Tag: Book Report

Book Report: Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Walking Disaster (Beautiful, #2)Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

How much is too much to love? Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder. In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. Just when he thought he was invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees.

Every story has two sides. In Jamie McGuire’s New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster, Abby had her say. Now it’s time to see the story through Travis’s eyes. Continue reading →

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Book Report: Lover at Last by J.R. Ward

Lover At Last (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #11)Lover At Last by J.R. Ward

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Qhuinn, son of no one, is used to being on his own. Disavowed from his bloodline, shunned by the aristocracy, he has finally found an identity as one of the most brutal fighters in the war against the Lessening Society. But his life is not complete. Even as the prospect of having a family of his own seems to be within reach, he is empty on the inside, his heart given to another….

Blay, after years of unrequited love, has moved on from his feelings for Qhuinn. And it’s about time: The male has found his perfect match in a Chosen female, and they are going to have a young—just as Qhuinn has always wanted for himself. It’s hard to see the new couple together, but building your life around a pipe dream is just a heartbreak waiting to happen. As he’s learned firsthand.

Fate seems to have taken these vampire soldiers in different directions… but as the battle over the race’s throne intensifies, and new players on the scene in Caldwell create mortal danger for the Brotherhood, Qhuinn finally learns the true definition of courage, and two hearts who are meant to be together… finally become one.

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Book Report: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth TaleThe Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father’s antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain’s most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise–she doesn’t know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter’s dozens of novels.

Late one night while pondering whether to accept the task of recording Miss Winter’s personal story, Margaret begins to read her father’s rare copy of Miss Winter’s Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book only contains twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet Miss Winter and act as her biographer.

As Vida Winter unfolds her story, she shares with Margaret the dark family secrets that she has long kept hidden as she remembers her days at Angelfield, the now burnt-out estate that was her childhood home. Margaret carefully records Miss Winter’s account and finds herself more and more deeply immersed in the strange and troubling story. In the end, both women have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets. As well as the ghosts that haunt them still.

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Book Report: Red and the Wolf by Evangeline Anderson

Red and the WolfRed and the Wolf by Evangeline Anderson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Red and the Wolf Evangeline Anderson Sara Jensen is the town witch in Buck Lake, Tennessee. More than anything she misses her older brother and his best friend Reeve, who are overseas in the Marine Corps. But when her brother is killed in action, Reeve comes back with a secret an ancient crone laid a curse on him that turns him into a ravening wolf every full moon. Sara has a secret of her own she s head over heels for Reeve and has been since they were kids. When he comes to her house on Halloween night asking for help, she inadvertently lays a fidelity spell on him while trying to keep him in his human form. Sara knows she must undertake the difficult and dangerous task of lifting his curse. But when the wolf within him is banished, the fidelity spell will be lifted too and his love for her will disappear. Now Sara must choose between keeping the love of her life and lifting the curse that threatens his very existence.

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Book Report: Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward

Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #10)Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Number-one New York Times best-selling author J. R. Ward’s novels of the Black Dagger Brotherhood continue, as a vampire warrior crosses the line between life and death…and ventures into an erotic world of dark dreams and darker desires.

Ever since the death of his shellan, Tohrment has been unrecognizable from the vampire leader he once was. Physically emaciated and heartbroken beyond despair, he has been brought back to the Brotherhood by a self-serving fallen angel. Now, fighting once again with ruthless vengeance, he is unprepared to face a new kind of tragedy.

When Tohr begins to see his beloved in his dreams – trapped in a cold, isolated netherworld far from the peace and tranquility of the Fade – he turns to the angel in hopes of saving the one he has lost. But because Lassiter tells him he must learn to love another to free his former mate, Tohr knows they are all doomed….

Except then a female with a shadowed history begins to get through to him. Against the backdrop of the raging war with the lessers, and with a new clan of vampires vying for the Blind King’s throne, Tohr struggles between the buried past and a very hot, passion-filled future….But can his heart let go and set all of them free? Continue reading →

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Book Report: Marooned (The Communion Wars #1) by P.J. Druce

Marooned (The Communion Wars #1)Marooned by P.J. Druce

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

High above the streets, the skyscrapers in the cities of the American Union exude wealth, luxury, and for the privileged few, immortality. Those with the means to take Communion are immune to the diseases and risks that ravage those who live outside the city walls. While life is a struggle for the less affluent, their existence is subsidized by the rich. Food and medicine are cheap, transportation is free–and for those with needed skills–indentured servitude to the wealthy or to the government can buy your own expanded longevity. They are two different worlds, and those above and those below share little in common except for one thing: A love for the Professional Seeder matches, where immortal combatants fight until only one is left standing.

With two weeks left before her sixteenth birthday, Punk Jordan lives out the last days of her mortal existence by competing in underground Seeder matches where only the best martial artists excel and the rules stop the moment the match begins. The daughter of William Jordan, founder of the company that makes the Communion drug, Punk’s elevation to immortality is guaranteed and a life of fame and wealth on the professional circuit awaits. But when those closest to her–including her own mentally ill mother–turn out to be part of a heretical anti-government movement, her comfortable life is shattered. To protect those she loves the most, Punk flees the only home she’s ever known and is forced to make choices that weigh family against compassion, privilege against promises and love against immortality itself. Continue reading →

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Book Report: Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby

IcefallIcefall by Matthew J. Kirby

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father’s victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.

Those charged with protecting the king’s children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father’s watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom? Continue reading →

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Book Report: Superior Saturday (Keys to the Kingdom #6) by Garth Nix

Superior Saturday (Keys to the Kingdom Series #6)Superior Saturday by Garth Nix

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

On the sixth day, there was sorcery.

Arthur Penhaligan has wrested five of the Keys from their immortal guardians, the Trustees of the Will. But gaining the Sixth Key poses a greater challenge than any he has faced before. Superior Saturday is not just one of the Trustees – she is also the oldest Denizen and the most powerful and knowledgeable sorcerer within the House. She has tens of thousands of sorcerers at her command, and she has been preparing her forces all along for the Will’s escape and the activities of the Rightful Heir.

As Saturday’s schemes become evident, Arthur is beset on all sides. The House is being destroyed, and only the power of the Keys can hold back the tide of destruction. Arthur’s home city is under attack. His allies are unreliable. He can’t even get into the apparently impregnable Upper House . . .  and even if he does, finding the Sixth Part of the Will and gaining the Sixth Key might not be enough to counter Saturday’s bid for ultimate power.

Can Arthur survive?

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Book Report: Realm of the Reaper (Everworld #4) by K.A. Applegate

Realm of the Reaper (Everworld, #4)Realm of the Reaper by Katherine Applegate

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Things have gotten way beyond weird. First April, Jalil, David and Christopher end up in Everworld. Since then, they’ve been hunted by trolls, entertained Vikings, fought in a war against Aztects and their heart-eating god, encountered Merlin, met some strange alien metalsmiths, and got a chance to see their very first real, live dragon. It’s been a strange few days, to say the least. Their “journey” started out as a search for a friend, but things have turned dangerous. Because now April and the others are about to discover the true opposite of heaven – and it isn’t a very nice place…. Continue reading →

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Book Report: Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

Blood and ChocolateBlood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?

Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He’s fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.

Vivian’s divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really—human or beast? Which tastes sweeter—blood or chocolate? Continue reading →

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