Tag: fiction

Recycled Book Reading Challenge: The Last Boyfriend by Nora Roberts

Hi there 🙂 Happy May Day!

This was a good one. I got a bit sucked into reading this book. It took awhile to get into it, but once I did, it was a pretty easy read.

I have no idea how this book came to be in my possession. For some reason, I think it might have been a ‘pass it along’ find.

I liked the storyline of the book. Basically, an old home is being renovated into a glam historical hotel and all of the characters this involves. There’s also a parallel storyline, one which involves a ghost – Lizzie. This was by far what intrigued me the most. She’s waiting for ‘Billy’ and although the people who have been used to having her around for awhile value her and aren’t so afraid, they find themselves on a mission to find out her story and who Billy is.

The only thing I don’t like about this situation is that this is the 2nd book of a 3 book series. I can fill in the gaps from the 1st book, so that’s not any kind of problem. However, I really want to know what happens in book 3! I’m not a big romance person, so I could kind of care less what happens with fictional personal relationships. However, there is a ghost mystery intertwined in this story and THAT is what I want to get to the heart of! Has anyone here read the 3rd book? If so, please let me know what happened with Eliza!

If you would like to join the Recycled Book Reading Challenge, just click the link and check it out! Its quite straightforward – dust off 1 book from your bookshelf and give it a read every month. Write a post about it and either wingback to the challenge or drop the link to your post in the comments section! I will link to every post from the month before I published. This is from Colette at Colette B.

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Recycled Book Reading Challenge: Cover Her Face by P.D. James #RBRC

I love P.D. James. I’ve read quite a few P.D. James books and I get sucked in within the first 30 pages. As it should be 🙂 When I went to my bookshelf of dusty old books and I saw this beauty, I just new it would be perfect to be waiting for me upon my return from the hospital. This is my sick-bed reading for the month of March. Which is probably why I’m actually on time with my challenge reading for the first time in months.

This was a light read, with each chapter separated into subsections. (Which made it awesome for someone who’s falling asleep every half-hour). I got really lucky when I realized that this is actually the 1st of the Dalgliesh detective series. As I have never read any from this particular series before. It is a bit like Agatha Christie or Poirot. Which is cool. I’ve enjoyed those since I was a child.

The victim, a miss Sally Juup. A new, young maid servant who was brought in by the family due to her ‘unfortunate circumstance’. AKA – a little one in tow with no husband in sight. Much is made of her circumstances, in hushed private gossip, of course.

There is a lot going on the day she dies; A church social on the grounds, a proposal from the highly sought after son of the family, Richard. And she finds the ill fathers stash of pills in his bed and runs off to cause a scene.

When Martha, the family’s only full-time servant, and a lifer at that, discovers that Sally has abducted Mr. Maxie’s pill stash, she finally unleashes on the young girl. Who dares stand up to her in return.

But the real clincher is when Sally announces to the matriarch of Martingale that her son proposed to her that day, things get really tense. That night, she is found dead in her bed with her child crying beside her.

I can’t really go into the investigation without giving things away, but if you like Poirot or Agatha Christie stories, you will enjoy this book.

If you would like to join my Recycled Book Reading Challenge, you can find all the details by clicking here.

Also, as stated last month, I will begin including the links of bloggers posts who are doing the Recycled Book Reading Challenge. So, feel free to link your challenges in the comment section here and I will include them in next months post.

You can find Colette’s RBRC post here.

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Former.ly: The rise and fall of a social network by Dane Cobain @danecobain #formerly

I have been reading Dane Cobain’s books for awhile now. Former.ly is the newest that I’ve gotten my hands on, and as always with this author, I got hooked into this book almost immediately. Dane Cobain is a young UK author with 5 published books under his belt. I really enjoy this author, partly because his relative youth allows for him to write works of fiction which appeal to our modern-day, technology driven world.

This book is a good read. It is suspenseful and gives the reader an unusual first-person perspective into the world of social media. This book presents readers with a realm of social media possibilities that we rarely consider in this I.T. based world of ours. A well written, great read!

