V_Nerdbooks

I Have Feelings!!

Revisado: 01-01-20

Well Ms Hoover did it again and made my black heart melt

Just as I was finishing the year with Zero tears spilled on a book, 2 of them come along and wipe me out!

This one was just such a good story, with the usual CoHo WTF thrown in, I was shouting at my phone so many times (I listened to the audiobook obvs)

This is a story of a mother (Morgan) and daughter (Clara), and was written so well. Morgan got pregnant and married young, something that Clara absolutely doesn't want to do, she has goals and aspirations, something that her mother put on hold for her.

Clara's father Chris is the glue that holds the family together, and they all live in a perfect family bubble.

Until one day.

An accident brings the family dynamic to a screeching halt.

With Morgan and Clara at loggerheads, Morgan has secrets that she cannot discuss with Clara, and Clara has her own secrets that she needs to hide.

Secrets, Lies and other things I can't discuss because of spoilers, make this a book that you should definitely add to your TBR.

🎧🎧

The audiobook was narrated by Tanya Eby and Lauren Ezzo who were just perfect for the characters, Tanya slipped from Mom to Teenager so brilliantly.

This book is well worth a credit.

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Narration perfection!

Revisado: 08-13-19

I can't tell you how much i enjoyed this book.
The narration was absolute perfection and I fell in love bit by bit with each character.

Amanda Ronconi & Jason Clarke did such a fantastic job with the narration and all of the characters had their own voices, and I loved every singe one of them, especially the kids who were just delightful.

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4.5 Thirsty Stars

Revisado: 01-27-19

Do you know what's lovely? being able to go to the tap...turn it on...and water come out of it.
To be able to fill your glass and quench your thirst with a lovely cool glass of water.

o be able to run a bath, or have a shower, an extra long shower at that!

But what would happen if that all of a sudden stopped one day, without even a warning, just stop!

I mean there has been a drought in the area for a while, everyone knows that, and the usual bans have been in place, don't water your lawn, don't take long showers, don't fill your pools.....but this is... different!

You keep checking the news but it's not even mentioned on there, just a throw away comment about 3 million people without water.

And even though the government say that water is on the way, there is a heatwave and you are...just...so...thirsty!

And days...weeks later...there is Still. No. Water!


So what would you do for a sip of water?
Ask someone nicely?
Beg someone?
Lie to someone?
Steal from someone?
Hurt someone?
Kill ..........

Neal Shusterman is a master at these sort of stories, Unwind was the first series of his i read, and it soon turned into one of my favourites.
He makes you want to discuss the book, they are fantastic for Book Clubs, because even though they are Dystopian reads, they could actually happen!
The fact that he has written this with his son, and that they are looking to bring this to the big screen brings me all kinds of joy.

🎧🎧 Narration - This was a full cast audio, including narration from both Neal and Jarrod Shusterman, now at the beginning it gives the "This is Audible" section, and says that it is narrated by the authors, i was a bit 😨 about that, because in *most* (not all) cases, authors that narrate their books are a bit 😲 So i was shouting "Noooooo" at my phone.

But i am happy to say that 1. There is a full cast of narrators, and they do it brilliantly, and 2. Neal and Jarrod Shusterman are FANTASTIC narrators!!

If you like a Young Adult book then you should get this. If you like Dystopian books you should get this. If you like a great story, well you should get this book!!

Drink Up!

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4 Hard Hitting Stars

Revisado: 01-27-19

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hard Hitting Stars

#TriggerWarnings - Abortion / Racism / Rape


The story starts out at 5pm at a Clinic in Jackson Mississippi, a gunman has opened fire inside the Abortion Clinic locally known as “The Center” the story then takes us backwards to the start of the day, and we find out why the characters are there.

Hugh McElroy is a hostage negotiator, at 5pm he gets called to the scene and immediately gets all of the details he can, and starts to communicate with the gunman, at the same time his phone starts to vibrate, when he looks at the text he has just received, he is horrified to find out that his daughter Wren and his sister Bex are inside the clinic!

