A new adventure for Miss Marple, upon the request of her friend Ruth she goes to stay with Carrie Louise in her VicRating: Good
Genre: Classic + Mystery
A new adventure for Miss Marple, upon the request of her friend Ruth she goes to stay with Carrie Louise in her Victorian mansion because Ruth sensed some danger coming. She meets the complex family of Carrie Louise and of course in that mansion a murder is committed. Miss Marple being the sharp old lady she is will be able to solve this mystery.
The title of this book is odd a bit, not sure why it was used. I liked how Agatha introduced all these complex family relationships in the story, all that seemed to be overwhelming even for Miss Marple to keep track of! This was a fast enjoyable read. I won't consider it Christie's best but definitely an enjoyable one.
Don't expect any twists like the modern thrillers getting into this book. This is more like cozy mysteries. ...more
A couple of years ago I have read the ARC of the third book in this series, The Girl from the Tea Garden and I [image] Rating: 4.0/5.0
Genre: Historical
A couple of years ago I have read the ARC of the third book in this series, The Girl from the Tea Garden and I liked it a lot. Each book can be read as a standalone as they have different characters and settings. The Tea Planter's Daughter's first 25% is set in India and the remaining portion is in London.
The story is about Clarissa Belhaven and her younger sister Olive who under some difficult circumstances will have to leave India and their plantation and go live with a cousin in England after their father passes away. The story starts in 1905 when Clarissa is around 18 years old and continues until she is in her 30s.
Like the other book I read in this series, Janet MacLeod Trotter focuses a lot on the character development of all her characters, the main as well as the secondary ones. The cultural aspect of the story is beautifully done too. The author has this ability to stick to fine details when describing the settings in that time period without boring the readers of unnecessary information. The flow of the story and its events is another aspect deserves to be praised here. There are no dull moments.
I am going to continue reading the other books in this series because it is obvious that Janet MacLeod Trotter is the kind of author that writes stories and characters that catch my attention and interest.
I thought this whole series was done for adults. Wrong! This story is made for children and I can't eve[image] Rating: 2.0/5.0
Genre: Novella + Horror???
I thought this whole series was done for adults. Wrong! This story is made for children and I can't even term it as a horror. The story is about a small group of children having a sleepover and playing together by imagining things! One of them, of course, is what the title suggests!
I felt this story was a mess. The Harry Potter references seemed to be forced and not interesting to me even being a fan of the series. The characters were not interesting enough. They were just names and not unique characters. What is worse than all the above was the audiobook narrator who used the same voice for all the characters. I had to quit the audiobook from the first page and read it myself because she made a boring story to become an awful one!
This is the third book in the series and so far my least favorite among the ones I read.
This is a very steamy book, has lots of erotic scenes. The story is about Stella who is an autistic woman and single, she hires a male Rating: 4.0/5.0
This is a very steamy book, has lots of erotic scenes. The story is about Stella who is an autistic woman and single, she hires a male escort Michael to teach her about relationships and lovemaking! Things get serious between the couple but there are obstacles that both find themselves facing.
If you get uncomfortable about sex scenes then you should look somewhere else because the book is filled with them. I liked the two main characters. I think many readers will be able to relate to them and to their insecurities. Another thing I like about this book is that it is compact and to the point. There are no fillers that many authors add just to increase the length of the book. I find this to be the ideal length for this genre.
The book is not perfect though. There are two cliches that I didn't like here, one of them is the hero reacting in a certain way just because his father was not a good man. This is done so many times in romance/drama novels. I don't know why authors can't think of something else! Another problem is the miscommunication between the two main characters that leads to their break up. This one also was done tons of times.
Despite these two problems, I think the story is light, not too long, has loveable characters and I think many readers and especially those who are into the romance genre are going to love it. I give The Kiss Quotient 4.0 stars out of 5.0....more
This book was very entertaining. It is filled with fey politics and deception. If you like this kind of fantasies then you must read thRating: 4.0/5.0
This book was very entertaining. It is filled with fey politics and deception. If you like this kind of fantasies then you must read this book. I don't want to say anything from the story or synopsis here, but all I want to share is my view on the book and story.
This could have been a 5 star read for me if some of the things were more tuned. The prologue started fantastically and made me think I was getting into the perfect story. At the beginning of the book, there is a lot of bullying which made me really uncomfortable. I usually can take harsher things without feeling uncomfortable but the bullying was too much for me here. Another disadvantage is that the author introduced many characters at the same time, there is a build up to these characters later as the story progresses but dumping many characters at the same time I feel is not a proper way to introduce them to the reader.
