book reviews – Page 4 – booksandopinions.com

Mr. Mercedes – Stephen King

January 17, 2015Angela11 Comments

I absolutely loved this book! I can honestly say this is one of my favorites by Stephen King. I have not read all of his stories, but I have read most of them. I still think my all-time favorite of his is “From a Buick 8”. Have you read it? If not, you need to go to your local library and check it out (pun intended)! From what I understand, this is not the only story we will be seeing involving Bill Hodges. That makes me a very happy reader!

photo courtesy of www.liljas-library.com — photo courtesy of http://www.liljas-library.com

Bill Hodges is a retired detective, not coping well with sitting at home. When the perp (perk if you’ve read the story) decides to send him a letter, it gives Bill a new sense of purpose. This is one that he cannot let go, nor turn over to his former partner.

He goes back over everything he did involving this case, and the things he ignored that he shouldn’t have. You get to see Bill come to terms with the mistakes he has made, both at work and in his personal life. He tries to right the wrongs, when he can.

Brady Hartsfield (the jacket sleeve said Brady Hartfield, the spelling error surprised me. On the sleeve? Really?) is a brilliant mind from a troubled childhood. Still living at home with his alcoholic mother, he works two jobs while planning his next big kill.

Bill has two unlikely people working with him, which makes this story even more interesting. It is full of suspense, mystery, and even a few laugh out loud moments. I was literally holding my breath more than once while reading this! There were a couple spots where Mr. King mentioned two of his previous books; it fit right in with the story and was a nice touch.

If you haven’t read this, I highly recommend it. If you have, I would love to hear what you thought about it!

Library of the World’s Best Mystery and Detective Stories – Part 2

January 15, 2015AngelaLeave a comment

PIERRE MILLE

The Miracle of Zobéide – When a Christian and a Muslim cannot agree on the power of God, one offers a challenge to the other. Is it really God at work, first making the turtle called Zobeide larger, and then smaller until she disappears all together? Or is it a splendid trick and the Christian never catches on? This is a great short story that will stop and make you think; about the power of influence, and the strength of one determined to defend his beliefs, in a clever, non-criminal way.

VILLIERS DE L’ISLE ADAM

The Torture by Hope – A man condemned because he refuses to renounce his religion sees the opportunity to escape on the eve prior to his (and 43 others) scheduled execution. His escape does not go as planned, and one might even suspect the opportunity to escape was intentionally provided, just to torture one by hope.

EMILE ERCKMANN- ALEXANDRE CHATRAIN

The Owl’s Ear -A man, appearing to be a hobo, bum, vagabond, is arrested for no good reason other than he refused to tell the town constable what he was doing in that deep, dark cistern.

Full of despair in prison for only part of a night, the hobo hanged himself. Only later would the cousin of the constable discover the true meaning of what the hobo was doing. Out of anger at such a brilliant life and mind cut short, he refused to tell the constable the truth, or ever visit him again.

The Invisible Eye – What I would consider a bit long for a short story, this one was definitely a bit strange and disturbing. What appeared to be a haunted room at the local Inn was capable of driving each of its guests to hang themselves from the outside crossbeam before morning light. A painter who lived across the street seemed to be the only one to take notice of the local hag, called Fledermausse. Being convinced it was her driving these victims to suicide, the painter kept a close eye on her, until he saw the opportunity to even the score, and stop the curse. He was able to give the hag a taste of her own medicine, which was the last taste of anything she would ever have again.

The Waters of Death – a quick read about a cavern of mineral water that seems to have healing powers; yet after skeletons of various animals, and humans, are purged from the cavern, no one dares drink or swim there again. Except for one unlucky soul. I found this story okay enough, but more boring than what I had previously read.

There are a few more stories in this book, and I will share those that I find of interest. There are a couple I have read that are not worth mentioning, but all-in-all, I am pretty happy with this book!

Library of the World’s Best Mystery and Detective Stories – Edited by Julian Hawthorne

January 14, 2015January 14, 2015AngelaLeave a comment

One of my favorite things about older stories, especially short stories, is that there is always a lesson in morals. Sometimes it is obvious, and sometimes you never see it coming. But either way, they are fun to read, and you are more than likely to learn something while you are at it!

I will be highlighting some of these great short stories included in this book over the next couple of days. I hope you enjoy the reviews as much as I enjoyed the stories!

