Book Review: A Viscount's' Proposal

Want a Regency Era heroine, who would have marched in the Woman's Marches of 2017? Look no further than Leorah Langdon in the novel "The Viscount's Proposal" by Melanie Dickerson

Leorah is determining to marry for love like her brother, and not end up like her parents in a loveless union. Viscount Edward Withinghall, want to avoid the very thing that got his father killed in a dual over his married mistress with her husband. To him Leorah is the trouble his wish to avoid. What happens when trying to be a gentleman and help an injured Learah he set the gossip mill running when they are found in his overturned carriage at night?

   It's one of the things I loved about this story: how strong the female lead, Leorah, was against the strict ideas and rules of the Regency upper class.

Another thing I loved, about Ms. Dickerson's writings, is her retellings of a well-known tale, in this case, Pride and Prejudice.  In every story, I read, written by her. I wondered how she's going to turn an important element in the story into something of her own. I'm never disappointed.

The first chapter was a little slow but I loved one piece of dialog between Leorah and her best friend, Felicity. It's one of the best dialogs I read between friends in a novel.  It's can't be missed.

Go buy "The Viscount's Proposal" by Melanie Dickerson

Amazon

Goodreads
Banes and Noble 
Books-a-Million

Book Review: Glitter

What grabbed my attention when I read about this book on Netgalley was the quote:

"From #1 New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike comes a truly original new novel—Breaking Bad meets Marie Antoinette in a near-future world where the residents of Versailles live like it's the eighteenth century and an almost-queen turns to drug dealing to save her own life."

What could beat a novel that put together Breaking Bad with Marie Antoinette? In my mind nothing! And I had to read this book!

So the beginning started a little slow to me and didn't get going until she does in fact decided to sell drugs to escape a crazy engagement to the crazy king.  Not to mention a little romance it thrown in at that point too. I couldn't put the book down after that. And it's not fair that this is a series, the ending set up the next book and I loved it so much I hated it. I can't wait for the next book.   

You can find this book:

Amazon

Books-a-Million (Nook)

Banes and Noble (Nook)

Goodreads

Book Review: Last Seen Leaving

Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

I loved the first line of this book. It's drew me in and I wanted to know a little more. But I didn't finish this book. The writing stood out and it's a great story but not my kind of story. My guess if you loved Gone Girl you'll love this story. I wanted so bad to love this story but I didn't.

If better to form your own options so you can find this book here:

Goodreads
Amazon 
Books-a-Million
Barnes & Noble

Book Review: Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen

When Kai is cursed by a magic mirror, he can no longer perceive goodness in anything - not his best friend Gerda, nor the roses in the garden. One wintry evening, he is kidnapped by the wicked Snow Queen and swept away to live for ever in her kingdom of ice. Friendless and shoe-less, Gerda must travel through inhospitable lands, with only crows to guide her and bandits for company, in order to find her beloved friend. And when she gets there, how will she melt the ice in his heart? Nearly two centuries after its first publication, The Snow Queen endures as a tale of love and loss, good and evil, and loyalty in the face of great hardships. 

From Goodreads 

This classic fairy tale had one element I loved, it has a strong and brave heroine in Gerda. Her name meant guardian. It's a fitting name for the heroine of this story. She refused to believe that Kai, her friend, was died when he didn't return home, and went out into the "wide world" to find him. With this decision she declared herself Kai's guardian.

I liked that Gerda's adventure was split into seven stories, each one I think symbolic to her growing up.

The story started out slow but the story picked up when Gerda met the crow and he took her to the princess's palace.

I couldn't help but wonder if the Snow Queen inspired the witch in C.S. Lewis "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and if Gerda didn't inspired parts of Lucy's character development.  

Netgalley provided and Pushkin Children 's Books provided my copy. 

Book Review: To All the Boys I Loved Before & P.S. I Still Love You

To All the Boys I Loved Before is a sweet story about having a pretend boyfriend to forget about a crush. It's a book I recommend taking to the beach. I love the exchange between Lara Jean and Peter.

P.S. I Still Love You is a more serious book. It's show how a video can start a hurtful rumor and how everyone no matter who they are can be drawn into being a cyber bully.

The Author's Information:
Jenny Han's Twitter
Jenny Han's Website
Where to find these books.
Amazon (Kindle)
Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Books-a-Million (Nook)
Goodreads 

I haven't given the descriptions of these books because I don't want to give anything away. If you buy To All the Boys I Loved Before do yourself a favor by buying P.S. I Still Love You while you are at it. 

Book Review: You Were Here

I'm having a hard time coming up with what to say about this book. It's that intense and that good. The hard core emotion of grief and each characters' reaction to their grief drive this story from beginning to end.

From Goodreads:

On the anniversary of her daredevil brother's death, Jaycee attempts to break into Jake's favorite hideout—the petrifying ruins of an insane asylum. Joined by four classmates, each with their own brand of dysfunction, Jaycee discovers a map detailing her brother's exploration and the unfinished dares he left behind.

As a tribute to Jake, Jaycee vows to complete the dares, no matter how terrifying or dangerous. What she doesn't bargain on is her eccentric band of friends who challenge her to do the unthinkable: reveal the parts of herself that she buried with her brother. (less)

This story is told from five different point of views: Jaycee, Mik, Zach, Natalie, and Bishop.  Ms. McCarthy wrote amazing, intense characters. I could imaging that each one of them alive somewhere in the world going on these incredible trips to these abandon places.

My favorite characters are Jaycee and Mik. I relate to Jaycee's blunt and honest need for the truth. I also relate Mik's select muteness, his shyness. Plus this guy of very few words has the best point of view in the whole novel. It's in graphic novel style. It's a wonderful surprise to turn the page and see the black and white drawings.  I also like Bishop's drawings as his point of view. Jaycee, being the main character and the one with the strongest grief is written in first person. Natalie and Zach, who are boyfriend and girlfriend was written in third person. (Bishop is Zach's best friend)

Sourcebooks Fire approved a digital copy of this book for me to review through NetGalley.  

Book Review: The Girl From Everywhere

So far this year this book is one of my favorite reads. It's has a little of everything, adventure, romance, and mystery.

The protagonist is Nix, she's a good mix of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Elizabeth from The Pirates of the Caribbean. With her amazing knowledge of mythology she become an unforgettable character.

Her father can navigate his black ship, The Temptation, through time with the help of maps. He want to get back to back to Nix's mother but her mother died giving birth to her. Nix's worried that if he succeed she might no longer exist, but with her wealth of knowledge about map, history, and mythology he need her help. When she refuse he threaten to leave her best friend and possibly her love where she can't return. Will she refuse risking being like her father or help him?

I love the mix of opposites in this story, facts and fiction (Mythology) Everything in this story is itself and its opposite (Once you read the story you'll understand, I promise) Even Nix's name has this principle.

After reading this I wish I could visit 19th century Hawaii. Heidi Heilig made it sound magical.

I did think the beginning was a little confusing and slow. Keep reading it get better. I wonder if it would be more interesting if it started where Nix's running through the market with the bird instead of trying to explain the bird's importance while she trying to bargaining for it.  It might have been confusing but I would had the question of why running through my head.

Anyway I still love this book, and it's coming out February 22, 2016 buy this book!

Buy here