Book Review: 2022: book one of the Percipience Series (Ken Kroes)

2022 

By: Ken Kroes

Genre:  Eco-Science Fiction

Using an uncanny ability to harvest information to predict the future, philanthropist Richard foresees
a dark future for the human race. This future is exacerbated by the return of cold-war-like tensions, sophisticated terrorist organizations, and new controls on information flow. 

He believes he knows what needs to be done to reverse the trend, but can it be achieved in time, even with the resources at his disposal? Should he turn to terrorism to make it work? And if he’s wrong, and his plan backfires, will it mean the end of most, or all, of the human race? 

In addition to espionage and murder, the story lays the foundation for a series of books that explore our social structure and partnership with the planet. The second book in this series, entitled 2222, is available now.

*We were given a free copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review*

Salutations! It's me, Esther. Welcome to my very first review ever! Please, make yourself comfortable...I'm unsure of what else to say, so let's just go! *celebratory noises*


Something you should know about me is that I'm very easily distracted and really picky. I need a book to pull me in and keep me in its clutches. The writer needs to make me want to read that next sentence and turn to the next page. In the end, a book shouldn't be a bunch of words on stacked paper. It's a journey. Or, at least it's supposed to feel like one. You're supposed to become the characters; see what they see, feel what they feel. By the time that book is finished, you should not be the same person you were when you read the first word. 2022 definitely did not meet that expectation.
The idea of this book is great. It drew me in immediately. I mean, read the blurb! However, as soon as I'd read the first three chapters, I knew it wasn't a book I wanted to continue reading. First of all, there were way too many characters for me to keep track of. New people were being introduced constantly and they were connected in this complicated way that was way too much for my brain. Not just that, though. The characters were so difficult to connect with. 2022 was written almost like a news article. There was no emotion. Therefore, I could not immerse myself in the story, effectively ruining the reading experience. Secondly, the writing wasn't that great. I'm fairly sure I spotted two grammatical errors in the first chapter. Plus, the only time I recall any of the characters expressing an emotion, it was so awkward for me to read. I can't stand reading awkward sentences. I'm an awkward person already. I don't need to be surrounded by more awkwardness! To be honest, I don't think I got past the fifth chapter. I simply couldn't focus anymore. The characters were all jumbled and I was confused by the attempts at humor. However, it all depends on you, dearest reader. If you're the kind of person who can keep track of a bunch of characters at once, it could work. If you can get past the awkward emotions, try it. And if you do read it, can you please tell me the outcome? What?

I'm curious.

                  

Here's Kaileiiiii
*Insert girlish screaming* THE MOMENT HAS FINALLY COME! Esther has made her first appearance (technically like her second, but who's counting?) I'm so excited! This opens up so many doors and stuffs! I'm so excited....Esther.... is amazing...
I'll leave this here for you guys, and the links to everything. Give her some supportive tid-bits in the comments! Blog you later lovelies!

~Kailei

Get this book on Amazon.

Get this book on Goodreads

Get this book on Barnes&Noble

And here's a link to Esther's Instagram: @that_unorthodox_jew

Book Review: Let Love In (Melissa Collins)

Let Love In

By: Melissa Collins

Genre: Romance

 

What would happen if you lost everything? If the people who were supposed to love you unconditionally were no longer there for you, how would your world change?

Madeleine Becker lost everything when her parents died when she was ten years old. Ripped from her home and everything that she has ever loved, she is forced to start all over again. The only way for her to move on is to build walls around her heart and keep everyone at a safe distance. Her logic: she can't get hurt if she doesn't fall in love.

That theory is blown to pieces when she meets Reid Connely during her freshman year at college. He is gorgeous and darkly mysterious. He understands Maddy's pain all too well, but sharing his pain would mean breaking down the walls he put up around his own heart. Conflicted between loving Maddy and hiding his dark past, Reid starts to reevaluate his world. Maddy's inner strength, snarky personality and breath taking beauty help Reid to make peace with his past.

Together they find out what happens when they let love in
                                                           

       Hiiiiii!! Its been a while guys! How are you? What's going on? I'm well, thank you.
Okay, so today I'm reviewing Let Love In which is a romance novel. To be honest I was in the mood for a romance novel so I got this one for free on iBooks. Its the first book in a pretty long series. As of this moment I am on book three (Let Love Shine). This book is good, its not out of this world or anything like that, but it will get you out of a reading slump(books like this often do). Its your basic romance novel. Its easy to read and fun. It starts off with a girl named Maddy who has lost her parents and ends up living with her aunt.... who then dies a while after that. After Maddy's aunt dies she lives with her best friend and her best friend's mother (Melanie and Momma) and from there her and Melanie move to college. There she makes friends and meets Reid. He seems like a douche at first but they soon begin to fall in love. After they have grown close and are in a very committed relationship Reid tells Maddy his secret. He lost his family too, but in a totally different way(I won't spoil it for you). They fall deeper and deeper in love, and then some things happen and I can't really tell you about it because I would ruin it for you. Anyway its a pretty good book and I would recommend it. Maybe not for people ages below like 14 because there are some parts that aren't THAT appropriate(*cough sex parts*cough*). All right that is all for today loves! Comment below if you'd like us to review any other books and I will talk to you later! Byyyyeeee

xoxo ~ Naomi

Updates

Hello, people of the interweb! I'm having trouble typing and spelling today..which is weird.
Anywhoo, I just wanted to update everyone on a few things...

RANDOM REVIEWS ARE A THING OF THE PAST, PEOPLE! WE HAVE A FREAKING SCHEDULE! Oh yEaH. This is great.

"Well, what's the schedule, Kailei?"

Yes! Don't you worry...I will tell you right now!......Every five days you guys will get either a review post OR a Rant Post....if we get out of these reading slumps faster, then we can post maybe twice a week....but not right now! Updates or little chitty-chat posts, or even Promo/Giveaways DON'T COUNT! You guys are some lucky lil internet ducks.  So, if you guys haven't been up to date on the blog, tomorrow will be the fifth day...which means you guys can expect a review tomorrow sometime! Yay! We've succeeded!

AUTHORS, LOOK HERE!!!!!

I am currently about two months behind on getting to review requests.....Which is really bad, I know. But, I swear that I open and read EVERY SINGLE email, and if we don't reply to you in about a month-ish, please feel free to email us again....It usually gives me a kickstart to get back to replying to reviews. It was just such a hassle to go back and forth between email and Smartsheet...and the Smartsheet expired, so I can't even TOUCH the document, so I was looking for a way to get all the requests organized and easy to update, but nothing was like smartsheet, and just..*rips luscious locks out*. Plus, I've always been someone that likes having a physical copy of things (I can always scan them in). Since I'm the one who replies to emails, I think it's what's best for me...which is typicaly how people make life decisions..

I have decided to move us to paper, which I know that sounds weird because people usually talk about doing the opposite... But yes. I will even have Naomi start helping me with the emails. I'm really sorry that you guys have been waiting for so long.

Book Review: Not Your Mother's Goose (Topher Goggin)

Not Your Mother's Goose (NYMG)

By: Topher Goggin

Genre: Humor

Not Your Mother's Goose proves that fairy tales and nursery rhymes aren't just for kids anymore. Envision it as the Cliffs Notes of children's stories — if Cliffs Notes was overtaken by Dave Barry or the folks at The Onion. Not Your Mother's Goose is a series of totally irreverent, mega-sarcastic fairy tale recaps, along with a host of hilarious fake news stories and headlines ranging from Rapunzel getting a bikini wax to Old MacDonald bombing on Wheel of Fortune after only buying vowels. Mix in illustrations reminiscent of Gary Larson's classic Far Side cartoons, and you're left with a madcap read that will leave you laughing all the way from Rumpelstiltskin's Twitter feed to Humpty Dumpty's Facebook page (where Jack is still trying to grow a beanstalk—in FarmVille).

Hello, my darlings! Kailei, again! The book I'm going to review for you guys today is a little..well.... a LOT different that what we usually review on le blog.

Not Your Mother's Goose was a book that was sent in via a book review request. When we read the blurb/synopsis/thingy we were all pretty much ecstatic....it sounded AWESOME! And it WAS!

In case you skimmed over the blurb up dere /\, it's basically an adult (or mature young adult) version of all the classic fairy-tales.  Lots of vulgar language and modern twists (basically two of my favorite things).

I have to say that my favorite story in the book had to be his twist on Bambi. Coincidentally, it was the first one in the book. I loved it. The author (Mr. Topher Goggins) did an amazing job of putting familiar (and not so familiar) names and faces into TOTALLY different settings...."Rapunzel gets her first bikini wax!"....Tangled is my favorite movie, so I very much enjoyed that one. It was on of those "I can and will say whatever I want, no matter how vulgar!" and I really enjoyed reading it!

I did get a little annoyed when I was trying.......and FAILING MISERABLY at trying to add it to my Kindle. Oh my sweet baby pandas. I usually send the .mobi copy of books authors send us to our kindles (the CommonBookSense one that Naomi, Esther, Sophie, and any other guest authors have access to it...until I make a guest author account and the one my mom and I share..we have kindle unlimited and it's on my phone, don't judge). But! Since this book was EXACTLY 25MB, Google REFUSED to send it as an attachment.....so I had to get an epub and email it to myself and then save it into my iBooks.....which I really don't like to use. So it was just an annoying mess! However! You peoples will have a much better time of getting it because you spend le monies to get it directly on whatever account you use, which is great!

Should we start linking the books on posts? Maybe for the author ones? Hmmm, maybe I will.

