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Saturday, February 25, 2017

Review: Dating on the Dork Side

Dating on the Dork Side Dating on the Dork Side by Charity Tahmaseb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Had to throw something in between reading all of End of Days books back2back. And then I got this for free, I began reading it, and it felt like had read it before. A quick search found the sampler for this book, which I had read the first few pages, so I was right. But now I am really reading it, and will finish it soon, probably today.
Nice fluffy read with no sex (so far).
OK, sex is hinted at but happening off-page. Could have been happening on page for me, but that may also easily have gone wrong, what with the problems the people have in this book.
Not so fluffy, I found it rather sad, but that may be just me.
Also the length was just what I needed, not too long, not too short. Heroine was great.

It is a solid 3 star, I never knew how they would solve this mess, or how it would end, and for that it is rather well done, the tech (facebook, videos, wiki etc.) is spot on and not too technical for the lay-person and very real, no uber-hacker, just a simple password guess possible through the use of an easily guessable password from a jock.

Recommended as fast rainy sunday or weekend read. This goes in the same direction as
#Nerd and Adorkable, even with the sport-theme.
The hacking and tech could have played a bigger role for me, or there could have been more suspense. But as it was and without violence, it was ok. Read between the 2nd and 3d book of the Penryn and the End of days trilogy to read something different. But somehow it was not as uplifting as the other books mentioned, more sad. So beware, there is a reason I only gave 3 stars.

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Friday, February 24, 2017

Review: World After

World After World After by Susan Ee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘I’m revoking your warrior status,’ he says as he watches Clara and her family. ‘I had warrior status?’ ‘For about thirty seconds.’


As with the first book, well written, great fight scenes, but not enough story to warrant me giving 5 stars. And I wonder wether I would really like to see this filmed. My dislike of some monsters including Zombies and Scorpions/Locusts.
And in this book the Zombies are not Zombies, but something else and the Scorpions/Locusts-Monsters are even worse.

Fast read, also most times a page-turner, with something I saw first in Kathy Reichs books (she admitted to having taken a writing class, and I think Susan Ee might have been in that class, too): the chapters are short, you think you can just finish one more and then ends with a question, twist or cliffhanger which forces you to read on.

Suspense is not much, I just want to see how it plays out, who survives what and how.

Still, I recommend it, and I will read the third and final book directly after this.


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Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Review: Angelfall

Angelfall Angelfall by Susan Ee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Will read the other two books in the trilogy and write a review covering all 3 books then.
Got this one for a bargain price (Eur 1) in February 2015, nearly 2 years ago.
Short chapters giving you lots of point to stop and take a break.
Reasonably fast read, world-building very well integrated, but lots not explained in this volume - hopefully that is written in the two other volumes. For that 1 star less, for 5 stars there is too much background missing for me.
Recommended. Like the Heroine.

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Monday, February 13, 2017

Review: #Hater

#Hater #Hater by Cambria Hebert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Still good, but a bit long, imho. More suspense, but no real twists.
Most of what I said about the first book #Nerd can be applied here again.
A bit too much for me with the romance, but that may feel that way because I read this directly after #Nerd, so that you are warned, and the sex-scenes save it a little.

Major open ending leaves cliff hanging with open questions and nearly forces me to buy and read the next one in the series.
But I will grit my teeth and read something different, maybe the ebook someone exchanged for a review.
Recommended, but I would advise not reading the books in the series back2back unless you want something for a rainy, sad weekend and read all of them in that time.


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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Review: #Nerd

#Nerd #Nerd by Cambria Hebert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In comparison to Geekomancy and Adorkable more adult themes, a little sex and more drinking than in Geekomancy. Alternating POV between the female MC and the male pupil she gets to tutor. Read this after Adorkable, and found this way better, but realized, that Adorkable is YA (more like Y, without the A), and this is NA, shows that I do not like books (and other things) being put into a box - I still think A Clockwork Orange is YA, both from the contents and for the target audience.
This has a little, but in that context spot on, swearing and a few good, steamy sex-scenes to go with the straight romance.
Very well written, some sentences were a bit strange with the grammar or word order, but I am not sure wether that was the intended pattern of speech for the teens and tweens, or overlocked bad style, it was not disturbing, so I let it slide without reporting it.
Nice use of hashtags for the chapter-intro, and Apps, smartphones etc (ok and not too much) in the story. Felt real for me.

