Tammie's Reading Reviews

2.5 stars. In the beginning I was sucked right into Dark Desires. I love a good Gothic and this one started out with lots of suspense and tension between the characters. There were Shades of Mary Riley and The Lodger in this. The anatomist angle made it rather creepy, at least for a little while. That part of the book deserves at least 3 stars, but I can't bring myself to give the book 3 stars, because unfortunately once the main character, Darcie and the love interest, Damien acted on the tension that was between them the book went downhill from there with too much lust and sex scenes that I could have done without. I much prefer romantic suspense to lust filled sex scenes. I felt like they really derailed the story. I doubt I will read anything else by this author.

For the most part I liked this series. A few of the scenes and characters could have been cut from the series as a whole, as they didn't add enough to the story or didn't advance the plot. I think In Dawn and Darkness was a good ending to the series. There were some typos like the wrong name being used a couple of times, or words that didn't belong in a sentence that need to be fixed in the Kindle version, but I still enjoyed it. I especially liked the epilogue.

Asa Fane is desperate to save her oldest sister, heir to the family empire, who is in a coma after an accident. So desperate that she secretly takes her other sister's place in an arranged marriage. Little does she know the consequences of her actions will result in her finding out a secret about herself that could ruin the alliance and any chance her planet has of getting the food they so desperately need.

I liked this book. I can see why some people wouldn't as it is light on the space adventure and focuses more on politics and relationships, and it's even lighter on those than it could have been. I just really enjoyed reading it anyway. I think the one thing that really bothered me about this book was the fragmented writing style.

I liked the characters and the slow build up of the relationship between Asa and Eagle. I thought their romance was rather sweet. Asa is 16 and impulsive. She doesn't always think her actions through. I could have found her annoying because of this, but I liked her anyway. She is fiercely loyal to those she cares about and I thought she was very brave.

Inherit the Stars was a quick, easy read and a nice break from heavier novels. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

Next to Magic Gifts, Magic Stars is probably the best novella in the Kate Daniels world. I loved that it featured Derek, and was surprised at how much I've grown to like Julie, a character I was mostly indifferent to for a long time. I was also surprised at how much I liked Julie and Derek together. They make a great team. Could this be the beginning of a new series focused on Derek? I really, really hope so.

3.5 stars. Magic Shifts was enjoyable, but I'm beginning to tire of the same lines over and over. Specifically the ones where Kate and Curran gush over each other, Kate thinks about how much she loves Curran, the color Curran's eyes turn when he is angry or beasting out, and how powerful and ferocious he his. As far as the overall story goes, this was a lot of filler with very little plot movement. The biggest plot development comes near the end when Kate finally gets an idea of how to defeat Roland. I'm definitely ready to move on to the endgame between Kate and Roland.

I enjoyed the TV series Cedar Cove on Hallmark Channel and was disappointed when Hallmark decided not to continue with the series, so I decided to try reading the books to revisit the characters and see how they differed from the TV series. I had heard there were quite a few differences and so far, after finishing the first book in the series, there are some minor ones compared to the TV pilot.

I will say that I liked the TV series better, but maybe that's because it's what I knew first. It was a nice fluffy escape for me on Saturdays and I'll miss it. The book lacks some of the charm that the TV series had. I think the author could do a better job of describing the surroundings, but I think the main problem with the book is that there is too much telling and not enough showing. There are things that are glossed over, events that are mentioned, but then skipped, and the book jumps forward in time a week and sometimes a month.

As far as the characters go:

-I liked Olivia as much as I did in the TV series and I had no problem picturing Andie McDowell as I read the book.

-I found Jack to be a bit wittier in the book and I liked him better than the Jack on the TV series.

-Justine was hard to like for a while and I didn't think her relationship with Warren really made any sense. She was very different from the Justine I knew from the TV series. I definitely liked the TV Justine better.

-Warren was pretty much the same Warren; he just seemed a little older in the book…and impotent? I never pictured the Warren on TV as impotent. I liked the scheming Warren on TV better.

-I loved Seth. He was better in the book than on the TV series, but I thought his romance with Justine kind of came out of nowhere and progressed too quickly.

-Cecelia annoyed me with her immaturity and the way she blamed Ian for things he couldn't help, and I wasn't any more interested in their story than I was when I watched the series. I got tired of the back and forth in her relationship with Ian. They should have just talked to each other! I did find that their relationship played out much better in the book, especially the emotions, which seemed glossed over in the TV pilot.

-I liked Ian and I mostly felt sorry for him because of the way Cecelia treated him, except for the part in the hospital, that seemed to come out of left field and I didn't really understand why he acted the way he did. I liked him better in the book.

-I thought Grace was likable except for the fact that I wanted her to stop being a door mat. I think she was pretty well portrayed in the TV series, and I liked her the same here. I was glad that she moved on in the end.

-Charlotte was the real surprise here. She wasn't this well developed in the TV series and I liked her personality better in the book. I wish she had stayed on the TV series longer.

One thing I am wondering is if Moon exists in any of the books. He ended up being a favorite character on the show.

Overall this was an ok escape-type read. It was nothing spectacular, just light fluff, but sometimes that's what I need. I will most likely be reading more of the series.

My daughters and I were all very excited to listen to One Good Dragon Deserves Another on our holiday road trip. We loved the first book in the series and really enjoyed the narrator. We were not disappointed; this second book in the series is just as good as the first one was and once again the narrator does a great job. One great thing is that my daughter, who doesn't really care to read very much, really likes listening to these.

