Tag: series

Categories
Book Challenges Book Reviews Book Series Books

Why I Keep Starting Series I Don’t Finish (And What I Learned From Forcing It)

Estimated Reading Time: 4min

I am almost finished (just one book away) several series on my bookshelves, so I’ve decided to knuckle down and actually finish them!

The Ether (The Dragons Descent) by Laurice E. Molinari

molinari

By far the most mixed in terms of religious ideas and mythology. (For example, most Christian’s I know don’t hold a specifically listed place in Sri Lanka as “sacred” but all Christians were lumped together with a small minority that does think that, and we had lots of mythology creatures mentioned throughout that confuses with Scripture).
It was consistent with the characters and tone and wrapped things up pretty well. Though the final “big bad” confrontation felt a little thin and too rushed for me.
All in all, it was a pretty good finale to the story and I was invested to the point of finishing it in a day.

Grab the book Here

Divergent (Four) by Veronica Roth

I don’t know that this was needed, but I did enjoy the first 2/3rsds.
Once we stopped Fours backstory into Dauntless and moves into some of his POV in Divergent, I didn’t care as much.
His actual backstory was interesting, but I felt the whole novella was pretty meh.

Grab the book Here

Defier (The Conqueror) by Mandy Fender

fender

Honestly, this was the best written book from the series. It still had a lot of editing problems, and character development seemed a little out of place. I never understood how Lennox managed to get to the place we see her in for this book. The plot was quite scattered, and it wasn’t really an understandable flow to it.
After reading all three, I actually think that if this series had been rolled into one standalone book, it would’ve been way better. She would’ve had more time to edit, vet, and really look at plot and structure a lot easier if it had just been one book. Having said that, as I’ve said in other reviews for the books previous, there was a lot of potential for this. It was just disappointing not to see it live up to its potential.
The ending was quite odd. This is not biblically based in terms of events listed in revelation. However, there is a lot of Christian phrases, words, and ideas, that don’t seem to fit into the story. If Mandy had used revelation quotes, or things that were actually prophesied about happening at the end of the world, rather than throwing random stuff at the wall, it would’ve been better. If she had also just not made it an end of world Revelation type story, this would’ve made a lot more sense as well. It felt a lot like she just needed to pick a lane, and either have something that was very well entrenched in Revelation, or not at all.
The final “big bad” confrontation scene was lacking. Everything was rushed, none of the characters made sense, and we didn’t get enough time with any of them to really feel anything for them outside of surface level.
As I mentioned earlier, this was the best written out of the three books. I think this was the actual story that Mandy wanted to tell, at least that’s how it read. The first two books were just a lot of set up for this essential story. Which again goes into my point of Just making this book one rather than three small ones. Lots of potential, just didn’t hit the mark.

Grab the book Here

The Selection (Kiera Cass)

Nice ending for all the characters. I didn’t see certain. Things coming until book 2, but they did make sense.
I had a good time, and some things that happened – I KNEW IT. I think our main character ended in a good place, and the progression of her love story as well as the plot in general was pretty good.

Grab the book Here

Well, I am on my way, but there are still more. I am glad that these can officially be checked off my list, and while I really enjoyed some, others I could take or leave.

Have you read any of these series? What did you think of them?

See You in The Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Book Challenges Book Reviews Book Series Books

I Went Back to Series I Was Stuck On | Here’s What Finally Made Them Click

Estimated Reading Time: 4min

In trying to finish several book series that I haven’t managed to get to, I decided to force myself by making it into a post.. so here we are. While I didn’t finish any of these series, at least I am one book closer to the end!

The Selection by Kiera Cass (The Heir)

An interesting flip on the original trilogy – seeing the selection process from a female perspective. Kind of like watching the first “Bachelorette” season.
E is a complex individual. She’s harsh but hiding a vulnerable side. Entitled but having been groomed in a way that makes sense for it her whole life. I tended to make excuses for her sometimes because of her situation, and other times she irritated me. I think the balance made her interesting.
The guys have some cool places they can go, but the last book is shorter so I’m not quite sure what to expect.

Grab the book Here

Elite Bodyguard by Lynette Eason (Always Watching)

Stalkers, radio psychologists and female bodyguards… yep that was this book in a nutshell and I quite enjoyed it.
I stated this serious out of order, and I have finally circled back around for the first officially released book in this stand alone series.
I enjoyed the suspense of this story, with enough beats of breathing room to not feel too overwhelmed. The mystery was well plotted in my opinion, and I enjoyed how it fit together.
The characters were mostly good, although had a somewhat bland feel some of the time – which is odd considering not just the circumstances around them but the backstories which were quite good. I’m not sure why it felt this way, but it wasn’t a huge sticking point so I’ll just leave it where it is.
On the whole, I enjoyed this book.

