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“The Gingerbread Bakery” By Laurie Gilmore Review

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As owner of her beloved Gingerbread Bakery, Annie Andrews should have a love life to match her business; sugary and sweet. But instead, she’s locked in a game of words with the irritatingly upbeat bar owner down the street. Mac Sullivan has everything he wants, except the girl he dreams of. It’s easier to argue with Annie than get her to talk to him but with Jeanie and Logan’s wedding coming up, they’re about to spend a lot more time together. As the snowflakes fall and with romance in the air, will Annie see that the one she loves to hate might just be her perfect match after all?

I need to admit here that this book is easily my favorite book in the “Dream Harbor” series. This book is the 5th book in the series, and I need to admit here that I waited for this book since I started this book, because this book is about Annie and Mac which had a enemies situation going on from the first book and this book actually gives us the why behind their enemies situation since book 1 in this series.

From the start of this book I was completely hooked into it, and I just couldn’t bring myself to stop reading it. I have read this book in 2 days which easily I could have shorted down to one day if I didn’t have to go to work. And the fact that it has been awhile since I read the previous book in this series made me even more hooked onto this book. Since I gotta admit that this series is sort of a guilty pleasure of mine. 

The plot in this book has a huge Christmas vibe to it which made it even before because I read this book last year (2025) in late November so I gotta admit that I was already getting into the Christmas vibe early. At the same time the plot in this book is very sweet and fun which really got onto my guilty pleasure aspect I had with this whole series.

The plot in this book is big on the “second-chance” romance trop which never tends to work on me personally but in this book I completely loved it. Which was sort of weird for me because as Ive said above I hate the “second-chance” romance plots in books but the author of this book had written it in a way that had really worked well for me personally and made me actually enjoy it.

The writing in this book was very good. Because it was like the author of this book used the writing to completely grab my attention and not let it go until the very end of this book. And the fact that this book doesn’t use the romance book cliches phrases like “she bit her lower lip” or “she smiled with her lower lip” made me give this book a lot of extra points for and it made me like this book even more. 

The characters in this book, are very good. I may be biased here because I just spend 5 books with the same characters. But I genuinely believe that the characters are even better than they were in the previous books. Because at this point of this book being the 5th book in the series means that I had spend a lot of time with the characters and at this point I feel like I have known the characters for a very long time because of this I would have no problem being friends with all of the characters in this book and this series. 

The fact that this book and series takes place in a very small town, where everyone knowns each other is one of the main reasons why I love this series so much. Because I would kill to be born in such a town because there is something about such a town I find to very cozy and fun. 

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“An Occupied Grave” By A.G. Barnett Review

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A terrible surprise rocks a funeral when the wrong body is discovered in a freshly dug grave. Now Detective Inspector Brock and Detective Sergeant Poole must open up an old case and dig through the small village’s secrets to solve a murder!

I gotta admit here that I had some hopes for this book, because I tend to love mystery / thriller book but this one is all over the place. 

This book struggles a lot of maintaining point of view or character-building aspect which really annoyed me because it really made it hard for me personally to maintain my interested in this book and keep reading it which I had struggled to finish it.

The big murder reveal aspect of this book was none existent because from the moment when the killer was introduces in this book (which was pretty early on during the investigation) I immediately knew who the killer was because this book made it obvious who the killer was. Which really had taken out the enjoyment, suspense and mystery out of this book for me personally.

The plot in this book is very very slow, almost to the point where the main storyline of this book which is the investigation of who killed the person becomes a side quest for the main character instead of it being the main plot line of this book. Which really made me very bored and uninterested in the plot of this book. Because I read this book solely for the mystery aspect of it and not to learn everything about why the main character moved to the town of this book, his relationship with his father, him making friends and enemies at his new work and him unboxing his stuff in his new apartment. 

At times the plot of this book felt more like it was a character study on the main character instead of being a mystery book about an murder where the main character is a police detective. 

This book has also its fair share of bad grammar, and you know it is bad when a person like me who’s third language is English and makes my faire share of bad grammar notices the bad grammar in a English book. Im not gonna go hard on the bad grammar in this book since I also make my fair share of bad grammar mistakes so I’m only pointing out this aspect of this book. This book has also its fair share of of incorrect forms of the use of verbs, which really made me question my English skills but I was a little bit more assured about my English skills when I saw other people commenting on the bad grammar and incorrect use of verbs in this book.

The reason why I have given this book 2 stars instead of 1 star, is because the plot in this book had a lot of potential and had a good premise. This book could have been very good if the author have kept the focus on the investigation instead of getting sidetracked during this book and if the action in this book would have been faster. 

