meg reads and reads

Title: Choosing Me Author: Bill Weber This is a post of firsts, as this is the first poetry book I've reviewed on this blog as well as the first book that I've been asked  to review by its writer for this blog. I started out my writing career as a poet (in fact, I still maintain a poetry page over on Hello Poetry ), so I am a huge fan of poetry in general, and I was very excited to get asked to review someone's book. This became awkward when it became quickly apparent that I did not  like the poetry in this book at all. It had a couple of fine moments, most specifically found in "Fountains of Heaven," toward the end. The writer overuses several words, such as "feminine' and "sensuous." I cringed when he said "anxiousness" instead of "anxiety." I recognize that "anxiousness" is technically an established word, but "anxiety" just sounds so much better. In fact, this writer was a big fan of just ta...

Title: The Road Beyond Ruin Author: Gemma Liviero I hated this book. This was my December pick for Amazon First Reads , and I so  wish I had gone with something different. I'm usually a huge fan of historical fiction, but this was just not good at all. I'm a fairly intuitive reader, so I usually have a good idea of where a plot is headed before it gets there. I'm usually happy to be surprised. This, however, is only the case if the plot twist is well-executed. This book has a few twists, but they are so poorly thought out that it makes what could have been an outstanding novel absolutely terrible. The twists don't even make sense. My advice to this writer is that if you're going to write from multiple perspectives, at least be consistent with your characters' thought processes. This book would have been far better if only told from the perspective of one or two people, probably Erich and/or Rosalind. If you want to surprise your readers, make it a su...

Hello, my literary lovelies! I know you've been anxiously awaiting this month's giveaway. The winner this month will receive a free copy of George R.R. Martin's new release, Fire & Blood. I know we're all ready for him to write Winds of Winter already, but whatever. This is still cool. Fire & Blood is a prequel to the A Song of Ice and Fire series, the first book of two in a history of the Targaryens. It's a #1  New York Times Bestseller. This book is hot  right now, y'all. To enter the contest, all you have to do is like the contest post on my Facebook page , share it, and comment on it. I will announce the winner on Facebook on Tuesday, December 18. Again, I do these giveaways monthly, so if you are not following my blog or my Facebook page, you should do so. To help in keeping these giveaways going, or even to increase the frequency of the giveaways, and to help me in being able to review as many books as possible, please consider donating....

Title: The Fiery Cross Author: Diana Gabaldon This is the fifth installment in the Outlander  series, and I have to say that it's the first one that I haven't loved. Don't get me wrong, I still really liked it. Gabaldon is a great writer, and I'm always thoroughly impressed at the amount of research she puts into her books. Being from North Carolina, it's fun to see familiar settings. As a bit of historical background (and this is  explained in the book), the Fiery Cross (or Crann Tara , in Gaelic) was an ancient form of communication between the Scottish clans. It was used as a way to get the clans to gather together. It would only be used in a situation of great importance. The way Gabaldon brings this Scottish tradition to colonial America is fantastic and, frankly, awe-inspiring. I really respect her as a writer. When all is said and done, though, this book had some really slow spots, and though it ends in a good place, I had to really work to read thr...

Hello, my literary lovelies! I have posted several reviews here since August, but I haven't posted anything else. I decided to write about a few things I've got going on, in case anyone is interested. First, the most important part, my reviews. I usually am reading about four books at a time, mostly because I am moody and can't stick with one thing. I will start posting blogs indicating what I'm reading. Right now, the list is as follows: I will always be reading a book series. Currently, I'm reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I'm on book 5, The Fiery Cross. I'm about 90% done with this book, but these books are extremely long, so there's still a good chunk of reading time left there. I am reading the books of Stephen King in chronological order. I think I've mentioned that before. I'm currently reading The Tommyknockers. I'm only about 17% through with this book, so it'll be some time before it gets reviewed, I'm s...

Title: The Storyteller's Secret Author: Sejal Badani Wow. I just finished reading this book, and I really have no words. But it's my job to provide them, so I'm going to do my best. Occasionally, I come across a book that speaks to me so intimately that I feel like I've been punched in the gut or that someone has their hand around my heart and is just squeezing it as hard as they can. This is one of those books. I got this book through Amazon First Reads  a few months ago, and to be completely honest, had I had any notion of what the subject matter of the book was, I might have chosen a different book. I'm so  glad I didn't. After reading the first chapter or so, it was just so much for me to handle that I had to put it down for a little while before coming back to it. But this book was worth every single ugly cry it got out of me (and it got several). The book is perfect. I don't say that often, but it is. Five out of five stars from me, but I r...