Grab the book Here

Out of Time by Nadine Brandes (A Time to Speak)

brandes

I liked this more than the first one. The first half especially was quite engaging, and I connected a lot more this time. There were some things, however, that I couldn’t get on board with. For example, love triangles are bad enough… but brothers? Ugh. It’s icky… but here we are.
This time around we had a different survival environment and circumstances, and it was better. Character wise it was fine. Story wise it was good. Action / adventure wise is was good.

Grab the book Here

The Remnant Series by Vannetta Chapman (Raging Storm)

Started out finding this okay but not super engaging but the second half of it actually pulled me in quite a bit more.
I was invested the further into this book we got, I just wish it came earlier. I think the discovery of the different ways people have adapted to the crazy new world was interesting. The quest was fine, though Shelby felt a little much at times (I’m not a mum though so I suppose it might be due to that).

Grab the book Here

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (Prince Caspian)

Nice to see the kids in Narnia again, but it did feel a bit rushed. There wasn’t really a pace that I could gel with. Everything felt slow but too fast all at once. I’m not sure exactly why but there just didn’t feel like there was a lot of space. Not for characters, somewhat for plot, but it was just – zip and we are done.
I still enjoyed it, though there wasn’t really an explanation in the book itself why certain characters weren’t going to be back.. that was a little odd.
Still, Narnia is Narnia.

Grab the book Here

Welp, I’ve made it through another book in each of these series and… I have no real desire to jump into another just yet 😛 What does that say about me?

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Book Reviews Book Series Books

Reading Sequels AGES After The First Book

Estimated Reading Time: 8min

Okay, sometimes I admit that I am not good at reading series in order. For the most part even when a book is AMAZING it can be difficult for me to jump back into the character’s world and continued plot.

So, I decided to rapid fire (kind of) sequels to some of the series that I had started… let’s go!

Glass Sword by Veronica Aveyard

aveyard

1.5 years after the first book (Red Queen)

A lot darker than the first.
Little to no hope throughout was a theme. Dark emotions, dark choices, refusal to let go and revenge and darkness the guiding force in pretty much all characters.
Powers are interesting, and it makes the fighting great. Just wish the characters were a little more likeable and a little less of a combined whine and bloodthirsty mess.

Grab the book Here

True Valor by Dee Henderson

henderson

1.5 years after reading the first (True Valor)

No overarching plot, mostly mini stories of characters who have a slow burn style relationship over mostly letters on multiple deployments. I think I got it all in that sentence.

While I didn’t mind the characters and the mini stories were pretty interesting, I am a plot person and there wasn’t one. The blurb made it seem to be something we could latch onto but it took most of the book to get there and it was really anti climactic.

While I could appreciate the military stuff for a while, without a plot to anchor it, I lost interest fast. There are definitely things to like in here, but it just wasn’t my pacing or style enough to enjoy it.

Grab the book Here

The Calling by Rachelle Dekker

10 months after reading the first (The Choosing)

Fear is the real enemy to freedom.. that’s what this book focussed on.
After the first book, this one was disappointing. The danger didn’t feel as extreme, I don’t like time gaps, and I wasn’t as connected to Remko as I was with Carrington in the first book.
The ending was…. Conflicting. I know why it was written that way, but I don’t quite buy it. I also hate that the next book has a HUGE time jump (two decades).
The lessons were great, and deep understanding was good. For me, it just wasn’t enough to raise my rating like the first book did.

Grab the book Here

Mystery of the Silver Coins by Lois Walfrid Johnson (Viking Quest)

11 months after reading the first (Raiders From The Sea)

Boring. I was so bored.
First book we had some action pushing things forward, but this was just a few different POVs of running through the forest and avoiding the people chasing you. I was bored.
Not a huge historical fiction person and this period with Vikings and stuff is not my fav either. I lied these books as a kid, but I can’t really remember why.
A little sad that I didn’t enjoy it but it was quick and the first book was better.

Grab the book Here

Local Artist by Paul Trembling

1 year after reading the first (Local Poet)

DNF halfway with a skip to the end.
HUGE and very serious trigger warnings:
Suicide (graphic), pedophelia, child abuse, murder/death, injury detail, violence.
I jumped to the end curious to know the solution before planning to continue but had already slugged through a graphic suicide description, so was already on edge. When I read some of the ending I didn’t even finish, and put it aside disgusted. Honestly, good job by the author for making me so uncomfortable and icky feeling that I couldn’t even read it, but I was officially done at this point.

