ML's Red House Reviews
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Thank you and happy reading.
-ML
Friday, November 3, 2017
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
The Chocolate Book Tag
I came across The Chocolate Book Tag on Musings of a Literary Wanderer. Here are my answers.
Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley
Have you read any of these books? If you did The Chocolate Book Tag, be sure to leave your link in the comments below so I can check it out.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas
Dangerous Girls
By: Abigail Haas
Published: July 2013
Published by: Simon Pulse
Format Read: eBook, Riveted
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 5/5
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Anna Chevalier never had many friends until she transferred
to an elite Boston prep school and met Elise Warren. Together they were
inseparable and began living a wild life of excess. But, before long it would
all come crashing down. While on spring
break in Aruba, Elise is found brutally murdered and Anna is suspect number
one.
Abigail Haas’ Dangerous Girls is a fast paced young adult
thriller that I picked up on a whim. Am I ever glad that I gave this one a
chance because I couldn’t put it down. This mystery had me hooked from the
first chapter.
The story is told from Anna’s perspective and shifts back
and forth from when she first met Elise up to Anna’s more present situation.
Sometimes books like that are hard to follow, but that wasn’t the case in this
instance. It actually made for a really quick and intriguing read. The author
also used different formats such as; call logs, text message conversations and
television interviews. This book was chalk full of twists and turns that kept
me guessing who the killer was right to the end. My suspicions of the
characters would change with each page.
Dangerous Girls is easily one of the best books I’ve read in
2017. I would recommend it to fans of young adult mysteries.
Friday, August 18, 2017
Charlie's Corner: April-July 2017 Reads
NOTE: AFTER SEPTEMBER 1 I WILL BE SOLEY BLOGGING FROM: ML's Red House Reviews.
Charlie's Corner is a new segment to my blog, named after my son. It will feature baby and children's book hauls and short reviews.
Because this is my first post for Charlie's Corner, I will combine some of the books I've read to him since April.
Teddy's Camp: On a Bearish Adventure into the Woods by Peter Nicholas Liptak and Pascal
My Rating: 🌟 1/5
My Thoughts: Unfortunately this one was a miss for us, as it was supposed to be a rhyming book, but just wasn't consistent. I also wasn't a big fan of the illustrations.
Franklin's School Play by Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟 3/5
My Thoughts: Its holiday time and Franklin and his class are putting on a Nutcracker play. This is a cute story that I will share with my son for years to come.
Charlie's Corner is a new segment to my blog, named after my son. It will feature baby and children's book hauls and short reviews.
Because this is my first post for Charlie's Corner, I will combine some of the books I've read to him since April.
Reading Progress: April-July 2017
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5
My Thoughts: 1..ah ah ah, 2 ah ah ah, 3 ah ah ah, 4 ah ah ah, 5 ah ah ah stars for Elmo's Book of Friends. The bight colours and the lovable Sesame Street characters has Charlie mesmerized.
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5
My Thoughts: Charlie just loves this finger puppet book. The bright colours of the little fish and its surroundings are very eye catching. This book is a current favourite.
Teddy's Camp: On a Bearish Adventure into the Woods by Peter Nicholas Liptak and Pascal
My Rating: 🌟 1/5
My Thoughts: Unfortunately this one was a miss for us, as it was supposed to be a rhyming book, but just wasn't consistent. I also wasn't a big fan of the illustrations.
Franklin's School Play by Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟 3/5
My Thoughts: Its holiday time and Franklin and his class are putting on a Nutcracker play. This is a cute story that I will share with my son for years to come.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Day the Falls Stood Still
By: Cathy Marie Buchanan
Published: August 2009
Published by: Hyperion
Format Read: eBook, Kobo
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: 4/5
🌟🌟🌟🌟
Bess Heath was raised on stories about the people who tested
their fate with Niagara Falls and the river leading to it, but none was more
thrilling than the River Man, who saved many lives, simply because he had a
deep understanding and respect for the world wonder. As a member of an
upper-class family, Bess never would have thought she would fall in love with
the lowly River Man’s grandson. Beginning in 1915, The Day the Falls Stood
Still chronicles her and Tom Cole’s love story, during a time of great change
for the town and the country with the growth of the hydro power plants along
the river and the environmental impacts they had.
