Skip to main content

The Good Neighbor by A. J. Banner

By
Brief synopsis (no spoilers)
Sarah is an author of children's books, and lives with her husband Johnny, a dermatologist, in a quaint street of identical houses. One catches fire one evening and Sarah becomes a reluctant heroine.

Category
Mystery
Why I chose this book
Kindle First
My personal opinion (the review)
I typically do not prefer mystery novels, and I most especially avoid modern mysteries. They usually contain a murder and a deranged murderer- hiding in plain sight. I care for neither. And true to form, this novel contained both. But I'm giving this one a positive review for a few reasons. Firstly, the murder was not gruesome, demonic, violent, or born from a gang war. Secondly, while there was some language, it was not pervasive enough to turn me off. Thirdly, while it did involve some references to things that consenting adults do, it was not used to sensationalize this novel. My bar for modern novels is set quite low, and this one cleared it with tons of room to spare.

Warnings
Language: sparsely used, not strong, possibly one "F-word", but I'm not 100% sure there was
Violence: indirect violence, and some abuse "off-screen"
"Adult" situations: discussions about previous relationships, one or two instances of intimacy in a married couple, but they immediately faded to the next morning with no details
Death: yes, and of major character(s)

Movie rating equivalent
PG
Protagonist description
Sarah is average. She typically expects the best of people, and is genuinely shocked when they don't deliver.
Point of view of story
First
Book length
Medium
Story flow
Great
Grammar and spelling issues
None
Character connection (no spoilers)
None, really. Everyone was developed enough

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happily Ever After Kiera Cass

By
Brief synopsis (no spoilers): Short novellas and after stories from the perspective of other main characters from The Selection Series. Includes: -The Prince (with the two bonus chapters), Maxon’s novella -The Guard, Aspen’s novella -The Queen, Amberly’s novella -The Favorite, Marlee’s novella -Three scenes from Celeste’s POV -Lucy’s scene (bonus scene from The One) -The bonus epilogue -Where are they now? Category: YA Why I chose this book: Selection of novellas filling in gaps in The Selection series.  My personal opinion (the review): Of the entire series this was by far and away my favorite. I loved getting to hear parts of the stories from other perspectives. There was also additional details not found in the original story. All my questions or things I wondered about where answered through these stories.  Warnings Language: None  Violence: None "Adult" situations: As with the other novels, a few scenes with more description than I would have liked. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Game by Terry Schott

By
Brief synopsis (no spoilers) What if this life is just a simulation? What if our bodies are in another world, plugged into a virtual reality game, and our entire life is just one play in that game? What would our real life be like, if we could experience several full simulated lifespans, in our teen years, and then enter adulthood? That is the premise of this story. Category Sci-Fi Why I chose this book It was either free or discounted on Amazon, and sounded interesting My personal opinion (the review) Too many inconsistencies. For example: The real world is able to view the players in the game in "real time", but time in the game is sped up, so that a week in real life is worth a decade in the virtual world. How do real world people have enough time to experience the virtual world, in real time, while still being accelerated? Danielle enters the game 3 days behind Trew, but she only ends up being 1 year younger. If a week is a decade in the game, then 3 days should have be...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mark of Fire by Richard Phillips

By
Brief synopsis (no spoilers): Two main stories: Carol, the daughter of Lord Rafel, wants to be a magic wielder. As she learns magic and grows in strength, she is unaware that she is being hunted by the greatest wielder in the world. The second story is about a ward of Rafel's, named Blade, who becomes an infamous assassin and works for the king. The king sends Blade to kill Rafel and Carol, but he warns them to flee instead. Blade wanders, to escape the king's justice, but finds himself in his own adventure. Category : Fiction, fantasy, possibly YA Why I chose this book : Kindle First My personal opinion : I really enjoyed the story line, the world the author created, and the depth of the characters. It was easy to lose myself in the story. I also really appreciate that the story is "clean" - no bad language, no sexual situations, etc. I feel comfortable recommending this to my teenage children. Warnings Language: none Violence: fairly frequent fighting "Adult...
Post a Comment
Read more