genieinanovel's Reviews (752)

In this novel we follow the connected story of four characters – Molly Allen, Ryan Kelly and Charlie & Donna Barton. Charlie and Donna own and run a bookstore called The Bridge, where Molly and Ryan spent a lot of their free time at during their first two years of college. They were inseparable, to the point where Charlie and Donna were convinced they’d be married someday.

But then Molly left.

Ryan never knew why.

Now it’s years later. Molly is running a successful branch of her father’s business, Ryan has toured the country as the lead guitarist of a famous country singer, and Charlie and Donna are trying to keep The Bridge alive after a flood completely wipes out the inside of their store.

The story of Molly and Ryan was one that is going to stay on my heart for some time. Call me a sucker, but I love a good story of two long-lost soul mates reuniting after a number of years have passed. I also enjoyed reading from the perspectives of Charlie and Donna and learning about their backgrounds and connection to Molly and Ryan. Like me, they were rooting for the two to get together when they were in college.

This was my first ever Karen Kingsbury book that I’ve read. My mom had told me she’s a great Christian-fiction writer and I can see why. This book brought tears to my eyes a number of times and at the same time warmed my heart. It was refreshing to read a book that focuses on the faith of the characters and their relationship with God as well as each other. I’m actually currently reading another book of hers and I can tell you I will continue to read more books by her. She’s definitely becoming one of my favorite authors.

One last note is that I fell in love with the bookstore their story revolves around, to the point that it makes me wish there was a small, homey bookstore just like The Bridge in my town. I guess I’ll just have to settle for opening one with my mom someday.

Anyway, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a heartwarming story.

*First thoughts: 4.5 stars because I want more Fred*

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The Dark Deception picks up where we left Daphne and Velma, which is to solve a mystery that’s going on with their friend Shaggy. He pretty much keeps to himself, but the warning they got from Marcy (the vanished girl in the previous book) has them a bit worried, so they tail him. Then something really weird happens at Crystal Cove… a ton of jewels wash up on their beach.

So now this sleuthing duo has two mysteries to solve, but it turns out they might be connected.

There wasn’t as much about the history of Daphne and Velma’s friendship in this book as the last one, but you can see how they’re on the mend and falling back into their old groove. Of course, this book was more about solving the mystery, not about the previously broken friendship, but we still do get to see how the girls are becoming close to each other once again, which brings up some cute moments. Girl friendships are the best when they’re genuine.

On another note, this one proved to me why Velma is my favorite character of the Scooby gang, because she is such a sass ball and I loved every second of it. We do get to see more of Shaggy this time around, which is awesome because I also love Shaggy, but I do wish we had more Fred. Maybe in the next book we’ll get more of him.

And yes, there is a third book coming! The author herself said so.

So if you haven’t picked up either of the Daphne and Velma books yet, what are you waiting for? It’s definitely a must-read if you’re a Scooby-Doo fan!

Though I hadn't read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde before reading this book, I knew I had to right away after reading the author's note that she wanted to stick as close to the original story as she could.  Ross takes this classic tale and spins it with her own flair to fit a new generation of readers in a setting they can relate to, and I think that's what I like most about the book.

I knew right off the bat what the connection between Jek and Hyde was while reading this because I had seen many cartoon adaptations of the original.  Even if you don't know, it becomes pretty obvious each time Lulu encounters Hyde when she's trying to find Jek.  It was the end that actually surprised me, and it seemed to come on very quickly.  I was happy that Lulu had been able to witness the transformation rather than just be told about it, though I can't help but feel bad for her character afterward.

Going into the story I thought I'd be wanting to root for Lulu and Jek to get together, as Lulu's feelings for Jek are clarified right in the beginning.  However, I found that I was rooting more for her to figure out the truth of Jek and Hyde than her and Jek's romantic relationship.  And though they were together for a brief time, I found that to be my least favorite part of the story.  I can't say that her feelings were completely irrelevant to the story though, because I feel it's those feelings she has that keeps her going to protect Jek from Hyde.

Though some people were expecting it to be different than the original, I loved the fact that it's more of a retelling of Jekyll & Hyde.  It's a classic based in modern times, which I feel makes it more appealing to today's generation.  Though the original should still be taught, I think that young readers who decide to read this first might have an easier time with the original later on.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Halley has always been on the sidelines, while her best friend Scarlett is the one who has interesting things happen to her. But what happens when Scarlett's boyfriend, Michael, is killed in an accident, and she finds out she's pregnant with his baby? Halley now has to be the stronger of the two and support her best friend through this time of tragedy and uncertainty.

I had high expectations for this book and I was sadly disappointed by it. I mean, the synopsis of the book sounded very interesting to me because it's about the relationship between two best friends during a hard time. Unfortunately, that seems to only be a minor part of the story because it's more focused on Halley's new relationship with Macon, who was the best friend of Scarlett's deceased boyfriend, as well as Halley's family and her growing apart from her mother. The friendship between Scarlett and Halley has its cute moments, but it really seemed like it was more of a side-plot than the real drive behind the book.

The parts that do focus on the friendship and Scarlett's pregnancy were good though. It was raw in showing that Scarlett was scared and Halley was there to support her and back her up when people found out about it. I was just expecting the story to be more about this, rather than Halley's relationship and rebellion. That, and Macon was just annoying and had no depth to him.

I don't have much else to say about this book, other than that I did still enjoy Dessen's writing style (I always do), which is why I finished the book and am not completely disappointed with it. I just felt like there was too much going on for it to have a real story to be following and none of the characters stood out to me. And to be completely honest, I'm mostly disappointed that I was looking to read a good story that really focused on friendship during hard times... this was not the book for that.

The Cellar had been on my radar for a while, since one of my coworkers told me about it. She let me borrow her copy and I finally got around to reading it. It was one of those books that kept me interested, wanting to know what happened next, but in a calm sort of way rather than on the edge of my seat.

The story is told in three points of view – Summer, Lewis, and Clover/Colin – the kidnapped, the boyfriend, and the kidnapper, respectfully. It was interesting to see the different perspectives, especially Clover’s because you see how disturbed he really is. I mean, I’m still trying to understand his thought process in kidnapping four girls, naming them after flowers, and keeping them as his “perfect family.” I mean, I understood his thought process on some things, but others, again, are still a mystery to me. I was glad though that Preston includes his point of view in the book. Overall, just having three different perspectives gave the story a more complete feeling since the reader is aware of what’s happening outside of the cellar as well.

The main thing this book lacked was character descriptions. While I don’t like it to be overdone, I wasn’t really able to picture a lot of the characters other than Summer and (kind of) Clover. I do know that some physical traits of the other characters were mentioned, but there was something about it that just didn’t sink into my brain to be able to conjure up a picture of these people. I had just generic pictures of them, but nothing that stood out.

Overall, the story was good. It kept me hooked and the life the girls had while trapped in the cellar felt like a thriller story. You could see how life down there affected them all, and I was satisfied with the realistic outcome of how the experience affected them afterward. Though I was a little disappointed with Clover’s ending in it all because I was expecting a different outcome for him. In any case, I though this was a great story and I’ll definitely be reading more of Natasha Preston’s books!

The Burn of Magic is the second in the Aliens From Arapholanx series – a science fiction series about a boy, Patrick, and his adventures after he accidentally stumbles upon an alien base in the woods. While I was highly anticipating this second novel, I didn’t end up enjoying it quite as much as I had hoped I would.

The pacing of the story seems to be a bit rushed. It starts out summarizing Patrick’s preparation with a small army to go into space and save other planets from Plutonian conquest, and suddenly just after talking to his parents, he’s on his way. Unlike the last book, I didn’t feel like I was on the adventure with Patrick. It was just being told to me. It might’ve been just me, but I had a harder time seeing the areas that Patrick’s tale took place, whether it was with him on the ships, Venus, and Mercury.

It’s not a bad book at all, I just personally felt like I saw more telling than showing in the narration and there were so many new characters introduced that I found it a little hard to keep up. However, there were still plenty of sections where I was really into the story and able to follow along better than other times. It was the inconsistency that threw me while reading this one.

I was also disappointed that there were some events that only made one appearance, like with Patrick’s parents while he’s gone, as well as his old friend Mark. I realize that might be the author’s intent and that those will be addressed in the next book, but I personally think those should have had some other mention at some point in the story. But again, I’m not the author.

I can’t say that I wouldn’t recommend this book, because this is just my own personal taste. The story and series seems to have merit, but I just thought that this book was a little more all over the place than the first book, which felt more adventurous than this did.