Review of 'Whispered Stories' by Brittany Jean

Brittany Jean has a lovely voice that sort of reminded me of Hayley Westenra only not as operatic. I really love the title because it is exactly what the CD is about - whispered stories. I really liked the photos included in the lyric booklet - the photo on the back of it was definitely my favorite photo of Brittany.

One of the songs I really liked was 'The Ballad of Wall' and even my mom who heard her music from downstairs thought it sounded really nice. Not overfly "folksy" and just all around a very nice CD.

The only drawback is that the music is soft and her voice is soft so if you are tired or driving - I don't recommend listening to it. However, if you have trouble sleeping or just have had a stressful day then I think this would be a wonderful choice to listen to in order to calm down or relax.

Brittany has a beautiful voice and is quite talented. Definitely a great CD! :)

Four and 1/2 stars out of five - simply because I wish there was one or two fast paced songs.

Review of 'Five Glass Slippers'

I had the chance to read an early copy of 'Five Glass Slippers' and was quite pleasantly surprised at how the five authors were able to take the traditional story of Cinderella and transform it into five very different stories!

Now, I won't lie - I love me some Cinderella stories in the classic sense, so when I heard they were taking the story and twisting it to make new types of plots I wasn't too sure about it. However, all around I am very impressed with each authors take on the storyline!

However, I am going to do a small review for each of the stories and exactly what I think of it. There are a few spoilers so if you don't want to read them, please quit reading now.





SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! 




What Eyes Can See:

The way it was written was great and the characters come across as very real. I do wish I knew more about Alfie and why she fell so in love with him because it seemed to come a bit from left field. Somehow I knew what was going to happen as far as the Prince was concerned before I even began reading, however this didn't pull away from my enjoyment of the story.

My biggest issue with it was the ending and how it just stopped. There was no kiss, no 'yes!' to his proposal, no anything other than just a cutoff ending. It was a wonderful ending don't get me wrong, but I wish it seemed more complete.



Broken Glass:

The characters were amazing! I truly felt like I grew to know them even though it was a 'short story'. The author wrote an amazing story all around, however I won't lie a few things did bug me.

There were too many uses of the characters' names. As a writer, you don't have to always say - 'David said this' (no, there is no David in the story - it is just used as an example) or 'Hannah laughed sarcastically while answering him' (again another example). You can use he or she or they. Now if there is a lot of characters talking in a scene, this is okay to do - using the characters' names - but if it the same two characters talking to each other, there is no reason to use their names over and over again.

Another issue I had was that it was rather predictable with who fell for who and when, however, predictable is not always bad as long as you do the story correctly and this author did! The characters were easily my favorite in this story out of all five.

Also, I LOVED the way she tied Beauty and the Beast into the ending - AWESOME! Wish I could read her take on B&B.

THE WINDY SIDE OF CARE:

This story was very well written with a wonderful use of vocabulary, but it was strange - I just couldn't get into it. The romance felt too rushed, and Pigeon is a very weird nickname. It had quite a cute ending though. Also, the characters were fairly well crafted.

A CINDER'S TALE:

First reaction - oh, it is time to tune out. (sorry, I am just not a big sy-fy fan!) However, I did grow to like it in a weird way and for that I have to blame the adorable characters! I didn't really care for the main character, but Jaq and Gus and Bruno were wonderful and very funny! Marriane is super adorable also and the clones were hysterical (like I really really liked them!)

Out of all the stories, this is my favorite line - “I have a very trustworthy face; people tell me things.” It reminded me of my sister. This story had an adorable ending also! While not exactly my type of story, the characters are simply charming. If you are a sy-fy fan and a cinderella fan, you will LOVE this story!

THE MOON MASTER'S BALL:

For the first few chapters, I was pretty bored (sorry, but it is true!) - it is not that it was not a good story or well written because it was both, BUT it was missing something to make it hook me. Rather lackluster. A really good thing is that I was NOT able to figure this story out unlike some of the others. It finally caught my attention around chapter six.

Mrs. Gregson was easily my favorite character from this story because she has spunk and spunk is a good thing in a character (at least in my opinion).

I loved the way she made the slippers sound so very lovely instead of 'glass slippers'. Tilly's character irritated me! She was scared more times than not and then when she wasn't scared she was rude! Granted the ending made her learn not to be so rude, but still... she bugged me (sorry, I am not trying to be too harsh.)

The story was good and most people will really like it - I guess it was just not for me. Sorry!

All in all, I really enjoyed this book collection and thought they each did a great job in their own unique way. I give it a solid four stars out of five because while I really liked it, I didn't love it.

Review of 'Silenced' by Dani Pettrey

Thank you to Bethany House for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

A few months ago, I got the chance to get a free copy of Stranded (the third book in the Alaskan Courage series) by Dani and fell in love with her style of writing as well as the characters - so when I saw they had copies of Silenced I knew right away I was going to get my request in as soon as possible to be able to review it. Thankfully I was one of the people who got that chance. :)

I first met Kayden and Jake's characters in Stranded (because I haven't gotten the opportunity to read the first two in the series, but I plan to!) and couldn't wait to discover what their storyline would be. Kayden reminded me a lot of myself in that book and even more in Silenced. (In fact, I took the Bethany House quiz about the main characters and it said I would be Kayden which I knew I would get her before I even took it.)

Crime, suspense, just a hint of romance, genuine and funny characters - Silenced has it all! I was just as impressed and obsessed with this one as I was with the third book and more than happy to add it to my growing collection of Dani Pettrey books.

My only complaint is that I had figured out who was doing everything before I even picked up the book! *sigh* I was hoping it would turn out to be someone I never would have expected, but it turned out to be exactly who I thought it was the whole time. However, despite that it was a wonderful book and it didn't bother me all that much that I was correct in my guess before I even began reading because Dani is just that great of a writer.

