2 Followers
3 Following
minaskaya

A Moonlight Sonata

The UHQ Nasanta reporting for duty, GR buddies! Transitioning slowly, one review at a time.

Currently reading

Night of the Dark Horse
Janni Nell
The Last Boyfriend (Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy #2)
Nora Roberts
Beethoven's Shadow (Kindle Single) - Jonathan Biss

Not the Soul of a Musician Review

 

2 stars

 

Narrated by Jeff Woodman

 

The Book

 

This is not the type of book I usually read. Nonetheless, I found it interesting.

read more »
Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between - Theresa Brown
It Was the Author Review
 
I did enjoy the book. The author had a style of writing that I found easy to read. She translated medical jargon so that lay persons could understand. I appreciated her stories of what she went through as a nurse and how she handled things.
 
On the other hand, while I enjoyed reading all these stories about different cases, I did not really feel like these stories had a connection with each other. It made the book feel as if the author was just going over different patients' stories, the things she did and felt, and then attempted to find a lesson as almost an afterthought. Some of those lessons felt repetitive. There was also an undertone in the author's voice - the words or particular phrase that she used - that put me off slightly. I hesitate to call it arrogance, but it might be close. This slight undertone to the author's voice was the main reason that this book is a 3 star rating, and why I may end up deciding against getting a copy of my own. 
 

Not Importing But Adding Manually - I MUST BE CRAZY

While the thought of adding my books manually makes me (already feeling sick with something) feel sick to my stomach, I will be adding my books (maybe just books with reviews for now) manually.

 

Edit: Or maybe I should just import because I have no idea how to add my books. >___<

 

Edit#2: Oookay. Note to self: Booklikes is not so good as cataloguing site since it seems I cannot specify which edition I want to review....

 

Edit#3: Trying to figure out Bookslikes is driving me crazy. It seems that although I rate a book on my review, it doesn't necessarily add the book or the rating to my shelf - and vice versa. I give up and will do something that taxes my brain less - like listen to an audiobook (maybe).

Holiday Sparks - Shannon Stacey

Forgot the Story But Here's What I Thought of the Narrator Review

 

Narrated by Savannah Richards

It was a sweet holiday short story. The narrator was okay. Wasn't too keen on her male voices but they didn't make me cringe. Chloe's voice was just a bit too sweet and even. Decent voice acting and pace.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

Even Shakespeare Gets Negative Rating Review

 

2.5 stars

Narrated by LA Theatre Works

I usually like the casting by LA Theatre Works but this time I did not. Perhaps it is because I have seen at least 3 different film versions of Romeo and Juliet to color my expectations. I felt that the cast had a modern cadence to their lines but otherwise, the acting was not too bad.

SPOILER ALERT!

Hope the Film Is Better

City of Bones  - Cassandra Clare

Hope the Film Is Better Review

 

2.5 stars

My first literary exposure to this author's work was Clockwork Angel. I borrowed it from the library, and after multiple renewals and late fees, I read about 2-3 pages and returned it. The following year or so I read of the opposition to the casting of Godfrey Gao for the popular minor character, Magnus Bane, for the film version of City of Bones on my GR feed, accompanied by a really hot picture of him. I fell in love (j/k). The author's stalwart defense of an ASIAN actor for a character of Asian descent impressed me enough to decide that I was going to see the movie when it came out, which meant that I ought to read the book before I saw the film, right?

Long story short, I hope that the movie is better than the book.

 

read more »
Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned about Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat - Gwen Cooper

The Cat Did It; He Made Me Cry Review

 

3.5 - 4 stars

Narrated by Renée Raudman

The Book

I really liked this book. I fell in love with Homer from the moment of the vet's introduction, and fell even deeper in love with each story about Homer.

read more »
Shoggoth's Old Peculiar - Jouni Koponen, Neil Gaiman

So Peculiar It Went Over My Head Review

 

2.5 - 3 stars

Narrated by Neil Gaiman

Free short story from Audible, previous published in a collection of short stories by the author in Smoke and Mirrors, and read by the author.

"Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" - It was an odd short story, as I find all of this author's works. It was occasionally amusing. Maybe it was outright hysterical. I don't know; I might be missing some elements of British humor completely as I did in Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I was not familiar with H.P. Lovecraft. Should I have been? Would I have understood the humor better? I don't know. I didn't under much of the discussion, and had difficulty focusing as a result.

read more »
The Ideal Man - Julie Garwood

DNF Review

 

I think this was one of my quickest DNF yet - before I finished half of Chapter 1 - and that is saying something given that I try very hard not to. On the first page, the reader is introduced to Dr. Eleanor Kathleen Sullivan, Ellie:

 

Ellie was observed by three second-year surgical residents, who hung on her every word. She was a natural teacher and, unlike 90 percent of the surgeons on staff at St. Vincent's Hospital, didn't have much of an ego. She was amazingly patient...No question was deemed too insignificant or foolish, which was one of the many reasons they idolized her, and for the male residents, the fact that she was drop-dead gorgeous didn't hurt. Because she was such a talented surgeon and supportive teacher, all these fledgling doctors fought to sign up for her rotation. Ironically, what they didn't know was that she was younger than most of them.

 

I hated her on sight. I have no patience right now to deal with perfect, Mary Sue heroines. I don't know if this is an indefinite DNF or not. Maybe I'll give this book another try a few years down the line.

 

PS: My gratitude to Google Books for providing previews of the e-books they offer. In my haste to return and delete this digital loan from Overdrive, I forgot that I wanted to put a quote in a review to illustrate what it was that bothered me about this book.

Source: http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Ideal_Man.html?id=IDP7sGwCCDsC
Kristin's Demotion - Lorenzo Marks

Kink Extreme Review

2.5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book which makes it difficult to rate. On the one hand, in terms of the eroticism, I would rate it pretty high; I really liked it. On the other hand, I experienced some discomfort which ultimately had me rating somewhat lower. 

read more »
One Tiny Miracle... - Carol Marinelli

Not Much Info Review

 

2.5 stars

Liked it but not as much as I liked Emergency: Wife Lost and Found. It got pretty depressing whenever Ben thought about his loss, and then frustrating as he went hot and cold toward Celeste. I admired Celeste for standing up for herself and for her baby even though it would have been easier to quickly accept Ben's declaration of love. I did find Ben's acceptance of Celeste's demand rather sudden.

One thing I do appreciate with this author's medical romances is how real the hospital setting and the medical characters seem. On the other hand, although this takes place in Australia, I did not get any sense of Australia at all.

Painful, painful, painful

Dragon by Day - Daisy Dexter Dobbs

Should Have DNFed

 

To be perfectly honest, I hated this book. I thought it was a waste of my time and money.

read more »
SPOILER ALERT!
The Reluctant Heiress - Eva Ibbotson

3 Star "I'm Hopeless" Review

 

What I like about Eva Ibbotson's YA romances is that they are sweet, and her writing is truly lovely. Absolutely, Meyer's Twilight cannot compare. Yet, if you've read one of her YA romances, you've read them all.

read more »