(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although I didn’t really find myself laughing at any of the letters in this book, I did find it entertaining to listen to; in particular the different voices the two readers were listening to, which was a lot more interesting than just bland reading.

I can appreciate that a lot of work did clearly go into this book and it was interesting to hear all of the different imaginings of things that people might write to their president. Some of the letters seemed fairly nonsense (like the one about the housewife saving money by having one of her children go without dinner each evening); others were a bit sweeter, particularly the ones written by young people.

I found myself rolling my eyes a bit at the letter asking for money. And there were a few that seemed to deal with some very real issues, even while there were others that were clearly written as pure entertainment, such as the one written by an alien. There was also a letter with a lot of ‘redactions’ in it… but was somewhat amusing; not because of what was implied by the redacted statements, but by the observations of a television series and long speeches being viewed as torture. That was one of the more amusing letters, I felt.

Although this book is clearly fiction, I can’t help wondering how many of those might be along the lines of letters Obama would actually receive… even the letters that came across as completely random.

It was amusing to see some running themes through a few of the letters, though a couple kind of brought an eyeroll from me. It was also interesting to see a few letters addressed to Obama’s wife… as well as the brief replies penned by Obama.

This is my second attempt to read an audiobook. Although I did manage to stay listening to the end and the voices the readers used really helped to make this a bit more entertaining, I think I’ll continue reading books myself and at my own pace. It’s a bit easier that way… not to mention faster for me. But it was a good experience to try out.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having read and enjoyed the first book in this series, I was quite happy to read the second book and even though it had my hated multiple first person POVs, I still found it tolerable to read. I just would have preferred the chapters to be in third person if there were going to be multiple POVs.

It was good to see the characters I’d got to know in book one. I liked Kayson’s refusal to leave Sabrina’s side and in a way, it was interesting to see her and the others from his perspective. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Sabrina during this book. What happened to her was vastly unfair… and it only seemed to get worse as everything went on.

I thought it was really good to have the opportunity to learn more of Riann in this book and it was pretty cool to read of her relationship with Gabriel. There were a couple of things that made me smile… although there were one or two scenes that seemed a little cliched.

I did feel some sympathy towards Emma, even though I didn’t agree with what she ultimately did. I also found Tate to be an interesting character and it was good to see that he didn’t just believe everything going on like that. At the same time, I thought that he and Emma seemed to repair their relationship a bit too quickly.

I didn’t feel that there was as much action in this book, apart from towards the end… but I didn’t find myself getting bored. It was good to read about the relationships between the characters and I especially liked Briston and Emma. I would have liked to see some more sweet moments between them, but I thought it made sense that the book focused less on the romance and more on the problems they were facing.

There were times when I really wanted to reach into the book and shake some of the characters, particularly the fallen. Emma’s human friends actually came across as more compassionate than the angels should really have been.

I do have the third book in this series on my Kindle and I will be reading it before this week is out.

With thanks to Brandy Nacole and the Fantastic Flying Book Club (FFBC)

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having read the opposite side of this story, I was pretty happy to have the opportunity to read this book. I didn’t immediately recognise Roche as being one of the main characters from the other book, though… not until I read his interactions with Nicholas.

Although the idea is that a reader can follow the storyline through either of the books, I personally found I had a much better understanding of what was going on after having read Infiltration first. Although there were a lot of sightings of the Weft, I didn’t have an opportunity to learn about them in the same way I did the Pleasure, which made it much harder to understand the second race involved in the invasion.

I found the AIs particularly interesting to read about. I wasn’t completely clear as to how many there were, though. I’d assumed there were two, but I’m fairly certain there were actually three of them. I found Irrational Prime to be the most interesting out of the three… though the exchanges between it and the AI I assume it was created from amused me at various points.

I found Roche a more interesting character than I did in the other book. It was better to see his side of the situation, which meant I was able to understand his actions more. Charley wasn’t as interesting in this book, I felt. I much preferred the banter she shared with Noel and Sam in the previous book.

The Weft didn’t seem quite as violent as the Pleasure in this book, though their outward appearance came across as really scary. I could understand the motivations of the AIs… though I’m not completely sure what Irrational Prime’s goal was at the end of the book.

I liked Roche’s interactions with the others on his team and I also found myself liking him from the start, even though he and his colleagues couldn’t stop the atrocities being committed. It was also interesting to see his interactions with Shaw… and that Shaw almost seemed to shake free; at least for a second or two.

I’d be interested in reading the next books in this series. It would be good to learn more about the two races and see how the characters deal with the two separate invasions.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I felt that parts of this book reminded me of Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness books. I did enjoy reading about Ryiah… and I found her to be a really well-rounded character, though less so when I felt she was getting a bit obsessive about Darren.

Although the book seemed to set up quite early on for Ryiah to be that much more powerful than many of the other students, I felt that she wasn’t set to be a ridiculously over-powered character. It was good to see that she had to work for the skills she developed and although the training was especially harsh and brutal, I liked reading about how Ryiah and her friends had to work hard at the training. I was less clear about why some of the nobles were so good at it, though.

I thought it was interesting to see how the training didn’t start off with showing the students spells, instead having them learn discipline and the normal kinds of lessons young people that age would learn. I thought it was good that the training was so intensive (because I thought it worked really well to see the students having to develop more than just their magic skills), but it seemed strange that the masters hated first-years so much. I could understand them being hard on the students, but some things they did came across as downright cruel.

I liked Ella’s friendship with Ryiah, though I could really have done without the constant references to Alex’s conquests with girls. I didn’t really ship Alex and Ella together, especially after Ryiah made it clear how much of a ladies’ man her brother was.

I didn’t really like the potential romance between Ryiah and Darren, either. I liked the friendship aspects a lot more and I think it would have been better to stick with that. Although I did share the dislike the others had for Darren to begin with, I did feel that the author did a good job of turning it around… without ruining Darren’s original personality.

I would be interested in reading the next book in this series, but it would be good to read less about the romance/love triangle. I liked the friendships formed a lot better… and to be honest, I felt the sideplot with Clayton was completely unnecessary. Still, I read this book really quickly and it was enjoyable to read. Ryiah was a likable character and I’d like to see more of her journey.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

The concept of life in other parts of the universe is an interesting one and despite the blurb of this book giving away quite a bit of the storyline, I did find it to be a really intriguing plotline. Unfortunately, there were quite a few things that didn’t sit right with me.

I found it really difficult to differentiate the two POV characters. Until the other one was named, I wasn’t actually sure whose head I was supposed to be in. Both of them seemed to have the same thought processes and it was really jarring to suddenly realise I wasn’t in the head of the character I thought I should have been in.

The storyline here had a lot of potential. There were two main romances that could have been really interesting to read about… as well as a love triangle that had the potential to be fairly unique. Unfortunately, a lot of that was lost when it came to insta!love and lack of compassion from any of the other characters for a problem one of their kind was facing.

I didn’t feel like I could get behind the emotions of the two main characters. I was being told what they were feeling… but not shown. There was hardly any foreshadowing – and characters who were supposed to be important were only referenced one.

It was interesting to see that there were differences in Kadan and Earth… but a lot of the things were the same. I would have really liked to see what a different culture would do for proposing, for instance.

The concept about the different powers was quite intriguing, but I felt it wasn’t utilised as much as it could have been. I also felt there were moments in this book that were quite contradictory.

I can’t really give this book any more than two stars. Although it wasn’t massive in length, there was quite a bit of info-dumping and I felt the characters didn’t have individual voices. There was a lot of potential in this book, but I felt the execution fell short… which was a shame, because the plot detail and cover really had caught my attention.