Arrogant Devil by R.S. Grey

I have been following this lovely lady for a long time on Instagram and I figured it was about time I read one of her books!

She writes romance and romantic comedies which are my least read genres, but I felt in need of a change. After all, a story I've been playing with myself has a little bit of romance in it. How can I write it if I don't read it!?

Well I took the plunge and I gobbled this up pretty fast, reading it all in a day or two I believe. It's an easy read but that is in no way a bad thing!

I really enjoyed this. I had no idea what to expect (because of my lack of romance novel experience) but I was thrilled with what I found. I was glued to the page and taken along for quite the ride.

The characters are so defined on so many levels that you really don't know what they are going to do next. The story was interesting and compelling without being one I've read before. She took a typical girl and a typical boy, then flipped it on it's head, dug through the misconceptions, and gave you love.

If you had asked me what I felt about romances prior to reading this book I would have told you that it really wasn't my thing. I would have told you that I find them interesting but repetitive. That the same tropes are used over and over to the point where eventually I felt like I'm just reading the same book over and over.

Boy, was I wrong! This was not one of "those romances"

I will be reading more of her books for sure. Romance doesn't have to repeat itself, and it can certainly contain comedy! After all, no two loves are the same!

Recommendation: Even if you aren't into romance (or you think you aren't) give this a try. You will probably be pleasantly surprised just like I was!

Camino Island by John Grisham

I have been a fan of John Grisham for a long time now and when I heard he had a new book out and it was book/writer related, I needed to read it.

This was a good book. I read it quickly as I usually do his books, but that doesn't matter. It's still great. It might have helped that I read it during a readathon and finished it in like one sitting, but still.

Camino Island is about a writer who is asked by a mysterious organization to immerse herself in the lives of a bookseller and some writers on Camino Island where her grandmother had a cabin to catch thieves of priceless literary treasure.

The intrigue and the mystery part of things was good, but honestly I loved reading more about the lives that perhaps not well known authors lead. To think that authors get to go to parties with other authors, talk books and writing, spend their time writing was just good. I found it super inspiring although I don't think it was meant to be that way. Perhaps I'm just odd. Who knows.

Anyway, this book was good. A solid three stars for me only because I figured things out before they were revealed in the book. I much prefer not to guess what's going to happen or at least guess and be proven wrong when it comes to a mystery. I love being surprised.

There were aspects of this book that did surprise me, and I did enjoy it.

Overall, I think this is a pretty solid read. It's worth picking up, especially good as a summer read.

Recommendation: For lovers of John Grisham, for the lovers of mysteries, for the lovers of books about writers albeit fiction.

Poemcrazy by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge

This is a book about poetry. Like the cover says, it's about freeing your life with words.

This is a bit of a instruction type of book, as it comes with exercises and activities to get you going, but it's filled with nuggets of wisdom, and bits of true life from the authors work teaching how to write poetry and from her own life.

It's a very intense book but its not intimidating in the least. I say it's intense because it makes you feel things. I found myself reading through and having to stop and put the book down to reflect on what I read. In such a good way.

The exercises sometimes feel so simple but still make you feel like you are creating something while you are doing them. Like it's not busy work and it's not quite always just you writing a poem, its about playing with words.

This book gives such a beautiful and whimsical feel to poetry that those who are terrified of poetry will feel very differently after this book.

I'm pretty sure I got through this book a couple years ago when I bought it, but for some reason when I picked it up off my shelf and flipped through it I found myself not remembering a lot of it, like I had  a mental block on it. This of course sounds nuts as I love this book and I am planning on going back and doing all of the exercises very soon.

This is up there in my favourites on writing along with Writing Down the Bones, Stephen King's On Writing, and Bird by Bird. I loved all of those books and I love this one too.

Recommendation: For those interested in poetry, for those who want to write, who do write, who are always wanting to learn about writing. This is a resource and an experience waiting to happen.

The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

I think this is the book I've heard a lot of terrible things about it in relation to things I'm not going to discuss in detail, but I don't think all that noise was necessary. This book echoed themes of this world and showed a person breaking through her prejudices and seeing the light which was more than okay with me. Moving on.

This book is about a girl named Elloren Gardner. She is the granddaughter of the last Black Witch and although she looks exactly like her, she doesn't possess the same power. Elloren gets permission to enter university and study to be an apothecary instead of being married off to some nobleman like her grandmother wants. Things are never quite that simple, and being related to the last Black Witch does not make her life easy.

There's so much going on in this book that any explanation of the plot from me would give spoilers and ruin it so if you still want to know more, please check it out.

It's a YA fantasy at it's best. The different characters and the world is pretty interesting. The character development in this book I think is really amazing.

In fact, this book grabbed my attention to the point where I was reading it when I wasn't alone, kind of ignoring my fiancee in order to read this, while stopping every so often to tell him everything about it I could. I don't often do that, but with this one I did.

I originally read this as an ebook, but I am going to be buying myself a physical copy. This book was so much more than I thought it was because I was listening to some of the reviews out there. Case is point that you shouldn't believe everything you read, and when I had a chance to get it as an ebook, I grabbed it and I am so glad I was able to figure things out for myself.

After all, isn't that what we are supposed to be doing anyway? Figuring things out for ourselves and not listening to the opinions of others and developing prejudice and bias towards things that we really shouldn't be.

Anyway, don't let the rest of the world deter you from reading this. I really loved it. I am so ready for the next book. And I'm happy about waiting because I am relishing getting myself a physical copy this one and rereading it just before the next one comes out.

Recommendation: For the lovers of fantasy who like stories about those who rise above and break out  and strive to fight for the good.