Recommend the book, not sure of the intended age-group, I would say 14 and above, but NA might mean 18 and above? Whatever, I am way older, so I really do not care.
So, why not 5 stars or 3? Would have given 5 stars if the ending had been different (guessed it early, even to what happens in the kitchen in the last scene). Or 3 stars if something bad had happened to Rimmel. As it was written, I thought that entirely possible.
And I bought the next book - #Hater - the instant I finished this one!
#RimmelRocks

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Monday, February 6, 2017

Review: Adorkable

Adorkable Adorkable by Cookie O'Gorman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Just read the info on Goodreads again about the author and feel bad giving only 3 stars.
It was what was promised, a feel good HEA.

Fluffy romance, a few minor errors, but I am sorry to say, I have not submitted these to Amazon, some where debatable and no spelling errors, I think, only some words wrong or double in a sentence, some not really wrong, but (for me) bad style or not enough editing, like "she gave it some thought and thought about it", certainly correct grammar, but not well written. German was spot on, and could have saved the book to 4 points for me, had it been shorter or had more twists.
No sex, only romance, no swearing (or not much), which is a plus for me. But no sex for the age-group both in the book and the one intended to read it, a little unrealistic, but ok.

A rainy weekend-feel-good read to snuggle with your favorite blanket on the couch with a hot cup of chocolate, coffee or tea. Recommended, well done, but no real surprises. Could have been shorter (or have shorter chapters, to pause in between). The 3 stars are more like 3.4 rounded down, on another day I might have rounded 3.5 up to 4, but it does not feel like it for me. Will check out the next book, maybe the author grows, both on me and in her writing style. Recommended.

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Thursday, February 2, 2017

Review: Geekomancy

Geekomancy Geekomancy by Michael R. Underwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From the blurb and the cover this looked interesting, but somehow it is not gripping me, I will try to finish it soon. Nice twist at around 47%, but this does not save the book.
World-Building is made up on the fly and does not really work for me, it is not deep enough. Maybe Steampunk is not my Genre?! Heroine is great, though!
So, 3 stars it is, and I cannot honestly recommend it. Will probably not read the next one in the series. Was blended by the cover-girl, sorry I fell for it. It is a nice fluffy steam-punk fantasy, very little romance, and if all Steampunk-stories are like this, that genre is probably not for me (although does Clockwork Prince The Infernal Devices-series count as Steampunk? liked that one a lot and still have the other 2 books in that series on my TBR-bought-pile)

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Review: Not Alone

Not Alone Not Alone by Craig A. Falconer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Got this for free from the daily email from Bookbub, linking to free or inexpensive books.
The blurb was good, and the cover reminded me of the recent X-Files-reboot (so far nothing like the cover occurs in the book, so that was probably the intention, although it reeks of a DMCA waiting to happen).
In the beginning a fast paced, suspenseful book, some parts with rather too much happening without slowing down. Very well written, might get a solid and well deserved 5 stars in the end. But then, around the 60% mark, after a certain event, it slows down for me and bore me until around 80% where it twists twice in a short time, one twist I guessed, the second not.
As it was written before the BREXIT decision, this is not in the book, otherwise the book is as up-to-date as possible (China!) and sneaky and twisty as can be. For conspiracy-nuts and alike they will get what they deserve.

Hope to finish it soon.
OK, took me a few books in between to finally finish it.

It might have been better served split into two books, ending the first book at 80% or earlier giving a sort of (false) closure and then the second book starting with the two twists which then occur.

Still, after reading it so far, I would gladly have paid a normal price for it (up to 10 Us$ or 9 Eur for the ebook) and I think it should be translated into German, so I can recommend it to my family and friends.
After the 80% mark and the two hard twists I had trouble finishing it, some of it was, "Oh NO, this book is going to end", some was "could have stopped there and done a 2nd book with more ending story and few more twists". But, ok, although not much happens after 80% and I still think for a single book it was too long after that, it was nicely done, with a well deserved ending.

Therefore a solid 4star with a recommendation for all people, SF, non-SF, Geeks, Nerds and non-Geeks, non-Nerds alike.
Except for BREXIT and Trump this is rather up-to-date, with great use of social-media, the tech we use today etc. President Slater looks to me like a Hillary Clinton clone, with all her mistakes, and that could have well been on the point, if not for the chosen US-Presidency "we need a change to believe in". We will see, how that turns out for all of us.

Will certainly look for other books from this author.

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