Rob Slaven

Rob Slaven rated a book did not like it Dark Stallions (Legend of the Centaurians #1) by William E. Simpson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As is often the case I received this book free for review but despite that I'm absolutely candid below. Unfortunately, the book fails on every possible level. The writing feels extremely rushed and the story, while inspired from a very honest place, s ...more
May 10, 2016 06:54PM · 2 likes · like · see review
Rob Slaven rated a book liked it Octopus Pie: Volume 1 by Meredith Gran	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for a review. Despite that kindness I'm candid below. The nutshell on this one is that it's a collection of daily comics that depict the life of a fresh-out-of-college woman and her druggy roommate. ...more
Mar 28, 2016 05:27PM · 1 like · like · see review
Rob Slaven rated a book did not like it Gardening: A Beginner's Guide to Simple Gardening, Easy Steps To Develop A Green Thumb and Grow Your Own Vegetables (Gardening, Gardening Tools, Gardening for beginners, Growing Vegetables) by Ronald Raymond	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As is often the case I received this book in exchange for a review. Despite that kindness, I'm absolutely candid below. This book covers the whole range of gardening questions from tools to what to grow and how to grow it. It's about a 20-minute read ...more
Mar 27, 2016 07:25AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Gardening by Ronald Raymond. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Gardening by Ronald Raymond <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rob Slaven rated a book really liked it Frightfully Ever After by Nick DeWolf (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As is often the case I received this book free for the purpose of review but despite that I'll be completely candid about it below. The nutshell on this book is that it plays much like a cross between Breaking Bad and Cinderella. You've got drug deals ...more
Mar 26, 2016 02:10PM · 2 likes · like · see review
Rob Slaven rated a book it was ok Move or Die: Paranormal Ghost Stories by Olivia Edwards	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As usual I didn't pay anything for this book but I'll still be abundantly blunt below. The nutshell on this one is that it's a collection of four short stories (about 25 minutes total reading time) that focus on the rather grizzly paranormal. You've g ...more
Mar 24, 2016 07:51PM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Move or Die by Olivia Edwards. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Move or Die by Olivia Edwards <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rob Slaven rated a book it was ok Plan Your Life Using the Zodiac Signs by Dayanara Blue Star	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As usual I received this book free for the purposes of review. Despite that kindness I am absolutely candid below. So this book is the standard horoscope stuff. It describes the signs, gives you the supposed characteristics of people in those signs, r ...more
Mar 24, 2016 07:02PM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Plan Your Life Using the Zodiac Signs by Dayanara Blue Star. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Plan Your Life Using the Zodiac Signs by Dayanara Blue Star <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rob Slaven rated a book it was ok Smartbrain (#1) by G.F. Smith (Goodreads Author) Read 2 times	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As is often the case, I received this book for the purposes of review. Despite that immense kindness, I give my candid thoughts below. The summary on this one is tough because it evolves quite a bit as it goes on. It starts out mildly creepy techno th ...more
Mar 20, 2016 07:12PM · 1 like · like · see review
Rob Slaven rated a book liked it Narita Express (Kindle Single) by Mimi Wong (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I picked this little splat of a book up because it was lonely and unreviewed on Kindle Unlimited. Despite the joy of a free book, I'm candid below. The snapshot on this one is that it's the story of a pair of star-crossed lovers as they meet for a lon ...more
Mar 20, 2016 03:36PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Narita Express by Mimi Wong. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Narita Express by Mimi Wong <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rob Slaven rated a book did not like it Life These Days: With Family And Friends by Ronald Mcclure	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I picked this up on Kindle Unlimited because it hadn't been reviewed before. Let's take a look! * First off, the concept seems.... well, only interesting to a VERY select group of people. Maybe the author and a few people around him, but let's give it ...more
Mar 20, 2016 02:54PM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Life These Days by Ronald Mcclure. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Life These Days by Ronald Mcclure <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rob Slaven rated a book did not like it Best Damn Sex Jokes Ever!: Jokes Free, Jokes for Adults, Jokes 2016, Funny Jokes (Jokes, Jokes for Adults, best jokes 2016, best jokes, jokes 2016) by Johnathon Jacobs	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I received this book free through Kindle Unlimited. Despite the joy of a free book, I remain utterly candid below. I've never encountered a book of any sort that's quite in this format. It looks huge in the reader but the real contents are pretty smal ...more
Mar 20, 2016 02:53PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Best Damn Sex Jokes Ever! by Johnathon Jacobs. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Best Damn Sex Jokes Ever! by Johnathon Jacobs <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Rob Slaven rated a book did not like it

Dark Stallions (Legend of the Centaurians #1)
by William E. Simpson (Goodreads Author)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

As is often the case I received this book free for review but despite that I'm absolutely candid below.

Unfortunately, the book fails on every possible level. The writing feels extremely rushed and the story, while inspired from a very honest place, s ...more

Rob Slaven rated a book liked it

Octopus Pie: Volume 1
by Meredith Gran

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for a review. Despite that kindness I'm candid below.

The nutshell on this one is that it's a collection of daily comics that depict the life of a fresh-out-of-college woman and her druggy roommate. ...more

Rob Slaven rated a book did not like it

Gardening: A Beginner's Guide to Simple Gardening, Easy Steps To Develop A Green Thumb and Grow Your Own Vegetables (Gardening, Gardening Tools, Gardening for beginners, Growing Vegetables)
by Ronald Raymond

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

As is often the case I received this book in exchange for a review. Despite that kindness, I'm absolutely candid below.

This book covers the whole range of gardening questions from tools to what to grow and how to grow it. It's about a 20-minute read ...more

Rob Slaven rated a book really liked it

Frightfully Ever After
by Nick DeWolf (Goodreads Author)

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As is often the case I received this book free for the purpose of review but despite that I'll be completely candid about it below.

The nutshell on this book is that it plays much like a cross between Breaking Bad and Cinderella. You've got drug deals As is often the case I received this book free for the purpose of review but despite that I'll be completely candid about it below.

The nutshell on this book is that it plays much like a cross between Breaking Bad and Cinderella. You've got drug deals, shoot-outs, lots of profanity, magic axes and Fairie Godmothers. It's not very often you get all that between two covers.

To the positive, I was fairly giddy at the concept and remained so throughout the book. While it would be a bit of a stretch to call this all that original, I will say that this is the first book I've seen in which this was done so well and with such blatant grit. As the book progresses the protagonists/antagonists evolve into pretty frightful badasses. DeWolf has a talent for action scenes and his descriptions leave just enough to the imagination to engage the reader in total interest. The writing is solid, reasonably well edited and leaves little to be desired.

To the negative, many of the characters are pretty stereotypical and don't enjoy fully proper development. This should, I think, be viewed as only a slight issue however, since the original genres from which the author draws aren't exactly known for their deep character development. Faerie tales cop shows deal primarily in archetypes rather than fully-fleshed characters because they're intended to teach a more generalized lesson that the reader can relate to by filling in the gaps with their own attributes.

In summary, this is a delightful and thoroughly entertaining book. I found myself wanting to know more about their history and what brought them to the various straits in which they find themselves. If the author has it within him, this milieu would make for a wonderful extended series that focuses on more details and fleshes out some of the gaps left in this narrative.

Video Review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAm0F...

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Rob Slaven rated a book it was ok

Move or Die: Paranormal Ghost Stories
by Olivia Edwards

Rate this book

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

As usual I didn't pay anything for this book but I'll still be abundantly blunt below.

The nutshell on this one is that it's a collection of four short stories (about 25 minutes total reading time) that focus on the rather grizzly paranormal. You've g ...more

Rob Slaven rated a book it was ok

Plan Your Life Using the Zodiac Signs
by Dayanara Blue Star

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

As usual I received this book free for the purposes of review. Despite that kindness I am absolutely candid below.

