Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana PeterfreundMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I was so enamoured with For Darkness Shows the Stars that I ran out to the bookstore to buy the sequel/part two to this series before I finished the first one. Unfortunately, I could not be as enthusiastic about this book as I was about the first one. Generally speaking, the writing and descriptions of the world the author created were still as breathtaking, if not more, than the first book; however, the story continued to drag out for much longer than it was necessary. With respect to the main character, the reader could identify glimpses of the…

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana PeterfreundMy rating: 5 of 5 stars With a classic such as Jane Austen’s Persuasion it is almost impossible for a reader of fiction to not stumble across one of its many retellings and like many other enthusiastic readers, I was a bit hesitant to endeavour on the journey of another retelling with a fantasy twist. However, For Darkness Shows the Stars did not disappoint in the least. The author was able to integrate not only the bare bones of Austen’s classic story, but also take scenes from the original and mold and add them to the new story line so that these two…

Bahnwärter Thiel by Gerhart HauptmannMy rating: 5 of 5 stars A spine tingling psychological thriller that shows tremendous depth and insight into the personalities and psychology of the characters. I was fascinated by how quickly the author was able to get to the reader invested and involved in the story and the unfolding of the events, considering that this story only spans about 55 pages. The characters portrayed the reality and the ugliness of everyday life that drives people to actions unimaginable. The setting was described with enough detail to paint a clear picture of the German landscape without getting too caught up in that which does not serve a…

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia GrayMy rating: 5 of 5 stars A Thousand Pieces of You caught my eye almost a year ago when it popped up on my recommendations even before it was published in November. The synopsis sounded promising, although I still retained some hesitation considering it belonged to the “dystopian” style genre with which I am not as familiar.However, I have to say that this book was engaging, entertaining and full of adventure.The protagonist and also the narrator of the story was represented as a multidimensional character, containing depth and human qualities that engaged the reader and increased their curiosity to find out more about…

The Almost Meeting: And Other Stories by Henry KreiselMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This collection of short stories is quickly becoming my primary resource for the structure and organization of short story writing.It is a wonderful collection of stories that contain depth and characters that are developed enough to establish true interest in the reader.I appreciated the precise moment the author decided to end each story so as to create just the right amount of suspense and reader satisfaction.These stories are definitely worth a read. View all my reviews

At the Full and Change of the Moon by Dionne BrandMy rating: 1 of 5 stars I feel like opening a bottle of champagne and inviting the neighbours to celebrate making it through this book. It was that bad. Most of the time I had absolutely no idea what was going on. The story kept jumping back and forth in time, making it almost impossible to keep track of the generational growth that is supposed to occur throughout the story.On any one page I read the same sentence at least three times, each time something more was added to it, which made this story extremely difficult to read, since I…

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany GriffinMy rating: 1 of 5 stars I was not able to keep up with writing reviews as I finished reading each book, so for the last 20 books or so I have been rating them with the intent of returning to provide a proper review. Today it is time to explain the poor rating of Masque of the Red Death. Upon returning to this book I was surprised that I actually rated it two stars instead of just one, since whenever I think about it or mention it to someone all I can say about it is that is filled with nothing but…

Gold Rush Deluge by Suzanne LillyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I was very glad that the story continued where it ended in the first book, I wholeheartedly appreciate stories told in series form that do not include great time gaps, flashbacks or require the reader to assume certain outcomes.The story moved along swiftly, without any unnecessary tangents that distract from the main plot that was good enough to carry the story and characters from the beginning until the end.The characters were consistent from the first to the second installment of this story; however, I was delighted to observe growth and maturation in the protagonist’s character.I loved the splash of…

Dark Destiny by M.J. PutneyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars The third and last book in this trilogy again contained more depth with respect to the secondary characters than the female protagonist, whom I have given up believing to be capable of developing at all. As I have said it is much more enjoyable to follow the secondary characters as they embark on their adventure, although I found the challenges that they had to face in this installment, and the solutions they found to those challenges, to be rather mediocre, compared to the challenges they had to overcome in the last two books. I also found the romance between the…

Dark Passage by M.J. PutneyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars What I really appreciate is the seamless continuation of the story without any fast forwarding or random flashbacks of years past since the conclusion of the first installment.Everything continues to grow and develop, from the adventurous plot, the group of friends, the secondary characters to the explanation of the magic used. Everything except the protagonist. It saddened me to some extent that the character of the female lead almost remains completely stagnant as the secondary characters reveal greater depth, which, on the other hand, allows for more interest to be built between the reader and those secondary characters. As with…