One of my friends chose this for our bookclub book. I will be the first to admit that I was skeptical. I love her dearly (she’s my BFF), but she notoriously picks books that make me want to stick a spoon through my eye. I will also be honest and say that the cover art threw me off. It’s a bit too trite for me. Too… something. I wish I knew what it was that threw me, but it just didn’t gel with me. I am SO glad that she chose this book because I can’t say that I would have found this on my own.

I read a lot of self published books. A lot. Some are good. Some are bad. Some a really really bad and every now and then I run across a gem. This book represents the reason that I keep plodding along doing independent reviews. This type of writing makes me smile. In fact, everyone in our club liked the book. I think this was the first one in a year that we were all in agreement with what a greatly written book it was.

The storyline is engaging. You travel back in time with our main characters, you feel their angst at having to figure things out. You feel them struggling with the change, with how to handle make the past meet the future. The author’s ability to take a piece of historical fiction and throw in a little time travel and a touch of romance and make a group of 12 loud and opinionated women like it… well, that’s remarkable.

Her writing flows off of the page and grabs you by the hair. It drags you along with it and pulls you directly into the early 1900s and you like it. You hold on to the ride for dear life and don’t hold your breath until we reach that fateful day that you’ve been waiting on since you figured out what the time period represented.

The climax of this story takes place onboard the maiden voyage of Titanic. I won’t give anything away here, but I think I read that particular chapter sitting on the edge of my seat with my breath held. I’m pretty sure my kindle has permanent fingernail marks on it. I couldn’t breathe until I knew… the writing is so amazing and I cared so deeply about these characters.

I simply cannot wait until the author releases the next in this series. I love that she ended this book. There was no huge cliffhanger, but it left my appetite open for the next one.

I recommend this for just about anyone. Seriously, give it a read.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2012: 3

I’m a huge fan of time travel. In a lot of time travel stories you get a glimpse of a believable future, and a reminder (or a lesson) on times long past. In “Blackout” the future seems a lot like the past. The way the characters talk and act remind me more of the late 80′s and early 90′s than what I would think of 2060. Of course, this is a time travel novel, and only the first 1/2, so maybe there is a reason. If so, it is not explained and it left me feeling disconnected from the world of the future.

In the past, the story lines begin to get a bit confusing. However, I love the facts that are thrown in about the time period. We are introduced to both the fear and bravery of a generation that is almost gone. At a time when they were at their peak.

I have to admit, I’ve never read a Connie Willis book. I can’t say that this one makes me want to read another, but it definitely hasn’t crossed her off my reading list. As an introduction to this author, I really don’t recommend it especially after seeing reviews on her other titles (such as The Doomsday Book).

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2012: 1

What if the world was turned upside down tomorrow? Whether it be by a natural disaster, by disease, or by economic collapse just how much could you count on your neighbors? The government? Your church? What if the change wasn’t just about how people lived but also about what it meant to be human?

This is the story that “The God Virus” tells. The two main characters in this book come from opposing view points: one is a scientist, the other is highly religious. As they change and as the world changes around them they must come to grips not only with the changes, but also how their different beliefs can be reconciled. Religion and science clash, combine, and come out as a sort of understanding of how perhaps the two are not as incompatible as some people believe.

I highly recommend this book for anyone that enjoys a good post-apocalyptic read. Additionally, the thoughts on religion and science would make it a good read for anyone that would like to see just how compatible they really are even with our limited amount of knowledge today.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Ah, the 4th book in a series. It is usually really good or really bad (like most book 2 offerings). This one was a little middling for me. Let me say that I absolutely adore Imogen Rose, I’m a big fan of her work and she makes sure I get a preview copy. She has an amazing ability to bring the people and places in her books into my own reality and I sometimes feel like I kinda of know them – if Arizona were to walk by me in the mall, it wouldn’t phase me to stop and say hello.

This book picks up where Equilibrium left off very well… and then I kind of felt like it meandered a bit. It does manage to pick back up and the story straightens back out about one third of way in. There did feel like a bit of a disconnect there in the first part of the book. While I’m complaining, I’ll also say the cliff hanger might have been too much as well. No, you cannot please me.

I’m going to try to not spoil it, but there’s a phone call early on in the book that made me grin. I nearly wet myself hoping that two people would meet like I’ve been waiting for since book 1. I won’t share if it happened or not… but… well, you’ll see!

The writing and editing, as always, was absolutely spot on in this book. Imogen has always delivered nothing less than darn near perfection in that respect. I like that she is consistent in that regard. I do think it could have dealt with a little bit more of a content edit to straighten out a straggling plot point or two. Or perhaps that was on purpose for book 5? Hmmm…

Here’s what you really need to know about this entire series… it’s clean. There’s a few curse words (not a big deal, my kids hear worse in Elementary School) but it’s interesting and really well done young adult books. The characters (even the bad guys) are very likable. I especially like the main character, Arizona. I’ve watched her grow up in these books and I find her to be a very likable teenager (yes, I realize that’s a huge oxymoron). Honestly, she’s a great kid.

At the end of the day, I recommend this for teenagers, pre-teens and adults alike. I’m 30-something and I totally wanna hang out with Arizona and the crew.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2011: 43

My only complaint about the Complete Alpha Dreamer is that it was the most addictive anthology I’ve ever read. Each and every story left me wanting more from each author. The stories are diverse, interesting, and most of all, fun to read.

There is probably something in this book for everyone, and for most people, a whole lot! There is time travel, space opera, alternate realities, life on the moon, and even on the future of preventing terrorism. Did I mention even a little bit of fantasy starring Sherlock Holmes?

