Thursday, November 10, 2022

[Review]—"Word of Honor" is an Exciting Romantic Thriller

I have a poor habit—or bad luck—of mistakenly reading the second book in a series, only to find later that it's a sequel; thankfully, I didn't have that problem with Hallee Bridgeman's Love & Honor series. For once, I read book one, Honor Bound, before going on to book two, Word of Honor, and book three, Honor's Refuge (review coming soon).

[Review]—Clichéd Genre Conventions Hurt "Anything but Plain"

Billy Burgess books ,

I feel like it's been a very long time since I last read an Amish romance. Yes, the blogger who enjoys horror and Star Trek adventures used to read a ton of Amish romances; you could say I went through a long phase in the early 2000s. My preference for Amish fiction has deteriorated because I've read too many books in the same genre. I'm reading fewer and fewer Amish novels since the genre has become oversaturated with too many authors—both superb and subpar—and I always return to my favorites, such as Suzanne Woods Fisher.

{Sunday Post}—Gateways, Museum of Wonders, and Triple Cross

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The Caffeinated Book Reviewer's Kimberly hosts a weekly meme called "The Sunday Post"!

Weekly Tidbits

Although I haven't given up on NaNoWriMo, things don't seem to be going well for me. Note to self: "Next time, have an outline ready by November 1st with characters fleshed out, chapters planned, and an actual plan in mine." If not, like me, you'll spend your first day scrabbling for your first sentence, followed by a complete paragraph. I don't write as quickly as I could since I have a poor tendency to edit and modify as I go. I've probably removed at least 6,000 words or more and am sitting at 2,143 words. In all honesty, I don't want to write 50,000 words in a month; I just want to focus on one project for 30 days. I'm happy with one meaningful sentence.

I discovered you could create fan fiction for the challenge after perusing the NaNoWriMo forum. Even if I don't particularly enjoy fan fiction, I could have written a Star Trek adventure. As opposed to my current Gothic romance idea, which is essentially a replica of every Gothic novella I've ever read, I've definitely been more motivated to write a Trek story. There is always next year, I suppose.

{Book Blogger Hop}—Which Came First, the Book or the Movie?

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Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!

To plan the post for next week in advance, go here for upcoming prompts. You must complete this form to submit a prompt.

There is now a Facebook group for the Book Blogger Hop! Please join the community to connect with other book bloggers and receive the most recent Book Blogger Hop information.

What To Do

1. Post your response to the question.

Do you watch film adaptations of books before reading them?

Submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer.

2. In the linky list widget, enter your name or nickname @ Blog Name and the direct URL to your post answering this week's question. Here's an example: Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer

3. Please go to the other blogs on the list and comment on their BBH post.

{The Friday 56}—"Gwendy's Final Task"

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Rules

Pick up any book.
Open your Reader to page 56 or 56%.
Look up any sentence (or more). Simply don't ruin it.
Share it.
Visit www.fredasvoice.com and add your post URL to Linky.

[Review]—Ellen Ripley Returns in "Alien: Out of the Shadows"

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While I've been a lifetime fan of the Alien franchise, I've never really dug into the expanded universe; knowing how much of a book lover I am, I'm shocked I've never read the tie-in books. That takes us to Alien: Out of the Shadows, a 2014 Titan Books sequential novel penned by Tim Lebbon and released to span the gap between Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) and James Cameron's Aliens (1986).

[Review]—A Shocking Twist Can't Save "Eden's Children" From Becoming a Muddled Mess

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To cut to the chase, the last batches of V.C. Andrews novels, ghostwritten by Andrew Neiderman, were a pale shadow of their former selves — or, in other words, they sucked. The quality of Neiderman's writing has degraded with each new book over the past fifteen years. Maybe he's lost his writing abilities or is just getting older, but he's completely forgotten how to create an effective Gothic atmosphere that was crucial to V.C. Andrews' storytelling. Whether it's a modest house, a cramped apartment, or an opulent mansion, the "home" must play a supporting role in the story—right alongside the youthful protagonist—and has been poorly written to the point that the reader can't tell the difference between the characters' voices. The storylines have become repetitive; several novels are without a plot—due to poor writing or laziness. Therefore, I was apprehensive about reading Eden's Children—the first novel in The Eden Series. But then I pondered, "Can it go much worse than Becoming My Sister?"