Entries tagged with september 2024

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Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend - MJ. Wassmer

Title: Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend
Author: M.J. Wassmer
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 1.5/5
# pages: 350
Date read: September 2024

Vacation Checklist: Pack swim trunks. Apply sunscreen. Survive the apocalypse?

Professional underachiever Dan Foster is finally taking a vacation. Sure, his life has been average at best, and yeah, he's never quite lived up to his potential. But after a few Miller Lites in paradise with his girlfriend, Mara, things are starting to look up.

Then the sun explodes.

With the island resort suddenly plunged into darkness (he really should've sprung for the travel insurance), Dan's holiday goes from bad to worse when elite guests stage a coup and commandeer supplies. As temperatures drop and class tensions rise, revolution begins to brew on the island, and Dan accidentally becomes a beacon of hope for the surviving vacationers. But when one six-person plane is discovered that could get them back to the mainland, Dan realizes he has a choice to make.

Does he escape the island with Mara? Or does he stay and fight to become the most unlikely hero of the end of the world?

Unfortunately the last part of the title could also have been the title of this review: "Do Not Recommend". I had expected a dystopian novel, with people trying to figure out their new normal - perhaps a bit like "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer. What I got was a common-day "Lord of the Flies" - a less humorous and less believable (amazingly enough) version of "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray.

Rico was one-dimensional evil for no particular reason, and the "lovely" influencer and her preacher husband got on my nerves something fierce, and I desperately hope this is not how events would have turned out in real life. I have to believe that, or I would loose all faith in humanity.

I considered giving up on the book on multiple occasions, but I did want to know if there was any sort of resolution, so I stuck with it. And there was, but not really a satisfying one. While the explanation was fine, there was still a lack of closure.

So yeah, I don't understand all the high ratings here. This was definitely a "do not recommend" for me, and the book goes straight in the trash.

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Nightworld Academy - L.J. Swallow

Title: Nightworld Academy: Term One
Author: L.J. Swallow
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 2.5 / 5
# pages: Audiobook ~9hrs
Date read: September 2024

Welcome to the Nightworld Academy, attended by vampires, shifters, and witches. A place filled with harmony and mutual respect between the supernatural races. Sometimes.

I'm told my curse is a gift. A valuable one that could cost me my life. My visions of the future are weird, but my new school is weirder. All lessons take place in the evening and the majority of students are on an advanced program where they take extra classes late into the night. I enrolled at the academy because my last school expelled me for punching another student. Nobody believed that I knocked Tyler unconscious to stop somebody else dying. But why would they believe the crazy girl?

I expected to meet other troubled teens here, but the pupils are predictable for an English boarding school. There's Ash, the rugby team captain and the academy's most popular guy. Then there's Andrei, the moody guy with a bad attitude who takes pleasure in annoying me. And Jamie who's studious and friendly but intense. I thought I had the academy figured out: the mean girl, the quirky friend, the nerd, the emo, and the jock. But on the evening I swear allegiance to my new school house, everything spins out of control and I realise I'm dealing with more. Much more. One of us will die, and I know who.

Hard book to review. I mostly liked it, I think? I liked the characters, I liked the setting, I liked the "coming into her powers" trope ... but at the end of the day, there wasn't really anything new to it. It was a story that had been told - and told better - before. I liked the school, but thought too little page time was given to the classes. I liked the characters, but the animosity of the mean girls wasn't really explained. I liked Maeve's powers, but her hesitancy to tell anybody about them seemed unnecessary.

Mostly though, nothing seemed resolved at the end of the book! I thought it was - but then the author threw a cliffhanger at me at the very last minute.

So 2.5 stars - rounded up on Goodreads, because I really did enjoy it for most of the time I listened to it.

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The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman

Title: The Thursday Murder Club
Author: Richard Osman
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Rating: 2.5 / 5
# pages: 430
Date read: September 2024

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

NB: This is not a bad rating! Goodreads translates 2 stars to "It was okay", which it was. I wasn't blown away by it, I didn't particularly like it - but it was okay.

I think part of it is that the book suffered from too much hype. I had had it sold to me as "an amazing read" and it just ... wasn't. I didn't grow to care for the characters, I wasn't really interested in the whodunnit part of it ... the writing style was fine, so it wasn't any great hardship to finish it, but I'm going to just leave it at the one and not bother with the rest of the series.

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The Summer Seekers - Sarah Morgan

Title: The Summer Seekers
Author: Sarah Morgan
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~11 hrs
Date read: September 2024

Kathleen is eighty years old. After she has a run-in with an intruder, her daughter wants her to move in to a residential home. But she’s not having any of it. What she craves—what she needs—is adventure.

Liza is drowning under the daily stress of family life. The last thing she needs is her mother jetting off on a wild holiday, making Liza long for a solo summer of her own.

Martha is having a quarter-life crisis. Unemployed, unloved and uninspired, she just can’t get her life together. But she knows something has to change.

When Martha sees Kathleen’s advertisement for a driver and companion to share an epic road trip across America with, she decides this job might be the answer to her prayers. She’s not the world’s best driver, but anything has to be better than living with her parents. And traveling with a stranger? No problem. Anyway, how much trouble can one eighty-year-old woman be?

As these women embark on the journey of a lifetime, they all discover it’s never too late to start over.

This immediately became a new favourite. It hits so many of my favourite tropes.
* Roadtrip? Check.
* Intergenerational friendships? Check.
* Personal growth? Check.
* Fraught relationships that are fixed by - wonder of wonders - communication? Check!

I loved seen Kathleen and Martha's friendship grow. I loved that Kathleen and Liza actually talked about their issues. I LOVED that Sean took the bull by the horns and realized he and Liza needed to talk. I was so, so, so grateful that Finn was a non-issue.

