Review | Guitar Kisses

 

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Kindle Price: $2.99

Synopsis:

“Shy, quiet Kirsten Nicholson’s life on the sprawling family ranch in Oklahoma has been one of serene predictability. In fact, her rancher father, Carter, detests change. But changes galore explode when seventeen-year-old Enrique Delaire arrives on the scene. Wearing his “Bronc Busting’s a Kicker” ballcap, his Nikes, and his surfer shirt, Enrique is ready to ride. And ride he does, not only into the hearts of this family, but into the hearts of this entire rural community. Enrique is the foster son of Kirsten’s aunt and uncle from Albuquerque. They sent Enrique to help out on the ranch while Kirsten’s fiance, Dan, is away at farrier school in Colorado. Kirsten has always been content to stay on the sidelines watching life go by, quietly writing her songs and playing her guitar alone in her room. Now all she hears is Enrique Delaire saying: “You won’t know if you don’t try.” In the wake of Enrique’s encouragement, she finds herself stepping into the limelight in ways she never dreamed. Suddenly doors open to Kirsten and difficult decisions must be made. Will she make the right decisions? Or slip back into her old life of sameness?”

My Review:

I’m familiar with Norma Jean’s writing, having read Flower in the Hills earlier. So I definitely was expecting to enjoy Lingering Dreams and I’m glad I did.

I loved the characters, but Kirsten’s mom was one of my favorites. She was hilarious and a quiet and fierce force. Here’s one of the scenes I loved the most:

“So I heard. I heard you been raising quite a stink in Clemetsville. I Been getting phone calls all evening.”

Kirsten glanced over at her mother who gently lifted two fingers, telling Kirsten there’d only been two calls.

Review| Tears, Music, & Harmony

 

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Kindle Price: $2.99

Synopsis:

“Eleanor is a singer. Her songs keep nature in balance, but when they are stolen from her, a grey mist descends and her world fails to thrive. This timid orphan is thrust into a course of action she never asked for, nor envisioned. Set against a backdrop of abandonment, loss and betrayal, she must find her way through strange and dangerous landscapes in her desperate search for the Perfect Tear, a dark crystal which holds the future of her world. But, Eleanor is no savior. She is a simple girl with strong instincts and she must learn to trust them. Just like the notes of song must connect to create a melody, Eleanor must discover the connections needed to create the harmony required to truly save her world.”

My Review:

Ugh. Honestly.

Books like these just don’t help when you’re still reeling from some other book breaking your heart.

Lansberg has poured hand sanitizer in my paper cut and I can’t say I like that very much.

And yet, I ate it up, didn’t I?

(Not the hand sanitizer, the book)

Okay, truly? I was rooting for the villain when I started reading this. I didn’t know they were the villain, but I just wanted them to succeed, it seemed like it was the right thing, the cause, you know? So imagine my surprise when they become the villain and at one point, in my notes I said,

I don’t want Eleanor hurt! But I want [them] to win!!!

Awakening (Absence of Song series) by C.B. Stone

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Price: Free!

Official Rating: 1.5/5

Synopsis:

Though music is forbidden and could get me in big trouble with the Ministry, I nevertheless often find myself singing softly in spite of the danger. Little do I know just how much hot water my strange compulsion to sing will actually land me in.
What is happening in the world around me? How is it happening? How does the stranger Noah fit into things? And most importantly… why me? I’m no more special than the next person.
So many questions and so many dangers. All I can do is trust that whatever is happening, it is good. I can see that it’s good, and I refuse to let anyone convince me otherwise.

My Review:

This was a weird experience and not in a good way I’m afraid. A world where singing, humming, and music in general is banned is difficult to imagine. It is undoubtedly a horrifying thought. Yet, this is the world that Jaelynn lives in.
I think that maybe Awakening was some sort of a “pre-book,” but there is no excuse for the rather poor quality. It was not engaging, it was not descriptive, it was emotionless, severely under-developed, and drab. Now here’s why.

Jaelynn Rose is the heroine. Why? I have a strong guess, but for now, I don’t know and neither do you. Since neither you nor I know why she’s the heroine, I would assume that Stone would give hints. Maybe try to make it less obscure as to why she decided Jaelynn is the heroine I want to spend some of my limited time on earth reading about. Instead, all I am given is that when she sleeps, she hears songs. Phenomenal. Not to mention, at one point, Jaelynn isn’t sure what her own name is. She introduces herself as Jaelynn and her parents call her Jaelynn, but then she called herself Jaclyn when she was thinking. It happened once, but it was there. I for one would be terrified if I relied on a heroine who forgot what her name was.

I felt that Jaelynn was pretty naive. A few sentences here and there did their best to make her seem intuitive and always questioning things, but it didn’t happen. If anyone’s ever experienced a really long winter with a ton of snow, they know that there are huge potholes in the road and they easily fill up with water. Now, anyone with common sense wouldn’t look at a pothole filled with water and think “Haha! I’m going to jump in, it can’t be that deep.” because that’s just not a good idea. Sadly, that was mostly what Jaelynn did. She had no self-control whatsoever for example: “Whoa! A strange man is approaching? I’m totally safe if this fence is between us. Let’s exchange names! I want to tell you my secret that could get me and my family killed.” or even “I barely know you, but let’s cramp ourselves in this very small room all alone and hope nothing bad happens.” Really? Are you kidding? That is very dangerous, please don’t do that. Her inability to lie to her parents was eye-roll worthy. Of course she can’t lie to her parents, what does she have to lie about? She doesn’t do anything at all, besides a mundane routine and then hears some songs in her dreams. I’m sure this is just a tool to make sure in later books it seems like her “innocence” is being taken away because of the government. I didn’t see a leader in Jaelynn and while it could be a way to show character development throughout the later books, this wasn’t the way to do it. Instead of making me interested in seeing Jaelynn develop, it made me write her off the “Could Be a Heroine” list.