Book Review: The Church of Facebook by Jesse Rice

The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community by Jesse Rice
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book very much. It had a great deal to say about intentionality. I think that is a topic that is far too often overlooked in our day and age. This book talked about how to be intentional when it comes to your Facebook habits, but also when it comes to life in general. We need to be more intentional about our relationships. We need to invest more time in the face to face aspect of human interaction and not rely so heavily on our social interactions.

This book makes you sit back and look at your daily habits and see just how reliant you are on social media and things of that nature. I would challenge you to read this book and then take a look at your life and see where you fit into the "always on" mentality that seems to be the way of the world today. This book is definitely worth the read.

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Book Review: The Secret Seekers Society: Solomon's Seal by J.L. Hickey

Secret Seekers Society and Solomon's Seal by J.L. Hickey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second book in the Secret Seekers Society series (boy that's a lot of s's). Second books are notorious for bombing compared to the first book. That is not the case with this book. Joe (the author) did a fantastic job of keeping this book out of a sophomore slump. This is fast becoming one of my favorite series.

I like the way that Joe develops a plot. There are a realistic amount of twists to his story line, but he doesn't use the to excess. Another one of the things I love about his plots are that he incorporates people and places from history. I won't say more than that because it would be sort of a spoiler. I also like the complexity of the "world building" that takes place in this book. Joe does a great job pulling you into the story with his descriptions of things. Some authors overdo this, but not so in this book.

The characters in this book are so believable. A lot of them wear their emotions on their sleeves and are very relatable (as relatable as they can be for hunting for mythical beasts and relics). You can feel the pain, joy, angst, etc in the characters as your read. The other thing I like is that Joe doesn't overdevelop the characters. Some authors fall into that trap. The only challenging thing when it comes to characters in this series is keeping them all straight. But, it takes a lot of characters to pull off a long and successful series. So it's worth the work.

The readability of this book is fantastic. You don't have to slog through any sections at all. On the other side of the coin, you don't feel rushed in any part of the book either. It's got a nice even-keeled pace that makes for a very enjoyable read.

If you are a fan of mythology, paranormal, suspense, or YA in general then I recommend that you start this series as soon as possible. You won't be disappointed that you did.

My Rating: 5/5

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