A Bookworm's Book Reviews

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Introduction

Hello all!

I am C.M. Mills, an avid book lover looking for the next good book. I usually read fantasy and historical fiction. I’ve started branching out into thrillers. I’m not the biggest fan of purely romantic books. Sure, put it in a book, but it shouldn’t take the place of a good plot. I am willing to give any book a try. I enjoy reading nonfiction, too. Most of the nonfiction books I’ve read are memoirs, but I’d be willing to give other types of nonfiction a try. I’ve slogged through terrible books and will put up with a lot before I give up on a book.

Some things that I love in a book: a map (if needed), a pronunciation guide (if needed), a reason to care about the characters, and suspense to keep me going. Give me a connection to the protagonist. Authors get brownie points if the villain has a relatable motive, or has a unique stance.

Some turn offs include: introducing too many characters at once (looking at you Game of Thrones), characters with difficult names to pronounce (a pronunciation guide can offset this), not enough character relatability, boring plot, not enough action, etc.

I do enjoy a sappy romance, but it drives me nuts when the characters won’t admit their feelings (yes I know it can be a plot point, but don’t let it be the main plot point), or have again off again relations (it can get annoying). Also too many steamy scenes cause me to skip or skim over book.

Some of my favorite books include The Book Thief (for its writing style and humor despite being a WW2 setting book), Redeeming Love (a slightly predicable romance/historical fiction set in during the California gold rush), The Last Sin Eater (a historical fiction focused on an unusual British Isle tradition) , Immanuel’s Veins (a unique take on vampirish/angelic lore set to a historical fiction book), The Lord of the Rings (a dense read but so unique), Harry Potter (magic, cause why not), and The Chronicles of Narnia (for the world within). These are the first that came to my mind. I have so many more that I’ve enjoyed.

Some of my favorite authors include Francine Rivers (for her takes on historical fiction interwoven with classic tales, also has some sappy romantic books), Ted Dekker (for his unique thrillers and ability to keep the reader interested), Paula Brackston (for her historical fiction and use of worldly magic), Arturo Perez-Reverte (for his descriptive historical fiction use of vocabulary), and Elizabeth Camden (for a sappy love story and use of historical fiction). These are the authors I usually gravitate towards.

Feel free to send me recommendations and requests. I’d love to hear about other genres, books, and authors. I’ll try my best to read those books as soon as I can. My room is a partial library of unread books. Also feel free to ask me questions. I’ll respond as soon as I can.

Tea with Elephants – Robin Jones Gunn

Title: Tea with Elephants

Author: Robin Jones Gunn

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Christian Fiction

Plot: Lily and Fern have been friends since childhood. They’ve moved away and grown up but remained close. Both have started families and had to postpone their dreams of traveling the world. When Lily’s gifted a trip to Africa, she can’t pass up the opportunity to go with Fern. Fern is hesitant at first, but her husband persuades her. The two women are excited to meet up and have their first adventure together since childhood. As they travel, the women see wonderful things and meet wonderful people. But they also have their hurts they’re working through. The more they travel, the more they work through their issues. But will they be able to work through all their problems? And are they willing to hear the answers?

Rating: 4.0 – a great story of friendship

Opinion: This was a really cute story. This was a great story of friendship. It’s great to have good friends like this and that they can have deep and meaningful conversations. More people need these types of friendships. Even though it would focus on the adventures in Africa, I’m glad it was a story about friendship and family. I’m glad the story focused on deep, meaningful solutions to the women’s issues, instead of superficial ones. I’m also glad the author talked about faith and how faith can help give an extra support in times of hardship. I agree that it’s hard to imagine going through hard times without faith. What do they hold onto during those times? While I loved this story, I the whole trip went a little too easy. I thought there’d be a few more bumps in the road. But I understand that it could’ve distracted from the story and it could’ve forced them talk about other things instead of focusing on the bigger issues. And maybe I’m too used to things going wrong on traveling with friends stories. Overall, this was a really sweet story. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves deep and meaningful friendship stories.

Dewey – Vicki Myron

Title: Dewey

Author: Vicki Myron

Genre: Memoir

Plot: In the small town of Spencer, Iowa, there was a tight knit community. Most of the community was based around the farmers who lived life together. Head librarian, Vicki Myron, shares her experiences growing up in Spencer and how she became a librarian. That was all before meeting Dewey. Someone had put him the library’s book drop off bin in the middle of a bad Iowa winter. Vicki of course took him in and let him wander around the library and snuggle with the other library staff. Everyone fell in love with him. With the city council’s permission, he became the official library cat. Dewey spent most of his days wandering the library, joining the kid’s book time, and sitting in people’s laps. He was the perfect cat and knew how to treat all of his adoring fans. After appearing a show about library cats, Dewey became famous. He met even more adoring fans from around the world. He treated each and every fan with respect and gave them the attention they needed. When he started getting old, he still lived his best life at the library and received the best send off a cat could dream of.

