ARC Review | Leverage

4 stars

This is not something I’d generally read, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It’s billed as a fast-paced financial thriller, and it definitely lives up to that. I was a bit lost on all the financial lingo as I have just a basic understanding of stocks and such, but it didn’t detract too much from the story.

The book follows Al, who is given the monumental task of recovering 300 million dollars that he lost on a trade. We watch as he gets involved in increasingly shady deals with shady people in an effort to meet his task before the deadline. Al has an incredibly dark sense of humor – he makes suicide jokes at least once a chapter, in between talking about masturbating. There are plenty of racist jokes to be had as well. Mostly against Al, but there are some to do with other characters. This is definitely not a book for people who are sensitive about these kinds of things. While we all wish racism and such would go away, it does still exist in this world and pretending it doesn’t isn’t helpful. I’ve never worked in finance, but I’m guessing when you get up to high stakes trading, hedge funds, and the best of Wall Street, there is a lot of unsavory things going on, like those described in here. Think The Wolf of Wall Street and that will give you an idea of what to expect here. I wasn’t bothered by Al’s humor – in fact, I think it helped to make the story flow better. It would have been a lot harder to read and enjoy if everything was dry and humorless. I do feel the ending was a bit soft. After everything that had happened throughout the book, the ending was way less dramatic than I expected. I was hoping for more, especially since the pacing was so fast the rest of the time. It wasn’t a terrible ending, just not what I thought it would be.

I think anyone who enjoys a well-written financial thriller will enjoy this. It’s obvious the author has spent time in finance and knows what he’s talking about. A basic understanding of finance and stocks is helpful in understanding this, along with not being offended by suicide jokes, racist comments, and knowing that this shady stuff is probably happening every day in real life.

ARC Review | Artificial Wisdom

4 stars

This was a really good tech-y futuristic thriller. It’s set in our not-too-distant future, featuring many scenarios and ideas that you can easily see coming true at some point. It’s also one of those novels that offers a grim look at the future if we stay on the same path.

The novel revolves around Tully, a journalist who gets drawn into a conspiracy involving a climate disaster that may have been engineered, an artificial intelligence running for the position of protectorate to the world, and murders of people involved. His wife had died 10 years earlier in what is known as the tabkhir, a climate disaster where people were basically boiled from the inside out under a huge humidity dome over parts of the Middle East. While first believing it was a regular disaster involving climate change, he soon gets a message saying it may have been engineered. This leads him on a hunt to find the truth, which ends up involving Solomon, an artificial intelligence – or artilect as he’s called – and his creator, Martha, who also happens to be the sister of one of his teammates. The story gets a lot more involved – murders happens, lots of finger pointing, more secrets get dug up. But it is easy to imagine this happening in the future. We’ve all heard how climate change is affecting the world, and how people deny it. We’ve also seen a huge rise in the use of AI. Just a few years ago it didn’t seem to be something many people used or even knew about, and now it’s accessible to pretty much anyone. It also seems to be evolving in leaps and bounds, able to create all sorts of things in seconds. Most of us have also seen movies where this takes a turn for the worse, such as Terminator. The technology, its uses and implications are discussed quite a bit in this, and raise a lot of questions for people now.

The ending of the book leaves things pretty open. I’m hoping this is because there will be a sequel at some point. There’s just too many questions left unanswered for there not to be. Anyone who has an interest in tech heavy thrillers, Terminator-esque stories, or climate change will probably enjoy this immensely.

ARC Review | Rope

4 stars

This was a pretty interesting book involving rope, its origins, and many uses. A lot of people probably don’t think about rope very much unless they’re at a job or have a hobby that involves its use. It’s just not one of those items you really think about until you need it.

The book starts over 5,000 years in the past with a killing of one person by another with the use of a bow and arrow – a weapon highly dependent on rope to work. It then moves to how rope evolved, the different fibers used to make rope in different places, and its uses. Several chapters are dedicated to sailing. The author is a sailor and goes into depth on how rope was (and still is in some cases) used on ships for hundreds of years to sail the world. He then discusses how rope is used not only to sail the ships, but for netting to collect fish and such from the oceans, along with the myriad of knots used. We also see the transformation of rope, from basic plant fibers, to metal and synthetic fibers.

While there are a lot of applications for rope in sailing, it is used in many other instances as well, and some of these I was looking forward to more. As a rock climber, I was really happy to get to the chapter on mountaineering, but I was left rather disappointed. The chapter is pretty short and glosses over the use of rope. Rope is vital part of what we use so I was hoping to have a more in depth look at it.

Some of the chapter did feel rather disjointed. The author would be talking about one application of rope, then the next paragraph switch to something completely unrelated. Having a little better structure would have helped each chapter flow better, along with having more information on certain aspects of rope uses. I get that the author is a sailor, but it feels like that’s really what he wanted to write about at times, which left some chapters lacking.

I did still enjoy the book and learned a lot, but I think this will appeal to a more specific group of readers.

