Month: November 2017

Contemporary · Romance

Eli – Jessica Gadziala

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35905878| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Six years on the inside gave a man a lot of time to think. And a lot of time to plan. When I got out, I was determined for things to go a different way. I never wanted to lose control and rage out again.

The only way to accomplish that, though, was to shut it all down.
Complete disconnect.

That meant no family, no friends, no links to anything attached to the man I was before.

Of course the problem was, I never factored HER into my plans. And try as I might, I couldn’t find a way to shut it down, to disconnect from her.

I had a sneaking suspicion she was going to take all my carefully constructed plans and toss them out the window, was going to force me to face up the demons inside and confront the ghosts from my past.

Those ghosts?
They wore the faces of my family.

And a confrontation with them, yeah, I had a feeling it was going to show me that I had spent six years taking action on beliefs about the demons inside. Demons that had never actually existed in the first place…

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My thoughts: Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful book. And finally I got Eli’s story. He has been an character through out the series you just see but not really hear anything from. He is an tortured soul with the whole world and family on his shoulders. I was absolutely shocked when the ending in book three came and you got to learn that Eli is going to prison. My heart hurt for him and his family. And it certainly was no easier now reading the full story.

The really funny thing with this book is that it is somewhat different from what Jessica Gadziala usually writes. There is no real suspense. No Heroin who needs saving or Hero to do the saving. No bad blood, wars or fights. It is just clean, emotional, humanly raw stuff that the most of us has at some point in our life experienced. The pressure from family or society. The need for love and connection and finding you place in the world. And here it is really the Heroin who does the saving by just being there.

And the book is just that. Raw with a hint of humor. And I cried my heart out and it was so good. Loved the characters but I have to say that Peyton totally stole the show and it is not even her book. And I really looking forward to be reading hers.

I cant do anything else than recommend it to you. It is so good.

Contemporary · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Ashes, ashes, they all fall dead – Lena Diaz

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18274980| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: What she doesn’t remember … will kill her.

One by one the letters arrive at the FBI office in Savannah, Georgia. Inside, each bears a name—a victim of a twisted crime—and the singsong phrase Ashes, ashes, they all fall dead. Special Agent Tessa James becomes obsessed with finding the killer whose victims are crying out to her for justice.

When sexy, brilliant consultant Matt Buchanan is paired with Tessa to discover who’s sending the “Ashes” letters, he discovers a serial arsonist who is leaving nothing but murder in his wake. Inexplicably, the clues point to Tessa herself, forcing her to realize that if she can’t remember the forgotten years of her past, the name on the next letter will be hers.

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My thoughts: This book has seriously everything an romantic suspense geek like me can wish for. You get scorching hot characters, a mystery story you think you can foresee but really dont and romantic in the way that it feels like you are actually reading a book. Not an erotic novella where the goal is the sex and everything around it is just a story leading up to the sex. No, here it is so much more. More feelings and relationships that just makes the whole story complete.

This book is an great example of what I search for when choosing an romantic suspense book. There is one more book in the series. This one is book number three. I dont know if Lena Diaz will writhe anymore in this series but I hope so. The last book is about Devlin but I would have loved to read a book about Austin and see how his life turns out. He haven’t had it easy but always been one of those side characters you dont see much off.

Romance

Making the cut – Anne Malcom

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25442666| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Gwen Alexandra does not need a man in her life. Especially not a man who looks like Chris Hemsworth and Joe Manganiello’s love child. One wearing leather, riding a Harley, and covered in tattoos.

Gwen can bet every pair of her Manolos that Cade Fletcher is trouble. From the moment she meets him, the attraction sizzles between them. Gwen has a problem when it comes to attractive men in motorcycle clubs. The last one she got involved with almost killed her.

After healing physically, Gwen decides to get a new start in a small town, half a country away from the man who nearly cost her her life. She isn’t in town five minutes when she runs into Cade, a man that is too sexy and dangerous for his own good.

She tries to keep away from him, to ignore the attraction between them. But the biker has other ideas, soon she is in way over her head. Her heart, and her life are in danger once again.

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My thoughts: I feel that this is gonna be an hard review to write and it will probably not make any sense but I will try my best and hope I can put words on my tougths and feelings.

I had really trouble reading the book. I did not like the way it was written. It was predictable and all the clichés you can think off, they are in the book. I did not really like the female characters either. I feel they were superficial and quite frankly a little stupid. I can’t connect with an character that think fashion is the highest reason to live and constantly thinking about how she or everyone around her looks. And it is described in detail trough out the book. I did not like the relationship between Gwen and Cade and felt that there was no depth and it all was just excessive.

So what did I like enough to give the book a two star rating. I dont know. Really! Even though I wanted to mark it as DNF (did not finish) at 40% in the book, I could not stop reading and I could not stop thinking on the book. I dont know what made me invested in the book but there is certainly something in there that makes it all worth it. I dont know if it is enough to make me read the second book in the series, but it was enough to make me finish it.

