r.t.w. lipkin | Ad Librum Aeternam

What if your entire life passed by in just seven days? 16-year-old Delaney Archer’s mother is always complaining that there’s never enough time to get anything done. Delaney, on the other hand, always waits until the last moment to do everything. Nevertheless, she’s the top student in her class. She’s even about to graduate as valedictorian . . . . . . Until one morning, when she wakes up in a strange place. Suddenly, she finds herself in graduate school. Seven years of her life have disappeared without a trace since she went to bed last night . . . but how? It takes a while for Delaney to get used to things. But it’s not all bad, right? After all, she can drink alcohol now, and she’s almost finished school . . . Then she wakes up the next day . . . and another seven years have passed. Every day is another brand-new adventure for Delaney as she struggles to adjust. But no matter what she tries, she just can’t seem to break the cycle. Now she just has to figure out what’s happening . . . before time runs out . . .

The Introduction:

This book is my first ARC from Advance Read and it delivered. I had to take Never Enough Time; come on, time travel? Intriguing time travel? With a dangerous deadline? I couldn't pass this one up!

The Positive Sides:

The most wonderful thing about this book (besides the sheer idea for the story, which was expertly developed) is undoubtedly the teen talk. It's reminiscent of a teenager's voice and thoughts. I haven't been one for many years now, but I felt like fifteen years old again—or at least an insight into a teen's mind. Also, it was done without slang, which made it even more enjoyable and true. In the same line of thought, the tone of voice of Delaney Archer (the MC) is clear and sharp. Her humor is sometimes really funny. There are witty bits from all the characters and they've all got distinctive, lovable personalities. The chapters' endings are worth mentioning too! Most of the times, they leave you guessing for they're either quite tense or intriguing. Speaking of endings, the last pages of this book are beautiful, kick-ass and full of feels. It's so sweet—I didn't expect it. I thought it would end with a small bang, probably an ''ordinary'' (a.k.a boring) explanation. Good grief was I wrong! I LOVED it and will always remember how Never Enough Time broke all the barriers of expectations.

The Negative Sides:

One aspect of the characterization got on my nerves. Delaney is supposedly a smart girl with extraordinary grades (much like her scientific parents), yet throughout the book she sticks to stupid explanations for what happened. She never ceases to turn them over in her mind—it's frigging annoying! But the worst part is that she dismisses reasonable options such as amnesia or a psychotic episode. Or perhaps that was exactly the point… Yet it's not realistic unless the story stated beforehand that she was interested in the occult. There are way too many swear words to be okay. It took me half the book before I tolerated them. It was that bad. I understand the author meant to show the character's voice, but it just sounded as though she tried too hard. Several cussing in the dialogue would have been enough to grasp how foul-mouthed Delaney is—but was it truly necessary everywhere in the narration too? Speaking of exceeding numbers, I found there were too many italicized words. It becomes natural and breaks the ''special effect'' it's used for. It's the same thing with repetitions. Delaney repeats the same idea or sentence over and over again in very few pages, even in paragraphs. That is unpleasant to read. I think with it being mentioned once or twice would be enough to get the drift. Last, there's a friend of Delaney who's named ''Marie''. So far so good. But the issue here is that she's Latina… Her name sounds completely French to me (and I would know since it's my first language)—it's even written in the French way! To respect the Latino origins of this character, she should have been named ''Maria'' or something similar.

In Conclusion:

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. However, if I considered only the entertainment it offered me, I'd give it a 5, no kidding. But the excessive swearing and over-the-top voice took half the book to get used to, so I had to take a star out for it was driving me crazy. BUT just to tell you how much I liked it, I even subscribed to her newsletter on her Web site. Yup! I can't wait to hear more about her work. Quatre

If you want to learn more about R.T.W Lipkin, feel free to take a look at her Web site. Don't forget you can follow her author page on Amazon.com. Last, Lipkin was interviewed in June by Ellen from It's Write Now about Never Enough Time.

The Benefits of a Kobo EReader

chit-chatting with Cat, Tips July 12, 2018 Leave a comment

Hello everyone,

A few months ago I got myself a Kobo eReader. An Aura H2O second edition that is. There have been rare times where I’m immensely satisfied I purchased an item… Well, this is one of those times, folks.