Rating: 4.5 – a sweet story about how a community came together for a cat

Opinion: This was a really sweet book. I loved how the tiny town bonded over their little library cat. It broke my heart how the author found Dewey. I was presently surprised how mild mannered Dewey was and how attuned to people he was. Dewey was the perfect gentleman with all of the library patrons. But he still had his silly cat quirks, like his love of rubber bands, catnip, and playing chase with the author after library hours. It made me happy that the author and Dewey bonded over their medical issues. They had a deep understanding of each other’s needs. It was really bittersweet when Dewey passed. You know going into the book that he probably will pass away, especially since the book was published almost twenty years ago. But it still made me sad when it happened, I teared up when I read it. I’m sure I would’ve cried if I hadn’t been at work when I read that part. The sweet part is what the community did for Dewey when he passed. I’m glad that the author talked about how he’ll live on in the community’s memories. While I really did love the book, parts felt a little disconnected and not entirely related to the story. But the author did her best to keep it relevant. Overall, I loved this book. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves pets, cats, and stories of community coming together.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil – V.E. Schwab

Title: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Author: V.E. Schwab

Genre: Fantasy

Plot: Three women are bound by fate. One choses her fate for control, one for love, and third has her fate chosen for her. María is the oldest of the three. She’s born in 1532 in a small town in Spain. She’s a free spirit and longs for better things in life. When María catches the eye of a viscount, she’s pressured into marrying him. There she meets the widow for the second time and teaches María about tonics. Then the widow offers her a chance for freedom, to change her life. What will María choose? What will she do with her new freedom? Charlotte is the next oldest, and was born in 1827 in London. She’s new to society life in the city and struggling to fit in. Charlotte wants to fit in but is unsure of herself. Then she meets Sabine. Sabine becomes the best help for Charlotte to teach Charlotte how to fit in. But Sabine makes Charlotte question what she really wants from life. She says she can offer Charlotte something better. But what is it really? Will it be worth it? Alice is the youngest. She’s a new student at Harvard, trying to escape her small town in Scotland. A chance encounter with pretty stranger at a college party changes her life forever. Outraged with what happened, Alice demands answers to what happened that night and demands the person responsible take accountability. Will Alice’s quest for answers be worth it? Can Alice really change what happened to her?

Rating: 4.5 – a different take on vampires, love, and humanity

Opinion: This was a great book. I’ve heard good things about this author and was not disappointed. I really enjoy her style of writing. She describes things without distracting from the plot and doesn’t overwhelm the reader with info dumps. I found it really interesting that she describes vampires without actually saying they’re vampires. She describes classic vampire traits and lets the reader come to the conclusion that that they’re vampires. But I like that the author makes her own twits about vampire lore. There are also some good points about humanity and what it means to be human. The author also did a really good job of slowly weaving the character’s stories together. They all had their own well written individual back stories and slowly weaving their stories together throughout the book. I was about halfway through the book when I realized I hadn’t read anything about one of the main characters and two pages later, she entered the scene. It made it a little nicer because the other two main characters had great backstories and would’ve been a little overwhelming with the third introduced at the beginning. Part of me wished that Alice’s sister had been more connected to the main story and not just memories. I get that it was part of Alice’s childhood development but I thought it would be a little more connected to her new life, like her sister would show up somehow. It did kind of distract from the main story for me. I did like the slight plot twist at the end of the story. I’m not entirely surprised at what happened, but I am glad it ended like that. I feel like everyone got the ending they deserved. Overall, I really liked this book. It’s been a while since I really, truly got into a book. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a different style of vampire story and don’t mind a little bit of queer romance.

The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

Title: The Da Vinci Code

Author: Dan Brown

Genre: Mystery

Plot: Symbology expert, Robert Langdon is called into the Louvre in Paris in the middle of the night. He had a late night at a work function and isn’t up for it, but he can’t refuse the French Judicial Police, especially the chief Bezu Fache. An associate of Robert’s, Jacques Saunière, has been murdered inside the Louvre. Chief Fache has found a clue linking Jacques and Robert. He wants Robert to figure out the other clues Jacques left behind at his murder scene. In steps cypher expert, Sophie Neveu to help solve the clues. She and Robert must stay two steps ahead of the police, who think Robert and Sophie are behind the murder, and the organizations who are afraid the pair will discover the truth and tell the whole world. But who is really behind the murder? Can Robert and Sophie figure out the clues in time? Or will they be stoped before they discover what’s really going on?

