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. I’ll do weekly posts with links to my reviews at Amazon; you can also check out my Amazon and Goodreads profiles.
By the way, I’m now a top 50 Amazon.com reviewer (#12 currently) and the top 8 US reviewer of all time on Goodreads (and top 9 in the world)… and the #6 US reviewer and #8 in the world in the past year. Cool stuff!
I hope to make updates to this site soon!
Marked for Revenge by Jennifer S. Alderson
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Marked for Revenge*
Cross-Europe Art Heist Suspense
Oh, my! The author must have done much research for this book. So many topics were gone into deeply. It is almost overwhelming at times, as sometimes too much detail can bog down a narrative and distract from what is actually going on. (Or if you don’t have knowledge of an item or setting, the detail overload can make it seem more opaque.) This book ranges all over Europe and is a classic art heist thriller with the Croatian mafia thrown in along with the band of art thieves. I felt like I learned a lot about modern art and museums while reading this. In all, it was a solid page-turning thriller.
Writing to Heal the Pain by Mateja Klaric
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Writing to Heal the Pain*
Too Intensely Personal
When I read the blurb for this book, I mistakenly thought that it was at least partially about how to do what the title says. Instead, this is a book that contains the author’s writings as she herself was healing from what she perceived as trauma when she lost her job, and perhaps, her identity. The writing reveals her anger. Indeed, she strikes out at the world that has done her wrong. I found the writing to be a little too intense for my own liking. I understand that some of the book is from her blog. I understand the concept of writing as a way into your emotions and as a way to give clarity into your world, but I don’t necessarily believe that such mental musings, especially when they express such anger and bitterness, need to be shared with a greater world. I found this book to be a bit too much.
UPDATE July 16, 2019: It has been brought to my attention that Mateja Klaric has taken my review and posted it on her blog with commentary, ripping it to shreds and making personal attacks. She has done shared my review without my permission and in clear violation of the Goodreads TOS and my personal copyright. I have also heard that she is slandering me personally on at least one authors’ group.
I am a book reviewer, and I firmly believe in my right to give my opinions about a book. My opinions are just that–one person’s thoughts. If an author cannot handle criticism, then I suggest they not make their works public. Clearly, the author does not understand the purpose of consumer reviews.
I have heard that she harassed another reviewer enough to make that reviewer take the negative review down. I, however, will never be cowed. Perhaps it’s my American nature to believe in free speech… and never to be silenced by a bully.
If you want to read more about my thoughts on this, please see my July 16, 2019, post on my Facebook page.
Ashes of Revival by Alex Shobe
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Ashes of Revival*
Not Easy to Be the Queen
In this book, the heroine is a queen in a land that has never had a ruling female monarch. The men who should be her counsel are unwilling to give up control easily. The heroine very much acts the queen at times while at others she seems too meek and subservient. I couldn’t discern a pattern to it, so it felt disjointed; I never knew which aspect of the person I was going to get. The book is written in the first-person present, which I find to be a tough perspective to read. In general, I am not a fan of the first person in fiction, though I have gotten used to it as so many books are written in it these days. But I cannot get used to the present tense being used at all times in a book. It sticks out like a sore thumb and is quite wearing to read, actually. I thought some language was too modern sounding for a book that is supposed to be medieval-style fantasy; some words seemed like contemporary psychobabble or modern business speak. I couldn’t quite get into the characters, although I could not help but appreciate Colton’s difficulties at first. The book didn’t gel for me, as I really could not come to genuinely care about the characters and what happened to them.
Enigma: What Lies Beneath by Ditter Kellen
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Enigma: What Lies Beneath*
Bonds Reinforced in Harrowing Circumstances
Abbie and Hauke have had a bond since they were children when he saved her from drowning. That comes alive when they meet again as adults when Hauke has been captured and is being kept for further study; he is due to be transported to Area 51. He is from an underwater race of beings that are unknown to humans. Abbie and Hauke are soon on the run, trying to protect each other and figure out all that is going on with the deadly virus. I like how this couple could communicate telepathically; the author made their bond, even before mating, seem very real. Abbie is a supposedly intelligent woman, but some things that she thought or said didn’t come across that way to me. I also thought that the beginning of the book was told in a too-detached fashion, almost clinical in places. The book is surprisingly sensual, and this is described in great detail. This is a very steamy read; it was a bit over-the-top on occasion. However, I enjoyed their relationship and watching the conflicts they faced unfold.
Jinxerella by Cherie Marks
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Jinxerella*
Fascinating World But Some Annoying Flaws
I loved the adorable cover on this book and found that the name of the made-up town to be amusing (although I wonder if it is as funny to people from West Virginia), and as I love paranormal stories, I had high hopes for this one. While I did enjoy the story itself, the book had some serious flaws. There is a very wrong word choice on the very first page. The use of hyphens seems incorrect, and there were other issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage. A huge info dump set up the entire premise of the story immediately; the backstory and premise were not rolled out slowly, as they should be. All these things annoy me in books. I actually did quite like the heroine’s character. It’s rare to see a shy protagonist. I like the world that the author has created, but those annoyances that I mentioned earlier were off-putting.
His Competent Woman by Ellen Whyte
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
His Competent Woman*
But How Competent is She?
