Category: Book review

“Lady’s Knight” By Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner Review

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Gwen has spent the past several years manning the blacksmith’s in place of her father, an open secret in the village in which she lives. A much more covert secret, however, is that she knows not only how to craft but also how to wield a sword, and an incognito stunt at the local jousting tournament manages to catch the eye of the wily Lady Isobelle. Isobelle has secret dreams too, but she’s been promised in marriage to the winner of the whole stupid tournament, which means an end to any freedom or choices for her. Desperate to avoid this fate, when she connects the newcomer knight to the female smithy she saw earlier that day, she begins to hatch a scheme.

I gotta admit here that I was very skeptical about this book before reading it because I thought it was one of those overhyped books which I personally would hate. But I gotta admit that I really like this book. So if you are interested in hearing my thoughts about this book then keep reading this review.

The characters in this book were amazing. I personally liked a lot both Isobelle and Gwen because they had a lot of personalities to them which makes them stand out from the rest of the characters in this book. 

Both Isobelle and Gwen had something to them that made them feel like real human beings which I wouldn’t have any problems being friends with in real life. Which always makes me give the book extra points for when it happens.

However we don’t learn much about of Isobelle and Gwen’s backstory other than some key aspects which are relevant for the plot of this book. Which in a way didn’t make this book to this very long list of requirements to keep track of who is who in this book.

The romance aspect of this book was very slow but at the same time it was also pretty sweet and cozy which I liked a lot in this book because it really played very well together with the overall plot of this book. 

The plot in this book was very fun, interesting, enjoyable and cozy. This book is overall a typical fantasy book because it was knights, sword fighting and dragons. And the main character in this book is a female character which in a way made this book more relatable for me personally. 

The plot in this book has also some humor in it, which at times makes the anticipation  and tension in this book less tense at times. Which in a way helps this book to make it a relaxing read.

The writing style in this book is very typical to YA books. Which means that the writing style is very easy going and straightforward. The writing style which this book has goes very well with the plot of this book which in my opinion makes this book more enjoyable and easy to have fun with.

I need to admit that this book doesn’t quite feel like fantasy book until the very end of this book. Because this book has the historical fiction ish vibe to it. Which in my opinion is the only bad thing I can say about this book. I am not a huge fan of historical fiction books which means that I didn’t like the historical fiction ish vibe this book had which made me give this book 4 stars instead of 5.

I personally had a lot of fun reading this book because the plot is very cozy in this book and the characters in this book are very well created which makes them feel more likable and more relatable. At the same time the plot in this book doesn’t require a lot of brain power to it which means this is a perfect read when you just want to enjoy yourself without thinking a lot about what is happening.

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“THE LAST TRAIN I MISSED” By Udhaya nidhi Review

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In a bustling train station on a sunny morning, a chance encounter between a red-shirted individual and a mysterious stranger sets the stage for an extraordinary journey. As the stranger shares tales of their life’s adventures—ranging from rocket science to crime writing to teaching—the red-shirted figure is drawn into a world of intrigue and possibility. With each revelation, the stranger’s diverse experiences offer a glimpse into the boundless potential of human existence. Yet, as the encounter unfolds, the true significance of their connection remains shrouded in mystery, leaving the red-shirted figure to ponder the profound insights gained from this unexpected meeting.

I gotta admit that this book is a decent read that offers a mix of nostalgia, reflection, and emotional moments. But if you want me to be very honest about this one then I gotta say that this one doesn’t quite stand out as extraordinary, it managed to interest me with its relatable themes and straightforward storytelling.

The story in this book touches on universal feelings of missed opportunities, regrets, and the passage of time.

The horse of this book is accessible and easy to follow, making it an ideal read for those looking for a light, reflective story.

There are a lot of genuine moments in this book of introspection that evoke empathy and thoughtfulness.

The story in this book follows familiar beats and doesn’t introduce many surprises, which have lefty me at times wanting more depth or originality.

The characters in this book are flat and one-dimensional because they have very limited backstory and almost no personalities to them which made it hard for me to like them or care about their journeys

The narrative of this book moves at a steady pace but sometimes feels a bit slow, especially in parts that could benefit from more tension or insight.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Notebooks” By Leonardo da Vinci Review

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Most of what we know about Leonardo da Vinci, we know because of his notebooks. Some 6,000 sheets of notes and drawings survive, perhaps one-fifth of what he actually produced. With an artist’s eye and a scientist’s curiosity, he recorded in these pages his observations on the movement of water and the formation of rocks, the nature of flight and optics, anatomy, architecture, sculpture, and painting. He jotted down fables, epigrams, and letters and developed his belief in the sublime unity of nature and man. Through his notebooks we can get an insight into Leonardo’s thoughts, and his approach to work and life. This selection, organized in seven themed sections, offers a fascinating and informative sample of his writings. Fully updated, this new edition includes some 70 line drawings and a Preface by Martin Kemp, one of the world’s leading authorities on Leonardo, who explores the artist’s genius and the contents and legacy of his manuscripts. The book also features new notes and a chronology of Leonardo’s life.

I need to admit that this book have taken me a very long time to finish reading. But also this book had been laying on my shelf waiting to be read even longer than it took me to finish this book. But without making this into longer than it already is lets jump into the review of this book. 

First of all I gotta admit that the topics which this books talks about comes straight from Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks which he himself have written a very long time ago. I was very surprised to read about the topics which Leonardo Da Vinci has written about back in the Renaissance era.

This book have taken me a very long time to read as I’ve said above, because this book talks about a lot of advanced topics which I needed a lot of time to process and understand because I’m not that smart as Leonardo Da Vinci clearly was.

But I need to admit here that a lot of parts of this book doesn’t seem to have been meant to be read by other people than by Leonardo Da Vinci himself. They seemed like a lot of parts of this book where meant for Leonardo Da Vinci himself as notes to himself if he wanted to look back at some of his notes. Which is the main issue that I had about this book. Because there are a lot of moments of this book where I would get bored because a lot of parts of this book seemed like I was reading school textbook. 

This book involves a lot of drawings that Leonardo Da Vinci himself have made during his time, which made me give this book some extra points for doing. Because the drawings really helped me to understand what Leonardo Da Vinci was talking about in the notes which this book has.

The writing style of this book is very flat and almost school textbook like. But once again this book wasn’t exactly meant for readers as it was meant more like Leonardo Da Vinci making notes for himself for later use if needed.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Bird Box” By Josh Malerman Review

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Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it’s time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

This review might be a very unpopular opinion about this book because of my rating of this book and my opinions about this book. So if you are interested in reading my controversial opinions about this book then keep reading. 

The plot of this book, is very overrated. Because a lot of people on the internet call this book “very terrifying” but in reality this book is everything but “terrifying”. After reading this book or trying to read this book I need to say that this book is very overhyped and it gets way too much credit for being scary even thou the scariest part of this book is that the author was able to write such a long book on a story that would easily be a good short story. 

The plot of this book drags for way too long than it needed to. Because easily if this book was cut in half we would still get the same story out of it. Which in my opinion says a lot about how much irrelevant things the plot in this book had.

The plot of this book moves very very slowly. And because of this there is almost no action in this book. At the same time I feel like the plot is very repetitive. Because 60% of this book is about the mother telling her kids to “don’t speak, listen” which made me wonder if thats the mother whole dialogue with her kids.

When it comes to the dialogues in this book they are very uninteresting and unrealistic. Because the dialogues are very stilted and they feel like the characters are written by a toddler who didn’t have any idea how grown ups talk to each other.

This book has 2 timelines which it follows, and I gotta admit that if the author was so set to have 2 timelines of the plot of this book. It would have worked better in my opinion to have 2 separate books. One book for each timeline. 

I personally found the second timeline to be very boring and uninteresting. Because the second timeline talks about everything that took place as the fear and apocalyptic events were first starting.  While the first timeline was way more interesting than the second. Because the first timeline takes place 5 years into the apocalypse of this book. Which I personally enjoyed way more than the second timeline of this book.

The plot build towards this big action taking place, but the action never comes in this book which really made me very annoyed at this book and at the author of this book.

The characters in this book in my opinion feel very underdeveloped and unexplored. Because this book doesn’t use a lot of time for us to get to known the characters. instead this book jumps straight into the action, and we have to figure out everything about the characters as the plot moves forward. 

I personally found the characters to be boring and uninteresting. Because of we don’t get to know them. At the same time the characters feel very unrealistic in a way. And the mom in this book instead of giving her 2 kids names she only calls them “boy” and “girl” which is their gender because she as one girl and one boy. Which really made me question what parent would not name their kids and only call them by their gender.

The writing style in this book is very stiff. For the most partite felt like the author wasn’t that interested in writing a good book instead he was more interested in the paycheck he would get for publishing this book. Which really speaks for itself here because I don’t am that harsh about the writing style in books.

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“The Strawberry Patch Pancake House” By Laurie Gilmore Review

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As a renowned chef, single-dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive. Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when Mayor Kelly suggests Archer is looking for a nanny, and Iris might be available, she shudders at the thought. But in need of money she reluctantly agrees.

This book is the 4th book in the “Dream Harbor” book series. And I need to admit here that this book is in my opinion the weakest book in this series so far. But as always I will explain everything in this review so if you are interested then keep reading.

The plot is kinda of decent in this book. But it isn’t as cozy as in the other books in this series. There was something about the plot in this book that didn’t made me interested enough in it. 

The main reason why I didn’t like the plot in this book as much as in the other books in this series is because I’m not a big fan of the single-dad and the nanny hooking up and falling in love with each other. I personally am okay with a lot of things but the single-dad and the nanny has something to it which makes me uncomfortable. This is something which I don’t like in books I’m reading which is the main reason why I say that this book is the worst book in this series so far.

The majority of the book is just the single dad saying “I don’t want to live here” and “I don’t know how to be a parent”. While the nanny says “I cant believe I find my boss attractive”  and “I don’t like kids so why am I a nanny?”.  Those 4 lines are pretty much a dozen of times in this book. Which really made me bored and uninterested in this book because of how much those 4 lines are used in this book. Which made me feel like I’m reading the same thing over and over again for this entire book.

The characters here aren’t that good as they were in the 3 previous books in this book. It might have something to do that Archer is a completely new character in this series and we didn’t get him introduced to us in the previous books in this series. And when it comes to Iris, we only got her introduced to us in book 3 in this series. And even thou she was in book 3, we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her or get to know her. 

In this book we don’t get to know Archer and Iris on a deeper level beside them freaking out about not knowing how to take care of a 5-year-old. All we get to know about Iris and Archer is that Iris had many jobs in her life and Archer worked in some fancy restaurants in Europe and wanted to be a famous cook. And thats pretty much all we get to know about those characters. 

The characters from previous books are pretty much none existing because we only get like 2 or 3 scenes where we get to see Kira (the main character from book 3) and we get one scene with Logan (the main character from book 1) and thats pretty much it. Which in a way annoyed me because I really loved the characters from the previous books in this series. And this book not having those characters feels in a way like a stand alone book rather than a book in a series. Because the previous books in this series had characters from the previous books in this series. 

The writing style was easily my favorite part of this book, because it was the same as in the other books in this series. The writing style in this book is easy and straightforward. The writing style is pretty much a YA writing style because of how easy and simple it is and it makes the book fast to read. At the same time the writing style really goes well with the easy going plot of this book.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“The Christmas Tree Farm” By Laurie Gilmore Review

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Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that’s too cute for its own good. Bennett Ellis is on vacation in Dream Harbor taking a break from his life in California. And most importantly, taking a break from his latest run of disastrous dates. After a run in with Kira in her fields, Ben has no intention of offering to help the grumpy owner set up her tree farm, despite the fact she’s clearly got no idea what she’s doing. Kira knows she should stop being so stubborn, but her farm is not all cute and cozy like people always show on social media, it’s borderline dangerous with no heating, and she’d rather no one saw it.

I gotta admit that this book have reminded me a lot of does cute and cozy hallmark Christmas movies which are set in a small town. I gotta admit that this book might be my favorite book in this series so far. But as always I will explain everything in this review so if you are interested in reading my opinions about this book then keep reading.

The plot in this book is very cozy and sweet, because the grumpy Kira which have moved to the small town and bought a Christmas tree farm doesn’t like Christmas and is very grumpy. While Bennet on the other hand is visiting his sister Jeanie (the main character from the first book in this series) and he loves Christmas and is all helpful to everyone and a good guy overall. Kira and Bennet are the opposite but they fall in love which each other, and it turns into this huge hallmark themed cozy Christmas book even thou I have read this book this month, which means we are still 3 months away from Christmas. So kind of an early Christmas start for me.

The characters in this book as better than they have been in the 2 previous books, it could be the fact that I used 3 books of getting to know the characters in this series which means I had a lot of time to get to know them a lot and love them a lot. 

Kira and Bennet are kind of new characters even thou we had meet them in the previous books in this series. But in this book we really get to know them well while in the previous 2 books in this series we only have gotten glimpses of them and didn’t get to know them well as we do in this book.

But I gotta admit that Bennet and Kira aren’t my favorite main characters in this series, I still prefer Logan and Jeanie as the main characters. I might be a little biased here because of the first book of this series completely hooking me onto this series which I love more and more the deeper I get into it.

The writing style in this book is amazing, it was like the author knew what words to use to completely hook me into the plot of this book and not let go of my attention and interested until the very end of this book.

This book had made me completely in love with Dream Harbor so much that I would have easily moved to Dream Harbor if it was a real town. Because the whole town is just have this sweet and cozy vibe to it which made me fall in love with it. Which really shows how much I like this series.

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“The War on the West” By Douglas Murray Review

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It is now in vogue to celebrate non-Western cultures and disparage Western ones. Some of this is a much-needed reckoning, but much of it fatally undermines the very things that created the greatest, most humane civilization in the world. In The War on the West, Douglas Murray shows how many well-meaning people have been fooled by hypocritical and inconsistent anti-West rhetoric. After all, if we must discard the ideas of Kant, Hume, and Mill for their opinions on race, shouldn’t we discard Marx, whose work is peppered with racial slurs and anti-Semitism? Embers of racism remain to be stamped out in America, but what about the raging racist inferno in the Middle East and Asia?

I need to admit that this book is the best nonfiction book I’ve read this entire year. Because this book makes a lot of great points about society and the anti-white and anti-western cultures going on in the best years. But I will explain everything in this review so if you are interested in hearing my thoughts and opinions about this book then keep reading.

This book is worth reading, because it makes a lot of good points about how the left tries to destroy the western cultures because of their delusions and thoughts about everything western and white is bad and it should be destroyed. And looking at what is happening in the western word those last few years it takes a lot of courage to write and publish a book like this one and not get called a “racist” and get banned from the mainstream Karens. 

The writing style in this book is very good, it was like the author knew what words to use to completely grab my attention and to do not let it go until the very end of this book. This thing really happens really rarely to be when it comes to nonfiction books like this one.

The arguments the authors uses in this book are very well researched and those arguments used in this book make it very clear that the author used a lot of time to write this book. Which in a way made me like this book even more. 

At the same time the arguments in this book, make the fact that the author has a lot of political knowledge very clear. Which in a way made it clear that the author of this book knows what we is talking about when he discusses the political part of the  anti-western movement which is happening.

In my opinion this book is very easily a must read for everyone who wonders what the world has come to in the past few years. Because I didn’t realize how deep in shit we are until reading this book because of I didn’t notice it sooner. 

This book has taken me a few days too read because there were times I needed to take a break from it to think over the things this book talks about because there is a lot of things this book talks about. 

This book is very enjoyable and interesting if you are like me and find politics interesting and what to know more about it. Which was the main reason I read this book. And it turns out this book is much better than I expected it to be.

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“The Alchemist” By Paulo Coelho Review

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Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago’s journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.

I need to admit that I wanted to read this book for a few years now, so when I saw this book at a second hand book store at a 90% discount of the price for a new copy of this book I knew that it was finally my time to grab this book, buy it and read it. And so I did so do that. If you are interested in hearing my thoughts and opinions about this book then keep reading.

I need to say that I really enjoyed the beginning of this book and the middle part of this book. But I was very disappointed in the ending of this book. Because this book builds up the main character to be wiser and wiser which each thing that happens to him. And the ending feels exactly like the beginning of this book because in my opinion the main character seems to forget everything he had learned throughout the plot line of this book. 

The overall plot line of this book is very fairy-tale like which has moment of magical realism in it. Which I appreciated in this book but it could be something about me being 23 years old soon and not being so much into fairy-tales to like or love the fairy-tale aspect of this book.

The plot in this book talked a lot about the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life especially in the second part of this book. And all of this talk about philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life doesn’t lead anywhere which really confused me because if you gonna bring things up multiple times in the plot and not have it in the plot then whats the point of talking so much about those things. Of course it can be just be being way too harsh in my book reviews, but thats at least my opinion when it comes to this topic of philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life in this book.

Overall this book is a very quick read, because it is around 170 pages long which I could have easily read in one day if I didn’t have to go to work. 

The themes of dreams and following your dreams in this book were very well created. Which made me give this book a few extra points for because it shows us that if we follow our dreams we will find a lot about ourselves and what the definition of a “good life” or “perfect life” is for each of us. 

The characters in this book are very few, but the once we do get in this book are very well made and fell like real human beings in a way. Which is probably my number one rule for books I love and rated 5 out of 5 or even 4 out of 5 on this website.

I liked a lot the characters we do got in this book, because they are very likable and relatable. At the same time the characters in this book felt like I would have no problems becoming friends with them. Which really made me like those characters so much more.

The writing style here is simple and easy going. Which makes this book suitable for all ages to read no matter if you are 10 years old and 90 years old. 

The easy going writing style in this book makes this book for quick to read, at the same time the writing style in this book goes very well with the easy going plot line in this book.

Overall this book isn’t as good as I thought it would be, but Im still glad that I have read this book because it is a very decent book even though in my opinion it is very far from being one of the books which I truly love with all of my heart. 

In my opinion reading this book will make you think about somethings this book talked about, or at the very least it made me think about some of the things this book talked about. Which for me made this book very memorable and it made this book to a book I will easily recommend to other people to read if they haven’t read this book yet.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“The Cinnamon Bun Book Store” By Laurie Gilmore Review

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When a secret message turns up hidden in a book in the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, Hazel can’t understand it. As more secret codes appear between the pages, she decides to follow the trail of clues… she just need someone to help her out. Gorgeous and outgoing fisherman, Noah, is always up for an adventure. And a scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun. Even better that the cute bookseller he’s been crushing on for months is the one who wants his help!

This book is the second book in the “Dream Harbor” book series which so far I’m really liking. I reviewed the first book in the series a few days ago, so if you are interested in hearing my thoughts about the first book in the series you can read that review too. 

I gotta admit that this second book is a little bit weaker and worse than the first book in this series. But I still liked this book even thou it isn’t the best book in this series so far. But I’m only 2 books into a soon 6 books series (the 6th book in this series is expected to be published sometime before summer 2026).

The plot in this book was pretty generic plot line for a small town romance book. But this book does have a same cozy and sweet mood to it which the first book in this series has. This book has the same fall cozy read in front of a fireplace vibe which I love when books have and that instantly makes me like the book if a book has this vibe to it.

I need to admit here, that the love aspect of this book, was very generic and basic which really didn’t make me like this book as much as I wanted to. Because it feels like one of the dozens of romance books where 2 friends fall in love with each other over summer which this book is all about.

The characters are just the same as they were in the first book. In a way I liked them more in this book because I spend 2 full books getting to know the characters in this series. But at the same time I wish we could see more of Jeanie (the main character from the first book in this series). We get very little of Jeanie in this book because the main character in this book Hazel.

Hazel is a bookstore manager and once again, the main character in this series has my dream job of being a manager at a bookstore. I personally think that every book-lover has at least once in their lives dreamed about being a bookstore manager, or at least I have dreamed about that multiple times in my life.

The writing style in this book is very easy going and straightforward. Which doesn’t require a lot of brain power to enjoy this book and find this book interesting. 

The writing style in this book goes very well with the easy going plot in this book which really makes this book fun and easy to read.

I gotta admit there that I was less interested in this second book of the series than I was in the first book. But I still had fun time reading this book. I was very clued to this book as I was reading it and when I wasn’t reading it I was constantly thinking about what would happen next in this book. Which really shows how engaged I was with the plot of this book.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Urbex History. Wchodzimy tam, gdzie nie wolno” By Łukasz Dąbrowski & Konrad Niedziułka & Jakub Stankowski Review

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Wszystko zaczęło się od pomysłu wyprawy do Czarnobyla. Wtedy – zafascynowani jego historią i tajemnicami – rozpoczęli przygodę z urban exploration. Odwiedzają obiekty zbudowane przez człowieka, ale już opuszczone i trudno dostępne. Wchodzą tam, gdzie inni boją się postawić stopę.

Before we start this review I need to say that at the time of writing this review this book is only available in polish. 

This book is about polish urban exploration YouTube channels which is hosted by 3 friends. I used to watch every video upload from their channel for a few years which was the reason I bought this book when it first came out back in 2019. 

If I remember correctly I began reading this book back in early 2024, and then I just stoped reading it after reading 8 or 9 chapters of it because I became very bored of this book. At the same time I stoped reading this book I also stoped watching their YouTube channel since I was becoming tired of watching urban exploration videos and started spending most of my free time reading books. But we are side tracking here and its time to get back to the review of this book.

This book had taken me a long time to read, and I need to be honest here and admit that I DNF-ed it when I was half way through this book. Because I had no interested in continue reading this book.

This book is very slow at the beginning and not very interesting. At least it wasn’t interesting enough for me to finish this book which is the main reason why I didn’t finish reading this book

Each chapter in this book was written by one of the 3 guys who run the YouTube channel. And I found the the chapters very confusing because I was having very hard time tracking who’s point of view the current chapter I was reading was from.

The writing style in this book is all over the place here because it was written by 3 different people. So you know that there will be 3 different writing style in this book which I’m not a big fan of when it happens in a book. I prefer the books I’m reading to have one writing style instead of multiple so that I can get used to it and try to like it.

I Give This Book 3 / 5