Month: January 2022

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.