The Blackham Bunch: January 2025

Saturday, January 4, 2025

#JenBsBooks in 2024

I will be creating an annual review on my JenBsJourney blog for all the books this past year, featuring the Goodreads "Year in Books" and Storygraph stats. But here, and now, I'll do a collage compilation. I always enjoy glancing over all the covers, seeing which books stick out in my memory ... All the books are rated and reviewed on both Goodreads and Storygraph. I'm JenBsBooks on both.

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sh(e)reader's bookshelf: read

Generation M

by Scott Cramer

I read book 2 and 3 back to back, and feel like they were just one long story. The first installment was it's own story. I almost felt like the first couple chapters of book 2 could have been included in the first book. It picks up right...

Colony East

by Scott Cramer

I remember REALLY liking book one of this series. I knew it was going to be a trilogy, but figured I'd wait until I could read the final two back to back. So ... it has been a while since I read the first book. I remembered the basic sto...

tagged: kindle-prime

When You Reach Me

by Rebecca Stead

I'm not sure what caught my eye, causing me to pick up this book. Although as an adult I often read YA, this seemed aimed at an even younger audience (with the main character being in 6th grade). Although there is a slight mystical/myste...

tagged: library-eborrow

Mars Rising

by Cidney Swanson

Ah ... the conclusion, and this was a definite conclusion. Like a few other series (Harry Potter, Frost Chronicles) the very end does wrap up years and years, showing us the full lives of these characters we've come to know. This book d...

tagged: kindle-cloud and i-bought-it

Striking Mars

by Cidney Swanson

It was nice to pick this up and continue on with the story immediately after finishing book four. Another continuation of the story, a little more of a cliff-hanger ending then the others, but the first few chapters of Book6 were there a...

tagged: i-bought-it

Mars Burning

by Cidney Swanson

I started 2014 reading the first three books in this series, and finished the year reading the last three. I did a combo review of the first three books and I'm having a hard time thinking of reviewing the final three separately (I have ...

tagged: i-bought-it and kindle-cloud

Outside In

by Maria V. Snyder

When I read book one, I didn't love it, but was intrigued enough to continue on and find out what happened here in book two. I liked this book better than the first. I'm not sure if that was simply because I'd already been introduced to ...

Opposition

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The conclusion to this series. I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the series! I'd known this final one was out and I went ahead and bought it (and then it appeared at my library the next day, I could have saved a bit of $$ if I'd waited) ... ...

Time's Edge

by Rysa Walker

2.5 stars. I liked the first book, enough to give this second in the series a try. But ... I think I was a little burned out on the story even as I started. I had to force myself to finish. All the time travel, changes, jumping around wa...

tagged: kindle-prime

Divided

by Elsie Chapman

I THINK I liked this better than the first book. Maybe already having the scene set and the characters established ... or the glimpse into how this world came about and other twists were just a bit more interesting than book 1. Still a s...

Dualed

by Elsie Chapman

2.5 stars. I do really enjoy the dystopian trend ... this book just didn't really grab me. The romance wasn't really there, no build up, no believability. So many things just seemed to happen without any real meaning or reason behind the...

The Line

by Teri Hall

I really need to review my books before they go back to the library! I remember liking this book fine. I do really like the dystopian stuff, but although the setting was promising, it just didn't really deliver. It just didn't make that ...

tagged: library-eborrow

Bridge to Terabithia

by Katherine Paterson

My 5th grader was reading this in school, and I downloaded a digital copy from the library to read along with him, to be able to discuss the developments. I'd read it before years and years ago, and remembered the basics. It was interes...

Anna and the French Kiss

by Stephanie Perkins

3.5 stars. I'd heard a lot of good things about this book, and as I picked it up and started reading, I really enjoyed it. It was cute, light, the writing was fun and would make me smile. About half way through the book though, it got a ...

Watched

by Cindy M. Hogan

2.5 stars ... it was okay. There were a few things that simply drove me cRazy as I read this book! I'm a little more into the supernatural/fantasy/sciencefiction/dystopian stuff. When it's already so "out there" I think I'm much more wi...

tagged: kindle-cloud, got-it-for-free, and netgalley

Blue Noon

by Scott Westerfeld

I like coming into a complete series, where I can read the books back to back if I wish. Sometimes I still don't ... I want a break between books. But here, I did continue reading. It was just an interesting concept, and each book had it...

tagged: library-eborrow

Touching Darkness

by Scott Westerfeld

I'm not in love with this series, but it is interesting. While book one still left things a bit open-ended, it did have a conclusion and I wondered a bit how the story would continue. This did pick up in the days after book 1 ended, and ...

The Secret Hour

by Scott Westerfeld

Jessica Day ... it was a little weird how often the character was referred to by her full name throughout the book. It almost always felt off to me. The storyline was interesting. There were little images included at the end of each ch...

tagged: library-eborrow

The Taking

by Kimberly Derting

This book had a very interesting premise. Only one night has passed for sixteen-year-old Kyra, but five years have gone by for everyone else. She has been missing, but she hasn't aged, she is still the same ... or is she? The writing wa...

tagged: library-eborrow

Timebound

by Rysa Walker

3.5 stars. I did like this book. Time travel always boggles my mind a bit. Even with the complexities of that, at times the book felt a tad simplistic, aimed at a younger audience than the main character (around 16 years old). It's bee...

tagged: kindle-prime