Shark! Shark! Get out of the water!!! This book recounts the deadly shark attacks that took place along the east coast in the year 1916. Ladies and gentlemen these are the events that inspired both the novel and the film Jaws. 🦈 This book is very nearly poetically written in sentence structure but very matter-of-factly when presenting facts to the reader. And boy does it present a lot of facts! Folklore, scientific theories, facts that were later learned in years to come... you will read them all here in this book. Michael Capuzzo definitely did his research for this book!!! After reading this book I feel like an expert on the subject. In reading, the book goes back and forth between introducing things of the time and people essential to the story, but also following the culprit shark's conception, birth, adolescence, and journey up the coast. In essence this book is written like a well-written true crime novel with the shark playing the role of the killer. The well-rounded details drop you right into the middle of 1916 and put you right there at the grisly scenes of the horrible attacks. And there is great build-up to each of the attacks. I loved reading this book and reading about the actual true events that happened that inspired one of my all-time favorite films. It is a very horrible and bloody tale but it is a tale that needs to be told none the less. Capuzzo does an exceptional job with this. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject of sharks, history, film history, or even true crime.
0 Comments
A wild ride...
Brian, Pookie and TJ are getting ready to rob a bank but things end up going very wrong. And things get even worse when they find out that the bank is owned by a Jamaican mob boss, who is out for blood when he finds out what happened. How will they escape this one? These characters get themselves into the craziest positions! I'm reading this book in awe that people could possibly go through what these characters go through in this book. 😂 Let's talk about the cover real quick, personally I think that the cover design is a little too dark and nothing but the word "Heist" really pops. The rest of it sort of bleeds together in darkness. Maybe a lighter background behind the woman and the dog would make everything else pop? the more things that pop the more eye-catching it is. Also the back of the cover is a little hard to read. It's almost like the red words underneath the synopsis are out of focus. Perhaps a different color or different font would be better for those words? I'd also like to bring up the fact that this book is in need of an editor to go over and polish some things. In the book I found broken and choppy sentences and paragraphs, misuse of word tense in places, and some punctuation errors. The story in this book is definitely there but it comes off as a little bit choppy and in chunks because of the way it is printed on the paper. There's no real constant flow. An editor could easily help with things like this to make it pristine and easier for the readers to read. I really love how the author worked in The Transparency Library inside the story. I thought that was very well worked in and I thought it was a nice touch. I also love the added inserts of the pictures of the characters in the very back of the book. This really helped me to envision the characters just the way the author meant them to be. That was a fantastic idea! Things for the characters are really back and forth in the beginning but things really start to hit the fan a little more than halfway through. In the beginning it's all fun and games until things become serious. That's when the book starts getting really good! This book left off on a real cliffhanger and it definitely needs a sequel in my opinion! After the editing errors are fixed, I would definitely recommend this book to those who like a good bank heist story. 😊 This is really a cute little reading journal.
I liked the challenges that it has every month but I would have liked different challenges more suited to my reading habits I suppose. Like one of the challenges was to read a book about a current political issue. I don't read stuff like that. And because the challenges we're laid out the way that they were I found myself having to jump around in the journal quite a bit in order to complete all the challenges. Also I found it a little disheartening that every single challenge was laid out exactly the same. There was no difference in any of the challenges or in any of the pages where you log your books in. It's pretty much all the same. I did appreciate the extra logging pages in the back of the book where you can fill in your books and check mark off how many books you read in the month. All in all I'd have to say it's a good little reading log book but it's definitely not the greatest one I've ever seen. I would however recommend it to anyone looking for a reading journal. Probably one of the best books I have read all year!
