Reading Fanatic Reviews

Books to Add to Your TBR list... or Not!

Hey, ya’ll! I’m VERY behind getting my reviews up on the website! I’ve increased the reading and reviewing, leaving less of my leisure time available to update this website. I’ll do weekly posts with links to my reviews at Amazon; you can also check out my Amazon and Goodreads profiles.

By the way, I’m now a top 50 Amazon.com reviewer (#12 currently) and the top 8 US reviewer of all time on Goodreads (and top 9 in the world)… and the #6 US reviewer and #8 in the world in the past year. Cool stuff!

I hope to make updates to this site soon!

My Reviews at Amazon Week of April 12, 2020

Some Favorite Books This Week!

I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here. While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the reviews here to Amazon, so you can read them there!

I’ve just published my own book in support of the restaurant industry, Kitchen Open by Jamie Jack. It’s linked above. Check it out and spread the word to anyone you know who owns, manages, or operates a restaurant!

Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

Hope that life becomes a little more sane soon!

Historical Romance

  • Conquered Heart by Kara Griffin
  • A Portrait of Dawn by Samantha St. Claire (Idaho territory just on cusp of statehood)
  • The Princess Spy by Elise Marion (not really historical as it takes place in a nonexistant country, but it seems European around the time of the start of the railroad)
  • Capturing the Bride by Samantha Holt
  • Tides of Passion by Tracy Sumner
  • A Stolen Bride by Avery Maitland (poorly written story; I don’t like a story where the hero is unclear or the heroine gets abused during the entire book)
  • Wed in Disgrace by Rose Pearson (very sympathetic heroine)

Contemporary Romance

Nonfiction

Cookbooks

Children’s

Speculative Fiction

Mysteries

 

No-So-Favorite Books This Week!

My Reviews at Amazon Weeks of March 29 and April 1, 2020

Some Favorite Books This Week!

I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here, especially now, as I have been working hard on trying to get my own book published on Amazon to help restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the reviews here to Amazon, so you can read them there!

Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

Hope that life becomes a little more sane soon!

Historical Romance

Contemporary Romance

Nonfiction

Children’s

Thrillers

Speculative Fiction

Time Travel

Mystery

 

No-So-Favorite Books This Week!

My Reviews at Amazon Week of March 22, 2020

Some Favorite Books This Week!

I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here. While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the reviews here to Amazon, so you can read them there!

Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

Hope that life becomes a little more sane soon!

Historical Romance

Contemporary Romance

Nonfiction

Paranormal

Children’s

Family Drama

Speculative Fiction Romance

  • Savanna by Shelly Ferguson (a mermaid shifter fantasy I found confusing)
  • Once in a Black Moon by D. Lieber (complex time-travel, shifter, fae, magic fantasy love triangle) 

Games for Adults

No-So-Favorite Books This Week!

My Reviews at Amazon Week of March 15, 2019

Some Favorite Books This Week!

I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here. While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the reviews here to Amazon, so you can read them there!

Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

Hope that life becomes a little more sane soon!.

Historical Romance

Contemporary Romance

Nonfiction

Speculative Fiction Romance

Children’s

Mysteries

Fantasy

Urban Fantasy

  • Fianna’s Rising by Ron C. Nieto (delightful blend of urban fantasy and Irish mythology)

Chick Lit

No-So-Favorite Books This Week!

My Reviews at Amazon Week of March 8, 2020

Some Favorite Books This Week!

I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here. While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the reviews here to Amazon, so you can read them there!

Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

Hope that life becomes a little more sane soon!.

Historical Romance

Contemporary Romance

Nonfiction

Speculative Fiction

Children’s

Mystery/Suspense

Paranormal Romance

 

    No-So-Favorite Books This Week!

    My Reviews at Amazon Week of March 1, 2020

    Some Favorite Books This Week!

    I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here. While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the reviews here to Amazon, so you can read them there!

    Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

    Hope that life becomes a little more sane soon!.

    Historical Romance

    Contemporary Romance

    Nonfiction

    Mystery/Suspense

    Family Drama

    • The Other Family by Loretta Nyhan (a divorcing mom struggles with a child’s undiagnosed disease)
    • The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan (well-written story of could-have-beens and second chances, girlfriends and granddaughters)

    Speculative Fiction

    Children’s

    No-So-Favorite Books This Week!

