Mini Reviews #1

Okay, so this a new thing for me this year. I'm going to save up several reviews and do them all at once rather than doing a long review on each book. If they are just books I've picked up to read, I'm going to do a mini review. I like to be able to look back at what I've read and see if it was something I enjoyed or an author I liked, so I still want to document it... just not clog up my blog with millions of reviews!


If they're for a publisher review or ARC tour, then obviously then they will get their own lengthy one. =)


Click the Goodreads Summary for a summary of each book.

Title: 51/50: The Magical Adventure of a Single Life

Author: Kristen McGuiness

2010, Soft Skull Press

ASIN: B00440D824

Genre: Non-Fiction

Goodreads Summary

My Review:

This was the first book I read on my Kindle. I started it thinking it was kind of a weird fictional book about a recovering alcoholic trying to discover herself... only to realize that it was actually more of a memoir written by the author about her own weird life. At that point I was too far in to quit, but I thought it was a strange and not very uplifting book.

Title: Paradise Valley (Daugthers of Caleb Bender #1)

Author: Dale Cramer

2010, Bethany House Publishers

ASIN: B004EPYYDQ

Genre: Christian Fiction

Goodreads Summary

My Review:

I'm always a sucker for a good Amish story, so when I saw this one for free on my Kindle I was pretty happy. This book is about a father who moves his Amish family to Mexico to avoid  a government that is attempting to force their children to attend a conventional school 5 days a week. Apparently this was based on some true events, which made me like the story even more. This was really a great novel, with intelligent and interesting characters. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series to see what happens to the Bender family in Mexico.

 Title: Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart

Author: Beth Pattillo

2010, Guideposts Books

ISBN: 0824947932

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Goodreads Summary

My Review:

This is my least favorite of my books I'm going to review today. There was something lacking about the storyline of this novel. It was cute, it was nice, but for some reason I wasn't too excited about it. It's a little unfortunate, because I looked back at my view of Jane Austen Ruined My Life by the same author, and I really liked it. I felt like the author was really grasping to make the story work with the whole Mr. Darcy/Jane Austen theme for this one. 

Title: Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side (Jessica #1)

Author: Beth Fantaskey

2010, Graphica

AISN: B003UV91AQ

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Goodreads Summary

My Review:

This was another free Kindle download. I'd never even heard of it before. I really enjoyed this book. I always like a unique vampire story and this one delivered. Main character, Jessica, is a smart, interesting and fun American teenager and her counterpart, the vampire prince she's betrothed too (surprise!), Lucius, is complex, mysterious, charismatic and brooding all at once. Makes for an interesting relationship and story line. If you like paranormals I'd suggest picking this one up. I'm looking forward to the sequel!