Truthfully, I didn’t realize how long this book was when I sat down to read it. Every story is a page turner, and I went from one to the next. 527 pages of amazing stories.

I loved this book and am ready for more!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2011: 1

How many short stories can truly say that they cover trillions of years, even from a limited perspective? Even fewer can say that they’ve done it in an interesting, fun, and all together different fashion. 329 is one of those that have done this tremendous task and has done it well!

329 starts at the beginning of time. Well, actually, it starts .000001 seconds AFTER the absolute beginning of time, but I think the beginning of time is close enough. 329 is a love story of sorts, with the main character being 4 times 10 to the 36th power. As one of only 10 to the 93rd power protons in the universe, 4 times 10 to the 36th leads a pretty interesting life.

It all starts when he meets, bonds, and falls in love with 329. Unfortunately, after a scant 718 million years they are separated. 329 is the story of 4 times 10 to the 36th power life after 329 and his search for her.

Is the story funny? No, not really. Is it exciting? I wouldn’t say so, no. However it is extremely well written and includes situations that will be very familiar to everyone. This story is highly recommend for lovers of science, or science fiction, or for anyone who knows what it is like to be separated from a loved one.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

If you were to cross a rich man who has managed to get his fingers into nearly all facets of the government, research and more with the coming end of the world, you’d get New World Orders by Edward Talbot. This intriguing novel of science fiction and government cover up is not only fast-paced, but very well written. I blazed through this one in just a few days and lost quite a few hours of sleep staying up late to find out “what’s next”.

The books is very well polished. There is no confusing dialog and I didn’t see any glaring issues with the timeline or grammar. If the author had not contacted me with a gift copy of this book, I would not never guessed it was independently published. Well done, Mr. Talbot.

Where this books shines and shines brightly is in character development. By the end of this novel, I felt like I knew Jack and why he was driven. All of the characters have such rich personalities, yet each very distinctive. None of them ran together for me. I also liked that while this appears to be a first in a planned series, it was a complete story. No big cliffhangers, but just enough of a tease to make me look forward to reading the next one.

The only real problem I had with this book was how the fast forward of time occurred. While the author handled it well, it felt a little too “dumped”. Like “okay, let’s stop here and just pick right up – the readers will have to fend for themselves.” However, I’m not sure if it was entirely a bad thing because it did make the big shock an even bigger shocker. I’m a bit torn on that one.

Overall, I love conspiracy theories and while this one was a bit far-fetched (too far reaching), I am still half convinced it’s true

I would recommend this book to those who like a good suspense reader as well as light SciFi fans.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2011: 20

Over the past year, I’ve started to really dig dystopian science fiction. Futuristic mayhem and out of control politics makes for good ride. BUT only if it’s done well. And Mr. Royle can weave a story very well indeed.

The book is nothing to sneeze at, as far as length. I was a bit intimidated and was wondering if the author would be able to keep my attention the whole time. I will admit that I think part of it was a little overwritten but now that I see this is part of a series, I can understand the author may be setting up for the next book, which I’m looking forward to immensely.

The story is really well done. VERY well done, this could easily be a mainstream story at the local grocery store line. It reads very smoothly and the descriptions are top notch; I was totally there with the characters, I was rooting for the good guys and angry about having the Tag Law forced upon me, gosh darn it! I really did enjoy the descriptions and the world that the author created for us, it felt realistic. The dialogue didn’t feel forced and the narrative was smooth.

I didn’t see a single grammatical error. Whether that is because there weren’t any or because I was absorbed in the story, I’m not sure.

I’m interested to see where the author takes us now… I’m not sure where it could possibly go, but I also see that as a hallmark of a good book in a series. It’s a story in and of itself. Even if I don’t read the 2nd the book, I feel like I got a total storyline. Awesome.

I recommend this book to those that enjoy books written about futuristic societies. There’s a lot of information about how the world works in this world and it transports you there.

While I did take away one star because of the overwritten sections (again, this could be setting up the 2nd book), I’m still making this part of my “must read” books for this year.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2011: 3

This is a hard book to review. I really did like it, but it was kind of a departure from the first two books. It was much darker with a bit of a commentary about war and manipulation. I really wasn’t expecting that from this book because the first two, while action packed, were a little more light. This one got pretty heavy at times.

The author does kind of inject her own thoughts about war, but does a good job of not ramming it down your throat. At it’s core, I believe this book is about change, love, loss, and self-destruction. The writing is, of course, fabulous. The descriptions are breathtakingly real.

The writing is also where I think this book stumbles a bit. The middle part of the book is basically one big meander. Katniss can’t seem to get any forward momentum and the book suffers a bit for it. While the author tries to tie everything together and pick up the loose ends, the main character gets the daylights beat out of her, on so many levels. I think the middle of the book could have used some tightening up.

Having said that, I would recommend this book for fans of the this series. It was a fitting end, if not completely satisfying.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2011: 1

I finished reading the first book and within five minutes had started reading this one. It really is a great series. I’ve been trying to figure out what to say about this book without giving away too much of the plot to those who haven’t read the first one.

Rather than ruin the book for you, I’m just going to say that it was almost as good as the first book, it felt a little too drawn out in places, but not terrible. The action is still intense and in some ways matured (and in others, not so much). We are also left with a huge cliffhanger ending, so I purchased the 3rd book within 3 minutes of finishing this one.

Darn those series!

Recommended for all that enjoyed The Hunger Games. While The Hunger Games could stand alone, this one does not, you really need to have read the first one (and will want to read the third one right away).

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Book count for 2010: 101