Topaz by Leon Uris

I've been wanting to read a novel by Leon Uris for a few years now. I decided to give his novel, Topaz, a try! I ended up listening to the unabridged audio version of Topaz by Leon Uris and narrated by David de Vries.

Listening time for Topaz by Leon Uris is 11 hours, 8 minutes.

I like cold war, spy thrillers and Topaz by Leon Uris fits the bill in spades for this category. Overall, I like the plot, storyline, and character for Topaz. Leon Uris is a master story teller and definitely writes a layered and detailed story. 


David de Vries is an excellent narrator. I'll have to look into other books he has narrated.

My only complaint is that women aren't always portrayed in the most positive light in this novel. Topaz by Leon Uris was published in 1967. So the female characters seem very stereotypical for the time. 

The following is the plot summary for Topaz by Leon Uris from Audible:

A #1 New York Times bestseller, Topaz follows French intelligence chief André Devereaux and NATO intelligence chief Michael Nordstrom.

On the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis in Paris, 1962, Devereaux and Nordstrom uncover Soviet plans to ship nuclear arms. But when nobody acts after sharing his findings, Devereaux becomes the target of an assassination attempt and soon realizes the plot extends far beyond Cuba - and himself.

A thrilling and well-paced novel filled with Cold War intrigue, Topaz features two agents on a journey around the world to save NATO and themselves. A subsequent film based on the novel was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1969.

I am giving Topaz by Leon Uris a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

Beloved Author, Toni Morrison, Dies @ Age 88

I discovered this morning in an online article from The New York Times titled, Toni Morrison, Towering Novelist of the Black Experience, Dies at 88 by Margalit Fox, that Novel Prize winning author, Toni Morrison, died yesterday due to complications from pneumonia. In the article, Margalit Fox wrote a lengthy obituary about Toni Morrison's life. Click on the above link to read the full obituary.

I have only read one of Toni Morrison's novels for a college English course, The Bluest Eyes, back in the early 1990s. I've always wanted to read more of her novels. I remember liking The Bluest Eyes at the time... But I cannot remember much of the plot details for this novel now though. I recently placed it on my reread list.

Have you read any of Toni Morrison's novels? If so, which ones have you read? What did you think of the novels you read by Toni Morrison?

The Evolution of the Book!!

The basic evolution of the book is discussed in the above YouTube video. I enjoyed learning some new things by by watching the video. I hope you enjoy watching the video too.

Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

I've wanted to read Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm for quite awhile. I am glad that I finally did read this book. It's really well done.

The artwork for Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm is phenomenal and really captures a lot of detail making this a worthwhile read! The text that accompanies this novel provides just the right amount of information about the history of uranium and plutonium, fission, the Manhattan Project, the making of the first atomic bomb, the key players in making the first atomic bomb, detonating the first atomic bombs, its aftermath, and so on. 

I highly recommend Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm if you like learning about history and want to know the basics behind the first atomic bomb. Additionally, if you like reading graphic novels in general, then you'll like the artwork inside this book as well. 

I also found the font size of the text in this book to be the perfect size... Usually, I find the font size to be so small in graphic novels, comic and manga books that I need to use a magnifier of some sort to read the text itself!

Below is the publisher's summary of Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm from Amazon:

Trinity, the debut graphic book by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, depicts the dramatic history of the race to build and the decision to drop the first atomic bomb in World War Two. This sweeping historical narrative traces the spark of invention from the laboratories of nineteenth-century Europe to the massive industrial and scientific efforts of the Manhattan Project, and even transports the reader into a nuclear reaction―into the splitting atoms themselves.The power of the atom was harnessed in a top-secret government compound in Los Alamos, New Mexico, by a group of brilliant scientists led by the enigmatic wunderkind J. Robert Oppenheimer. Focused from the start on the monumentally difficult task of building an atomic weapon, these men and women soon began to wrestle with the moral implications of actually succeeding. When they detonated the first bomb at a test site code-named Trinity, they recognized that they had irreversibly thrust the world into a new and terrifying age.With powerful renderings of WWII's catastrophic events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Fetter-Vorm unflinchingly chronicles the far-reaching political, environmental, and psychological effects of this new invention. Informative and thought-provoking, Trinity is the ideal introduction to one of the most significant events in history.

I am giving Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm a rating of 5 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

50/50 Friday - Best/Worst Read of July 2019

50/50 Friday is a meme hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reads and Laura @ Blue Eye Books. This book meme focuses on the opposite sides of books (best/worst, differing opinions, etc). Every week will have a new topic and several advance topics will be listed in the tab labeled 50/50 Friday!

This week's 50/50 Friday topic is Best/Worst Read of July 2019!! I read 16 books! Still need to write a few reviews though.

My Worst Read of July 2019

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher

(Click on above link to read my review)

My Best Reads of July 2019

I have a tie for this category!! 

Two books made the spot for favorite read for July 2019.

Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright

(Click on above link to read my review)

Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI by Robert K. Ressler

(Click on above link to read my review)

Which books were your favorite reads in July 2019?

Daxton by Becca Fanning

Daxton by Becca Fanning is another paranormal romance short story to feature bear shifters. It's approximately 50 pages and is the first in the 120 Proof Honey Series.

I was able to download Daxton by Becca Fanning to my Kindle for FREE from Amazon.

Below is my honest, unbiased review of Daxton by Becca Fanning.

The writing and storyline started out really well for Daxton. I liked the main characters. I also liked the tension and and some of the drama... BUT how the drama was handled seemed a bit unrealistic. Additionally, the ending for Daxton was abrupt and felt rushed, which made it lose points with me.

The following is the plot summary for Daxton by Becca Fanning from Amazon:

Blair Mason was a woman with a one-track mind, and that track was work. From sunrise to sun down, all she thought about was how to keep her small town grocery store open. That meant hard decisions, the type Blair was in the midst of making when she was rudely interrupted by a tall man. A tall handsome man. Oh, there were things other than work after all!

Daxton Holt thought getting his honey on Mason's shelves would be simple. Walk in, flash a smile and fill out some paperwork. But this owner was something else. She saw right through his charms, pushing him to really sell his product. He liked that, and he liked her. A feisty little minx is sweeter than any honey his bees made...

I am giving Daxton by Becca Fanning a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!

Dietrich by Becca Fanning

Dietrich by Becca Fanning is a paranormal romance read. I read the ebook version of Dietrich by Becca Fanning, which is approximately 44 pages... So I guess you could call it a short story!!

I was able to download Dietrich by Becca Fanning for FREE to my Kindle from Amazon.

Below is my honest, unbiased review of Dietrich by Becca Fanning.

I thought Dietrich by Becca Fanning was an okay read. It is the first read in the Bear Dating Agency Series and contains bear shifters. I thought the writing was okay and so was the storytelling. Let's just say that this short story is forgettable... I read Dietrich a few days ago and I am already forgetting quite a bit of the plot details. I'll skip reading the rest of the series.

The following is the plot summary for Dietrich by Becca Fanning from Amazon:

Elise Davenport was not having a good night. Just the day before she put her whole career on the line thanks to a few glasses of champagne. Loose lips can sink ships, and they can obliterate your social status. So here she was, stumbling through Fairhaven Park in pitch blackness, looking for the cabin she rented. She'd just hung up the phone with her agent when she heard the rumbling growl come from beside her. Not a good night at all...

Dietrich Best was trying to play it cool. The young lady now sitting next to his Gram looked him up and down, her eyes stopping on his washboard abs. But soon they made their way up, locking with his. She knew. Somehow she knew...

I am giving Dietrich by Becca Fanning a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!

Top Ten Tuesday - FREEBIE - Book Series I'd Like To Catch Up On

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Top Ten Tuesday was originally created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Below are the top ten book series I'd enjoy catching up on in the future!

1. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon

2. The Lord John Grey Series by Diana Gabaldon

3. The Blood Destiny Series by Connie Suttle

4. Miss Fortune Mystery Series by Jana DeLeon

5. Tenzing Norbu Mystery Series by Gay Hendricks & Tinker Lindsay

6. A Flower Shop Mystery Series by Kate Collins

7. A Mira James Mystery Series by Jess Lourey

8. The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry

9. The Coffee House Mystery Series by Cleo Coyle

10. A Hangman's Daughter Tale Series by Oliver Pötzsch

All About The Bear by Bianca D'Arc

All About The Bear by Bianca D'Arc is the first of thirteen books in the Grizzly Cove Series. It's a paranormal romance novella featuring bear shifters. It's also a novella approximately 126 pages in length. 

I was able to download All About The Bear by Bianca D'Arc for FREE to my Kindle.

Below is my honest, unbiased review of All About The Bear by Bianca D'Arc.

I really enjoyed reading All About The Bear. The writing is good/solid. The characters are fun. The storyline and plot details make for fun reading... And there is even some humorous scenes. I enjoyed that there is no cliffhanger ending either. Just a fun easy, breezy, no drama summer read!

Below is the plot summary for All About The Bear by Bianca D'Arc from Amazon:

New town, new people, new…shapeshifters?

In the small, sleepy town of Grizzly Cove, Washington, all is not as it seems. Nell abruptly discovers that she and her sisters are the only humans in a town full of shifters – most of them bears! Knowing nothing about the paranormal creatures all around her, but wanting to know everything about the sexy sheriff who comes to her rescue, Nell has to find her backbone and brace herself to learn All About the Bear.

Can he keep the shifter secret…and the girl, too?

The sheriff of Grizzly Cove has more than the peace to protect. It’ll be up to Sheriff Brody to keep Nell calm and cooperative—and in his bed—for the next fifty years, or so. Yeah, that might be enough. Then again, maybe he’ll keep her forever.

I am giving All About The Bear by Bianca D'Arc a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!

Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin

I read the ebook edition of Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin. 

Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin is the first paranormal romance in the 'Dragon In My Heart Series' and is approximately 100 pages in length.

I was able to download Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin to my Kindle for FREE.

Below is my honest, unbiased review of Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this paranormal romance as I think Mad About The Dragon may be the first of anything I've read with a dragon shifter in it. I like paranormal romances in general, but one featuring a dragon shifter would normally not be ones I am drawn to generally. 

With than said, I thought Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin was so-so. I am also NOT interested in reading the rest of the  'Dragon In My Heart Series'. The writing was so-so, the main character, Maia, wasn't consistent in her thinking/actions, and one of the major plot details didn't make sense as to how it could have happened... I don't want to go into the details of that plot snafu as it may be too much of a spoiler for those that may still want to read, Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin. 

Additionally, there's plenty of tension in Mad About The Dragon, loads of action, and a lot of romance, but nothing about this novella would motivate me to keep reading the series... Oh, and the ending of for Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin is flat, blah, boring.

The following is a plot summary for Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin from Amazon:

Love must rise in a desert of adversity...

Maia isn’t your run-of-the-mill lass.

A professional dancer with the Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, her vision is becoming the most skilled dancer of the troupe. Life might have been easier if she just jumped on the pole, becoming the lascivious focus of randy men, and certainly more lucrative in the short term, but that life wasn’t for her.

When she needs to clear her mind, she collects desert glass in the Mojave Desert. But the desert doesn’t always give you what you want. Sometimes it gives you what you need.

A Red Dragon.

Maia had no idea her strange hobby will bring her face-to-face with a freakishly handsome dragon shifter, an encounter that will turn her world on its head.

From the moment she met Ignacio, she knew she was down for the ride. She’d never met anyone with such fiery passion, mystery, and she couldn’t get enough. Who knew that passion would open the floodgates of love, but may also bring about their downfall?

Mad About The Dragon is the first novel in the Dragon In My Heart series, which is a paranormal romance novella. If you’re a fan of thrillers, exciting storylines and steamy love scenes, then get your hands on this exhilarating story by Selene Griffin!

I am giving Mad About The Dragon by Selene Griffin a rating of 2 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!