Title: The Téuta’s Child

Author: S.G. Ullman

Release Date: October 20th, 2022

Page Count: 312

Start Date: October 17th, 2022

Finish Date: October 21st, 2022

Review:

Story: This story is loosely based on a girl that lived five centuries ago or so. She was born blind. Her entire village thought she was a curse to them. That her being born blind was a curse. They thought her grandfather was cursed too because they considered him a giant. I really found this story very enjoyable. I think the only thing that would have made this book better would have been to have illustrations sprinkled throughout the book. 

Characters: I really just adored Kaikos. She’s a very unique character. There were times I was really frustrated with her thought process. Then I had to remind myself that this is a time long ago and they didn’t think the way we think now. I loved her mother and a few of the guards as well. They did everything they could to protect the girl and make sure that nothing bad happened to her. 

Critiques: None that I can think of right now. 

Final Thoughts: I was really hesitant about this book when I first started it. I thought it would be on the dull or bland side. That’s mean. I don’t mean it to be mean. At least I was wrong. This is far from boring. The characters and the story are very complex and exciting to read. I fully recommend it to anybody who likes reading historical type stories.

Title: Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove

Author: Rati Mehrotra

Release Date: October 18th, 2022

Page Count: 352

Start Date: October 12th, 2022

Finish Date: October 17th, 2022

Review:

Story: This book was a very intense ride. I’m not even sure how to describe it well. Not that I ever really describe the book in my reviews. But I digress. For this particular one, I feel like if I say anything about the book it will kind of spoil something. I think I’ll leave it at this. We follow a girl who seems to hit bad fortune at every turn. Everything she knows as true is not. She must discover the truth for herself with barely any help from anybody who she thought she could trust.

Characters: Katyana is the main character. She’s adopted by the Queen in the kingdom she grew up in. She also shares a powerful bond with the Queen. It’s a first person book, so we mainly only see it from her point of view, but I really enjoyed it. I think it makes the story more intense that way.

Critiques: None that I can think of. Maybe I’d like to see a bit of a back story leading into this book.

Final Thoughts: The cover really doesn’t do this story justice in my opinion. It’s such a wonderful story. It’s very action packed. It may be told in first person, but you get a good feel for all of the characters in this story. You feel an empathy to those who have done everything they can to help Katyana. Well, at least I did. I’d love if this became a series. I’d totally read more book in this world. I’d even love a prequel with a bit of a back story leading up to this book. I’d love to see things that were referenced in the book. Definitely recommend!

Title: Blood Solace

Author: Vela Roth

Release Date: February 23rd, 2022

Page Count: 616

Start Date: September 28th, 2022

Finish Date: October 16th, 2022

Review:

Story: This book took me a bit to get into. It kind of had a slow start to it. It’s not that the writing was bad or anything. I even understand why it was structured the way it was. I did consider setting it down for a bit. I’m very glad I didn’t. I can’t remember where I made it into the book where things started changing for me. It was a pretty quick transition though. It made me so thankful that I can be stubborn sometimes when it comes to putting books down. I’m becoming so obsessed with this world. With each book. I also love that they are longer books. It is amazing to me that there is a glossary at the back of the book is well. Totally love that.

Characters: I really feel like we get to know Lio more in this book than we did in the first book. We also get to see more of his world in this book as well. I felt like I got a better understanding of things from different points of view. I mean there was more than Cassia’s point of view in the first book. This one is different though. I don’t know how to explain it other than that.

Critiques: None

Final Thoughts: I really loved this book. It took me a bit to get into it at first, but I think that was more a me thing than the book itself. I am really looking forward to reading the rest of this series. I can’t wait to see how things go. I’m also looking forward to seeing certain people go down for everything they’ve done and been responsible for. I’m going to leave it at that and let people draw their own conclusions. I hope that the rest of the series are as long as the first two!

Title: Halloween Hi-Jinx

Author: Annee Jones

Release Date: October 14th, 2022

Page Count: 81

Start Date: October 15th, 2022

Finish Date: October 15th, 2022

Review:

Story: This was such a cute and short story. I didn’t realize until after I was finished reading it that the author who wrote this book also wrote Love and Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Which is another book that I enjoyed very much. These are very feel good clean stories. They are short and sweet. I think that’s what I love most about them. Read too many dark or heavy books lately? Pick up this book. It will definitely be a nice refreshing change.

