meg reads and reads

Title: A Clean Kill in Tokyo Author: Barry Eisler I was perusing the Amazon Best Seller list for a new book to read, and book 10 of this series was pretty high on the list. I read the description, and it seemed pretty interesting, but I knew it was going to be a huge commitment, as I would need to start from the beginning. I'm already reading the Outlander  series. Did I really want to start another series? I decided to give it a shot. Boy, was it worth it. This is a fantastic thriller with lots of twists and action. It was quite a ride, and I'm very much looking forward to book two. Four out of five stars. -------- READING PROGRESS: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 73% A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon: 80% The Berenstain Bears Chapter Book Collection by Stan & Jan Berenstain: 36% A Lonely Resurrection by Barry Eisler: NOW STARTING

Title: Say You're Sorry Author: Melinda Leigh I actually surprisingly liked this book a lot. I normally pick apart this genre of book like crazy, but this one was actually pretty enjoyable. The characters were likable, and I didn't have the plot figured out immediately, which was a huge plus. I was about 90% through the book before I figured it out, and I think that's pretty much when the author intended for you to start putting the pieces of the puzzle together, so that's good. There were a few editing issues that keep this from being a five star book for me, but they weren't so horrendous that it was distracting. I will say that this book was a very pleasant surprise. Four out of five stars. ------ READING PROGRESS: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 50% A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon: 74% The Berenstain Bears Chapter Book Collection  by Stan and Jan Berenstain : 32% A Clean Kill in Tokyo by Barry Eisler: STARTING NOW (This is Book On...

Title: Rock Needs River Author: Vanessa McGrady My feelings about this book are...complicated. It's pretty well written and it feels honest. It's just that I don't know how I feel about the author. She is by turns very interesting and extremely pretentious. When she writes about her younger days, I think about how cool it was that she did all of that stuff, and then at other parts I'm thinking, "Could you be any more bourgie?" The book is at parts dull, at parts very interesting, and at parts absolutely devastating, but in the end, I felt as if the author and her daughter were where they needed to be, even if the other people involved are kind of a mess (of their own making). Three out of of five stars from me. ----------- READING PROGRESS: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 44% A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon: 64% Say You're Sorry by Melinda Leigh: 83% AND NOW I'm starting something new. I don't normally read childr...

Title: Hate Notes Authors: Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward These workplace romance novels are usually nothing but trash, and while this one is plenty trashy in places, it's actually a pretty sweet story. The man isn't a domineering pig, which is a pleasant change of pace in these types of books, and the woman is almost likable. She's definitely relatable, if nothing else. All in all, it's not the best book I've ever read by any means, but it wasn't terrible, and I was happy with how it ended, even if it was completely cheesy (literally and figuratively...you'll have to read it to find out what that means). Three out of five stars. -------- READING PROGRESS: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 36% A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon: 36% Rock Needs River by Vanessa McGrady: 48% Say You're Sorry by Melinda Leigh: STARTING NOW

Title: Serial Date Author: D.V. Berkom Getting 2019 off to a good start with a review on Day 1! I got one of the later books of this series for free on BookBub  a while back, so I decided to try it from the beginning and bought the first book. Aside from my grammatical issues with the book, of which there were many, this was a fun thriller with murder and mayhem without being too graphic. It was an easy, fast-paced read, if slightly unbelievable at parts (these things always are), and I'll probably continue with the series at some point, just to see where the main character, Leine, ends up. Three out of five stars. ------ READING PROGRESS: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 30% Hate Notes by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward: 70% A Breath of Snow and Ashes  by Diana Gabaldon: 36% Rock Needs River by Vanessa McGrady: STARTING NOW

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...