ARC, Books, Reading Events

Book 144: The Paternity Test – Michael Lowenthal

I read this book as a part of The Literary Others October LGBT History event. I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and the response below is my honest opinion and I received no compensation.

This book did not get off to a good start with me; ending your first chapter referring to the potential birth mother of your child as just ‘the womb’ really bothered me. I felt it was incredibly misogynistic, an accusation two of the main characters made towards each other later in the book, but I also felt it was too jarring in the beginning of the story and put me on edge for the rest of the story.

I do feel that Lowenthal developed the characters further than that first chapter gave them credit, both male and female characters, but that really put me on edge and made it difficult to identify with and feel sympathy for Pat and Stu. But, if there is one thing he did do great it was the personality quirks of all the characters. From describing Deborah’s exotic Brazilian Portuguese accent to the adorable story about Pat and Stu when they moved into their first place together and stacked plates the same way for the same reason.

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ARC, Books, Reading Events

Book 143: Second Hand (Tucker Springs #2) – Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton

Embarrassingly, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. AND I’ve already purchased a copy of Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs #1)…and will read it later this month. And will probably now follow the series forever because this first one I’ve read was fun and easy to read.

I received a copy of this novel via NetGalley as I wanted something fun and light to kick off The Literary Others LGBT October event and I am glad I chose this. This response is my honest opinion and I received no compensation for it.

I really shouldn’t say I’m embarrassed I enjoyed reading Second Hand. There is nothing to be embarrassed by, really, unless you’re me and you flush crimson at any sort of intimate scene. I mean I’ve already purchased the other novel in the series, so I must’ve enjoyed it.

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ARC, Books

Book 142: Comet’s Tale – Steven Wolf

I rarely read nonfiction and even more rarely go out of my way to read nonfiction. However, when I saw the cover to the right I HAD to request a copy of this book to read. I requested a copy from the publisher via NetGalley. The response below is my honest opinion and I received nothing in return for reading the novel.

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill is two-for-two for wonderful books I’ve read so far! Comet’s Tale was an endearing read and touching read, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Art Forger, which I read earlier this year.

Now the reason I requested to read a copy of this book is because of the beautiful greyhound, Comet, on the cover. I currently live with a greyhound and she constantly baffles me with her joie de vivre and just her lovable personality and I wanted to know if she was unique. Blogging world, meet Olivia:

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Book 137: Seraphina – Rachel Hartman

I decided to read Seraphina after seeing Grace’s review of the galley over at Books Without Any Pictures, and I am very glad I did. Of all the dragon novels I’ve read in the past few years, and I’ve read quite a few, this one is probably the most unusual.

I mean I LOVE dragon fiction. Dragons even have their own tag on my blog. I might not read as much fantasy as I used to, but some of my all time favorite books feature dragons!

I’m not sure if it has been done before, I vaguely recall perhaps Irene Radford having done it, and I know Christopher Paolini has one character that is somewhat of a dragon/human, but having the dragons transform into humans was definitely interesting. And then narrowing the focus even more was beyond incredible.

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ARC, Books

Book 135: The Art Forger – B.A. Shapiro

My original plan was to go right into reading another book from my Mount TBR challenge list, but as I’m on a stay-cation at Tom’s parents and I didn’t bring the book I had to do some fast thinking on what I could read. I looked through the local library Kindle books and didn’t find anything and remembered I had a NetGalley waiting that would be a light, fun read. I’m definitely glad I decided to read it. It also doesn’t hurt that I feel justified reading a ‘fun’ book as it’s a galley I wanted to review and I’m not just faffing about.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley from the publisher. This response to the novel is my honest opinion and I did not receive any compensation for it. Algonquin Books is releasing The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro on October 23, 2012 of this year.

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