Tag: book

Everyday things · Humor/Funny

What does your favorite reading spot say about you?

Book Chick1 Comment

I found this article on Facebook (it is old and you have probably already read it) and found it a little funny. I didn’t think I had a favorite spot since I read everywhere, no mater where I am and also the reason why I always is dragging around books. I buy my handbags after the type of books it will fit and always discard the small cute ones for that reason. But after this article I have now discovered that the couch is my favorite spot. The text about the couch is like they are describing me. It is a truth about Book Chick and now you know that. He he

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Click and find out which category you belong to. Let me know, where is your favoirt spot?

Fantasy/Paranormal · Romance · Young, New adult/College

A court of thorns and roses – Sarah J. Maas

Book Chick3 Comments

22839894.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Feyre is a huntress.

She thinks nothing of slaughtering a wolf to capture its prey. But, like all mortals, she fears what lingers mercilessly beyond the forest. And she will learn that taking the life of a magical creature comes at a high price…

Imprisoned in an enchanted court in her enemy’s kingdom, Feyre is free to roam but forbidden to escape. Her captor’s body bears the scars of fighting, and his face is always masked – but his piercing stare draws her ever closer. As Feyre’s feeling for Tamlin begin to burn through every warning she’s been told about his kind, an ancient, wicked shadow grows.

Feyre must find a way to break a spell, or lose her heart forever.

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My thoughts: How am I supposed to review this one? This… this fantastic, unbelievable imaginative, angst riddled and intense product, written by a queen. A book who rips, ravages and breaks you into a million pieces before it reassembles you at the end. But you as a human will never be the same. It changes you and the view I once had are long gone and forgotten. I am and for ever will be a different person after this. That is how good it was, with such an impact that it even was hard to read on sometimes. I have heard that the second book is even worse, with more tears, more pain… just more of everything. And I can’t wait to read it.

A court of thorns and roses or ACOTAR, was a major hype a few years back. Everyone I knew and followed on YouTube, Instagram and in the groups on Facebook could not stop talking about it. The synopsis never intrigued me back then and even when I started it, I was still a bit skeptical. I often have problems with YA and often find YA Fantasy to be overrated and without any real depth and almost always has that stupid love triangle drama that I hate with every fiber of my body.

So why did I read it? Well I just wanted something new and unpredictable and I wanted it directly. Meaning, I didn’t want to order online and wait several days for it to arrive and I didn’t want a e-book either. I wanted something real. This one was the only book my local bookstore had on English that remotely interested me. And I’m so glad that I bought it.

The only (two) problem I have with the book is the pace. It was to slow but still had that simmering feeling that something will soon happen, then it didn’t and it drove me nuts. And some things was not explained enough. I do not read that much fantasy and would have liked a little more explanation on some things. But other than that, I’m happy.

Contemporary · Romance · Young, New adult/College

Four letter word – J. Daniels

Book Chick1 Comment

28963772.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Fate. Hate. Love. Lies.

Which four letter word will change their lives forever?

Sydney Paige was never so mortified to hear the words “wrong number” in her life. She meant to tell off the guy who broke her best friend’s heart but unleashed her anger on a perfect stranger instead. And now her world is turned upside down by the captivating man who wants to keep her on the line.

Brian Savage is living a life he’s quickly come to hate-until Sydney’s wild rant has him hooked and hungry for more. Soon the sexy woman on the phone becomes the lover in his bed. But Brian has secrets, and the closer he lets Syd get, the harder it is to shield her from the devastating mistakes of his past . . .

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My thoughts: Cute story. Great build up and sweet characters, a little long and slow some parts and somewhat predictable but cute non the less. I wouldn’t say I love it but can’t say I hate it either. Until like 50% in the book I really enjoyed it. I adored the sexual tension banter between some of the main characters, the easy atmosphere and the interesting sensation it created. There is some depth to the story and layers to the characters that I found intriguing to peal of.

After the 50% however the pace started to halter and nothing really happened. One could anticipate what would happened and how it would go and it was kind of boring, reading + 100 pages and just waiting for it to kick off so something would change the mush that kept going on and on. Nothing surprising in the whole ordeal when it finally happened, but it was still nice and I liked the way they resolved the situation.

A little part in the end surprised me though and it was nothing I had foreseen. I feel it matched the plot perfectly and I would probably not have found the book as great without it. It gave some of the soul back to it.

The writing is somewhat long and not easy for the eye, but nothing I thought much about after I got used to it. It did however make it a little harder for me to connect with the book in the beginning and may be a reason for the slowness in the middle of the book.