It's great for people that want a good excuse to keep reading fairy-tales well after they're thirty. I think it's great! It was a really unique idea, and most of all, it was FUN to read. Kinda like (if you're an adult), let's pull out this book and read it when the party is dead to make everyone laugh until they cry.

I very much enjoyed reading it, but my mom also doesn't really mind what I read (you should SEE our kindle account), so I knew that I wouldn't get in trouble or anything for reading it (not that it's TOO bad). So, unless you're old enough to spend your own money on the book, make sure your boss people are okay with you reading it....I don't want you guys to hate me because I got someone it trouble!

So, I decided to put the links in here for you guys! #YouBeWelcome

This Book On  Amazon

This Book On Goodreads

This Book On Barnes&Noble

Update news! In case you guys haven't noticed, we have a little bit of a schedule up! *Oooohhh, Ahhhhhh* Cue applause! Every five days we'll give you guys a rant post or a book review! Yay!

I'll blog you later, lovelies! It's Friday! Go do something more fun than what I'm doing! (A.k.a nothing...a.k.a Netflix and the Sims!)

Book Review: The Perks of Being A Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)

The Perks of Being A Wallflower
By: Stephen Chbosky
Genres: Young Adult (Coming of Age, Teen), 

Fiction (Realistic Fiction), Contemporary, Romance, Classics

Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his year yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sidelines forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

 You know those books where, when you finish reading them, you just have to sit down your phone/book/whatever you read on , wipe away your tears and just whisper "Wow" under your breath?    Yeah, that was one of those.

 I also really liked how the author wrote it.
In the beginning, it kinda threw me off a bit, the way they were addressed as letters, but, eventually, like every other book I read, I was able to ignore chapter titles (in this case the "Dear Friend," ) and focus all my attention on the book.

Sometimes I was very embarrassed for him, other times I was jealous of him, lots of mixed feelings for this one, haha.

When I found out why he acted like he did, and why he was the way he was.....I cried. I cried for him and for me....

!Spoiler Warning!

.....None of you know this (unless you're on my personal Facebook), but when I was young my biological father and stepmother molested me, so I connected with the main character quite a lot toward the end. Depressing, yeah, I know. 

!End of Spoiler Warning!

This is one of those "fill-in" reviews that don't really need so much explanation. It was a really great book! I read it as a quick, "I have nothing else to read right now", and I didn't regret it at all.

It was good..kinda reminded me of TFIOS a bit, mostly  because it was a quick read, but also really, really eye-opening, sad/happy, and just overall great!

So, that's it for now, my lovelies! If you can think of an amazing name for us to call you, make sure to drop it down in the comments \/, we love to hear what you guys have to say! Oh, and, in case you're new/haven't noticed, I changed the blog up quite a bit! Make sure you all tell me what you think of that! Our blog is your blog!

I'll blog you later, lovelies!

    

Book Review: Eleanor and Park (Rainbow Rowell)

Eleanor and Park
By: Rainbow Rowell
 Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Romance

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him
until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.




Hey guys!! Today I will be reviewing Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. Oh my goodness the things I have to say about this book peoples. It. Is. AMAZING. The lead character Eleanor is so different from a lot of other girls that we read about. And its really cool because she knows she's different and she knows she's weird and in a way she is self conscious about it but on the other hand she completely owns it and doesn't care what people think. She is strong and powerful yet anxious and afraid. Now to Park. This dude, guys, THIS DUDE. He is quiet but once you get to know him you can't help but love him. He's also not afraid to stand up for what he believes in and knows how to deal with tough situations, but also has no clue what he is doing. I love how the book is always switching from one protagonist to the other. In most YA romance books each chapter has its own protagonist, but in this book it switches in the chapter. I think that this is wonderful because it really gives you insight on what they both are thinking about the situation at hand and how they feel about one another without you having to wait several chapters to find out about it. I have always wanted an author to do this and it just made me so happy and I can't get over how much I love it. Not to mention Rainbow Rowell is a master at creating relatable characters with so many flaws, which is the best because she's not trying to make her characters perfect she's trying to show that they are human and that other people deal with the same things that you do. Anyway back to the story itself. The way that Eleanor and Park slowly begin to talk and share comic books and music is adorable. And how it is described when they hold hands or kiss is just....ughhh. Its so innocent but also it conveys their feelings for each other and how powerful on touch can make them and how it melts their hearts(it melted my heart just by reading it). It felt like they matured as the book progressed. And that might just be me but when you get deeper into it its like they all of the sudden grew up and its kinda really awesome. Okay so that was my review for today. I STRONGLY recommend this book I love love love looooooovveee it. Please read it. For you're own sake. There are so many other points that I would like to make but then this review would be 10,000 words long so.... be sure to follow for reviews every week and comment below if you have a book that you'd like us to review. I love you all, and hope you have a great day!
xoxo ~ Naomi