Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Book review: To Everything a Season

To Everything a Season 
by
Lauraine Snelling

Trygve Knuton is devoted  to his family and his community. With his job on the construction crew, he is helping to build a future for the North Dakota town of blessing. Though he loves his home, he sometimes dreams of other horizons--especially since meeting Miriam Hastings.

Miriam is in Blessing to get practical training to become an accredited nurse. She's been promised a position in the Chicago women's hospital that will enable her to support her siblings and her ailing mother. Although eager to return to her family, Miriam is surprised to find how much she enjoys the small town of Blessing. And her growing attachment to Trygve soon has her questioning a future she always considered set in stone.

When a family emergency calls Miriam home sooner than planned, will she find a way to return? If not, will it mean losing Trygve--and her chance at love--for good?

So that's what it says on the back of the book... from the sound of that this book is about Miriam and Trygve, right? Nope. Miriam doesn't even come into the story until chapter SIXTEEN! Going by the description, I thought this would be an interesting story, as I like most anything that has to do with doctors/nurses etc. But really, what it says up there is only a very small portion of the story. This book is supposed to be the first in the series, but there are already two other series about these same characters and town, so unless you've read those, you'll be lost! There are way too many characters that it follows and mentions, and all throughout it I was confused as to who this person was and how they were related to that person and so forth. Not to mention the fact that the book really didn't have much of a plot at all. It was mostly this huge family's day-to-day lives with random things suddenly thrown in to add a little excitement. The romance was very disappointing and short, and wasn't even resolved by the end of the book, leaving you no choice but to read the next one in the series if you want to find out how things end up between Miriam and Trygve.
Basically, this book felt like a big mess and the author has an odd style of explaining things. There were some things I liked in the book and found interesting, but overall it was just too many characters going about their days and I just didn't find that interesting. So, unless you've read other books by this author and positively love her stories, I wouldn't suggest reading this book.


I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House publishing company in exchange for my honest review.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Book Review: Anomaly

And here is my first book review for this year!

Anomaly 
by 
Krista McGee

Thalli has fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds left 
to live. The toxic gas that will complete her annihilation is
invading her bloodstream. But she is not afraid.

Decades before Thalli's birth, the world was decimated by a nuclear war. But life continued deep underground, thanks to a handful of scientists known as The Ten. There they created genetically engineered human beings who are free of emotions in the hope that war won't threaten the
world again.

Thalli is an anomaly, born with the ability to feel emotions and a sense of curiosity she can
barely contain. She has survived so far by hiding her differences. But then her secret is 
discovered when she's overwhelmed by the emotion of an ancient piece of music.

The Ten quickly schedule her annihilation, but her childhood friend, Berk--a scientist being
groomed by The Ten--convinces them to postpone her death and study her instead. While in
the Scientist's Pod, Thalli and Berk form a dangerous alliance, one strictly forbidden by the 
constant surveillance. 

As her life ticks away, she hears rumors of someone called the Designer--someone even more 
powerful than The Ten. What's more, the parts of her that have always been an anomaly could in
fact be part of a much larger plan. And the parts of her that she has always guarded could be the answer she's been looking for all along.

Thalli must sort out what to believe and who to trust, before her time runs out . . .

Overall, I liked this book quite a bit! Not so much at first, but then it got really interesting and I read a whole chunk of it in one night, then it seemed to get a little boring toward the end and I finished it up a little more slowly. At first I thought it was just another one of those "Hunger Games" and "Divergent" type books, which it kind of is, but this one is actually Christian, which was a refreshing touch! (and sadly, probably why they haven't made a movie out of it.) 
So I did like it quite a bit aside from a few things, and would recommend it to anyone who likes this sort of story. Also, it doesn't have anything bad in it, so that's nice! 
I will say, though, it ends in the middle of things and now I need to read the next one!


Books I read in 2014

So it's a bit late, but here's a collage I made of all of the books I read in 2014.


I haven't been reading much so far this year, but I hope to get back into reading soon and just maybe read more than I did last year!