HENRI RENÉ ALBERT GUY DE MAUPASSANT (1850-93)

The Necklace – A charming twist on a story of trying to deceive. A woman loses her friend’s diamond necklace. Instead of being honest, her husband and herself buy another one, and spend the next ten years living in poverty as they struggle to pay off the loan. Finally feeling free by having the loan paid off, Mrs. Loisel tells the friend of the burden they had carried for 10 years.

Her friend tells her the diamond necklace she lost was paste, and only worth mere change compared to what they spent on the replacement necklace.

An Uncomfortable Bed – A man, fearing he is going to be the victim of the pranks of his friends on an overnight stay, decides to sleep elsewhere for his own safety. In doing so; he manages to set himself up for a thing exactly as he was trying to avoid.

Ghosts – Not so much a ghost story, as it is a story about how some people will go to great measures to swindle others out of financial or material gains that they have no right to.

The Confession – 2 sisters devoted to each other spend their lives unmarried, living together, rather than have one of them be alone. The great sacrifice made by one sister becomes even more apparent when the other has a death-bed confession to make.

The Horla, or Modern Ghosts – The final short story by Maupassant, it is a journey of psychosis, particularly the author’s own. Is this story true, partly true, or strictly a great dream out of the mind of this great writer? You will have to read it to decide for yourself.

Per his biography page, he did suffer from psychosis brought on by syphilis he contracted as a child. He attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a knife, and was committed to a hospital where he later died.

Hope Reborn – Caryl McAdoo

January 12, 2015January 11, 2015AngelaLeave a comment

Another fantastic story by Caryl; if you have not had a chance to read some of her novels yet, you have got to pick one up and read it, as soon as possible.

Yes, like right now. You should get on your Amazon account, search her name, and just pick a book. Any book will do. They are all great, and it is a perfect day to start a new story.

Okay, back to the story…Hope Reborn is a historical romance novel, set in Texas in the 1850’s. It centers around Millicent May Meriwether, but do not call her Millicent. She writes romance novels, and decides to make her way to Texas both to research for future novels, as well as help a family friend.

Receiving a warm welcome into Texas, May and her personal assistance and Man-of-All-Things-Needed, Chester, end up taking temporary residence at the estate of Henry Buckmeyer. A widower with a brood of children, and a staff to help run his estate, May is afraid she may have indeed found what she has been looking for; a man to spend the rest of her life with. Afraid because she has lost and suffered so much already.

May and Henry both seem to have secrets to hide, and May needs to decide if she can give her whole self to this man who lost so much when he lost his wife. A man of Faith might just be the undoing of May and her hopes and dreams. She never could understand why anyone would believe in fairytales like God and Jesus.

As storylines intertwine, May and Henry are not the only ones who find answers to questions long asked. More than one situation finds the resolution needed and desired.

As I try to never give away spoilers, this is one book you will need to read for yourself. It is well-written, clean, and has you hoping and cheering for everyone involved.

You can get this story free on Amazon for the next 5 days! Do not miss out on this great opportunity here: http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Reborn-Texas-Romance-Book-ebook/dp/B00RASZWEY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421018283&sr=8-1&keywords=Hope+Reborn+Caryl+McAdoo

Capital Offence – Robert S. Scott

January 8, 2015January 7, 2015AngelaLeave a comment

Have you ever done something when you were young that you regret?

Well, of course you have; we all have.

Do you hate politics? Do you love politics? Are you sure the government of wherever you may live is out to get the “little man?” Yeah; most of us are.

But what do you do when you are involved in something horrible as a young teenager, yet you become the Prime Minister of your country?

Yep. You hide it all. You build a new life; you ignore those who stood by you.

Flesh and blood? No Matter. You have to do what you have to do to protect yourself, your family, and your image.

But when you are the Prime Minister, and your brother is going to face the death penalty in 30 days; then what do you do?

This is a fast-paced, long read. But it is worth every second of it. The story moves quickly, and you will not want to put it down. This was another story where I kept telling myself, “just one more chapter”. That one more chapter usually became 3 more chapters.

For this story, I am standing by my “no-spoilers” clause. But this story definitely deserves your attention. You want to read it. And once you start, you will not want to put it down.

Trust me, I know. I wake up at 2 am like clockwork, and I was grabbing this story to continue reading.

You definitely want to get to know this author. You can do so here: https://robertsscott.wordpress.com/tag/political-thriller-capital-offence/

Bashed – Barbara Marquardt – I Managed Almost 4 Chapters…

January 5, 2015Angela1 Comment

…and then I could not take another word of it. I wanted to like it, and I tried to like it. But I just could not read any more of it.

(ATTENTION! If anyone decides to get this book, for free I hope, and skim through it, I would love to hear what your take was on the story. If 5 people can tell me I was wrong, I will remove this review, and send an apology to the author. Any takers?)

First, the premise of the story. A teacher at a high school, seemingly for the town’s cast-off kids whose parents stopped caring, gets locked into a storage room over Christmas break by an 18 year old who she has continuously had issues with because she tried to make him learn, but had no choice other than to fail him.

I did not read too far beyond this point, at least not far enough to get to the chapter where she is rescued. The story continues with a battle between her and this student, the usual he-said-she-said things. Per the synopsis, the public and school officials are quick to blame her after her rescue, because he is the star football player. The synopsis continues that this event changed her life in many ways, but as I am not going to continue reading this story, I cannot tell you what those changes are.

I stopped reading the story when Jean, the main character, was locked in the storage room. The storage room with a window. With a plexi-glass window. Already with a hole in it and spider-webbed cracks. I went back and literally read everything over again, trying to see if it mentioned some reason, somewhere, as to why she would not have broken the window and got out. Was it too small? Too high up? Why would you be looking out a window, at your freedom, and not try to get out?

I skimmed further along, because I really had to know if this glaring issue got resolved. I got to about the half-way point in the story, and the author mentioned that the room was on the 3rd floor. Thanks for letting me know.

Another issue, right from the start, was the lack of a cell phone.

Why was her purse and all of her belongings in the storage room, yet she has no cell phone. No cell phone. This book was published in 2009, and it is not set in the 1960’s. Why would she not have a cell phone?

I know; because if she had a cell phone, the author could not have written this story. What the author should have done, is explain why there was no cell phone, instead of just ignoring that flashing-neon error like no one would ever think twice about someone not having a cell phone.

The writing was also not very good, as far as sentence structure and the use of the English language in general. So even if I could of ignored the 2 huge errors that were distracting me, I could not read through the choppy use of the English language. Am I being harsh? Possibly. I will blame it on 2 wonderful weeks of vacation, and my first Monday back to work. Yeah; that’s it.

This story had one review on Goodreads, at 4 stars. It had 2 excellent reviews on Amazon, both from school teachers. The free ebook site I got it from had 5 reviews, all 5 stars. But no actual written review. Just stars. You can buy it on Amazon for $9.00, or get it free from here: http://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/Bashed

Kuhstedtermoor – Helen Waldron

January 3, 2015January 4, 2015AngelaLeave a comment

Kuhstedtermoor by Helen Waldron is certainly a book that is different than what I would normally read. At least I thought so at first. I was unsure what to expect when reading a story set in Germany, with some German words and dialect thrown in, as I am not familiar with Germany, per-se.

Kuhstedtermoor in the Winter. Courtesy of Helen Waldron.

I was very pleasantly surprised as I was at the beginning of the story, and kept saying to myself, “just one more chapter!” It pulled me in right from the start, and it took some chaotic Christmas holiday events and personal family issues to make me put the story down for more than a day.

This story is written in the first-person, but you also get to experience the intertwining lives of the people in this small German town on a very personal level. On the outside, it appears as any regular run-of-the-mill small town where everyone knows everybody, including their secrets. But not all of their secrets.

Each character is intertwined with the next, but it did not feel cluttered or complicated. It felt like I was observing the people of Kuhstedtermoor from the outside, looking in. A silent watcher of the personal triumphs and tragedies of the townspeople, like seeing someone on the wrong path that you know you cannot help.

My almost-strict rule of no spoilers holds true for this story, but I will give you the scenario. A woman, new to Kuhstedtermoor, slowly gets to know the residents, even though she feels like an outsider; so very different from everyone else who lives there. As one young girl goes missing, the town gathers to search for her. With no trace or clues, the woman continues to watch, observe, and try to fit in. Gossip is idle, and contagious, and then girl #2 disappears.

You hope for the best, while expecting the worst, and will be turning pages until you get to the ending! At 22 chapters, this is a quick read (minus any personal-life interruptions!) and you will be glad you spent your time getting to know the residents of Kuhstedtermoor.

Kuhstedtermoor is the first part of The History Lovers trilogy and Helen Waldron’s first novel.

Helen works as an English Language Coach in Hamburg and has created a blog about the day-to-day business of two such language professionals which can be found here: http://speakeasyandwritewell.wordpress.com/.