It was a nice treat to revisit Julius, Marcy, Ghost Cat (whom we learned some interesting things about), and all the other characters. We are all looking forward to book three.

Jim Butcher is one of my favorite authors and I thoroughly enjoyed the Aeronaut's Windlass. The world is interesting and I am looking forward to more world building and character development in the next books in the series. I loved the addition of Rowl the cat and I think this book would be appropriate for my teen daughter to read even though it's written for adults. I ended up reading excerpts aloud to her when the point of view shifted to Rowl.

I think besides Rowl, what I liked the most about this book were the airship battles and the Etherealists. I'm looking forward to reading more.

Can't get into it right now. I'll probably revisit it later.

The Candidate is the third book in the Black Mage series and the plot definitely got thicker with this one. There were some good twists and turns and I could sympathize with the predicament Ryiah is in at the end of it. I still think she should trust Darren and his love for her enough to tell him what is going on though! And his jealousy over Ian in the first part of the book was ridiculous.

This book was a step up from the last book. Not many time jumps in this one which was good. I enjoyed it just as much as the first book and looking forward to reading book four.

I got this as a white elephant gift at a Christmas party this year. It was a quick read that was kind of fun.

The Painter's Daughter is another great Julie Klassen book. I loved all the characters in the book, well except for one, but he wasn't meant to be all that likable. I do feel like things ended a bit too neatly for everyone, but then again who knows what would come in the years following if this were a true story. Surely some complications would arise from the situation One brother raising another brother's child as his own, and also gaining that brother's inheritance. .

3.5 stars. This is the second book in The Black Mage series. I enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed reading the first book. It was really hard to put down and I found myself staying up into the wee hours of the night to finish it.

While First Year spanned only the first year of Ryiah's mage training, Apprentice covers 4 years. This resulted in some parts feeling rushed, and a lot of time jumps. It felt inconsistent with the pace of the first book. There was more time spent on characters and interactions in First Year. This time around we got less of that and more world building. I would have liked to have seen both. I thought the first half of the book was better paced than the second.

While I mostly liked Ryiah in this book, I will say that I hated the way she treated Ian. The back and forth roller coaster romance stuff got annoying at times, and I feel like it took over the second half of the book too much. The love-hate relationship with Darren continued and I loved that I was kept guessing about him, although I did have him figured out eventually. I just don't think what he did to Ryiah was necessary though, and I don't care what reasoning there was behind it in the book. He could have explained what he was trying to do

Overall I'm enjoying this series a lot and am looking forward to the next two books.

First Year is a light YA fantasy that's set in a mage school. There isn't much world building, but I loved the mage school setting. It's very reminiscent of The Black Magician by Trudy Canavan in quite a few ways, but despite its lack of world building, I think I enjoyed this book more.

The protagonist, Ryiah is very likable, but she has her flaws that include jealousy and a hot temper at times, which made her more relatable as a character. I developed a love-hate relationship for Darren, the antagonist right along with Ryiah. On the surface he seems like the typical stuck up, rich kid, bad boy, but I liked the glimpses of what could be seen under the surface of his character.

This book was great fun. There is just something about it that makes it so readable and I enjoyed every minute of it. I'm starting the sequel immediately.

The world in this book consists of two types of people, red bloods and silver bloods. The red bloods are the commoners and serfs who are looked down upon by the silver bloods. The silver bloods have special powers. Mare Barrow is a 17 year old red blood who steals from other people to help her poor family out. Her family doesn't approve of what she does and she feels like she has let them down because she has no talents or skills with which to earn money. Her younger sister is the one in the family who they have their hopes pinned on. She is apprenticed to a seamstress and has the potential to one day do well for herself and her family.

All reds get conscripted into the war unless they have a job and those are hard to come by unless you have a marketable skill and someone to train you. Unless a person is well trained they usually die in the war, and her friend has been a fisherman's apprentice until that fisherman dies unexpectedly. Mare sets out to help him before he is conscripted. What happens after this is what sets the whole story moving in a different direction, one that leads to Mare finding out something about herself that could possibly save her people.

My friends have given Red Queen mixed reviews. Some have really loved it, others not so much. I ended up really loving it. I found it extremely hard to put down. I typically don't care for dystopias that much, but this one read like a fantasy. I initially thought it was going to be an old world type fantasy so I was surprised at the mention of electricity and vehicles and air ships. It was like reading a fantasy with modern elements to it, which doesn't always work for me, but here it did.

There were lots of betrayals in this book and a twist that I saw coming from pretty much the beginning, but there was a time while reading that I questioned whether or not I was right about it. There were a couple of times I thought Mare should have trusted and listened to Julian more. And she should have been given more information about certain people earlier on. This was one aspect of the story that annoyed me.

Also, there were a couple of things the Red Guard did that didn't make a lot of sense to me. If they were going to sneak into the palace and assassinate people, why not just kill the royal family? I also thought it was really far-fetched that they would trust one of the royal family .

I think the book would have gotten 5 stars from me if not for those things. Mostly I loved it and it was a nice escape for me. I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series.

Cranberry Bluff is a fun, easy read. I really enjoyed the different guests at the B&B who were not what they appeared to be. It was a nice cozy mystery and it's free right now on Kindle.

There is a bonus cookbook included with the cranberry recipes that were in the book. I really want to try the cranberry lemon muffins.