Books I Read Recently #20

Welcome to another collective book review!

I have only been able to read books in the romance genre for a while. I am too stressed and the last thing I need is jumping through hoops trying to understand a fictional character or even finding out what the mystery is. So I gave in and read Midnight sun. I was planning not to read it but I needed to have speaking points for my podcast.

Without much ado, lets get into it….

Breathless by Beverly Jenkins

Review

15 years after the events of book one (which I read during The Reading Rush), where the family hotel and business were raided and burnt by racist assholes in Virginia city. We follow Portia one of Eddy’s nieces who was sent to live with her and Rhine after their mother found the guy she wanted to be with but he didn’t want the burden of being with children that are not his. Rhine and Eddy take in Portia and her sister Regan.
Here we see Portia as grown into a beautiful woman who is the manager of one of the best hotels in Arizona Territory, she manages the books and she cannot cook. Then she meets Kent Randolph who she knew when she was younger and lived in Virginia City, he is in town seeking employment with Rhine. Seeing her again sparks his interest and he is known to always go for what he wants.
With Portia not interested in marriage or any other man, her interest in the newly arrived stud takes her by surprise.

Not my favorite book in the series but I really enjoyed their relationship

Rating

I gave this book 3.2 out of 5 stars

Tempest by Beverly Jenkins

Review

This is my favorite book in the Old West series and I thought the reunion at the end was a perfect conclusion.
Here we follow Regan who decided to be a mail order bride for a small town Doctor in the Wyoming Territory who is also a single father to a young six-year-old daughter. When she arrives, the first thing she does is accidentally shoot him in the shoulder and she is not what he excepts. She is here in are denim and her “not-so-proper” attire and she is the talk of the town.
There are so many things about this book that makes it special, the abuse that Anna experience at the hand of her mother’s sister who felt that a child should be seen not heard and that made Anna withdrawn, I am glad she got Regan who helped her out of her shell. I also loved that Regan was not the Virginal bride that a lot of old west books have and it sort of opened Colton’s eyes to be biased he as especially as a doctor who should know better.
There are also some historical facts that Beverly touched on in the books that were very educative especially for someone like me who doesn’t know a lot about the history of black and Asian people in America and cruelty that they have experienced over the centuries.

Rating

I gave this book 4.2 out of 5 stars

No God Like the Mother by Kesha Ajose Fisher

Review

Thanks to Booktasters for making this book available to me.
No God Like the Mother is a collection of short stories that explore motherhood, death, loneliness, childbirth, diaspora, separation, and more.
I will not explain each story that would be spoiling it. There are a few stories that touched me because of how relatable it was because I am a Nigerian and this book is centered around characters that are Nigerian. There is also the little slangs and signs that just makes this book dear to my heart as it reminds me of home and how much representation matters.
No God Like the Mother is the title of one of the stories and it tells the story of a family’s loss. Here the mother just died during childbirth and you immediately feel the loss that accompanies the birth of a new child. The father couldn’t even look at the child and the young daughter’s fear for her life and the future she would have without a mother. There is just this faint mist of future uncertainty for her at that moment.
Then there is “The Silence between us” which really explores the diaspora and the disconnect that a lot of Nigerians who live in America or generally outside of Africa feel when they go back home to Nigeria. They realize that they cannot really relate to anything back home and they feel ostracized because of that difference.
These nine stories explore Nigerian culture and people in a way that I have never read before.

Rating

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars

Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo

Review

This book follows two points of view. We follow Lucky who is a Korean Pop-idol and is has just finished her world tour and is in Hong Kong. She is about to debut on American Television and the last thing she needs is drama or scandal. She is well-loved and her agency wants her to keep it that way. However one night in Hongkong, unable to sleep and hungry, she slips out of her hotel room and into the bustling night of Hongkong. This is when she meets Jack who is a photographer and he doesn’t know who she is.
She introduces herself as Fern and they have one of the craziest nights together. But the problem begins when she is asleep in his bed and he comes across a picture of her online. He freaks out having a superstar in his bed that he shares with his best friend. When she wakes up she panics but he calms her and maintains the pretense of not knowing her. They get to spend a day together and little does she know that he is also a paparazzi and he takes pictures for a tabloid. With her begins to take her pictures with her knowledge.
The majority of this book takes place over the course of 24 hours and we really get to know each of them, their fears, and dreams of the future. I thought it was cute and easy to read.

Rating

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars

Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer

Review

I really wasn’t going to read this book because I just wasn’t interested. I had to read it for a podcast episode I am planning but here is a little run down.

Edward meets Bella, he can’t control his thirst and he imagines all the ways he can kill her without causing the most causality that would draw the wrath of the Volturi. Anyways he goes away for a few days to calm down and drink the blood of animals until he felt he would vomit. Then he goes back to school where he meets Bella and strikes up a conversation to find out more about her and why he can’t hear her thoughts.
Then a few weeks pass and they are so in love and so drawn with each other, he saves her from almost being smashed by a car which in results reveals Edward’s power to her. As a sensible girl, she is drawn to his ‘strength’ even when he became mean to her (starling relationship model). Anyways a few days past and Alice gets the premonition (or rather vision of the future) that Bella would become a vampire or dead but Edward refuses to accept this.

(We also get more of his back story and how he went through a blood binging stage, but then came back to the family. We learn more about Carlisle past and how he became the father figure in their coven and how to be decided not to kill humans or drink their blood)

Days past and they are in love (well, Bella found out that he is a Vampire and she is in love), soon he takes her to his family home and she introduces him to her father and they go for a baseball game in the storm *which is supposedly better* and then another Coven happens to come along and destroy their semblance of peace.
They are on the run and Bella is hurt, Edward almost loses his mind. Oh and there is Jacob (As someone who only read book 1 and watched all the movies, I assumed that Jacob was attracted to Bella from the start and skeptical of Edward, but I guess I was wrong because Edward didn’t seem pissed about Jacob’s thoughts)
Finally, they go for prom and that is basically it. So like I said think of twilight, only longer because he gets to see it from the eyes of someone you cannot keep a secret from and he is in all definition a horny teenager.

Rating

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars

Thanks for reading.