Reading Fanatic Reviews
Books to Add to Your TBR list... or Not!Hey, ya’ll! I’m VERY behind getting my reviews up on the website! I’ve increased the reading and reviewing, leaving less of my leisure time available to update this website. To see all my most recent reviews, just checkout my Amazon or Goodreads profile links below my avatar.
By the way, I’m now a top 500 Amazon reviewer (#312 at the time of this writing)… and the top 12 US reviewer of all time on Goodreads (and top 18 in the world). Cool stuff!
I hope to make updates to this site soon!
Nessie and the Holiday Surprise by Isla Wynter
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Bol.de
Nessie and the Holiday Surprise*
Another Sweet Tale About Nessie
I had read the previous book by this author about Nessie finding out about human Christmas traditions. So I thought it would be fun to check out this next book as well. As before, I found this book to be delightful. The author has managed to imbue Nessie with quite the personality. In this one, she decides to go on holiday in the ocean, and she meets a new friend. Parts of this book were very funny, like when she first tasted salty seawater. Even the illustration of that was really cute. I like how this author includes mini activities on many of the pages, like counting seagulls or asking questions like if the reader would like algae shortbread or what would they write to Nessie on a postcard. I did catch one error. In the text, the phrase “ice floes” was correct; however, on the illustration, it was written as “ice floats.” Besides that, I found this to be a charming book that I imagine a child would enjoy.
Welcome Home, Abby by Jan Gallagher Dunn
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Welcome Home, Abby*
Didn’t Quite Gel for Me
I am not quite sure what to think of this book. For some reason, it never quite gelled for me. We are thrown into this modern marriage of convenience very quickly. I think the book would have been better served if the couple had explored the feelings left over from their previous relationship before they agreed to a marriage of convenience. So, to me, some of their issues seemed contrived, ones that could have been easily dealt with if they had simply talked openly early on or throughout. Instead, by setting themselves up to not talk about true thoughts and feelings, things went awry that shouldn’t. There still could have been adequate conflict and tension given their mutual past history as well as their problems in previous relationships. I loved the hero’s little girl, Erin. She’s such a cutie. Though, in the end, I felt a little disappointed by this book.
Mince Pies and Murder by Carly Reid
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Mince Pies and Murder*
Murder and Christmas in Small-Town Scotland
I have read every book in this series, including the prequel. The series, where a young American woman goes to a small town in Scotland to stay with her aunt, immediately charmed me. Each book has felt infused with such a Scottish flavor and quirky characters like we love in any cozy mystery. This book, in particular, felt steeped in Scottish tradition—it is Christmas, after all—what fun! Who murdered Santa Claus after a big Yule festival? Dalkinchie, despite its small size, always seems to have an adequate pool of suspects! I feel like each of these books is getting better and better, though I did enjoy the first one. The author has a way of building a community of fascinating characters, throwing in blind turns and red herrings, and still making it all seem realistic. My hats off to the author, and I sincerely look forward to the next book of the series.
A Snowflake at Midnight by Anne Renwick
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo, Bol.de
A Snowflake at Midnight*
Christmas Steampunk Romance
I don’t read as much steampunk as I might like, but I do find it a very fascinating sub-sub-genre. This book had all the steampunk elements I enjoy, like all the science, airships, clockwork, a focus on industry, and harkening back to ancient traditions. I know once I read the description that it would be a book I’d like. I love the fact that the heroine is a librarian and the hero a botanist. I am intrigued by ancient texts myself, so I loved that that was an element in the mix. I absolutely adored the fact that the key to possibly finding a cure for her father had to do with a special type of mistletoe! Perfect for a Christmas story. I found both the main characters to be believable and relatable, and I loved that they were willing to sacrifice in the hopes of saving her father.
Miracle on Main Street by Lisa Hughey
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo, and Bol.de
Miracle on Main Street*
Didn’t Like the Hero for Most of the Book
This is the first book I have read by this author. I thought the writing itself was well done, with good turns of phrase, dialogue, and descriptions. I had a hard time with the characters, though. The hero, and I’m tempted to put air quotes around that, is a bit of a jerk for a long time. I didn’t like the way he sometimes treated the heroine. The heroine herself seemed almost too good and noble to be believable. Something just didn’t sit right with me from the get-go, and I couldn’t really get into the book.
Time Management for Women by Claire Haven
Available at Amazon only
NOT with Kindle Unlimited
Time Management for Women*
Some Nuggets, But Some Issues
I enjoy reading nonfiction of a variety of types. I find myself particularly intrigued by books on time management and productivity. This might stem from the fact that my previous boss continuously harped on time management as being my Achilles’ heel. But I am of the mind that time really can’t be managed; time just is. I think part of the problem comes from the idea that we inherently must accept all the tasks that keep us so busy and make our time management seem poor. That’s part of my problem with productivity books. They don’t seem to question why we have so much to do or if all that busy work is truly important. Rather, they seem to want to give steps to make the reader use his time more efficiently. To me, though, that still seems like too much of muchness, exhausting and stressful.
