s enemy’s courtesan.  The two start a journey across the country until they are separated. From there we have naked nuns, courtesan training, romance, and, of course, the bad guy coming for everyone.

Amelia was a likeable main character from the start.  I wanted her to make it through all her challenges.  What I didn’t like about her was when she started talking about how she dreamed of being a wife and having the perfect husband – however, this is what would have been the norm during the time of this book.  

Chetan, oh Chetan.  This poor man.  He went through so much in this book.  He might be my favorite character.  He developed so much through the book and became a kind of hero at the end.

I am looking forward to finding out what happens next in the sequel.  I give this book 4 stars.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

For more than half of this book I was very sad for Tart. He had lost his job, his credibility, and any hope for an income. He basically had turned into a deranged man bent on getting revenge. I really wasn’t sure if I liked this story or not until I got to the very end.

When Cyprus Korkul was introduced, I HATED her. She came across as the most spoiled child ever. The kind you know has never been told no and treats everyone badly because of it.

As the story progressed, however, both characters changed and developed into truly wonderful people. They both were able to find themselves and become someone they each truly wanted to be.

Weathernose was a truly endearing book. I enjoyed the unique world and the excellent character building. While a little depressing at the start, the ending made up for every bit of sadness.

5 stars.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you found out today that you had run out of options to treat your highly aggressive cancer and you would, in fact, have a very short time left in this life, how would you respond? I’m not sure many of us could answer that and actually give a valid answer. Knowing how hard it was for her and her husband to go through this exact situation, Hoben wrote about her husband’s experience and choice on how they faced his oncoming death to possibly help others in the same situation.

I know the message in this book is supposed to be about love and how Bruce was strong all the way to the point that he chose to stop treatments and live life fully until he died but I’m simply stuck on how tragic this story is. The book starts with Sue having beaten her cancer and then surviving emergency heart surgery and twists into the love of her life having a stage IV aggressive cancer that by some miracle goes into remission against all odds and then ends with him dying because the remission didn’t last. And similar stories happen all the time but we just don’t read about it. And to put it plainly, it sucks.

I applaud her strength in sharing her and Bruce’s story so that maybe someone else can gain strength in the darkness. I’d like to think I’d be brave like Bruce and know when it was time to stop the fight and just enjoy what time I had left.

All I know is with the last few chapters my heart has been ripped from my chest because Hoben shared her feelings very well. I feel like I’ve gotten to know the entire family and I feel like I was there for every Celebration of Life. I believe that this book could be beneficial for families in similar medical situations who are seeking a supportive voice.

5 stars.

I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first adventure with Rhe Brewster and it was fantastic! Despite the fact that I came in on book 4, Granger provided enough references to the past books that I didn’t feel left in the dark. While it’s possible to pick the series up in the middle, I would actually recommend starting from the beginning because the characters are so likeable and the story just sucks the reader in and I’m disappointed that I missed Rhe’s first three mysteries.

Granger has obviously put in her time on research. There is meticulous detail on all aspects of crime scene investigation and forensic lab work. Additionally when Rhe references her medical knowledge, it is also very detailed as if from a legitimate nursing professional. Information on the drug investigation was also very detailed.

Rhe is also a real character underneath her slightly unbelievable double career as investigator-ER nurse. She went through a divorce with a cheating husband. She’s raising a child with ADHD while balancing a career. Deep down she’s just a good person with the best intentions but she tends to get herself into some trouble. It’s great to see a “real” as well as strong female lead who is wholesome and not trashy.

I always love a good twist I don’t see coming and this book did not fail to deliver. I did not truly suspect the murderer until the facts were almost all laid out for me. The only thing that may have been a little too over the top for me was the way in which the killer was finally caught by Paulette.

It was great how in the first few pages the murder mystery began and how all the pieces of the story came together at the end for a solid conclusion. It’s nice to come across a series where each book can be a standalone.

I’m looking forward to going back to the beginning to see where Rhe started off at.

5 stars.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Micromium gives us a glimpse into Earth’s highly probably future: heading full force into destruction from human pollution. The initial hope given with the identification of micromium on Mars was a great way to start driving the plot. With many things in life, if it seems to good to be true, it just might be.

The story was great. So many elements were tied into one plot line. Murder, mystery, aliens, space travel, romance, intergalactic fraud… You name it and it was in this book. It seems like a lot to juggle but I think Gittlin made it work and had time to develop his characters.

What I didn’t like was how major details were dropped on the reader like, “Oh, by the way there are crashed alien spaceships in the crater.” I feel like things like this should have had a better presentation.

I’m not really a sci-fi chick so it really helped me to have illustrations. I never would’ve come up with an image for some of this stuff without the help.

I really enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading more by the author.

4 stars.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a luxuriously detailed graphic novel for kids with high moral standards. The pages are beautifully laid out and the colors are gorgeous. The lessons taught to young readers are hugely important.

The young group of heroes flawlessly travels to the Himalayas and interacts with a foreign culture with no racism and no preconceived notions about other cultures. All they wanted to do was join in the fun.

While children aren’t going to be able to take a ship and run off on a rescue mission to save tigers in the Himalayas, the underlying concept is pretty clear: children can be a huge driving force in the conservation of this planet. They do have the power to cause change on some level, even if it’s not so grand and they should be encouraged to use that power.

This is a great graphic novel to encourage children to be what they want to be, to interact with other cultures with no bias, and to help conserve our planet.

I was at a loss for not having read the previous books in the series and while this book was still great, I would recommend starting with book one.

5 stars.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

What happens when you hold on to the traumas of your past? You start projecting them on the people around you. The things that happened to you that you have not fully accepted, whether good or bad, continue to stay with you until you accept them and let them be. No matter how painful it is to work through these things, until you do, you will see them in everything and everyone around you. Such is the lesson I learned from Debbie.

This was truly one of these most powerful books I have read in a long time. It opened my eyes to a lot of my own behaviors and feelings, which was not the intention when I picked it up.

Debbie had a really sad life growing up and was pretty much rejected by her parents the majority of her life and then her remaining sister after their sister committed suicide. Later she endured a series of failed relationships and ended up in an abusive marriage with a passive aggressive husband. For decades she projected the grief of losing her sister onto others. The rejection of her parents turned into angry outbursts and the abuse and mistreatment of her partners made her turn on herself, always wondering what was wrong with her.

In the end, she reached out for spiritual enlightenment that caused her to reach deep within herself. She was told by pundits that her marriage was her lesson to learn. And finally she underwent psilocybin treatment to finally find closure to her sister’s suicide decades before. What helped her wasn’t running from her feelings but turning toward them and diving in. She had to fully embrace all the emotions, go through the pain again, and come to an acceptance within herself.

Debbie shows us all how truly brave we can be and how powerful past experiences can still be decades later. She faced her past to come out strong enough to put her foot down in her present. She is a truly remarkable woman and I have a lot of respect for her. Her book has made me think a lot about myself and things I may need to face to have a fulfilling life.

5 stars – more if I could.

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