Grab the book Here

pillars of fire by Laurice E. Molinari

13 months after reading the first (Vero Rising)

The first book was really a regular kid figuring out he was a guardian angel in training, and what such a different life and calling really looked like. Exploring all the amazing spiritual things he had no idea had been around him the whole time.
This second one continues his “training” (even though the teachers he encounters don’t actually teach them anything and basically leave him and his fellow trainees flapping in the wind) but it didn’t have the same feel. There was still a fascinating story, filled with amazing beings that you only read about in pages of scripture, but there was also a lack of growth for me. These angels were left to basically figure everything out themselves, a massive hurdle is placed in front of our main character and yet, there is almost no support that we see in most of the pages. The draw to these stories is the same as book 1, but the follow through felt weaker. Like we aren’t given as much information as we should have been. I still enjoyed the ride, don’t get me wrong, but some of this was so frustrating that I got pulled out of the story.

Grab the book Here

sparrow by mandy fender

fender

3.5 years after reading the first (Defier:The Girl Who Stood)

Ummmm, how do I say all the things I want to..? I’m just going to info dump it all in this review I suppose.

I still maintain that this story had so much potential! It was a while since I’d read the first so it took me a while to remember everyone, but once I did… oh boy.

I like the character of Lennox, her journey at the Sparrow compound learning everything would have easily fit into the first book. I don’t know what exactly our third book climax is leading towards, except for one very obvious plot point.

Our villain didn’t feel deserved. I don’t understand how this one guy is the “big bad” at all. He’s basically a bully with money.. how is that a superior villain? It’s not.

The writing, I finally realised, is a big problem for me. There are VERY well written sequences – particularly within the action that goes on – but most of this book reads like it was written by an absolute novice writer. Phrases that are amateur at best are littered throughout this book. I’ve read great writers and not so great, and I’m sad to say this one falls in the category of writing that just isn’t good. It needed severe work before it was published in my opinion. It’s not even writing style that I’m objecting to, it just reads like a first draft, which is not what you want.

The parts where we all of a sudden talk very seriously about God were so out of place, I didn’t know what to do with them. It wasn’t weaved in nicely, it was slammed in the middle of a scene and shoved down your throat. Like I said in my review of the first book, I love Christian fiction but his wasn’t hitting over the line for me.

The general plot of this second book was pretty interesting, but it was wrapped up in so much poor writing and cliche lines that it was almost impossible to keep track of a thread that kept me engaged.

I’m so disappointed in these comments because again… it has so much POTENTIAL to be an amazing story. So much. It just didn’t make it through the pages. If this had gone through maybe another four or five draft passes, heavy content editing and revisions, it could have been great.

Grab the book Here

Well, that was certainly interesting. Mostly, it was easy to recall where things had left off, but some of those were harder to pick up after reading (especially when it had been quite a while since the first one was read!).

I’m sure there are more, but hopefully I can keep going with the series above so I can flip the page on the stories above!

See You in the Adventures
Christy Grace

Categories
Book Reviews Books Booktok/Booktube

The Selection Series Review by Kiera Cass | The Bachelor Meets Hunger Games

Estimated Reading Time: 3min

I decided to jump (very late – years late in fact) on the band wagon and read The Selection trilogy. So, how did I find it and what were the good, and bad’s for the series?

Here are my thoughts on each book in the original trilogy (I have yet to read the other few that came out afterwards, so this is where I’m focussing my opinions!):

The Selection

cass

This book was cute, emotional, interesting And utterly ridiculous all mixed into one.
I don’t like “The Bachelor” but this was so much better that I didn’t mind the element of the story (especially when you consider no rose ceremony or the other silliness that normally comes with the show).
The banter and characters were fun, and the world was interesting. One minor irritation was that some of the world building felt a little too delayed and I was left to just skim over some things and hoping it eventually got explained (it did – things like the number system).
It surprised me how much I enjoyed this book, and I’m very glad.

Content: some tame but intense romantic scenes

Grab the book Here

The Elite

cass

I liked book two. The character interactions were still interesting and entertaining. My main complaint was that the continuing plot felt drawn out to a point where the story doesn’t matter anymore.
It has now been aprox 600 pages – with another 300 or so – of a competition that realistically could have been done in 400 all up. Most of this felt like padding, and I don’t know how to consider the final book.
All in all, good but not great. Not as good as the first, but still engaging enough.

