Reading Fanatic Reviews
All Kindle Unlimited ReviewsNOTE: These books were in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program at the time that I posted the reviews. They may not still be in the program, as authors can opt out every 3 months. If you find a book that is no longer in the program, don’t hesitate to contact me, and I will update the review.
Her Betrothal by Alice Wilde
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Her Betrothal*
Somewhat Tedious, with Immature Heroine
This book had the potential to be interesting, or at least I found that of the blurb had intriguing elements. But the heroine, who is the main voice of the story, comes across as a petulant teenager instead of a young woman on the cusp of marriage and perhaps co-ruling her kingdom. The book uses the first-person present point-of-view, but the author didn’t seem to have a mastery of how to use tenses in this viewpoint, so they were sometimes wrong, which was jarring when they occurred. In general, I am not a fan of the first-person present point-of-view for several reasons, including this one. I think that it is actually distancing because it is so unusual. I read so many books in the third-person past that the viewpoint doesn’t even make much of a blip on my radar unless the author gets confused with tenses or calls attention to it in another way. I think authors mistakenly believe that the first-person present gives a book a greater sense of immediacy, but for me, I have never felt that to be the case.
The book had other issues as well. It has some strange problems with grammar, punctuation, and usage; commas seemed particularly problematic. I felt like the book was slow to start and quite repetitive. Much could have been cut out or condensed, which made of made this story tighter and better. As I was reading along, I felt like I was just waiting for something to actually happen; I don’t like that feeling in a book. I feel like this book could have used both a developmental editor and a copy editor/proofreader.
A Raging Madness by Jude Knight
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
A Raging Madness*
Melodramatic Opening Hampers Enjoyment
Oh, goodness! What a melodramatic start for the heroine. I actually didn’t like this setup for her, and unfortunately, this colored my feelings about the rest of the book. I had just recently finished another novel about someone who suffered in an English asylum in the 1800s. The other book treated the subject very seriously, so in this novel it felt jarring to see it merely used as a plot device to set up the story and elicit empathy from the reader. I felt like the author’s writing was a bit stilted, which caused some distance between me and the work. I did like the character of the hero, though. I tend to have a soft spot for the wounded war hero, who believes that his physical issues make him less of a person. I felt like the book needed some editorial pruning. In the middle section especially, the author seemed to have scenes that didn’t serve a dramatic purpose.
The Sweetest Poison by Jane Renshaw
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Sweetest Poison*
Overlong and a Little Odd
It is hard to know what to say about this book. For one thing, it is very long. Now, I have read some long books in my day—a couple of eight- and nine-hundred-page books by Katherine LeVeque come to mind—so I’m no stranger to long fiction. But for a book that is supposed to be a mystery, which should have some tight suspense—and it’s even listed as a thriller—the length felt ponderous; it was not a page-turner. I felt like the book was paced too slowly, and the story did sometimes meander off into strange territory that didn’t improve the overall arc of the book. The beginning of the book, to about the 7% mark, gives us a glimpse into the heroine’s childhood. Like other parts of the novel, the section felt repetitive. I feel like it would have packed more of a punch if it were condensed, much like the rest of the book. I enjoyed the contemporary Scottish setting, but I didn’t really enjoy the rest of the book.
POSTED: HG, Amazon, Goodreads
The Revelstoke Legacy by Lynda Hurst
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Revelstoke Legacy*
Interesting Plots & Characters; Writing Style Lacked
This box that is a collection of three novels that are connected by the Revelstoke Legacy, which is revealed in the first book. The legacy is mysterious and vast, so it adds interest to each book. I enjoyed the plots and the characters in these books, but I found the author’s writing style to be lacking on several fronts. I thought the language, both in dialogue and the narrative portions, sounded stilted, as if the author was trying to affect historical speech but missed the mark. There were often long passages of plain narration that seemed to slow down the forward motion of the stories. After all, each of these books has an element of suspense; romantic books with suspense plots and mystery should be faster paced than books that are just about romance. I did like the last book’s emphasis on herbology; I love it when little bits like that are included in a book. All in all, I found this box set to be a disappointment, which is too bad as I do enjoy historical romantic suspense.
