Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

Breath-taking, realistic, riveting, memorable.

This striking novel made me think about how many lives touch each other when a traumatic event transpires. The writing style delves into each individuals life vacationing on the Saint X Caribbean Island and how they are affected by the death of a teenage girl. Multiple one paragraph descriptions made a memorable emotional impression on my soul. From the beautiful island details to the emotional depths between the characters, their choices and the words stayed with me. I couldn't help but think about the multiple young girls that disappear while on vacation, enjoying their time unguarded but ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There is multiple view points, but the surviving sister Claire affected me the most. I could sympathize with her never ending deep pain of loss. She takes unique measures dealing with her grief. I didn't get a murder mystery, or whodunit, type of read but instead a realistic one that hit me to the core. It's character driven with real life events that happen to everyone, the plot remains consistent about Alison's death, therefore the reading went along smoothly and enjoyable. I love novels that make you want to talk about the ramifications of just one decision. This novel will be terrific for book clubs, groups, or for multiple people discussing life events. It's a read for everyone.

I received an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) from the publisher for an honest review. I enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it to read. Thank you Celadon Book for the ARC.

The German House Utterly Thought-Provoking

Conversational, memorable, spectacular, terrifying.

Wow, utterly amazing. This is a novel that will stay with you forever, imprinted on your mind, a history never to be forgotten. The writing style’s phenomenal, unique, with respect to the quick change between characters but effortlessly keeping the story in line with the plot. The novel’s main character is Eva Bruhns, she dictates the words spoken from the witnesses during a court trial against World War II military men that abused, tortured innocent victims. This novel does a superb job with descriptive emotional detail but from a courtroom setting, therefore as a reader, I took in the situation on an objective level instead of an emotional depressing one.

The characters and plot are fantastic, with memorable details. Having the court proceedings take a tour of the barracks and block 11 where the horrific event took place was gripping. The novel’s written in such away it describes an event when people for whatever reason where ignorant to what was happening. I felt the writing style addressed that respectfully and delicately enough to make a reader mentally contemplate the importance of speaking out for help.

I loved the side storylines of The German Restaurant, her boyfriend, family and the courtroom characters. Each one offered enjoyable descriptive details and something important to learn about human flaws. This is a beautiful book, important to humanity, utterly stunning. I can’t wait to get a signed edition and hopefully meet the author.

Thank you BookishFirst for the opportunity of winning The German House, and the Publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review.

A Songbird Dreams of Singing: Poems about Sleeping Animals

Whimsical, engaging, educational, enchanting.

I utterly loved this book. We spend half of our life sleeping and this lovely book covers not only the importance of that, but how sleep is crucial for every living creature. The illustrations add to the sense of realism, beauty and awe. I'm an adult and at time's indulge myself in a poetic book with the capacity of touching across generations, multi diverse populations, and touching the soul.

A Songbird Dreams of Singing: Poems about Sleeping Animals delves into the importance of sleeping without making it scary, the perfect book for nighttime reading before bed and even in a classroom of children. The illustrations are so beautiful I can't help but think the children will be hypnotized by there alluring details. I'm not only purchasing a book for myself, but for my family and friends.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced Kindle e-read of this beautiful book.

Fireborne by Rosaria Munda

Action-packed, triumphant, engaging, fascinating.

Fireborne’s a novel destined to become a classic, the plot centers around two main characters that were orphans from the revolution. This revolution involved dragons that belonged to a specialized few, after the revolution that changed. The dragon rider’s became based upon a merit-based system for all people, that must be proven from tournaments. The two main characters Lee, and Annie are dragon riders, with one of their identities hidden. The story line changes between Lee, Annie, and the historical context of the revolution, explaining how their childhood related to that time period. 

There’s everything in this amazing fantasy dragon world novel. There’s sparing, family secrecy, fighting, girl power, dragon’s, tournaments, and slightly hidden romance. The world building is fantastic, realistic locations for dragons, detailed levels of society, drangontongue language, and even questions about morality. Annie’s character takes some dramatic surprising turns allowing her to grow into a strong female character ready for anything. I became attached to both of the main characters, they were developed with such detail, making real life choices in a dragon fuel powered world. 