The Center is somewhere women can go to get Contraception, Gynaecological examinations, General Women’s Health check-ups, and Abortions.

There are always Anti-Abortion protesters outside of The Center, trying to grab the women before they make it into the front door, they are handing out “gift bags” and trying to guilt them into changing their minds.

The Gunman is called George, and he is angry because he has found out that his daughter had an abortion at this clinic recently, not only does he shoot the doctor that performs the abortions, he shoots others as well, and Hugh’s daughter Wren might be one of them!

Tangled in this story is another, this story is about Beth, she took the difficult decision to terminate her own pregnancy, and now because of the Mississippi Abortion Law, she is facing murder charges, and could go to prison for 20 years if she is found guilty.

This story doesn’t try and sway you either way in your beliefs, and it doesn’t feel preachy at all, but I do like the way that Picoult tries to make you see both sides of the Pro-Life / Pro-Choice argument.

Regardless of your beliefs I think this is a great book to have for a Book club and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

🎧🎧 – Narrated by the amazing Bahni Turpin.

This was my main reason for picking up this book, she could literally narrate a recipe for a fruit cake and I would be there One Clicking like a lunatic! The woman can do no wrong in my eyes and makes any book into a fantastic read.

This is certainly one to pop into your basket.

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5 Hilariously Funny Stars

Revisado: 01-27-19

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Hilariously Funny Stars

So as you may or may not know i have a huge allergy to anything Non Fiction related, i mean i know it's real life, and it's very interesting, but my mind just goes NOPE and i can't concentrate on them.

This one was a HUGE exception, i pretty much laughed from the first sentence onwards throughout the whole book.

Narrated by the author Jenny Lawson, she takes us through her hilarious life stories.

Who is Jenny Lawson and why is she making a book you ask?? Yep i did too.

Jenny Lawson is a blogger, she writes The Bloggess and it is utterly brilliant, i am a new follower of her blog, Twitter, Facebook, i mean I'm practically stalking the poor woman now!

The reason being, she is like my spirit animal, i am a little bit in love with her (in a non stalker/serial killer way) I mean, I don't want to use her skin as a table lamp or anything, but I would love to meet her as she just sounds amazing!

Her family background is just too fabulous to describe, but things like her taxidermist father waking her and her sister up in the middle of the night to show her a 'Magic Squirrel' (read dead and hand stuffed up his ass) is one of the highlights.

You dont often meet people that say 'I had a pet Raccoon in my bathtub' very often, if at all, and even if they do, they certainly wouldn't dress them in little shorts!

Not every page is full of laughs, there are a few times that my heart hurt for her, especially when she spoke about trying to conceive, but most of it is done with a chipper side of laughs.

Not many people can sing at the top of their lungs "I GOT MY HAND STUCK IN A COWS VAGINA" and get away with it, but she does, and she does it brilliantly.

If possible listen to the audio, you wont regret it.

📣Jenny, i doubt that you will, but if you ever read this then know i am TOTALLY up for us being BFF's, i dont even need to move into your basement or anything, i can just turn up unannounced, as long as i don't get attacked by any Turkey/Quail guard dogs 😂

🎧🎧Narration for the book is done by Jenny herself, and it was AMAZING, she is hilariously funny, and although some of the subjects are heartwrenching she still delivers a stellar performance.

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4.5 Anti Hero Stars

Revisado: 01-27-19

⭐⭐⭐⭐·5 Anti-Hero Stars

Well this one was a complete wonderful surprise for me, and I love that.

It is completely nothing that I would have picked up, but as I fell down the #BookTube rabbit hole (as you do) this one kept popping up time and time again.
So off to Goodreads I go to read some other reviews....I like to be certain!

With an average of 4.29 stars out of 5 I was certain that this was going to be another one for my "Everyone loved it but me" shelf, but nope
I LOVED it!!!

The story follows 2 friends Eli and Victor between past and present.

Ten years ago Eli and Victor meet in college and become roommates, and soon become firm friends, they are inseparable, and when a college assignment allows them to work together to discover whether EO's (Exta-Ordinaries) exist, they follow the clues,and find out not only the truth about EO's, but how to MAKE them, this also adds fuel to the bitter jealousy that is hiding in both of them, and does so for years.

The present tells the story of a recently escaped convict by the name of Victor, who is trying to find his old buddy turned Nemisis Eli, he is looking to find him for some good old fashioned Retribution!

Now, what is an EO I hear you saying?

Well an Extra-Ordinary (or EO for short) is a person with supernatural powers, and how do you get them?? Well you have to read the book obviously, but let me tell you this...

Forget everything you've read about Heros and Villians, because this book blurs the lines of each of them and flips them over and over till you don't know which way is up, this is not the sweet Clark Kent that turns into Superman kind of read, oh no, this is dark, violent and bloody brilliant!

There were some fantastic characters in this story, from the protagonists, to the fabulous secondary characters and some great EO's that were frankly downright frightening!

I was kind of catapulted back to an 80's movie that I loved (which was then ruined by a remake a few years ago, sigh)

Anyhoo, as you may already know I am not a Magic/Fantasy/Paranormal kind of chick, I've read some I have loved, but most of the time I've tried...and hated them!

This one, well this one isn't really any of those genres, but it is too, it is difficult to describe, but the author herself describes the book as X-Men + Hannibal, and that is a great definition.

I guess you had better just grab it and read it and see for yourself!

🎧🎧 Narrated by Noah Michael Levine who is a new narrator for me, he did a great job, I already have book #2 ready to listen because of that ending!!

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5 Naughty John Stars

Revisado: 01-27-19

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Naughty John Stars

Well colour me surprised!

I have seen a few people recently mention this audiobook, and saying that the narration is great. I had a spare credit, so I thought 'what the hell' and clicked the purchase button, hoping that I wasn't going to be disappointed.

Judging by my 5 ⭐ rating, you can see that it was a credit well spent!

"Naughty John, Naughty John, does his work with his apron on. Cuts your throat and takes your bones, sells 'em off for a coupla stones.”


Set in the 1920's, New York City the time of Flapper girls and prohibition, Evie O'Neill is desperate to visit there.
She is a bit of a misfit, and manages to get herself into trouble wherever she goes.

After a drunken mistake at a party one evening, she manages to rat out the local Lothario by showing everyone her 'party trick'
Unfortunately this doesn't go down too well with her father, who is sick and tired of her antics, so his punishment is to send her to New York to stay with her weird Uncle Will.

Pretending to be oh so sorry, Evie can't wait to get to NYC, in fact she thinks it is Pos-i-tute-ly the Cat's Pajamas!

After arriving in New York, she is promptly pick-pocketed, and arrives at her Uncles house, which also doubles up as The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, or as the locals call it, 'The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies'.

Then the murders start happening, horrible, gruesome murders! But who is doing it?

Memphis is a 'runner', he gets everyone's numbers to put on the draw (like a lottery)
He also looks out for his little brother Isaiah, who seems to have a strange 'gift' that he doesn't want anyone else knowing about.

“The time is now. They are coming... Diviners


You see, there are rumours around that there are people with 'powers' they call them Diviners, and they are not wanted around there.

This book was so character driven, there are so many brilliant characters that I fell in love with, from Evie's good friend Mabel, to Theta Knight, a glamorous Ziegfeld girl, to the the smooth talking Sam.

If you are thinking about reading this book, I would highly recommend the Audio Version, if you've never listened to one before, this one would be a great starter, simply because of the fantastic narration.

🎧🎧 - Narrated by January LaVoy, a new narrator for me, but certainly is going to be added to my favourites.

Her narration was Pos-i-tute-ly AMAZING! All of the characters has their own voices, I was not confused at any point, we also had a little bit of singing, and her Naughty John voice was just downright terrifying!

This was not a scary book, it is Young Adult after all, but it was I suppose a little creepy, but all in all it was a fantastic read, and I have book 2 lined up when my next credit drops in!

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5 Southern Stars

Revisado: 12-21-18

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Southern Stars

What a beautiful story

I have to say that I tried to listen to this one...twice and struggled, I'm not sure what it was but it just didn't grab me straight away.

This time I forced myself to carry on and listen, and I'm so glad I did because this book was just GORGEOUS!

The descriptions that the author uses are just stunning, I want to hug them all

“The morning burned so August-hot, the marsh’s moist breath hung the oaks and pines with fog.”


Kya is a happy child mostly, she lives in the Marsh area and is 'at one' with nature, she lives in her shack with her parents and siblings and doesn't really see the bad in anything...until her family starts getting smaller.

One by one her siblings leave, and then it is her Mothers turn, she just leaves one day without looking back.

After a while she realises that it is because of her fathers alcoholic and abusive ways, and she is left to look after him.

She learns to live with her father, and they even become 'friends' for a while, but most of the time she is left for days at a time to fend for herself, while he goes out spending money they don't have, and drinking to excess.

She learns that you don't get 'nothing for free', so starts to sell what she can to the storekeeper in town, and soon makes a firm friend in him and his wife.

Kya is an incredibly knowledgeable girl, she could tell you what the weather was going to be like, just by the sound of the birds, but the one thing she cannot do is read, or write, until she meets Tate.

Gahhh, the friendship between Tate and Kya was just lovely, he really took the time to know her and help her, and I was really disappointed in him at certain points in the book!
Friends are something that Kya holds very dear, because she doesn't have any, most of the townspeople are snobby toward her and look down their noses at her.

In 1969 Chase Andrews a local football legend is found dead in the marsh area, the rumours start to fly, and The Marsh Girl's name keeps being linked to his, but why?

This was an absolute joy to listen to, and the author Delia Owens certainly knows her stuff, she is a wildlife scientist, and this shows in her beautiful poetic writing.
I'm not at all surprised that Reece Witherspoon has chosen it to be in her Sunshine reads club, or that it will be coming to a movie theatre soon, I can't wait to see it!!

🎧🎧 - Totally AMAZING narration by Cassandra Campbell, she made this listening experience even better.

Save a credit for this one it is a cracker

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4 Emotional stars

Revisado: 10-05-18

Madison is left with 2 small children after her douchebag of a husband Mitch left, her life now consists of work and her two boys and she is just trying to do the best she can.

Madison's best friend is trying to get her out there again and meet people, but it won't really be necessary, because along comes Ryder at just the right time....

Very emotional and a bit of a tear-jerker, this one will pull at your heart strings, but also make you laugh, smile and want to physically hurt characters!!

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5 Faking It Stars

Revisado: 09-28-18

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Faking It stars

Oh my goodness, if I couldn't love Erin Mallon any more, she goes and narrates this book, i don't think my GirlCrush can take much more!

I think this has to be one of my favourite K Bromberg books to date, the story, the characters...everything!!

Harlow is off to a job interview, of course being nervous she writes the address etc onto a piece of paper, which is then smudged, no problem...but is it office 303 or 308??

After knocking on the door and mentally preparing herself, she has a quick barrage of abuse from the man opening it, about her her being late, and a dog lead shoved into her hand, oh and a door slammed in her face, the dog runs off down the corridor and her heel brakes on her shoe.

And that ladies and gentleman is all i am going to tell you about this book...well apart from the MC Zane is Australian, and Erin Mallon's Australian accent made me swoon.....a lot!!

This story is to do with a Badass woman, a Douchebag of a man, a "Relationship" a Dog and a Website.

Narration - This is what made the book for me, We have new to me narrator Rupert Channing, who i will certainly be looking for again, and my #GirlVoiceCrush Erin Mallon.

Her Australian accent was enough to make me swoon...a lot!

Drop what you are doing and grab yourself a copy of this brilliant story!

happy Listening

Vicci

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