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Dawn B. (stargazingbookworm) - , - Reviews

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11/22/63
11/22/63
Author: Stephen King
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 96
Review Date: 1/14/2019


Excellent!!
Sorry the book ended. It was hard to put down but after some chapters you had to because it was so intense. Its one that I could pick right back up and read again immediately!
Oh and the ending - holy moly! From page 782 on...DON'T plan on doing anything else.
Consider it a word of advice from one book lover to another.
I'm also sorry to say that I just have to keep this book. Buy yourself a copy, it'll be worth it.

The characters are extremely well fleshed out and you feel for them all, including a few of the ones you don't think you ever would feel anything but contempt.


The Accursed
The Accursed
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 2.7/5 Stars.
 9
Review Date: 7/22/2019


I wish that I could get back the time I have wasted on this book. I was determined to read it completely but I reached page 575 and give up. I just can't read any more of this. The best part of this book is the write up on the back cover - I'd rather read whatever that person wrote, it has to be better than this novel. I remember Joyce Carol Oates writing MUCH better than this - very disappointing to say the least.


The Alchemist
The Alchemist
Author: Paulo Coelho, Alan R. Clarke (Translator)
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 766
Review Date: 11/13/2018


Sweet tale of growing up, exploring and finding your dreams and learning from those around you. Similar to The Celestine Prophecy in recognizing why certain people come into your life or you think of them at certain times in your life.
Reminds you to remember to enjoy where you are and what you are experiencing because these things become part of you.


And Then There Were None
And Then There Were None
Author: Agatha Christie
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.4/5 Stars.
 118
Review Date: 7/29/2018


Wonderful classic who done it book. Although it may be difficult for today's audience, I urge anyone to stick with it because it just simply a good read. I read it in one night. Love it when a book captures you like this one does.


The Book of Life (All Souls, Bk 3)
The Book of Life (All Souls, Bk 3)
Author: Deborah Harkness
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 23
Review Date: 4/22/2020
Helpful Score: 1


Worthy finale to the All Souls Trilogy. Kept the story moving so that you didn't want to put it down. The characters are complete, the dialog at times will make you laugh out loud. The story finishes strong with all the knots being tied.

Very happy with this series in a whole and looking forward to seeing the TV series now.


The Bookseller's Sonnets
The Bookseller's Sonnets
Author: Andi Rosenthal
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 1/14/2019


Interesting story with enough twists to keep you interested on many levels. The best parts - St. Thomas More's daughter, Henry VIII, plenty of information on the restoration of books than I ever thought I would learn and a mysterious letter writer. Throw in the lead characters own life story and her work as a curator of a Holocaust museum, Oh and the Catholic church which desperately wants its hands on the diary and what any of that has to do with this secret diary and the mysterious letters and you'll be hooked.
The story when the museum starts to hear stories of what is happening overseas and the beginning of The Holocaust is hard to read but it ties into the story well.
I enjoyed reading this novel very much.


The Bookshop on the Corner (Scottish Bookshop, Bk 1)
The Bookshop on the Corner (Scottish Bookshop, Bk 1)
Author: Jenny Colgan
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 84
Review Date: 10/6/2019


Adorable, sweet book. She does what I'd love to do, get a van and make a moving bookshop! In the days of electronic everything for reading, this book shows how wonderful and magical holding a physical book can be. And the power that all those endearing books have in our lives and memories.
I'm going to have to find more books by Jenny Colgan. Her style of writing appeals to me and begs for a cozy fire, a cup of hot chocolate, some cookies and a warm blanket.


A Discovery of Witches (All Souls, Bk 1)
A Discovery of Witches (All Souls, Bk 1)
Author: Deborah Harkness
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 212
Review Date: 8/25/2019


Really enjoyed the beginning of this saga. Loved being pulled into the story. Its surprising, funny, crazy, unexpected, a whirlwind of the ridiculous and captured me to the point of wondering what was coming next. Of course, I was usually wrong, but that was okay because I still liked the story. Think of it as a Charmed/Bewitched hybrid!
Book 3 is waiting for Book 2 to arrive (hopefully this week!) so that I can continue the story.
It was wonderful to escape into this!


Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts, Bk 1)
Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts, Bk 1)
Author: Vic James
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 6
Review Date: 7/12/2019


Really enjoyed this book! I'm invested in the characters and plot. It takes place in an alternate England, a dystopian world where every one in England - except the Equals - must serve ten years of servitude (called slavedays) before becoming a full citizen. Until then certain good jobs are unavailable, you can't own a home and can't travel abroad. Slavedays can be served at any time, with most commoners serving them when they are much older and have lived some of their lives. But one family choses to serve their days as a family, or rather the parents and older sister decide for Luke, 16 and Daisy, 10. What they don't understand is that once they begin to serve their slavedays they have entered a state of non legal personhood. They are no longer people and have no rights.
The Equals are aristocrats with magical gifts. Some are nice and some aren't.
Some people involved with the Equals seem to disappear. Some Equals treat those serving under them as nothing more than chattel or worse. If you don't serve the Equals then you serve in slavetowns, industrial zones in the cities. Where its dirty, smelly, crowded, etc. A place where the security force is mean.
This is a promising volume one in a series. Looking forward to reading the next two.