The characters are okay for the most part. The characters in this book was easily the best part of this book, because I found the characters in this book to be pretty likable and well written. All of the characters in this book had some kind of personalities to them or at the very least something which made them standout from the rest of the characters in this book. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“The Best American Series 2017: 16 Short Stories & Essays” By Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Review

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The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction.  This special edition contains selections from the following 2017 Best American Short Stories edited by Meg WolitzerThe Best American Essays edited by Leslie JamisonThe Best American Mystery Stories edited by John SandfordThe Best American Nonrequired Reading edited by Sarah VowellThe Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Charles YuThe Best American Travel Writing edited by Lauren CollinsThe Best American Science and Nature Writing edited by Hope JahrenThe Best American Sports Writing edited by Howard Bryant  Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. The special guest editor then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish.  This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected – and most popular – of its kind.

I gotta admit that the only reason why I have read this book, is because it was free on amazon for kindles. So here I am reviewing this book after I tried and failed reading this book. But as always I will explain everything in this review.

This book involves 16 short stories and essays. I made it halfway through this book before I decided to DNF this book. Because all of the short stories and essays in this book are super boring and uninteresting for me at the very least. 

The short stories and essays in this book are about fiction, science, science fiction, sports and travel. Which are the topics which I tend to enjoy in books. But all of the short stories and essays in this book are very shallow and narrow. Which really made it seem to me like the authors of those short stories and essays in this book weren’t even interested in their short stories and essays to make them actually good.

The writing in those short stories and essays are of course different from short story to short story and from essay to essay because all of those short stories and essays in this book have been written by different people. But I gotta admit that the first short story in this book had the best writing out of all the short stories and essays in this book. All the writing styles in each short stories and essays in this book felt like I was reading a high school textbook because in my opinion those authors behind the short stories and essays in this book didn’t care enough to make those short stories and essays fun or interesting. 

The first half of this book wasn’t even half bad, but the second half of this book where I had DNF-ed this book felt like reading a mix between a high school textbook and a social media post which annoyed me. Because if I wanted to read a social media post I would have opened instagram and do my reading there. 

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“Whisked Away” By Enola M. Douglas Review

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When Princess Reiyana unexpectedly presents as an Omega at age twenty, her future is no longer her own. Once a Beta with dreams of love and adventure, she is now a political prize—coveted by Alphas across the Nine Kingdoms.

I gotta admit that this book has taken me a while to finish because this book is entirely too long and has way too many descriptions in my opinion. 80% of this book is just descriptions of what is happening which had really made me uninterested, annoyed and bored of this book. 

The only reason why I have given this book a 2 star rating instead of a 1 star rating is because I really enjoyed the plot, and I think the plot had a lot of potential to be very good only if the descriptions were so long and huge as they were in this book. I found myself skipping paragraphs even pages because the descriptions were so long and boring in this book which is something I never do while reading a book.

The biggest issue I had with this book is the fact that the love triangle in this book is between the princess and two brothers, which made me pretty uncomfortable when during the spicy scenes in this book where the two brothers were sleeping with the princess at the same time. Which means that the romance theme of this book didn’t work for me at all, it only made it very uncomfortable for me personally because the 2 main guys in the love triangle in this book were brothers which I already mentioned.

But at the same time the romance aspect of this book felt very flat and lacked tension or chemistry between Princess Reiyana, Kaelin and Alarik. Which really made me question why I kept reading this book.

The characters in this book are a very mixed bag here. Because I found Princess Reiyana to be very annoying and frustrated. Because the entire book she was acting like a 10 year old throwing a tantrum just because her parents said “no” to her which didn’t make sense to me because Princess Reiyana is supposed to be 20 years old in this book so I was expecting her to be more mature than a 10 year old throwing a tantrum.

However I did like Kaelin and Alarik who are the two brothers which I mentioned above. There were times where Kaelin was annoying me a fair share during this book, because there were times where he acted like the consequences of this actions didn’t apply to him just because his father is the king and he is the heir to the throne. When it comes to Alarik was easily the best character in this book, I wish this book would spend more time on him because he was the best character in this book in m y opinion. 

