My Thoughts on a Few Books I've Read

I’m trying to use my blog a bit more, and make it a more productive bit of internet real estate. Since I read lots of books, I figure the least I should do is post a few book reviews. I’m hoping to get into the habit of doing this about once a week.

I’ve been lucky enough to have time to read several books already this month. Partly because I’ve done some traveling which means extra time to read, and partly because work has been a little slow, and mostly because several of the books I’ve read have either been short novella’s or have been audiobooks.

Here are my thoughts on a few of the books I’ve read this year.

  Accidental Romance-by Jessica E. Subject - I connected with Jessica Subject through the Six

Sentence Sunday blog hop. I fell in love with this book as soon as she started posting snippets, mostly because it was set on a farm.The beginning of the novella caused me to remember my high school agriculture classes and the seemingly endless lectures about the importance of always shutting of the equipment before fixing a problem. I know people who failed to heed this warning, and can honestly say that Jessica Subject’s description of the incident is spot on.

In the spirit of complete honesty, I’ll admit that there were times when became a little to whiny for my taste and I’d have to take a deep breath and remind myself that, all things considered, in her situation I’d be even whinier and more self-centered.

The chemistry between the two characters is good, the setting fantastic, and writing fluid. It’s a great quick read that provides readers with a break from reality. This is a very sweet (minimal sexual contact) romance novella. I think this book is an excellent choice when you're looking for something quick and interesting to read. It's a great story to have on hand when traveling with family.

  Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee by Hattie Ellis

 This book surprised me in the best possible way. There was something about it's unassuming appearance that lowered my expectations. I assumed it was going to be either very dry, or very badly written. I was dead wrong.

 

While this book won't provide you with copious amounts of information about how to raise bees or collect honey, it provides all sorts of information about the history of honey and how beekeeping has changed throughout the centuries, as well as some basic information about some of the worlds biggest beekeepers. It's a great choice for anyone who has a passing interest in beekeeping or honey. I found her telling of how the plight with the African Bees started. I'd never heard the full story before.

 

I found the authors writing to be very fluid and smooth and her stories were interesting enough I actually looked up a few of the beekeepers she mentioned and wrote down the name of a movie she mentioned, while tweeting some of the more interesting bits of lore. I thought this was an excellent book. I'm looking forward to reading more books penned by Hattie Ellis in the future. 

   

Bones Are Forever (Temperance Brennan, #15) by Kathy Reichs I started reading Kathy Reichs a few years ago because I loved the television series, Bones. While the show is connected to the series, the resemblances between the two are minimal. The only similarities Reich's character shares with the T.V. series is the name and the job. The rest is totally different. Personally, I like the book character better.

The last two books in the series disappointed me, it kind of felt like Riechs was writing because she felt she had to, not because she was interested in the story telling, but Bones are Forever reads like Reichs older novels. I quite enjoyed it.

I found this to be a very quick book to read. I finished it one the first half of the a road trip to Kansas and promptly passed it to my sister who hasn't read any of the books in the series. I found the cases to be interesting, though they involved dead babies which is always sad. The relationships were back to being interesting and woven nicely into the main plot, and the tension was fantastic.

Bones are Forever led to a great deal of research and discussing of some Canadian serial killers which kept us entertained for the last half of the drive home.