Melanie

Once again I review this book based on what I feel it brought to our home. A new perspective on organization and cleaning.

I did eventually warm up to this book however I am not raving about the series just yet. I will give Harry Hole another shot at catching my interest as the book absolutely caught my interest as it progressed and was a definite puzzler until the reveals began.

So...it is 2023 and I have just re-read The Bat. I guess my review from 2015 was correct because I've warmed even more to this book which many told me to skip. I love knowing the history of characters and this book did an excellent job of painting the history of Harry Hole. For fans of Nordic Crime I think this series is a win.

This was much better than I expected. I have listened to a few of these audible originals and not been impressed. I am actually interested in listening to future “winter” stories if they are written. Give this one a chance.

I had the great pleasure of going to see this in Stratford this fall. Paul Gross was playing Lear. I really like this production. Lear has never been one of my favourite plays. This time I could connect more to King Lear and the journey through which he was going through. Hooray Stratford 2023 Season.

A fun quick read that I truly enjoyed. I have been looking for something like the Oh so popular “One for the Money” Series by Janet Evanovich. This is not exactly that but does remind me a bit of that style of writing. Something that needs to be solved along with quirky family dynamics and maybe a touch of light romcom. Enjoyable from page to page. Good book for fun while learning a bit about a culture you may know very little about too.

I absolutely loved this one. It kept you going page after page and Kathy Reichs did a great job at building mystery and tension. I am excited to see if there are more books in the series that I like as much as this one

One of my favourite Lucas Davenport novels. It was one that I wanted to keep turning pages through the night. Fast paced build to the finish.

I did not enjoy the constant introduction of characters and sub stories but overall it was a solid mystery and I liked “Jack” our hero. I will give this series a chance.

Thank you to the GR Giveaway organizers for a copy of the book. I really wanted to read this novel. I'm left with the sense that it is truly a NOVEL. a piece of literature. There were things about the story that made me feel uncomfortable and at times I didn't “enjoy” the read, however it is not a summer beach novel. It is a book which is extremely well written and the author spent great time pacing out the ebb and flow of information and description. His descriptions paint the cove and isolation of Eastern Canada in your minds eye brilliantly. As you read the novel it is easy to imagine this tine and place. You are capable through the writing to envision how this novel would look in visual format. For that alone perhaps I should rate it 5 stars. Perhaps in tome I will up my rating. Today I will leave it at 4 stars based solely on my personal bias that I felt the pacing a bit too slow and I was not always driven to pick it up and finish. In truth however I wonder if that has more to do with my coming recently from summer reading where action and pace are the driving narrative of quickly inhaled paperbacks.
I believe this book will stand the test of time and I will return to it again for a second reading.

It was so wonderful to have won a copy of this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review a book I may otherwise have not known about. What a fast paced and interesting read. They say sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, well I guess in the case of this authors tale some people may believe that statement wholly true. In the end it is a story of triumph. The author was forced into this situation and it has shaped her life path. An interesting read.

Great little board book. I just purchased for a new baby.

Perhaps in the future I will give this book a kinder star rating but not today. I'm sorry to say this book was a slog. I kept at it thinking as I often do when listening to novels rather than reading them that perhaps it was dragging due to the audio format.

Here is the problem....

The length and getting mired down in minutia and detailed descriptors that led nowhere was also a problem.

I also had issues with the lack of flow. I'd just be thinking that the King's were leading me somewhere. That like the webbing cocooning their characters they were about to pull all the threads together and show me the mosaic sense of the story. Alas this was not the case.

Yes..,it all gets tied together in one big concept of “the bad guys” vs “the good guys”, however even this black and white portrayal of good and bad I found clunky and juvenile.

I had issues with perspective as well. The authors chose to write with large brush strokes what they perceived as the feelings and interpretations of culture from one large group...a group of which Owen and Stephen are not a part of in this world. In my opinion this led to some huge assumptions that lacked finesse and intricacies.

All of that being said I am a fan of Stephen King and there were definitely hallmarks of his style throughout the novel.

