br3nda's reviews
499 reviews

Gabriel's Angel by Nora Roberts

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.
I love Nora Roberts books but this one was just not doing it for me. It feels unrealistic and I wasn’t liking either of the characters. It was bothering me that the FMC was expected to share everything about her past but MMC shared nothing. It moved slow and the relationship was unbalanced. 
I picked this book up from a used book sale. The issue was paired with a Nora Roberts Christmas story and as this was also supposed to be but right from the start it was quoted as a snow storm that happened in April. There was no Christmas feel to it so I’m moving on. 

DNF’d at 31%
The Need by Helen Phillips

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2.0

I listened to this in one afternoon. It was well written but…. I don’t get it. I understand it’s a motherhood metaphor but <shrug> I don’t get it. 
The Christmas Catch by Toni Shiloh

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.
It’s a very Christmas-y story but there is a LOT of church and religion mixed in!!! I did skip a lot of it at first but it became laborious to keep doing that. Too much for this reader. 
Plus I couldn’t seem to get into the story. 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I finally read (listened) to this book and I’m so glad I did! I want to get a hard copy of it to annotate multiple sentences that I loved! 
I’m not sure if I want to give a full 5 stars or not due to the extremely long lists of “regrets” and “in this life”  that I skipped over. I’m sure that could have been just as effective with a shorter list! So for now it’s a 4.75 stars for me but maybe I’ll change it when I think about it some more. 

(1.65x) narration 4 stars
Jingle All the Way by Debbie Macomber

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adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A Halloween Homicide by Tonya Kappes

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.5

Christmas at the Restaurant by Pamela Kelley

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hopeful inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

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emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Too Late for Love - Christmas in Snow Falls: A Christmas Romance by Cassidy Berg

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Unfortunately this was not a book for me. I skipped many pages to get to the end so I could use it for a December reading mini challenge. 
I was not able to connect with any of the characters or the scenes. It felt like a Hallmark movie on paper. Maybe it was suppose to but it was just to formatted. 
Nobody's Perfect by Sally Kilpatrick

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0