When power went out I downloaded several books on my tablet when I was in the town next over. I happened to see a Shari Lapena book I had not read. I finally started A Stranger in The House and it was a quick read.
I did figure out most of the mystery. Parts of it did elude me but that is alright. However what is not alright is the ending. I want a sequel! The story slowly builds and it can be hard to follow at times. With constant characters point of views when something exciting happens the point of view is switched. Normally I am not a huge fan of this but Mrs. Lapena makes it work.
Having finished A Stranger in the House I believe I have read all but one of Mrs. Lapena's published work. I enjoy her stories and writing ability enough to continue to read future work and the last published novel I have not read.
I did not think any of the physical Christmas books I ordered from the library would come before Christmas so I was shocked when on the 22nd Yours for the Season showed up. I picked it up on the 23rd and read the first half that night the second half on the night of the 24th.
The storyline is cute, feel good, and predictable. Nothing really revealing that I was not expecting. However due to my person circumstances I did have issues with the last ten percent or so. It is really impossible to warn readers about this since it would ruin the overall story.
The writing was fine and even with the transitions back in time it was clear when it was done. I also appreciated that when Mel was texting Pita it was clearly a text. Like a hallmark movie in a book.
Considering Then She was Gone is the third book by Lisa Jewell I did not like I am thinking she was a one shot wonder for me.
The premise sounded promising and like it could be a fun mystery. Nope I figured it all out around the ten percent mark. It is not fun figuring out the whole mystery that soon. The characters were shallow and unbelievable.
Poppy was the best character but only because she came off as creepy and clearly needing guidance on how to act with peers her own age.
I did finish but I was bored and skipped "fluff" paragraphs.
The Village Beyond the Mist was showcased on the e-library with a lot of copies available so I checked it out. I am glad I did since power went out for four days and I had my tablet to read on since it was freshly charged.
Lina was such a fun character, at the age where she is starting to learn adult responsibilities but can still have the carefreeness of a being a child. It was a lot of fun to read the story and see the parts that were incorporated in Spirited Away. The side characters were all unique and well thought out. As the story progressed I was eager to see how Lina would learn from each job and evolve into a more responsible young adult.
The reading is easy, it is perfect for a middle school student, and I was able to read it all in one sitting. The illustrations added to the story a lot and I loved the whimsy and magical fun each picture did to help build the story. Since I read it in English I have to judge how the translator did and not once did I get confused, lost, or try to figure out what a word was used. The writing flowed smoothly and the story made sense.
The cover of Good Spirits is so pretty, festive, whimsy, magical, and it had pretty red edges. I saw Good Spirits in Walmart and reserved it through the library since I had to buy Christmas presents. That is probably a good thing since the cover and sprayed edges turned out to be my favorite part of the book overall.
Harriet is just a normal woman living her life running her antique shop when all of a sudden a man appears in her living room. I liked Harriet, she was a believable person. Instead of just going with the flow of things Harriet questioned things like why Noland was in her living her room and why he was haunting her.
Noland was a bit lackluster. He supposedly has been a ghost for over a hundred years. I wanted more history from him. Not just he learned to knit and read a lot of books. While he was set in his ways he also was sort of boring.
I wanted more historical references to A Christmas Carol. Steamy and spicy scenes I could have done with less of those. One is enough for a whole book for me. The story was too long, parts of it repeated and it would have been nice to see more memories. Not just hear about them as they came back. The writing was okay. Not horrible but not amazing just average. I do not plan on continuing the series but I may forget that plan if the see the cover for Grim Tidings and like it.
I need to learn Booktok is not aligning to my taste in books. I kept seeing That's Not My Name all over Booktok (I don't even have tiktok) and it sounded intriguing.
I really wanted to enjoy, love, and eat up That's Not my Name. When I went into the story I did not realize it was told from duel points of view but I don't think that is what turned me off from the story. Like most duel point of view stories when one part is getting good, suspenseful, or addicting it jumped to another point of view.
Mary is a bit clueless for a seventeen year old even though she is a child she is close to being an adult and has to learn to advocate for herself some. That never really happened she just kept hiding her discomfort and trying not to upset her father. even seem to take time off of their jobs to help him cope with Lola disappearing.
Drew seemed hard to believe. I liked how his father's were worried about him but other then that they did not press him to get therapy or
I figured out the mystery early on like in the first 40 pages. I kept hoping for some big revelation about what was going on but it was pretty predicable not sure if this was due to it being young adult or if the mystery was that easy to figure out.
Since I could not sleep last night I did read the sample for Mrs. Lally's next work and it sounded okay. Same writing style but maybe the mystery will appeal to me more. For me That's Not My Name was just an average book.
I uss to post book trailer with my reviews but those seem to be less popular since everyone does a tictok now. However I did find an official audio book trailer for That's Not My Name.
Since Belle is one of my favorite Disney Princesses I was excited to read The Beast Within and learn more about Adam* and how he became a beast.
Later teenager years are the time period of main focus in the story. The prince is not an overly nice person, he is spoiled, rude, and demanding of people. Gaston is his only friend and does seem to try to help the prince consider how things will look to "commoners" if he does not act princely.
While this is fanfiction it is well done and Disney did agree to put their name on it. I am not sure if that is Disney making it cannon or not but the story fits with the Disney story. Nothing is odd or comes off as wow where did that come from.
It took around five years for the Beast Within to come out after Fairest of All and Ms Valento's writing has improved. Things did not just go in circles and the story constantly repeating. The characters had more depth and even the side characters felt better written.
Overall I did like Beast's story far more then the Evil Queen's story. However I prefer Beauty and the Beast to Snow White so that could be part of it.
Ursula is the next story and it has a long wait list from the library so guess I am taking a break from the Disney Villain's series for now.
*The beast is never referred to as Adam but I happen to know his real name.
