Sandra Barnes

May I first say, Gigi has stolen my heart?! . . .

No, I guess I cannot say that yet, as first of all I am required to state that I received this book for free as a winner from a giveaway through Goodread's First Read program. As a winner, I am not required to post a review. Nevertheless, here is the review. . . .

This is a beautifully written novella. Gigi has captured my heart and I fear I will never get it back. I ached for him during his youth in New York City, but I applaud his morals and convictions. I am also left with a lasting impression of Gigi in his elder years as a fisherman, father, and reflecting on his past.

This is a beautifully written novella and I strongly recommend everyone to pick up the book and see for yourself.

P.S. Thank you, Permanent Press, for the giveaway and for sending me this captivating read.

Not the book for me. I am a mortal being, not immortal – The soul that sinneth, it shall die – Sorry, just do not believe my soul goes on to become someone else's soul, it hasn't been through multiple past lives. Early on in the book, I realized this was not a book for me, but I was reading it to satisfy a couple reading challenges so I stuck with it. Unfortunately, that translates as a one star rating (and that is really being generous but since there isn't an incremental star rating system on Goodreads, I'm forced to give it a full star. I guess that doesn't make me generous after all.)

Oh it's so difficult to say exactly why this rated so low for me without a spoiler. Was definitely not a fan of London and for most of the book, not a fan of Jared. I was, however, a fan of Wes.

Jared eventually did redeem himself so that I didn't completely detest him (as I did with London). Especially when he spent some time alone (ok, mild spoiler) – Spoiler in a Nova where he felt close to his father and discovered something that did manage to tug at my heart strings. The spoiler is exactly what bumped this book from a one star.

Another spoiler! Spoiler A shame Wes' child was lost, but this reader is so very very happy that he broke away from London. He deserved so much better than her!

I enjoyed reading the poems included in this compilation of Boris Pasternak's work encompassing many years of his writing career. It is a shame that Pasternak's own country forbid the publication of these works.

There are beauty in these words. I would believe it to be challenge to translate poetry and maintain the prose and beauty. I commend Andrey Kneller on achieving just that.

I received this book for free as a winner from a giveaway through Goodread's First Read program. As a winner, I am not required to post a review.

I entered this giveaway as I enjoy reading memoirs and the opportunity to glimpse into another person's life. Joseph (the author) has lost both his parents (as have I) but has some wonderful memories he shares with us, particularly of his artist father, William. William was truly blessed to have such a loving and caring family to help him through the loss of his wife and health.

Thank you, Joseph, for the book and for a brief view of your talented, enduring family

I received this book for free as a winner from a giveaway through Goodread's First Read program. As a winner, I am not required to post a review.

The author has experienced much trauma and hardship during her young adulthood and has brought us along on part of that journey. She has bounced back time and time again. Thank you for the interesting journey and worthwhile read.

What's a girl to do when the world comes to an end and swallows up her parents? So, sounds promising . . . call me an apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic junkie!

Now, I'm a sucker for books that revolve around a religious culture that someone might label as a cult whether it is nonfiction or fiction. So I was excited when I found this book and was doubly excited when it was offered as a free book from the Sync's 2016 audiobook summer program (If you haven't heard of this program, check it out at http://www.audiobooksync.com/ and you may be able to get the third week's offerings before they move on to their fourth week.)

Because I have this fascination with anything cult-like, I really enjoyed this story. We start on the eve of the expected rapture date as foretold by the leader of the “Church of America” Vivian Apple's parents are among thousands of strong adherents to the teachings of the leader, Frick, that actually do disappear as predicted. Upon realizing that Vivian's parents have disappeared she is whisked away to her grandparents house. When she begins to doubt that the rapture has actually occurred, she journeys back to her hometown to find her friend, Harp, and together they try to discover what has happened to those who have disappeared.

Ultimately, an enjoyable story except for . . . SpoilerWhat the heck Vivian? Punching out an old geezer?! – That make you a big badass girl? I think not!.

Just enough mystery at the end to entice me to continue with book two.