So this book is the standard horoscope stuff. It describes the signs, gives you the supposed characteristics of people in those signs, r ...more

Rob Slaven rated a book it was ok

Smartbrain (#1)
by G.F. Smith (Goodreads Author)

Read 2 times

Rate this book

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

As is often the case, I received this book for the purposes of review. Despite that immense kindness, I give my candid thoughts below.

The summary on this one is tough because it evolves quite a bit as it goes on. It starts out mildly creepy techno th As is often the case, I received this book for the purposes of review. Despite that immense kindness, I give my candid thoughts below.

The summary on this one is tough because it evolves quite a bit as it goes on. It starts out mildly creepy techno thriller and ends somewhere completely different with all manner of action bits. I won't give you much more detail than that to avoid spoilers.

So to the positive, our author is a reasonably good writer. His prose is measured, well constructed and easily consumed. His characters are real and vividly described and you do begin to feel for them. Mr. Smith's creativity is also obvious as he puts his characters through a dizzying gauntlet of situations and one is left with a sort of whiplash once all is revealed.

The negatives, however, left me gasping in annoyance at the end. This book is exceptionally long and not because of the complexity of what's going on. His description of events and situations is almost Dickensian in scope but with none of the quaintness of the old classics. One eventually has to skim in self-defense and at the end of a couple pages finds that nothing much has really been missed. Further, the book changes gears dramatically at 37% through (based on my Kindle's reckoning) and it takes a long time to figure out what's real and what's not. This is, I suspect, part of the author's intent, to keep us a bit confused as readers, but it's a major distraction in a book that has a lot of difficulty holding the attention of its reader.

Further, some of the book's most obvious points are in need of a close examination. The cover alone made me fear for the quality of the book and it took considerable reading time to assuage those fears. Unfortunately, the author's choice of proper nouns is overly simplistic and almost young adult so they add a major distraction. The name of the device, for example: Smartbrain seems like something from a 60s B-movie. Add to that names like Vectren, Athena and 'Brain Computer Interface' and the tone of the whole book seems to be in a bit of conflict about whether it's trying to be mid-20th century or more modern.

In summary, I think the author has a solid foundation for this story but it just tries to go too many places at once and takes far too long to get there. I packaged away my incredulity during the first third of book only to have it all spill out repeatedly in the last two-thirds and have to be packed away again. As much story as actually resides between these pages it could be half the length and cause me much less impulse to sigh, "What? You mean there's MORE!?!??!" and consider hurling my Kindle across the room and taking a belt of whiskey. To quote Emperor Joseph II, there are simply too many notes... or something along those lines. ...more

Rob Slaven rated a book liked it

Narita Express (Kindle Single)
by Mimi Wong (Goodreads Author)

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I picked this little splat of a book up because it was lonely and unreviewed on Kindle Unlimited. Despite the joy of a free book, I'm candid below.

The snapshot on this one is that it's the story of a pair of star-crossed lovers as they meet for a lon ...more

Rob Slaven rated a book did not like it

Life These Days: With Family And Friends
by Ronald Mcclure

Rate this book

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I picked this up on Kindle Unlimited because it hadn't been reviewed before. Let's take a look!

* First off, the concept seems.... well, only interesting to a VERY select group of people. Maybe the author and a few people around him, but let's give it ...more

Rob Slaven rated a book did not like it

Best Damn Sex Jokes Ever! by Johnathon Jacobs

Best Damn Sex Jokes Ever!: Jokes Free, Jokes for Adults, Jokes 2016, Funny Jokes (Jokes, Jokes for Adults, best jokes 2016, best jokes, jokes 2016)
by Johnathon Jacobs

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I received this book free through Kindle Unlimited. Despite the joy of a free book, I remain utterly candid below.

I've never encountered a book of any sort that's quite in this format. It looks huge in the reader but the real contents are pretty smal ...more