Location: United States
Member Since: Nov. 18, 2011

SamanthaTowner

Smashwords book reviews by SamanthaTowner

  • Break Away (Away, Book 1) on Dec. 28, 2011

    Break Away by Tatiana Vila was a fantastic read from Read 2 Review. I found this book to be a refreshing read from what I have been reading in the past couple of months. While the story unfolds in a quick reading manner, the answers to questions within unfold in a juicy delicious slow way. Far from being annoying and an overused mechanism it is delightful. The plot was extremely fast paced and unwrapped in entertaining way. The characters were completely interesting filled with sharp and at times snarky humor and content. For those readers that have read other Tatiana Vila books will enjoy this story as well. It is not just another story line with different named characters but a whole new story. I love when authors are not afraid to break away from molds and previous works. I cherished that this book while being a complete story; it set up the future books in an exciting way that leaves the future story wide open with so many interesting possibilities.
  • Illicit Magic (Book 1, Stella Mayweather Series) on March 15, 2012

    Illicit Magic written by Camilla Chafer was a delightful read. While the story was faced pace with lots of action, the author wrote the characters in such a way that the reader gained empathy and other such emotional ties to them. The world built was a fascinating one that brought new experiences to the reader. It was exciting to explore the world where there are all manners of supernatural creatures with frightening conspiracies and antagonists. It was pleasant that the author didn’t immediately pinpoint all the other supernatural creatures within her world, nor did she explicitly hammer out all the motivations and plots with the antagonists. In doing so she left many points of mystery and room for the series to grow. I want to make sure that future readers understand that it was handled in such a way that instead of being frustrating it made the book so much more exciting. As stated earlier the character builds were in depth and the reader was given the opportunity to explore the motivations and insights into them while still leaving room for development. I wont go into detail, as I don’t want to spoil anyone’s experience. I will state here that the author pulled no punches with the characters in intense situations, which I found to be pleasing. I think that many people will find this book to be an entertaining read. If you enjoy just about any supernatural fiction then this book would be up your alley. I will make a last note here that while this book does contain sexual encounters however, they are done in a tasteful manner and are not overbearing in the book and should not turn readers away.
  • World War ll London Blitz Diary Volume 1 on April 12, 2012

    The book World War II London Blitz Diary Volume 1 edited by Victoria Aldridge Washuk is a special work that will appeal to different group of readers. For the readers that wish to read about how a woman lived during this tumultuous time in history for their personal edification will have an informative read that will be completely satisfying. These readers will obtain a new outlook on how the war prompts and stresses everyday life and how a woman struggles within life, marriage, and religion. This book gives these deeper insights that are not normally written about, as the writer, Ruby Side Thompson, does not focus on the well-known gritty, factual results of the bombs, or rationing. Instead the reader gains lesser-known details of her life and how these years impacted her life. For these reasons I believe that this book will be a rewarding read. For readers that want to read this book for personal pleasure read no further, as this next part will most likely bore you and is for readers that wish to read this book as a primary source of a historical document. Let me say here that the editor Victoria Aldridge Washuk should be given a hand for having the foresight, and courage to release this work for future scholars and interested people. She had the courage to release the work without diluting and or polishing the dairies. I feel that the importance of this work cannot be overstated as it gives us a source for the common person. We all know that many primary and secondary sources are from official, and prominent people and very few are from mostly unknown common persons. Within this work scholars can gain important insight into a woman’s struggle with religion, marriage and how stress of war affected women in general. For students or scholars of psychology and or religion will find this work of great use to see how stresses affected a woman’s life, religion and outlook on marriage. She kept meticulous records of not only when, location, and length of raids and bombs. But she also writes of what books she was reading and why and how they effected her during that time frame. Giving the scholar a priceless work to obtain deeper knowledge of all these issues.