Review copy was received from . This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of mThis review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Review copy was received from . This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
2.5ish Don't Pick A Book Just For the Cover Stars
Seeker is the debut book for Samuel Griffin and the first book in The Sentinel Archives Series. This isn't going to be for everyone due the the nature of the prose of the writing. Written as a regency or in a historical voice of sorts, the main character takes the reader through her personal journey to become a Seeker, someone in a secret type of society looking for huge leviathans of the deep. They are who are stirring once more and will the the force that could turn the tide of a the war.
Shay Bluefaltlow takes us through her journey as she struggles to live up the expectations placed on her to become one of the few secretly searching for the elusive scent song unique to each of the leviathans. A young girl in a strange place, the story is almost written in the flowery musings of a teen in her diary, if said diary was from a regency era. She is introduced to a strange world full of dangers and some espionage as she tries to make her way. Sponsored by a group of benefactors yet to be revealed she is guided through her training. Because of her age some of her rebellions, secrets and poor choices, while frustrating, can at least be understood. The action at the end was the most interesting part of the book as the actual leviathans come into play in a battle at sea.
The actual story is pretty decent and the world interesting with the idea of the Seekers and Leviathans and whatever their connection will end up being. However, I really struggled with the writing style. At times it was really hard to focus on the story through the prose as it took awhile to get from point A to B to C in the story. I believe the author lives on the poetical side of the fence and that is very much reflected in the story. So if you are a fan of some of other authors of the past like Dickens this will probably be an easier and more enjoyable read for you than it was for me. I do applaud the author for committing to this writing style whole heartedly but I think it will really factor into how much a reader likes the story within.
I really enjoyed the idea of the story and the plot is really interesting in the fantasy aspect. I'm not huge into the classics though and so I struggled through reading....more
Okay, the blurb said this is for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout. I like both of those authors. There is also a warning aboDNF at 15%
Okay, the blurb said this is for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout. I like both of those authors. There is also a warning about some explicit content and rape. I've read books with a rape in them and lets just say that it is mostly a moment that is glossed over. I can't even get to that part because I'm pretty sure it is going be super explicit and I do not need that in my head.
Also the main character has a serious OTT Stockholm syndrome thing happening and every man I've seen so far in this book gives off a rapey vibe. So this is totally not for me and I think a better comparison would be to Anne Rice's Claiming Beauty, but even that I think is much tamer at this point.
To bad because there could be a good story plot in here I just can't make it through all the other stuff to get there. ...more
I tried to get into this several times. I've picked it up and put it down about three times now. The truth is the way the story is very tellDNF at 40%
I tried to get into this several times. I've picked it up and put it down about three times now. The truth is the way the story is very tell me and a lot of sex with hints now of threesomes and foursomes potentially happening in the future I've just kinda lost interest. Don't get me wrong I like a good sex scene and all of that but I really like a great story to move along with it and so much of this story is in question and answer style. I just can't seem to really drop into it this time so at about 40% I'm just going to set it aside and possibly try again in a year of two but maybe not....more
Normally I really like Tiffany Reisz and her story telling capabilities. All of the other books I've read from her have been big winners in mDNF @ 33%
Normally I really like Tiffany Reisz and her story telling capabilities. All of the other books I've read from her have been big winners in my eyes. So when I started this book I went in with high hopes and it starts off pretty good when a fem fatal shows up at a bar, seduces the owner and then tries steal a million dollar bottle of bourbon. After that it goes downhill.
See I liked the set up in the beginning but when Paris starts to tell a story set in the past that will convince the owner of said bottle to just give it to her Reisz just lost me. The story jumps back to a bratty 16 year old who has been very spoiled most of her life and she was so whiny. Then there is the 28 year old stable hand that she has a crush on and they almost ended up having sex. Um, no not okay I don't care if the bratty 16 year old was into it and it was the 70s.
After that there is some abuse by a family member with the mothers knowledge and then more sex for the former stable hand that even he wasn't into. After that I just stopped. I didn't like anyone in the story and if it was going to be a revenge plot by the bratty teen with a man 12 years older than her I have to say that I just couldn't...
So even though I like most if Reisz's work I'm not going to be able to finish this story and since I borrowed it from the Library for once I didn't feel like I had to finish a story I wasn't really into....more
First let me just say that it isn’t necessarily the books fault I DNF’d it, I’m just an idiot sometimes. I saw this on Netgalley by Anne BishoDNF@40%
First let me just say that it isn’t necessarily the books fault I DNF’d it, I’m just an idiot sometimes. I saw this on Netgalley by Anne Bishop on who is on my autobuy list, so I requested it. But it isn’t by Anne Bishop author of The Others series, it is by Anne Bishop community organizer and social commentariat. However, I branch out from time to time so I gave it a try.
The story revolves around Lucy a homeless woman in her 60s suffering from some sort of PTSD, who on occasion lashes out at the world around her when something triggers her outrage at society for there first world way of living and the effect she has seen it have on third world countries. Lucy is not well and lives on the streets just trying to get buy day to day. It was really difficult for me to connect with Lucy, she is angry at the world but she is also sick and living on the streets. Sometimes an author can make you relate to an individual you have little in common with, but the way the story is told I just never felt a true connection to Lucy.
Not a lot is going on in the story up to this point, Lucy I sneaking into a friends basement to stay warm since some of her stuff is being stored there. Lucy has also befriended a young girl out on the streets and is trying to help her get set up in the system the same time she is trying to push her away. It was extremely sad in so many ways and a little bit gross at times as living on the street probably always is. Lucy used to be a part of the community that helped those on the streets and on welfare but at some point she became people she once tried to help.
I wanted to know what happened in Guatemala in Lucy’s past but only hints and snippets were given here and there and so when she freaks out at someone because they have bananas with a sticker from Guatemala it just feels so extreme. I never connected and I’m not big on books into social commentaries since I usually read as a form of escape.
Is this book for you? Well it might be. If you like books exploring first world/third world dynamics, poverty, social programs and bigotry then yes, I think this will fit your reading preferences. If you are like me and read to get away from thinking of such things then definitely no.
Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review....more
I tried to finish this but it just isn’t going to happen so DNF at ~57%
My husband and I used to listen to the Howard Stern show on Sirius Radio and weI tried to finish this but it just isn’t going to happen so DNF at ~57%
My husband and I used to listen to the Howard Stern show on Sirius Radio and we enjoyed Artie Lang on that show. He is a mess at most times but he seemed like a funny guy and his take on his life might be pretty interesting and funny.
We got the audio for a long drive during the holiday season and started it. Problem #1 started then. The first part of the audio was done by Artie Lang himself. I expected that to go better, I mean it is his book and he is a stand-up comic and voice personality so I really thought that his performance on his own stories would be better. But it was like he was reading out loud something he’d never read before. There wasn’t a lot of emotion or inflection to it and I thought it was a really flat performance.
The first set of stories are from when Artie is a baby and I thought a few interesting, but they were so second hand that I missed feeling connected. I did enjoy the ones from his teenage years a little more and I had no idea that his father suffered a fall that crippled him and while not a funny story I thought it was really interesting overall.
Then Artie gives up on trying to narrate his own book and hands it off to a few of the regulars on the Howard Stern show. I will say that I actually thought they narrated it better.
I totally knew that Artie had substance abuse problems but I guess I was not prepared for once this left his childhood to be all about that and only that. There is also the talk about how many women he has slept with and how with his amount of fame it should be more. It was all so shallow and empty and I guess I thought that he would have some deep insights but other than feeling guilty over what happened with his father there was little redeeming quality to anything else he said.
Maybe if you are a bigger fan of Artie and Company on the Howard Stern show you’ll like this more than I did but he can across as self-centered, offensive and self-destructive. It only got worse the more we pushed into his adult life so I peaced out since I hear there were no other shocking revelations to be made. This was definitely not fore me. ...more
This was okay. I liked a few of the hypotheticals more than others but got distracted and never made it back to the book. So I think I got to about 35This was okay. I liked a few of the hypotheticals more than others but got distracted and never made it back to the book. So I think I got to about 35% Maybe I'll try again later when I'm in the mood for it.
This book wasn’t really for me. DNF at 34% and skimmed the rest.
First, I tried to do this in the audio format, however the author is also the narratorThis book wasn’t really for me. DNF at 34% and skimmed the rest.
First, I tried to do this in the audio format, however the author is also the narrator and while she isn’t horrible if you are going to have an audiobook spend a little money and get a professional to do it unless you also double as a voice actor. I’m finicky with audio and gave up on that format after Ch 3 or 4.
Second, this did have some personal family trauma in it suffered by the author about some severe losses in her adult life. I found myself feeling really sorry for the death of her first husband at such a young age and the struggles with that lose. But it was like a resume, this is what happened to me and why I’m qualified to help you. I don’t know everyone has trauma or struggles in their lives, they are just different kinds. Some lose a loved one, others have health issues, other mental issues and some financial. Sure, she had some very big loses but it didn’t qualify her in my mind to be an expert for everyone.
Finally, I just skimmed through the chapter heading to see that they were
1. They don't waste time feeling sorry for themselves. 2. They don't give away their power. 3. They don't shy away from change. 4. They don't focus on things they can't control. 5. They don't worry about pleasing everyone. 6. They don't fear taking calculated risks. 7. They don't dwell on the past. 8. They don't make the same mistakes over and over. 9. They don't resent other people's success. 10. They don't give up after the first failure. 11. They don't fear alone time. 12. They don't feel the world owes them anything. 13. They don't expect immediate results.
So the title is a little catchy but overall this list didn’t really help me. I’m really looking for more things with my general life and job change that might be helpful tools. I’m not even sure that if I was in a state of mental trauma or loss that she would get through to me. There was nothing that I skimmed in this that had an Ah-Ha moment to it....more
It's 2018 and I have less reading time and I've decided that I'm going to be better at dnf'ing things I'm just not interested in.
Sorry Greyhodnf @ 20%
It's 2018 and I have less reading time and I've decided that I'm going to be better at dnf'ing things I'm just not interested in.
Sorry Greyhound but you didn't keep my attention. This started out decent with an 11 year old Sebastien Ranes being put on a bus by his mother to travel from California to Philadelphia so that she can run off with yet another Mr. Wrong in a long line of Mr. You'll Do For the Moment.
This is a journey story and I probably just wasn't in the mood for one of those right now that doesn't involve elves, dragons or magic. I was thinking it might be a little like Secondhand Lions but to this point it has just had some random situations on a bus including a passenger beating up the bus driver for being a jerk and taking over the bus.
Not really in the mood for this so I'm off to read something a little more fantastical. ...more
I’m not really sure if it was just me or the book. I tried so hard to get into the story but between the time jumping, gender confusion anDNF’d at 40%
I’m not really sure if it was just me or the book. I tried so hard to get into the story but between the time jumping, gender confusion and the MCs emotionless PoV I really struggled.
The premise is that once upon a time, like 1000 years ago or 19 and ½ years ago the main character was and walking talking part of a ship. The ships used human bodies and somehow connected them to the ships interfaces so it has moving parts the work in tandum.
This— to invade and take, what, half the adult population? And turn them into walking corpses, slaved to your ships’ AIs. Turned against their own people. If you’d asked me before you… annexed us, I’d have said it was a fate worse than death.” She turned to me. “Is it?”
Sounds pretty cool right??? Well I was thinking the same thing. But here is the problem. Part of the story is set now when only one AI is left and she is seeking some sort of revenge. The voice of the character is pretty detached and factorial. I get that, but besides a little bit of action at the very beginning to show she is deadly there is just a lot of down time and flash backs to when there was a ship and more of her/him as an AI.
So first we are in the present…then we are like 19 ½ years ago and then 1000 years ago. Back the present. I found it difficult to keep track of where I was in the story. Couple that with the gender thing (I’ll get to that in a second) and I was finding it really difficult to see why anything in the past mattered or led up to what is happening now. And I was bored with it all.
