Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Book Review - A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

 

The Barrett family lives in suburban area of New England. They were like any other "normal" family until their fourteen-year-old daughter, Marjorie starts displaying signs of acute schizophrenia. Her parents try to help Marjorie as best as they can. They take her to a therapist but, it doesn't seem to be working. Instead, Marjorie progresses further into madness, and their entire household is turned into chaos. The desperate family turns to a local Catholic priest for help.

Father Wanderly suggests that the family perform an exorcism because Marjorie might be a victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company who will document the Barretts' plight. John, Marjorie's father, has been out of work for more than a year and Marjorie's doctor bills are rapidly growing. The family agrees to be filmed, and they find themselves to be stars of a hit reality show, "The Possession". However, as the show's popularity increases, a tragedy occurs and the show and the Barrett family become known as an urban legend.

Fifteen years later, Merry, Marjorie's younger sister, is being interviewed by a bestselling writer. Merry tries to recall the events that happened when she was just eight years old. Merry discloses secrets that were forgotten and painful memories that clash with what was filmed on television.

I am not sure I was a fan of this novel. I found parts of the novel interesting and entertaining. However, I hated the blog posts that began each section. I found then irritating and redundant to read. I actually ended up skipping them but, I feel like that causes me to miss part of the story. However, I didn't care enough to actually go back to read it to find the missing parts. I didn't care for any of the characters in the book and found some parts of the book to be boring filler. This book was a complete miss for me as I kept expecting more and it didn't deliver.

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Book Review - The Reading House Series by Marla Conn + Giveaway

About The Books:

Title: THE READING HOUSE SETS 1-5

Author: Marla Conn

Pub. Date: January 5, 2021

Publisher: The Reading House

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: Each book is 120 pages

Find it:  Goodreads

Buy The Books:

Set 1: Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

Set 2: Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

Set 3: Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

Set 4: Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

Set 5: Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

 

The Reading House Sets 1–5 (on sale January 5, 2021) include The Reading House Set 1: Letter Recognition A–L and The Reading House Set 2: Letter Recognition M–Z, which help young readers identify lower- and upper-case letters and identify beginning sounds; and The Reading House Set 3: Introduction to Short Vowel Sounds, The Reading House Set 4: Short Vowel Clusters and Sight Words, and The Reading House Set 5: Short Vowels and Reading for Fluency, which introduce children to short vowels sounds, clusters, and sight words, as well as short vowel word families. THE READING HOUSE Sets 6–8 and 9–12 will publish in March and round out the program.

My Review:

The Reading House sets are small booklets that help little readers read and understand the alphabet. The first two sets are for letter introductions to upper and lowercase letters. The next books in the series help young ones become more proficient in reading by introducing vowels. The booklets were beautifully illustrated with cute animals to help guide little ones. This is the perfect reading resources for young children.


 

About Marla: 

Marla Conn is a reading and literary specialist with a masters of science in elementary education and reading. She has worked with HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, and many others, and is the creator of Dear Dragon Developing Readers, based on the work of Margaret Hillert. These leveled readers enable emergent readers to build early literacy skills in decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

 

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will win a finished copy of THE READING HOUSE SETS 1 & 2, US Only.

Rafflecopter Link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba21210/?

 

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

1/4/2021

Jazzy Book Reviews

Review

1/5/2021

Pick a good book

Review/Instagram Stop

1/6/2021

100 Pages A Dat

Review

1/6/2021

@bookshelfmomma

Review/Instagram Stop

1/7/2021

onemused

Review/Instagram Stop

1/8/2021

Midnightbooklover

Review/Instagram Stop

1/8/2021

Little Red Reads

Review

 

Week Two:

1/11/2021

The Momma Spot

Review

1/11/2021

The Momma Spot

Instagram Stop

1/12/2021

She Just Loves Books

Review

1/12/2021

@minnesota_mailer

Review/Instagram Stop

1/13/2021

BookHounds YA

Review

1/13/2021

BookHounds YA

Instagram Stop

1/14/2021

Books and Zebras @jypsylynn

Review/Instagram Stop

1/15/2021

Two Points of Interest

Review

1/15/2021

I'm Shelf-ish

Review

 

 

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Book Review - The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner


Photo Source - Amazon

After World War II ends, a group of people who have one thing in common decides to create a society for likeminded people in Chawton.  The group comes all walks of life -- a worker, a house servant, a young widow, a doctor, a movie star, and a lawyer.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen. Austen is one of England's most notable authors. Chawton is now home to a few residents and their crumbling estates. When Austen's legacy is threatened, the group decided to work together to preserve Jane's home and legacy.  Each of the members is struggling with their private struggles but, together they hope to create something that can outlast them.

The book started good but, then slowly towards the end I felt like the book started dragging. I must admit that I  have not read any of her books (but, I have read similar books and have enjoyed them) so, maybe that's why I didn't enjoy the book. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and I didn't like the ending. I didn't like some of the choices the characters made. I didn't understand the motivation behind their choices. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and everything tied up neatly in a bow. I wish that there was enough "mystery" and "delight" spread throughout the novel. I felt like this cozy read might be perfect for Jane Austen fans but, sadly, it wasn't for me.

**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. This post may contain affiliate links which means I earn advertising and/or referral fees if you purchase an item through my link. Please note, there will be no extra charges to you. Thank you for your support.**