Rating: 3.5 – an unusual take on a murder mystery

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I can see why there was so much hype about the book when it first came out. It’s different than most of the other murder mystery books. While I love a good follow the clues mysteries, I can also see why it made people mad. While I applaud the author for his bold takes on some plot points, I can’t say I agree with them. It really rubbed me the wrong way that lots of the facts in the books are widely considered as conspiracy theories and untrue. The way the author wrote the conspiracies as facts just didn’t sit well with me. Like everyone who believes in the mainstream ideas as the biggest idiots for falling for the leaders are selling. I thought some of the ideas about Da Vinci were interesting, so I double checked some facts about Da Vinci that are stated in the book with a coworker who studied him and said most of them are false. Also, it was hard for me to connect with the characters. There wasn’t enough backstory or enough about the characters motivation for me to care about them too much. They glossed over too much of the characters motivations for me. Also some of the character’s stories also fell flat for me. They didn’t really add much to the story. It felt like the story wouldn’t have changed too much without them, or someone else could’ve done the same things without changing the story too much. Lastly, the time it took for the characters places felt too quick. Most of the book takes place within twelve hours. While I don’t know how close all of these things are in Paris, I still feel like it should’ve taken more time, especially flying to London. Overall, this wasn’t the book for me. I’d recommend it to someone who wants a different style murder mystery.

This Story Might Save Your Life – Tiffany Crum

Title: This Story Might Save Your Life

Author: Tiffany Crum

Genre: Mystery

Plot: Benny and Joy are best friends who run a famous podcast called This Story Might Save Your Life (TSMSYL for short). They talk about an unusual situation someone survived and then talk about how they would survive. Their manager, and Joy’s husband, is charge of ads their upcoming podcast tour. The more the tour goes, the more controlling Xander of the podcast becomes. Then they into some trouble with one of their ads. The more time passes, the more Joy retreats and the more controlling Xander becomes. Then Joy disappears. The evidence points to Xander at first. Then the evidence points to Benny. But who really is behind Joy’s disappearance? Did Xander or Benny really do it? Or someone else? Can they find Joy before something happens to her?

Rating: 3.7 – a different kind of mystery

Opinion: This was an interesting book. Though, it wasn’t as mysterious as I thought it was going to be. You get some answers too early in the book for my tastes. It took away the mystery for me. Though I give the author credit for giving the reader lots of distractions for who really is behind Joy’s disappearance and what really happened to some of the other characters. The nonlinear timeline helped give some background information about the characters. This works better for the story because you get more information about the mystery while learning about possible motives of the characters. I wish some of the motives would’ve been a little less obvious, though. I’m glad Benny and Joy had a support system that helped them escape from Xander’s schemes. And that the perpetrator got justice in the end. I enjoyed the friendship that Benny and Joy had and that it didn’t turn into a cheating scandal or romance at the end of the story. It would’ve distracted from the story too much, but given a better motive for Benny. I wished one or two more things would’ve been answered a little more clearly. Overall, I still enjoyed this book, just wish it would’ve been more mysterious. It could be good for someone who’s getting into mysteries. I recommend this book for anyone who wants an easy to read mystery.

American Dirt – Jeanine Cummins

Title: American Dirt

Author: Jeanine Cummins

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Plot: When Lydia’s family is killed by the cartel group, Los Jardineros, she grabs her son Luca, whom Lydia hid during the shooting, and flees Acapulco. Lydia must be careful because the leader of Los Jardineros is still looking for her. He left notes around her house and car. So she and Luca go on foot to grab some cash and find other means of escape. First, Lydia tries the train and airport, but the clerks want ID, which Lydia doesn’t want to use in case the cartel comes looking for them. So, they’re forced to hitch rides on buses for the first leg of their journey. As they get closer to the border, they meet other migrants. Lorenzo wants to escape his past life with the cartels. He tends to tag along even when the others don’t want him. Then there’s Rebeca and Soledad, two sisters from Honduras. They escaped their local cartel and seen too much for teenagers. The more they travel, the more they learn about each other’s stories. But can they learn to trust each other? Can they all make it across the border? Rebecca and Soledad have a Coyote lined up for the two of them. Will he take Lydia and Luca, too? Or will they need to find a different path? Or will the cartel catch up to the two of them before they can be truly free?

