Posts

Posted on

#BookReview: Circumstantial Evidence by Lisa Clark O’Neill

Follow The Evidence. This book flows well from the previous book, much like the previous book did from the book before it. Here, we delve further into the story of Will and Cam, who first met up in Admit One. But this time, the stakes are higher than they’ve been in Sweetwater. Ever. There was a kid that was murdered, and right when Will thinks he finally found his man… it turns out, his evidence was too circumstantial. There is another killer on the loose. And Will just put his burgeoning family square in its crosshairs… Excellent conclusion to this particular triliogy, while also more concretely (finally) tying into the author’s other works. Looking forward to exploring more from Ms. O’Neill.

This review of Circumstantial Evidence by Lisa Clark O’Neill was originally published on August 12, 2018.

Posted on

#BookReview: Admit One by Lisa Clark O’Neill

Good Theatre. With this book, we pick up about a year after Mr. Write left off. Mason (Dixon) Armitage has come back to Sweetwater with a singular mission – to woo the woman he can’t stop thinking about. But the woman in question… well, she’s over him. Or so she thinks. Overall solid romance, if a tad slow, and with an intriguing mystery to boot. But there *were* a couple of slips of continuity where a character forgets things they knew just pages earlier. Still, very recommended read, and looking forward to seeing Will and Cam develop more in the next book.

This review of Admit One by Lisa Clark O’Neill was originally published on August 11, 2018.

Posted on

#BookReview: Mr. Write by Lisa Clark O’Neill

Mr. Right. This was my first book from O’Neill, it won’t be my last. This one isn’t your typical romance book in that there are enough things going on that for a while it is difficult to determine which couple this book is ultimately about. After a point (call it 25-33% or so in?) it becomes more clear, and the both the romance and the suspense begin heating up. Overall a great look at small town life with big personalities, and a great romance. One note: Goodreads says this book is 522 pages. It never feels anywhere near that long – it feels like the time flies by as fast as books with half that page count or less.

This review of Mr. Write by Lisa Clark O’Neill was originally published on August 8, 2018.

Posted on

#BookReview: The Plus One by Maggie Dallen

+1 or ++? Again, math geek/ former math teacher… and current programmer. In programming, a + 1 can be written as a++, and that is definitely the rating this book deserves. Fun, hot, funny, romantic… everything you want in a lighthearted romance book. Absolutely pick this one up, it really is an fun read. (And ignore Goodreads telling you it is just 83 pages. It is roughly similar in length to the other two books in this trilogy.)

This review of The Plus One by Maggie Dallen was originally published on August 7, 2018.

Posted on

#BookReview: Love Times Two by Maggie Dallen

Math Teacher Love! Ok, so in addition to being a math geek… I’m also a former math teacher. So this one was a particularly fun read for me – how often does the geeky math teacher get to be the lead in a romance book? (Answer: In my experience, just in this book!) Yeah, yeah – the math teacher here is the girl, not the guy. Who cares. Still. Math. Teacher. Another excellent tale from Maggie Dallen, and now I’m really looking forward to seeing where she goes with the third book in this trilogy!

This review of Love Times Two by Maggie Dallen was originally published on August 7, 2018.

Posted on

#BookReview: Down by Brett Battles

Go Right! For a Fitting Conclusion. OK, so the “Go Right!” bit is somewhat of an inside joke you’ll get to when you read this book. Overall, with this book Battles once again collapses the global to the personal, and in so doing gives us a very fitting end to the series – while allowing other tales in this world. We get answers for one central character somewhat early in this book, but overall the arc of this book truly is Captain Daniel Ash’s final revenge against the organization that took nearly everything from him before he even knew they existed. The ending, in particular, was a bit mind bending in a very cool way that is not unique, but is fairly rare. Absolutely a fitting end to an excellent series, and one that leaves the reader with an adequate sense of closure.

This review of Down by Brett Battles was originally published on July 30, 2018.

Posted on

#BookReview: Dream Sky by Brett Battles

The End Begins. In this longest book of the PROJECT EDEN series so far, Brett Battles does a superb job of taking us from the shocking ending of EDEN RISING, bringing the key players back together briefly as they figure out the enigmatic message that ended that book, and setting up a truly global endgame. Fraught with taut sequences that fill the reader with dread about the possible survival of characters you’ve been following for several books now, this book is arguably the single best book in the series of leaving the reader desperate to dive into the next book. Fortunately for those of us late arrivers to this series, the next and final book in this saga has already been published. But I had to write this review before I can allow myself to go to the next book, so goodb

This review of Dream Sky by Brett Battles was originally published on July 28, 2018.

Posted on

#BookReview: Eden Rising by Brett Battles

Solid Succession, Surprising Ending. This book superbly continues the tale of PROJECT EDEN, the Sage Flu, and the Resistance. Battles does a superb job of illustrating just how shocking such a world would be to any survivors, and even manages to introduce some things most would likely not consider. And that ending… with very nearly the very last words of the book, the storyline is irrevocably changed. Superb.

This review of Eden Rising by Brett Battles was originally published on July 27, 2018.

Posted on

#BookReview: Ashes by Brett Battles

As The World Burns. Here, Battles adjusts the style of the tale slightly again. We still get a sense of a global Apocalypse through the reports from India, a new island in Costa Rica not in the prior books, California, Wisconsin, and Colorado, but here the countdown – fairly ineffective in PALE HORSE – really drives the point home. Meanwhile, instead of the shotgun “let’s go to all kinds of places” approach that seemed to drive PALE HORSE, we get just a few threads to follow here. Most of the tale winds up focusing on efforts to locate Brandon Ash, and the other two dominant threads are the Costa Rican island and the Ridgecrest survivors in California. All told, the story is yet again done superbly, and yet again I’m glad I waited to read them so that I can read all of them at once without having to wait for the next one to be written.

This review of Ashes by Brett Battles was originally published on July 22, 2018.