Contemporary · Romance

Edison – Jessica Gadziala

Book Chick1 Comment

36357979.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Lenny
I have one mission in life.
Revenge.
I didn’t have time for anything else.
Let alone the mysterious, unfairly good-looking member of a local outlaw biker gang.
But Edison is not the kind of man to be easily ignored, and the closer he gets, the more I seem to sway from my mission.
Until the unthinkable happens.

Edison
She’s special.
That has always been my type, women with that ‘something’ that you can’t quite put your finger on. And Lenny with her knife-sharp tongue, stubbornness, and guards thicker than almost any I had ever seen, yeah, she had that thing. And I wanted to put my finger on it.
Finger. Mouth. Tongue… everything on her.
But Lenny is hiding things.
And it wasn’t until her world shatters around her that I finally get to see what was beneath them all along. And it is more than I could have ever hoped for. It’s something I want to hold onto. I guess the only thing left is to get that through her stubborn head as well…

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My thoughts: I have not read a book by Gadziala for way to long and now that my prohibition of buying books have been lifted, of course my first one was one of her books. I have missed her. I have missed her books, her writing, stories and her world in Navesink Bank. I have missed to get to know more of the Henchmen men and see what will happen with all that is happening in the crime capital of USA. Edison was also an character who intrigued me right from the start. He was so dark and mysterious in the earlier books, that I just had to start off with him since he was the next one to read in the series.

This is the 10th book in the series about the Henchmen in Navesink Bank. Gadziala have built a whole world with different series that are linking together. The Henchmen will probably be my favorite. Well I did love the Mallicks family (still have one more book to read) and I can’t wait for The Grassis to be published and the Professionals are also a great series, but it is the Henchmen who made me fall in love. And what’s so great is that it is so different from many other MC series out there. Her books always have a kick ass female character and awesome alpha hero sexy man with a moral compass who points in the right directions and have great female values. It is hard not to fall in love. My biggest problem often are that I find the books to be to short. 😛

Edison was a lot deeper character than I thought he would be and his story about his life and traveling through Europe was just fantastic. And I loved Lenny. She has walls thicker than the earth’s crust and the way the relationship grew between them was just perfect. And the ending was so fitting to it all that I have nothing more to say.

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

The Witness – Simon Kernick

Book Chick1 Comment

26631703.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: ‘I had a simple choice. Stay here, and almost certainly be discovered. Or get up and run.’

THE WITNESS
When Jane Kinnear sees her lover being murdered, she suddenly finds herself in danger. Taken to an anonymous police safe-house, it soon becomes clear that her lover was an MI5 informant with important information about an imminent terrorist attack.

THE DETECTIVE
DI Ray Mason of Counter Terrorism Command is a man with a controversial past, but his effectiveness at getting results means that he’s now been given the task of preventing the attack from taking place. But can he be trusted, and does he know more about the attack than he’s letting on?

THE KILLER
In the safe-house, Jane is trying to piece together a description of her lover’s killer. But what she doesn’t know is that the killer has already found out who she is, and where she is hiding.

And now he’s coming for her.

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My thoughts: This was not what I had expected. I thought the book was more about the witness. But in reality you follow Mason most of the book. It started off fast and good with some intense chapter and great build up. Unfortunate that didn’t hold and I lost interest some 100 pages in.

Mason sure is an interesting character with an interesting past. You do get to know a lot about him but you do feel that there is so much more and stuff like that will probably be relived later on in the series. According to GoodReads there is one more book about Ray Mason so far. I will probably not read it though. The witness character was also interesting. With a background where she grew up in South Africa and escaped to the other side of the world and then a lot happened. You don’t get to know everything in one go either and it makes you curious of her past. She is an enigma and great to get to know more about. Certainly fit well with the main character and his own dark secrets.

I am however not fond of terrorists plots. I often find them childish. But I guess it is childish in reality to. To take out your own thoughts and views on other innocent people, just because others are not thinking the same way, is just making you a coward. It is like the bully in school who need to hurt others to feel better him self. Unfortunately terrorist are so much bigger and causes so much more destruction. So since the books plot is more about terrorist than anything else, this was not a book for me.

However, there is a MAJOR plot twist in the end that totally threw me. It was so far from what I expected and it was a great way to heat up the plot again and make it interesting. It was so good that it earned its own star and went from one to two stars in rating. The ending was not 100% completely satisfying but I do understand the reasons for it.

Monthly summary

August Summary

Book Chick3 Comments

monthlysummery2

Have had a lot of hit and miss this month. I’m now at my end of my “not to buy any books” ban and I think that’s why I have had such a rocky month. Several of the books I read are those who have been on my shelf for a lot longer than it should. Still I did read some great books in genres I not normally read in. Like for an example Hex by Heuvelt and You by Caroline Kepnes.

