Gwen Dandridge

Got this thru a giveaway via LibraryThing. Really need to quit that evidently. Use a vocal reading program normally; couldn't with this book, it had too many issues and too many confusing places. Tried to visually read it; wasn't any better.

Huh? "Curiosity, her bonded stone lion" The book is laced with this type of thing, from confusing people or things that are not explained enough before talking about them, just throwing the reader in to that part of the story {to guess who the people or situation is} or introducing them in to the story at odd times or in odd ways to having them pop back in to the story and not making it clear who they are, to general bratty {or worse} behaviour from children and adults, the confusing conversations between one or more that don't contribute to the plot and don't seem to go anywhere then a jerk of a scene change, no idea whether this is a book with multiple parts and so those parts were covered elsewhere or not but for this book as standalone is making no sense, and it's supposed to be for kids? If on adult female is wearing a niqab then the other would be but surely isn't because said tried to keep the smile off her face which couldn't have been seen with the covering then finally mentions the other one is sufi so explains that yet which readers would know that that's an Islamic sect and actually more a mystical way of that that do not necessarily dress the same usual way as the others, conversations about sailing at 'first light' yet it must be light already because they didn't mention it being dark still nor any issue with plainly seeing everything and everyone, one minute someone is talking in somewhat broken Italian yet the next almost perfect English, and all this was just in the first 1/5 of the book. One is not going to whisper inside a room, door still open to a ship full of people and sailors running around, talking and yelling, without closing the door but the door was not closed because that's when the one girl tripped over a rug when closing the door. Stupid things such as holding something over water, falling in, and yet the next instant they are dockside. More of this junk throughout the rest of the book. This book was supposedly put through Beta and ARC so why so many issues. Interesting premise for a story that failed, miserably.Worse than being a mostly unreadable mishmash of crap, is the worse fact that it was boring.… (más)

Got this thru a giveaway via LibraryThing. Really need to quit that evidently. Use a vocal reading program normally; couldn't with this book, it had too many issues and too many confusing places. Tried to visually read it; wasn't any better.

Huh? "Curiosity, her bonded stone lion" The book is laced with this type of thing, from confusing people or things that are not explained enough before talking about them, just throwing the reader in to that part of the story {to guess who the people or situation is} or introducing them in to the story at odd times or in odd ways to having them pop back in to the story and not making it clear who they are, to general bratty {or worse} behaviour from children and adults, the confusing conversations between one or more that don't contribute to the plot and don't seem to go anywhere then a jerk of a scene change, no idea whether this is a book with multiple parts and so those parts were covered elsewhere or not but for this book as standalone is making no sense, and it's supposed to be for kids? If on adult female is wearing a niqab then the other would be but surely isn't because said tried to keep the smile off her face which couldn't have been seen with the covering then finally mentions the other one is sufi so explains that yet which readers would know that that's an Islamic sect and actually more a mystical way of that that do not necessarily dress the same usual way as the others, conversations about sailing at 'first light' yet it must be light already because they didn't mention it being dark still nor any issue with plainly seeing everything and everyone, one minute someone is talking in somewhat broken Italian yet the next almost perfect English, and all this was just in the first 1/5 of the book. One is not going to whisper inside a room, door still open to a ship full of people and sailors running around, talking and yelling, without closing the door but the door was not closed because that's when the one girl tripped over a rug when closing the door. Stupid things such as holding something over water, falling in, and yet the next instant they are dockside. More of this junk throughout the rest of the book. This book was supposedly put through Beta and ARC so why so many issues. Interesting premise for a story that failed, miserably.Worse than being a mostly unreadable mishmash of crap, is the worse fact that it was boring.… (más)

The Dragons' Chosen is a terrific YA novel about a princess and her fate. Genevieve has been raised to do her duty even though she is slightly spoiled. She will obey when a message is sent that Genevieve must be sacrificed to the dragons that appear every hundred years or so, no matter how frightened she is.
Chris is a Berkeley student who suddenly appears in Genevieve's kingdom, sent to help her. The two travel together to the mountains where the dragons are waiting. Chris, who appears and disappears depending on her class schedule, is determined to help Genevieve evade her fate.
The writing is excellent and the story moves right along. Both Chris and Genevieve are engaging heroines and their personal growth as the story proceeds is interesting. The dragons are great! I don't want to give away the story, but this is a great book for YA and older adults also. I thoroughly enjoyed it.… (más)