BOOK REVIEW: The Christmas Getaway (Flavia Labre)

 

The Christmas Getaway tells a story through two POVS: Bruno and Laura. They decide to spend Christmas in Bruno's family's holiday house, where Bruno plans to propose.

I think the author did a good job portraying the characters' body language and expressions, showing how they feel and what they think instead of telling them. The writing flows, and these two are the strongest factors of the book.

I can't decide whether this book is too short or too long, because by the time I have read 50% of the book, readers are none the wiser about what is going on, yet I have predicted the correct second half of the book. Imo, it's more optimal to be a short story since the effort to hide the character's real intentions from the readers becomes contradictory at the end. We are in the characters' heads in their own PoV, they shouldn't be tricky with their own actions. For example, without spoiling anything, Laura shouldn't clean the dishes first before doing the other thing.

If it's expanded to a longer story, more plots would be needed, but the potential is there.

4 out of 5 stars

BOOK REVIEW: Hypocrisy vs. Mysticism, Wisdom, and Morality (LInda Meris)

 

It’s great if others find this book inspiring, because the messages are great and thoughtful.

I love to think that I’m an open-minded person, and there are many things we can’t explain and justify. Things that have been experienced and told by people I trust, and those I have read. Still, for me, I would have to exercise a lot of suspension of disbelief for this book. Many non-fiction paranormal and spiritual stories I know have similar things in common, one of them is the need for heavy communication interpretation because of the difficulty in channeling the messages. I wouldn’t say it’s not possible, after all, there are so many mysteries in this world, but the level of details and coherence throughout the wide topics of aliens, terrorism, music, politics, to name a few, makes me question it, about the process, and unfortunately, it is never properly explained.  

Putting aside skepticism, unfortunately, the book feels preachy, and there is a lack of background for readers who are not familiar with the character. There is a need for personal touch, because it’s very important to help understand the history and personality of the main character. Many wisdoms feel detached and generic.

Having said that, this review is my personal opinion. Books are subjective, and other readers might enjoy this. I do applaud the thoughtful philosophy and wise idealism.

3 out of 5 stars

BOOK REVIEW: Ten Tiny Tales (Gene Kendall)

 

Ten Tiny Tales is a collection of short stories that vary from the light-hearted ones to those that pull your heartstrings. The tales are both about ordinary people with their ordinary problems and the more fugitive and hardcore ones. I’d say I prefer the first.

Sometimes I see the ending coming, but on others it makes me raise my eyebrows. My favourite tale is Save the Cat because of the mundane situations that are realistically relatable in real life, both in the problems and the frustrating side characters. Maybe that is also the reason that it’s this tale that still lingers after I have moved on.

Other less memorable ones are It Ends With a Tear and The Quotidian Struggle, in which I had to do a double-take to make sure I didn’t understand the stories wrong. There are other stories with common endings, but it’s enjoyable to get there with creative ideas like Mickey Mouse ones and That Is Not Funny. Bring on all the gross cards!

The tales are certainly worth reading, there are layers of meanings and relatable human struggles. I can also relate to the many Pop references.

4 out of 5 stars