I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher (through NetGalley) in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The Eight Mountains by Paola Cognetti is a story of friendship and family. Pietro and Bruno meet in Italy as young boys, and share their summers together. While Pietro goes back to Milan in winter, Bruno stays near the mountains tending to his family’s livestock. Eventually, Pietro goes to college and their summers together come to an end.
A lifelong friendship despite large spans of being apart, they are reunited later in life. The story is mainly focused on character development and less on plot.
While enjoyable to read, I did not feel a strong connection to any of the characters. Pietro as the narrator often seemed to lack an understanding of his friend (and others), and this may have been the primary contributing factor.
I wanted more from this book, and in the end it did not deliver.
The Bright Idea Box is a very different type of book compared to what I normally read, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading this.
Jag Randhawa presents a system to encourage and empower employee driven innovation. There are many real world examples, from Toyota, 3M and of course, Google. There are also numerous how to’s and checklists to get you started.
The premise is that bottom-up innovation needs to be nurtured and encouraged, and that doing so will also increase employee engagement, a win-win for most companies.
I found this to be an easy read and a good introduction to the topic. However, I was left at the end with a feeling like I wouldn’t quite be ready to start something like this at work without furthering reading and research.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this through NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.
A paranormal romance, Dead Beautiful tells the story of Renee Winters, and what happens when she is sent away to boarding school after the death of her parents.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but for a paranormal romance, I think it took way too long to dig into what, exactly, was paranormal. Possibly because it took so long, there were lots of clues and the big reveal was not much of a reveal for me. I won’t spoil it for you here, but if you read it, see if you can’t spot it waaaay in advance.
The other down side to this book was that I felt the writing wasn’t stellar. It was OK, but a little too wordy and a little repetitive in places with adjectives and information.
That said, I will still probably continue with the series, at least one more, to see if the writing improves.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this through NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The High Druid’s Blade: The Defenders of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Mr. Brooks has written many excellent fantasy novels, and I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t read enough of them. Quite some time ago, I read The Original Shannara Triology, which I enjoyed very much. After that, I did not continue with the Shannara books, although I’m not sure why.
Years later, I came across Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold!, the first novel in the Magic Kingdom of Landover series. This, at the time, happened to be free for Kindle, and was the first book I read using Amazon’s Kindle app on my iPhone, before I purchased my first Kindle. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire Magic Kingdom series and reminded myself that I needed to return to the Shannara series.
As it turns out, I forgot, until I happened to come across The High Druid’s Blade, the latest of many in the Shannara series, on NetGalley. I was thrilled when I was approved to receive an advanced copy.
The world of Shannara consists of The Four Lands: the Northland, home to the trolls; the Southland, the land of men; the Eastland, where the dwarves and gnomes fight for territory; the Westland, where the Elven race resides. Present knowledge and science has been lost in Shannara, and science has been replaced by magic. But the magic is wild, and almost uncontrollable.
The High Druid’s Blade tells the story of Paxon Leah, a descent many generations removed from Flick Ohmsford and Menion Leah, from The Sword of Shannara. Paxon doesn’t know much of magic, as it’s outlawed in the Southlands and policed by the Federation and controlled by the Druids.
Paxon’s sister is kidnapped by a mysterious and dangerous man, and Paxon is the only one who can save her. Over the course of the novel, Paxon learns much about himself, his family, and magic.
While readable as a standalone novel, I feel that many readers would prefer to start at the beginning, with The Sword of Shannara. There are many references to historical events and people, which I imagine are covered in some of the novels that I skipped.
Like The Original Shannara Triology, I highly enjoyed this book. Brooks has created a robust, compelling and magical world, along with an engaging set of characters. I can’t wait to go back to beginning and read them all.
Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this through NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon