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Big Girls Don’t Cry #review #romance

Sep5

Big Girls Don’t Cry  by Mimi Barbour

Synopsis
Remy has a crush on her neighbor Eadan. She decides if she loses weight, she will have a better chance at catching his eye.
When Eadan needs some interior decorating, he asks his neighbor to help with the job. Meanwhile, he decides he needs a frumpy, plain looking girl who will stay loyal and not leave him like his ex-girlfriend did.

Opinion
This story blurb from Amazon did not prepare me for the train wreck of story. And like a train wreck, I could not turn away. As painful as it was, I read it to the end.

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His skinny, hot girlfriend left him. So now he wants a plain Jane, borderline ugly girl who will not attract any attention.
Too shallow?

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Remy is trying to lose weight to catch a man. As an afterthought, there is a lot of emphasis placed on losing weight for her overall health. Mmm hmmm. All I could think was that she is changing herself to try to make herself attractive to another person.

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I do not want to get on my soapbox, but I will say that this story line annoyed me because I do not agree that a person should try to change their physical characteristics in efforts to get another person to fall in love with them.

The only kind of redeeming aspect of this story was the subplot where Remy is trying to help a teenage girl who is being bullied. I call it a redeeming aspect because I could see that happening in real life.

I read other books by Barbour and they were a lot better. Overall, this book’s premise had a lot of potential, but fell short in my opinion. I think if the characters were better developed that might have helped. Plus, I had a strong dislike for Eadan’s shallow attitude. His character needed to be rewritten.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BORROW. I thought about saying “pass”, but then I think about that one redeeming aspect. If you cannot borrow it, try to buy which it is on sale or part of a compilation. Definitely do not pay more than 99cents for it..

Book details
Series: N/A
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥
Print Length: 98 pages
Publisher: Sarna Publishing (June 30, 2015)
Publication Date: June 30, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

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The Nightingale #bookclubpick #NYTbestseller

Aug25

The Nightingale

Synopsis
In France in 1939, in the village called Carriveau, Vianne’s husband is going off to war. While he is gone, the Nazis invade France and a German soldier lives in her home.
In the intervening time period, Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is searching for purpose and love in life that has been absent up until this point. Determined to do what she can, she joins the French resistance to oppose the Nazi occupation and risk her life time and time again.
The story tells the narratives of two sisters whose personalities are opposites and describes how each person deals with the challenges in front of them because of the Nazi occupation.

Opinion
I do not usually read historical novels about the effects of war. That being said, I give the author a lot of credit for the book was well written. The story was true to the time period. The story is very similar to the real story of war heroine Andree de Jongh.

The author does not gloss over any of the atrocities that were happening at the time. It demonstrated the insidious way that the Nazis manipulated people to carry out their nefarious agenda.

From the beginning, Isabelle recognized the threat and wanted to do all she could to fight the Nazis.

Vianne did not want to rock the boat. While she finally acted in a way that helped someone other than her immediate family, she seemed to me to be selfish most of the novel. There was a lot of denial based on a naive assumption of what an occupying military force would do. There was a deliberate lack of perception for fear of what she might find.

The difference in upbringing was evident. Vianne always looked for someone to take care of her. On the other hand, Isabelle knew she had to take of herself. She did not have the luxury of depending on others because she had been disappointed time and time again.

In my opinion, the most character development happens in Vianne. Isabelle has her own evolution, but I think it is more drastic in Vianne.

The author did a fantastic job writing this and I think you will enjoy. When reading, I encourage you to think about who you are and what sacrifices you can live with and what you think will break you. Be honest with yourself and confront what you truly fear. This is the type of book that I would suggest that you read with a friend so that you can discuss. Considering what is happening in the world around us, a lot of what was in the story could have been taken from the headlines today.

Trigger warnings: torture, rape

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BUY especially if you like historical fiction set in WWII. Even though I do not read or recommend a lot of books from this genre, I rate this book highly because it spurred a lot of thought.

Book details
Series: N/A
Heat Level: 🔥
Print Length: 449 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (February 3, 2015)
Publication Date: February 3, 2015

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Geek Love #gamerromance #review

Aug20

Geek love

Synopsis
Joel and Sam are gamers attending a science fiction/gamer convention. Once Sam reveals to Joel that she is a woman, it seems that they make the perfect couple. However, another woman will do whatever it takes to claim Joel as her own.

Opinion
The story was okay. Sweet even.

My biggest complaint: explaining the geek sci-fi terms. It was as if the author wanted to write a book for geeks and then decided everyone should be able to understand the jargon.

I know and watched enough Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Firefly to get all the references without the explanation. I am not even a hard-core geek. Doctor Who is my heart, but I digress. I could understand if she was making obscure references but this is like Sci-Fi 101.

My other reason for discontent is that the villain should have went to jail. Really! The stunt that the villain pulled should not have been brushed aside as if nothing had happened.

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I think this story could have been a lot stronger if the author had developed the characters a little more. This is a novella, so there was not time to flush the character profiles. If possibly the author turns this into a full-length novel, I think she would have more time to make the story stronger and better.