If you love dragons, and a phenomenal fantasy world novel, this one's for you. I highly recommend it.

Light From Distant Stars by Shawn Smucker

Light From Distant Stars is a book I plan on reading multiple time's, I love those books that seem to be written just for you. The cover is beautiful, matching the title in artwork.

Addictive, spiritual, heart-wrenching, memorable.

The words are lyrical, poetically descriptive, perfectly placed at the right moments. The story focuses from a single point of view of Cohen in relation to his family, community, and childhood friendships. The relationships deal with struggles from dark emotional traumas between childhood and adult. 
Cohen struggles with pain, finding forgiveness from God this helps him cope with the many challenges he faces. The strongest and most compelling aspect of the story relates to the complexities of relationships. 

I was drawn to each character's personality even the children, and couldn't put the book down. The story discreetly divulges key aspects in each chapter, gently enticing the reader to keep going. There's so much of this story I could relate to since my father passed away a few years back. I found myself facing things Cohen did, questioning and remembering my childhood experiences with my father. Death makes you reevaluate every part of your life and this story helps with understanding that, it's a story for everyone going through a difficult time in life. Here's a quote that speaks to my heart from the book.

"And when he says her name he speaks a million things into existence: memories and emotions and regrets. It's all there around his head, a cloud, a nebula."

Thank you Netgalley and Revell publisher for a chance to read and review this amazingly touching unforgettable book.

Over The Borderline by Leanna Floyd

Page-turner, scary, spine-tingling, riveting.

I loved this book, perfect mixture of suspense, and court room drama. I literally couldn't put the book down, finished it within 24 hours. I'm hoping there is a book two! The main plot centers around Brooke Douger, her friend Jacob, and later a love interest Kevin. At the end of each chapter an unknown character provides haunting detail about the murders he's committed. The descriptive details gave me the chills. 

The writing style's easy to follow, with a point of view shifting between characters at each chapter. Every chapter had me guessing, and I"m still wanting to know more, in a good way. The story takes the reader into a mystery of whodunit. I found myself taking notes, trying to remember tiny details about each character along with the court case with the hopes of figuring out the criminals real identity. 

The ending was perfect, just enough to make me wonder what will happen to the characters, but then knowing enough feeling satisfied. I cant' wait to read more from Leanna Floyd, she's on my list as one of my favorite authors. 

Growing Things and Other Stories Paul Tremblay

Growing Things and Other Stories is by far my favorite this year.

Poignant, entertaining, engaging, scary and at times sarcastically funny.

What I found most fascinating about Growing Things and Other Stories is the opportunity of delving into the authors personal thought processes. The "Notes" at the end of the short stories provides unique details on each short story and how they relate to his other books. The author gives valuable information about how he writes, and obtains ideas for his stories.

The story that intrigued me the most was "Something About Birds." All of the stories had something about them I thoroughly enjoyed. Each one demonstrated the authors unique creative diverse writing style. He writes with the perfect amount of ambiguity, pulling me into the story with questions, wanting to know more. So, "Something About Birds" shook me to the core, because I'm one of those people that get freaked out by birds, and two the story was so uniquely mind blowing. I don't want to give too much detail because this book is a must read, and own especially for any wannabe writer.

There is a little something for everyone in this novel. Each story is unique and spans a history with the author that started with his writing career. The short story "Notes For "The barn In The Wild" is utterly intriguing taking the perspective from me (the reader) finding the authors personal journal. "Can I be frank with you, Ms./Mr. Finders Keepers? If this notebook is lost, it means I'm lost. I am not overstating this. Please save me." Oh my, I laughed so hard during this story. Beautifully creative. The story "A Haunted House Is A Wheel Upon Which Some Are Broken" takes the reader into finding the answers followed by different page numbers, pulled into multiple circular scenarios. I had so much fun reading that short story.

Just like how you meet a person, feeling it was fated in some supernatural way, I felt this book was fated for me. I won Growing Things and Other Stories from the Goodreads giveaway section, this is my honest review.

Thank you Goodreads, HarperCollins books, and Paul Tremblay for this most joyful opportunity of reading Growing Things And Other Stories. I look forward to reading additional books by Mr. Tremblay along with, hopefully soon "The Thirteenth Temple."