bookish_ghost_girl's Reviews (155)

I was bored, which is not something I say very often about fiction. The synopsis made the book sound more interesting than it was. While the flow of the story was good, the time jumps were a little hard to follow at times because there didn't seem to be anything designating when that was happening. 

I don't remember what originally caught my attention with this book, but it was interesting to read and learn a little bit more about American history that we sometimes forget about. Although the main focus was the events surrounding the battle of Little Big Horn, it was interesting to get a look at the beginning of baseball as a professional sport as well as learning more about the James-Younger gang. 

I was laughing out loud at this, which I don't do very often. Setting the hilarity aside, there were some good moments. One thing that I liked was the fact that it was a bunch of guys using romance novels to work on understanding the women in their lives better. 

It was a very soothing read. I felt like I could fall asleep listening to the audiobook, and I enjoyed the fact that it was narrated by the author. It made it easier to know how the names were to be pronounced. Folklore is something that I don't read much of or know a whole lot about, so I liked how it was incorporated into the story.

I had mixed feelings about this book while reading it. For the first half, part of me was enjoying it for the plot and the storytelling, but the other part was getting kind of annoyed with the characters. Both of those mixed together was making me wanting to either dnf it or keep reading and hope it got better. Part of the reason that I was feeling that way might have been the secret keeping/lack of communication between the main characters.

Once the characters separated and went their own ways, it got better. Though Lena was still kind of annoying and didn't seem like she changed much. Toward the end I did feel kind of bad for Lena's fiance and how he was treated. I am always down for historical fiction, and one thing that I liked about this story was that it gave a different perspective on a small part of what happened during WWII. Despite all of the annoyances that I had with the characters, I felt that the ending was still satisfying and wrapped everything up well.

"We Should be careful to differentiate Christian Zionism from Jewish Zionism." - Ilan Pappe

For being such a short book, there is a lot of information packed into it. Two words that stood out to me while reading are "Ethnic Cleansing." They are words that are repeated thought the book because it is part of what happened between Israel and Palestine. Especially since history likes to repeat itself. 

Short stories usually aren't on the radar for me. But this was entertaining and kept me turning the page for each story. While I was reading, I felt like it was a commentary of sorts on life and some of the things that we experience. 

It's only been in the last few years that I have really started hearing about the game of pickleball in general, though I have yet to play. So when I was looking for a sports themed fiction book, that wasn't terribly popular, I found this one. The decision to read this one was made easier by the fact that it was also on display at the library I was visiting.

There were a few moments/descriptions that I thought were a little cheesy, but still funny regardless. I enjoyed the banter and the atmosphere made me want to start planning a trip out to Washington to visit for a few days.

Found family - Love - Friendship

This had a good balance of all three, while taking found family literally. It was different from what I had initially been expecting, but I still enjoyed reading it. There were a few moments where I felt it dragged a bit. Although it was inspired by 'The Chronicles of Narnia,' the Bright Boys reminded me of the Lost Boys from Peter Pan. 

Even though it's been a while since I read all seven books in the series, aside from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, I was still able to pick up on moments in the book that were inspired by the books. There was a moment toward the end of the book where I figured out who one of the characters was before it was revealed. Besides that, it still added to the story when the character is revealed. 

All in all, it was an intriguing story and enjoyable overall.