The Lieutenant’s Lady by Emilee Harris
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Lieutenant's Lady*
Regency Fugitives… Is One a Spy?
The cover of this book makes you think it is your typical historical romance, but it is far from the regular Regency. In a good way! (Not that I don’t love a traditional Regency.) This book is not one of manners and courtship like most of the genre. Instead, it looks at a complicated relationship between enemies in the time of war. The hero is in the British Navy, and the French capture his ship right when the book starts. When delivered to land and the local gendarmerie, he is given quarter in a French widow’s home. She is not too pleased about this. Throughout the book, they become fugitives, on the run in France on the way to England. They do have an undeniable chemistry that neither understands nor is quite willing to admit to fully. So this is action Regency romance with a little bit of espionage and intrigue thrown in. A unique combination to be sure and very well done by this author.
Forex Trading for Beginners by Bill Sykes and Timothy Gibbs
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Forex Trading for Beginners*
Great Introduction to Forex Trading
While I don’t know a lot about trading currencies, I believe this book is a good initiation for people who are looking to go into that. The authors talk about what Forex is, defining terms and giving a little history. They share the mindset that you need to have to successfully trade in this market, or at least be comfortable with it. They go over the practical ideas, like the different platforms you can trade on and analytical software that you can use to help you figure out your plan. They get down to brass tacks, looking at different ways that you can analyze the market. The book gets completely hands on in the section where they tell you step by step how to set up your first trade. This book is chock-full of easily understandable information that can start you on your way to successful, or at least more informed, Forex trading.
Wicca: A Beginner’s Guide by Melissa Smith
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Wicca: A Beginner's Guide*
Some Confusion May Not Help True Beginners
This book purports to be a beginner’s guide to Wicca. By some measures, it is that. Wicca is a hard term and practice to define, especially the further and further we get away from Gardiner, and I think this fact is reflected in the book. The author attempts to define it and related terms right in the first chapter, but I think the author got a few things confused. She stated in several places that paganism falls under Wicca; I see Wicca and other earth-based religions as falling under the broader umbrella of paganism. Paganism is another word that is hard to define; some use the word to describe any religion outside of the big three while others say that any pagan religion’s tenets must come from a pre-Christian form of religion. Honestly, I don’t think the definitions really matter to the individual; it’s what’s in your heart and what resonates with you. I found it odd that the author discusses shamanism and druidism in the section where she defined Wicca. I don’t believe that shamanism relates in any way to Wicca (although it might be a part of a particular Wiccans spiritual reality), and druidism is what I might call a sister path to Wicca with deep roots in pre-Christian Celtic religion. On the chapter about the benefits of Wicca, the author also included a brief writing about dealing with others who might not accept you. Considering that this is meant to be an introduction to Wicca (perhaps for people who are not practitioners), I think this would have been better put in a separate chapter perhaps later in the book; there, it would make sense to have this information if once one has decided to go on this path.
The book is full of general information that can form a foundation of knowledge for someone interested in Wicca, but it is not detailed enough for someone who really wanted to start practicing. There are brief chapters on deities, holidays, and different types of witches as well as more practical aspects like rituals and spells. The book is potentially dangerous, giving simple spells for readers who haven’t been given enough background to know what they are doing. I think the book definitely could have been better organized; for instance, the “different types of witches” chapter might have been better if it were a part of the definitions chapter. I didn’t like that the author interrupted the book asking for reviews. I get why authors want reviews, but just put it at the end; don’t interrupt your book as it does ruin the flow of a book. Throughout the book, the author does talk about the different flavors of Wicca and modern paganism. I would have loved to have seen a Suggested Resources section at the back that an interested reader could follow up with if he or she wanted to know more about one of the branches of paganism discussed. Instead, there’s an oddly styled reference section of blog articles and websites that seem more general. All told, if you want to learn more about Wicca, you might be better off looking at books that have been around a long time, like the ones by Scott Cunningham.