September will be the “caching up” month I think. Since I don’t have been able to buy books, I have a lot of series I follow and new books to read. So I will have to get that boll rolling. I’m going to try not to go overboard and buy to many books again. Do NOT wish to be put on another ban in the near future.

Favorite book this month: Hard choice this month but I think it is Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley. That one was wonderful.
Least favorite book this month: The undomestic goddess – Sophie Kinsella. Not happy with that one. 😦

Number of physical books: 7
Number of e-books: 3
Number of audiobooks: 3
Total pages: 5178
Female authors: 7
Male authors: 5

17325157Spirits in the trees – Morgan H. McDonald
Settings: Washington, USA Pages: 410 Published: 2012
Genres: Horror, romance, mystery, thriller and suspense
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The spirits series.
18775247Mr Mercedes – Stephen King
Settings: USA Pages: 436 Published: 2014
Genres: Fiction, thriller, mystery, crime and horror.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The Bill Hodges series.
35535454The Child – Fiona Barton
Settings: London, England Pages: 448 Published: 2017
Genres: Mystery, fiction, thriller, crime, suspense.
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
31560400HEX – Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Settings: USA Pages: 384 Published: 2013
Genres: Horror, fantasy, paranormal, fiction, thriller.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
20512384Sudden response – R.L Mathewson
Settings: USA Pages: 260 Published: 2011
Genres: Romance, contemporary, funny.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The EMS series.
13147460Flesh & Bone – Jonathan Maberry
Settings: Dystopia USA Pages: 469 Published: 2012
Genres:Horror, dystopia, young adult, science fiction.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 3 in The Rot & Ruin series.
20821614You – Caroline Kepnes
Settings: New York, USA Pages: 424 Published: 2014
Genres: Thriller, fiction, mystery, contemporary.
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The You series.
23492589Finders Keepers – Stephen King
Settings: USA Pages: 431 Published: 2015
Genres: Horror, thriller, crime, mystery.
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 2 in The Bill Hodges series.
21412207Hush – Karen Robards
Settings: Huston, USA Pages: 407 Published: 2014
Genres: Romantic, suspense, thriller, mystery.
My rating: 2/5
Links: Review
18656253Sweet Dreams – Kristen Ashley
Settings: Carnal, Colorado USA Pages: 562 Published: 2011
Genres: Contemporary, romance.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
Book 2 in The Colorado mountain series.
23129712The red notebook – Antoine Laurain
Settings: Paris, France Pages: 159 Published: 2015
Genres: Contemporary, romance.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
18332155The murder bag – Tony Parsons
Settings: London, England Pages: 384 Published: 2014
Genres: Mystery, crime, thriller.
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The Max Wolfe series.
33722The undomestic goddess – Sophie Kinsella
Settings: England Pages: 404 Published: 2005
Genres: Contemporary, chick lit, romance.
My rating: 1/5
Links: Review

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Chick Lit · Contemporary · Romance

The undomestic goddess – Sophie Kinsella

Book Chick1 Comment

33722| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.

Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer–and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope–and finds love–is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake.

But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

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My thoughts: I LOVED “Can you keep a secret?” and adored “Finding Audrey” but The Undomestic Goddess was nothing more than some time-killer and company while doing my workout (listened on the audiobook). I didn’t find it as hilarious as it supposed to be. It wasn’t a strong chick lit with great characters. No it was not witty, smart nor romantic. If anything it was exaggerated. Excessive in the multiple breakdowns that is occurring, the runaways, her reactions and her way of solving situations that would not have been able to be solved that “easy”. If I would describe this book to my friends, I would say that “it is like that comedy movie where they try so hard to be funny that in the end it is just a cheap, cringe worthy movie you will only see once and never recommend to your friends.”

I’m sorry but no. This was nothing for me. And the worst part of it all is the ending. It was unsatisfying and a little lame. I would have like to see Samantha stand up for her self and make her point clear. And what happens next? How will it go? What will they do? It left to many questions unanswered and for me it was the end. Done, finito. Happy for you who liked this book but that is not me and I don’t have anything more to say!

 

Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

The murder bag – Tony Parsons

Book Chick1 Comment

18332155| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Twenty years ago seven rich, privileged students became friends at their exclusive private school, Potter’s Field. Now they have started dying in the most violent way imaginable.

Detective Max Wolfe has recently arrived in the Homicide division of London’s West End Central, 27 Savile Row.

Soon he is following the bloody trail from the backstreets and bright lights of the city, to the darkest corners of the internet and all the way to the corridors of power.