No third-act breakup, no annoying misunderstandings caused by lack of communication. Just a sweet and poignant story about very realistic relationships.

Loved it!

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The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call Girl - Annika Martin

Title: The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call Girl
Author: Annika Martin
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~9hrs
Date read: September, 2024

When my manager assigns me the task of finding a new wake up call service for our CEO, I think, how hard can this be?

Answer: practically impossible. It turns out that no wake-up call company in the world will take him on as a client. They’ve all had enough of his surly personality.

So in an effort not to lose my job, I secretly start making the calls myself, every day at 4:30 am sharp. OMG yes you read that right—four freaking thirty in the morning.

Confession: I’m not the nicest wake-up-call girl at that hour. Hello! Who wakes up before the roosters are even crowing? Luckily he doesn’t seem to mind my get-your-ass-out-of-bed attitude.

This was the perfect book to keep me company on a 4 hour drive. It had me laughing out loud on numerous occasions and I loved the banter between Lizzie and Theo as well as between Lizzie and Mia.

The romance was super sweet and the third act breakup less contrived than it often is in romance novels. Sasha's (I think that's her name anyways) behavior did subtract the final star though - it just seemed too malicious to be believable ... even within the book's own universe.

I wish we could have heard more about the bakery. I want a follow up that focuses on that!

Funny, cute and sizzling. Grumpy/sunshine and high levels of spice.

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Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer

Title: Eclipse
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 629
Date read: August 2007, December 2008, December 2009, August 2014, July 2018, September 2024

As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob --- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Just like the two others, I devoured this in less than 24 hours. It was amazing, even if I was disappointed that we were cheated out of seeing Charlie's reaction to a certain event near the end. I've seldom read as captivating books, and it was difficult to move on from them once I finished as I wanted to stay in the same universe. I highly recommend this series, it's absolutely amazing. I'm still firmly placed on Team Edward, but felt so sorry for Jacob.

Reread in December 2008: Still really, really good, but I found myself taking my time with it this time around, meaning that some things struck me more on this read-through. Most noticeably Jacob's "assault" on Bella which totally turned me off him, and Charlie's outrageous reaction to it... even if he did sort of redeem himself later. I know we're supposed to like Jacob, but Meyer really went too far there. I just found him obnoxious.

Reread in December 2009: What struck me this time around was how nobody seemed to respect Bella's wishes at first. Edward came around thankfully, and mostly Jacob and Charlie did too, but Alice's insistence on throwing a wedding annoyed me. Especially the "If you loved me, you'd let me do this." How about "If you loved me, you wouldn't force me to do this."??

I still love the book though, and still couldn't put it down.

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New Moon - Stephenie Meyer

Title: New Moon
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Genre: YA, fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 563
Date read: August 2007, November 2009, August 2014, September 2024

Recovered from the vampire attack that hospitalized her in the conclusion of "Twilight", Bella celebrates her birthday with her boyfriend Edward and his family, a unique clan of vampires that has sworn off human blood. But the celebration abruptly ends when the teen accidentally cuts her arm on broken glass. The sight and smell of her blood trickling away forces the Cullen family to retreat lest they be tempted to make a meal of her. After all is mended, Edward, realizing the danger that he and his family create for Bella, sees no option for her safety but to leave. Mourning his departure, she slips into a downward spiral of depression that penetrates and lingers over her every step, and it's not until Bella befriends Jacob, a sophomore from her school with a penchant for motorcycles, that both the pace and her disposition begin to take off. Their adventures are wild, dare-devilish, and teeter on the brink of romance, but memories of Edward pervade Bella's emotions, and soon their fun quickly morphs into danger, especially when she uncovers the true identities of Jacob and his pack of friends.

While a lot darker in atmosphere than "Twilight", I still think it lives up to the expectations set by the first book in the series. I'm especially impressed by Stephenie Meyer's way of describing the first months after Edward left - most authors would have been tempted to go on and on in order to tell us Bella's catatonic state. Stephenie Meyer managed to show it very, very efficiently instead.

Stephenie Meyer's talent for writing shows clearly in these first few chapters - few authors can convey that much heartbreak that eloquently. I may have my own feelings about the amount of heartbreak, but the pain is undeniable and well expressed.

I'm firmly on Team Edward, but I do appreciate the friendship that develops between Bella and Jacob in "New Moon" - although the animosity between werewolves and vampires annoys me - how neither race can see any good in the other. I'd get really, really frustrated too, if I were Bella.

Probably my least favourite of the series.

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The Little House In the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Title: The Little House in the Big Woods
Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Genre: Classics
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 138, Audiobook ~4hrs
Date read: July 2007, February 2010, August 2012, December 2017, September 2024

Little House in the Big Woods--the first book of the series and Laura Ingalls Wilder's first children's book--is full of the thrills, chills, and spills typically associated with "boy" books. Any boy or girl who has fantasized about running off to live in the woods will find ample information in these pages to manage a Wisconsin snowstorm, a panther attack, or a wild sled ride with a pig as an uninvited guest. Every chapter divulges fascinatingly intricate, yet easy-to-read, details about pioneer life in the Midwest in the late 1800s, from bear-meat curing to maple-tree sapping to homemade bullet making.

This is one of the best comfort-book-series around - although I always get so hungry when reading it! I want to try fresh made maple syrup and culled corn too! Such a cozy book :) Even if I do skip most of Pa's tales when rereading it these days.

Reread 2024: I heard this as an audiobook this time where the narrator actually performed the songs - that was a nice touch, even if it was a tad louder than the spoken word, so I had to adjust it. Still a nice addition.