No. Just a thousand times no. This was long, boring, and there's a really weird set-up with two characters that I would rather Pullman just leave the hell alone. This dragged. Badly. I didn't like Lyra and I didn't like Pan. I just felt like this was filler and it ended on a weird note. 

No. 

Also can you call this Young Adult anymore since Lyra is not a young adult? She's 20 which puts her in New Adult status regarding book genres. Apparently my streak of disliking mostly every New Adult book I have read is undefeated.

No.

"The Secret Commonwealth" jumps forward and instead of following book #1 in the new series, we are plunged several years after Lyra and Will were separated. Lyra and Pan are finding themselves at odds and there's a mysterious murder that once again Lyra is in the middle of. We have previous characters from the last book (Malcolm and Alice) in this one to not do much besides fret over Lyra and or get shuttled off screen until Pullman remembers them. 

There's too much going on. I think we had to follow at one point 4 or 5 people? That includes Lyra, Pan, Malcolm, Alice, and others I am blanking on now. I think the worst part is as I said I didn't like Lyra or Pan.

Pullman turns Lyra into a freaking Mary Sue. Everyone wants to protect her and or is in love with her. I just...deep breath. I don't know what this was. It was a hodge podge of ideas that don't work. I don't know when book #3 is coming out, but I hope that Pullman gets rid of the characters we don't care about and focus on Lyra. The mess with her and Pan made zero sense and it got so stupid I couldn't even keep reading about it.

I started skimming over Malcolm's parts. I don't like him.

Alice felt the same but older between books #1 and #2 and I would have rather followed her.

The writing didn't read like Pullman and the flow was awful. There are stories within stories and info dumping galore. 

The book ends on a damn cliffhanger. 

Also, see spoiler below. 

Kickin' Up Dust (Operation Cowboy Book 1...

Kickin' Up Dust by Em Petrova is a great western romance.  Ms. Petrova has supplied readers with a book that is well-written and furnished with fun, lovable characters.  Brodie is returning home along with his buddies after their military service is done.  When they arrive in town to find an empty tornado-ravaged town they travel on to Brodie's ranch to find little damage there.  Danica is Brodie's best friend's sister, the best friend that died in his arms.  Brodie and Danica's story is packed with drama, humor, steamy sex, sass and guilt.  I enjoyed reading Kickin' Up Dust and look forward to my next book by Em Petrova.  Kickin' Up Dust is book 1 of the Operation Cowboy Series but can be read as a standalone.  This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger. 

*sigh* This book had such potential, but was weak limp noodle of a story. I shouldn't have been so excited to read a historical romance by two contemporary romance authors, but SPACE RACE ROMANCE was just something I couldn't resist. I didn't like the heroine and felt neutral about the hero and their chemistry just wasn't there but hey they had great sex so of course he fell in love. I think the heroine was tired of being a divorcee and having to work to support herself and the kids, so she was willing to marry again so quickly. She was also a judgmental scold with everyone she met, especially other women. The world building could've used more period pieces to make you feel you are in the time period; instead, it felt like a contemporary heroine wearing vintage clothing and having a contemporary romance. It just failed for me and I am bowing out on reading the rest of the series.

Book: I chose Star Dust (Fly Me to the Moon #1) by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner. The heroine is a single mom of two kids.

Task #1

The mother of all writerly sins would be telling not showing, especially in romance. If the author keeps telling the reader that the couple is falling in love, but the reader doesn't see one example of that love and trusting building, then the romance fails. I want to look back on a book and remember scenes of action, conversation, and progress in the relationship, not paragraphs of the heroine or hero thinking to themselves that they are falling in love or having a side character say they are falling in love.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!!!!

Reading List

1. Home to Whiskey Creek (Whiskey Creek #4) by Brenda Novak

2. On Distant Shores (Wings of a Nightingale #2) by Sarah Sundin

3. Crewel World (Needlecraft Mysteries #1) by Monica Ferris

4. The Soldier's Secrets by Naomi Rawlings

5. The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough

6. The Baron's Blunder by Susan M. Banganz

7. Toward the Sunrise (Until the Dawn #0.5) by Elizabeth Camden

8. Star Dust (Fly Me to the Moon #1) by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner

9. The Nightingale Sisters (The Nightingales #2) by Donna Douglas

10. Better off Wed by Laura Durham

11. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson