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Author Topic: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015  (Read 21952 times)

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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #15 on: March 20, 2015, 06:54:44 PM »
Finished The Bone Season a week or so ago.  Ready for the next book but I'm actually getting into Dying of Light so I hope to finish it.



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #16 on: April 01, 2015, 07:03:18 PM »
Wow...my review on Dying of Light is missing.

Anyway, I finished Fatal Boarding by E.R. Mason.  Liked it but it was really just an okay sci-fi.  Too may grammar and typo errors.  It was a free Kindle book.



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #17 on: April 06, 2015, 08:48:49 PM »
Finished Date Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner.  Based on the reviews it said this book was supposed to have humor but for some reason I didn't catch any of it.  It's about a girl who goes on these dates with robots, aliens, humans, etc.  The ending wasn't very clear but she ends up getting married like within 5 minutes of meeting the the guy, wedding, "I do's," and all.  Way too unrealistic for me.  This was also a free Kindle book. 

I am now on a book called, The Last Praetorian, by Mike Smith.  I'm actually halfway done.  It's pretty interesting although some parts don't add up.  It's also a free Kindle book.

Btw, I finally told my husband about the 2 stories in my head.  I was so nerve wrecked.  I've been married to him for almost 14 years and I've never shared my stories with him...LOL!  He asked me why I waited so long because he said they were very interesting.  I told him they were close to my heart and anything bad he says about them would make me go hide in a cave (other people's critique I can handle, just not from my husband), but he assured me he'd never be that way.  It's good to know.  The reason I told him was because I'm getting ready to purchase a software for writing the books and wanted him to know that I already have the stories...some parts are already written out in MS Word, etc., with some written over a decade ago+.  I just need a writing software specifically for writing and finally found one through a FB writer's user group I follow.


« Last Edit: April 06, 2015, 08:51:53 PM by moonangel »

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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #18 on: April 08, 2015, 02:01:32 PM »
Here's my review of The Last Praetorian on goodreads:

I would have given this book a 3 star, however, because of all the "however's" used both in the author's pov and the characters' conversations, I now have that word in my head 24-7.

I really wanted to love this book. At first I wasn't so into it because it felt like Star Wars...with the princess and all but then it got a little interesting and kept me reading. However, as the story picked up, it pretty much went all over the place. I didn't get a good feel for the main character, Jon. He seemed like a nice brave guy but he was too perfect. They have to have some bad or something that makes you question their goodness to create a character that's likeable.

Also,there was a scene where Jon rescues a pole dancer girl named Felicity, but after they made it to a safe place, she suddenly disappears with no explanation as to where she went or how she disappeared. I had to reread that part a second time just to make sure I didn't accidentally miss a brief sentence somewhere but there was nada. The story would have worked out without that part so I was confused as to the relevance of that scene.

Btw, I rarely use the word "however" so you can see what this book has done to me. :)

One more thing, there were lots of typos and grammatical errors.






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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #19 on: April 15, 2015, 12:16:35 PM »
Finished, Sapphires of Fairies (Sword of Heavens #1).  It's a fantasy about a prophecy that one of the teens born during the "collapse" will rise to destroy the evil one.  The pacing was a bit off. It was a long drawn out story but then ended really quickly with very little explanation. 



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #20 on: April 21, 2015, 03:03:23 PM »
Finished The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien.  It was okay.  I read it 'cause I wanted to know about the story before watching the movies.  I'm surprised they're able to get 3 movies out of this one book.



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #21 on: April 26, 2015, 11:31:22 AM »
Finished, Son, by Lois Lowry.  I really enjoyed the beginning but halfway through the story became less clear and was moved along too quick.

The story is about the girl who gave birth to Gabrielle (aka Gabe), the baby boy Jonas escaped with in the first book, The Giver.  I liked the beginning because it touches on how a mother in a post apocalyptic world deals with a baby she isn't suppose to care about but somehow things are mishandled and she learns a bit about him and begins to feel what a mother would feel when she can't be near her baby.



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #22 on: April 28, 2015, 05:57:29 PM »
Finished, Anne of Green Gables.  It was good.  I think the tv show is better.  Watched it when I was in high school and a few years back with my oldest daughter.  Going to watch it now with my youngest and maybe my oldest again.

I still haven't watched the Hobbit.  Not sure how I'm going to get access to it at the moment.  As for Anne of Green Gables, I have the DVD set.



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #23 on: May 04, 2015, 12:54:57 PM »
Finished, The Mime Order, by Samantha Shannon.  It's the second book in The Bone Season series (which will be a movie soon! Can't wait!!!).

I was a little let down by The Mime Order.  It started out very slow and kind of just dragged along until halfway passed middle then things picked up.  It got more interesting but wasn't as great as The Bone Season.  It's interesting how it ended and now I'm excited about the next book.

Again, the author did great with world building and character building...alt hough some characters kind of seemed like a blur or had similar personalities but it was rare.



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #24 on: May 13, 2015, 10:25:35 PM »
Finished, Heir to the Sundered Crown (The Sundered Crown Saga Book 1), a few days ago.  I was given this book to read and review.  You can read my review on my blog, on amazon (UK and USA), or on goodreads, here.



