Tiny Stories: Book Review and International Giveaway
Now that you’ve seen my review, how would you like to win a copy?
To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment telling me if you have watched any of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s films.
For an extra entry, leave a comment on this video’s Youtube page.
This is an international giveaway and will remain open until February 29th.
After I taped this vlog review, I realized I’m mispronouncing Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s last name. My apologies.
Good luck!
Jessica Rules The Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
If you haven’t read Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, please read my review of it, as the following contains spoilers for Jessica’s Guide.
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Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side was one of my favorite books of 2009. The ending tied things up nicely, and I was surprised to hear news of the sequel. It didn’t necessarily need one, in my opinion. But since I loved reading about Jessica and Lucius, I was excited to see what this installment would bring. I even WoWed and teased it.
Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed. Rather than simply being from the POVs of Jessica and Lucius, two new voices were thrown in, Mindy and Raniero. Respectively, they’re the best friends of Jessica and Lucius. While the story the new POVs added was interesting, it ultimately distracted from the main plot points, Jessica’s faith in herself and Lucius’ imprisonment.
While Jessica fights feelings of inadequacy, Lucius is fighting demons of his own. Determined to bring the vampires he rules into an age where law and justice reigns, he battles with other powerful leaders, including ones who raised him. He becomes imprisoned when a murder points to him as the suspect, leaving Jessica alone to clear his name. If she doesn’t succeed, fast, she’ll be left with a crumbling reign and heartache. For if the real murderer is not found, Lucius will be killed.
Lucius is sent to solitary confinement (his only companion: a rat); during this time he writes letters. Just like Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, these were my favorite portions of the story. His letters are sharp, showing how intelligent he is and how he carries himself.
Mindy and Raniero have romantic woes, and it all started at Jessica’s wedding. I sometimes felt as if I were missing things, and I probably would have enjoyed their storyline better if I had read The Wedding posted on Beth Fantaskey’s website. Although not in print or listed as an “official” sequel, knowing what occurred during the wedding would have aided me in feeling more sympathy toward these two. Vague references were not enough.
I did enjoy the fact that Jessica had to use her intelligence to solve her problems. Few facets that would aid in Lucius’ freedom were dropped in her lap. Watching her use ingenuity and brain power to get to the bottom of things was refreshing.
Ultimately, Jessica Rules the Dark Side was an okay read. There were parts I greatly enjoyed, like Lucius’ letters and Jessica’s journey to becoming a ruler. Yet if measured against the previous novel, this book falls short in its ability to cause feelings of suspense, mainly due to a distracting add-on. Published by Harcourt, Jessica Rules the Dark Side is a decent sequel to the original book.
A Wedding Invitation by Alice J. Wisler
Since her return from teaching in a refugee camp located in the Philippines, Samantha has been living a quiet, lonely life working at her mother’s boutique near the capital. A string of encounters ends with her face to face with the student she falsely accused and the man who broke her heart. She has a lot of choices to make.
With a past full of disappointment, a present with loneliness, and a future with question marks, Samantha’s character has many challenges to overcome over the course of the novel. Some of the issues seem to be glossed over in order to focus on the romance, a tangled web in itself.
Speaking of the romance, my feelings towards it were mixed. I spent a rather large portion of the book wondering whether I really wanted the characters to get together. Instead, the majority of my time was spent thinking about whether Samantha and Carson would be good for each other. It intrigued me, but I wasn’t rooting for it to happen.
Although I didn’t know it from reading the official summary, this book is set in 1993 with flashbacks to 1985. The details in the flashbacks are historically accurate and help paint an appropriate picture of the Vietnamese refugee camps, not a surprise since Alice J. Wisler actually did work in such camps during the time period. However, in the 1993 portions of the book, there were not enough things to make the era distinct, other than an offhand reference to Princess Diana.
This book lacks a clear focus. Although Samantha is undeniably the main character, a lot of time is spent on secondary characters. Just enough to get to know the reasoning behind their actions, without the opportunity to feel as if I really knew them. In the end, the forays into the secondary characters’ pasts served only to distract from Samantha’s story.
A Wedding invitation tends to stumble over itself and is a bit awkward. While Samantha’s experience in the refugee camp, as well as the overarching romance perked my interest, it wasn’t enough to endear the book to me.
This book was received for review from Bethany House .