The author draws you right into this story when we see the heroine being told the news that her beloved son may have dyslexia. Emma is a single mother whose husband died while serving in the military, and she is struggling to make ends meet as it is now. The National Health Service does not cover dyslexia, so the diagnosis and any extra costs associated with it would have to be borne by her. She has had mostly short-term, dead-end jobs, but she manages to finagle her way into an office manager position at a local corporation by not being entirely truthful about her working history. The boss, the hero, comes across very strongly, an alpha male with a bad attitude towards women working in the office after three quit in the same week for personal reasons.
This is a short read, so the characters didn’t really have time to develop or have an arc. The author did broach to potentially difficult topics, being overweight and dyslexia. Honestly, the heroine didn’t seem to be that overweight by description—is someone whose clothes are a little too tight necessarily a BBW?—sometimes I wish that supposed BBW series actually had really overweight women and explored the topic deeply and sensitively. The dyslexia wasn’t handled as well as I would have liked, but this is a romantic novella, so I guess I can understand that fault. All in all, I found Emma’s head an interesting place to be in during her chapters, which made this a fun read.
The Neglected Garden by Suzanne Winterly
eBook available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Paperback available at Thalia
The Neglected Garden*
Imbalance Hampers Story
Gilly the garden designer is asked to make a bid on a garden redesign for a swanky home. The relatively new owner lives there with his young son, and there are some apartments for tenants on the grounds. It’s a beautiful estate in County Kildare, Ireland, but danger and secrets lurk beneath its tranquil surface. A surprising amount of gardening talk takes up valuable story room. Clearly, the author either has a deep understanding of gardens and their designs, or she did a lot of research for this book. I found the level of detail perhaps to be a little too much. I don’t know enough about gardens and plants for the minutiae to make much sense to me without a Google search or five. I felt like the scenes at the beginning didn’t have enough motion; not enough happened or was revealed. They felt like slice-of-life moments and weren’t terribly interesting, which actually waste time in a story that supposed to have both romantic and suspense elements. I don’t feel that the romance was pulled off 100% successfully. I liked both Gilly and Marc as characters, but they just didn’t gel for me as a couple. All in all, I felt like it needed more romance and suspense and a little less gardening and day-in-the-life scenes.
Rosalind by Judith Deborah
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Bol.de
Rosalind*
An Odd Combination of Parts
This book is an odd combination of parts. It is told from the perspective of a male doctor who doesn’t have much of a life outside of the hospital until he meets Rosalind, a good friend of one of his patients. He becomes nearly instantly obsessed by her, even following her out of the hospital one afternoon while she goes about her errands. Interestingly, while Rosalind is initially upset when she catches him, she feels something between them, too. The middle section of the book details, with some degree of sensuality, their budding relationship. A surprise twist takes the latter half of the book in a completely different direction.
I thought the pacing of this book was uneven. It’s relatively short, so too much time seemed to have been spent detailing the doctor’s obsession, even to the point of distraction while he was working. In one scene, or was it two, that I found a little icky as someone who has been a nurse in a hospital, the doctor closed and locked his office door so he could fantasize and—shall we say—act on his thoughts while alone. The sensual aspects of the book were actually written in a way that turned me off completely. I’m not sure why. Rosalind herself was a bit of an enigma to the hero, but we slowly learned more about her. I didn’t particularly like these characters, and I found parts of the plot just to be too slow moving or off-putting to keep me interested.
Of Sound Mind and Someone Else’s Body by William Quincy Belle
Available at Amazon, Thalia, and Bol.de
Of Sound Mind and Someone Else's Body*
Illuminating, 18+ Freaky Friday that Looks at Social and Gender Issues
What a wholly different and intriguing book! It’s a very adult, 18+ Freaky Friday variant, with the mind-swap happening between a sex worker and a man in a corporate job. The switch happens almost right away when the man finds his consciousness suddenly in the female sex workers body while she is plying her trade. Parts of this book are highly amusing as both come to grips with their new lives in a different body. But it also gives them an awareness of the trials and tribulations of the other gender in broader society (as well as the difficulty of wearing stilettos). I really enjoyed the conversations between the two mind-swappers. The author makes many points about gender inequality and society without preaching; through the characters, he shows rather than tells. There is some swearing and crude language in the book, but it did seem appropriate in context. I found this to be an illuminating and fascinating read.
Song of the Robin by R. V. Biggs
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Song of the Robin*
Immersive Psychological Read
This is an intense psychological read. The prologue puts you on edge right away because you don’t know precisely what is going on. Then within the main book itself, it seems as if we are thrown into a completely different world. The author has pulled off an intense deep third-person perspective. We feel like we’re living in the protagonist’s head. Yet the author us able to pull this off without it feeling like it is just navel-gazing. The protagonist is truly struggling through a difficult time in her life, so her sometimes physical, emotional, or mental paralysis makes sense given her thoughts as well as what is going on in her life as it unravels. We are truly on the journey with her; I read a lot, and I don’t see a lot of authors pulling this off successfully without making the protagonist thoughts seeming too selfish or is if they think themselves the center of the world. I love a good psychological drama, and this is one of them.
Jamie Brydone-Jack
Reader, Editor, Writer
I’m an avid reader, for both fun and work/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 also follow my reviews at Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub.
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