ARC Review | The Difference That Makes the Difference

4 stars

I didn’t really know much about neurolinguistic programming (NLP) before reading this, but I found it rather interesting and something that could be helpful to many people. The authors do state at the beginning that there are people who don’t agree with NLP and some evidence that parts of it don’t work, but that it can still help many people in learning how to change their language and interactions with others for the better.

The different skills and parts of NLP that are discussed can be used in many interactions: a boss to his employees, a husband to wife, a mother to child. It’s using words and observations to make your conversations more meaningful and to help understand each other. Instead of fighting and people saying they don’t feel understood, you can use the techniques to get to the heart of matters and solve issues without the fighting or hurt feelings. Now I don’t think every technique is useful in every situation, and I’m sure there are people that this just won’t work well on, but it is still worth a shot reading and trying to implement some of the techniques in different situations to see if they help. I have studied something similar before at my job in order to find resolutions, so the techniques listed are ones I could try out in different situations to help achieve my goals.

While the authors do their best at making this interesting and humorous, it can get a little dry and repetitive at times. However, I think the overall book is good and would recommend to anyone looking for help in communicating.

Late ARC Review | Seven Deadly Sins

3.5

A rather interesting take on the seven deadly sins. We’ve all heard of these sins in regards to religious teachings, but this book takes those sins and compares them to different illnesses and conditions that people have. Each chapter features a different sin, and in turn, features a person (or several people) that have a medical condition that seems to fit with that sin, When wrath is discussed, we are introduced to several people that have different versions of epilepsy. These episodes can cause them to have extreme rage, though when they are not having an episode, they are perfectly normal, sometimes even shy. Gluttony introduces us to Prader-Willi syndrome, in which a person with this condition is constantly hungry and has trouble controlling their appetite, which generally leads to obesity.

It is interesting to note that while the people featured in this book do have medical conditions that seem to correlate with each sin, there are plenty of people out there that exhibit these sins without any condition to explain them, though they may try. We have seem many examples of people trying to get out of being held accountable for their actions by stating it wasn’t their fault due to a medical condition. Sometimes they have a diagnosis, sometimes they don’t. But at what point do we put all the blame on the condition and not the person? At what point do we say it wansn’t their fault even though they knew they had a condition but did nothing to try and resolve it or help it? This book does bring up a lot of ethical and philosophical questions which have been and will continue to be debated. The author makes his point well known, but I’m sure many others won’t agree.

People interested in medical abnormalities and who like to debate ethical issues will find this quite interesting. I did, though I’m not in the camp of simply writing off a persons actions completely simply because they have a medical condition. Accountability must be held somewhere, though it will vary from person to person.

ARC Review | Sounds Like Trouble

3.5

A huge improvement over the first novel. I feel like the story and writing flowed better, and the author’s were able to meld their writing together more. There are improvements that can still be made, but I feel as if they’re moving in the right direction.

I was not a fan of Jackson in the first novel, but his character is much improved in this one. His comments are much less sexist, and the few he does make in a joking manner work better with the conversation. There wasn’t a single “tight, little body” comment, of which I am eternally grateful. His relationship with Mackenzie has a big improvement as well. While they still bicker, it fits better with the story and you can see more of the respect and trust they’re gaining for each other.

The story does feel as if it moves a little too fast for how short it is. The book is a little over 250 pages but barely lets up. Slightly longer with a little more to the plot would have helped. We don’t get much character development from anyone besides Mac and Jackson; and while I’m happy Jackson’s character gained a lot of development, Mac’s was less so, and every other character was almost non-existent, Hopefully we can get a little more development from other characters, especially those that seem to be mainstays in the series.

I believe the authors are getting a better groove and feel as if they will continue to improve, as they’ve shown a lot of improvement since the last novel. A bit more polishing and I think this will be a great series.

ARC Review | The Other Side of Now

4.5 stars

Wow, this was so much better than I was expecting. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten through something so fast. I ready about half one night, then finished the next day. I thought it was going to be a basic Hallmark style romance with a little bit of heart thrown in. But it is so much more than that.

The story revolves around Meg, who goes by the stage name Lana Lord. She seems to have it all – a starring role in a tv series, a gorgeous Hollywood boyfriend, a huge house and lots of money. But she’s miserable. After a meltdown, she books an impromptu trip to Ireland to see the town where she might have lived another life. Instead of going to college in Ireland where she was accepted, she went to California to live out her acting dream. But when she gets to Ireland, she seems to actually be living that life. People know her, she has a job, and her best friend is still alive. She begins to piece together what is going on – a sliding door life, where she had gone to Ireland for college after all. Meg was warned about this once, when her and her best friend visited a fortune teller many years ago. Back then she didn’t give it too much thought, but it comes back to haunt her in the most unexpected way. It sounds like there is a lot of mayhem and confusion, which there is, but there is also a lot more.

Meg slowly realizes how much she hates her Hollywood life and wants nothing more than to stay in Ireland living out a quaint, simple life. But while realizing this, she has to contend with dealing with the choices the Meg in that life made. As she living there, it is assumed the Meg from there ended up in California. There are so many things she doesn’t understand – such as why her best friend is alive and why she hates Meg, why she seems to have given up on a great relationship, why she’d want out. You get to see Meg dealing with each of these issues while coming into herself. There is a lot of growth, heartache, and laughs. The ending made me sad, but hopeful at the same time. I really wouldn’t have minded this being longer. It was just so well put together.

Definitely recommended for anyone who likes sliding door stories, or a bit of magical realism with their romance.

Late ARC Review | All the Stars Align

2.5 stars

A somewhat cute, but rather predictable YA romance. The story focuses on Fate and believing it can do everything for you and knows what’s best. It also focuses on family and how they are the most important thing and know Fate will fix it all. Supposedly.

The main character, Piper, believes in her family’s Blessing and is waiting for her turn to receive it. The Blessing chooses the person’s love, and Piper’s family believes it is the most important thing and no one should ever go against it or the family itself. I found myself frustrated a lot with this book. Piper believes in the Blessing and not disappointing her family so much that she won’t make any choices or herself. Her job, her college degree, her love life, everything revolves around what her family wants and letting the Blessing choose her love for her. Because she believes so much in all of this, she can’t see how incredibly toxic her aunts are.

Piper’s parents divorced, going against the Blessing and everything the family stands for, Piper can’t accept this at first, and conspires with her aunts to get them back together. No one can accept that Piper’s parents went against the Blessing and have their own thoughts and dreams and feelings. Piper’s aunts basically threaten her with getting them back together in order for her to be able to take over the family jewelry business. Towards the end of the book the aunts pull an absolutely ridiculous stunt, which for any normal family would have been waaaay over the line and really ground in how toxic they are. Just because you have a family doesn’t mean they are always good or that you have to stick by them no matter what.

The romance and how everything works out is rather predictable. There is a love triangle, which I don’t generally enjoy, that comes about because of the Blessing and Piper’s absolute stubbornness over it. Also, you will never forget there is a Blessing, as it is mentioned on damn near every page. And if it’s not, then fate is.

I think this will appeal to younger teenagers. Though the teens in this are all 18, they certainly don’t act like it most of the time. But the whole Fate and Blessing storyline will fit better with a younger crowd than those of us who have grown up and out of those kinds of things.

ARC Review | The Year God Died

3 stars

I think I was a little out of my depth with this. I am definitely not an expert on the history of the Roman Empire, and don’t have a ton of knowledge on Jesus’ life and death besides the basics.

This didn’t just cover the year Jesus died, but many years before his birth, during his life, and then his death. Most of what is covered is the history of the Roman Empire and how it influenced Jesus’ crucifixion. While the history is definitely interesting, there are a lot of people to keep track of and it can a bit dry at time with all the info dumping. The author did a ton of research, which shows throughout the book. He defends his stance, and points out why other scholars who don’t believe in Jesus or the resurrection may have interpreted their research wrong.

My biggest issue is with myself really. There was just so much I didn’t know, and I think it would have helped me get into this more if I had. There were plenty of places and cities mentioned which used their names at the time that I needed to look up in order to understand better of where they were. And since I wasn’t raised in a very religious household, I missed out on reading the Bible and learning more in depth about Jesus. Some things are explained, but there is definitely a lot that isn’t, as it’s assumed the reader is already aware of such things.

This probably would have appealed to me more if I had had more understanding beforehand of the life of Jesus, but this will definitely appeal to those who enjoy history and religion, or anything to do with the life of Jesus.

ARC Review | The Language of the Birds

3 stars

This was quite an interesting book. It’s basically a cross between National Treasure and the Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown, but for teenagers. I do have to admit that Dan Brown books are my guilty pleasure. They’re interesting and easy to read, but still keep your attention throughout the book and make you ask questions. I also like the puzzles Dan Brown uses in his books. They can be fun to try and solve and the story doesn’t generally get too overwhelming with them. This wasn’t quite on that level; while it did have an interesting storyline, it couldn’t quite stand up to what it gets compared to.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like Arizona, but she grew on me. A teen on the spectrum, she loves puzzles and cyphers. It was hard to believe at times some of the things she does; it felt way out of the depth of most teenagers. While she isn’t supposed to be your “typical” teenager, it still feels too much at times. And while puzzles and cyphers don’t usually bother me, here they were more of a struggle to get to. Part of the problem is that half of them were missing – the text would skip right over where they should be and continue on. I know this is an advanced copy, but it really took me out of the story as I wanted to actually see and read the puzzles. The other part is they get over-explained and then solved way too fast. There isn’t much anticipation and mystery. I did learn some new things though, such as what the language of the birds is and the difference between NAD 27 and NAD 83. I liked Lily as well. She’s really the only other character the reader spends much time with. Arizona’s mom and the villains aren’t fleshed out and don’t have a lot of page time, so it’s harder to connect with them.

The ending was a little too neat for me as well. So a random character we’re introduced to briefly in the middle of the book shows up again at the end to help Arizona after her crazy story and asks no questions? Then just disappears again? And Sam Yeats and her part seemed out of place. I just can’t see things going the way they did.

I do think it was interesting though, and the author obviously spend a lot of time crafting the puzzles. With just a bit of polishing this could work quite well. I do think it will appeal more to its intended audience in its current form. It just didn’t quite live up to my expectations.