Why I have this book: I bought the Kindle version after seeing a handful of the author's videos on her "Juggling the Jenkins" FB page.
Warning: This book contains an abundance of profanity and several sexual situations that came about as a result of drug addiction.
However, I gave this book four stars because I think it tells a valuable and needed account of the world of a drug addict. I probably would have given it five stars if the profanity would have been toned down some.
The writing has an easy flow, and while I think she could have gotten in a few more pages that tell about her life now, the entire story was intriguing and the book was hard to put down. I admire her for changing her life and creating the successful business and happy family she seems to have, as well as for her efforts to be a positive influence though her YouTube channel and blog.
This would be such a valuable book for teenagers/young adults to read because I think it would really discourage them from trying drugs if they were considering it. On the other hand, I don't know that I can recommend this book to any teenager to read because of some of the content. I honestly wouldn't recommend it to most of my friends (in my conservative life), and that's too bad. I can't get it out of my brain.
Somewhat difficult read because of the profanity and descriptions of things that happened in jail and in her desperation to get drugs before her arrest. While the sexual descriptions weren't over the top, they were descriptive enough.
Friday, January 31, 2020
Thursday, January 30, 2020
The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion)
Why I have this book: I bought the Kindle version years ago but hadn't read it. Then my daughter won a copy at a library giveaway and recommended it to me after she read it. (She warned me that there were a lot of F-words in it.)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though yes, it does have a lot of F-words. (I like to blame that on the fact that it's an Australian author... but maybe Australians think all Americans use that word a lot, too.) It also has some talk about sex, but no graphic encounters at all.
But the main character. Don. How I love him! I totally pictured him as Mr. Monk (from the tv show of the same name), and I just love him like I love Mr. Monk.
I gave this book four stars on Goodreads, and while I'm not leaning towards reading the rest of the series right now, I might in the future. I hope they are as enjoyable as this one is. My "to-read" list is quite long right now, so I'm not going to jump right into them.
See above for content review.
PS. I lied. I put the next two books on hold at the library. :)
PSS. I decided not to read the next two books once they came up to borrow. Too many other books to read, so I returned them without reading. I also kind of didn't want to spoil how much I liked this first book if the sequels weren't as good. (I saw mixed reviews on Amazon.)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though yes, it does have a lot of F-words. (I like to blame that on the fact that it's an Australian author... but maybe Australians think all Americans use that word a lot, too.) It also has some talk about sex, but no graphic encounters at all.
But the main character. Don. How I love him! I totally pictured him as Mr. Monk (from the tv show of the same name), and I just love him like I love Mr. Monk.
I gave this book four stars on Goodreads, and while I'm not leaning towards reading the rest of the series right now, I might in the future. I hope they are as enjoyable as this one is. My "to-read" list is quite long right now, so I'm not going to jump right into them.
See above for content review.
PS. I lied. I put the next two books on hold at the library. :)
PSS. I decided not to read the next two books once they came up to borrow. Too many other books to read, so I returned them without reading. I also kind of didn't want to spoil how much I liked this first book if the sequels weren't as good. (I saw mixed reviews on Amazon.)
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Slave Stealers (Timothy Ballard)
Why I have this book: I bought it for my husband for Christmas after my son recommended it to me.
Okay, this book is the first solid 5 star rating I've given on Goodreads in a very long time! It's such an important book for everyone to read. Honestly, I think it should be required reading for high schoolers and up.
People in this world can be amazingly evil.
Other people in this world are amazingly heroic and full of love.
I am inspired by those heroes.
Clean, although the subject matter is slavery and the way slaves are trafficked and treated. Nothing is graphically described.
Okay, this book is the first solid 5 star rating I've given on Goodreads in a very long time! It's such an important book for everyone to read. Honestly, I think it should be required reading for high schoolers and up.
People in this world can be amazingly evil.
Other people in this world are amazingly heroic and full of love.
I am inspired by those heroes.
Clean, although the subject matter is slavery and the way slaves are trafficked and treated. Nothing is graphically described.
Friday, January 24, 2020
Comfort and Joy (Kristin Hannah)
Why I have this book: I borrowed it from the ebook library.
It could have almost gone to a four star rating on Goodreads (from me), but the ending really fell flat for me. Instead of using the term "magic" to describe what happened, maybe the author should have just left it as a puzzle. I don't know.
The book kept my interest, though, so I didn't hate it.
I'm pretty sure it was clean (writing this a week later than I read it), but it's possible there was a mild swear word or two. I don't remember any, though.
It could have almost gone to a four star rating on Goodreads (from me), but the ending really fell flat for me. Instead of using the term "magic" to describe what happened, maybe the author should have just left it as a puzzle. I don't know.
The book kept my interest, though, so I didn't hate it.
I'm pretty sure it was clean (writing this a week later than I read it), but it's possible there was a mild swear word or two. I don't remember any, though.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Sister's Choice (Emilie Richards)
Why I have this book: It's the last of the Shenandoah Album series I've been reading.
Well, again, I'd give this a 3.5 or 3.7 if I could, but in fairness to the author, I rounded up this time and gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.
I enjoyed it more than a little, but it did seem to take a long time to read... and no wonder; I just checked and it's 556 pages long. I don't feel like it dragged through those pages, but I guess I just didn't expect it to be that long. (Reading on a Kindle, so I don't really pay attention to how many pages there are!)
