Christine Blu Ray Review
Patrice Mieczkowski
Hi! I'm Mackenzie, the Ph.D. student behind the book reviews and blog. Reading books has always been my favorite pastime and I love sharing my thoughts about them with the world. Now I should probably get back to writing that dissertation...
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In my career, I have received good and not-so-good performance reviews. However, over the years, I have experienced and heard of some that suggest performance reviews are unnecessarily ineffective if not broken in some cases.
As I am sitting here, trying hard to write a coherent review and make some sense out of the jumbled mess in my mind, I am realising that this might be hard to do. Why? Simply because I loved this book so much! I picked up The Devouring Gray last year soon after it came out and I was dying for the sequel as soon as I finished it.
We follow five Founder descendants (Violet, Harper, Isaac, Justin, and May) whose legacy granted them powers and must use these powers to work together to save Four Paths and bring peace to it once and for all. While this book did an admirable job of developing their characters to the fullest, two of these characters stood out for me. Two of them had story arcs interwoven with so much pain and realness that it was hard not to applause them and be basically proud as a soccer mum. Also cry because this is what we do in this house.
The other character I have to mention for her amazing development is Violet Saunders. Now I was a fan of Violet since book one because she is the cynicism queen and the force of her glare could literally burn a hole through your body, but she really blossoms in The Deck of Omens. No more denial, Violet embraces her powers and shines as the brave goddess she always was!
With the veil between the Gray and the town growing ever thinner, all of the Founder descendants must put their grievances with one another aside to stop the corruption and kill the Beast once and for all.
Wendy Lin is a theology graduate, counselling student, ministry wife, and mother of three young adults. She loves teaching the Bible and leading a marriage ministry with her husband. She authored Salvation Belongs to the Lord, studies on the book of Jonah (Matthias Media). She reviews numerous books and provides resources for families at musingsinadelaide.blogspot.com.
Author Christine Wells, has written other books about women in resistance work throughout history and I felt excited to read this book even if she was a new to me author. I know that sometimes spy novels can be a big undertaking, but since Wells has experience writing historical novels where espionage and spying are the focal point, I had no problem saying yes to this one!
From the author of Sisters of the Resistance comes the story of WWII British Naval Intelligence officer Victoire Bennett, the real-life inspiration for the James Bond character Miss Moneypenny, whose international covert operation is put in jeopardy when a volatile socialite and Austrian double agent threatens to expose the mission to German High Command.
When her handler at MI-5 proposes that she work with Serbian agent, Dusko Popov, Friedl falls hopelessly in love with the dashing spy. And when her intelligence work becomes fraught with danger, she must choose whether to remain loyal to the British and risk torture and execution by the Nazis, or betray thousands of men to their deaths.
Soon, the lives of these two extraordinarily brave women will collide, as each travels down a road of deception and danger leading to one of the greatest battles of World War II. (summary from Goodreads)
This was a hard one for me to review. On one hand the story is compelling and interesting, but the characters were at times a struggle. I loved learning about how Mi5/Mi6 worked, as an American I know little about how other intelligence agencies work internally so I thought that was an interesting part of the novel. I love history and the historical context and exploration of the agency alone made this book worth reading. I really loved all the historical details and facts mixed into this book. As a big James Bond and Ian Fleming fan, I really liked this book, though one does not need to be a James Bond fan to enjoy this one. While I enjoyed the book on a historical and fan-girl level, there was on character that I could never really connect with and that was Friedl.
Marrying the wrong guy, divorced, isolated, and responsible for four chronically ill children, she charged forward, brooking no fools to get her children the healthcare and education they richly deserved, even if that meant blackmailing the governor of Iowa. She took on the powers that be while always striving for the career she pined for.
The author does share some of her personal politics, and that is not something that I review. However, I knew about it ahead of time, and it does not take over the book at all. This is a book about a woman who struggled, fought, traveled, and triumphed, and the history of another woman who inspired her. They were both named Christine.
I am accompanying you right now, metaphorically speaking, at the Ukrainian border. The stray dog and woebegone hens look familiar too, as do the hopeful travellers and the wheezing granny bending under the suspiciously weighty carpet.
I wonder what were you doing there?? ?
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I was a year into indie publishing and preparing for my third release before I got serious about developing my first Review Team. Review Teams have many benefits including gaining reviews pre-release and creating buzz in reader-focused social sites. They can also help with word-of-mouth marketing (leading to preorders of your book) months before your release date.
How should you begin building a Review Team? Finding first readers for an upcoming novel is as easy as sending a private Facebook or Goodreads message, or an email to a passionate reader of your particular brand of fiction.
The Mechanics: How you deliver an ARC is totally up to you. In traditional publishing, ARCs were books sent to a select group of reviewers with the expectation a published review would be forthcoming.
One warning: there are many pirate sites for ebooks. If you are concerned about your manuscript being distributed without your approval, use a site like Bookfunnel that has tools to deliver secure ARCs to your Review Team.
Facebook Fanatics: The number of active and growing book clubs on the site seems to increase weekly. Find reader groups through a Facebook or Google search, or ask other authors and readers which groups they enjoy.
But take care: many Facebook groups managed by authors will not allow you to crash the party, and ask their readers to review your book. Always check with the moderator before posting a review request.
Be Courteous. After the review is published, send a private email thanking the reader. Do this even if the reader gave your book a less-than-stellar rating. If they have taken the time to post the review on several sites, and have also shared on their own social sites, recognizing them publically is always a nice touch.
This 2017 review is getting longer than I thought, but just a couple more favorites! I just loved these minis from my last release. They have shimmer pigment throughout so there is little a glitter shine throughout these pieces. Essentially these pieces are wearing all the highlighter. I love how they shine!
Reviewers are critical to our mission to see that NIH grant applications receive, fair, independent, expert, and timely scientific reviews. We appreciate the generosity with which reviewers give their time.
You would almost have to live under a rock to be unaware of the K-Pop and Korean Drama phenomenon. It would also be difficult to have ignored the prevalence of suicides among Korean influencers, actors, and musicians, all of whom are idolized for their perfection and feel the pressure to unrealistically live up to it. Fanbases can be powerful, toxic, and prone to pivot at the first hint of a perceived betrayal, so they are often feared as much by their idols as by any perceived rivals. This makes it fascinating to delve into this world through the eyes of the Chinese-American psychologist and Duri, who is having difficulty adjusting to a life full of choices. As restrictive as his boyband life was, having every hotel stay, meal choice, and fashion wear decided for him was comforting. Both Duri and Mae are unhappy and dissatisfied, but throughout the novel they find connections and help the other to at least move out of being stagnant and find a happier path.
Then there is Bangtan Scholars, an interdisciplinary group of academics who literally study BTS for a living. Collectively, they have a wide array of journal articles, books, videos, and presentations on everything you could possibly want to know about these boys and their effects on humanity.
Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify.
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