Gilead
Gilead
Author: Marilynne Robinson
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 313
Review Date: 8/28/2018


Give this book time to capture you.
I didn't get into the story or characters until the half-way point and then I was hooked.
It takes getting used to a different format of writing, this book is written as one long letter from father to son, more of a journal. Things that his son will need to know.
I ended up copying passages from this book, something I hardly ever do. The 2nd half of the book is much better than the first half but the first half is needed to understand the whole book.
I almost quit reading this and I'm so glad I continued on, otherwise I would have missed a really great experience.


The Historian
The Historian
Author: Elizabeth Kostova
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 380
Review Date: 10/24/2013


A fascinating twist on the Dracula legend.
I had tried twice to read this book and put it down both times, third try was the charm. It is a bit hard to get into but once you get used to the author's style of writing the story starts to unfold and you become hooked.


The House on Primrose Pond
The House on Primrose Pond
Author: Yona Zeldis McDonough
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 5
Review Date: 4/27/2019


Beautiful, engaging story!!
I got lost in this tale and thoroughly enjoyed being lost. There are three main threads one in present time, one in the past about 20+ years and then the story within a story. There's also fringe story threads that are equally intriguing. Descriptions are beautifully written and vivid. This story stays with you after you have read it in a loving, sweet way like an old friend that brings a smile to your face. Don't pass this one by...

A new favorite author, I'll be looking up her other novels.


Labyrinth (Languedoc, Bk 1)
Labyrinth (Languedoc, Bk 1)
Author: Kate Mosse
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 214
Review Date: 2/10/2019


Incredible story. Great. Keeps you wanting to read more about all the characters. Loved it!


The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, Bk 2)
The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, Bk 2)
Author: Tana French
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 8/3/2022


Excellent.
Keeps you guessing and you end up very involved with the story.


Lilac Girls (Woolsey-Ferriday, Bk 1)
Lilac Girls (Woolsey-Ferriday, Bk 1)
Author: Martha Hall Kelly
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 144
Review Date: 1/15/2019
Helpful Score: 1


This was a difficult book to read but I'm so glad that I did and that I know their stories. A novel based on real people makes it more intense and more precious than I can even express in words.
It shows you all the angles, heartache and courage of the Holocaust and just how important it was for the survivors to tell this story. Their strength brings the horror that none of us can imagine right into our hands to bear witness, so that no one forgets what happened.
Get it, read it - you won't regret it.


Listen to Me
Listen to Me
Author: Hannah Pittard
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
 4
Review Date: 7/28/2020


Good story. Quick read. Holds your interest. Interesting look at a marriage from both viewpoints and how they handle trauma differently. Really sweet a lot of the time. Loved the long car ride after having a disagreement, worth reading.


Mormama
Mormama
Author: Kit Reed
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 10/16/2019


Good little scary read for Halloween. By the end of the 2nd chapter, the hair on the back of my neck was standing up. Kept my interest, I just had to read it all the way through. Definitely worth it.


Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker
Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 56
Review Date: 1/29/2019


Very interesting read. I really enjoyed it. Loved the glimpse into the Lincoln White House. The whole story of a freed black/colored woman being a witness to history and a confidante to Mrs. Lincoln while also running her own business was enlightening. More wonderful is her writing her memoir so that we can look back on how it all was. This novel is based on that memoir.
If you saw the movie Lincoln then this is a fitting continuation of the story from the perspectives of Mrs. Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley.


On a Summer Tide (Three Sisters Island, Bk 1)
On a Summer Tide (Three Sisters Island, Bk 1)
Author: Suzanne Woods Fisher
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 18
Review Date: 8/2/2020


Thoroughly enjoyable story with strong characters, great back stories, even the minor characters are complete. Loved this book so much that I went into Book two of the series immediately after finishing this one and I'm chomping at the bit for Book 3. In fact, I want to move there right away.

Three daughters are worried about their father, who seems to be forgetting things, they fully believe he should be in a facility that is able to care for him. Their father and they have suffered the loss of wife and mother and none of them are doing well in their own lives. They truly get scared when they find out that he has sold the family home and bought a summer camp on an island - he thinks its the summer camp of his youth and it is the very place that he met their mother.
What happens to all four of them and the oldest daughters son is a crazy whirlwind of adjustments, expectations realized and lost and an island of locals that don't want them there.
A wonderful story to get lost in. I couldn't recommend this book and series more highly. If 2020 is getting you down, this is the book to escape it for a little while.


Ordinary Grace
Ordinary Grace
Author: William Kent Krueger
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 123
Review Date: 11/4/2019


Profoundly moving, powerful, touching story. I can't get the echoes of the characters and story out of my mind. An absolute must read. Beautifully written. A book that delivers all of the hype around it. It won't let you down.


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