Bathtime Books

  ⭑⭑☆☆☆ Review: Honestly, I forced myself to finish this book. The author has another set of books that she wrote that has carry-over characters in this one. I haven't read it, and am annoyed that I think in order to understand some of the plot points in this novel I needed to have read those books too. The main character is supposedly a book-nerd, this fact is beaten over your head many times. I thought that it would be a fun extra, but instead of showing, there was a lot of 'telling' me how much of a book nerd she was. I didn't enjoy that.  I just wasn't pulled into this novel. I can't recommend it. Plot Summary: Gemma is an Essex witch, which means she has access to the Ley-Lines. She also is the leader of an MI5 paranormal team. They investigate paranormal crimes. Apparently, she is very good at this. She has closed herself off from her team, and yet throughout the book, she makes tiny little in-roads with each of her team members and in the end, they are al...

  ★★★★ ☆ This was a thought-provoking and very interesting novel. The story follows the trials of a woman whose ex-husband has illegally and without her knowledge created a clone of her.  While the story is set in a science-fiction parallel world, I found that most aspects of the novel don't deal with the science-fiction. Instead, it is a story of betrayal, heartbreak, growth, and the human spirit. Despite not liking the protagonist, I still ripped through this novel. It was an interesting introspection on the relationships that create us, and the many facets through which we build our visions of ourselves.  The author subtly weaves a narrative that allows the reader to consider how our upbringings shape us and whether we are defined by our natures or nurture. The end of the novel left me filled with foreboding as I felt the main character began to display traits that she had previously despised in her father. I found myself returning to the storyline and the characters m...

★☆ ☆ ☆ ☆  - Don't waste your time 😕 I read this book hoping for some clear pointers on how to improve my leadership skills for my currently middle-management position. I walked away from this book with one page of pretty weak suggestions and the feeling that I wasted a good amount of time. The book which touts how to inspire deep trust and commitment spends about 3/5 of its time failing to give an adequate description of the biological underpinning to what creates great leaders. About 1/5 of the book deals with leading millennials which is probably an unfair amount of time. There were two chapters that held advice that could be followed. The rest of the book was reiterating on four points that I believe are a shallow misunderstanding of the biology behind how we form attachments. If you are looking for clear advice on what you might do to up your team leadership, how you can be a positive leader, how you can manage up, anything concrete  skip this book. It is a total waste of...

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆    I received this book as an advanced reader's copy.  This novel is the twelfth in the Dark Protectors series by Rebecca Zanetti. If you haven't read the prequels, you can still read this novel and mostly understand what is happening. Of course, if you do, you will miss out on much of the character and plot establishment that occurred in previous novels as Zanetti interweaves previous main characters throughout this novel. I have read one or two related novels previously but I'm not following the series. The novel follows the romance of Grace, an enhanced human female, and Adare a vampire/demon. As with most of her previous novels, the chemistry between the two feels a little bit forced but the romantic scenes are spicy. I didn't really like either character much. They were a little flat in my opinion. The plot also left something to be desired. If the main heroine is smart and caring, then why would she not explain her motivations for striking out solo and r...

★ ★ ★ ★☆ This was my first novel by Deborah Wilde. The description promised a fun supernatural PI with some hot romance and this book totally delivered! I really enjoyed this first in the series and ran out to get the next one so that I wouldn't have to say goodbye to Ash and her friends. There are plenty of reasons to enjoy this book. A fun and interesting heroine, a will-they won't-they romance, a well-woven storyline and fully realized world. The characters were fun and didn't feel like they were a pale rehashing of others I had met before. Another reviewer drew parallels to Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series, and I agree there are some character and storyline parallels, but this is different enough and I was happy to take this ride. I also really enjoyed the author's use of existing Jewish folklore and the call outs to more modern references like Alice in Wonderland and Scooby-Doo. This was a quick read as well, so you can devour this fun book in an evening - if...

Thanks to the current stay-at-home orders for the COVID-19 pandemic, I've been able to read a lot more. As a result, I've also found new websites where you can get advanced-reader copies of books and read them for free. The only catch? They ask you to write a review. If you have a blog, or post your review on some well-known sites ( Goodreads , Bookbub , Amazon), then you may be more likely to be approved to get your hands on these newly-released or yet-to-be-released novels.  Why am I writing about this? Partially to explain why this blog is being returned to after almost a decade of disuse, and also to share with anyone who might also be interested in obtaining more novels to read. You can always sign up for books from your local library. With advances in digital media, there are great options available from apps like Hoopla , and Libby/Overdrive .  If you are interested in the advanced-reader leaving reviews angle that I've mentioned, check out Netgalley.com . It's...

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley. ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ I picked out this book after reading the jacket cover. I found the description of the plot charming and hoped that the story would be witty and a lighthearted read. The novel, based upon the author's experiences as a personal assistant to Carrie Fisher, actually left me feeling a bit despondent. The first-person narrative is overly detailed and anxious. I had a hard time reading beyond the first three chapters as I felt that the author struggled to convey to the reader the awe that was clearly inspired by meeting and working for the famous actress. The author continually stated that he felt the force of the actress's charisma and that her "shine" and "wit" made him want to continue to be in her orbit. As a reader, these statements didn't really jive with the descriptions of the interactions described on the page. The narrator's internal dialogues, which did read like train-of-thought monologue...