Review: Quick Trick

Quick Trick by Skye Jordan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5*
Grant, star hockey player, is home for the holidays to recover from an injured shoulder. While he is home, he helps coach his old high school hockey team. Faith gave up anything to take care of her dad. When he died, she took over his hardware store and she is struggling to keep it open.
Faith keeps Grant at arms length, but gradually lets him in. Nice story about someone who was hurt, grieving and someone who needed a shift in priorities.

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Review: Not Bad For a Girl

Not Bad For a Girl by Anastasia Ryan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I would classify this as more women's fiction with a dose of (light) romance on the side.
Indiana (Ana) works in a male dominated industry. She's smart and calls things out when needed. After she speaks out after being passed over for a promotion (go figure, the guy she trained got it), she gets transferred to a remote team. During an interaction, she gets mis-gendered and decides to not correct it (at least not right away).
As you would correctly guess, things quickly snowball from there with help from her friends who lie and cover up for her. I did think the friends were annoying at times and overstepped. Things do (as you know) work out nicely and people aren't always as one would assume. Ana made assumptions about the people she worked with and they had ways of pleasantly surprising her. And she met a nice guy, Shane.

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Review: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An important read; it's quick.
1. Do not obey in advance (hello Columbia, Paul Weiss)
2. Defend institutions
3. Beware the 1 party state
4. Take responsibility for the care of the world
5. Remember professional ethics
6. Be wary of paramilitaries
7. Be reflective if you must be armed
8. Stand out
9. Be kind to our language
10. Believe in Truth
11. Investigate
12. Make eye contact
13. Practice proporal politics (equal/proportional representation in elections)
14. Establish a private life (you really don't need to post everything to social media)
15. Contribute to good causes
16. Learn from peers in other countries
17. Listen for dangerous words
18. Be calm when the unthinkable happens
19. Be a patriot
20. Be as courageous as you can or are able

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Review: Keeper of the Castle

Keeper of the Castle by Juliet Blackwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Things are slow with Mel's company, so she is able to help out Graham at his job site. He has a ghost problem. He happens to be working on the reconstruction of a Scottish castle that has come with its own ghost.
The biggest thing in this was Mel and Graham's relationship progressing (she calls him her boyfriend). I thought the mystery was okay; nice little twist with the stones (someone might have lied to get money and the business).

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Review: Reliquary

Reliquary by Sarah Fine
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A disappointment.
Mattie lives in a magical world. She happens to be a reliquary; a magic carrier with the ability to hide that magic (but she can't use it). Her fiance Ben is kidnapped and she jumps in to find him. She meets Asa, a smuggler, who also happens to be Ben's estranged brother. She helps him, he will help her.
Lovely, a love triangle involving brothers. But Ben has a dark side. Unbeknownst to her, Ben is a magical addict and owes a very large sum of money. He also used magic on her without her knowing. Ben is an asshole. But, does she decide he should stay missing? Nope. The ending sucked.
Spoiler- she forgave him and they are still together at the end of the book. I would have thought lying and manipulation would have been ample break-up material.

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Review: Tough Luck

Tough Luck by Annabeth Albert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Age gap (Cash is 38, Danny is 25), best friend's brother, forced proximity (for a bit).
Danny is a retired child actor who is in recovery. He has a stalker. Cash is freshly retired from the military and is unsure of what he wants to do now. His best friend Duncan runs his own (security) company. As a favor, Cash will play bodyguard while stalker is on the lose.
Story is told in alternating points of view. Both find themselves attracted to each other. Overall, I liked the romance, but thought the stalker angle/suspense was very underdeveloped IMO. Danny started out as somewhat immature (mainly because didn't know how to do some routine life things like cooking, driving, etc.). He got better towards the end.

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Review: The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource

The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource by Christopher L. Hayes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A good reminder to pay attention and limit screen times on the phone/tablet if browsing/looking at social media sites. Get out and meet people! A good point about the overabundance of information; quite a bit is misinformation.

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