    My Reviews at Amazon Week of February 23, 2020

    Some Favorite Books This Week!

    I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here. While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the reviews here to Amazon, so you can read them there!

    Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

    Hope that life becomes a little more sane soon!.

    Historical Romance

    Contemporary Romance

    Nonfiction

    Cookbooks

    Mysteries

    Children’s

    Paranormal

     

    No-So-Favorite Books This Week!

    My Reviews at Amazon Week of February 16, 2020

    This is normally where I would have covers of some favorite books this week… but I had none. Some did make the naughty list, though. See below all the links!

    I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here. While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the reviews here to Amazon, so you can read them there!

    Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

    Hope that life becomes a little more sane soon!.

    Historical Romance

    Contemporary Romance

    Nonfiction

    Time-Travel Romance

    Science Fiction

    Steampunk Romance

    Children’s

    Paranormal Romance

    Historical Fiction

    Cookbooks

     

    No-So-Favorite Books This Week!

    My Reviews at Amazon Week of February 9, 2020

    Some Favorite Books This Week!

    (See some not-so-favorite ones below the Amazon review links!)

    I’ve been having a tough time keeping up with both the reading AND posting here. While I get it all sorted out, I thought I could at least post the reviews here to Amazon, so you can read them there!

    Note: I am listing reviews as I do them each day. Sometimes, Amazon takes days or even a week or more to approve these reviews, so you will see a lag between when I list reviews and when a link is available. The longest I had to wait was 3.5 weeks!

    Hope that life becomes a little more sane soon!.

    Historical Romance

    Contemporary Romance

    Cookbooks

    Nonfiction

    Mysteries

    Fantasy/Supernatural

    Literary Fiction/Satire

    Paranormal

    Children’s

    No-So-Favorite Books This Week!

    A Drizzle of Murder by Constance Barker

    Universal Book Link

    Available at Amazon only
    Free with Kindle Unlimited

    A Drizzle of Murder*

    A Good Start to a New Cozy Mystery Series

    After romance, cozy mysteries are my favorite fiction genre to read. Even though I enjoy the more serious police shows on TV, when I read, I prefer a good cozy. This is the first book in a new series by an author I have not read before. This is a culinary mystery, and I always find these to be particularly fun. Luckily, this one was no exception. The murder takes place in a bakery; the man who helped the heroine move into her new bakery space is found dead. They had not gotten along so well during the move, so she is a likely suspect. Luckily, she has a variety of friends who try to help her figure out what actually happened.

    I did enjoy the quirky world created by this author. A good cozy needs to be quirky for sure and perhaps even wacky. I think this book fulfilled both requirements. There is a surprisingly large cast of characters in this book, and the heroine has a lot of friends. I will admit this was a little confusing at first, as we are introduced to many characters one after the other. Their speech patterns were not distinct enough to really help characterize them, so sometimes it was a little hard to follow and know who was who. I absolutely adored the older friends of the heroine; we don’t see enough active, older characters in contemporary fiction. The friends actually do have a big role in this novel as they try to help the heroine sort everything out. There were some definite issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, enough to be distracting. Commas were problematic as were the hyphens needed for compound adjectives. The last may sound a little silly, but if they aren’t used properly, sometimes the meaning of a sentence is not clear, making you have to re-read to get the meaning.

    All in all, though, I thought that this was a good start for a new cozy mystery series. At least when I read the next one, I will have a better sense of the large cast of characters, which will be a help. Now, if the author could just get it professionally edited, that would be a big help for me, too!

    Jamie Brydone-Jack

    Jamie Brydone-Jack

    Reader, Editor, Writer

    I’m an avid reader, for both fun and work/business. I enjoy a wide variety of books, including literary fiction, romance, thrillers, cozy mysteries, and fantasy for fiction and history, contemporary issues, philosophy, music, medicine, and cookbooks for nonfiction. I’m a freelance copyeditor who also does beta and alpha reading. I have two websites that are all about romance and mystery. You can also follow my reviews at Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub.

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    Disclosure

    The asterisks (*) by the book title denote the source of the book copy.

    One star = I received it as a free advance/review copy or directly from the author.

    Two stars = I borrowed it through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

    Three stars = I purchased the book outright (sometimes for free).

    The Amazon book links on this site are affiliate links, which means I make a tiny percentage if you choose to buy a book linked from this site.

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