The events in the book were less than I was expecting and instead of creating multiple events the author resorted to longer scenes which can make things slow down a bit. In the last few chapters, things happen faster and we get finally a fantastic ending for this chapter of the story. Will be looking forward to the next book. I give The Cruel Prince an excellent 4.0 stars out of 5.0. ...more
I enjoyed reading this book a lot. The story is fantastic, the writing is beautiful and the characters are very detailed. V.E. Schwab sRating: 5.0/5.0
I enjoyed reading this book a lot. The story is fantastic, the writing is beautiful and the characters are very detailed. V.E. Schwab structured the book in a way alternating between different time frames which made the suspense even bigger. Except for the little girl, I think all the characters in this book are not stable. All are flawed, which makes them more real despite being extraordinary in the story.
If you watched the TV show "Heroes" and liked it then you are going to like this book. As a concept, the book is very similar to that show that makes you wonder if Schwab was inspired by it in writing this story. Both talk about ordinary people who get extraordinary abilities which makes them different than others. When two psychos get these abilities guess what is going to happen! That is the main focus of the book.
A fantastic book for those who love to read about such subjects and for the fans of Fantasy/Science fiction genre. Vicious gets the full marks from me....more
A surprisingly good romantic novel. The story is short but was very good and enjoyable. It is all about how a marriage contract turns tRating: 4.0/5.0
A surprisingly good romantic novel. The story is short but was very good and enjoyable. It is all about how a marriage contract turns to something more sweet and romantic. The lead characters were well written and described....more
This is the story of two siblings, Elric and Wynn. Elric is living with his father in the village while Rating: Very Good
Genre: Fantasy + Middle Grade
This is the story of two siblings, Elric and Wynn. Elric is living with his father in the village while Wynn lives with her mother in an abandoned cottage in the woods. The story is set in medieval times and very atmospheric in nature. It is more about magical realism than actual fantasy. In this village, the people there believe that changelings are left by fairies, those fairies take the real babies and exchange them with those changelings who tend to curse all people around them. So what the people do is take those babies and leave them in the woods so the village won’t be cursed. Wynn is a changeling according to them and her mother had to rescue her after the father decided to leave her in the woods hence both the mother and her baby were abandoned!
The idea of the story sounded very intriguing to me that is why I picked up the book. The author explains in her notes that Wynn was born with Rubinstein-Tyabi syndrome. This is a rare genetic condition with a severity that can differ from a person to another. So mixing this with the medieval era along with magical realism gave a unique touch to the story and many times it was sad to see how Wynn was being treated. When the mother passes away Elric decides to take care of his sister by saving her from the father and taking her away with her hen Mildred. The conflict between the two children happens with Wynn singing the folk songs her mother taught her about the Fairy Queen who is beyond the Silver Gate and insisting that they should find the gate and save the Queen while Elric tries his best to remain in their sad reality and do their best to survive. Who is right and who is wrong you have to read to find out. I enjoyed reading this story especially the siblings’ relationship and how strong it was despite the differences. The chicken Mildred was a nice touch to the story too. ...more
A classic dystopian novel. I wanted to read this book again before watching the TV shows. This was written in 1984 and even when I readRating: 4.0/5.0
A classic dystopian novel. I wanted to read this book again before watching the TV shows. This was written in 1984 and even when I read it in 2018 it is still as creepy as it used to be before. I still like this novel as I liked it when I read it for the first time many years back. What I find Margaret Atwood excels in is the detailed description of the world and everything else. She gives you the description of a room and makes you live inside it with her different characters.
I like about this book the small chapters. It makes reading goes very fast, but unfortunately, there is something that bothered me while reading and it is the jump into different time frames. Basically, the author made us jump back and forth between three different time frames. One which is before the change and the second is just about when the world order has changed and the third is the current time where the handmaid is living with the commander and his wife. I feel the jumps were happening fast. Whenever I felt my mind was settling into the situation the jump happened and I am moved into a totally different time and different setting. I wish the time frames were a bit longer or each had its dedicated chapter instead of jumping forward and backward in one single paragraph.
Overall, I would rate this book higher because of its literary aspect more than its entertainment value. This was not boring at all but it leans more towards literary than pure entertainment. This was a nice reread and good to see that a book still maintains its value after so many years. Recommended....more
A very suspenseful book by Stephen King. Even though it has lots of characters the story goes on very mysteriously. The main character beinRating: 4/5
A very suspenseful book by Stephen King. Even though it has lots of characters the story goes on very mysteriously. The main character being The Overlook Hotel. Can't wait to read the sequel too & hope it is as good as this one, I have watched the film & I like it a lot even though the movie was not faithful to the book but was enjoying....more