Book Talk with Rebecca Rivera

WARNING: Please remember that these Book Talks contain spoilers. I do not aim to review a book but to encourage a conversation about it. That means I'll talk about my favorite parts and  unfavorite  parts, INCLUDING SPOILERS. I actually created this photo for Instagram, but I worked so hard on it I had to use it twice. Lol. Horror and psychological thrillers are not usually on my to-read list. But movie trailers and Bird Box , the book, sitting on my library's "new" shelf put it into my life in a way I couldn't ignore. I did a quick check of average ratings, and here's what I found. Again, Goodreads has a lower rating for the book than Amazon or B&N. Must be all those picky readers out there. Lol. Ratings 4.03 star rating on Goodreads (for the first time I noticed Goodreads rates to the 1/100th place) 4.4 star on BarnesandNoble.com 4.4 star on Amazon Before I tell you my personal rating, I'm going to bend your ear with what I thought of ...

What if Jane had not died at 41? WARNING: Please remember that these Book Talks contain spoilers. I do not aim to review a book but to encourage a conversation about it. That means I'll talk about my favorite parts and unfavorite parts, INCLUDING SPOILERS. This month I read The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn. Time travel, history and writing are high on my list of favorite topics in a book. The Jane Austen Project satisfied my reading tooth in a way no book has since I created my list of top three favorites in my late teens. Apparently not everyone thinks it's as good as I, according to the Goodreads rating. Ratings 3.7 star rating on Goodreads (I assume it's because of the readerly, i.e. pickier opinions of readers) 4.2 star on BarnesandNoble.com 4.5 star on Amazon I'm considering adding it to my new list of favorites. It is definitely a model for a dream book to write. Likes: I love the way Flynn sounds like she really knows what she's t...

Have you ever come home from the library with a stack of books ten high, only to return all of them unread, then repeat the same process on your next visit? I have been doing this for years. Last month I decided I needed to get a handle on this action. So I started asking myself why I took home so many books and why so many of them were returned unread. Taking home so many is simple. They all look so interesting. Ooo, a flashy cover. I'll take that one. Hmm, intriguing title. I'll take that one too. Interesting premise on the back cover copy of this one. I'm sure I'll read this one. I'd better take it too. I'm sure your excuses are as water tight as mine. But why return so many unread? Now that question was a little harder to answer. After some soul searching and much wailing and confessing of sins...wait, that's church, not library books. Ahem...let's start over. After pondering on this question and forcing myself to be as honest as I could, I c...

Click me to buy on Smashwords.com! Hey, welcome back to Book Talk. Today I wanted to go a little more in depth with Stolen Kiss, Episode 2 in the Sweet 'N Sour Kisses series by Cindy Hogan. Brooklyn Hill is recovering from her first date with Luke Graham (in Episode 1, First Kiss) after he did the unexpected and turned her birthday into a nightmare. She tries to avoid him at school and at swim practice (they're both on the swim team), but he seems determined to act like they are an item. Ryker finally starts talking to her, the strong, quiet guy on their competing school's swim team. Brooklyn wants to see what might develop with him, so she has to find a way to get rid of Luke. She thinks she comes up with the perfect idea...until it backfires. But all might turn out perfectly yet when she meets Ryker at the corn maze on the swim team group outing. I loved this book just as much as First Kiss. Author Cindy Hogan kept the humor going. I don't find many books ...

Hi! My name is Rebecca Rivera, and you're reading Book Talk with Rebecca Rivera. I love reading books and talking about books. When I was a young teenager, my friends would come to me for advice on what book to read next. They would borrow books from my extensive library (extensive for a civilian), and I would make them follow my "don't bend the cover" rule and "this book better come back in the same shape it left" rule. I was an advocate for a good story, and my standards were very high. After almost fifteen years of stepping away from fiction because of some heart-twisting life events (that I may tell you about sometime, after we get to know each other), I have returned and discovered the world of books has changed a LOT while I was gone. Six years ago, I heard about this fabulous little website (it't not really little) called Smashwords.com. You may have heard of it. It's a place where anyone can publish an ebook for free. Recently, I discove...