The writing in this book was pretty simple and easygoing, which reminded me a lot of YA themed book rather than a fantasy book which this book claims to be on Goodreads. (Or at least it claims to be a “fantasy book” on Goodreads at the time of writing this review) 

The pacing in this book is very very slow, which makes this book very torturous to me personally because this book is over 600 pages long and at times it feels like this book would never end because the pacing of this book was so painfully slow. I personally think that this book would have been so much better if the pacing was faster which would make this book way shorter than 600 pages that it has. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Hit Me With Your Best Shot” By Sara Ney Review

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I didn’t mean to roast Gio Montagalo, goalie and crown jewel of The Houston Baddies hockey team. Honestly, I was screaming at the TV in a sports bar like any self-respecting sports junkie does when their team is on a losing streak! So when his twin sister sidles up on the stool beside me, laughing at my commentary, I figured I’d made a fan, too. What I didn’t expect? For her brother—the guy I called “a flashy ice peacock with the reflexes of a sloth”—to hear about it.

I gotta admit that the only reason why I have read this book is because it was free on amazon for a kindle which I have been trying to switch to for the past year or so. So I decided to take a shot on this book and see what my opinions about this book would be. 

I need to say that this book wasn’t the worst romance book I have read in my time, because I have read much worse romance books than this one. But I still wasn’t a big fan of this book. I liked this book a fair share but in the end I gotta admit that this book wasn’t that good when I actually started thinking about this book for this review. 

The plot in this book was okay for the most part, but the majority of this plot was very childish in my opinion. The characters in this book behavior was so juvenile like they were teenager despite the fact that all the characters in this book were well over 20 years of age. Which made absolutely made no sense to me.

The plot also started dragging for a very long time very quickly. Which made me almost torturous for me to read this book. Because this book would spend a lot of time talking about stuff which would have been forgotten about from the next chapter until the end of this book.

This book started off well, but the deeper I got into this book the more bored and annoyed I would become at this book. Which really made me consider DNF-ing this book a fair share of times which of course made it very hard for me personally to finish this book. The book really had started going down when the two main characters started dating because it felt like a grade school type of romance because both of them started acting very immature and cringy with each other which had really put me off by a lot.

The dialogues in this book were trying way too hard to be funny. To such an extent that it just made it way too cringey to actually be funny in my opinion. 

There is no character differentiation in this book. All of the characters in this book seemed like the same person because everything about them seem to be the same. They talk alike. They think alike. They behave alike. So I had a real hard time trying to separate them and remember who is who in this book. 

The whole theme of this book is hockey, but the actual hockey like hockey matches and hockey training was almost none-existent in this book. Which made me very annoyed and frustrated. Because whats the point of the hockey theme of this book when the actual theme of hockey barely exists in this book? 

The writing style was easily the best aspect of this book, because it was very easygoing and simple. And in a way the writing style made this whole book more fun and enjoyable because my whole interested in this book was existing solely from the writing style of this book.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla” By Nikola Tesla Review

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The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla is the definitive record of the pioneering work of one of the modern world’s most groundbreaking inventors. During the early twentieth century, Nikola Tesla blazed the trail that electrical technology would follow for decades afterward. Although he pioneered inventions like alternating current (AC), radio, wireless transmission, and X-rays, and worked with innovators like George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison, the once celebrated Tesla was later largely forgotten by history. With illustrations and diagrams of many of Tesla’s early patents and inventions, as well as dozens of thought-provoking lectures and articles, this volume offers a rare glimpse of a true genius at work.

I gotta admit that this book was easily the hardest book I have read so far in my life.  Thats because I am a dummy compared to Nikola Tesla and I needed to watch a fair share of YouTube videos to understand the things this book talked about.

This book is very well researched and written which made me like this book even more because it is clear that Nikola Tesla used a lot of time on his inventions and research. This book was a very interesting read which I have learned a fair share things from. 

At the same time this book has a short biographical aspects of Tesla’s life which we get throughout this book. Which I also liked a lot because I gotta admit that before reading this book I didn’t know much about him other than him being smart as hell, he inventing some cool stuff and him being from Croatia. Because of this book I have learned more about him and his inventions which made me like this book so much better.

As I was reading this book I have realized how big of a dummy I am when it comes to technology and the things Nikola Tesla has talked about in this book. I am in no way an engineer or electrician so most of the stuff this book talked about is WAY beyond me too I needed to watch some explanation YouTube videos on some of the topics this books talks about. 

The writing in this book was very good. Before reading this book I was afraid that this book would be very much like a heavy high school science book which always put me to sleep in high school. But in reality the writing in this book was very very good, because it was able to grab my attention and make me genuinely interested in the things this book has talked about. Which really is the main aspect of why I like this book as much as I do now after having read the entire book. 

This book also gives us illustrations which made it easier for me to understand what this book was talking about, which made me give this book some extra points for doing. Because without those illustrations I would have been very fucked with understanding what this book was talking about.  

But at the same time some of the illustrations of this book were kinda hard for me to decipher because they were pretty detailed and I had no idea what I was looking at. So thank god for google which have saved my day while reading this book. 

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“Rule of Two” By Drew Karpyshyn Review

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Now Darth Bane is ready to put his policy into action, and he thinks he has found the key element that will make his triumph complete: a student to train in the ways of the dark side. Though she is young, Zannah possesses an instinctive link to the dark side that rivals his own. With his guidance, she will become essential in his quest to destroy the Jedi and dominate the galaxy.

This book has to be easily the best star wars book I have read so far in my life. Which says a lot to me personally since I have read a lot of good star wars books in my time on this website and I gotta say that this one takes the cake as of now at least.

This book offers us the history of Darth Bane, Darth Bane trying and failing to create holocrons as well as Darth Bane training his apprentice who is a young female named Zannah who struggles with get easily attached to people and animals and not understanding Darth Bane’s plan on how Siths can rule galaxy. Which really made me give this book a lot of extra points for doing. Since this book portrays both Darth Bane and Zannah as real human being in the star wars universe who are struggling and trying to find their way to achieve their goals. 

There is a lot of action in this book, and the pacing in this book is pretty fast too. There is a lot of things that happens in this book which means we as readers as never bored while reading this book because there is so much that is happening in this book which made me like this book even more than I already did.

This books is pretty dark since it has its fair share of violence and it has pretty dark tone and atmosphere which really made me like this book even more than I already did, because this book just perfectly portrays the dark side in star wars and it truly shows us how different the Siths are from Jedis.

The characters in this book are incredible, especially Darth Bane which is my all time favorite character from star wars and one which in my opinion is very underrated and under explored. This book had made me just love Darth Bane even more than I already did before this book. Because this book adds so much depth and personality to him that it made him feel like a real human being in a way. 

When it comes to Zannah, she is also an incredible character. Because she has a lot of character debt to her and she has her own personality which made me immediately love her as a character. Because she struggles with her moral compass and easily getting attached to people and creatures of the star wars universe but at the same time she was to become a Sith Lord and hopefully one day kill Darth Bane and take his place as a Sith Lord. But at the same time she needs him to teach her about the dark side of the force. So she is in this constantly struggle with herself and trying to find out what she really wants.

The writing style in this book is incredible. Because it was like the author of this book knew exactly what words to use to completely grab my attention and not let it go until the very end of this book. Which made me give this book some extra points for doing that because I was completely hooked on this book from the very first page of it and I just couldn’t stop reading this book until the very end of this book. 

At the same time the author of this book made me want to read his other star wars books because there is something about the way he writes star wars books that completely takes over my life and makes me clued to his books and I stop cant stop reading them like happened with this book “Revan” book which was also written by the same author.

I Give This Book 5 / 5

“Cat Among the Pigeons” By Agatha Christie Review

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Late one night, two teachers investigate a mysterious light in the school Sports Pavilion. Among the tennis racquets and lacrosse sticks, they find the body of the unpopular games mistress – shot through the heart. Schoolgirl Julia Upjohn knows too much, and begins to worry that she might be the next victim. Can detective Hercule Poirot find the killer before the ‘cat’ strikes again?

I gotta admit here that enjoy much more Agatha Christie’s books than the modern day mystery / thriller books I have read in my time on this website. There is something about Agatha Christie’s books that really grab my attention and not let it go until the very end of each of her books I read. Which doesn’t happen with the more modern mystery / thriller books I have read which turn out to be bad in my opinion. 

The plot in this book is very interesting and enjoyable. I was hooked on the plot from the very first page of this book and I just couldn’t stop reading this book until the very end of this book. Which explains why I have read this book in one day. 

The plot in this book has the vibe to it where the killer might strike at anytime which makes the whole book pretty tense but also very fun and enjoyable at the same time. I gotta admit that this book is so far my favorite book in the Hercule Poirot series. Which this book is the second book so far I have read in the series which I expect to continue reading and finishing this year (2026) hopefully. 

The entire story happens at an elite school for girls in England. And in a way the setting of this book really is a big part of why I liked this book as much as I did. Because there is something eerie for me about the fact that a killer is running wild at a boarding school. 

The writing style in this book is very good, it has this old timey vibe to it which I love in mystery books. Because I tend to like stories where smartphones aren’t the available and the characters aren’t constantly checking their phone for whatever. The writing style in this book was almost like the Agatha Christie knew exactly what words to use in this book to completely grab my attention and not let it go until the very end of this book which of course made me give this book extra points for doing. 

The only thing I didn’t like about this book is that Hercule Poirot doesn’t appear in this book until maybe the last 30% of this book. With each book I read in this series I find myself loving Hercule Poirot more and more. And him only being present in this book for the last 30% or so really didn’t go well with me but not enough to not love this book. 

The characters are very good and interesting in this book. All of the characters we get in this book have their own personalities and something that makes them unique and have their own quirks to make them standout from the rest of the characters in this book. I personally wouldn’t have any problems being friends with them in real life, which really says a lot about how much I liked the characters in this book. 

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba Fett” By Daniel Wallace Review

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Discover the crucial tools and techniques all bounty hunters need to master. Get the basics on making a living at the margins of galactic law. Delve into the history, philosophy, and gear of Death Watch, a secretive splinter group of Mandalorians. Legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett bound together two volumes of great personal significance: the latest edition of The Bounty Hunter’s Guild Handbook and a recruiting booklet issued by Death Watch. Together, these volumes make up The Bounty Hunter code. Fett and the book’s other previous owners recorded their thoughts and commentary in the margins.

I gotta admit here that this book is the second weakest book in the “Secrets of the Galaxy Guidebooks” series from the star wars universe. 

I need to admit here, I never found the bounty hunter aspect of star wars to be interesting. Yes I am a huge fan of the Mandalorians but thats the closet thing to bounty hunting in star wars am a fan of. I always thought that bounty hunters was a nice addition to the star wars universe but I never put any more thoughts to bounty hunters beside that acknowledgment.

However I did like the history aspect of this book which was about how the Bounty Hunters’ Guild was created and the history of the previous bounty hunters who are sort of legends in the field. That history in this book made me want that lucasfilms and Disney would make a tv show about the Bounty Hunters’ Guild because that would be a huge banger in my opinion. 

This book is sort of like a guidebook for new bounty hunters, which explain how the Bounty Hunters’ Guild works, the hierarchy of the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, how bounties are made, what determines the prize of a bounty, how to get prepared for a mission and all the various stuff you will need for a mission like trackers, bugs, landspeeder or Airspeeder amongst other things which I found to be very interesting because in a way all this information gives us extra information about what tech exists in the star wars universe which makes the whole universe more fun and interesting for me personally.

At the same time this book adds all that information to the star wars lore but its more from a characters perceptive, because this book and the rest of the books in this series are written as if from a character’s perceptive. Which is the main reason why I like this series so much as I do.

This book is a very short read, because it only has 160 pages or so, which means that it can be read very quickly. Which in a way helped me like this book better, because I wouldn’t be able to finish this book if it was any longer than that, because as I’ve said above I’m not a fan of the bounty hunting aspect of star wars which might be pretty controversial for some star wars fans.

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life” By Steven Bartlett Review

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A galvanizing playbook for success from Steven Bartlett, one of the world’s most exciting entrepreneurs and the host of the No. 1 podcast The Diary of a CEO. At the very heart of all the success and failure I’ve been exposed to – both my own entrepreneurial journey and through the thousands of interviews I’ve conducted on my chart-topping podcast – are a set of principles that ensure excellence.

I need to admit here that I had pretty low expectations for this book, since before reading this book I thought it was one of those way to overhyped books. But now that I have read this book I gotta admit that this book is one of the better business / self help books I have read in my time.

This book gives us a lot of amazing fantastic information and strategy which I have learned a few things from, despite the fact that I have read and reviewed a handful of business / self-help books. Which really shows that this book doesn’t re-phrase the same stuff other business / self-help books do say which I have come across from a few times from in my time on this website. 

The writing style of the book is very good, because its very clear from the writing style that the author of this book have put a lot of research and time into this book which only made me like this book more than I already did. But also the writing style in this book is very good because it was like the author of this book knew exactly what words to use to completely grab my attention and not let it go until the very end of this book. 

The language of this book is very simple and easy to understand. Which makes this book a very good read for anyone no matter the age, educational level or background. I have come across some very heavy business books where they used a lot of masters degree in finance terms and strategies I had no idea about since I have no degree in business or finance. But this book is the completely opposite of that, which really made me give this book some extra points for doing.

I really liked the aspect of this book where this book doesn’t use the time to make pointless examples or waste time on stuff that didn’t matter which I have seen other business and self-help books do. 

This book actually offers us a lot of value and good insight into becoming successful which really is a huge part of why I rating this book so high as I did. Because I ave come across a lot of business / self-help book which only re-phrase the same stuff over and over again which I already talked about above. 

I Give This Book 5 / 5