Confessions Of A Bookaholic
Passionately Poignant Prose. Prepare yourself for the most intense roller coaster of this trilogy. Prodigious tale to wrap up the trilogy, but suffers from the same need of an editor as its predecessors.
This review of The Other P-Word by MK Schiller was originally published on April 18, 2018.
Freaky Fiance Fate. In The Other C-Word, we get a bachelorette party scene where the mother gets drug out to the party by all of her daughters, one of whom is the bride. Little do we know that mom actually meets someone that night. This tale begins a year later, when mom – the lead of this book – runs into this same man again. We get a flashback to show what happened that night from mom’s perspective, and then we’re back to the present day to see mom’s new relationship. Overall a great addition to this series, with more at stake than the first book, from a variety of angles. Still needs an editor though.
This review of The Other F-Word by MK Schiller was originally published on April 17, 2018.
Constantly Clever, Complete. And no, I’m not going to *c*ontinue with the C’s. But this was a great tale of a very broken girl and the man who brings her out of her shell. Loved the constant play with words, reminiscent of one of my favorite scenes from How I Met Your Mother. Epilogue felt a bit rushed though, as did the ending generally. Still a great tale, looking forward to the continuation.
This review of The Other C-Word by MK Schiller was originally published on April 16, 2018.
Same Great Adventure, Less Formatting Issues. In this fourth installment of the BREAKTHROUGH series, we get even tighter action than the first three, even more gut wrenching drama, and yet more players in the mix. Overall a great addition to the series, though this reader is beginning to wonder just how long the series will continue. Start with BREAKTHROUGH, but by the time you finish this one you’ll still have enough questions to bring you back for the next one.
This review of Ripple by Michael C. Grumley was originally published on April 15, 2018.
Great Story, Suffers Same Formatting Problem As LEAP. In this entry into the BREAKTHROUGH series, Grumley doesn’t have near the revelations of the previous two books – though there are a couple thrown in, they just don’t have the impact of the previous books – but manages to raise the stakes even more. Our team faces genuine peril this time, with one major character actually dying – and staying dead through the end of the book. Other characters feel like cannon fodder when introduced, and are never really fleshed out to be much more than that. Whereas the previous two books left on a bit of an ominous cliffhanger of the reader knowing more was to come but the characters not, this book leaves us with the characters having a clear direction – even if they don’t know exactly where they are going. Arguably the weakest book of this series, but still an excellent read that promises even more to come.
This review of Catalyst by Michael C. Grumley was originally published on April 14, 2018.
Great Tale Poorly Formatted. Overall, this tale was a great followup to BREAKTHROUGH, starting a few months after the end of that tale with many of the same characters involved. All of the elements that made BREAKTHROUGH so great continue here, and some more excellent elements get added as well. But there were so many formatting issues when jumping between scenes in chapters! So many that I just couldn’t ignore it and had to ding the book a star just to bring them to attention. Overall a truly great tale, loving this series. Just needs a better editor.
This review of Leap by Michael C. Grumley was originally published on April 11, 2018.
Starts Slow and Easy. Then WOW. The build in this book starts as a low simmer. You meet up with a man getting out of the ocean onto his boat in the Caymans. You meet a research team in Antarctica. You meet another research team trying to learn how to talk to dolphins in Miami. … And then all of this begins coming together. When it does… sci-fi done with some things that seem reminiscent of things, and other things I’ve never seen. It was a great combination and produced a great story.
This review of Breakthrough by Michael C. Grumley was originally published on April 6, 2018.
Let’s put it this way: I finished this 41 chapter book in less than 24 hours. The summary had intrigued me, and the story itself didn’t let me down. I was 20% through the book without realizing it and felt like I had barely scratched the surface (and at that point, knowing what I do now, you really *have* barely scratched the surface). Easily one of the best of the now 25 books I’ve read in 2018, which is saying quite a bit.
This review of The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie was originally published on April 3, 2018.
Stakes Keep Rising. In this installment of the Sabel Security Thrillers, we find a rather ingenious terrorist plot, ran by someone inside the US. But who? That is what Pia Sabel and her team must find out. Good action, good mystery. Need a resolution to the mystery behind Pia’s parents’ murder already. That plot is starting to get long in the tooth with no resolution. Though the ending here was a bit of a cliffhanger – only tangentially related to said murders. Still recommended.
This review of Death and the Damned by Seeley James was originally published on March 29, 2018.
Setting Up An Epic Confrontation. In this tale, we get more hilarity from Mercury, more baddassery from Jacob, and still not enough of the original Pia. We also get a fairly epic conclusion to many of the storylines that have been playing around since The Geneva Decision – with one very major one only teased. Excellent book, looking forward to the next one.
This review of Death and Dark Money by Seeley James was originally published on March 29, 2018.