Murder Is Binding – Lorna Barrett

January 1, 2015January 1, 2015Angela4 Comments

The first book in another series by Lorna Barrett, these books are sold under the “A Booktown Mystery” tag line. Set in Stoneham, New Hampshire, Tricia Miles is one of many bookstore owners who finds herself caught in the center of this small town’s first murder in decades.

Stoneham is a sleepy town on the coast, where in order to boost the tourism and economy, Bob Kelly, president of the Chamber of Commerce, had the idea to rebuild the center of the town and have various bookstores that cater to the tourism from neighboring cities and states.

Tricia Miles owns “Haven’t Got a Clue”, a bookstore devoted to mystery novels. There is also “The Cookery”, devoted to cookbooks, and “History Repeats Itself”, specializing in historical novels. Who wouldn’t want to live in a town with so many great little bookstores? Well, except for the murders, that is.

Apparently Bob Kelly is putting the pressure on one of the bookstore owners, threatening to raise her lease amount when it is time to renew. Tricia wants nothing more than to run her store, and not get involved in all of the issues going on around her. When her sister, Angelica, decides to come for a visit, Tricia knows her peace and quiet is officially over. Questioning what the ulterior motive is for the visit from Ange, Tricia’s days of calm and quiet are about to end.

As is my policy, about 98% of the time, there will be no spoilers here. What I can tell you though, is that this story is a fun read, full of twists and turns, and it will keep you guessing until the end. It also includes recipes that are mentioned throughout the story, and the antics of the shop cat, Miss Marple, will have you smiling!

If you love books as much as I do, you certainly will not want to pass up the opportunity to read a story about books, bookstores, murder, and mayhem! I do have 7 of the 8 books in this series, so you will be hearing more about this fun series in the near future.

A fun cartoon from Lorna's website! Be sure to visit it at http://lornabarrett.com — A fun cartoon from Lorna’s website! Be sure to visit it at http://lornabarrett.com

You can visit her website here: http://lornabarrett.com/

I was So Thrilled to Post This Book Review…and Now I Feel Like a Complete Jerk because I Did!

December 30, 2014Angela11 Comments

As some of you know, some of my best books read and reviewed (in my opinion) are the ones I stumbled upon, chose to read, and am grateful I did. I will say straight-off that I do belong to a free ebooks website, and get 5 books a month through there. I also pick up random books at Barnes and Noble in their clearance bins, and buy books through Amazon because I like the cover.

I put myself out there (and many of you did as well), when I offered to read, edit, and review your works for free. I have met some amazing authors, made some great literary friends, and am glad I could help out others in a way that means so much to me!

Last month while perusing my free ebooks, I came across a story that I had to get. It was “The Scimitar and the Glory Boxes”, by Fred Morse. I love reading religious stories, factual, fiction, and whatever else may fall between the cracks. This story was fantastic, and I was so excited to post a review and also wanted to make sure I let Mr. Morse know. This book was too good to be on a free ebook site.

For the past couple of years of doing this blog, I would often post these types of reviews; but it was as of late that I thought I really need to make sure these authors know their stories are being read, and appreciated.

So as I have been so often doing now, I posted the book review, and sent an email to the author letting them know I reviewed their book, and included the link so they did not have to search for the review.

And then I was checking my email. I will admit I was anxiously awaiting to hear from Mr. Morse, and hoping he liked my review.

It was from his wife. He had passed away in September, and she wanted to let me know she appreciated me reaching out, and was happy I enjoyed his writing.

So many things ran through my mind. I was sad I never got to communicate with this great writer about his works. I likely opened afresh the pain his wife was trying to control during the Christmas holiday season. And more than anything, was I looking for approval from someone whom I did not know because I liked their writing?

I asked in my email that he let me know of any other books he had written, because I wanted to buy and review them. His wife was gracious enough to let me know, and with her permission, I will indeed be reading and reviewing them.

I never ask favors of anyone, but I would truly like any of my followers who enjoy this same type of genre to look up this book and read it. You will not be disappointed!

And to his wife, I would like to wish a Blessed, Happy New Year full of warm memories and comfort on how her husband’s writing truly did make a difference.

You can find my original review here: https://booksandopinions.com/2014/12/24/the-scimitar-and-the-glory-boxes-frederick-morse/

You can find it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Scimitar-Glory-Frederick-Morse-ebook/dp/B006ZB39R4

It is the best 0.99 you will ever spend.

Thanks WordPress, this is fantastic! 2014 in review…

December 30, 2014December 30, 2014Angela1 Comment

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,300 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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