Pretty clean. There's definitely sexual tension between characters, but no sex scenes. I don't recall any swearing, so if there was any, it was rare and mild.
Well, again, I'd give this a 3.5 or 3.7 if I could, but in fairness to the author, I rounded up this time and gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.
I enjoyed it more than a little, but it did seem to take a long time to read... and no wonder; I just checked and it's 556 pages long. I don't feel like it dragged through those pages, but I guess I just didn't expect it to be that long. (Reading on a Kindle, so I don't really pay attention to how many pages there are!)
Pretty clean. There's definitely sexual tension between characters, but no sex scenes. I don't recall any swearing, so if there was any, it was rare and mild.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Touching Stars (Emilie Richards)
Why I have this book: It's part of the Shenandoah Album series of books I'm reading.
I'd give this 3.7 stars if I had that option on Goodreads, and while I often try to round up if I'm in between numbers, I just couldn't do a full 4 stars on this one.
The last couple of pages were probably my favorite part. The rest was good, but this author needs a better editor. I noticed that in the first three books (grammatical errors), but this one takes the cake with two of the "back in time" sections being dated 1895 instead of 1865. How does something like that slip by the editor??? It totally confused me the first time it happened because I was quite certain Lincoln was not assassinated thirty years after the war ended. Really, it's just sloppy work.
Other than that, though, I did enjoy the book and the author's writing. I'm looking forward to the last book in the series.
Somewhat clean... I don't recall any swearing (if there was, in wasn't frequent and wasn't one of the "worst" swear words), and while there were a couple of sexual encounters, they weren't described or graphic.
I'd give this 3.7 stars if I had that option on Goodreads, and while I often try to round up if I'm in between numbers, I just couldn't do a full 4 stars on this one.
The last couple of pages were probably my favorite part. The rest was good, but this author needs a better editor. I noticed that in the first three books (grammatical errors), but this one takes the cake with two of the "back in time" sections being dated 1895 instead of 1865. How does something like that slip by the editor??? It totally confused me the first time it happened because I was quite certain Lincoln was not assassinated thirty years after the war ended. Really, it's just sloppy work.
Other than that, though, I did enjoy the book and the author's writing. I'm looking forward to the last book in the series.
Somewhat clean... I don't recall any swearing (if there was, in wasn't frequent and wasn't one of the "worst" swear words), and while there were a couple of sexual encounters, they weren't described or graphic.
Friday, January 3, 2020
The First Three Books in the Shenandoah Album series by Emilie Richards
Wedding Ring
Endless Chain
Lover's Knot
Why I have these books: I bought them because I had read the first two in the series before and remember liking them... kind of.
Let me elaborate. I liked the quilting theme that runs through the books. I like the storylines. I did NOT like C-word being used in the second book. I also didn't like that the minister in the second book slept with a woman who is not his wife... sorry, but it just seems off considering that he's a minister. Plus I didn't need to keep hearing his sensual thoughts/feelings. I mean, it wasn't over the top, and I know ministers have the same feelings as any other person, but it just felt weird to me. I'm sure it's just me. Haha...
In the series so far (there are two books to left for me to read), I liked Lover's Knot the best. Four stars for that one... three each for the other two.
On this second reading, I read the first two in the series at the end of December, 2019, so I guess posting this today kind of messes up my count of books (which is only somewhat accurate on here, anyway, due to more than one book in a post on occasion.) Goodreads is the more accurate count of what I've read each year... and it looks like 2019 was one of my lowest counts since I started tracking in 2010. We'll see how this year goes. I certainly have a lot of books to read on my Kindle alone. Let's just say I haven't topped three hundred unread books yet. Or at least I hadn't the last time I checked...
These are not trashy books, but they do have mild sex scenes (nothing super descriptive, and maybe one or two per book) and obviously there was that one C-word. I don't recall any F-words, but there may have been a handful of other milder swear words here and there.
Endless Chain
Lover's Knot
Why I have these books: I bought them because I had read the first two in the series before and remember liking them... kind of.
Let me elaborate. I liked the quilting theme that runs through the books. I like the storylines. I did NOT like C-word being used in the second book. I also didn't like that the minister in the second book slept with a woman who is not his wife... sorry, but it just seems off considering that he's a minister. Plus I didn't need to keep hearing his sensual thoughts/feelings. I mean, it wasn't over the top, and I know ministers have the same feelings as any other person, but it just felt weird to me. I'm sure it's just me. Haha...
In the series so far (there are two books to left for me to read), I liked Lover's Knot the best. Four stars for that one... three each for the other two.
On this second reading, I read the first two in the series at the end of December, 2019, so I guess posting this today kind of messes up my count of books (which is only somewhat accurate on here, anyway, due to more than one book in a post on occasion.) Goodreads is the more accurate count of what I've read each year... and it looks like 2019 was one of my lowest counts since I started tracking in 2010. We'll see how this year goes. I certainly have a lot of books to read on my Kindle alone. Let's just say I haven't topped three hundred unread books yet. Or at least I hadn't the last time I checked...
These are not trashy books, but they do have mild sex scenes (nothing super descriptive, and maybe one or two per book) and obviously there was that one C-word. I don't recall any F-words, but there may have been a handful of other milder swear words here and there.
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