Location: United States
Member Since: Dec. 15, 2011
Christina Hickey
Books
This member has not published any books.Smashwords book reviews by Christina Hickey
- Eclipsed by Shadow: The Legend of the Great Horse (Book 1)
on Jan. 05, 2012
I received this book from Librarything member giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Overall, I enjoyed reading this novel. There are a lot of strengths to this novel. It's engaging, especially for anyone who has ever been enthralled by horses (I definitely was!). It is very well researched- I was fascinated by the history of horses and how different cultures interacted and thought of them. I really enjoyed the elderly lady that took interest in the Legend of the great horse. And for the time travel, I thought that her time in Rome and her time in Asia, were exceptionally well done. I loved her interactions with Father Bartholemew and the kind gladiator in Rome. Finally, the book is well written. There are some downsides to this book, but this should not be an issue with the following novels in the trilogy. The problem was mainly Meagan going to time periods where A) it was so far in the past that language had not been developed yet or B) she did not speak the language (like in the Genghis Khan section). The lack of connection with other characters made it fall flat during this time, which is an issue that doesn't really have an easy solution. The author minimized this issue by making those sections much shorter, which was a very good idea. Again, I think that as Meagan gets closer to her own time, this will no longer be an issue. This novel is definitely a worthwhile read, and I'm looking forward to the next installment!
- Face-Off (Book One)
on Jan. 05, 2012
I received this book from Librarything in exchange for an honest review. Apparently, this is a reissue of a book that was written when the author was only 16. I was very impressed with all the hockey lingo and thought it was very well done. The twins interaction and the difficulties with the parents were very real. I was moved by all the relationships and how they evolved over time. I thought it was wonderful how the twins worked out a majority of their issues, but it almost seemed too easy for a long standing resentment, a fierce sibling rivalry, just to fade away. Of course, perhaps this is just the calm before the storm! I enjoyed reading this book a lot, and believe that sports fans and younger readers will really like it!
- Off Leash
on Jan. 05, 2012
I received this book as a free gift in exchange for an honest review. Here's my problem-- there's a lot of things to like about this little novella. I love bichons and own one, and Phoebe was downright cute! There are several moments that really work-- like when Candice meets Mark's mom for the first time, when she starts really figuring out what is important to her, etc. But then there are the moments that didn't really work for me. I never really liked Candice that much. I figured out by the end that she was making this journey to figure out who she was, but by the time I started to warm up to her, 80% of the book was over. I was still wondering why Mark put up with her for so many hours. He's a good guy, I know, but most good guys I know would have been nice to her but have been very turned off by her snobbish attitude and overall ridiculous behavior towards someone who has been bending over backwards for her. I almost think this book would have worked better not as a romance, but an exploration of this character and why she made the journey she did.
- Linked
on Jan. 05, 2012
I received this book as a free gift from Librarything in exchange for an honest review. I give it 2.5 stars. As I started the book, I had high hopes. It was fast paced and started with the characters out on the sea. I was intrigued by Luisa, who I thought was going to be the main character. She ends up only being a very minor character that we only see again at the end of the book, and isn't half as interesting as I thought she would be... but I digress. WARNING: I typically don't have spoilers but in order to explain why I had issues with this book, there will be some below. From the first chapter, things just got complicated. While the idea for the world of Seven was inventive and had never been done before, it was rife with holes, which may have been the reason it had never been done before. The premise is that if one puts on a magic bracelet they get transported to a magical world where evil abounds at 7am for 1 hr and at 7pm for one hour. But the catch is no time passes in the real world. Let me start off this discussion explaining that I usually can suspend disbelief because I love magical worlds and as long as inherently everything makes sense, I'll go with it. But I found myself so confused by how these "worlds" worked, it took away from the whole story. Here I go. First of all, why would anyone want to go to a world that a bunch of evil people are running around trying to kill you, and your only companion is a dead ghost boy who was killed by those same people? Sure, you can do magic, but it seems like the majority of that magic is to kill other people, so what's the point? The main character, Andra, is so shallow that she doesn't believe the dead boy when he says things are dangerous even after he says that he's dead, and to be fair, most of the characters are liars anyway so maybe she knows something I don't, but even after she is almost killed on her first journey to Seven, she still doesn't believe it, and concentrates only on her beautiful horse Sea Star. Andra is just a very unlikeable character- shallow, selfish, thinks she is compassionate because she "wants" to save a little girl from Seven, but to me, it sounded like a flimsy excuse to return to Seven so she can play with her magic more. Second, so a little girl, Morgan, is missing. She has lost the magical bracelet that kept her grounded in the real world. So in between 7 and 7, she and everyone else without a nice little bracelet go... where? This is unclear. Maybe they just "sleep" and only are activated for 2 hours a day? Otherwise are shooting random magic at people, killing them? Because at the next 7, everything goes into the position that they were left in at 659 in the real world. Right. confusing. Third, apparently the little girl's mother in the real world KNOWS she's missing and is freaking out on the news looking for her. WAIT A SECOND. I thought no time passed in the Seven world when you were in it... unless you don't have a bracelet, maybe?? The whole "time" paradox makes absolutely no sense to me. Fourth, "focussed" is spelled "focused." I appreciate the effort to make a new world, I know how hard it is to create one, I've tried to do it myself. But I think in the end, the whole world fell apart for these reasons and more, and I was distracted from the story, which in reality, wasn't compelling enough to ignore these issues.