Grave Digger Academy by C.A. King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It read like a dream… like the dream where you wake up on time, but you are somehow inexplicably later and later for every appointment that dream has scheduled until you are days late for the big one. Yea, that dream. I like the plot, and the imagery was cool. I plan to read the sequels.
reviewed by @ammaflory
Shield & Shade: Ascended Guardians Series by Misty Hayes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’m afraid I’m going to be a critic on this one. It made me want to read Cassandra Clare’s shadowhunter series again; similar genre that I enjoy.
To start, Shield & Shade is not a standalone book. It’s technically a spinoff of her Blood Dagger trilogy, but it has little story of its own. It constantly refers to the events in the previous series leaving holes in the back story that one hopes would be filled by reading the Blood Dagger Trilogy. Second, this book is action scene after action scene. There was only a few “chill, get to know you” scenes at the beginning of the book, the rest were action. And, while I enjoy the changing POV, I found it jarring to start the book off with switching back and forth between benign high school life to running for his life; maybe if it had continued alternating action/calm throughout the book, it might have flowed better. As is it felt disjointed. Overall, I found this a hard book to enjoy. Though the idea of the story was intriguing, I feel it needed more polish. I’m sorry!
reveiwed by @ammaflory
Dragons by Ty Drago
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this book. I don’t really know what to write about this sci-fi futuristic book except that I recommend it. I enjoyed the imagery, the characters, and the story. The main character is a loveable gullible geek off on the adventure of his life, and easily takes you along. While some things were predictable, they didn’t tell me where the book was going. The futuristic ideas are engaging. The universe created in my mind was fascinating and emotional. The frustration of racial bias hits home to issues for today, and the trauma the main character goes through creates a relatable character. Again, I loved it!
reviewed by @ammaflory
The Web of Humanity: A Novel by Maria Turchin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If I had a physical copy of this book, I would shelve it next to The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Go Down To Silence by G. K. Belliveau. I LOVED this book (with 1-2 exceptions mentioned at the end.) the story grabbed me and kept me with it. I agree with the author that sometimes we need to be reminded of the ugly in life. We need to remember and feel the ugly from the past to try to avoid it’s recurrence. We need to see the ugly in ourselves to stop it and change it. We also need to see the ugly around us to truly appreciate the beauty. I really loved this story, and the author delivered the story in a wonderful package, until the middle. The story has a very nice ending about 60% of the way through the book, and then the flow gets choppy. It felt like she chopped one book towards the end, plugged in a completely different story, and added the first ending back on after to try to tie them together. The second section is a different genre (action/adventure instead of historical fiction), and has a random stop in narrative to add in an unnecessary sex scene. if not for the strange flow and change of character, I would have readily given this book 5 stars! As it is, the story will stick with me and influence my decisions for life.
reviewed by @ammaflory
Jake the Growling Dog Goes to Doggy Daycare by Samantha Shannon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
With my own 2 year old in mind, I wanted to read this book even though my daughter doesn’t suffer from fear (much to my dismay sometimes). Its about a dog who is worried about the new experience of going to doggy daycare. I liked the ideas section at the end for parents particularly, and I think it will be helpful to many people. Having anxiety myself I recognized several of the trick suggested. I think this book will be a hit for young children and the few toddlers who have a longer attention span, but I don’t think I could get my daughter to sit through it yet. I like the story. I think it will help many children relate to the adorable doggy, and feel normal about their own worries.
