Author: Ashley LP

30 something year old writer, reader and member of the Travel Industry. I used to read more than I do, so it's all about getting that enthusiasm back.
Reviews

Review: The Practitioner by Ronica Black

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the practictioner

Title: The Practitioner

Author: Ronica Black

Genre: LGBTQIA+, Contemporary Romance

Rating: 

Johnnie Hamilton has conquered a lot in life. An anxiety disorder, loss of her business, and homelessness have been difficult to overcome. But Johnnie has come through the other side to find success as an artist. Now, however, she’s lost her creative drive and she’s struggling to produce.

Elaine Taylor has an interesting job. She’s a “creative practitioner,” known to awaken her client’s creative side by using many different approaches, including a sensual or sexual approach. Most of her clients are male and she likes it that way. Women are the last thing she wants in her life, having lost the most important woman she’s ever known, her wife.

Fearing she’ll lose all she’s worked so hard for, Johnnie takes her friend’s advice and calls a lone number on a business card, steps into Elaine’s office, and shakes up both their worlds forever.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Continue reading “Review: The Practitioner by Ronica Black” →

Book List 2017 · Reviews

Review: The Steel Shark by Rebecca Cantrell

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the steel shark

Title: The Steel Shark

Author: Rebecca Cantrell

Series: Joe Tesla

Genre: Mystery/Suspense

Rating: Related image Related image Related image Related image

A dog. His computer. The tunnels under New York City.

That’s all Joe Tesla’s agoraphobia has left him with—the inside world, the dark world—and now the black depths of the sea.

In the latest book in this award-winning thriller series, Joe Tesla seeks to expand his world beneath. He buys a personal submarine to join an underwater scavenger hunt. The competition turns deadly when a mystery sub targets Joe. His search for answers drives him and his service dog out to sea where he alone might find answers in time to save the city he loves from annihilation.

But can a man trapped inside by his own fears save the larger world above?

Received a free copy of this book via the author and publisher in exchange for an honest review.

It truly does suck that my dream man is an agoraphobic fictional character who lives under Grand Central Station. Joe Tesla, in this, the fourth novel in Rebecca Cantrell’s Joe Tesla series, remains a character who is full of heart, warmth and an intelligence that just won’t be stopped by anything. Not even crashing submarines.

This newest installment caught me from the first page, making me quite anxious to get into my reading and finish the book, but at the same time I desperately didn’t want to because I didn’t want it to end.

Without spoilers I will tell you there is a lot of character development for Joe, as well as Vivian, and the mystery isn’t so much a mystery as it is a determined, forceful plot-line pulling you through the book. The wonder in this is that even though there is no big huge whodunnit mystery in this book there is still enough of a mysterious tone to keep you guessing as to what might happen next.

Rebecca Cantrell’s strength in writing for me has always been the way in which she captures my attention with just a single moment in her books. In this book there were so many moments if I had been holding a physical book I would’ve gotten paper cuts by how quickly I would’ve turned the pages.

 

 

Bookish Things · Confessions of a Book Addict

Finally!

Ashley LP2 Comments

I am turning 30 years old this year,  and it has taken me about 24 years to realize that what I read should not matter to anyone else. And, even more unfortunately, that what other people read should not matter to me.

Because in the end reading is about immersing yourself in a world that makes you happy. And who are we to judge each other for what in those worlds makes us happy.

I read romance novels. I love romance novels. Some of them.

I read fantasy. I read YA. I have a hard time reading literary fiction, not that I don’t love some works of literary fiction but my brain feels better when I’m in an urban fantasy world, surrounded by the supernatural.

You can judge me for it if you want, but I’m going to let my freaky little book flag fly.

However just because I read these things, and enjoy them does not mean there cannot be discourse surrounding certain books.

We can enjoy books and still be critical of their content. But when it comes to talking to someone who loves something that deserves criticism, is it not better to approach them gently instead of confront them? Perhaps they don’t know, or understand what might be problematic in the book they’ve just read.

Criticize the content, not the reader.

After all, aren’t readers supposed to be more compassionate?

Announcemet

Introducing the newest contributor

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Hello everyone!

I hope you’re all having a good weekend! Here in Canada it’s a long weekend so I’ll apologize ahead of time for all the spam because I am reading up a storm.

I just wanted to let you know I’m no longer a team of one here at A Lovely Little Book Blog. One of my dear friend’s Luke has joined me and will be reviewing and writing about books and bookish things. I’ll nudge him this weekend to get him to introduce himself and what kinda books he is into.

Some of what we’ll be doing (hopefully) is reviewing the same books in a point counterpoint kind of way and just talking about things we enjoy in terms of reading, writing styles etc.

So please give him a warm welcome!

Thank you!

Bookish Things

Reading when you’re struggling…

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Sometimes in life I struggle. We all do. Sometimes those struggles swallow you up and drag you to what I call “the pits”, modeled after a sandy wasteland that used to exist near my childhood home.

You try and struggle through the sand, make your way to the top, and on the way your reading is one other thing that makes it seem worse. Not the act of reading itself, but the act of feeling pressured to do so.

Giant, human sized…NFL player sized to be read piles, towering next to beds, toppling over when nudged. eReader filling, overwhelming books, just waiting for you to devour them.

But trust me. Its okay. The beautiful thing about books is that they last forever. And sometimes, they can help you get out of the pits.

Grab a book. Any book. A book you’ve read a million times, or a book that you’d never thought you would enjoy.

Read about people in pain. Read about happy people. Read about people slaying dragons and allow them to help you slay yours.

Pile up blankets and pillows and sink into them and remember that when you feel alone, if you look in a book you can always find your friends.

And please if you need help, ask for it. Don’t be in the dark alone. Don’t be in the pits alone. Your story is unfinished, still developing. Don’t end it before it’s end should come.