Quick Book Review: Winning! A Guide to Games That Never Were by Brandon Barrows

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This novel was a short, funny twist on gaming guides.

Every game in this book does not exist, which makes this book quite amusing. It is explaining cheats and how to progress through these games that were never made. Clearly some of these stories were parodying certain games on the market today, and that made it so much better. I have a few times where I wanted to chuckle at the stories and how they explained their games.

I definitely enjoyed this book! It’s a short, cute read and it is definitely more of a comedy book. People who are fans of video games would appreciate this book a lot more than the average reader!

Four out of five stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

April Anthology Book Review: A Cup of Roses, Stories by 8 Writers by Fiona Gold Kroll

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Book Review
Book Title: A Cup of Roses, Stories by 8 Writers
Book Author: Fiona Gold Kroll, Ruth Frankel-Graner, Gerda Frieberg, Carol Green, Sam Hoffer, Raizie Jacobson, David Rapoport, Jenny Roger.

Introduction: I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. As per usual, I was having a particular type of book craving – today it was anthology, and an overall short read. A Cup of Roses filled the bill, so I decided to pick it up and got so hooked I finished it in one sitting.

Review:

This anthology holds many different types of stories – humor, religion, drama, romance, food, history, joy, poetry, tragedy and so much more. For being so little, you wouldn’t expect much of an impact, but this book really had me interested and wanting more.

The book is incredibly easy to read, and each story is not to short but also not to long. The individual stories each have their own focus, none of which really seem connected. This helped me out when I began to get bored with a few of the short stories – each one had it’s own plot it centered around and did not depend on the others. These standalone stories are all well written, and are all written in different writing styles (since there are many authors that created this anthology).

Was this book my top, all time favourite anthology? No. Did it rank high? Yes. While it doesn’t get the gold, it definitely gets second place in my books. While the book didn’t wow my socks off, it did give me an interesting perspective into many different aspects of the writers lives/imagination. I wasn’t expecting to have to think or have my opinions rattled with this book, but it does just that. And as a reader and reviewer, I love a book that makes me think and form different opinions – or just gives me insight into something I haven’t thought about before.

I don’t have any recommendations for how to make this little series of stories better. It’s perfect in it’s own little way. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wants to read an anthology that doesn’t have one clear focus (and doesn’t have a connection between all of them). It’s great for a rainy day, a small lunch break, a school project, or just as a different type of read.

Would I want more from these authors? Absolutely. I enjoyed each story – while not all of them had my hooked to every word, they were all beautifully written and well thought out. I didn’t want to put the book down, I had to keep going (which is rare. Often I can set a book down and forget about it for a while, but I didn’t want to leave this book behind. I had to finish it).

Overall, this was an incredible read. I enjoyed each story, I felt educated, and the book made me think.

Four out of five stars.

Quick Book Review: The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks

Let’s do a Throwback Book Review from a few years ago! #ThrowbackThursday

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I never read books that are non-fiction and explain things to you (unless it is for school), but I found this book charmed me in a way that is hard to express.

This book explains to you thoughtful ways to invest, and how not to make mistakes when investing. While I found most of them to be quite obvious, when you put them all together it makes a lot of sense. It is very useful to use when you need help with money, and has made me think over my investments and where I spend my money during my schooling years.

A friend of mine who is studying Business also gave me lots of insight by telling me how true this book is, and coming from Columbia Business School (the “best” school for business, her words) that this book will be a good reference for future investments.

Overall, it was very helpful and thoughtful! Although it will not get me hooked on reading books related to business and how to make money or spend your money, I did enjoy the information I gained from it!

Four stars out of five.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Book Review: Destinare by Matt Micros

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Book Review:
Book Title: Destinare
Book Author: Matt Micros

Introduction: I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I decided to read this book since I was craving some quick, short reads and this book fit the bill!

Synopsis: Everyone’s lives are interconnected in some way. If we didn’t make certain decisions in our past, how would the future turn out? This book has everyone connected (and it gave me a short but sweet, with less themes Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell feel) and it’s very clear and obvious why they are.

