This recap is a bit of a catch up game for me today, since I didn’t post any updates through the summer. I’ll keep the review part short and sweet, since there are quite a few to get through.

 

Uprooted by Naomi Novi

Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved it – almost. Good build, great suspense, but the ending was a let down. I wasn’t sold on the relationship between the two main characters. The concept of the book was fantastic.

 

 

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, but I wasn’t engrossed by it. It took me quite a while to read, even though it was exceptionally well written. I did wish that the stories of Marie and Werner overlapped and intertwined a bit more throughout.

 

 

 

Cross the Ocean by Holly Bush

Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: 3 of 5 stars

 

 

 

 

 

One Second After by William R. Forstchen
One Year After by William R. Forstchen

Genre: Fiction, Post Apocalyptic
Rating: One Second After – 3 of 5 stars, One Year After – 3 of 5 stars

Very interesting read. Lots of tactics and explanations, which was interesting to follow. However, a big lack in character development. There was no emotion or relationship building, not enough interaction between the characters – there was nothing to humanize this story, which I found disappointing.

 

 

A Buccaneer At Heart by Stephanie Laurens

Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: 1 of 5 stars

Yeah…it was that bad. This is a romance novel…where the characters don’t meet until page 149. Yup. Then of course, they fall instantly in love and the story is all wrapped up nicely and winding down by page 416 (It’s a 480 page book). Don’t bother with this one.

 

 

The Orenda by Joseph Boyden

Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m learning that anything by Joseph Boyden is fantastic. Always well written and always compelling. This one almost topped Three Day Road, but I would say that both are must reads.

 

 

 

Ashfall by Mike Mullin
Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin
Sunrise by Mike Mullin

Genre: YA, Post Apocalyptic
Rating: Ashfall – 5 of 5 stars, Ashen Winter – 3 of 5 stars,  Sunrise – 4 of 5 stars

It’s a young adult series, and does read like one, however there wasn’t all the unneccessary, overdone teen angst/drama that you get with a lot of the YA (you know, when you just want to bash the main character over the head and yell at them to get over themselves?). The first book is definitely the strongest, but the other two round off the series nicely. I found the whole idea of the super volcano erupting very interesting and the author handled the aftermath of the disaster well and covered all his corners in the storyline so that it was believable.

 

All of these books are going onto my 101 in 1001 Book Challenge list today. Whew…even with short reviews this was a long one.

 

Jamie