Rating: 3.7 – a story of overcoming all odds

Opinion: This was an interesting book. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that starts with the characters feeing for lives and learning their backstory along their journey. So it took me a little bit to connect with the characters. I wish there would’ve been a chapter or two before of backstory before Lydia and Luca had to flee. There were also a lot of characters introduced at the beginning it took me a minute to get everyone straight. Once I knew a little bit more about the characters, I really got into the story. The author did a good job of showing the reader what the characters saw and how they felt. At times, I felt like there was too much description, but it was usually when the characters were traveling and not a lot of danger. I thought there would be a little bit more danger as the characters were escaping from their respective cartels. Part of it seemed a little too easy to get out of danger. Granted dangerous things did happen and it was terrifying and I’m glad they escaped. But the danger seemed a little philosophical the way some of the characters thought of it. All this to be said, this was my first audio book. It might’ve been the way the narrator read the book, or how I perceived it. I can see why people choose audio books, but I still prefer ebooks and actual books. That way I don’t accidentally space out during an important scene. Which I might’ve done once or twice. It made it harder for me to go back and listen to when I stopped listening. I might try another audio book later, but for now I’ll stick ebooks or actual books. Back to the book, I did enjoy it for the most part. I highly recommend for anyone who enjoys a good realistic fiction book about what migrant families go through.

Queering the Color Line – Siobhan B. Somerville

Title: Queering the Color Line

Author: Siobhan B. Somerville

Genre: History, LBGTQ+

Plot: Black people and LBGTQ+ people have always been pushed to the side. Their part of history has always been erased or not talked about. Siobhan talks about their history and how they contributed to society at the turn of the last century and into the 1930’s. Siobhan gives examples of how different types of movies, books, other forms of media back then shaped how people viewed black people and LBGTQ+ people. The author talks about how straight white, black, and LGBTQ+ people thought about those forms of media. There was support and opposition from all sides.She also talks about how the words like gay, lesbian, and queer have changed over the past century. There are also points about the words origins and how they came to be what they mean now.

Rating: 3.5 – a well researched history of black queer people

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I read this for a book challenge with my local bookstore. Part of it is reading a book a book by an LBGTQ+ author. I’d asked a coworker about it and this is one the books he recommended. This one seemed the most interesting. While it was interesting, I didn’t expect it to be so academic. I thought it was going to focus more on the history of black LBGTQ+ people and less on the academic research of the time period. It was a lot of here’s what these people thought of the minorities of the time period. Here’s some reasons why they thought like that and here’s some examples to prove it. It read a lot like a college textbook. I looked into the author a little bit and saw that she’s a professor at Purdue and/or Illinois (different sites said different things). Which explains the well researched, textbook feel of the book. While the book was informative and I feel like I learned something, it wasn’t the right book for me. I’m glad I learned new things about groups of people that you don’t really hear much about, especially when people don’t want to talk about them as much. While this book isn’t for me, I’d recommend it for someone who loves educational textbook-like history books about minorities.

Everything is Tuberculosis – John Green

Title: Everything is Tuberculosis

Author: John Green

Genre: Science

Plot: John explores the history of tuberculosis and how it’s still prevalent today. He talks about how the disease shaped history. There’s still so many people today who live and die with the disease. John met Henry in his travels to Sierra Leone. He lives in Lakka, in Sierra Leone, place for people with tuberculosis. Henry has a medical resistant tuberculosis. He’s not sure he’ll survive because of the lack of funds and support in his country. Henry’s plight is like so many suffering with tuberculosis in poorer countries like Sierra Leone. John talks about the costs of the medicine for the disease. How pharmacies price gouge the medicines. How there’s not enough doctors and nurses who know how to treat the disease in those countries. John talks about how the disease takes a toll on the family’s who have someone with the disease. There’s still a stigma with the disease. These statistics intertwine with Henry’s story and his will to live. John also talks about how is travels learning has affected him and his promise to help those who have tuberculosis.