Characters: This book is not even a hundred pages, so in my opinion I didn’t get to know the characters the way I would really like to in a longer novel. This isn’t a negative. I’m just a person who likes to take her time observing. I can say that I absolutely LOVED that the cats had perspectives in this story. It made the story that much cuter!!!!

Critiques: I wish that certain things were drawn out just a bit more.

Final Thoughts: I loved this book so much that I do plan on getting my hands on the rest of the series. I have a feeling that they will all be as cute as this book was. In their own way of course. I honestly wish I could get them all in paperbacks so I could go back and reread them when I need to just read and not worry about review schedules or get into a slump. As I also read and loved another book by this author, I am definitely open to reading more books by this author as well. She may even wind up on my instant buy list.

Title: Benched

Author: Rebecca Barber

Release Date: October 7th, 2022

Page Count: 305

Start Date: October 12th, 2022

Finish Date: October 13th, 2022

Review:

Story: Out of the three stories out currently, this one is hands down my favorite. Which is interesting to me. Tasha was my favorite character of all of the characters. I mean I grew an attachment to every character in all of these books, but yeah. Back to the original point. This one was my favorite. So far anyways. I have a feeling I might really enjoy at least one that hasn’t been released yet. At least I think so by the nugget I picked up in the back of the book. Sienna is pregnant. Her world is turned upside down and she’s so afraid to tell Hunter because she knows it will change everything.

Characters: This book focuses on Sienna and Hunter. I love that even though the focus is on them, it still focuses on their loved ones too. I especially love the part that Emma and Bryce play. It really helped paint a bigger picture of the story. It also helped show that Sienna would never be alone no matter what. That kind of made me a bit sappy if I’m being honest.

Critiques: None

Final Thoughts: I really didn’t want this story to end. I just wanted to keep reading about Hunter and Sienna. They both go through such a personality growth. I mean obviously they had to figure things out quickly. I was rooting for both of them every step of the way. I definitely recommend this book. I found out awhile ago that I actually really enjoy sports romances. Out of all of them, the books in this series by this author have been my favorites hands down. I look forward to reading other books by this author. I also want to see more characters in this series!!!

Title: Played

Author: Rebecca Barber

Release Date: September 16th, 2022

Page Count: 337

Start Date: October 10th, 2022

Finish Date: October 11th, 2022

Review:

Story: This book is book two in a series. They can all be read as standalone. The first book was called Marked. It was Logan and Tasha’s story. This book covers Bryce and Emma. I really enjoyed this book. I think I actually enjoyed it more than I did Marked. But I really loved Bryce in book one. He just has such a cheeky personality. He’s loyal as all can be, but he’s going to make you work for that loyalty. He’s also going to drive you nuts too.

Characters: I’ve already gushed enough about Bryce. So I’ll spend a few minutes talking about other characters now. I really liked Emma. She was so feisty. She wasn’t about to let Bryce get to her at all. For the most part anyway. I loved meeting Bryce’s family. I’d have loved to see more of them in the book!

Critiques: This isn’t as much as a critique as much as it is a suggestion or request. I’d of loved to see Bryce complaining to the management about the hotel girl’s attitude and mistake of double booking his room.  It kind of would have been even funnier if said manager was the one she was busy with.

Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book very much. I loved Bryce in the first book and kept thinking about how I wanted to read more about him. So naturally I got very excited when I found out he was the male lead of this one! Hunter is the next one. I’m looking forward to reading about his little fling with Sienna. To be honest, she’s totally the reason I’m excited for that one! She could become a potential book girlfriend. We will see!

Title: Uniting America

Author: Peter Shinkle

Release Date: October 11th, 2022

Page Count: 464

Start Date: September 24th, 2022

Finish Date: October 9th, 2022

Review:

This book was filled with information about several important topics. I really feel like I learned very much from this book. I also love the raw honesty of all of the real situations during the time period. It also addresses the problems we still face today. I actually wound up buying my uncle a copy. He loves books like this. So far, he seems to be enjoying it as much as I did. It’s well-written and very well-resourced.