Book Wrap Up October
by
Natasa Djordjevic
- 11:43 AM
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson (✫✫)
It started so well and I thoroughly enjoyed the first part. Thereafter it moved quickly into absurdly bad slapstick, boredom, and finally pure dislike.
The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker (✫✫✫)
I wanted to like this; Bakker does good work with the world-building, there is some political intrigue and a sense of history. However, the spoils that with over-writing and cod-philosophy that adds nothing to the book apart from weight.
A Divided Inheritance by Deborah Swift (✫✫✫)
The story itself is founded on an interesting premise but seems to go on rather too long for what it needs to accomplish. Given the change of locale in midstream, it also has the feel of two novels, which aren’t all that well bound.
The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff (✫✫✫)
The story was forced rather than flowing naturally, the love story rushed and predictable, and then all but abandoned and wrapped up in the epilogue like an afterthought.
In Lucia's Eyes by Arthur Japin (✫✫✫✫)
This fascinating historical tale provides a fresh look at Casanova through the eyes of his first love. Her trials and tribulations turn her into a strong, intelligent woman during an era when females were not expected to show any wit. The period is vividly described, though the window into the mid-eighteenth century overwhelms the battle of the sexes. Still, Arthur Japin provides a solid gender war that humanizes the legendary lover as he competes in a fierce skirmish of the mind and the body against his greatest opponent, his first love.
No Safe Harbor (Edge of Freedom #1) by Elizabeth Ludwig (✫✫✫✫)
This book had it all; it had romance; had an adventure; it had intrigue, and it had faith. I liked the main characters and how they dealt with their struggles and also how they grew together. I liked how important faith was, but that it didn’t overtake the storyline. Sometimes I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next and could hardly put it down.
