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Showing posts from February, 2016

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

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The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah                 I really want to write a review that will do this amazing historical fiction justice but it’s hard to put in to words what makes this story so incredible. At its core it is a story about occupied France and the course of war. But at its heart it is the story of two women who are forced to make incredibly devastating choices in order to survive World War II. Vianne is a married school teacher living with her husband and daughter in Carriveau, a town outside of Paris. Her younger sister Isabelle has just been kicked out of yet another finishing school and is currently living with their father, Julien. When the Germans invade, Isabelle must make her way to Vianne with the thousands of other refugees fleeing Paris, while bombs drop around her and machine gun fire leaves many dead in the road. But reaching Vianne is only the beginning of the occupation. Isabelle wants to rebel against the Germans that have taken over her home while

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

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The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks                 Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I went through an entire Nicholas Sparks phase where whenever I needed a lighthearted easy to read, romance novel I turned to him. The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, The Lucky One and countless others were quite enjoyable and great at passing the time. I was a Sparks fan. I bought The Best of Me earlier this year thinking I would give him a shot again. Then I did a quick browse through my Nook and realized that I already owned it. A look back at a prior reading list showed me that I had already read it too. Well, this didn’t look good at all. But I decided to pick up and read it anyway since I remembered absolutely nothing.                 Here is what happened: A teenager from the wrong side of the tracks dated a girl on the right side of the tracks and her parents hated him. His family had a really bad history and you know, in a small town, family means everything. They break up because he

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

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Career of Evil by Robert Galbriath Fan Girl moment and Disclaimer: I love JK Rowling. I always have. This series of hers written under the Robert Galbraith pseudonym is pretty damn good and it keeps getting better. This is the third book in a series of detective novels written about Cormoran Strike. You don’t have to read the preceding novels to enjoy this one. Career of Evil is an intense story and one that I immensely enjoyed. So now to the review.                 The last thing Robin Ellacott was expecting to receive in a package on the way into the office was a woman’s severed leg and yet that is exactly what she got. The leg was cut in a way that reflected Cormoran Strike’s missing limb. Now Strike is not only worried about his assistant Robin’s safety but also about his business. After the other two high profile cases he had recently solved, the two had steady business, even if neither was making very much money. Now with the recent press from the leg, they were do

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

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The 5 th Wave by Rick Yancey                 Is this survival? Living alone? Trusting no one? Trying to keep an impossible promise? Cassie is alone in the woods trying to get back to her brother. She lived through the first wave when the Others took the power away. She survived the second wave when the Earth shook and a wave took out billions of people. The third wave, the pestilence, took her mother but she still had her dad and Sammie. Now after the 4 th wave, she is alone. Dad is dead. Sammie is with them. Now she fights to survive and make it to Sammie before the next wave comes.                 Well color me surprised! I don’t know what I was expecting when I first heard about this book but it wasn’t this. I really enjoyed this novel. It was eerie, suspenseful, and really successfully executed. Let’s start with the setting. Yancey did an amazing job with creating this world where you can trust absolutely no one, there is a mothership circling the Earth and the Others

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr                 If you like historical fiction novels set around World War II that include a subtle but intriguing fantasy element, then more than likely you’ll enjoy this novel. If you enjoy well done transitions and point of views that add to the story but never become overwhelming then you’ll more than likely enjoy this novel. If you enjoy vivid detail and depth in your historical fiction then you will enjoy this novel. I can appreciate all these things and I was sucked into this novel from the very beginning.                 When Marie-Laure was six, before she went blind, she was told the story of the Sea of Flames at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. The Sea of Flames is a blue diamond with dancing flames in the center with a weight of 133 carats, whose possessor can never die. Marie-Laure’s father doesn’t believe the diamond has any bearing whatsoever on life. When she goes blind he builds an exact replica of the t