The gender thing. Okay so this is a clever tactic by the author and honestly maybe if I wasn’t struggling with some of the other stuff I’d be able to carry one but our AI has a really hard time telling gender and therefore most of the time calls everyone from the past/present in her Radch tongue she. But then the AI switches to another language and some of those she’s become he’s. I was having a hard enough time with the names and then the genders started swapping depending on the language or who was talking and I again got confused by who was who and what was when.
The last thing was I have this on Audiobook. I love them as you all know. But the narrator decided to perform this as if she were and AI. I get why they decided to go with this decision. It totally makes sense except it made it harder to connect with the characters in any way and the narrator’s performance as an AI was distracting. I was waiting to get used to it but never really did.
By 40% not a lot of stuff had happened yet and I felt like I had to force myself back to the story. I never really found a good flow with it. So overall this just wasn’t for me. Maybe later there would have been some great plot twists and a big reveal but since I couldn’t even remember which character was which and what time frame they were from I don’t think it would have made much of a difference.
Overall
Probably not for me. I like my books to at least have a prospect of a love interest of some kind. Perhaps if I read the ebook instead of listening I wouldn’t have been so distracted but in the audio form I really couldn’t get into the story. ...more
So I tried I really did and I'm not sure if I'm just not in the right place and time for this or what but every time I picked this up my mindDNF @ 25%
So I tried I really did and I'm not sure if I'm just not in the right place and time for this or what but every time I picked this up my mind wandered off somewhere else. I just couldn't get into it at all.
I found Flo to be tedious. Maybe she gets better later but she is a Pony-Shifter in a traveling circus that in the first 20% of the book completely frets over jumping over flames in her first show.
A. Shifter so speed Healing right, who cares if you get burned??? B. Really??? You are scared to jump over flames and you grew up in the circus???
I never really connected with her. She has a friend/boyfriend Jett and he spends the entire time so far consoling her or trying to protect her from comments from his friends.
So maybe it gets a lot more interesting once this happens...
Flo manages to flee the torched circus grounds with Jett, the bear shifter who loves her; the annoying elephant triplets; and a bratty tiger named Pru.
But it is taking far too long to get there and while I know there is some danger from the 'hunters' I'm not getting the why of it enough to care yet.
Maybe a prologue with the Hunters actually hunting a shifter would have made me stick around a little longer for the potential danger of it. So far all I have is an anxiety driven teen with performance issues.
Officially DNF'D at 26% because time to just get off the crazy train. First book I have ever DNF'd
Predictable, recycled dialogue and the utter argg ofOfficially DNF'D at 26% because time to just get off the crazy train. First book I have ever DNF'd
Predictable, recycled dialogue and the utter argg of it.
Kathleen Turner is the worst heroine I've ever read. I liked her a bit in books 1-2, book 3 she was starting to get on my nerves and I grew to absolutely hate her in book 4. How one character can take no personal responsibility for anything in her life is beyond me.
If I knew someone like her in real life I think I'd punch her in the face.
At this point I don't care who she chooses I think that both men should run away never look back.
So this is my prediction for the rest of the book. I don't even need to read it. Remember just a prediction. DON'T CLICK UNLESS YOU HAVE PAST 19% because there will be a spoiler for that:
(view spoiler)[Kat pregnant...big surprise, I called that end of book 4. Kade freaks out....pushes her to Blane...Blane wants to be with her even though kid is Kades....Kat gets into trouble Kade and Blane to the rescue....Kade wants her back....Kat plays semi hard to get (hard to want imo)....And through the whole book Kat will never have done anything wrong and everything will be either Kade or Blanes fault....there will be a few fights where she cries and runs away....can't decide between brothers I love you both blah blah blah....but Blane will end up a Senator so really it is better if she forgives Kade and ends up with him because they are going to have a baby...Blane is the bigger man and accepts it because he loves his brother. Something happens with the Senator and James they both end up dead somehow....Kade and Kat go on to get married and have babies....Blane never really gets over Kat but he has his career so he'll be okay and I'm thinking thank God he dodged that disaster. (hide spoiler)]
My book buddy Kira wrote a review with an awesome run down of what happened in the book. She is team Kade, I was more for Blane but I feel she was really fair to the teams. Kira's Awesome Review...more