Tandem by Tracey Bateman - book review

Having read the first book in the series, I was thrilled to receive the advance copy of Tandem. It turned out to be a very good book in its own right, one that works better than most sequels as a stand-alone read. In Tandem, the vampire theme that is hinted at but mostly an undercurrent in Thirsty, comes out full force. Bateman still manages to use the vampire theme as something symbolic for struggles we all go through.

I did find the alternating-narrator device a bit hard to follow at times, but if I set that aside and just went with the flow, it wasn't problematic.

If you aren't a fan of neatly tied up endings you might bristle just a little at the last few chapters, but I have to say that there is most definitely enough left hanging for a third book to take place in Abbey Hills! I'm hoping that is the case!

An Enjoyable Read

I really enjoyed this book. I can't say it was a particularly deep or challenging or life-changing book, and there were times where it made me think of a "cozy" -type mystery with how neatly things fell into place and were resolved. However these were minor drawbacks compared to how much I enjoyed getting to know the characters, and and to the author's pleasant story-telling style. Overall it was a suspense novel even though it was on the lighter end of the genre. Sometimes you don't want to have to read and reread a paragraph to make sure you got the point and this was the perfect book for that mood. I will look for more books by Ms. Dyson.

Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer - book review

Well, I really wanted to like this book but I found it was just "okay" for me. I love the concept but it almost felt like a rough draft or a manuscript...not fully fleshed out. I would have loved to learn more about the characters, their thoughts and feelings, the reasoning behind their actions. I felt as if I knew each character so superficially that it was difficult in the first two-thirds of the book to keep many of the secondary characters straight in my head as I was reading. More dialogue between the characters would have helped me feel as if I knew and understood them better. Overall I just felt that lack of detail kept me from enjoying this book as much as I would have liked.

How can you not love a book in which characters are insulted at losing an Ugly Contest??

Honestly, I was a bit skeptical when I first started this book. It isn't my normal genre. What I learned is that I need to broaden my horizons and depart from that genre more often.

I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book, even finding myself quoting and reading aloud passages to my family members.

Rogers has a way of pulling you into the character, one that few if any of us can readily identify with on the surface. Still, we DO come to identify with Grady, and for that matter with several of the other characters as well. This is a testament to Rogers writing style as well as to human nature.

Though this is the farthest thing from a preachy book there is, if you are looking you can find spiritual applications, particularly in the last chapters. If you prefer NOT to see books in that light, well, read on happily because there is plenty to enjoy at face value as well, as you will find in this excerpt.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

I was excited to learn a couple of months ago that I received a review copy of "Judgment Day" by Wanda L. Dyson from Waterbrook Press via Librarything. Now that the holidays are settling down I have finally had time to read it! I really enjoyed this book. I can't say it was a particularly deep or challenging or life-changing book, and there were times where it made me think of a "cozy" -type mystery with how neatly things fell into place and were resolved. However these were minor drawbacks compared to how much I enjoyed getting to know the characters, and and to the author's pleasant story-telling style. Overall it was a suspense novel even though it was on the lighter end of the genre. Sometimes you don't want to have to read and reread a paragraph to make sure you got the point and this was the perfect book for that mood. I will look for more books by Ms. Dyson.