Dan Roberts is your main character. Like most of us, he just wants to find a job and pay his bills. Being a bit on the naive side, he has no idea what he’s in for when he gets a job at Former.ly. You see, Former.ly the company, is much like Facebook…only with a bit of a sinister twist. It’s a social media platform for the dearly departed. This is how it works: The users, write in it almost like a private journal. They are encouraged to share their most private thoughts. These thoughts are kept private. Safe and sound on the secret server. This is an easy false comfort to fall into – journaling, as most of us bloggers know. However, the kicker comes when the user dies. Once the user has passed on, these secret writings are no longer kept hidden. Au contraire – they are posted for the entire world to see! Now imagine this, for just a moment. Let it sink in. Can you IMAGINE the kinds of chaos that ensues once those posts are made public?! Hate mail, confessions of an extraordinary kind, conspiracies, etc… Shit hits the fan!

I, personally, really like the way it is written in first person. Some people do, some people don’t. I think its refreshing to have a limited perspective about the goings on of the story. It relays to us how narrow our own views really are, and reminds us that one person cannot possibly know all of the aspects. This, to me, brings the book a bit more into my personal realm of understanding. Life teaches us that the omniscient perspective of some books is not at all realistic. The first person perspective however, keeps us arm chair detectives a bit more involved. As, we as people, can only make judgement calls on the limited information available to us in the real world.

I would highly recommend this book to adult readers.

If you would like to see more about this book or some of the other great titles by this author, please click here to visit the Dane Cobain official website.

Have you read any of Dane Cobain’s books?

-Mliae

*Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. I like it, and will continue to look for the next books from this author 🙂

Recycled Book Reading Challenge: Sandstorm by Michael Asher

This book was passed along to me by a friend of mine after he finished reading it. It’s been sitting on my bookshelf for awhile, so I thought it would be a great pick for November’s Recycled Book Reading Challenge.

This book is set in the Sahara, during the 50’s. It is a bit cliché – the whole honor, nomadic wanderer, loyalty, betrayal in the desert thing. But it is a good book…so far…for a few days of chilling out.

However, I must be honest. I was unable to complete this book before todays challenge deadline. So it is difficult for me to share an accurate assessment. I’m not exactly sure why…maybe the tiredness. But I just couldn’t get into it as an adventure book, which I generally get so involved in, I can’t put them down. But by the time I got about 100 pages in, it started to seem a bit…easy to guess where it was going. I did try to finish it, but it just didn’t hold my attention. I’ll be passing this one along. I guess now I understand why it was given to me 😉

I’m loving reading your challenge posts!

-Mliae

Book Review: Futuring the Future by Michael F. Kaufmann #FuturingtheFuture


Firstly, I must admit that this book was a bit difficult to follow. So please understand that this may influence my review a bit, as I was unable to completely grasp some things.

Written in a simple style, this book is both fiction and non-fiction, woven together in an intricate tale which blurs the lines of reality in order to create an out-of-the-box picture of our interactions with other planetary lifeforms.

Although written to be simply understood, this book is very complex as far as critical thinking  and story plot is concerned. I would recommend this for a more intellectual sci-fi reader.

The actual formatting of the book is more along the lines of a script. A bit choppy, difficult to follow at times and occasionally one is sent to read and re-read the same passages. I understand why this is, I think, so that like re-watching a movie, the reader picks up on things the second or third time around, that one would have missed the first time. Especially when it is included in a different context.

This is an intriguing read, and very interesting…especially when one is not sure which facts are facts, and which are fiction. It does, encourage one to think deep thoughts, much more than the usual sci-fi novel.

Even though I had a difficult time following at times, I really love the fact that this is written in a completely different form. It’s like it forces your brain to take breaks and reconsider what’s happening. Different is good! This book is not your average futuristic read…for sure!

The author is cited to have written more than 10 books. He is a Physicist and has a core interest in General Relativity. These facts are useful to keep in mind as one reads Futuring the Future.

I would recommend this book, but only for those who are really looking for a thought inspiring, scientific read. Something different. This is not one of those relaxing weekend books.

If you are interested in this intriguing future-based book, it can be found by clicking here.

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

*Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review

Book Review: Hi-tech Hijack by Dov Nardimon #HiTechHijack


This is one of those adventure books that I did not want to stop reading. It sucked me into the story from the very beginning. Which, I love 😉

Eddie, an Israeli career scientist who is on the never ending quest to cure cancer with the Ebola virus, finds himself and his partner in a precarious situation when they are kidnapped en-route to their destination. Through the drugging and reminiscing, a large portion of this book is a flash back which explains how the pair found themselves in their current predicament. It explains how Eddie was so desperate that he gave himself Ebola and is still recuperating from his recovery.