Intuitive Tarot Reading by Melissa Smith
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Intuitive Tarot Reading*
Nonintuitive Rehash of Familiar Tarot Information
The title states that this book will look at intuitive tarot reading, and the blurb further suggests that the tarot is a pathway into the subconscious. While I agree with the latter as a long-time tarot reader, I do not believe that either promise was actually delivered in this book. Instead, the book seems to be a compilation of some common themes in tarot books or on tarot websites–like how to pick a deck, how to attune your deck, and how to get ready for a reading as well as some very basic spreads or draws–but is mostly taken up with a brief description of each of the 78 cards of the tarot along with its upright and reversed readings and its possible meanings if it comes up in a spread about finances, love, or work. I found these sections on each card to be little more than what you read in the little white book for each deck; nothing in particular is added to help improve intuitive reading. There’s a brief section about how the cards work that follows these descriptions of the cards; for structural purposes, I think this would have been better put with the beginning background information.
Some of the tips in the general section seem a little fussy and pedantic to me as someone who has been tarot practitioner for a long time; I suggest using your intuition to see if her suggestions feel right to you. I did think, though, that the information about asking the right questions what’s a good one.
The table of contents is a hot mess, and I actually don’t think it is terribly helpful for navigation around the text. Why is this? The author has made a clickable link for not only every chapter but every heading and subheading in each chapter. So in my Kindle, the table of contents goes on for screens and screens, especially when you hit the section on the card descriptions. Not only is the card name a clickable link, but the three sections that the author has written for each card are also clickable links– for each and every card.
There are also some formatting issues within the main text itself. I did receive an advance review copy, so I hope these formatting issues will be taken care of in the published version of the book. For instance, within the card description section, sometimes what should have been separate paragraphs all ran together. This is beyond the first 10% of the book at Amazon, so I couldn’t see if these had been fixed. There are definitely issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage. The reference section was formatted oddly, vaguely reminiscent of college paper reference sections. There was another odd thing as well. The author put out a call for reviews in the middle of the book—with a graphic and everything—and that was rather distracting and offputting.
For all of these issues, I would say that you could find better books on tarot in general, and you will certainly want to look for a different book if you truly want one that is about intuitive tarot reading.
How to Day Trade Penny Stocks by Bill Sykes & Timothy Gibbs
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
How to Day Trade Penny Stocks for Beginners*
The Skinny on Day Trading Penny Stocks
I have recently read these authors’ day trading book for beginners, and I felt that it lacked in the information needed for the true beginner. I was wondering if it would be the same for this book. I was delighted to discover that this book is chock-full of information and contains enough of it for the serious beginner to contemplate whether or not to actually start day trading penny stocks as well as the best steps about how to do it. The book begins with the basics and gets more complicated as it goes along, but the authors do so in such a way that the beginner isn’t overwhelmed with the technical details. While there are plenty of industry-specific terms in this book, they are introduced gradually and explained well. The authors give all sorts of practical information, like how to ease your way into penny stock trading and how to avoid being scammed. If you’re thinking of trading penny stocks, I highly recommend this book as it will give you solid information and advice.
Fae Hunter: Semester 2 by Amelia Shaw
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Fae Hunter: Semester 2*
Blurb Slightly Misleading
The blurb of the book makes you think that the bulk of it will take place in the Fae realm, but after a brief visit there, we stay stuck in the human world at the Academy until around the 50% mark. I thought this book was unbalanced in its pacing and action. It felt slow in the beginning and through much of the middle, but then really sped up–and the end was at lightning speed. The book has a little more profanity than I am comfortable with. I thought some sensual scenes, as well as regular ones, had elements that were slightly cringe-worthy. The heroine learned a lot more about herself, the Fae realm, and the Academy, much of which will come as a surprise to the readers of the first book. Not everyone is who or what they seem. The end of the book is a bit shocking, with a nail-biting cliffhanger at the end… so if you’re not a fan of those, be warned. This book cannot be read as a standalone; you do have to understand what went on the previous book to fully grasp what happens in this one. If you like the first book, you will most likely enjoy this one. While this book did have shortcomings, I am curious to see the resolution to the cliffhanger as well as what happens in the heroine’s evolving relationships with Fae princes.
Used To Build My Websites
NetGalley Badges