Location: United States
Member Since: Aug. 03, 2012

Cat T

Smashwords book reviews by Cat T

  • Tomahawks & Zombies on Sep. 03, 2012

    This book doesn't fall in any of my "usual" genres, but the description definitely intrigued me. Jumping right in - I liked the characters, especially Jake, who seems like a good guy and a generous tipper. His friends seem decent enough. They were well conceived and realistic. There were many humorous moments, which was a nice break from the terrible circumstances/situations these guys found themselves in. The author also paints a very vivid and, what I think is quite realistic, picture of what would happen in a real zombie apocalypse. Ranging from the lack of resources (food, water) and constant paranoia to the different groups of people that handle the situation is very diverse ways (also exhibiting greed and intolerance or generosity and tolerance). I also liked that the characters made mistakes and had to suffer for them. Their inexperience with a lot of situations they found themselves in was also very realistic and I found myself liking them more and more as the story journal progressed. There are definitely some "oh shit" moments and I found myself checking the page numbers to make sure there was still more book left. The journey isn't easy or fluid and, I know this is getting repetitive, but it really made things believable (seriously, what other book mentions farting and pooping so often?) My problems with this book mostly stem from editing problems. Now I know that the book opens by saying that this is a journal and was rushed to print so little to no editing was done, but there were problems even with the editor's notes. Here is a short list of the things I found (though this probably doesn't include everything): pg 5 one/on, our/out, p33, p125, p147, p154 my/his, the/they, p175 to/too, p185 road/rode p191, p202 he/the p204 nervosa/nervous? p216. Mistakes ranged from capitalization, missing commas/semicolons, and typos. I do suppose that some of these are excusable as many people make these mistakes (homonyms can be confusing), but I feel like some of those aren't correct even given that it is a journal. I.E. I think mixing up one/on or our/out is more of a TYPO versus a handwritten mistake. Anyway - I definitely would recommend this book, as it was interesting, funny, and believable (really creeped me out at moments). Again, my only concern being the editing (or lack of). Two last notes: YES - stupid new Star Wars that shouldn't have been made...F George Lucas! And one of the truest and simplest quotes ever, that for some reason really resonated with me: "A friend, is both an asset and a burden." 08/16/12 - UPDATED Less than 24 hours after my review, the author contacted me. Based on my list, he has edited and updated the errors. With that, I now upgrade my review to 5 stars (previously 4).
  • Centaur Legacy on Dec. 15, 2012

    So what is in this book? Centaurs, magic, romance, all the characters you know and love (or hate *coughZandracough*), new characters, gods/goddesses, an entire history of Centaurs, Centaur politics, a bit of mystery, betrayal, and so much more. I only found one editing error (maybe) and because I was so engrossed with the book, I refused to stop to write it down...whoops. Although I didn't have any problems with it, in the last book others complained that it was confusing when the POV changed. Ms. Straight has definitely listened and has fixed that problem by clearly labeling who was narrating and even where this character was. Beyond making it clear who was talking, it really helps the reader as there are multiple locations worldwide that the characters travel to. The scope of this book has definitely grown, and that exactly what I wanted to see happen. You also get to hear the story from other perspectives this time, and minor characters from the first book become more important. I hope this trend continues as the story lines get added and the web gets more complicated because I do love the entire Strayer family. My biggest concern with this book was that all the narration sounds very similar. I would (and still) think that depending on the background of each character, their vocabulary, tone, etc would be different (this pertains mainly to Zandra). I honestly couldn't help myself; after downloading the book I started reading it right away and finished it that night. No matter what I did to distract myself, I kept thinking of what was happening with Cami, Drake, Beau, and all the other characters. Unfortunately that means I have even longer to wait between this book and the next, yet to-be-named, 3rd book in the series. Oh well, it is definitely worth it!
  • Aversion (Book One of The Mentalist Series) on Dec. 24, 2012

    This book goes by fast! The main character, Gemma, is likeable, understandable, and relatable. The chemistry between her and Russ is intense and intriguing - and you're left just as winded by it as they are. The backstory is both sad and interesting; I definitely felt for Gemma and give her props for her loyalty to her father, regardless of what was going on around them. My only hesitation about this book is the fact that almost everything happens at the climax of the book. Other than that I definitely recommend this book to YA fans - it has a bit of romance, mystery, supernatural powers, and as a bonus, character growth. On a side note, this book uses UK English, which threw me off only once (the term over there is "drink driving" versus American English's "drunk driving").