Rating: 4.0 – a great insight of the world of tuberculosis

Opinion: I thought this was an interesting book. There was so much information about what’s going on in the world with tuberculosis. I didn’t realize it was still so prevalent. I learned about in history classes, so I thought it’d been more or less eradicated. I’m not entirely surprised at the pharmacies who price gouge the medicine. But I am glad some countries are fighting back against the biggest companies and working on getting prices lowered. The more I read about Henry’s story, the more I thought he wasn’t going to survive. I actually sighed in relief when he didn’t. With all of the information, statistics, and history in the book, I still found the book easy to understand. This is the first John Green book I’ve read. I’ve heard about his YA books, but seen one of the movie adaptations. It seemed a little cheesy but heartbreaking. I was impressed with the thoughtfulness of this book. He really seemed to care about the people in his book. With all of his popularity, he truly seems to care about others, especially those poor and hurting. It was one of the few times I’ve followed an author because I appreciate what he’s done for others. Overall, I really liked this book. It’s full of science, history, and humanity. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants an easy to understand science and history lesson.

The Witch and the Tsar – Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

Title: The Witch and the Tsar

Author: Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Plot: Yaga is a half goddess living in the Russian countryside. She avoids mortals due to past hurts. The occasional mortal seeks her out for healing remedies. When Tsar Ivan’s wife Anastasia comes seeking a cure, Yaga’s life starts to get complicated. No one else has been able to help Anastasia. Yaga goes to Moscow to continue treatments. Then Ivan accuses Yaga of hurting Anastasia, Yaga escapes to the woods again. When Yaga hears that Tsar Ivan is pillaging every village and city to find ‘traitors,’ she must finds a way to stop him. On top of everything, Tsar Ivan has magical help destroying everything. Yaga soon finds help with a band of soldiers. Will Yaga and her newfound friends be able to defend the common people against the tsar? Or will he destroy everything in his path?

Rating: 3.5 – an interesting retelling of the Baba Yaga mythology

Opinion: This was an interesting story. I haven’t heard many stories about Baba Yaga. So I was curious to learn about a different side of her. The added historical fiction aspects made the story about Ivan the Terrible was a great touch. I enjoyed the combination of mythology versus history. I liked how the author explained the reason for Ivan the Terrible’s madness. I also liked that both sides had magical half gods/goddesses and magic. There’s always a good story with the good guys with longer odds taking on the bad guys with lots of help going against each other. Though, it helped that the bad guy’s foot soldiers were spread out throughout Russia. As much as I liked the ideas of the book, the pacing of the story was slow. There were so many side quests, it kind of distracted from the main story. It made it seem like the stakes were lower since there were so many distractions with a slower main plot. It also made it harder for me to connect to the characters. I really wanted to care, but I just couldn’t. Though I was still curious about the story and characters to see how the story ended. The ending was satisfying and wrapped up everything in a nice little bow. Overall, I did like the story. I’d recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a mythology and historical fiction combo.

A Good Animal – Sara Maurer

Title: A Good Animal

Author: Sara Maurer

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Plot: Everett Lindt has grown up on a sheep farm near Sault St Mary on the upper peninsula of Michigan. His dreams are to take over the family farm when he’s done with high school. He has no desire to see the wide world and knows what he wants from life. Then he meets Mary, a new girl in town, and only there because her father took a job with the local Coast Guard. Mary wants to go to college and be an artist. She craves something bigger than herself and her independence. Despite their differences, Everett and Mary start dating. Everett tries to show Mary the joys of farm life. Mary tries to convince Everett of a life outside of his family farm. One choice could change everything for everything. Will Everett and Mary be able to figure it out on their own? Can they find an adult they trust? Or will everything come crashing down around them?

Rating: 4.0 – an interesting small town, coming of age story

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I wanted a change of pace for a book and thought this would be a good one. I wasn’t disappointed. The author did a good job making me roll my eyes while I was reading about the teenage boy’s antics. I got a kick out of the fact that Everett related everything to sheep. I mean, you relate to what you know, but I still found it funny. I also liked that Mary called him out on the fact that everything was related to sheep. I also understood the fear and shame the characters to big decisions the characters had to make. It was also the 90’s in a rural, midwest town. There were certain things you didn’t do and certain things were taboo. You don’t always to admit to your parents how bad you messed up and want to fix it without them knowing. I think the parents knew something was going one, but didn’t want to push them into saying anything until the kids were ready. As soon as certain things happened in the book, other things were bound to happen. I really wished they hadn’t but am glad everything turned out okay in the end. Part of me wonders what would’ve happened if they’d talked openly with their parents about what had happened. But I do applaud Everett and Mary for wanting to do the right thing. Overall, I really did like this book. It’s a great story in trying to do the right things when everything blows up in your face, especially when you’re a teenager. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a coming of age story in a small, midwestern town.