maxines_obsessions's Reviews (701)

This was my first foray into the works of Maya Angelou. While I have heard of her before I don't actually know anything about her. So starting with this collection of essays was a mistake. They were one to two pages long and didn't delve deeply into any of the topics, we were given bare minimum and maybe a lesson learnt moment.
If I knew her better before reading this, I probably would have taken more from it. Also because of the title I was expecting something more about raising a daughter and how to prepare her for the world, which I didn't get. Note to self - Don't judge a book by its title.
What did come across was her compassion and love of people, her desire to treat everybody well even when she doesn't understand them. She takes every opportunity to learn and make new friends.
I will be looking into other books, and finding out more about her.

This is my first time reading a book of essays, so there is a good chance this style of book just isn't for me.

2.75 stars.

I really liked parts of this, I liked that there was no mess around between Tess and Lucas, they were upfront, honest, so we didn't have to deal with all the crap from people not communicating that romance books tend to rely on to create angst. I liked that the characters acted their age, I loved the loyalty and family bonds.
It just never really captured me. It definitely grew on me, but lets face it I can read just about anything, it doesn't make it brilliant.
Tess was so sickly sweet, it was just a bit too much. I actually liked Lucas more than I liked Hawk in the last one but that's probably just because Lucas could get out an entire sentence. He didn't just grunt and say "babe".

I love an awesome, ass kicking, broody, slightly damaged, jealous, possessive alpha male. I really do, they are my total faves to read about and they are absolutely smoking. (In real life not so much)

Yet I felt nothing for Hawk, a caveman with no grasp of the English language could have a better conversation than he could. At least they would have different grunts, Hawk just said "babe for the first three quarters of the book. It drove me insane. For most of the book he was an uncommunicating jackass who may as well have just pissed on Gwen's leg anytime another guy got near.

Also someone might want to check, I think Gwen has a magic vagina or maybe a magic mouth because all she has to do is speak and all men love her. I'm going with its vagina magic. She has put a spell on her bits.

Yet despite this I ended up mostly enjoying it, I feel like an easy book whore.

Well this is so much better than the last two. I loved it. I loved the characters, Mitch is a new member of my book boyfriend gang, Watching Mara realise her worth was beautiful. Their relationship was beautiful and I swear I was so happy for them that at points I cried happy tears. It was so nice to see two beautiful people love the shit out of each other and I read this with a giddy feeling in my belly.
And don't even get me started on the Mitch loving those kids and being excited to make those kids lives everything they deserved. SO MANY FEELS!!!

I've said it before, I love a good bad boy, alpha male, possessive, jealous sometimes jerky man in books, I like them a little broken and I want to fix them and see them happy and healed... In books only.
In real life the kind of guy I would really want is someone like Mitch Lawson. I want the kind of relationship they build, I want my man to kiss me after 10 years like he did when we first together. That's what sets this apart, it isn't just a dirty fantasy we like to immerse ourselves in for a couple of hours, it's real hopes and dreams.

ѓ??He bent his head and kissed it off her lips.
And he kept doing it even as he heard Faith announce with practiced exasperation, undoubtedly to Ridge, ѓ??They do this a lot.ѓ?ќ
And he kept doing it through Billieѓ??s softer, much sweeter and not exasperated at all, ѓ??And they always have. As long as I can remember.ѓ?ќ

RTC- I need time to process just how bad this really was.

I received this free in exchange for an honest review.

Thes is sent back in time, to when the pyramids of Giza are still being built, to find his friends soul, kill mummies and have a grand adventure with a princess.

Loved - Egyptian mythology.
Liked - Thes is a werewolf.
Didn't like -
1. The writing.
"Hot.
Burning. My skin was burning.
I opened my eyes.
Bright. Too bright.
I tried to turn, to roll away, but i couldn't move. Not well. Not quickly.
I swallowed... tried to swallow.
Throat to dry.
I raised one hand, trying to blot out the sun. Pain shot through me, gnawing at my flesh like a thousand fire ants.
It was bright... so bright.
I stared at the sky through my splayed fingers, eyes squinted nearly shut. My mouth was dry... so dry. I tried to lick my lips, but my tongue stuck to them. The taste of blood filled my mouth. Sour and metallic like dirty nickels."
I'm incredibly grateful that the writing style was like that for the first chapter only, unfortunately even though the style changed it didn't mean it got better.
2. The plot -
A lot of the story didn't make sense. It felt like I was jumping into the middle of a series. So I checked and no, this is definitely the first in the series. I read some more and still found it hard to believe this was the first in a series, so I had a closer look at the authors other books and realised this is an offshoot from a different series. That's all good and well, but you should be able to pick up the first in a new series and understand what is going on. It should be able to be read on its own, this doesn't at all.
3. The plot - Convenience...
Instead of making the story even a little bit believable or explaining how things work the author just skipped things or inserted a magical device to conveniently move the plot along.
The characters are in one spot and then all of a sudden they are somewhere else. We don't know how or what they went through to get there, just bam they are there. Its usually during these times the characters find something else that will conveniently move the story along. Like Thes's tunic, he shreds his clothes when he turns, but you can get enchanted clothes that survive the change. One minute he is destroying his clothes and then he tells us that Aziza found him an enchanted tunic at that place they went through earlier. You know the one that we didn't actually see or hear anything about until now. How convenient.
Also in case you are wondering how Thes is getting around in the desert and not eating at all, don't worry, Aziza gave him a magic ring to stop him from feeling hungry. Don't know how she got this ring or when especially considering all these mummies were awakened by Thes just before this book starts, maybe she was buried with it. It doesn't matter, its convenient, so it doesn't have to make sense.
4. The plot - How to make a story interesting?
Lets give it a fast paced plot, with lots of action and well written three dimensional characters. Oh wait, that's to hard. Lets just make the good guys the bad guys and the bad guys the good guys. And then have the new good guy and a couple of Gods jump in to explain it all.
It seems the author thinks his audience is stupid.
5. What are Goddesses good for in this book? It seems not much. They just make gooey eyes at our young hero, hit on him and wait for their husbands to show them some attention. Oh hell NO.
6. The dialogue - How do you think 4000 year old mummies would talk?
Aziza our resident mummy hunting princess, really nails her dialogue.
"For a guy who turns into a raging wolf monster you're surprisingly wussish."
Imhotep pops in with this great zinger...
"Firstly, I'm not helping you, and secondly, mwa ha ha ha!"

I can't recommend this book. Try a Rick Riordan series, they do mythology brilliantly.

I managed to finish it, but it was rather terrible. I found the first book sweet, funny and quite fantastic, this on the other hand is none of those things. I'm just glad it was short and it only took up an hour of my time.

Wow, just wow. I feel shell shocked. This is a brilliant book. It is so well written. The absolute genuine sweetness of Bruno was so jarring given the setting and it makes the book so powerful. I can't review this.
Just read it.