Grab the book Here

The One

cass

The first book was great; the second felt like filler, but the third was my favourite!
This was a great end to the trilogy of America and Maxon’s story – it had the good, bad and the ugly. Including hilarious and heart warming/wrenching moments.
I was really impressed with the series overall, and pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Content warning: some more intense kissing scenes, but that was the extent of it

Grab the book Here

If you wanted to see my thoughts on this series on Booktube, here is the link for that as well:

Have you read The Selection? What did YOU think of it – share in the comments

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Fiction The Murder App

The Murder App | ONE

the murder app serial blogging series cgsp crime murder writer author

Chapter 1

Ella Strong stood from her crouch beside the victim’s body. The smell was getting stronger, but she stopped breathing with her nose and turned towards the medical examiner. “It looks like the others,” she said.

Sandra Ellis – The Medical Examiner – gave a short nod. Deep crease lines etched in her forehead. “Yes. Same as the other women. All strangled with a red tie, which was brought with the killer.”

Ella sighed, scanning the living room for the victim’s phone. She was hoping the same evidence that was on the other victims’ phone, wouldn’t be there. If it was the same as the others, she had failed another woman.
“Do we have an ID from her purse yet?” Ella asked aloud. Her partner, Steve Evans, was still searching through the victims’ handbag. He looked up from her wallet and nodded. “Yup. Her name is Lisa Renner, 27 years old.” Steve stood with the wallet in hand, joining Ella and Sandra. “Have we found the phone yet?”

Ella began to shake her head when her eyes glimpsed the floor beside the couch. A black phone casing lay just underneath it. She sighed, tucking her notepad into her pants pocket, and heading towards it. The gloves on her hands were necessary, but they made a squelching noise when she moved her hands and fingers.

She leaned down and picked up the phone, pushing the home button. The display lit up and as the screen sprung to life, a picture of a smiling Lisa at Disneyland appeared. The phone was locked, but her latest notifications weren’t hidden. Ella scrolled past the social media notices until she reached the one that she was hoping not to find.
“Mark up Lisa Renner as another victim of the Murder App,” Ella said softly. Steve appeared at her side and looked at the phone over her shoulder and sighed.
Lisa had a notification that her latest ‘love connection’ was on his way.

The ‘Murder App’ name wasn’t from the police. Somehow, the information about the app had been leaked, and the media had dreamed up that little classification; Murder App Killings. The victims had joined on the app and were all awaiting their ‘Prince Charming’ when they were killed. The accounts of the suitors were deleted without a trace within an hour of the deaths.
“Is it too macabre to say, ‘at least we have new leads’?” Steve asked. Ella frowned and shook her head, turning away from him and ignoring the comment. She knew he was right, but the death of another woman wasn’t a good thing – no matter what leads they now had. She was going to catch this guy and make sure he was put away where he belonged. “Let CSI know they can do their final sweep. We need to check out Lisa’s ‘Love Connection’ profile to see if her Prince Charming has deleted his account like the others.”

Ella drove back to the station in silence. She was grateful that the call to Lisa’s house had been late. It meant she could drive by herself, instead of sharing the ride with Steve. Her partner was a great guy, but this case was personal for her. She needed time to think.
The first victim had been her roommate from uni. They hadn’t seen each other in 17 years, and it was too late to reconnect now. Four victims in with this lunatic, and still no solid leads as to who he was.

As she pulled into a parking space out front of the station, she closed her eyes and pulled in a deep, lingering breath. A pounding on the hood of her car flicked them open again, and she frowned at Steve. He grinned at her like a 12-year-old. She shook her head and tried to hide a small smile as she opened the door and followed him inside.

Night shift meant the building wasn’t as lively, but the officers on night shift were still buzzing around with work. The atmosphere always seemed darker on the night shift, and Ella didn’t like to stick around too long. Her husband Ted was probably putting the leftovers in the fridge by now. He used to her late-night working, but she felt guilty when she had to rush away. Ted had been amazing when she’d announced her switch from paralegal to cop ten years ago. She’d gotten through training and reached detective, but the job was already taking its toll on her empathetic heart.

After briefing their boss, Ella and Steve returned to the large office that they shared, and went over the facts again.
“We need to get this guy,” Ella said once they were done recapping. She was already feeling the weight of the latest murder as she read over the preliminary information.
Steve exhaled and gave his classic impish grin. “I know we do.”

 

I hope you enjoyed the first Chapter of my newest ongoing CGSP series – The Murder App. I’m letting this story take me where it takes me each month – just like how HCC started.
Keep checking back every month for another part to the story!

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace