Book Review

Caribou’s Gift (Kodiak Point 3.5) By: Eve Langlais

caribous gift

Caribou’s Gift (Kodiak Point 3.5) By: Eve Langlais

Plot:

Damn it, a man had his pride and a caribou a certain majestic presence, all of which could wind up ruined if he abased himself to play a simple-minded reindeer in the town’s Christmas parade. No way was he wearing damned tinsel in his antlers. Like hell was he sporting a red nose and pulling a sleigh. But he changes his mind when he meets the woman in charge of the event. Single mom, Crystal, is doing her best to offer her daughter the best Christmas ever. It’s their first in Kodiak Point, and she’s not about to let some vain jerk ruin it for her little girl. If playing dirty is what it takes…then bring on the Christmas games. As Crystal and Kyle butt heads—and lips—they discover more than goodwill this holiday season. They’re gifted with a second chance at love.

Review:

This was such a cute, sweet story. It was just a novella so the story was fast paced and got right to the point. Kyle fell so fast and hard that I couldn’t help but love him. Crystal was a good single mom and she resisted because of past mistakes but she quickly realized that there was no need with Kyle.

I liked the pacing and that there wasn’t much heming and hawing they both fell quickly and didn’t fight it much.

Gigi was adorable.

There was also a nice little magical Christmas moment that brought the holiday cheer. Love this series.

5/5

Holiday Abduction (Alien Abduction #6) By: Eve Langlais

Holiday Abduction

Holiday Abduction (Alien Abduction #6) By: Eve Langlais

Plot:

Vhyl is determined to acquire a certain lost artifact, but when he lands on the forbidden barbarian planet known as Earth, he finds more than expected. An attractive human female is in possession of the priceless object, and she’s agreed to hand it over—for a price. Apparently she doesn’t know of his reputation…or doesn’t care. Intrigued by her fearless nature—and her luscious cocoa skin—this acquisition expert can’t resist stealing a kiss. But before he can take more, his enemy arrives to stake a claim. It seems Vhyl isn’t the only one interested in Jilly’s treasure—and Jilly herself. On the run not only from Earth forces but his enemies too, they must fight to survive and evade capture. However, he can’t escape the effect the human has on him. In the end, Vhyl has to make a choice—Jilly or the priceless treasure he came for?

Review:

I love how fast paced these books are, and I have no idea why, but purple aliens are somehow super hot.

I eagerly await every installment in this franchise and I have never been disappointed. The story always has a strong female lead, as well as a ridiculously hilarious, macho, male lead that never fails to entertain.

Have I mentioned I love these books?

The addition of the holiday setting did not diminish all the things I’ve come to expect, it just added a nice little festive note. There was also a little present at the end, a short story that was a peek into the first Christmas with the abducted women and their aliens.

Hopefully this isn’t the last installment in the series because I’m not sure if my desire for purple hunks will ever be satisfied.

5/5

Armada By: Ernest Cline

Armada

Armada By: Ernest Cline

Plot:

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.

And then he sees the flying saucer.

Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.

No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar?
Review:

This book was ridiculous, right now I’m not sure if it was a good or bad ridiculous, though.

Even though the book started with Zack seeing an alien ship it seemed to take forever for anything to actually happen. There was a lot of explaining about the fact that his dad was dead and how that had impacted his entire life and Cline walked you through Zack’s levels of obsession over his father.

*Spoilers*

A lot of very farfetched things happened in the book, which is fine, sometimes that’s fun, but I think some things went too far overboard. The aliens in this book acted like video game aliens, which Zack realized but no one else seemed to pick up on. Well a couple other people but they hadn’t done anything about it which considering the whole world was in the balance seemed very irresponsible and stupid.

The ending was filled with needless death and while I was crying at the loss I was also pissed off. A lot of people made some very stupid decisions considering they had literally decades to think up solutions. Are we really that stupid as a species?

I think the icing on the cake of over the top ridiculous was when Zack’s mom gets pregnant after one bout of sex with her long dead husband. Seriously? That was unnecessary and more than a bit stupid.

The way the book ended it could very well lead to more books and the creation of a series but that’s exactly how Ready Player One ended and so far we’ve got nothing. The last thing I read was that Cline wanted to write something similar to Catcher in the Rye, but that could have been a joke. God I hope it was. Other places are saying he’s working on a sequel to RP1 so we’ll see what happens. He’s not a particularly fast writer so we have some time.

Anyway, I knew going in that this book wasn’t going to resonate with me like Ready Player One did, the plot just didn’t do it for me, but I loved RP1 so much that I wanted to like this one. All in all I felt like it was okay, but not something I have to own or would likely recommend to people. It’s an idea that’s been done before and I honestly don’t think Cline brought enough new to the table.

I look forward to more by Cline, but I’m keeping my excitement in check for now.

3/5

 

Heart of Obsidian (Psy-Changeling #12) By: Nalini Singh

HeartofObsid_Medium

Heart of Obsidian (Psy-Changeling #12) By: Nalini Singh

Plot:

A dangerous, volatile rebel, hands stained bloodred.
A woman whose very existence has been erased.
A love story so dark, it may shatter the world itself.
A deadly price that must be paid.
The day of reckoning is here.

From “the alpha author of paranormal romance” (Booklist) comes the most highly anticipated novel of her career—one that blurs the line between madness and genius, between subjugation and liberation, between the living and the dead.

Review:

Now that I’m sort of refreshed on the world I picked up where I left off. Heart of Obsidian had a few things I’d forgotten about, but I quickly got back up to speed. I liked the fact that the story was about Psy, they’re interesting and different from other books I’ve read.

Kaleb was a very dark, tormented character. Sahara was surprisingly strong and recovered from her ordeal fairly quickly. Honestly, I didn’t really like these two. They were super powerful and seemed to do and recover from setbacks quickly. Actually, there weren’t many setbacks. They were just so freaking powerful.

What was done to the world in this book was more interesting than the characters. What happened in the end changes the entire Psy community, so I look forward to reading what happens next because of that.

3.5/5

The Tao of Martha: My Year LIVING; Or, Why I’m Never Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog By: Jen Lancaster

The Tao of Martha

The Tao of Martha: My Year LIVING; Or, Why I’m Never Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog By: Jen Lancaster

Synopsis:

One would think that with Jen Lancaster’s impressive list of bestselling self-improvement memoirs—Bitter Is the New Black; Bright Lights, Big Ass; Such a Pretty Fat; Pretty in Plaid; My Fair Lazy; and Jeneration X—that she would have it all together by now. One would be wrong. Jen’s still a little rough around the edges. Suffice it to say, she’s no Martha Stewart. And that is exactly why Jen is going to Martha up and live her life according to the advice of America’s overachieving older sister—the woman who turns lemons into lavender-infused lemonade. By immersing herself in Martha’s media empire, Jen will embark on a yearlong quest to take herself, her house, her husband (and maybe even her pets) to the next level—from closet organization to craft making, from party planning to kitchen prep. Maybe Jen can go four days without giving herself food poisoning if she follows Martha’s dictates on proper storage….Maybe she can grow closer to her girlfriends by taking up their boring-ass hobbies like knitting and sewing.…Maybe she can finally rid her workout clothes of meatball stains by using Martha’s laundry tips.… Maybe she can create a more meaningful anniversary celebration than just getting drunk in the pool with her husband….again. And maybe, just maybe, she’ll discover that the key to happiness does, in fact, lie in Martha’s perfectly arranged cupboards and artfully displayed charcuterie platters. Or maybe not.

Review:

Jen is at a point in her life where if I try and compare myself to her or put myself in her shoes I feel like my life is lacking. I’m twenty-nine it’s completely normal for me not to have the nice brick house in the suburbs or the dinner parties or all the other little superpowers she has. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that though.

It’s like when you get your first “real” job and you’re out of your parents house and you can’t understand why you still have a dinky bed while your parents have a nice bedroom suit. So you either accumulate a huge amount of debt or hoard money like it’s precious and don’t live your life. I’m in the middle (right now closer to the debt part, babies are expensive and I spend too much time on entertainment to have any real skills).

Anyway, this book made me want to get all crafty. She almost had me wanting to throw dinner parties, but it takes a lot more to get me to forget how awkward and horrible a host I am.

I actually started to wonder why I don’t do more craft projects. I’ve certainly got enough ideas pinned and I’m not a complete newb, I’ve crocheted stuff, and baked stuff, and painted stuff. I could totally get all crafty.

Then I remember the two year old permanently attached to my hip that doesn’t let me do anything fun without wanting to try it herself. It’s like I’m the most amazing thing in her world and if I’m doing it she has to do it because it must be the coolest things ever. It’s hard being someone’s world.

Since crafts are put on hold for a few more years I thought, well I could decorate the house for Christmas. I went so far as to image surprising my husband with a completely decorated house when he comes home from work and that’s where the fantasy ended. My husband is a perfectionist when it comes to Christmas decorations and anything I did he would have to go back around and fix. It’s annoying and totally defeats the purpose of me decorating the house.

Sorry for the rabbit trail, however, it does convey nicely what reading a Jen Lancaster book is like, to an extent. Liked the book, made me want to be crafty. Cried when Maisy died and I’m not even one of those animal loving weird-o’s. (I feel like I need to clarify that I was being sarcastic with this line)

4/5