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!
Mini Book Reviews
Julie’s Mini Reviews:
Zodiac Academy: The Awakening: This book absolutely suffers from first book syndrome. The main characters are so lost with what they discovered they are, which are heirs to the fairy kingdom. The behaviors of everyone who wants them dead/wants the throne for themselves is just abhorrent. A bookstagrammer recommended this series and said it’s a slow burn yearning. Well if it’s slow burn it must be multi-book slow. Because nothing good happened in this book. Is one of the twins hot for teacher? I don’t even know. Is the other twin lusting after the male heirs? Not sure, they’re kinda (insert eggplant emoji). The audio was a full cast which is fun. But I had a HARD time knowing which twin was narrating. Normally, when POV changes the chapter and name of character are spoken before the narration starts. This did not happen here, we just skipped from one sister to the other and it took some context to figure out who was who each time. I wanted to like this because of how much I hear about this series, but this book was not it. Maybe I’ll keep trying with the other books from the library but I will not be wasting any credits.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: This book was hauntingly beautiful. The loneliness and isolation with fierce survival instinct makes our main character so interesting. At times the book felt so melancholy, but also exhilarating as our timeless heroine experiences historical events and see things she never dreamt of in her time. When we meet the only person who seems to remember her, the story gets so good. The more we find out why, the more tragic everything feels. And yet, when things seem the most dire, our main character shows how brilliantly cunning she is. The audio narration was also beautifully done!
Where the Library Hides: A Novel (Secrets of the Nile Book 2) Great follow up to the first book that ended on an epilogue cliffhanger. So many secrets and betrayals in this one, so few time I know who to trust. My library hold was ending when I finally got around to starting it so it was an intense listen over two days! Very much enjoyed the romance between Inez and Whit.
Amulet (Heart’s True Desire) I had done a book tour with the second book in this series, see: Timeless Book Tour and wanted to read the first book for the background of the magical items. I enjoyed the story of the origin of the artifacts and their powers, and it helped make the second book make more sense. The story itself was a cozy romance, slightly a rom com style, but it was quite formulaic. Boy and Girl meet, something keeps them apart, and then things fall into place and they get together. I have to admit I didn’t quite like our MMC at first – he eventually grew on me. I liked the FMC the entire time, and definitely felt she deserved better. I had my doubts she would figure that out. The story was cute, the easy banter and conversation between them. There was yearning and longing for many pages, but then the ending felt a bit rushed. I think I actually enjoyed the love story and characters in the second book more.
The Anatomy of Magic: A Heartwarming Magical Realism Rom-Com This was a local neighborhood book club pick. It was, ok. I liked the magic in the family and that it was more of a magical realism than a magic universe. I wanted to throttle Sam. I am so over the trope of men deciding what is best for their girl and not letting her make her own choices. Just want to beat him up so much. Though, later our FMC did do something and made a bad choose. I did like how things came together despite that, and how the book ended on a positive note of hope even with all the awful that happened.
Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons Series): I don’t know what I was expecting with DC universe book or SJM writing it. It was alright, enjoyable but not memorable. I thought it was cool how this DC Icons series was written by different authors for each book, and this one I found at the library because I was searching for the audiobook narrator specifically. I enjoyed the story, it was quick and chaotic. It would probably make a better movie than a book though with all the villain fights. But I liked the friendship especially with Ivy, and Catwoman’s backstory with her sister gave her depth of character different than we have seen before.
Truth and Transformation: Wonderland Just Got a Whole Lot Darker (Taking Wonderland Book 2): I really enjoyed the first book The Secret of Safe Passage (Taking Wonderland), so was excited to read this. But I just wasn’t vibing with the first half of the book. It was utter chaos (which I suppose is to be expected with all things Wonderland and villains coming after Ali) but I just can’t put my finger on what wasn’t working for me. About halfway through it got really good, with mysteries and riddles and Ali being brilliant like in the first book. And some secrets and bombshells revealed! Overall I am enjoying the series and will want to continue.
Lynn’s Mini Reviews:
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: Read Julie’s review. She liked this a lot more than me. I found Addie’s story to be a downer. The transitory life, no home, no stuff. (Granted, we could probably all take cues about less stuff in our lives.) I found the beginning of Addie’s story, while she’s figuring out how to survive day to day, especially forlorn. But yes – by the end, she shows her mettle how she’s survives for 300 years. Well-written. Excellent audio narration.
THE JEWEL OF THE ISLE: OMG. This book is HIL.AR.I.OUS. Actual laughing. (While walking on the treadmill; I’m sure everyone around me was wondering what the heck.) Two very different characters, neither of which is any good at outdoors\hiking lifestyle on an adventure which also involves a jewel heist, henchmen, and an evil villain. All with a side of romance. Forced-proximity. Not really grumpy\sunshine as both main characters are kind of grumpy. TBH, I could do without the romance and just have the comedy of errors hiking adventure. Lots of situational humor like making a slingshot out of underwear elastic. Serious vides of Sandra Bullock’s THE LOST CITY (also hilarious if you haven’t watched that!). I’d read more adventures of Ryder and Emily. Grief trigger warning if that’s not your thing. There are some heavy emotions and guilt here. But interplayed with the humor so it’s not too overwhelming.
STARTER VILLAIN: There is just something about the Scalzi\Wil Wheaton combine that works for me. The eye-rolling sarcasm comes to life. This time with a side of animals who can communicate with humans, evil henchmen, and inheriting a villainous corporation from a relative. It would have never occurred to me what a culture shock it is when you walk into a completely unknown situation (now being the head of a very large secret organization), but Charlie keeps his wits about himself. The animals add to the humor. As well as Morrison, Charlie’s new second in command. She clearly runs the show! Very funny scenes throughout. Audible definitely knew what it was doing when it played this as a sample after another book I listened to!
LOVE, LUCK & LEMON PIE: Honestly, I was only here for the pie. Not a fan of the premise (a woman tries to save her marriage by playing poker instead of, I don’t know, communicating with her husband). Not a fan of the main character or her husband (see above; he also doesn’t communicate with her). Enjoyed the flirty Irish poker player. MJ really should have picked him. I would have been much more interested in that dynamic. Writing was fine, I suppose. Same with the narration. Just not for me.
10 RULES FOR THE PERFECT MURDER: Continuing on the free Amazon originals, this one by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts. It was great. Short. Excellent narration. Twisty turny plot. Lots of speculation on my part. And no where near correct. Recommended!
Books we reviewed in full this month:
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I really enjoyed the John Scalzi book. I have tried Schwab’s books but couldn’t get into them. There’s a few more on here that I will have to give a try. Great reviews on all of these! Thanks for sharing!
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted…E-galley Review: Nun the Wiser (Bad Habits Book Club #2) by Lissa Sharpe
I’ve added several of these books to my TBR list: Starter Villain, The Jewel of the Isle, and the Taking Wonderland series.
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