I am very excited for the next one in the series especially if it is about Kirra and Reef (love their relationship already and can see some of myself in Kirra as well. Interesting.).

The cover is gorgeous - whoever the model is she is absolutely beautiful. The Alaskan scenery is breath-taking as well. Perhaps one day I will get to see it in person.

All in all another wonderful book! I give it 4 1/2 stars though out of 5 simply because I was let down by being able to figure out the killer before I even picked it up.

Review of 'Death by the Book' by Julianna Deering

Thank you to Bethany House for my review copy!

I enjoyed the first book by Julianna so much that when I saw Bethany House had some advanced copies of the next one to read and review I knew without a doubt I wanted to review this one. I was super happy to have gotten my request in to review it and couldn't wait to get it into my possession.

Julianna did not let me down once! This book was even better than the last one and I couldn't stop my laughter and enjoyment. My first theory was so crazy I thought it had to be wrong, so I moved onto my second theory which was shot down within pages as that person turned up dead! I couldn't believe it! I really thought it had to have been that character.

However, as I read and pondered the mystery slowly unraveling within the plot the more I thought perhaps - just perhaps - my first theory would prove correct. In fact, things were looking like maybe I had actually figured it out, but then my hopes were dashed as that theory proved wrong!

Julianna is really good at making the last person you suspect be the killer! She did it in the first book and in this one as well! While I love the fact I couldn't figure it out (again!) I am also frustrated! I am normally really excellent at figuring murder mysteries out and mysteries in general - Julianna has stumped me each time.

The characters are lovely and the romance between Drew and Madeline is so sweetly perfect! I adore Nick - he makes me laugh almost all the time. Aunt Ruth entertained me to no end - I really did love her character and her addition to the storyline.

I hope Julianna doesn't stop this series anytime soon because it is quickly becoming one of my very favorites! Bethany House - if you carry another book of hers for review, you can bet as long as I can I shall request to review it! I LOVE her books!!

5 stars easily!

Review of ‘Until That Distant Day’ by Jill Stengl

Until That Distant Day is a very dramatic story. It goes from one extreme to the next and brings you on a true ride through Paris. Jill is a true story-teller and almost right away I was drawn into the story.

However, I was almost as quickly taken out of the story by all the French words and large uncommon English words. I studied very little French when I was in school, so I could fairly well piece together what was being said despite not fully knowing what each word or phrase meant in English.

I got to read this story as a file on the computer and so I didn’t know Jill had included a French glossary until after I had stumbled my way through and around the words I did not know. If I had the physical book in hand, I think it would have been a better help because then I could reference the glossary in the back.

Truth be told, I am not sure how many people will actually read the whole story because of all the French and the big English words. People who read a lot probably will have no issue reading this, however, I think some who don’t read as often or have a great education may have a fairly difficult time.

It is not that the story is not good because it is! – but it is rather exhausting trying to figure out what the French means or what the uncommon English words mean.

The characters are well described, the story has the strength to tug at your heart. My favorite characters are easily Leonie and Etienne (hopefully I spell his name correctly). I didn’t really care for Pascoe – in fact, there were moments when he flipped personalities so much it made my head spin.

There were moments I cried, a few moments I chuckled – but overall, I never fully got into the book the way I like to. In fact, if I am honest, I skimmed over the last hundred pages or so.

In short, it is a very well written novel with lots of dramatic twists and turns, the characters are well thought out and well written, but I found it to be simply a story and not a captivating work of art.

I give it a 3 ½ out of 5 and hope others find it to be more captivating than I did. However, Jill does have a talent for writing and I think she should continue to develop it.

Review of 'Caught in the Middle' by Regina Jennings

Thank you to Bethany House for my review copy.

The cover of this book makes me laugh - mostly because it reminds me of myself - and it actually describes the plot very well.

My favorite character is easily Nicholas Lovelace (though I find that a strange last name... not that I have room to talk since I am a writer myself and come up with some odd ones also.). I love how he pursues Anne despite her determination to push him away. Too many guys nowadays are scared to be the one who pursues the woman. The pursuit of a woman is not following her around and asking her out for years on end when she has told you repeatedly she is not interested. It is a fine line and Nicholas walks it well.

There is a lot of stuff happening within the first five or six chapters, it was kind of overwhelming. In fact, I almost wasn't sure if I would finish it because it was kind of boring and far too much involved at first. I am glad I pushed through though and finished the book because I genuinely love the characters.

All the background stuff about the bridge and the judge I skimmed over. I was more interested in the characters, how Anne and Nicholas interacted, how Anne fell in love with Sammy. My heart broke a little for Anne towards the end though I will not say as to why because I hate spoilers. However, the ending was beautiful.

Now since I was a bit bored I normally would give it a three or a four, but the relationship between the characters and the ending caused it to be boosted back to a five! Wonderful book!

Five out of Five stars! :)

Review of 'Destination Unknown' by Amy Clipston

Destination Unknown is a perfect book for those going through an 'identity crisis' because it is about a girl who goes through one and how God, friends, and family can all help you with it if you are willing to reach out to them.

Whitney and Taylor were good characters all around, but my favorite character was easily Emily. I adored all the talk about books though. (hello, book obsessed!)

There was only one problem I had with the story. All through out the book it was very real with the situations the characters were put in, the drama that developed, the relationships as they changed. However, the end was tied up like a neat little package.

I am all for happy endings, but this was just too perfect. It made all the real stuff seem pointless to have it end perfectly. Nothing in life is ever that perfect. I don't know I guess I was just expecting something different with how it ended.

Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot and give it a solid 3 1/2 stars. If the ending hadn't been so neatly tied together it would have gotten a higher rating from me. Teens will definitely like this book though.