Review: Dear readers, this book is FICTIONAL. It even states in the opening lines that it is FICTIONAL. I’ve read other reviews where people were upset about the twist ending in this book, but the book is FICTIONAL and, therefore, can have any ending it wants to be and does not need to be realistic. Did I like this book having an unrealistic ending? No. But did it fit with the novel? Yes. This book has a big plot twist at the end that shows how lives can be connected, and makes it clear that anyone’s decision will have a big impact on other people (whether you realize it or not). So, since I have mentioned the word FICTIONAL four times now, I feel like whoever reads this review should get the point.

This book is an easy, quick read that I managed to finish in one go. I sat down for an hour and took my time through it, and I really enjoyed it! It definitely didn’t blow me out of the water and want to scream at everyone to read this book, but I really liked it. The theme of everyone being connected in some way and how our decisions affect others was a great plot driver for this story. There were times where I felt like the book was a little cheesey, but it worked within the context.

If anything, I would have liked some of the stories to be extended. I really liked reading about each individual character, but some of their chapters were just to short! You’d move onto the next chapter and it felt like fifty years had passed in those few lines!!

Overall, I really like this novel. I’m impressed and I would definitely recommend people who want a fictional but short read to pick it up! Matt Micros did a fantastic job and I want to read more by him. The characters were relatable, the story hit home quite a few times, and the themes were realistic (minus the final plot twist, but hey, it’s literature! Everything does not have to be super realistic!).

Four out of five stars.

Quick Book Review: Naughtier Than Nice by Eric Jerome Dickey

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Naughtier than Nice was a fantastic read by Eric Jerome Dickey that is perfect for anyone wanting a soap opera feel kind of book.

This book is incredible! When I first started reading it I wasn’t sure what to expect. Is this book a romance? A drama? It’s both! This novel felt like one of the soap operas I used to watch on tv but instead in book form.

I couldn’t say there was much wrong with this novel, because it did seem like a soap opera. Something was always changing, there was always some kind of romantic action or spite between characters going on and it never seemed boring. There was times that I was quite frustrated with characters or where different plot twists seemed unreal, but if this book was aiming towards being a book soap opera than it did it’s job.

Overall, I was impressed. I would love more books like this where there is constant twists, drama and a big splash of romance!

Five out of five stars!

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Quick Book Review: Finding Elizabeth by Taylor Fenner

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Finding Elizabeth was a sweet, cute novel revolving around the idea that we are reincarnated, and true love conquers all.

I found this novel to be quite cute! It was a very romanticizing novel, for all the true romantics at heart.

While this novel does start out quite slow and boring at the start, it picks up speed rather quickly. The content of the book seems like it is more of a Young Adult than any other category. It isn’t for a very young audience, but it feels like it isn’t aimed at the adult audience either. But that makes this book more accessible to different audiences!

I did find that this plot has been redone a million and one times, but it was a sweet novel! It isn’t something I’d go running to pick up immediately, but as a nice, short read it was great! It didn’t wow me or stand out compared to other similar books, but it shouldn’t be left off the shelf! It was a good read!

Taylor Fenner did an excellent job with this novel, and I applaud her!

Four out of five stars!

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Domnall and the Borrowed Child by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley

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Domnall and the Borrowed Child was a nice short story.

This story seemed like it was based on a much larger work. I felt like there was a back story to these characters that I did not know about, although this did not affect the quality of the book. It was a short, cute story that seemed like it was a fairy tale. I felt like I could have read this story to a child and they would have benefited from it much more than I did.

The story progressed well and I did not feel like it ended to soon or that it could have been pressed on further. I could see this novella turning into a full blown series with this just as a side story.

Not a lot happens plot wise, but it was a cute enough story that a child would enjoy. It wasn’t to scary and wasn’t to confusing for a child to not understand.

I enjoyed this book, but I wasn’t so obsessed that I want to read all of Sylvia Spruck Wrigley’s work.

Keep up the great writing Sylvia! I enjoyed it! I would love to see this universe expanded on.

Three out of five stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.