Review: The Woman with a Purple Heart

The Woman with a Purple Heart by Diane Hanks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Annie has made a career being a nurse for the U.S. Army and has recently been transferred to Hickam Field in Oahu.  Most personnel stationed in Hawaii are happy to work in paradise, but Annie believes this is the Army’s way of telling her to retire.  She isn’t ready to retire, so she put her all into her new position.  When the attack on December 7^th leaves everyone scrambling, Annie has a steady mind and a calm demeanor.  Annie thinks outside the box and finds assistance in some unusual places, but afterward, her world is shaken again when a Japanese-American nurse is arrested and separated from her two children.  How will Annie react to the prejudice and injustice that followed the attack?

The Woman with a Purple Heart is a historical fiction story that takes some hard historical topics and places them in a well-written tale.  The chapters that include the attack are detailed without being gory and the events that follow are heart-rending and memorable.  Readers will finish this story and know that America has made some terrible decisions in the name of liberty and must learn from these errors before we make them again.

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Review: The Queen's Crown

The Queen's Crown by Jennifer Anne Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Princess Sabine is the sixth in line to the throne, so she doesn’t spend much time thinking about politics.  That is until her sister agrees to marry a neighboring king to help her country … and then is murdered before the wedding can occur.  Sabine wants to know who was responsible for her sister’s death, so she agrees to marry the king of Lynk to investigate it herself.  Will Sabine be able to discover who was behind the murder?  How will she adjust to a role she was never destined to hold? 

The Queen’s Crown is the first book in the League of Rulers series.  This fantasy novel had me captivated from the start and I couldn’t stop reading because I wanted to know what was going to happen next.  As the book neared the end and the story wasn’t slowing down, I knew that the second book would be a necessity.  This book was not a high fantasy, but it gives readers a lot to think about and includes many characters with hidden depths.  This book does end with a cliffhanger, and I wish the next book was already available. 

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Review: Dirty Thirty

Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stephanie has her hands full.  Martin Rabner wants her to find Andy Manley who he believes took diamonds from his jewelry store safe.  She is also looking for Duncan Dugan, a man believed to have robbed the same jewelry store … on the same day.  She probably could have handled both of those issues, but when her boyfriend leaves town on police business, she has to dog-sit Bob … and he can’t be left alone.  Of course, Ranger and Lula must throw their own issues into Stephanie’s crazy life.  What odd activities will be uncovered in Trenton?

Dirty Thirty is the thirtieth book in the Stephanie Plum series.  This story had me laughing constantly and I kept thinking, I need to tell someone about that!  There are many quotable moments … then you get to the end and Evanovich has picked 30 of her favorite quotes from the series.  I always expect that the next book will be ho-hum since the series is long-running, but if it is going to happen, it wasn’t this book!  I will say there is a small cliffhanger at the end.  When is the next book going to be released?! 

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Review: The Secret

The Secret by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is 1992 and eight people have been found dead.  They are in many places in the United States and don’t seem to be connected.  One of the victims gets the attention of the Secretary of Defense and he calls for an inter-agency task force.  Reacher is assigned to this task force.  He is a great soldier, but he doesn’t believe in hiding the truth to protect others.  What is the link between these victims?  Will this end with official justice or Reacher justice?

The Secret is the twenty-eighth Jack Reacher novel, and it transports us back 30 years during his Army career.  Readers who have followed the series will enjoy seeing new insights into an event that shaped who Jack became and readers who just picked this book up will enjoy a one-off story and then feel compelled to find the first in the series.  The adventure isn’t as intense as some of the other books, yet the story almost seems to read itself.  

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Review: The Prophet's Gambit

The Prophet's Gambit by Ellie Evaris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Aris has been dreaming for years but doesn’t remember most of them. She has felt that something is about to happen, but it never does … until Alek appears in her life. Alek has his own gift for never being injured and after reading his tarot cards, he believes Aris is the missing link to finding Krysidia. But there is a catch. Aris must learn to control her gift to fulfill the prophecy. Does Aris have what it takes to survive this quest? Who can she trust and who should she be cautious about?

The Prophet’s Gambit is the first book in a fantasy series by the same title. There were chapters that were captivating and others that were lackluster, but since this was a debut novel, that can be forgiven. The characters were easy to relate to and the world-building was well executed. Evaris has created a story with a lot of potential and it will be exciting to see her writing develop in the next installment.


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Review: I Loved You in Another Life

I Loved You in Another Life by David Arnold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Evan has plans and they are starting to change.  He wanted to take a gap year in Alaska, but after his mother had a cancer scare, he wondered if now was the right time.  He is also hearing a song that no one else hears.  Shosh is on her way to LA with a dream of being a star, but after losing her sister to a drunk driver everything changes.  She also hears a voice singing that no one else hears.  

I Loved You in Another Life is a stand-alone novel that weaves together these two young adults and a few other stories too.  The premise of the novel was intriguing, yet the execution was lackluster.  I so wanted to love this book, but in the end, I felt it was ho-hum.  I’m sure there is a niche out there that will love this book, but it will not be appealing to the average reader.

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Review: A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories

A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sir Terry Pratchett has been dead for 8 years and many readers have missed his prose and zany characters.  What many readers are unaware of (as was I), Pratchett often wrote under pseudonyms for newspapers in the 1970s and 1980s.  Dedicated fans spent untold hours searching newspaper archives for these lost stories.  Included in this volume are twenty stories that show Pratchett as he was honing his craft and discovering who he was as an author.  Just like most short story collections, some stories are better than others, but overall the experience was fun … and some tales will give readers a glimpse into the worlds that Pratchett eventually created.

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