Eddie and Reuben find themselves held hostage in an almost luxury hotel-like situation, by a nasty couple out to discover the secret to keeping Ebola alive and airborne. Eddie, having had military training in hostage situations, maintains his calm demeanor throughout the drama. Reuben, on the other hand, is not a cool fellow and suffers panic attack after panic attack – thus placing himself at the top of the interrogation list.

We eventually discover that Reuben, is a total dirtbag. His quest for money blinds him totally. Eddie, our protagonist, remains logical and opportunist at every turn. I don’t want to give away too much, but there’s a lot of excitement and a lot of drama!

The author has obviously done copious amounts of ebola research and some serious checking into how scientific research is performed and funded. The facts contained in the book are mind boggling on their own.

If you like thrillers, you will love this book! It’s a really good book and I could not make myself stop reading it. The manipulation, and adventure keeps its readers wanting to know what happens next, after every page turn! Highly recommended!

If you would like to purchase this book, it can be found here on the official amazon US page.

For international orders, here is the amazon UK link: Hi-Tech Hijack

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

*Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. I actually liked it quite a lot 🙂

Book Review:Broken Leaves of Autumn by Eli Hai #Review


This book begins with Jeff and his younger sister Pam, setting the stage in a home with a drunken, abusive father and a beautiful submissive mother. After Jeff returns home to discover that Pam has received the beating of a lifetime from her father, he starts planning to leave. No long after that, Jeff has had enough and informs Pam that he is living for good. NY is his goal. He doesn’t know how he’ll survive there or what he’ll do, but anything is better than what he’s living in. Fortunately he finds a deal he cannot refuse on his very first day in NY! He meets a man, Ahron, an ultra Othordoxy Jewish man who arranges a place to live for Jeff and gets him a job washing windows as well as other odd jobs.

Eve, a beautiful successful NY stock trader, works in one of the high rises where Jeff cleans the outside windows. Although herself being a hot commodity on the dating market, she notices Jeff when he’s outside her window and just can’t seem to shake him out of her mind.

These two do meet and the story is beautiful. However, it is a sub-story within the book. The main story follows Jeff’s life and Ahron and his family’s lives in parallel.

I don’t want to give away the good bits, so it’s difficult because I want to tell you all about it. The author; Eli Hai, has written the book in such a way as to depict the dramatic differences in the lives, lifestyles, culture and importance (or lack there of) in these lives. If you’re a fan of Yiddish, you’ll love this book. I learned quite a bit more Yiddish words, and they are carefully sewn throughout the story. I can admit quite freely, that this was a lesson of culture for me and I consider myself a somewhat worldly woman.

I found this book quite riveting. I am not usually a fast reader, but I found myself turning page after page after page in this book. It’s a good one! I do recommend this book. Especially if you are a fan of ‘happily ever after’s’.

If you are interested in reading this book, you can get it by clicking here. I am also attaching additional links to the amazon stores below if you prefer region-specific shopping:

Amazon US:
Broken Leaves of Autumn

Amazon UK:
Broken Leaves of Autumn

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

*Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. And I liked it 🙂

Book Review! Virgin Mary – Refuge city: The Scroll of Spera by Amos Castel el Halili #VirginMaryTheScrollofSpera

This is definitely a book which you cannot judge by its cover. Set in the late 1800´s, this book follows the life stories of 3 young women from very different backgrounds. Mary, the U.S. presidents daughter who bucks the system by making friends with her slave, Constanze who finds herself in a harem in the Ottoman empire after watching her family slaughtered and her mother taken and tortured, and Spera, a Ukrainian Jew fighting to survive ethnic cleansing and brutality. And what is the tie that binds these 3 different tales of very intelligent women together? Politics, industry and the rail road, of course! That huge corporate, western front on which industry relies and which has always been  either loved by or aggressively battled by the populace which it affects.

This is not a book I would have normally chosen for myself to read. The beginning of this book is absolutely brutal and definitely only suggested for mature audiences, metal stomached, adults (I would not recommend this for the under 30 crowd) that understand the history of brutality against women and men of all ages during that time period.  I had a difficult time understanding why this book is so brutal, until I read the authors biography. The pen name is a pseudonym which reflects the authors heritage. It suggest a Jewish- Spanish identity of the authors family history in Gaza and Hebron, stretching back hundreds of years. The biography states  that the authors family were victims of ‘Ottoman imperialism and Islamic supremacism’, which is very clearly depicted in the book.

Now, that being said, there are good plots in the book and the violence does level out a bit and the plot thickens once you get a bit further into the book. The author has done their homework, as the depiction of the times, politics and way of life is incredibly accurate.

