Bogormen

Title:
Wish Upon a Star
Author: Trisha Ashley
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 468
Date read: December, 2016

Single mum Cally’s life is all about her little girl Stella. She’s resigned to the fact that the only romance she’s going to get is from the rom-coms she watches, and with her busy job and her daughter, she doesn’t have time to even think about love.

But life gets very tough when Stella gets sick. Balancing her job as a recipe writer and looking after Stella is all consuming, so when Cally meets handsome baker Jago the last thing she wants to do is fall in love, especially when she’s been badly burned by a Prince Charming from her past. Can laid-back, charming Jago unlock Cally’s frozen heart and help her find true love and magic under the mistletoe?


Not really sure why this is labelled a Christmas book? It's even less so than "The Magic of Christmas". But it's so sweet and adorable that I loved it all the same, and was actually disappointed when I turned the last page.

Trisha Ashley writes little-town communities so very well. True, her books do get a bit formulaic, but they're so charming that I don't really mind. I loved Cally, Stella and Jago, and would have liked to read more about them. And it was so refreshing to read about main characters with a spine for a change! Even if Aimee and Adam need need more than subtle clues to finally get the point!

Lovely book, and though total fluff, it still deserves a five star rating for pure enjoyment and a fairly realistic description of subconscious courting :-)

Title: The Book of Strange New Things
Author: Michel Faber
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 512
Date read: December, 2016

It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter’s teachings—his Bible is their “book of strange new things.” But Peter is rattled when Bea’s letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea’s faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter.

Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us.


I really can't figure this book out... it was fascinating and boring at the same time, and I'm not even sure how that works! Also, I have no idea what story the author was trying to tell! (But then I had much the same thoughts after reading "The Crimson Petal and the White", so perhaps that's just his writing-style). I was intrigued by Peter's experiences on Oasis and liked his time at C-2 much better than when he was back at base. I loved the natives and wish we'd seen more of their lives.

But at the same time, I felt there were SO many questions that weren't answered! Mostly about what was happening back on Earth while Peter was away. And worst of all, the book had no real resolution or conclusion... it just ended, as if Michel Faber had written himself into a corner and couldn't figure out where to go from there.

At the end of the day, I think I liked it. And I did appreciate that it didn't poke fun at Christianity or missionaries. But apart from that, it had too many problems for me to really be able to recommend it to anybody else... unless you happen to love vague books with ambiguous endings.

Title: Kiss and Spell (Enchanted Inc #7)
Author: Shanna Swendson
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 284
Date read: December 2016

When a freak accident leaves Katie Chandler with magical powers, it seems like a wish come true for the former magical immune. But it also means she's vulnerable to magic, just when the dangerous Elf Lord is cooking up another scheme in his bid for power. Anyone who gets in his way disappears--including Katie and her wizard boyfriend, Owen Palmer.

Now Katie's under a spell that obscures her true identity, living a life right out of a romantic comedy movie in a Hollywood set version of New York. Will she be able to find her true Mr. Right in time to break the spell with a kiss and warn everyone, or will she be trapped forever, unaware of the doom facing her world?


So far the last book in the series (although book 8 is due out December 2016), and with a very nice ending indeed :) The book itself was rather slow-moving however, so I think it's probably just as well Shanna Swendson ended the series here. I just couldn't get as interested in the plot as I would have liked.

I did enjoy the chapters just after Kate woke up in 'not New York' though (and loved how that was handled - for a minute there, I wondered if I'd opened up a wrong book on my Kindle!), and reading about how she slowly caught on to the fact that something odd was happening. I also really liked Florence :-) We saw far too little of her once Kate and Owen started plotting again.

Title: Dragon Kin: Sapphire & Lotus
Author: Audrey Faye & Shae Geary
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 247
Date read: December 2016, October 2021

The ancient prophecy speaks of the five, those who will come to save all of dragonkind. Like most prophecies, it leaves out a lot of the important details...

The very ordinary elf girl who runs for the hills—and gets lost in a forest instead. The dragon egg, precariously perched high in a tree on a dark winter's night.

And what happens when egg meets girl.


Utterly delightful book! Far too short though, as I found myself thinking about it for ages after finishing it, and wishing there was more to the story. Fortunately it's the first book in a series, so I have the rest to look forward to.

I can't quite explain the charm... the plot is very quickly described - the elf, Sapphire, bonds with the dragon, Lotus, and has to teach it how to behave... and most specifically, how to fly! - but the book showcases Audrey Faye's skill with the pen (a skill, it would seem, that her daughter has inherited), and I grew to love all the characters and wanted to know more about them. I smiled my way through it, and immediately sent it off to others for them to read.