My apologies for a harsh review...who knows maybe I will look at this book more fondly in the future.

This “bookshot” delivered exactly what it promised. It was a fast paced story that kept you turning pages and wrapped up within a few hours of reading. It was perfect for reading on the train to the city. I enjoyed the writing style and energy of this “novella”. It was my first time reading a bookshot and if the writing of all of them is this good then I look forward to trying one again. It reminded me of when I was a teen and bought Ellery Queen Magazines that had “mini mysteries” that I looked forward to devouring in one sitting.
Great for a quick read.

I have such a difficult time reviewing books from my childhood. I struggle with “The Classics”. Who am I to say a book that many scholars, book reviewers and teachers before myself have already christened one of the BEST books in history.

Fortunately for me “The Velveteen Rabbit” does not disappoint my adult self. It continues to fill me with as much happiness, joy and hope that it did for me when I was five. It is one of the books that I have saved from my young years. My copy is worn and moldy smelling. The spine is cracked and the pages are brittle. It was read to me almost nightly as I clutched my own version of The Velveteen Rabbit: Paul the Koala. Yes I still own Paul as well.

As a child who struggled with health I related to this book in every dimension. I believed that Paul could have been ripped from my arms and burned. I knew the love a child has for that stuffed animal that IS real. As my teenage daughter would say this book has all “the feels”

Reading it today I was transported again to that place in childhood that believes in magic. Believes in everything that can be written on golden pages of fantasy and comes to life in your imagination.

It doesn't matter that it is a Children's Book. It is magically and well written. This book stands the test of time and delivers a message to children while also delivering a parable to adults.

Time tested and true a must have for any nursery. A great gift to give to a new mother to read and love with her children and future grandchildren.

5 stars...hands down...no question or guilt!

My review today is going to possibly change. Maybe I missed something with this read. I just simply did not enjoy this book at all. It was almost one that I did not finish. [b:The Immortalists 30288282 The Immortalists Chloe Benjamin https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493015963s/30288282.jpg 50766250] is the story of four siblings with a shared experience in childhood. That shared experience is a visit to a psychic known for telling you the date of your death. So sets the premise of the story. As a reader you are not told what each child is told. You enter into their stories separately with the book being divided into quarters, one quarter for each sibling and their lifespan. Im sorry to say that I just found myself wondering “what is the point here?” It appears to me that the author wants us to believe that each character is driven by their “death date” and that this changes the ways in which they all live their lives. The question is does it change their lives for the better or for the worse. I have my thoughts on what I believe Chloe Benjamin would say...I will leave that up to you to decide. My complaint is that I found some of the decisions and outcomes completely contrived and in the case of several of the siblings the velocity at which their story takes a right angled turn in order to end up at the outcome that the author writes for them is jarring and simply not believable. I am going to read other reviews. Perhaps my mind will change but this is one that I would not recommend. The concept had me pick up the book, the execution left me disappointed.

Well this wasn't my favourite novel. The first half was slow to gain momentum. I believe that the first section was a vehicle to introduce all the characters and solidify their relationships with each other. Once this section ended there was a moment of storytelling which caught my attention and I was looking forward to continuing. Unfortunately this moment was short lived and quickly followed by a back and forth description of wins and losses of battles between the Duke of York's Supporters and the crowned and mentally frail King. This became boring as these battles and skirmishes simply continued over and over along with repetitive descriptions of the kings addled state continued writings about the great love of The Duchess of Bedford and her husband Richard.
Simply too repetitive, I understand this is based on true events which cannot be changed. It was difficult subject matter to portray in an interesting fashion.

Well I love this author. I believe this may be his first book but I'm far too tired right now to double check. Throughout the novel I could envision everything. What a talent to have the ability to paint such detailed pictures, characters and intricate storylines with words. My criticism comes from this strength. At times the momentum was bogged down by lengthy antidotes and descriptors. Some areas of the book needed this for reference of importance later and some areas could have been shortened. The overall product became a bit too long and began to drag. We get it...the ex girlfriend is a tortured soul with complicated motives. As readers we did not need that point belaboured.
But despite those negatives what a tale Mr. Ile's weaves. I cannot believe a movie about Natchez and Penn Cage has yet to be written and I look forward to picking up the next book in this series.

