Review: Mercy Thompson #2-8 by Patricia Briggs

Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, #2)

Briggs, Patricia

Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, #3)

Briggs, Patricia

Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, #4)

Briggs, Patricia

Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, #5)

Briggs, Patricia

River Marked (Mercy Thompson, #6)

Briggs, Patricia

Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson, #7)

Briggs, Patricia

Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8)

Briggs, Patricia

Genre: adult UF
Source: library
 **   Audience alert: this is an adult book. It does contain sex scenes that aren't fade to black and other adult situations. If you are under 18, get your parent's advice if this is a book for you.
Series? Yes  Mercy Thompson #2-8
my review of #1 Moon Called

Author stalk away: ~site ~twitter ~facebook

    I am continuing to read and devour this series. I love Mercy as a main character, she has such compassion, and wants to put others first. We get to see her and Adam get closer and I adore the dynamics of their romance and relationship. The fact that she becomes his mate and his husband and all that entails with their love as well as the pack ties makes for interesting reading. 

   

    Trouble always finds her, and her unique status as a shapeshifter but not werewolf allows her to befriend certain people in the species, werewolves, vampires, fae, other humans, halves, and other shifters, as well as people that share the native american heritage. 

   These are fairly short for adult standards, but I enjoy that because I have been able to devour in several sittings each. 

Bottom Line:

My question to you, my lovely readers:
What animal would you shift into?

Review: A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom

In the vein of It's Kind of a Funny Story and All the Bright Places, comes a captivating, immersive exploration of life with mental illness.
For sixteen-year-old Mel Hannigan, bipolar disorder makes life unpredictable. Her latest struggle is balancing her growing feelings in a new relationship with her instinct to keep everyone at arm's length. And when a former friend confronts Mel with the truth about the way their relationship ended, deeply buried secrets threaten to come out and upend her shaky equilibrium.
As the walls of Mel's compartmentalized world crumble, she fears the worst--that her friends will abandon her if they learn the truth about what she's been hiding. Can Mel bring herself to risk everything to find out?In A Tragic Kind of Wonderful, Eric Lindstrom, author of the critically acclaimed Not If I See You First, examines the fear that keeps us from exposing our true selves, and the courage it takes to be loved for who we really are.

Publishes in US: February 7th 2017 by Poppy
Genre: ya contemp
Source: Poppy via netgalley
Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC (advanced review copy). I am not paid for this review, and my opinions in this review are mine, and are not affected by the book being free.
Series? no

Also read and reviewed by Eric: Not if I See You First 

Buy it: 

Author stalk away: ~site ~twitter ~facebook

 

    I wanted to read A Tragic Kind of Wonderful because I am drawn to books with mental illness. I myself have bipolar disorder, and though Mel is a bit early to present from what I've researched, I can definitely see parts of myself in her and when she speaks of her brother. 

   It is hard to keep friends when you cycle through moods like you do with bipolar, sometimes even while on meds. I also have social anxiety and though I am on drugs for both, it is still hard to show my true self to others and maintaining close relationships when prone to go hermit for times, and always feeling like I am hiding parts of myself. I saw these things in Mel as well, and it was quite a journey to go through with her as she realized more about herself, faced hard things from her past, and struggled to not let herself push others away even in light of what she learned. 

    There were flashbacks, some of which I enjoyed and others I felt like were a bit disruptive. I get they were important scenes and integral to the story, but especially at the beginning I just felt like I was getting to know Mel, and it was throwing even more characters at me. 

   I liked the relationship with her new therapist, as well as the resident of the community home she works at. It is realistic and not at all let's wave a magic wand.  The friendships were complex in this one and it was quite the journey to unravel what happened. There was a good amount of secondary characters, but they all served a purpose and they were well developed. 

   There was  romance, but it didn't take front stage, and I liked that, because there was other things that were the focus. 

   Mel learned a lot about herself, her relationships, began to heal from the loss of her brother, started being okay letting others in, and telling them the truth. It was a character driven story with good development of the characters and I was pleased with the journey as well as the ending. 

Bottom Line: Good look into a girl with mental health problems with an enjoyable cast of characters.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Is it hard for you to be your true self around others like Mel?

Review: Tumbling by Caela Carter

Tumbling by Caela Carter

Grace lives and breathes gymnastics—but no matter how hard she pushes herself, she can never be perfect enough.
Leigh, Grace’s best friend, has it all: a gymnastics career, a normal high-school life…and a secret that could ruin everything.
Camille wants to please her mom, wants to please her boyfriend, and most of all, wants to walk away.
Wilhelmina was denied her Olympic dream four years ago, and she won’t let anything stop her again. No matter what
Monica is terrified. Nobody believes in her—and why should they?By the end of the two days of the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, some of these girls will be stars. Some will be going home with nothing. And all will have their lives changed forever.

Source: bought

Karen at For What It's Worth and Mary at The Book Swarm occasionally post twitter-style reviews. Karen calls hers Short and Tweet, and I am going to borrow that review style here.

My short and tweet review: 

     I wanted to read this one because I like gymnastics books and TV shows. I enjoyed it, liked that the characters had depth but my one complain was there were multiple (5) points of view, and at first it felt like it jumped around too much to get a handle on the character, but I was rewarded that I stuck with it. 

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Ever done gymnastics?