As the bodies pile up, Max finds the killer’s reach getting closer to everything – and everyone – he loves.

Soon he is fighting not only for justice, but for his own life …

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My thoughts: Never read anything by Parsons before and I’m pleasantly surprised. I like the book, unfortunately I didn’t love it. Probably because of the slightly diluted plot and the typical English settings. And I don’t mean typical in a good way. This book has a somewhat tame and watered topic, which I have read over and over again before. Why do you have to have that slanted balance of power in crime thrillers, specially English crime? I’m getting tired of it and quite frankly, is the genre done? Is there nothing more to write about? I feel English crime books are a complete genre by itself since they often are the same specially with the work relationships in the police house. Still I do love English Crime.

This gritty thriller is about a rebel cop (Max Wolfe) who’s only goal in his job, is to do the right thing and find out the truth. Perhaps even save a couple of lives along the way. He is following the questions and evidence no matter where it will lead and even if his bosses are against it or try to stop him. Wolfe is a great character to follow. He is a rebel yes, but he is not that typical kick ass cop you often read about. He feels more human, can get hurt as easily as anyone else, struggles with stuff and I love how real he feels. He is a single dad with a daughter and a dog. This little family is the center of the book and makes it warm and real in the chill of the crimes.

The plot was interesting and the mystery wasn’t that predictable. I do want to try the next book in the series. Book two actually have a higher rating on GoodReads and the first book so I’m kind of curios.

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction · Romance

The read notebook – Antoine Laurain

Book Chick1 Comment

23129712| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Heroic bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street. There’s nothing in the bag to indicate who it belongs to, although there’s all sorts of other things in it. Laurent feels a strong impulse to find the owner and tries to puzzle together who she might be from the contents of the bag. Especially a red notebook with her jottings, which really makes him want to meet her. Without even a name to go on, and only a few of her possessions to help him, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?

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My thoughts: Such a charming and sweet little story. It surprised me how much I loved this book. It is short, sweet and taking place in Paris, France. What can be more romantic than that? It is a easy and funny modern romantic love story and it’s perfect for a hangover cure. I listened on the audiobook and the narrator, Alex Wyndham, was a perfect choice for the task. He did a great job with the french accent and the cadency.

It was a fascinating hobby detective story. It made me think how a total stranger would interpret me by just looking in my handbag. Me among other things, also drags around a book to write in. I use Leuchttrumn and not Moleskin but still. You can probably learn a lot about a person by the content in their bags.

Adult fiction/Erotica · Chick Lit · Humor/Funny · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Sweet Dreams – Kristen Ashley

Book Chick2 Comments

18656253| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: She’s ready for the ride of her life . . . 

Lauren Grahame is looking to reinvent herself. After leaving her cheating husband, Lauren moves to Carnal, Colorado, and gets a job as a waitress in a biker bar called Bubba’s. It’s a nothing job in a nowhere joint . . . until Tatum Jackson walks in. Lauren has never seen a man with such good looks, muscles, and attitude. But when he insults her, Lauren doesn’t want anything to do with him. Too bad for Lauren he’s also the bar’s part owner and bartender.

When the rough-around-the-edges Tate meets the high-class Lauren, he thinks she won’t fit in at Bubba’s. Yet there’s more to Lauren than meets the eye, and Tate soon sets his mind on claiming her as his own. Before long, the desire burning between them is heating up the cold mountain air. But when violence strikes the town, Tate must reveal a dark secret to Lauren-one that may put an end to their sweet dreams.

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My thoughts: Overall I would like to describe the book as deep, complex characters, complicated, thrilling, butterflies in my stomach, knock me on my head, god damn perfect with that satisfying ending, horrible tearful chapters and beautiful closing. I can’t enough English words to try explain what I’m feeling. But for me, this book, was pure perfection and exactly what I needed, wanted and sought.

KA is starting to be an addiction. I literally have to prevent myself from binge reading all her books. That is how good she is. And this is as usual a book who takes hold of you from the first page. It hooked me and never let go. I’m happy I started reading this only a day before the weekend because work at Friday was awful. I could not stop thinking about the book. I dreamed about it in the nights and on the days I only wanted to look myself in my home, abandon society, all my responsibilities, sleep and food. All I wanted was Lauren and Tatum.

It is a sweet story really. I love the characters and how diverse they were. Ashley is such a great author who writes these perfect characters that are deep, complicated and so easy to love or hate. I get invested in all her books and it is like I know them. I connected so hard with this one that when I ended the book, I could not stand starting a new romantic book right now. That is how huge impression this book, these characters and their story made on me. I can only say, read it! Hopefully you will to, love it.