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leahrosereads's Reviews (1.04k)
I received this ARC from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review
Mom of the Year by Denise Pischinger is a short, fun read under a new genre called Script Lit. I was honestly curious as to what this type of genre entails, and once I read why the genre was created, I could see how this novella could have been a movie. It read like a movie the entire way through, but I don’t believe it would have done well as one. I think this story works better in its written format, and I enjoyed reading this novella a lot.
Mom of the Year follows Janie Parker, Class Mom Extraordinaire, and her family. Her husband Greg, a chef at a local, failing Dallas restaurant, is given reigns to the better off Houston branch. He uproots his family, and now Janie is forced from #1 Class Mom to the bottom of the barrel at her daughter’s new school district. Her daughter, Kelsey, couldn’t be any happier for this change.
The Top Mom at Bear Branch Elementary School is also the HISD Mom of the Year, Lanette Middleton. Janie sees Mom of the Year as a type of recognition she must have.
Janie strives for that title throughout the novella,normally at the expense of her family, and almost ruins her marriage , but she feels like it’s the only way for her to succeed.
On Janie’s journey to win Mom of the Year, she is given a class mother to help her with all of her events, and boy is Sherrie NOT what Janie needs, if she hopes to win. Sherrie Pixler is nothing like Janie. Janie’s well groomed and ambitious, Sherrie’s wild and easygoing. She does the class mom thing for her kid, whereas Janie really does it for herself.
There are several interesting subplots in Mom of the Year, including Janie’s dysfunctional relationship with her own mother. As the reader, I get why Janie is the way she is, because of her mom, but I still think that at 35, she should have made amends with her mommy issues.
I disliked Janie 90% of the time in this novella. To me, she’s not a likable character until the end of the book. I didn’t feel sorry for her, only for her family, and even though I really didn’t like Lanette, I didn’t want Janie to win either. They turned something that is supposed to be fun for the classroom into a competition that should have embarrassed the school district, if the principal or anyone in charge had checked up on these overly ambitious mothers.
But, just like in any good movie, there’s a phenomenal ending to this feel good story.
Mom of the Year follows Janie Parker, Class Mom Extraordinaire, and her family. Her husband Greg, a chef at a local, failing Dallas restaurant, is given reigns to the better off Houston branch. He uproots his family, and now Janie is forced from #1 Class Mom to the bottom of the barrel at her daughter’s new school district. Her daughter, Kelsey, couldn’t be any happier for this change.
The Top Mom at Bear Branch Elementary School is also the HISD Mom of the Year, Lanette Middleton. Janie sees Mom of the Year as a type of recognition she must have.
Janie strives for that title throughout the novella,
On Janie’s journey to win Mom of the Year, she is given a class mother to help her with all of her events, and boy is Sherrie NOT what Janie needs, if she hopes to win. Sherrie Pixler is nothing like Janie. Janie’s well groomed and ambitious, Sherrie’s wild and easygoing. She does the class mom thing for her kid, whereas Janie really does it for herself.
There are several interesting subplots in Mom of the Year, including Janie’s dysfunctional relationship with her own mother. As the reader, I get why Janie is the way she is, because of her mom, but I still think that at 35, she should have made amends with her mommy issues.
I disliked Janie 90% of the time in this novella. To me, she’s not a likable character until the end of the book. I didn’t feel sorry for her, only for her family, and even though I really didn’t like Lanette, I didn’t want Janie to win either. They turned something that is supposed to be fun for the classroom into a competition that should have embarrassed the school district, if the principal or anyone in charge had checked up on these overly ambitious mothers.
But, just like in any good movie, there’s a phenomenal ending to this feel good story.
A secret, extremist organization sets off a series of attacks across the world, including one on the Pentagon that creates freaking zombies. GNASH follows the aftermath of that attack, including a nuke attack by France on DC. We meet several characters, including our hero - Grayson Donnelly and his fiance, Emory Perry, and we follow them on their journey in this new, deadly world.
I liked GNASH. It has zombies, which is always a huge plus for me, and they were smart zombies, which was awesome. I wish there was more on the zombies, and that I got to see a little bit more about them, but overall, this was more a human story on survival, than a zombie or apocalyptic world.
The human connection was pretty lackluster in the beginning half of GNASH. I didn’t care all that much about the characters, but I think it’s because of how often the story jumped around and all of the different situations that happened throughout the novel.
However, I felt for all of the main characters later on and wanted them to reconnect and thrive in this crazy world that Brian Parker created. I just wish there were more pages so that I could connect completely with the characters.
I really wanted Emory and Grayson to reunite and fall back in love. I know that this world changed them, and that they both moved on, but I wish they had held out for each other.
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing if Mr. Parker comes out with any other novels.
I liked GNASH. It has zombies, which is always a huge plus for me, and they were smart zombies, which was awesome. I wish there was more on the zombies, and that I got to see a little bit more about them, but overall, this was more a human story on survival, than a zombie or apocalyptic world.
The human connection was pretty lackluster in the beginning half of GNASH. I didn’t care all that much about the characters, but I think it’s because of how often the story jumped around and all of the different situations that happened throughout the novel.
However, I felt for all of the main characters later on and wanted them to reconnect and thrive in this crazy world that Brian Parker created. I just wish there were more pages so that I could connect completely with the characters.
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing if Mr. Parker comes out with any other novels.
I received this novel by Bostick Communications in exchange for an honest review
2.5 Stars
After the Parch by Sheldon Greene is a YA dystopian novel that follows the hero, Bran’s travels and his attempts to save his tiny, unobtrusive community, the Glade. Along his travels, he teams up with a couple of eclectic characters, including Ephus, a young boy that Bran brought into the Glade after find him alone in the wilderness; a prostitute-in-training warrior lady, 17 year old June; and a mysterious - Nikanor. During his travel, Bran meets members of Unity America, a shadow government who's attempting to help society in secret.
Recently, I’ve been hesitant about YA dystopian novels, because there are just so many out there now, and it feels like I’m reading the same plot/settings/ideas over and over again. However, I really wanted to try a novel suggested by Bostick Communications, and when I received an e-mail summarizing After the Parch, I decided to request it. Although I had my reservations about another dystopian novel that followed another teenager, I always hope that the next one I read will be the one that breaks the mold. This wasn’t it.
It took me forever to connect with the main character, Bran, and I'm not sure if it was because he's not the smartest MC, or if it was because there wasn't that much meat to the novel. Or it could have been that on Day 3 of his 10 day journey, he meets up with the pretty, young thing June, and seems to just go right into an insta-loveish/lust kind of deal with her. At the same time, the reader is reminded of his girlfriend back in the Glade, Mavis, but since we didn't really meet her, I didn't care all that much about her anyway.
I just felt pretty apathetic to Bran's entire situation while reading this, and I'm sure that's not what I should have felt.
2.5 Stars
After the Parch by Sheldon Greene is a YA dystopian novel that follows the hero, Bran’s travels and his attempts to save his tiny, unobtrusive community, the Glade. Along his travels, he teams up with a couple of eclectic characters, including Ephus, a young boy that Bran brought into the Glade after find him alone in the wilderness; a prostitute-in-training warrior lady, 17 year old June; and a mysterious - Nikanor. During his travel, Bran meets members of Unity America, a shadow government who's attempting to help society in secret.
Recently, I’ve been hesitant about YA dystopian novels, because there are just so many out there now, and it feels like I’m reading the same plot/settings/ideas over and over again. However, I really wanted to try a novel suggested by Bostick Communications, and when I received an e-mail summarizing After the Parch, I decided to request it. Although I had my reservations about another dystopian novel that followed another teenager, I always hope that the next one I read will be the one that breaks the mold. This wasn’t it.
It took me forever to connect with the main character, Bran, and I'm not sure if it was because he's not the smartest MC, or if it was because there wasn't that much meat to the novel. Or it could have been that on Day 3 of his 10 day journey, he meets up with the pretty, young thing June, and seems to just go right into an insta-loveish/lust kind of deal with her. At the same time, the reader is reminded of his girlfriend back in the Glade, Mavis, but since we didn't really meet her, I didn't care all that much about her anyway.
I just felt pretty apathetic to Bran's entire situation while reading this, and I'm sure that's not what I should have felt.
3.5 Stars
I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
When receiving novels for free, I try to be considerate of the fact that I’m receiving it out of the goodness of the author's heart. So, I will usually pick genres that I’m sure I’m going to enjoy. If not, I’ll pass and let another reviewer go for the book. This is YA and had magic, and I thought that’d be enough for me. Unfortunately it ended up being pretty meh to me.