If you are interested in purchasing this book in either e-book or paperback format, it can be purchased at amazon here:

Virgin Mary: The Scroll of Spera (Refuge City Book 1)

*Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Recycled Book Reading Challenge: King Lear by William Shakespeare

Hello!

My apologies, time escaped me and I did not realize that yesterday was the 1st until quite late in the night. So I’m a day late…again.

My pick for August for the Recycled book reading challenge is King Lear by William Shakespeare. I think I picked this up for 0,25€ at a second hand shop. I’m a sucker for the classics and will always grab one, even if I’ve already read it!

Being a classic, I have read King Lear before. I think the first time I read it was in my english classes in University. As a Shakespeare fan, I will read it again and again. This book will stay on my shelf.

The plot is an absolute tragedy. One with whom some people to this day can somewhat empathize with, which is why I think Shakespeare remains so popular.

In summary, King Lear decides that he has to divide his realm, as he is aging and his time will come soon. He opts to divide his legacy between his 3 daughters, giving the one who loves him the most, the lions share of the estate. Two of his daughters; Goneril and Regan, sooth him with sugary words from mouths dripping honey. Cordelia (the youngest daughter whom King Lear assumes would be the one who loves him the most – and is) Is honest and open with him. This backfires tremendously when King Lear gets extremely angry and disinherits her. When her friend, the Earl of Kent, tries to defend her, Lear banishes him from court as well. But she is not left alone. The King of France, touched by her honesty, marries her.

The Earl of Kent, sensing what is coming from Goneril and Regan, disguises himself and goes to work as King Lear’s servant. Lear decides to live with Goneril, but once she makes her intentions known, he sends his servant (Disguised Earl of Kent) ahead to Regan’s with a letter stating his intention to live with her instead. The Earl of Kent is detained at the house and when King Lear discovers this, he is told that the sisters are plotting to kill him. The revenge is taken out on Gloucester, who discovered and shared the plot, by gouging out his eyes. Brutal!

Cordelia, who has married the French King, returns home with an army of French troops ready for battle with her sisters. King Lear, the Earl of Kent and Gloucester try to make their way to Cordelia in hopes of reuniting. In the process, Gloucester finds his lost son, Edgar. King Lear sleeps through the battle, only to awake and discover that Cordelia lost the battle. Initially, he is somewhat ok about it because he assumes that they will be jailed together. This delusion is shattered when he soon realizes that Cordelia is to be executed. Gloucester’s other son, Edmund, gave the orders. Both sisters are in love with Edmund and this turns into a suicide bath.

When Edmund (who has been fatally wounded by Edgar) is dying, he reverses the execution order for Cordelia. But it is too late. She is hung. Her father, King Lear, is so overcome by the grief of all that his emotional decision has caused, dies on her lifeless body. Edgar becomes King.

This is a very good read, but the written language does make it a bit difficult to adapt to.

If you would like to join my recycled book reading challenge, please click the link for full details. I love this challenge!

What are you reading?

-Mliae

 

Recycled Book Reading Challenge: The Heist by Janet Ivanovich & Lee Goldberg

My July’s recycled book reading challenge book is The Heist by Janet Ivanovich and Lee Goldberg. I really loved this book!

This is the first book of a new series by these authors . I am an Ivanovich fan, so I was happy to see that it is penned with her usual humor.

It begins with Nick Fox, a famous, rich, cunning and unbelievable ingenious thief who has been outrunning Kate O´Hare, an FBI agent, for 7 years! This book involves numerous clever, and quite hilarious capers. Eventually these two find themselves working together. Nick Fox puts things together to bring the main heist together.

The joviality is brought together through an unusual cast of character with a unique set of skills and personalities. It is ingenious and cleverly written, and the action never slows down!

I would highly recommend this book if you are a fan of lightly, humorously written adventure like I am! If you are interested in finding out more about this book or purchasing it, click here to go to Janet Ivanovich’s website.

If you would like to join this awesomely fun challenge, you can see the original guidelines by clicking here. We’ve got some really great bloggers on this challenge, and I hope more will join!

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Recycled Book Reading Challenge: Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

My June read for the Recycled Book Reading Challenge is ‘Bad Monkeys’ by Matt Ruff. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! So much so, that I am unable to pass it on. I have to keep it in my personal library to re-read at another time.

