Here at Chapter Break, we don’t always write a full review of every book we read. Well, now we decided to do these monthly wrap-up posts with roundups of our reviews this month and mini-reviews to fill in the gaps. Enjoy!
We’ll Always Have Tea: I received a copy of this audiobook for review. This collection consists of 3 stories, each with a paranormal element, or some seeming to have more of a mental health element. I did enjoy the first story quite a bit – a story of an elderly man having tea with his deceased wife. Or was he? Can’t know for sure but it was a sweet story of him continuing to remember her with her special tea. Plus, I’m a fan of Lady Gray myself. The second was kind of interesting because of the little angel that was found by a family and lived with them for some time. I suppose both the family and the angel learned some lessons during that time. The third one I didn’t care for. It definitely seemed more of a mental health issue than a possible haunting. The audio narrator was good and I enjoyed his voices, though the music was kind of unnecessary for the stories. Short stories are hard to review due to their brevity. I can’t say these stories leave a lasting impact but my curiosity was piqued when I was approached to give these a listen.
First Drop of Crimson: Another great spin-off in the Night Huntress world, that you know I’m a fan of. This one is about Spade and Denise, where we really get to know Cat’s bestie and how strong-willed and feisty she is. This was very PNR with the “oh we can’t be together let’s fight our feelings for the entire book until we finally come together explosively” type of plot – but the rest of the plot was quite good. We have demons and PTSD from a zombie attack and demon brands making human blood like a drug and all kinds of vampire trickery. Good to see Cat and Bones again too. If she keeps writing them, I’ll keep reading them. Also, can I just say again how awesome of a narrator Tavia Gilbert is? She’s great. I love her voices and her accents and all her emotion and delivery.
Beast: It turns out there’s a reason we don’t normally read Beauty and the Beast from the male POV. I’m pretty sure this was an Audio Sync book, but it was not worth the download. Or my time listening. Half the book is spent figuring out how to become a lion. And the second half was the “romance”. Definitely hard pass on this one.
Edge of Everything: This is one of those books that is WAY TOO COMPLICATED to sum up. So I won’t bother with that. I totally loved it. The interplay between X and Zoe. Plus some nerdy humor. The dogs’ names really made me chuckle. The audio narration was well done. And one of those satisfying yet ARGH cliff-hanger ending. And yes, ok, the plot was a bit predictable. But even with this small flaw, still loved it! 4.5 out of 5!
Heartless: Julie is totally right on the money with Heartless. It’s great. Just read it already!
Books we reviewed this month:
- [6 Feb] A Witch's Path by N.E. Conneely ★★★★
- [7 Feb] High Treason by DiAnn Mills ★★★★
- [9 Feb] Finding Fraser by K. C. Dyer ★★★★½
- [13 Feb] A Witch's Trial by N.E. Conneely ★★★★
- [20 Feb] Why I Hate Green Beans by Lincee Ray ★★★★
I read the first couple of chapters of Why I Hate Green Beans and loved the sense of humor and honesty the author wrote with–it seemed like a “coffee date” conversation. Unfortunately I didn’t get to finish before the library digital copy was removed from my computer, so I’ll have to check it out again. I have Heartless and The Edge of Everything in my current TBR pile.
You gotta love vampire trickery! ?
It looks like you read some good stuff last month. I hope you’re having a great March!
Aj @ Read All The Things! recently posted…Giveaway: Win A Book Of Your Choice From Book Depository!
Haven’t read any of these, but they sound interesting 🙂 I hope you have a great reading March as well!
Evelina @ AvalinahsBooks recently posted…February Stats Fever!
Thanks, Evelina! You, too!
I actually just read the first two Night Huntress books in Dutch. They were never translated on though so that sucks. I might get the ebooks in the future.
That does suck, Annemieke! Sorry for your luck!
That sucks the others were not translated. I wonder if it’s a special budget or demand that gets translations.
I’ve actually read First Drop of Crimson. For my GoodReads 100% status on March 26, 2016 I wrote, “I really, really enjoyed this one. Tavia Gilbert’s narration was particularly flawless. =)” I gave it a 5-star review rating.
And I loved Heartless as well. I wrote on my 100% GoodReads status, “I went into this one blind which was key. I know for a fact I would’ve been angry at the ending if I’d read my paperback copy instead of listening to Rebecca’s fantastic narration of this story.”
Today, I actually want to figure out how to satisfy my unrealistic desire to go back a reread and highlight before doing a written review for the 9 books I have sitting at 100% on my Currently Reading shelf on GoodReads. I swore I wouldn’t let myself get this behind on writing reviews and yet here I am again. O_o
I’m with you on getting behind on reviews, Livia. I take notes while I read, but if I start another book without finishing the review of the previous, the old review just doesn’t happen!
Right?! It’s so frustrating because I know written reviews help the authors get more visibility for each book. So I feel obligated to do written reviews as a thank you for the story no matter what my level of enjoyment was.
I used to take notes when I would read on my laptop, but now I read more on the go than ever between audiobook listening and reading while I work out on the elliptical machine or read on my cellphone while walking. It’s always easier to just dive into a new book than it is to find the time to put my thoughts down on why I liked, loved or was disappointed with a book.
And catching up on book related blog posts email alerts and reading Facebook posts are always more fun to me than buckling down and writing a review. I’m just not a natural writer so it takes me forever even to do a short review. It’s silly, but I’ll keep working on my goal to write quick short reviews. Good luck with writing your reviews!
I really loved the audio of Heartless! The Edge of Everything is one that I’ve had for a long time, but haven’t gotten to. Sounds like I need to fix that!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…February Wrap-Up & Best of the Bunch
You do need to fix that, Nicole! Edge of Everything is totally worth it!