I’ve had the opportunity to visit Niagara Falls several
times over the years, but I knew very little about its history, especially
during the early days of hydro-electricity in Canada. I appreciated how the
author fused the prominent issues of that time into the story. It explored the
environmental and moral sacrifices these advances brought.
Buchanan crafted a fictional story that was inspired by the
real life River Man William “Red” Hill and his heroic rescues. I enjoy when a
historical fiction gives the reader a good image of how daily life was during a
specific time period and I felt The Day the Falls Stood Still did just that.
It took me some time to really get into the story. It wasn’t
until the end that I really understood what drew Bess and Tom together. However
once I was hooked, I became very immersed in the plot. I also liked the old
photographs that began each section.
I would recommend Cathy Marie Buchanan’s The Day the Falls
Stood Still to historical fiction fans.
Monday, August 14, 2017
The end of a chapter
Today I would like to share with my readers an announcement that is bitter sweet for me. After a lot of deliberation, I have decided to move on from my blog here at Melissa Lee's Many Reads. Please allow me to explain..
Melissa Lee's Many Reads has been quite a learning experience for me, as I have never created a blog before. It has given me the opportunity to join a wonderful community and to connect with people from all over the world, who share the same interests that I do. I even managed to gain a small group of followers and I am so grateful for each and every one of you.
After such a positive experience, you are probably wondering why I have decided to move on from this blog, well there are several reasons..
As I prepared for the birth of my son and the months after his grand arrival, I had to take a step back from blogging and reviewing. It gave me time to reflect on this blog and I began to realize that although I still enjoy it, I just wasn't satisfied with my presentation of it anymore. I have quite lofty goals for the content I wanted to publish, but lacked the knowledge to do so. To be honest, I have tried to do too much with it and I haven't followed through with the plans I would announce. At the same time I began to realize that I had outgrown Melissa Lee's Many Reads, its appearance and even its name.
Somehow it didn't feel right to me to just overhaul this blog and take a different approach with it. Then I began to have problems with this blogging platform. I tried several times to fix these problems, but just became more and more frustrated. In the end I came to the conclusion that I wanted somewhere I could start fresh and create a blog that I could keep up with. A space that could grow with me.
And so I have created my new blog ML's Red House Reviews.
Please visit the link above to learn more about my new blog and subscribe if you would like to continue following my posts.
I don't plan on deleting Melissa Lee's Many Reads and I still have several upcoming pre-scheduled posts yet to come, however I wanted to take this time to share with my readers my plans moving forward.
Thank you all for taking the time to read my posts and reviews. I hope to see you all over at ML's Red House Reviews.
-Melissa
Friday, August 11, 2017
DNF: A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mystery, #1) by Charles Finch
A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mystery, #1)
By: Charles Finch
Narrated by: James Langton
Published: September, 2011
Published by: Tantor Media Inc.
Format Read: Audio Book
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Rating: DID NOT FINISH
Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel a mystery.
Prudence Smith, one of Jane’s former servants, is dead of an apparent suicide. But Lenox suspects something far more sinister: murder, by a rare and deadly poison. The grand house where the girl worked is full of suspects, and though Prue had dabbled with the hearts of more than a few men, Lenox is baffled by the motive for the girl’s death.
When another body turns up during the London season’s most fashionable ball, Lenox must untangle a web of loyalties and animosities. Was it jealousy that killed Prudence Smith? Or was it something else entirely? And can Lenox find the answer before the killer strikes again—this time, disturbingly close to home?
I borrowed A Beautiful Blue Death from my library via the OverDrive app. It caught my attention due to its Victorian London location and the Sherlock Holmes feel. Unfortunately I found that the mystery didn't keep my attention. I listened to about 30% of the story, however it began to focus on politics, a topic that I don't generally enjoy reading about. While James Langton's narration suited the story and its characters, I wasn't able to establish a connection with it.
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