The book is set in a Las Vegas mental ward where the star of our story, Jane Charlotte is being interviewed by Dr. Vale. Jane contends that she works for a secret organization, and her department is called ‘Bad Monkeys’ for short. Her role as an employee of Bad Monkeys  is to put down people who are evil. Not bad people, but evil….completely unredeemable people. According to Jane’s story, she has landed herself there because of an unauthorized kill.

Throughout the story, I found myself trying to decide if Jane was absolutely mad, bad, sane, or a thorough mix of all of the aforementioned.

It’s not often that you find yourself siding with the ‘bad guy’ or possibly ‘good guy’ – perhaps the ‘good guy with a good motive to be bad’ in a book. This book contains multiple plot twists, a bit of humor and a lot of psychology.

I do suggest this book. It’s a lot of fun and the at least half of it moves at a fast pace so your mind is always stimulated.

If you are interested in purchasing this or other Matt Ruff books, you can click here for his amazon page.

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll join in the challenge!

-Mliae

Book Review: Daughter of the Sun by Zoe Kalo #WWVBT


I literally could not stop reading this book. I was hooked within the first 2 chapters and found myself reading the entire day until I had read this book in its entirety. I haven’t done that in years!

The setting begins in a convent/orphanage where Trinity, almost 17 years old, discovers that she does indeed have surviving family who have found and sent for her. Escorted to her home by a mysterious, slightly glamorous woman, Trinity finds herself and her new cat Slugger on the Isle of Cats off the coast of Turkey,  and life as she knows it, is officially and completely turned upside down.

This socially awkward teenager has her eyes forcibly opened to a whole new realm of possibilities, history and a terrifying lack of control in her newly acquired circumstance. As a reprieve, she enjoys the company of her fun-loving, ill tempered and misunderstood ‘cousin’ Ara and her friends.

Trinity has a lifetime of questions, which she has to struggle to get the answers for. This strong-willed, hard-headed and hot-tempered girl sets out to find the answers at any cost. In most cases, only leading to more unanswered questions. On her quest for the truth, Trinity enters into a dark reality from which there is seemingly no return.

You see, Trinity was born on the solar eclipse. And on her 17th birthday at the Summer Solstice, there will be another eclipse, only a rarer one…when the moon turns blood red. It comes about only every 170 years. There is an ancient Egyptian prophecy about what will come to play on this evening, but only certain people are aware of it. By the time you finish this book, you’ll be chanting Margarets words: ‘The three of you must work together…‘

I’m having to exercise some willpower here in order to not give a complete summary of the book because its really good and I think it should be read and enjoyed – not given the cliff notes version. The e-book can be purchased HERE for $1.23 on amazon.

This book contains the mystical, the mysterious, the fun and sun that we all find ourselves longing for on occasion. It’s an easy read, which makes it one just fall into the pages…turning, turning and turning until many hours later when you’ve finally reached the thrilling and much anticipated conclusion. I would recommend this book as a good read for adults and teens alike, but my suggestion is the 15+ age range.

The author, Zoe Kalo writes with a passion and knowledge of Egyptology that will send you on a mythological treasure hunt of your own. Read and enjoy!

Looking forward to the second book in this series!

-Mliae

*Disclosure: I was granted a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. Which has been given. I really enjoyed it 🙂 #WWVBT

Recycled Book Reading Challenge: Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman

I chose the book ‘Domestic Violets’ by Matthew Norman, for April’s reading for the Recycled Book Reading Challenge.

I have to say that I just could not put this book down. Published in 2011, it is relatively new (as recycled books go) and it was a smooth read because it really reflected many of the challenges and feelings we face in our modern day lives.

This book is fiction book, mainly about a much celebrated writer of fiction books and his son, also an aspiring writer. The challenges of growing up, working in massive corporations where tasks and knowledge are so divided that employees just feel like mindless drones. The daily life of marriage, temptation, children and the drive to accomplish our true goals. Life does get in the way and this book is a shining example.

I did some instagramming and I see that Matthew Norman (instagram: Thenormannation ) has another book from this year -‘We’re all Damaged’. I’m going to keep an eye out for it. If its as good as this one, it will be well worth the time spent reading it! Also, if you’re interested, you can find his blogspot blog here.

I am very pleasantly surprised and really excited about how many great fellow bloggers have chosen to join this challenge! Thank you! I hope that many more of you will continue to join in to dust off an old book on the shelf to read and review monthly 🙂

Enjoy your reading!

-Mliae