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #25 on: May 18, 2015, 03:57:48 PM »
Re-reading, A Little Princess, for the 3rd time to my kids.  The 4th time for me.  I could never get board of this book.  If I could recommend a book to anyone, it would be this one.

It is about a little girl named Sara who's father is a soldier and who's mother has passed away.  Her father is wealthy but they lived in India and he didn't feel that was a good place for his daughter to grow up in so he took her to England to a young women's school.  He returned to India and tried to make a fortune in the diamond mines but died.  Sara at first was treated very well by the owner of the school, Mrs. Minchin, because of their wealth but after her father's death, there wasn't any more money so Mrs. Minchin made Sara into a servant, replacing all her luxuries with an old black dress she was to wear every day, and moved her up into the attic next to a scullery made named Becky.  Sara has an amazing imagination which helps her through the difficult times as a servant, but even her imaginings were difficult in those times.  There was a house next to the school that was unoccupied for some time but suddenly someone moved in.  Sara ran errands for Mrs. Minchin almost every day and she would always wonder who moved in.  She finds out in the end who that man is and her world turns around.

It's a wonderful book about how a young girl handles life's hardships and difficulties.  You will dislike Mrs. Minchin for how cruel she treated Sara and Becky.  There is cattiness and jealousy from the other wealthy girls at the school.  They made fun of Sara and her father's diamond mines.  It's so heartbreaking.  This book is so well written.  It's hard to find books written this well these days.  Books that you can read over and over and never get tired.

If you have kids, or nieces and nephews, read this book to them (but first read it to yourself because you want to be ready for those parts that will - or might - make you teary).  My 8-year-old cries all the time when I get to the sad parts.  She says, "Mrs. Minchin treats all the kids like robots and kids are NOT robots.  They are human."

I still get teary-eyed reading it the fourth time.


« Last Edit: May 18, 2015, 04:06:36 PM by moonangel »

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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #26 on: May 20, 2015, 11:16:43 AM »
While I am re-reading A Little Princess to my daughter, I am also re-reading Divergent for myself.  Not bad the second time around.  It's funny because when I first read it, I imagined what the characters looked like.  Now, I see the faces of the actors.



I just got notification that Maze Runner by James Dashner is available for download (I was on a waitlist) but when I went to download it (full of giddiness), it said there was an error.  :-\  I need to read all three books that are currently out in this series, especially the first two for now, because the second movie is coming out this fall and I want to have read the first and second book then go see the movie.  I missed out on the first movie but I plan to rent that. 



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #27 on: May 22, 2015, 10:45:54 AM »
Finished, Divergent.

*Spoiler Alert*  Don't read my review unless you've already read the book.  :)

I first read this book in 2013 and totally enjoyed it. This is my second time reading it and I still enjoyed it, but this time around a couple of things stood out more. There is a lot about bravery. Not that I didn't notice it before but it stood out as a different kind of bravery, like a sacrificial kind. Her mother tells her to be brave. So does her father and Four and so does Will with his quote.  It's almost like they are telling her to sacrifice herself for others, not to be strong or keep fighting, but to give her life. She learns that her mother is Divergent and then her mother goes and sacrifices herself to the serum-operated Dauntless soldiers, to save Tris of course, but still, to the eyes of a teenager, that is a very strange message about being brave, and in a way, that part is sort of like a foreshadow of Tris's own demise down the road.

What really makes this book is the tension buildup.  Each chapter leaves me wondering when Tris will break.  It is done so well that when she finally breaks down, I do too.


« Last Edit: May 22, 2015, 11:16:41 AM by moonangel »

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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #28 on: May 23, 2015, 04:44:57 PM »
Finished, The Maze Runner, by James Dashner.  Really enjoyed it.  I may do a short review after I let it soak in.



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zena

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Re: Moonangel's Book Reviews 2015
« Reply #29 on: May 25, 2015, 11:51:01 AM »
Reviewed The Maze Runner, here.

Also finished reading, The Scorch Trials.  I ended up buying the e-book because I couldn't wait for my library's wait-list but I will be waiting for the 3rd book.

Here's the review:

I thought I'd be as intrigued by this book as I was by the first book (The Maze Runner) but it was a disappointment . The conversations kept getting interrupted with non-sense things, the love triangle was super cheesy and didn't feel wholesome or real, I couldn't figure out who Thomas should trust and it wasn't in a good way, but rather annoying. I wanted to get to the end so that I could finally understand why these teens were put to the test. It turns out really silly. I was also deeply annoyed by the over usage of words like, "crap, crappy, holy crap." Do people really think or speak with those words? The biggest reason why I couldn't read past chapter 2 in Fifty Shades of Grey was because every other word was "crap." Two different genres, but still, over usage of a word (esp. that word) ruins it for me.

What I did enjoy about the book was the steady pace. It was a little bit on the fast side but it was consistent. The fight scenes, the mysteriousness of the barg...piqued my curiosity about where the place that machine came from looks like, etc., I will be reading the 3rd book because I want to know where this leads and how it ends, but if I come across a lot of silliness, I'll probably just to skim.



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