Well, here I am finally posting two reviews for books I read for the Once Upon a Time II Challenge. I barely got these in before the deadline and still wasn’t able to complete my challenge. Oh well, there’s always next year!

The books I read for this challenge for the most part were good ones. I especially liked A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K. Wren. I highly recommend it. It is set in the near future after a nuclear war has ravaged the earth. There are a few survivors and two of them in particular are determined to see that some spark of culture survives. They are amassing a vault of books. This gives me hope even if the book has some nightmare inducing stuff. Anyway, here is more of my review.

The other book I read was a bit more light and breezy even if it was about witches and demons. Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison was a good start to the popular Rachel Morgan series. The only thing that bugged me about this book, and really nothing to do with the book itself, is that I kept thinking I had read some of it before. A good part of the beginning seemed very familiar to me so maybe I had picked it up at one point. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll check out the second one in the series because I really want to know what secrets one of the characters was hiding! Here is more of my review.

A big thank you goes to Carl V. for once again organizing such a fun challenge. It’s a challenge that gets me out of my reading comfort zone and I like that.

I’ve read two books recently about middle-aged women going through some life changes, making adjustments and basically taking stock of their lives. It’s funny, both protagonists are around 40 and I guess being that I recently turned that magic number perhaps these books struck a chord with me. Although, really, 40 is middle age? Goodness, I still feel like I’m 20 in a lot of ways.

Ah well back to the books, let me tell you about these because I want to recommend both and I do have a giveaway of one of the books so keep reading…

The first one is Of Men and their Mothers by Mameve Medwed. I’ve read one of her books before and as with it, this one was thoroughly enjoyable. Medwed creates credible characters with ordinary lives but still off-beat enough to make you smile and keep you entertained. This book is about Maisie Grey, a woman recently divorced who vows never to make the same mistakes as her former mother-in-law when it comes to her teenage son. But, we can all say we’d react one way and it’s not until a situation forces our hand that we will show our true colors. Here’s my full review and I hope you’ll check out this book.

The other book was a bit of a mixed-bag for me. The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer focuses on a group of women who have put their careers on hold to raise their children and are now coming to terms with the consequences of their choices. I felt like Wolitzer was striving for a lot with this book and so some of the situations felt forced or out of place. Although I didn’t love the book I’m still glad I read it, and here’s my full review for more info.

Now for the giveaway, The Ten-Year Nap is an ARC but I know it’s a book that’s been talked about quite a bit. I’d love to pass it along so leave a comment if you are interested in it and I’ll do a drawing on Friday.