Trial by Fire follows Jade, a young woman coming into her magic later in life. She didn’t grow up with a coven, and she would definitely not consider herself a witch. However, she’s setting fires when she’s angry, so you know, becoming a witch is happening to her. In her world, there are rules when it comes to magic and witches, namely that the magic can’t be unsanctioned and witches need to be a part of covens. Because her powers are just now happening to her, Jade was unknowingly using her magic and was considered a rogue witch. Enter Paris.
He’s the leader of a coven and is sent by The Council to collect and have Jade join his coven, or be stripped of her powers. Paris finds and brings Jade to his Coven, and then the plot thickens.
Someone at the Coven is mighty jealous of Jade’s immense powers, and while she’s unfocused and untrained, the jealous bitch...witch, has decided to work with a demon and take said powers from Jade. Now, I’ve seen enough Supernatural to know that working with demons never works out well for anyone.
Jade, Paris and a couple of other witches Jade meets at the Coven (the awesome Henri and Callie) must research and stop this witch from taking her powers. They work together to keep the demon at bay, keep Jade alive, and try to figure out what the hell is going on.
Sounds decent enough, and it was an OK story. Trial by Fire is not the best written novel that I’ve read, nor are the plots or characters all that unique, but it kept me relatively entertained.
Likes
--YA but no romance!
--The OCs - Henri and Callie were excellent, and I loved them.
--Paris - a bit of an uptight, old fashioned witch, but I liked him.
--The banter. There’s some good dialogue that kept me grinning; Jade definitely has a decent personality.
--Seth - a demon that helps Jade out.
Dislikes
--Jade is just so super unique. She’s a special snowflake - learns magic uber quickly, has a photographic memory, easily the most powerful witch at the Coven with absolutely no training, has a secret past that’s completely damaged her - you know, the traditional Mary Sue. I hated it, and by extension, her. That type of character building absolutely destroyed any likability for Jade that I could of had.
--Background information - Normally a first book in a series has world building but Trial by Fire was absolutely lacking here.
--Formatting - I received this copy as a PDF, and the formatting was a bit wonky for me. I couldn’t read it on my tablet which was a bummer, and on the computer the paragraphs were still kind of scrunched together, no spacing in between them. Sometimes chapters would begin at the very bottom or a page. It was just an awkward reading experience, visually.
Ending thoughts: I’ve read more interesting YA this year, but this was decent. If you like fantasy/witch based novels, maybe give it a shot. I’m personally not sure if I’ll continue the series. It had an interesting ending, and if I cared more about Jade, I’d have absolutely been hooked, but I don’t, so I’m not.
I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
When receiving novels for free, I try to be considerate of the fact that I’m receiving it out of the goodness of the author's heart. So, I will usually pick genres that I’m sure I’m going to enjoy. If not, I’ll pass and let another reviewer go for the book. This is YA and had magic, and I thought that’d be enough for me. Unfortunately it ended up being pretty meh to me.
Trial by Fire follows Jade, a young woman coming into her magic later in life. She didn’t grow up with a coven, and she would definitely not consider herself a witch. However, she’s setting fires when she’s angry, so you know, becoming a witch is happening to her. In her world, there are rules when it comes to magic and witches, namely that the magic can’t be unsanctioned and witches need to be a part of covens. Because her powers are just now happening to her, Jade was unknowingly using her magic and was considered a rogue witch. Enter Paris.
He’s the leader of a coven and is sent by The Council to collect and have Jade join his coven, or be stripped of her powers. Paris finds and brings Jade to his Coven, and then the plot thickens.
Someone at the Coven is mighty jealous of Jade’s immense powers, and while she’s unfocused and untrained, the jealous bitch...witch, has decided to work with a demon and take said powers from Jade. Now, I’ve seen enough Supernatural to know that working with demons never works out well for anyone.
Jade, Paris and a couple of other witches Jade meets at the Coven (the awesome Henri and Callie) must research and stop this witch from taking her powers. They work together to keep the demon at bay, keep Jade alive, and try to figure out what the hell is going on.
Sounds decent enough, and it was an OK story. Trial by Fire is not the best written novel that I’ve read, nor are the plots or characters all that unique, but it kept me relatively entertained.
Likes
--YA but no romance!
--The OCs - Henri and Callie were excellent, and I loved them.
--Paris - a bit of an uptight, old fashioned witch, but I liked him.
--The banter. There’s some good dialogue that kept me grinning; Jade definitely has a decent personality.
