Confessions Of A Bookaholic
This One’s a Keeper. Maybe not the smartest idea I’ve ever had to read this one on a Bahamian cruise, as it is extremely emotionally intense. But an amazing story that I’m glad to have finally read, and presents an interesting twist that I had never seen a story really delve into. Very much looking forward to finishing out this trilogy and seeing where the author takes it.
This review of Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale was originally published on November 18, 2018.
Reacher Being Reacher. This is Reacher number 23, and kind of in the middle of the pack overall. Not the best Reacher story, but not the worst either. Third person again, and while the bad guys are truly bad, they aren’t quite as bad as I was fearing – I thought early on Child might be going for more current headlines ala the last Reacher tale, and instead he shifts into something that is rumored online but which I’ve never seen actual evidence of. Don’t start with this book if you’re new to Reacher, but if you’ve read even a single Reacher reading this one out of order won’t be a problem other than introducing certain new wrinkles that could be interesting going forward, should Child decide to pursue them.
This review of Past Tense by Lee Child was originally written on November 18, 2018.
Excellent Design. This story was a fun, mostly light read perfect for the beach and vacation (when I read it). The darkness that is alluded to early on doesn’t get quite as dark as I was dreading it might, and for that I was grateful. Other than that particular subplot though, a very enjoyable read.
This review of Single by Design by Roseanne Beck was originally published on November 18, 2018.
… This Is An Awesome Story. If you enjoyed a certain other coming of age gay romance that was in theater earlier this year, you’ll enjoy this book as well. Even if you haven’t been exposed to that other story, give this one a try if you like romance and/ or coming of age and/ or road trip stories – this is a solid entry into all of the above categories, that happens to involve two guys at a prep school falling for each other. Very much enjoyed this book, excellent vacation/ beach read (which is when I read it, on a cruise). Very much looking forward to the rest of this series.
This review of To Be Honest by S.M. James was originally published on November 15, 2018.
Tresspassers Will Be Violated! This is a quirky comedy of errors with a bit of mystery and recent history thrown in. Solid effort, and a very pleasant and quick read. New to me author, but one I plan to watch for in the future.
This review of Stuck in Manistique by Dennis Cuesta was originally published on October 31, 2018.
Satisfying Conclusion. This was designed to be the conclusion of this series, and it does an admirable job of that – other than the whole cash grab issue of separating one story into two books. In this back half of the tale begun in the previous book, we spend the first half resolving the issues that ramped up in the back half of the book before it, before pivoting to the battle begun in the front half of the prior book. And it is this back half where virtually anyone who has ever fought by Jake Bronson’s family’s side comes back for one epic battle against one last group of people tied to Luciano Battista, the bad guy from the very first book. This book wraps up the series nicely while allowing the possibility that at least some characters could come back in a future series… or not. Overall a truly satisfying conclusion to what should have been a 5 book series, rather than the 7 book series it currently exists as.
This review of Against All Odds by Richard Bard was originally published on October 28, 2018.
Great But… Yet again the author splits one tale into two books, rather than giving us one complete adventure in one book. This one picks up almost immediately after the ending of the previous book, and tells half of what should be an AWESOME tale. But clearly the author was putting just enough here to whet the appetite to increase sales of the next book, the finale of the series. Perhaps if the author had split the longer books at the beginning of the series into shorter books as well, it wouldn’t feel like such a cash grab. But he has already given us books of nearly 500 pages in this series, so why not finish it off with two 600 page books encompassing what turn out to be the final four books of the series? The only reason that makes any sense at all is that it is nothing more than a blatant cash grab on his part. And while I don’t have any qualms about anyone making a buck, I do have major problems with being so blatant and forcing the reader to buy yet another book to get the completion of the story of the book they were reading. In all honesty, had the story within this book been even slightly less compelling, I probably would have given only a single star, just because of the cash grab nature of this book.
This review of No Refuge by Richard Bard was originally published on October 28, 2018.
Satisfying Conclusion. Originally, this book and its predecessor were called a “Duology” within the overall series, and in that sense, this book provides a satisfying conclusion to that two-book storyline (that I still feel could have been condensed into one book, even just taking these two books as is and combining them to form a 600 ish page book). It also does a good job of setting up the next book via a particular unresolved thread that leads to a blatant cliffhanger – so blatant that the author tags a note just a couple of lines later swearing that the story will continue. (As those of us reading years later already know.) Overall a great continuation to the series, and I’m looking forward to diving into the next book momentarily.
This review of Smoke and Mirrors by Richard Bard was originally published on October 27, 2018.
Good But Incomplete. As with any of the books in this series after BRAINRUSH, read the earlier books first. That said, the author introduces some new writing techniques into this book that are a refreshing change of pace, and that is most welcome. HOWEVER, the reason I dinged this book a star is because it feels like the author took one story and broke it into two – similar to how Hollywood did a lot of book to movie adaptations there for a while with the last book, except obviously here this is an author himself doing it to his own book. Yes, the combined single book of this one and the next one would have likely gone over the 600 page mark, and maybe the author didn’t think that would sell as well or some such. But this feels like a money grab, even with the solid story, with the splitting into halves.
All of that said, there is more peril than ever built into this book, though the peril in this tale is more personal (vs the last book’s more global scale).
If you’ve gotten this far in the series, you won’t be disappointed with the story here – and you’ll be reaching for the next one as soon as you’ve finished this one!
This review of Brainchild by Richard Bard was originally published on October 26, 2018.
Judgment Comes. This was the third entry into this series, but because of the way it does a soft retcon of the primary character, this *could* serve as an alternate entry point into the series. Not that I recommend that, but it *could* be done. Excellent third chapter of the story, looking forward to what is next.
This review of Beyond Judgment by Richard Bard was originally published on October 26, 2018.