I bought this book only months before my hospitalization. I had a mental breakdown and was hospitalized for 6 days and placed on different medication. It was an extremely difficult time for me. I won't take up too much of this review explaining to you how much of a hard time I had in and out of the hospital once I was released but I will tell you that once I was finally released from the hospital I could not read. Like at all. It wasn't because I couldn't focus or think straight I simply just could not read. It broke my heart and for a time I thought that I would never be able to read again. But then I picked up this book. This book is the book that helped me through it all. This book's easy-to-read format and easy-to-follow practices, not to mention the light-hearted nature of the author's writing, made this absolutely perfect for someone who was healing from a horrible ordeal. This book is amazingly helpful and will put together and especially well-organized. It is sweet and lighthearted in nature. The exercises and recipes are practical and laid out and described in a way that makes them easy to follow for any layman. I absolutely love the way this author writes. She writes like she's reaching out a helping hand for you to take. So sweet. I wish I could reach into the book and give her a great big hug. And let's talk about the first thing you see when you look at this book... the cover... gorgeous 😍 Like many other covers, this is the first thing that initially drew me into the book. I remember seeing an ad for it on Facebook and for some reason the cover just spoke to me as if it was written just for me. I could never know at that point in time how much I would need it only months later. I love this book so much that I used post-it notes to bookmark tons of pages throughout the Book of things that I want to (or could need to) come back to. There is a LOT of bookmarks in this book!!! I just cannot talk this book up enough. If you are hurt internally or externally and you need something to help you heal, READ THIS BOOK! Woohoo...
Corinne and her buddies are back in this continuation of the Jumbies series. But this one takes us on a new adventure, under the water! This book is just as cute as the first and just as imaginative as well. It is also written just as well which of course you would expect coming from the same author. I did notice that this is not a stand-alone book however and if you haven't read Book #1 in the series you probably wouldn't understand some of the beginning of this book. The action quickly picks up however and the reader is taken off on the adventure. Most of the old characters come back in this second edition to the series. However there are a lot of new characters introduced as well. My personal favorite would have to be Mama D'Leau who is probably one of the most badass mermaids I've ever read about. I also wanted to say that somehow this author has pulled this story off to where it comes off as an old familiar legend. I feel as if I have heard a story similar to this one so many times before but yet this is presented to me in such a new fashion that it is anything but boring. The author's writing style makes the characters just come alive. I would definitely recommend this book as a part of the series but not a standalone, and I am very much anticipating the third installment to these books. No Rest for the Witches by Maryjanice Davidson, Lori Handeland, Cheyenne McCray & Christine Warren8/28/2019 Okay since there are only four stories in this anthology let me break it down for you story by story...
"The Majicka" - very cute. An interesting mix of paranormal characters. The romance did feel a bit rushed though. "Voodoo Moon" - interesting, to say the least with this one. Although nice and steamy it was a little too cops and robbers for me. "Breath of Magic" - did not like this one. By far the weakest story in the bunch. It seemed to drag on and it did not catch my attention at all. "Any Witch Way She Can" - after reading a little bit behind the scenes of this book I have come to the conclusion that this story is actually a part of a series which makes it a little weird and disorienting for someone who is not reading that series. it feels like the author just dropped you into that world without any description or purpose. All things considered I'd say this is a good book but not a great book. I would recommend it for a cute little Halloween read perhaps. Henry and Clare are entangled in each other's past, future, and present. Henry has a rare gift, he can time travel but his destination is always unknown to him. He never knows when or where it will happen. And so ends up spending his life in moments that seemed to be fragments in time. Can their love overcome this strenuous obstacle?
This book is so sad. I mean it has moments of happiness and that is great but I would put it along the lines of P. S. I Love You and almost dangerously teeter tottering towards Girl on the Train... meaning it's that kind of depressing. I mean nothing these characters do to try to make their lives work together seems to go through for them. It all seems to shatter to pieces every time they try. It is just such a tragic love story. I have to wonder who I feel the most pity for in this story. Do I feel more pity for Henry who is cursed with this gift to jump through time at unknown junctures where anything can happen to him? Or do I feel more pity for Clare who is seemingly doomed by Henry himself for him getting involved in her life before they actually "meet". In my opinion poor Clare was doomed from the very moment Henry showed up in the meadow. She was his from that time on and would never have any other. I guess Henry's gift became a curse on both of them. But I digress. Let's get to the writing shall we? I very much like the unique idea of time travel in this book. It hasn't truly been done in this manner before and for that I really do commend the author as it is a subject that is widely written about. I personally found the writing to be slow and boring especially in the beginning and made for a very difficult read to jump into (no pun intended). But eventually the story does pick up and the book does get better. I guess you just have to push through the beginning. Because of the nature of Henry's gift and the way the author chose to write about it there is a lot of repetitiveness in this book. And I will forgive the author for that because she did such a great job keeping things straight with dates and times and ages of the characters so that way the reader can read both Henry and Clare's stories in a comprehensive way. Everything in the book is very well put together so that we are reading a story instead of just fragments in the timeline. It is very difficult to write a good book about time travel. Considering the fact that we know next to nothing about it and can only theorize and conjecture what it would be like, imagination is key here and this book definitely has enough of that to make it a good read. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good fantasy, romance, or is interested in time travel in general. Holy crap... What would you do for limitless power in this world? What would you be willing to give up? What would you be willing to sacrifice? These are the questions that Chris must face when his friend Gord suddenly emails him out of the blue and tells him that he's getting married and that Chris is to be his best man. But this is going to be a wedding unlike any other Chris has ever attended. Wow, okay so... let me start by saying that I was completely unprepared for this book. LMAO 😂 I would categorize this book as a horror most definitely but I would also say that if the Sleeping Beauty series by Anne Rice took on a VERY dark turn it would probably end up being just like this book. Those who have read the series by Anne Rice will know what I'm talking about. The main character of this book is extremely relatable and like any really good horror story this book makes you ponder and contemplate on your own humanity and things you are willing to sacrifice in your life in order to get the things that you ultimately want. This book is reminiscent of Clive Barker in this way as it writes more about the darker side of human nature. The writing was fantastic and picks you up right from the beginning and holds your attention until the very end. This book goes from bachelor party to horror all before chapter 6! I also must mention that I really enjoyed all of the horror movie and book references in the very beginning of this book. Always nice to come across another horror freak like myself. 🖤 This book is not for everyone I'm not going to lie. It is a very difficult pill to swallow because of all the pornographic situations and the horrific gore that takes place in the book. But for those who can get past all that or who like all that, I would definitely recommend this book to them. 👍😃👍 Meh...
Jadranka and Magdalena are sisters tied together in unbreakable bonds. But when Jadranka turns up missing, Magdalena must go find her and in the process uncovers some very interesting family secrets along the way. I'm not really sure what exactly to categorize this book as. It's supposed to be literary fiction but it has elements of a thriller in it as well which is very confusing. The story has a very simple premise but I feel that it was very weak execution. The poetic writing style is nice but it also makes for more confusion if you are already confused by this book which indeed I was. This was just all together a very confusing read for me. These elements made it not only confusing but boring as well. I really need to stop allowing myself to be taken in by a pretty cover. 🤦🏼♀️ Speaking of which this cover is absolutely stunning! Whoever did the cover art for this book did a tremendously good job! It is very simple and eye-catching. Love it. And I have to say also that the love between the two sisters is very touching and it ultimately got me through the book. Without it I would have been bored to tears. I can't really say that I would recommend this one. Written by Renee Mitchell:
Everyone deserves a chance at finding true love, even in the harsh realities of Medieval England. In Loretta Livingstone’s third novel in her Out of Time series, Blossom on the Thorn, she explores the love that can grow between two people in an arranged marriage, despite the obstacles that are thrown into their path. Isabella is a young girl who was married at the tender age of fourteen to a brutal man, who sorely abused her and destroyed her confidence. After an accident while boar hunting turns fatal, Isabella finds herself a widow. Unfortunately, as was the way of things in 1194, the options for a young, noblewoman of childbearing years were slim, and she soon finds herself ordered to marry again. Her new husband, Giles, is a humble knight with a small manor. Strangers, the two must forge ahead, attempting to build a life together, as several obstacles stand in the way of their finding happiness. Livingstone is a good historical writer, and it is clear that much research has gone into the book. The language she uses and the descriptions of the harsh medieval world in which her story is set really draw the reader in. Labelled as a stand alone in the series, I do believe that this book can be read without having to find the others. That being said, she does offer a few references to things that have happened in previous books which can be frustrating for the uninitiated reader. In particular, the hints of time travel do not fit in with this third book and took me right out of the story. I also felt that although the beginning and middle sections of the book were long and drawn out, the climax of the story felt rushed and I was looking for more of a comeuppance for those characters who deserved to be reprimanded. Still, the romance of the story did draw me in, as well as the language and setting, so I award this four stars, and give it my recommendation. This is a romantic story, set in the harsh wintery landscape of 1194 England, where feelings, just like the landscape, are slow to thaw out. But once they do, the reader is left – mostly – satisfied. Just as the blossom grows on a thorn, this novel brings with it feelings of hope and renewal, and as with most romance novels, a tingly, happy feeling. |
Sumi's Books
Archives
May 2020
|