--Seth - a demon that helps Jade out.
Dislikes
--Jade is just so super unique. She’s a special snowflake - learns magic uber quickly, has a photographic memory, easily the most powerful witch at the Coven with absolutely no training, has a secret past that’s completely damaged her - you know, the traditional Mary Sue. I hated it, and by extension, her. That type of character building absolutely destroyed any likability for Jade that I could of had.
--Background information - Normally a first book in a series has world building but Trial by Fire was absolutely lacking here.
--Formatting - I received this copy as a PDF, and the formatting was a bit wonky for me. I couldn’t read it on my tablet which was a bummer, and on the computer the paragraphs were still kind of scrunched together, no spacing in between them. Sometimes chapters would begin at the very bottom or a page. It was just an awkward reading experience, visually.
Ending thoughts: I’ve read more interesting YA this year, but this was decent. If you like fantasy/witch based novels, maybe give it a shot. I’m personally not sure if I’ll continue the series. It had an interesting ending, and if I cared more about Jade, I’d have absolutely been hooked, but I don’t, so I’m not.
And the story trudges on with Issue #3, which follows two stories and helps develop them further.
We see Elgia a little bit closer and find out that there’s more to her than just being a thug’s toy. She teams up with Professor Luca Bongiorno, and he’s going to be taking her on as an apprentice of sorts. He’ll teach her how to disappear, and teach her a whole lot more.
We are also brought back to Chenglei’s story, and his fear of leaving his home. The Special Cultural Zone does not seem to be a place filled with moral, upstanding citizens, and I think Chenglei’s fears are somewhat justified. Zhen, a neighbor of his, will be trying to get Chenglei out into the world he’s come to and out of his shell.
Overall, I think I’m more interested in Elgia’s story and still the research team in the arctic’s versus anyone else I’ve met so far. I’m going to have to wait and see in Issue #4 if that changes or stays the same.
We see Elgia a little bit closer and find out that there’s more to her than just being a thug’s toy. She teams up with Professor Luca Bongiorno, and he’s going to be taking her on as an apprentice of sorts. He’ll teach her how to disappear, and teach her a whole lot more.
We are also brought back to Chenglei’s story, and his fear of leaving his home. The Special Cultural Zone does not seem to be a place filled with moral, upstanding citizens, and I think Chenglei’s fears are somewhat justified. Zhen, a neighbor of his, will be trying to get Chenglei out into the world he’s come to and out of his shell.
Overall, I think I’m more interested in Elgia’s story and still the research team in the arctic’s versus anyone else I’ve met so far. I’m going to have to wait and see in Issue #4 if that changes or stays the same.
With TREES #4 I found out that I’m not a pervert! Yay! I didn’t mention this with my review of the first issue, but there’s a panel in that issue of a character, and I showed the art to my husband, but he couldn’t confirm my suspicions, but this issue confirmed it, so that made me happy. I really was nervous that I saw something that wasn’t there, but it was there the whole time!
Anyway, onto the review. This has been my least favorite issue so far, but I’m still optimistic that this comic is going to end up being really worth my time. We’re still learning about the characters, and I kind of want aliens and action, but it didn’t happen with this one.
This issue pretty much revolved around Chenglei, the artist who has gone to the Special Cultural Zone to pursue a new, more interesting life, but he hasn’t really done that yet. One of his neighbors, Zhen forces him out of his small apartment, and she makes him finally explore his new home.
I really like the friendship that is forming between the two of these characters, and I look forward to seeing Chenglei mature.
The other plot we saw, was the one that I was honestly more interested in, once I got to it. Marsh, one of the scientists at the Arctic research base has been obsessing over the black flowers he discovered (Issue #2). These flowers, under the microscope, are even crazier than he imagined, and his obsession continues in this Issue.
I really think Issue #5 is going to be his, and the research team’s, story and where we’ll end up getting some more information on the aliens.
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing if my assumption on the plot of Issue #5 ends up being right. In a month, I’ll know!
I’m still going to recommend this comic, but if you get bored, or if you want action right away, maybe wait for a few more issues to come out before giving it a shot.
Anyway, onto the review. This has been my least favorite issue so far, but I’m still optimistic that this comic is going to end up being really worth my time. We’re still learning about the characters, and I kind of want aliens and action, but it didn’t happen with this one.