Side note: For once, could an author have a story with a woman gamer heroine who everyone KNOWS is a woman at the beginning? I feel like the female gamer with male sounding name is so overdone these days. It is uninspired. Unoriginal. Boring.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BORROW. It is okay if you have some time to kill. But don’t expect too much from this book.

Book details
Book Length: 104 pages
Series: No but there is a follow up book Code Monkey
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥

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Love in the Time of cholera #romance #bookclubpick #bestseller

Jun20

Love in the Time of cholera

Synopsis
This is a story of loss love. Florentino and Fermina were lovers separated at a young age because her father did not approve of the relationship. Fermina was soon married to a local doctor. Fifty years later, Fermina’s husband dies and Florentino decided that the flame of love had never completely been extinguished.

Opinion
Our book club decided to read this book for the month of January and I was very excited. I thought I would like this book more than I did because, from the blurb, it seemed like a sweet romance.

I do think that the writing was very descriptive and sounded extremely romantic. The author painted a picture of every character that is mentioned with much detail. It made it very easy to visualize the setting and the people within.

BUT…

When it comes to unrequited love, I have a few rules. One of those is that the hero and the heroine should save themselves for each other. Granted in this case, they had to wait 50 years before they actually got together. I tried to be a little lenient because a person, realistically, is probably not going to wait 50 years pining over lost love.

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However in this book, I think the fact that Florentino slept with more than 600 women seemed excessive. Even when I tried to rationalize it by saying he was trying to re-create the love he had for Fermina, I still think he was a male whore. Many times, he seem to choose women who were emotionally unavailable. In the end, he chose a girl who was around the same age as Fermina was when he met her for the first time, making him a dirty old man.

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I would have preferred if Fermina had been a more likable character. She seems so angry, haughty, and arrogant all of the time. When she had the choice to choose love over money, she chose money. Then it seems as if she was bitter because Florentino eventually had money and wealth that she wanted from the beginning.

I thought there was too much time spent talking about the 50 years that they were not together, especially since they were not pining for each other. They live their lives. While they have their moments where they wondered what could have been, it did not seem that they had a burning love. I would have preferred if the story had focused on them getting to know who they were after the fifty-year gap.

I also took issue with the way that rape was glossed over and even romanticized in the book. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the author was male and probably could not adequately understand how that act of violence would traumatize a woman.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?

I say Borrow, but this was an Oprah book club pick. She liked it enough to encourage everyone to buy it. For me, even though the writing was extremely descriptive and beautiful, this was a difficult read because the story’s content fell short for me.

Book details

Print length: 357 pages

Series: No
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥

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Breeder #review #scifi #amreading #romance @carabristol

Jun15

Breeder by Cara Bristol

Synopsis
High Commander Dak is the ruling Alpha of planet Parseon. He purchases Omra as a breeder slave because in this world, females are mainly used to bear children. He wants a son and thinks after that duty is done, he will have no other need for her. By law, he is to use Omra to have his child and not for any sexual gratification.

Omra was raised knowing that one day she would be a breeder slave and her sire protected her virginity to increase her value. Her hope was that the male that chose her would not abuse her. When Dak purchased her, she was optimistic because he seemed like a strict but reasonable person.

The Parseon culture judges harshly anyone who takes pleasure carnal activity or attempts to treat females with more regard than dictated. As Dak begins to question the strict cultural norms, it seems that nefarious forces will try to exploit any perceived weakness to cause his downfall.

Opinion
I voluntarily read an advanced reader’s copy of this book.
I was hesitant about reading this book because I was worried that I would not like it. Mainly, because it is out of the range of what I would usually read. The author stated it was a dark romance and while I like suspense, I tend to stay away from the dark romance because it usually deals with issues that I do not find entertaining or like to read about in romance.

Saying all that to say, I love this book.

Yes it is dark. The world in which the author has created is a misogynistic place in the extreme. There is so much abuse towards females in general because it seems that the males hate that they need females to procreate.

Males in this world are divided into two categories: alphas and betas. The alphas run things. They are the ones that own property and are in charge. The betas are in a submissive position to the alpha. They live together after an “anointing” with the alpha as the breadwinner and the beta takes care of the domestic duties. The females are relegated to the role of breeder slaves and treated in some cases worse than a farm animal.

Why did I love this book?
One, I loved the world building. This world was so complex that I could not even think of another book that I’ve read to compare it to. As I was reading, I was on the edge of my seat trying to imagine how Dak and Omra would be able to have a relationship without him losing his position. Then I questioned what it would mean for him to lose his position. Plus the risk of the villain winning had me holding my breath because I could not guess how it was going to end.

Two, I appreciated the changes that Dak made to treat the Omra as more of an equal than society deemed her to be. While he was very strict at times, he was looking at the bigger picture and implications of his actions at all times. In that sense, he tried to be a decent alpha and protector.

Three, the ending of the book left me with hope that even though it is a dark, depressing society for women in general, the inklings of compassion indicate that change will come in time. Dak evolves in the book because he has a modicum of compassion and tenderness in his heart.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
Buy. If you like reading science fiction especially books with major alien civilization world building, this book is for you.

Book details
Series: Breeder trilogy
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥
Print Length: 283 pages

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