Book Review: Shylock Is My Name

Shylock Is My Name by Howard Jacobson on GoodReads

When I agreed to read and write a review on this book, I was unaware that it was a "modern re-imaging" of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. I actually liked the cover and that was why I mostly agreed to read the book. Because of that, it was hard for me to get through the story. And I would put it down for awhile, then go back to it to only read a few pages before putting it down again. This type of book just isn't normally what I read.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review to be submitted to
Blogging For Books,
who graciously let me read this book for free
I was not paid for my honest opinion.

Blogging For Books: S.E.C.R.E.T. Revealed, by L. Marie Adeline

I signed up with Blogging for Books aaaaaaaages ago, and just never took advantage of it. I'm getting back into the swing of reading more novels, as I do every Autumn. So then I remembered I was a member of this website, logged in and saw this book was waiting for me to finish and review.

Synopsis from GoodReads can be found here

My opinion: This was the third book in the series. I read the other two beforehand, of course. I enjoyed the series very much. It was an easy read and I liked all the characters. My favorite one was Jesse. Something about a nice body and tattoo's just does it for me, lol. I'd recommend this book to people who like a good story line while still getting their erotica genre on.

Disclosure of Material Connection:

I received a complimentary electronic book through Blogging for Books.

I was not required to write a positive review, only an honest one.

The opinions I have expressed here are my own. 

Bookplex Review: Shattered Heart by Carol May

From GoodReads.com:

Determined to make a new life for herself, raven haired beauty, Charli Jensen moves to Miami following her dream of opening her own business, Supreme Corporate Travel with best friend, Lana Lewis. Heading to lunch, after presenting a proposal to a prestigious company, the two are quickly insulted on a crowed elevator. Exiting first, headstrong Charli is determined to identify the individual that offended her. Standing to the side, she narrows the speaker to possibly one of three men. 

Imagine her surprised to see the three men, one of whom is OMG drop dead gorgeous, having lunch at the same restaurant. Even more shocking is the fact the god of good looks turns up at the bar the friends are partying at the same night. Charli who is a very private, cautious person is drawn to this man. Can seeing him three times in the same day be a good omen? Is it possible this man even noticed her existence? Her question is answered when he is joined by another woman. Businessman, Houston Donovan is very aware he has seen the same stunning woman multiple times. Flashing back to the memory of her shapely body standing in front of him earlier in the day, he imagines how it would look in his bed. As he departs the bar, with a knowing smile that her tab is paid, Houston questions if fate will allow their paths to cross again. Independent, Charli is outraged when she discovers not only is her tab paid but waiting for her is a mystery card with only a number. Jerking her phone up, she types out a brief message, Thx 4 paying tab BUT NO THX!!! Shocked by the angry text Houston wonders, if he misread her? This ignites a duel of words to see who can outwit the other. A semi friendship develops from these texts. Meeting in person the sparks fly. The heat between the two sizzles. They soon become the perfect couple. Will the phrase, If it seems to be too good to be true it probably is going to ruin their lives or is there no obstacle to great for them to overcome? 

My Opinion: I thought the novel was hard to follow along. There were many grammatical errors, and a whole lot of non-closing quotes when a character was speaking. When it would change from one characters point of view to the other, it would take me a few to figure out who's view I was actually reading. I thought this book was in the 'erotica' category, but at almost halfway though there wasn't much sex involved.

I did not finish this book.

I'd like to add that when I got the electronic copy of the book, it was only available for .docx, which means a copy was not available to read through my Kindle app. I think that's a disservice to reviewers, as MOST people do not sit at their computers to read a novel. FYI- I am a smart cookie and ended up converting the file to a .pdf so I could read on my iPad.

Disclosure of Material Connection:

I received a complimentary electronic book through Bookplex.com.

I was not required to write a positive review, only an honest one.

The opinions I have expressed here are my own. 

Review: Oyster (The Book App)

I decided that I was going to try out this app I heard about called Oyster. Free books to read. It's only free to use for 7 days (then you have to pay for it), but it has a lot of books to choose from. I was pretty impressed with the category selection, and on how many books that were available in each of those categories.

   

All of the above categories, plus more!

From Oyster Books website:

What is Oyster?

Oyster offers unlimited books for just $9.95 a month. Members can read over 200,000 titles on their iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch—offline and online.

Oyster partners with publishers to make their content available on our all-in-one service. Our library features thousands of popular recent releases, bestsellers, and more.

While we work with hundreds of publishers (and are adding partners regularly) our library includes titles from HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Rodale, Open Road, Melville House, Workman, Algonquin, Smashwords, and many others.

Now, $9.95 is a little steep for my pockets at this time, but I honestly enjoyed using this app while it lasted. Oh, I should mention that I found out that Oyster only works for iPhone 5s, 5c, 5, 4s, 4, iPad 2, iPad mini, iPad Air and iPod Touch 5th gen. That's a bummer for those using Androids!

Rating-- 3 out of 5 stars.

I was not paid or compensated for writing this post.

I have no material connection to the brand, products, or service that I have mentioned.

All opinions expressed here are purely my own.