Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

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The 5th Wave
Series: The Fifth Wave #1
Author: Rick Yancey

SUMMARY

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

MY THOUGHTS

Have you ever read a book that completely threw you a curve ball?  I am talking about one that you weren’t too sure about, but in the end you fell in love with?  The 5th Wave ended up being one of those books for me.  It came out of left field starting with low expectations.  I figured that it was just going to be another dystopian read that is trying too hard.  What I received in the end was a home run of a book that left my heart sliding back into place after the excitement finally wore off.

The first half of this book was a little slow for me with a few hiccups.  It would start to take off, then it would be bogged down with wording and world building.  If you find yourself reading this book and not pushing past this first half, then you will miss an amazing last half of the book.  Once I got over that long wave of slow, it took off and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen.

This is part of series, so be prepared to have some questions unanswered and with a bit of an ending that will leave you craving the second book.  While I have never read anything by author Rick Yancey before, I will definitely be clicking on the pre-order link for book two!

MY RATING

[sc:rate4]

AUTHOR WEBSITE / GOODREADS / AMAZON

Double Review: Not Quite series by Catherine Bybee

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Not Quite Dating
Series: Not Quite #1
Author: Catherine Bybee

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Waitress and single mom Jessica “Jessie” Mann is practical to a fault. Even if she had time to date, which she doesn’t, she’d be determined to provide her son with a more secure upbringing than the one she had—and that would mean a husband with big bucks. When Jack Morrison—a sexy-as-sin, seemingly broke customer with a cowboy hat and a seductive grin—tries to flirt with her, she shoots him down. She doubts a carefree dreamer like Jack can provide the financial stability she needs. Yet with Christmas just weeks away, and Jessie not wanting to spend it alone, the charming Texan is proving hard to resist.

As the heir to the Morrison luxury hotel empire, Jack is used to being fawned over. But Jack needs someone who will fall in love with him—not his wealth. He’s set his sights on Jessie, though her hardened heart just might get in the way…To be sure, he conceals his true identity and offers to help Jessie find the rich husband she seeks. But Jack’s daring charade may rob him of the holiday wish he wants most of all…

MY THOUGHTS

Not Quite Dating is the first book in the Not Quite series by author Catherine Bybee.

Having never read anything by this author before, I wasn’t sure if this series was going to be a hit for me. I had heard her writing was good — along with her plots — with them falling into the ‘feel good’ romance.  What I found was exactly that.

Was the story well written? Yes.
Was the ending predictable like others mentioned? Yes.
Did it give me the feel good vibe by the last page? Yes.

I loved the characters with Jack being my favorite out of the two.  While Jessie was written well, Jack was the winner for me.

Why? The main reason is because the characters just clicked for me.  I enjoyed the journey with each chapter. The side characters just enhanced the story further.

While there were some things that left me scratching my head — mainly the behavior of some characters — as a whole it made the story complete.  I can’t wait to start reading more by this author!

MY RATING

Very Good! I would recommend this book!
******

Not Quite Mine
Series: Not Quite #2
Author: Catherine Bybee

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Gorgeous hotel heiress Katelyn “Katie” Morrison seems to have it all. But when she crosses paths with Dean Prescott – the only man she’s ever loved – at her brother’s wedding, Katie realizes there’s a gaping hole in her life. After the ceremony she gets an even bigger surprise when someone abandons a baby girl on her doorstep. Determined to keep the newborn until she learns who her mother is, Katie has her hands full and doesn’t need Dean snooping around, especially when his presence stirs feelings she thought were long gone. 

Dean Prescott knows Katie is lying to him when he discovers a baby is living with her. He shouldn’t care what the woman who broke his heart is up to…and he most certainly shouldn’t still be aching for her. Yet Dean can’t ignore the need to protect Katie – or the desire to be near her every chance he gets. But when he and Katie solve the mystery surrounding the baby, their second chance for happiness could be shattered forever.

MY THOUGHTS

Not Quite Mine is the second book in the Not Quite series by author Catherine Bybee.

This is my second read by this author. While I enjoyed the first book in the series, Not Quite Mine fell a little behind in the delivery.  The characters were okay, but Katie was a hard character for me to enjoy.  It seemed like every choice she made — while they could be justified somehow — seemed the opposite of what  she should do. Some of the reasons for her choices just didn’t fly for me. Why all of the secrets? Just come clean with it and let the people you are concerned with deal with your actions in their own way.

The flow of the story was well paced, and again the side characters were enjoyable.  I still enjoyed this read, along with the previous book, but just not as well.  I am still interested though in reading more in the series and the authors back list as well.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Review: The Boogie Man is My Friend by Kathryn Ann Loving

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The Boogie Man is My Friend
Author: Kathryn Ann Loving

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Kathryn’s book talks about today’s decline of the family structure, the dysfunction seen among many children today, and a society that refuses to believe. Find out how to be more aware as a parent and learn what lurks out there waiting to prey on your child. There are no fancy terms, medical jargon, or textbook answers… just plain English, and many pages of sick cop humor. The words are hers and the content is real.

MY THOUGHTS

The Boogie Man is My Friend is not a typical read of mine.  I am not a fan usually of real life stories. Obviously, I read to forget real life — as do most readers.  Every once in awhile though, I escape from my usual reading “comfort zone” to try and find something entirely different to capture my interest.  So I decided to try this one out and sit down for an adventure of life.

That is exactly what I got in this book — life. Real life people. Not the ‘shine’ of everyday life, but the ‘dull’ or evil parts as well.  While the first part of the book was a little off paced to what I am used to, I did slide into the story fairly easy once I figured it out.  As the author would probably say, this is due to my “ed-u-ma-cation” of regular reads. If you read the story, then you know the definition of that word and how it relates.

There is humor that had me cracking up, but there is also deep and dark things that will go bump in the night as well.  She is honest and she will tell you flat out her experience’s as a cop.  She doesn’t sugar coat it either.  Parents will open their eyes to a different light after experiencing this read.

Still not sure if you want to dive into this read?  Well, I just so happened to have another friend read this book as well. JW actually read it before me and I wanted her to share her opinion as well.  Here is what JW thought of the book:

This book was an awesome read. I have read this authors  blog for years and was looking forward to the day she put out a book. I was not disappointed.
While I was expecting stories such as her blog contains, her book was much much more.
Kathryn was able to give us insight into the perverted criminal mind of sex offenders. In her author/cop way, she threw in many of the humorous stories from her days as a cop.
Kathryn gave us plenty of reasons to work harder at keeping our kids safe, but she also gives us plenty of tools to work with. I was impressed with the fact that she could toss in the cop humor to keep you from totally freaking out.
Anyone that has ever been concerned about sex offenders should read this book. We see this kind of stuff on a daily basis from the media, now we can see it from a cops point of view. She also gives us a glimpse of what it looks like from a victims point of view.
I’ve known the author for quite some time and was still surprised at the tidbits of information she gave about her time as an officer.
She also gives you a great deal of insight in to how all this affected her personal life and her family.
This book made me think, laugh, cringe, cry and try to better my thinking all at the same time. I walked away armed with information I didn’t have before and the never ending question of, “How’s Dave?”.
Grab her book from Amazon and dive into the criminal justice system with the humor that only this author can dish out.

So now you have two opinions to think about in case you were wary of reading a book out of your comfort zone as well.

MY RATING

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

Review : Fall of Night by Rachel Caine

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Fall of Night
Series: Morganville Vampires #14
Author: Rachel Caine
Young Adult Paranormal

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Thanks to its unique combination of human and vampire residents, Morganville, Texas, is a small college town with big-time problems. When student Claire Danvers gets the chance to experience life on the outside, she takes it. But Morganville isn’t the only town with vampire trouble…

Claire never thought she’d leave Morganville, but when she gets accepted into the graduate program at MIT, she can’t pass up the opportunity. Saying good-bye to her friends is bittersweet, especially since things are still raw and unsettled between Claire and her boyfriend, Shane. 

Her new life at MIT is scary and exciting, but Morganville is never really far from Claire’s mind. Enrolled in a special advanced study program with Professor Irene Anderson, a former Morganville native, Claire is able to work on her machine, which is designed to cancel the mental abilities of vampires. 

But when she begins testing her machine on live subjects, things quickly spiral out of control, and Claire starts to wonder whether leaving Morganville was the last mistake she’ll ever make…

MY THOUGHTS

Fall of Night is the 14th book in the Morganville Vampire series by author Rachel Caine.

I am a huge fan of this series.  I feel connected to Shane, Claire, Eve, Michael and yes Myrnin. There town is complicated and full of suspense and not much down time to just relax.  But that is what makes them the best characters when they have to deal with problems in a vamp run town.

In Fall of Night, Claire travels away to MIT.  She needs to find her way on her own and see what life is like outside of Morganville.  What she finds though is another game of chess being played between scientists, vampires, and undercover organizations.  They are all deadly and they want one thing.  They want the Vampire Gun also know as VLAD that Claire created.  They want it to start the war between humans and vampires and could care less for the reasons and rules that Claire had it built for.  This group of people are wanting to disable the vampires permanently.  The results in the final mock-up of the gun can have serious side effects though for the vampires.

I really enjoyed this installment in the series.  This book is shown with alternating chapters from Shane and Claire.  We get to enjoy Myrnin arriving to rescue them all.  Oliver finds his way into the group as well to help lead the group.  Also Jesse and Pete help the gang out and Jesse does have a deeper role than what we think.  While there is action and suspense with a little bit of sexy times thrown in when needed, it does leave the book left with unanswered questions.  With the way the book ends, you can’t help but wonder how they gang is going to make it to the next book.  Is it the Daylight Foundation taking over?  Where is Amelie now when Morganville is having a major war between humans and vamps with the humans being the ones with the upper hand.

I can’t wait for the next book and I do hope we will get to read more about Myrnin and how crazy that contraption actually made him.  Is he really going crazy again, or is it all a defense to keep  the humans on their toes?

MY RATING

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

Review & Excerpt: Evidence of Life by Barbara Taylor Sissel

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Evidence of Life
Author: Barbara Taylor Sissel

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

On the last ordinary day of her life, Abby Bennett feels like the luckiest woman alive. But everyone knows that luck doesn’t last forever.

As her husband, Nick, and daughter, Lindsey, embark on a weekend camping trip to the Texas Hill Country, Abby looks forward to having some quiet time to herself. She braids Lindsey’s hair, reminds Nick to drive safely and kisses them both goodbye. For a brief moment, Abby thinks she has it all—a perfect marriage, a perfect life—until a devastating storm rips through the region, and her family vanishes without a trace.

When Nick and Lindsey are presumed dead, lost in the raging waters, Abby refuses to give up hope. Consumed by grief and clinging to her belief that her family is still alive, she sets out to find them. But as disturbing clues begin to surface, Abby realizes that the truth may be far more sinister than she imagined. Soon she finds herself caught in a current of lies that threaten to unhinge her and challenge everything she once believed about her marriage and family.

MY THOUGHTS
That cover sums this book up for this reader.  Mysterious, suspenseful and determination all in one package of a book. As not a regular reader of mystery/suspense unless it falls within the romance genre, I was pleasantly surprised by this book in the woman’s mystery fiction world.  I found myself really getting into the story and not wanting to put it down.
After Abbey’s family goes missing after a storm, they are presumed dead.  While it can’t be proven, there is always that 1 percent of hope that they are actually alive.  We read about how Abbey has to deal with not knowing and wondering what really happened. While she struggles with finding the answers she needs, the reader also discovers along with Abbey that not everything was as perfect as she thought.  
I really felt for Abbey in this book and wanted to help her figure out the mystery as well.  While it was a little predictable in most of the story, the suspense was enough to keep me interested until the last page.  Not a bad book in my eyes considering I don’t usually read these types of fiction.  I am definitely going to keep this author on my radar for future reads!
MY RATING
Very Good! I would recommend this book!
EXCERPT
Abby made a face. Lindsey never passed up an opportunity to remind her parents that she was the better student, the orderly, more agreeable child. “I thought you were going to play pro basketball overseas, travel the world.”
                “Is there a reason I can’t do both?”
                “Nope. You, my darling daughter, can do anything you set your mind to, just like your brother.” Abby ran her fingers lightly down the length of Lindsey’s braid.
“If only I could stay home like my brother.”
“Your daddy has gone to a lot of trouble to plan this trip so he can spend time with you.”
“I know. I just wish it wasn’t this weekend.”
“There are worse sacrifices,” Abby said blithely.
“I have finals next month too. And don’t say it’s not the same.”
“Okay, I won’t.” Abby centered the griddle over the burner.
“will you set the table and call your dad? The French toast’ll be done in a minute.” She could feel Lindsey considering whether or not to push.
Please don’t. It was a prayer, a wish, yet one more in the sea of mundane moments from that morning that would return to mock her. To ask her: How could you? Because she would remember that Lindsey hadn’t pushed; she’d set the table and left the kitchen without another word.
“What about jackets?” Abby followed her husband and daughter through the back door, onto the driveway. Although it was April, it was still chilly, and it would be colder where they were going.
Colder than home.
“It’s supposed to rain,” she said. “Maybe you guys should take your boots.”