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Bibliophilia

an individual who loves & frequently reads books

Grave Minder

8/26/2016

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Grave Minder - Melissa Marr 
​
 4/5 

"Sleep well, and stay where I put you." 

Claysville is small and quaint, the type of town where everyone knows everyone and nothing is a secret...or maybe there are secrets, BIG secrets. A town where the peculiar habits of a little old lady just seem normal and harmless, but there's so much more to the story, so much more. 

Grave Minder is a small town story with an element of fright. It's written softly, without being too dramatic or fluffy, but it's definitely not your cliche "ghost in the attic" horror story; it's refreshingly unique and captivating. I wasn't hiding under the covers afraid to peer outside the safety of my reading nook, but I did get goose bumps quite a few times throughout the book.  

Even though Grave Minder is not a standalone, I don't know that I will be reaching for the sequels any time soon. It certainly wasn't a bad book; in fact I really enjoyed it, but it ends in such a way that didn't have me on the edge of my seat itching to start the next book. In fact, I don't think Melissa Marr intended for it to become the first in a series either, but it is! 

P.S. - I am itching for cool temps and brisk fall days, pumpkin spice and scary (but corny) Halloween movies. Hence the reason why I picked up Grave Minder in the first place! Happy reading! 

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The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike Book 1)

8/4/2016

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The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith (J.K Rowling) 
2/5 
Let me just say, I was among the few who did not enjoy any of the Harry Potter books. In fact, I barely made it through the first and second books only to completely give up on the rest of the series. I have often thought about picking them up again, figuring maybe now  that I am older they might appeal to me more, but after reading The Cuckoo's Calling by J.K. Rowling under her pen name Robert Galbraith, I don't think that's going to be happening any time soon. 

If you're someone who normally enjoys murder mystery books or mystery books in general, you're probably not going to like this one. The premise for the novel is a good one, it's just the execution that's awful. A beautiful Hollywood starlet falls to her death and though it appears she had everything to live for, her death is ruled a suicide. The suicide ruling doesn't sit will with her brother and he turns to a retired veteran turned PI, Cormoran Strike, to uncover the truth behind his sisters death. 

To say the book was lacking in action is a drastic understatement. Ninety percent of the book is dialogue...courtroom style, boring dialogue. If you are expecting anything similar or comparative to the high adventure, high suspense tendencies of her other novels, you're going to want to toss your Kindle to the ground, stomp on it repeatedly only to never look back or even let a thought of this book cross your mind ever again. 

I even gave this book to a co-worker who adores J.K. Rowling, needless to say she didn't even make it half way through the book before she returned it unfinished! If you're looking for a nightstand book to turn your eyelids heavy and send you off into dreamland, pick up this book! Otherwise, stay far, far away! 



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Backstrom: He Who Kills the Dragon

8/3/2016

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Backstrom: He Who Kills The Dragon
      Leif G.W. Persson         
2/5  
                                

 He who kills the dragon, or rather he who kills my desire to finish this book, was awful. 

I'll admit I only picked this book up because I have enjoyed the TV series, but the book is NOTHING like the TV show. Evert Backstrom is overweight, drinks excessively and dislikes pretty much everyone and everything other than himself. 

Yes, Backstrom is meant to be unlikable and trust me, the author achieved a high rate of success in making Evert Backstrom completely and utterly unlikable...in fact, I can't think of a single thing I liked about the character.  To enjoy a book I have to have SOMETHING to draw a relationship between myself and the character(s), whether it be a curiosity of their well-being or a relatable characteristic, He Who Kills the Dragon offered nothing like this. If you like a book who's main character is racist, sexist and any other "ist" you can think of, then this might just be the book for you! 

Other than the sheer dislike and somewhat distracting dislike of the main character, most of the book seemed to be in a state of mass confusion. No one seems too sure what the other is doing and there's a lot of "I'm not to sure what is going on" dialogue through out the whole book. Most of the confusion comes unraveled at the very end, but this book lost me way before the last few pages even came into play. This was just not my kind of writing, not my kind of characters and I think the whole story suffered with overdeveloped, unlikable characters. 

I've been in a bit of a reading funk (it happens to the best of us) and this was most certainly not the book to boost me back into the world of literature. 
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It's That Time Again!!! KindleFirst Selections for August 

8/2/2016

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Psychological Suspense
The series of twists and turns in this book had me gasping—I didn’t see any of them coming. Not one. As an avid reader of psychological thrillers like The Girl on the Train and Wreckage, I approached Interference thinking that I’d be able to figure out where the book...

Thriller
Contemporary Fiction 
I like to think I know my neighbors. We’re very friendly. We chitchat, bake cookies for each other, and look out for one another’s kids. But after reading The Things We Wish Were True, I had to ask myself, just how well do I really know these people? Is the perfectly...

I very rarely read a book twice, but when I first finished Black Rain—which hurtles through a breakneck plot set in a near-future New York City and ends with a revelation that casts everything that came before it in a new light—I went immediately back to the first... ​

Military Thriller
I first heard Tier One described as the story of an elite covert team that is part espionage and part special ops, led by a Navy SEAL with a stalwart sense of honor and patriotism. As a fan of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher and Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp, I desperately wanted...

Literary Fiction 
Modern Fiction
What do we need to be happy? After reading David Machado’s The Shelf Life of Happiness, I’ve returned to the novel’s central question repeatedly. This emotionally resonant story details lives torn asunder by the global economic crisis of 2008 in Portugal, providing a...
A character in After Disasters categorizes aid workers into two types: the first is running toward something—like God, or at least a higher purpose—and the second is running away from something. The question of whether you are a fight or flight type of person has long... ​

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