I did think, though, that this book did have some good pointers and a few unique perspectives—like becoming better at being productive by practicing productivity. But in the end, it felt like it still boils down to fitting as much as you can into the least amount of time. That way of living seems so stressful to me. Must we really go, go, go all the time? I think we should pare down our responsibilities, delegate, and automate as much as we can. And if bosses are too demanding or unreasonable, they should be told rather than just kowtowed to.
Over the Broomstick by Mara Webb
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Over the Broomstick*
More Needed in the Middle
I enjoy cozy mysteries very much, especially paranormal ones. In general, I like novellas, but the mystery genre just is not made for this short form of writing. A good mystery needs room to ramble, time for twists and turns happen, a space for the buildup of red herrings, etc. This story felt like it had great potential. The death of a loved one that brings you to a magical town? Sounds like the perfect setup. And the setup was good. But I didn’t feel like the follow-through was there. There wasn’t enough tension and forward motion to the plot. I thought the writing itself was fine. The descriptive passages were perhaps at times a little much, but overall, it was a pleasant read. I just wish that it felt like there was more to the middle of the story.
Ten Things My Husband Hated by Pauline Wiles
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Ten Things My Husband Hated*
Chick Lit Romance
This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I’m glad that we’ve been introduced. The book feels unusual because it is a good blend of chick lit and romance. Usually, a book is one or the other. The first half is heavy on the chick lit. I actually adored the heroine’s group of girlfriends. They helped her see herself more clearly after a very embarrassing moment, and they attempt to help her move on from her past in the way that caring friends do. I actually liked the structure that the author gave this book, with the divorced women choosing to do ten things that her husband hated as an act of defiance and reclaiming her life. The book is quite amusing at first; there’s almost a giddiness about it as the friends start to work through the list. But as the story continues, things get progressively more serious as the new life and the new love that the heroine has found appear to be threatened. I don’t think it’s easy to make that kind of a shift in a book and make it feel believable, so kudos to the author. The heroine had to grow and change in this book, and the author did a good job of showing it in a sometimes amusing and sometimes poignant way.
The Prophecy by Kim Sakwa
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo, and Bol.de
The Prophecy*
Time Travel Romance
I read a lot of books, and sometimes they line up in a peculiar way. I had just finished another Scottish time travel story, but these two were very different. In the other book, the means through which the heroine traveled to the past was well integrated into the story and was actually a key element. Here, it seemed almost like an afterthought. This was okay for a little while, but as the story progressed, I found myself wondering more about the mechanics of it all. I know, a little silly when reading a time-travel romance. I found some elements of this book to be somewhat melodramatic, like the first scene with the heroine in modern times. There was even an element of that in the Scottish part of the plot as well. Again, this will probably sound silly given that time travel is not possible, but I actually felt that the melodrama made the character seem less believable and relatable. Characters, after all, can be human even in fantasy or sci-fi worlds, so that is possible in a time travel romance as well. I did, however, I think it was sweet the way that the hero acted when the heroine was injured. He was fiercely protective and caring. I thought that the Scots accepted her as being from the future a bit too easily, and they didn’t react to some of her modernisms as I believe people back then might have. I did enjoy some of the witty banter that happened because of the temporal divide between the characters. I thought that the book could use some tightening, as some seems seemed overwritten or repetitive. Still, however, I did enjoy watching the clash of time and culture unfold as well as the romance.
The Secret by Elizabeth A. Lance
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Secret*
Ummmm, Ewwww
This book was just odd. There were a number of issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, so much so that it was distracting. There was even trouble with word choice. I can’t quite put my finger on what precisely is wrong with it, but the writing seemed almost juvenile in places in terms of word choice and sentence construction. Some legal issues brought up, too, didn’t seem quite right, even though I am not, of course, a scholar of Regency England law. It seems strange that after the heroine’s father’s death, the earldom would go to his uncle. Usually, inheritances don’t go back up the food chain, so to speak. And then this great-uncle’s solicitor suggests that he marry his great-niece in order to get the fortune that her father gave her that was not part of the entail. Could that have even happened legally? I hope not! If so, ewwww. Of course, the uncle’s suggestion was worse. I liked part of the concept of this book, introducing an American hero into the mix as I don’t think that is done often enough in Regency romance, but the setup left me completely cold.
Jamie Brydone-Jack
Reader, Editor, Writer
I’m an avid reader, for both fun and business. I enjoy a wide variety of books, including literary fiction, romance, thrillers, cozy mysteries, and fantasy for fiction and history, contemporary issues, philosophy, music, medicine, and cookbooks for nonfiction. I’m a freelance copyeditor who also does beta and alpha reading. I have two websites that are all about romance and mystery. You can follow my reviews at Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub.
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