I hate to be harsh, but this was just absurd. The only reason I'm reading these are they are quick reads that help me meet challenge reading goals. The author spits these out every couple of weeks and this one absolutely suffers from that.

What has me shaking my head the most over this book in the series is Spoilerthe foster care situation. I'm sorry, but what the child's wants is going to have little weight in any decision Child Protection Services make about his/her placement. Certainly if his/her current foster parents are thinking about relocating, the agency may need to intercede on the child's behalf. Has the parents' parental rights been terminated, is the relocation within the state, etc. The child doesn't just get to choose if (s)he wishes to move or have foster care transferred to another couple who has gone through ZERO hoops to qualify as foster parents. Ugh!

I received this book as an advance copy from the publisher as a result of a generous offer from the author after having reviewed his previous book. Thanks!

After having consumed the better part of my weekend with this book, I commend Mr. Mitchell's command of word usage in this novel. His words enveloped me, body and soul, into the storyline.

I highly recommend this book to other fans of the dystopia novel. My weekend was swept away in explosions, eruptions, warfare, and the quest to bring out change of the current government.

I'd like to echo others who have left reviews stating they were hooked in the very first chapter.

I received this book for free as a winner from a giveaway through Goodread's First Read program. As a winner, I am not required to post a review.

Thank you for a fabulous read. This is a book I wish more people knew about and look forward to the other books the author is currently writing.

This was an eventful read which encompassed many regions of the United States as well as travel into Mexico. I recommend to any readers who enjoy an adventure!

I lean toward three to three and 1/2 stars for this. First couple of episodes not that compelling and as is mentioned in other reviews there are grammatical errors sprinkled throughout the story. If you stick with it, it becomes a rather enjoyable read.

Ultimately I decided to round up to four stars primarily because the later episodes do entertain and I can get pass grammatical and spelling issues that could be corrected with a good proofreading or with the aid of an editor.

If you release a 2nd season Mr. Moxham, I'll stick with it!!

Some of the books in this series have been solid three star reads, some two star, oh but this one . . .

Cherry Jubilee, really? Dylan Pickle, really? statements like “The handsome part wasn't relative to the statement, but she couldn't leave it out when it came to her Ryan.” ??? The bright side? It's a very quick read!

I read this as part of a task to read a book that a friend had rated a one star. Going on that tidbit, I didn't expect much from the story.

Call me surprised! It was a pleasant read and a fun twist on the classic Cinderella fairy tale. Poor Cinderella (or maybe not so much because she makes many a poor choice), but her life is full of those who betray her in some way.

Oh how I hate to give this two stars; I mean there's always a ton of praise surrounding this series and I did give the first four of this series four stars.

I think to myself, “You are just too old to appreciate these books,” but then again, when the books originally came out in the late 1990s, my stepmom read them alongside my step-nephew and kept encouraging me to read them. She thoroughly enjoyed them; I am now her age. I just don't get all the hoopla surrounding this series.

This one seemed to drag on forever. Umbridge was cartoonish at best. A point system that was always a bit ridiculous in that there was no rhyme or reason to the points a teacher or staff could add or dock from a house for a nefarious deed/great accomplishment. SpoilerAnd now a student can add or subtract as they see fit?!? Come on . . . how does that not lend to abuse of the system – Spoiler”my house is going to get more points, and all the other houses are going to continually have points taken away?” Ugh.

Anyway, I guess I'm gonna have to go against the flow on this one and give it a low rating. Hopefully, the last two books of this series will be better.

What to say? It's an award winner and I have several friends who have rated this book with a five star rating. So I guess I was expecting to love it and I just didn't. It took me way too many days to finish this book and maybe that's an issue in and of itself. If I read it in one sitting maybe it wouldn't have felt so disjointed to me. Anyway, I do love that the book features a “book club” of sorts that loves reading!

Would have been a four star read for me as I do like my extremist religion fiction, but I have issue with the writing staying true to character. Without moving into spoilerish territory, it baffles me why a character made a careless choice later in the book when he/she was much more careful earlier in the story. Knocked a star off for that.