Have you ever read a book that you not really like and are on the edge to stop reading, but still there is something unexplained to make you read it anyway? Please tell me.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

Postmortem – Patricia Cornwell

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9780751544398.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralyzed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman. But this investigation will test Kay like no other, because it’s being sabotaged from within—and someone wants her dead.

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My thoughts: This is one of those slow cooking, crime novels that are famous for a great story, strong characters and an explosive ending. And it is pretty much what I expected but was not entirely what i got.

The characters are great. You notice that this is an older book where the world was more of a mans world and as an woman you had to fight with teethes and nails. At first I did not like Kay that much. Didn’t like Marino either but Lucy, my god I hated her. Until I started to get to know all the characters and see more besides the shell them put out. In the end I still didn’t like Lucy but that is for other reasons. Really started to like Marino and Kay seams more human to me now. So in the next book I probably will not dislike them as much. And I feel it is a good thing. The author has succeeded to write characters that makes my nerves frassel and this time I liked it.

The story is slow cooking but it is exciting. You as an reader do not get much clues to who the killer might be so when that is revealed, there is no gasps or wonders about how me as an reader could miss it. The clues are just not there. The ending is pretty much predictable and as I had expected and that is quite sad. And it went by way to fast. 98% of the book was slow and interesting but the last 2% was like a blur of moments and story. To bad really. I think the book could be a 5 star if the ending had been a little more. Not faster but at least feel like it belonged to the rest of the book. Hard to explain with out giving out spoilers.

Really liked it though so will definitely look in to the other books in the series.

Everyday things

The Christmas is in the House!

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11It is no secret that I LOVE Christmas. I love everything about it and it is the best time of the year. I always goes a little crazy and now my home looks like Santa vomited all over it. But I still love it and Mr M do not complain so I just keep going. 🙂

This year I was a little early with the decorations. That’s just because I know how busy my weeks will be and I did not want to hurry and did not want to stress the whole thing. And I’m so glad because work the last week have been crazy and I know the next couple of weeks will be even worse.

I don’t know if I have told you what I work with. I’m a campaign coordinator. My company operates in four different countries and the team I work in has to work a lot in periods and even night work. This is why I don’t have had much time to read lately. Still working on Cornwells book but I just don’t have the time. For someone like me who is used to read like 3-4 books a week, suddenly not have read a whole book in over a week, yeah, that’s just weird for me.

And on top off this I have gotten sick again. Not sick, sick so that I feel really bad, but I have lost my voice and feels constantly tired. So that do not help either. But hey, my home is now filled with Christmas and that makes me really happy. And I hope that I will get time to read soon.

Do you like Christmas?

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

The Magician’s Nephew – C.S Lewis

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65605.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis:When Digory and Polly are tricked by Digory’s peculiar Uncle Andrew into becoming part of an experiment, they set off on the adventure of a lifetime. What happens to the children when they touch Uncle Andrew’s magic rings is far beyond anything even the old magician could have imagined.

Hurtled into the Wood between the Worlds, the children soon find that they can enter many worlds through the mysterious pools there. In one world they encounter the evil Queen Jadis, who wreaks havoc in the streets of London when she is accidentally brought back with them. When they finally manage to pull her out of London, unintentionally taking along Uncle Andrew and a coachman with his horse, they find themselves in what will come to be known as the land of Narnia.

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My thoughts: I cant believe that I never have read any of the books in the Narnia series and when my mind finally discovered this, I thought that I should listening on them. They all do exist in my languish in the app Storytel that I pay for. I do prefer to listening on books in my own languish even though I prefer to read on English.

I did not know that there is two orders to read the books on. Either you could read in the publish order or in the order they are suppose to be. I decided for the later and that makes this book number One in chronological order, but really is book number 6 in publication order. Confusing right?

It is a good book and it is really funny to read about the beginning of Narnia. I have, as most people, seen the newest movies but cant remember that you get to know how Narnia first is discovered and how it came to be. Where the witch started and so on. This book is about the beginning. And it was great.

Torsten Wahlund, who is reading the book, is doing a great job with the characters. Specially Andrew Ketterley, who you really dislike from the very beginning.

I cant however give the book a full five star rating. This because I did not feel the magic. My heart did not pump any faster or my mind only thinking on what will happen next. I can see the good for what it is, but it is not great. Not in my opinion.

Romance · Suspense · War/Military

Rekindled – Kaylea Cross

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19547589.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis:He left her when she needed him most…

Four years ago, Dr. Grace Fallon lost everything that mattered in a terrorist attack she barely survived. Now she’s stronger than ever and in Pakistan with a UN-sanctioned team for the most important assignment of her career. She’s dedicated her life to eradicating the world of chemical weapons, and long ago accepted the inherent risks associated with her job. Until the man whose memory has haunted her for so long suddenly reappears and inadvertently makes her the target of one of the most dangerous terrorists on the planet. Forced to accept Alex’s protection, it’s impossible to deny the white-hot attraction still burning between them. And while she trusts him to guard her from this new threat, Grace must once again decide whether to risk her heart to the man who once shattered her entire world.

Now he’ll risk everything to win her back…

Four years ago, NSA agent Alex Rycroft left Grace because had no choice. But never again. Malik Hassani has escaped custody, he’s on the run, and has locked onto Grace as a means to target Alex. This time Alex will do whatever it takes to protect her—and convince her to give them another chance. Walking away from her nearly destroyed him and now that she’s back in his life, he can’t let her go. When the unthinkable happens and Grace’s life hangs in the balance, he’ll sacrifice everything to save her—including himself.

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My thoughts: I’m glad I finally got the chance to learn more about Alex and his history. He is the oldest character in the books and the most mysterious. I really liked the plot but it was somewhat slow written. And I feel that in a situation as the 5th book is taking place, should not be slow. At all! I did however like that I got to know how it would go with Dunphy. The 4th book quite ended on a cliffhanger when Dunphy regarded. It was hard to read but with a great end. Perfect when it comes to the circumstances.

Alex end Grace though  is quite slow and some what repeatably. Grace is hurt and I understand that but then they dont really talk about it. It just “fixes” itself and that was an downer.

The story about the terrorist is as exciting as ever. Cant say to much about it without giving out spoilers.

There is one more book in the series. It is an short book on 160 pages and more or less suppose to wrap any loose ends. I have read the five books in the series and will at some point in the future read the last one to. Just to be done. But I dont really feel the need to it. This book did not end on any cliffhangers and what ever question i sit left with is not that important to get an answer to. But I will still read it.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

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20603758| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

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My thoughts: Great! Great! Oh did I tell you, Great book! Really. It was so “new” and unlike the most of the books I usually reads that it made it all better. It is, literally, a whole new world.

You get to meet great characters who have a miserable life for one or another reason. The real world is dying and the only way to handle the crippling depressions is to flee into another world. OASIS. The biggest virtual world game there is, with millions of planets and there you can be what ever you want, play games, meet people and what not. There is also an very special game in that world. A game where the price is to huge to comprehend. And Wade, our main character, wants it. At that is pretty much what the book is about. That and his fight for survival.

And it was great. The writing was just perfect and for a non Technic gal like me, I really needed those extra explanations. I can see how that is an source of irritation for people who already knows that stuff and probably makes the book wordy for them. But I needed it. However, I do feel that the technical talk got to be a little to much sometimes, and that made me fall out from the story. Just because of that, I cant give the book a full score.

In 2018 the movie on the book will come and I cant wait. It will be awesome to see the world and not just read about it. And since it is Spielberg who is directing it, it cant be other than great.

Have you or are you gonna read Ready Player One?

Everyday things

Bet you didn’t know this about me

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I’m one of those weird people who does not read when sick. It is actually a really good indicator that I’m sick if you do not see me with a book in my hand. And when I start reading again, it just shows that i’m starting to get better. I have always hated that. I mean, when you are sick and legally home from school or work, it is the best possible time to get some reading in. Because, when you are sick, there is no expectation that you should be able to do all the normal things and you can just lay there and read. Well, than there is me who do not read while sick and just lay there in bed, watching tv, sleeping and feeling sorry for my self. O and believe you me, i HAVE tried to read. Makes no difference. My head just cant focus.

So well, you probably understand by now that I am sick. Yepp! Oh lucky me. And i’m not even that sick. Just laying there in the middle where i’m sick enough to not be able to read but not sick enough to be home from work to sleep the bug away. Yepp. That’s my luck alright.

So there will probably be some time before I get to read out Ready Player One, which is the book I’m reading right now. But dont worry. If it will take to long, I will write an publish some of my old reviews for you.

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Suspense · Young, New adult/College

Reread: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K Rowling

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17347384I’m not gonna write a “normal” review on this one. Mostly because it would not be fair. I do love Harry Potter, no questions about it. I grew up in the Harry Potter prime time and read all the books and had all the stuffs and when the movies came I watch them over and over again and what not. There where no books and movies that I loved as much as I loved Harry Potter. And it is the one series I wish I could forget so that I would be able to read them as “New” again. And it will be the one series I will be reading for my future children and grandchildren.

However, now as I reread the books in a grown up age, I see and perceive the books in a different way then I did as an child. Not necessary a bad way, just different. And since I have seen the movies to many times to count, I do not feel comfortable in writing a accurate review since my feelings from when I was a child, the movie and my grown up perspective is muddled together and I cant separate them enough to be fair. Does it make sense?

Do not misunderstand me here. I do love the Potter series and I give the book the five star rating that it deserve, there just will not be an official review from me on it.