"Kingdom of Ash" by Sarah J. Maas (Last book of TOG series)

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas is the final book of the Throne of Glass series.  Aelin has vowed to save her people, but is locked in an iron coffin.  She will need help, and plenty of it to stop Maeve from gaining more power and dooming her friends.  First, congrats to me for reading all 980 pages!  I enjoyed Aelin and Rowan again.  The byplay between the two of them was very good!  The others I enjoyed were Fenrys when he was in wolf form, Manon and Lysandra.  Dorian was very good also.

This book was told in two parts.  I enjoyed part 2 the most.  It has plenty of action!  The ending was wild to say the least--congrats to Sarah for surprising me!  I do think that this could have been told just as well in fewer pages, but it does have plenty of good parts that got my attention.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

Karen's review:
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas is such a heavy book that I was relieved when I finally finished it. This is mostly about the buildup to protecting Terrasen in a final battle against Morath, Erawan and Maeve and also the quest to get put the wrdkeys in the lock to get rid of the gods. I liked the story line about protecting Terrasen and building a better world, but did not understand the wrdkey storyline and found that very confusing. As I was reading, I kept thinking, “what’s going on here?” “This doesn’t make sense!” There is a lot of fighting in this one and many very sad parts. On the other hand, it has lots of good parts as well with romance blooming. The character development was very good and the relationships in this book were all interesting. I really liked how much the women contributed in the battles and how Aelin was always appreciative for everyone’s contributions and caring about others throughout the book. My favorite parts in this book was Manon and her desire to unite the witches and get them to fight with the 13 to help protect Terrasen, and Dorian learning to shape shift and becoming a mouse at Morath.

I give this 4 stars because there were several things that made no sense to me that I did not understand and much of the first half of the book I was pretty confused because it seemed to jump around between three groups. I’m sure part of my confusion was because it was so long ago that I finished the preceding book and forgot a lot of what was happening. I would suggest though to someone reading this that they may want to take some notes on who are in each group and their mission as they read. I was happy with the ending and with the couples who ended up together.
(4 stars)

Teaser from page 3:  She would not tell them what they wished to know.  
                                 No matter how often her screams drowned out the raging river.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Elevation" by Stephen King is Very Short!

In Elevation by Stephen King, Scott lives in a small town.  He has a medical issue he wants to keep quiet, but he does confide in one person.  He decides to befriend two working women who sure could use a friend.  This is a very short book--only 146 pages!  It is pretty good though and kept my interest.  I give it 4 stars because it is so short.
(Gerard's review)

Teaser from pg. 13:  "Absolutely not," Scott said.  "I guess I don't have to ask if you've ever seen a similar case, but have you ever read about one?"

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Home After Dark" by David Small is a Graphic Novel

Home After Dark by David Small is my first graphic novel. After Russell’s mom runs off with another man, Russell and his dad decide to move to California for a fresh start! Things go well when Russell even makes some new friends. But things go south after a while and bad turns to worse! What can a young boy do? This book goes really fast since it is a whole lot of drawings to tell the story. The story line was good and kept me engaged throughout, but I missed reading words. (Gerard's review, 4 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Prince Crossing" by JoHanna Reardon

Prince Crossing (The Blackberry County Chronicles Book 3) by JoHannah Reardon can easily be read as a stand-alone. This is an inspirational Christian fiction story about a young preacher and his wife answering a call to a small country church, their first. James, the young preacher, is very excited but his wife, Vicki, is reluctant. She is from a wealthy family and used to fine things and getting her own way in the city. As she opens herself up to God and seeks his help, she finds lots of people in the little town who she befriends and helps. Their ministry experiences some ups and downs as they try to establish themselves in the community.

This is told from the prospective of the preacher’s wife and is very believable and a pretty good story about a small-town country church. It moves a long quickly and does not have a lot of character development. I liked that it included the couple’s interactions with people in the community and not just those who attended the church.
(Karen’s review, 3 stars)

Teaser from page 34: When I finally left Edith’s home, I felt sad, then frustrated, and finally angry again. I suddenly knew to the depths of my being that I was out of my league and didn’t have a clue as to how to carve out a ministry in this place.


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Spinning Silver" by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik is a fantasy novel.  Miryem is the daughter of a money lender.  But her dad is not getting the money owed so she decides to take over!  She does great, but when she boasts of something the king hears about and wants in on, that is when the book takes off!  I thought this book was really good.  All the characters were well drawn out with good action that kept me turning pages.  The ending was very good too!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

Teaser from page 12:  I should have felt sorry for him, I suppose.  My father would have, and my mother, but wrapped in my coldness, I only felt the danger of the moment.  

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!