This issue pretty much revolved around Chenglei, the artist who has gone to the Special Cultural Zone to pursue a new, more interesting life, but he hasn’t really done that yet. One of his neighbors, Zhen forces him out of his small apartment, and she makes him finally explore his new home.
I really like the friendship that is forming between the two of these characters, and I look forward to seeing Chenglei mature.
The other plot we saw, was the one that I was honestly more interested in, once I got to it. Marsh, one of the scientists at the Arctic research base has been obsessing over the black flowers he discovered (Issue #2). These flowers, under the microscope, are even crazier than he imagined, and his obsession continues in this Issue.
I really think Issue #5 is going to be his, and the research team’s, story and where we’ll end up getting some more information on the aliens.
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing if my assumption on the plot of Issue #5 ends up being right. In a month, I’ll know!
I’m still going to recommend this comic, but if you get bored, or if you want action right away, maybe wait for a few more issues to come out before giving it a shot.
So, I have been honestly thinking about possibly putting reading this on hold until the series was completed. Why? Because, it's been really slow going, and I just didn't think I would have the patience waiting month after month for the story to develop.
Well, I definitely don't think I'll be waiting much longer! TREES #5 brought about several major plots, and I cannot wait to see how they all progress. We saw most of the main characters, and while I'm still really anticipating the researchers story the most, I'm happy to say I now give a damn about all of the other characters.
I cannot wait to see what goes down in Africa and the smallest Tree.
I cannot wait to see what Eligia learns from the Professor.
I cannot wait to find out where Cheinglei and Zhen's relationship goes, and how they're going to be a major factor with this story.
And I really cannot wait to see what Marsh and the researchers discover, what these black flowers growing near the Tree are all about, andif Marsh recovers due to his unhealthy obsession of these flowers.
So much happened, and now, I'm going to be impatiently waiting for Issue #6.
Well, I definitely don't think I'll be waiting much longer! TREES #5 brought about several major plots, and I cannot wait to see how they all progress. We saw most of the main characters, and while I'm still really anticipating the researchers story the most, I'm happy to say I now give a damn about all of the other characters.
I cannot wait to see what goes down in Africa and the smallest Tree.
I cannot wait to see what Eligia learns from the Professor.
I cannot wait to find out where Cheinglei and Zhen's relationship goes, and how they're going to be a major factor with this story.
And I really cannot wait to see what Marsh and the researchers discover, what these black flowers growing near the Tree are all about, and
So much happened, and now, I'm going to be impatiently waiting for Issue #6.
Really 3.5/4. Liked the story, but really wanted to know about the black flowers.
Hopefully with the next issue.
Hopefully with the next issue.
I gave this an extra star after reading it because I wanted to like this Issue more than I did, but I removed it now. I'm definitely going to give this comic a few more issues, but WYTCHES #2 just fell really short for me.
The writing:
Overall, not much happened in this issue, so it was pretty boring to me. Believe me, I want to love this comic. The idea behind it seems like this comic may end up being thrilling and intriguing has hell, but this issue wasn't the start of that.
The art:
I love the artwork and the colors of this comic so freaking much. It's gorgeous to me. I just will keep praising it until the writing is on par with how amazing the art is to me.
The characters:
Again, overall not much happened. I want to feel more for the characters than I do so far, but I'm sure in a couple more issues I'll be more invested into the characters (or I'll quit the series).
Overall, not a great second issue. I'm definitely planning on trying out a few more (probably to the first arc), and seeing where the story goes. If it can get me invested, I'd definitely be willing to continue this story. If not, there's always another comic to try.
The writing:
Overall, not much happened in this issue, so it was pretty boring to me. Believe me, I want to love this comic. The idea behind it seems like this comic may end up being thrilling and intriguing has hell, but this issue wasn't the start of that.
The art:
I love the artwork and the colors of this comic so freaking much. It's gorgeous to me. I just will keep praising it until the writing is on par with how amazing the art is to me.
The characters:
Again, overall not much happened. I want to feel more for the characters than I do so far, but I'm sure in a couple more issues I'll be more invested into the characters (or I'll quit the series).
Overall, not a great second issue. I'm definitely planning on trying out a few more (probably to the first arc), and seeing where the story goes. If it can get me invested, I'd definitely be willing to continue this story. If not, there's always another comic to try.
Full review in a couple of days, but I thought this started beautifully and ended awesomely! So much happened, and I cannot even wait until I can pick up Issue #8.
I need to know what happens next!
I need to know what happens next!