First book and workshop on this topic that I found to be helpful....EXTREMELY helpful. Anyone looking at this book already knows this journey is long and isolating wth not as much medical help available as your expectations may have previously demanded. This book delivers. Improvement takes time but this book, followed leads to hope and health improvements.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. I really enjoy history, however I am not a huge fan of the romance novel. So often when reading historical fiction these tow genres are entwined. I find often that in such novels the romance is primary and the history is secondary. No Place for a Lady does an excellent job of balancing the historical story and the lives of it's characters. I dropped my rating to three stars only because I found that the author tied everything up in a perfect little happy bow. In terms of social context and history the bow that was tied was to unbelievable for me.
I am looking forward to exploring Gill Paul's work further in her other novels.

I will possibly write a thoughtful review at a later date. For now I am torn regarding how the novel concludes. I don't know what I wanted exactly in an ending, but I'm not sure it was this. For this reason I drop a 5 star novel to a 4 star review. I am likely to change my mind. I read this book ravenously, hungering for the next page..the next tidbit of information. At times I empathized with the parents and then equally with the nanny. In due measure also angered by all three. There are layers to this book. Cultural, social, historical layers which I felt I saw whizzing past like landscapes seen from the passengers viewpoint of a speeding train. The speeding train was of course my own pace of reading as I flew through the story. I need to really think about this book. I am glad I have read it and feel sure I will read this author again. For now it is a novel I know I must ponder. I must take time to settle my thoughts and emotions, however I feel sure it is a book I will be telling others to read as my emotional response to it cannot be denied.

Loved this book. First read of 2018.

This book is a wonderful purchase for the budding artist. Often these “tutorials for beginners” should be labelled “tutorials for serious art students in post secondary”.... This book has energy and gets the reader excited about trying these techniques. It is an extremely visual book, which makes sense as the author introduces you to visual art making techniques. I was happy with this purchase and am enjoying working through ideas presented within the colourful pages.

This book gets a 5 star review for the positive changes it brought to my home. I am not much of a self help reader and therefore do not feel qualified to judge this book in any other way. I have employed many ideas from the KonMari Method and am finding these to have made positive affects in our home.

I would have given this book only one star. I gave it two only out of respect for the talent in the writing. The author does a masterful job of describing setting, smells, micro-expressions and painting the picture of this story so delicately that I can close my mind and envision all characters and setting. It was a book that took you travelling with it. As the mother of a teen boy I could not get past the basic content. I know just how YOUNG a boy if that age is. Despite the title character calling him a man and reading into his actions. This all struck me as distasteful at best and smacks of pedophile actions at worst. The main idea around which the entire novel is built was simply a hurdle that no great writing could make up for. If the young man were even a few years older it would have made a difference in my review.

I just finished reading the first three Temperance Brennan novels. As a Canadian it is fun for me to read a novel that includes Montreal. I have only ever made it as far as Quebec, however the “canadianisms” that the author includes I find to be fun little quirks for us Canucks to recognize and enjoy. With that aside I am truly enjoying the pace of these novels and the twists and turns that make the mystery enjoyable but do not completely spoil the reader's ability to perhaps sleuth their own way to the killer(s). “Deadly Decisions” was extremely interesting for me. The author schools us on Criminal Biker Clubs and the novel highlights “The Bandidos”. Since it was written The Bandidos were massacred. This took place at an isolated farmhouse close to my hometown. It holds the title of Canada's largest mass murder. Our sleepy little town was stunned and shocked. Our crime pages consist of reports to the Provincial Police of grass being left to grow past the municipal by-law height. The detailed writing allowed me to envision exactly how the shocking farmhouse massacre came to be and some of the possible politics behind a raid between warring Bike Club Factions.