Here it is (with Never Enough Time by R.T.W Lipkin as background—a great ARC of mine for which you can read the review here):

Now, what about its benefits? Let me tell you I found many!

The Pros:

My sleep has improved SO MUCH since I bought this sweet Kobo, no kidding. I used to toss and turn at night for AT LEAST an hour (it was usually for an hour and a half), but now thanks to reading on my Kobo every night before going to sleep, it only takes me 20 to 40 minutes. It’s a wonder!

But why is that?

It’s because it’s got ComfortLight Pro! This means you set a time for the screen to become a light orange, thus it’s sweet for the eyes. More importantly (and that’s the winning point here), this feature removes most of the blue lights! So it does make it easy on your eyes and relaxes you. Perfect for sleep!

It’s been a real game changer for me. Or should I say… sleep changer? ~~Please let’s never talk about this joke again.~~

The fonts are lovely and adjusting them is simple. Same goes for the paragraph spacing, a tool I particularly enjoy. I like when there’s a clear distinction between the paragraphs.

The search function is very useful.

It has Pocket Reader. If you don’t know what it is: a place (or account) where you can store Web pages and other important bits you find while browsing to read later on your account, then come back to it offline. Basically, you can read Web pages, watch embedded videos and other great stuff on your favourite eReader, yes! You can learn more here.

The Kobo shows you the percentage you’re in the book and your time spent reading a particular book and in total. It also lets you decide if you wish to see the percentage of completion or the page numbers, which is pretty neat and practical for book reviewers like me who prefer the latter.

One amusing thing Kindle doesn’t have, it’s badges (they’re called ”achievements”, but they look like badges!) When you’ve read 10 books, let’s say, you’ll have a full badge on your ”Achievements” page and you can share them on social media. What for? Boasting, I guess. I love checking what progress I’ve made now and then. There’s one problem though… It’s been acting crazy for the last three months. The system doesn’t give me the badges when they’re obviously complete and sometimes they’re filled to a certain percentage, then when I look again on another day the numbers have changed again! In other words, it was high fun in the beginning, but now it’s malfunctioning. And the worst part is they told me I would need to wait for the next update (which could be in months or even YEARS, they told me) to fix this issue. That’s frustrating.

Speaking of bad things, what of its cons?

The Cons:

It’s expensive. There, I said it. If you want good quality and all, it’s approximately $200 CAD and it’s without the official case which costs about $50. Pricey, pricey. There was a $30 discount when I bought it, but then I purchased the official case and it came near $250 in the end.

Oh and it’s also a bit slow, but nothing major. I bet the software is to blame because my Kindle contains way more books and it’s faster than the Kobo. Imagine that!

That’s it. There’s mainly one bad thing about the Kobo and it’s its price, in my opinion.

In Conclusion:

Though being fair, I think the price is worth it. I mean, sleep? I’m in! And I like all the control you get and how it shows you everything you need to know about your reading progress and habit.

If you’re looking for an eReader, may I suggest a Kobo one?

And if you already have yours, what do you think of the Kobo?

See you next post, lovelies!

(As a little bonus, here’s my official Kobo case (I’d have chosen the red one, but there was none where I went…))

Never Enough Time: A Review

Book Reviews July 6, 2018 1 Comment

40178580

by R.T.W Lipkin

Genre: YA, Sci-fi, Fiction, Magical Realism

Pages: 243

ISBN: 9780648056905

Format: Paperback, Kindle eBook

Publication date: June 7th, 2018

Type: Standalone novel

*I was given an ARC of Never Enough Time by Advance Read. Thank you!*

The Story:

What if your entire life passed by in just seven days?

16-year-old Delaney Archer’s mother is always complaining that there’s never enough time to get anything done.

Delaney, on the other hand, always waits until the last moment to do everything.

Nevertheless, she’s the top student in her class. She’s even about to graduate as valedictorian . . .

. . . Until one morning, when she wakes up in a strange place.

Suddenly, she finds herself in graduate school. Seven years of her life have disappeared without a trace since she went to bed last night . . . but how?

It takes a while for Delaney to get used to things. But it’s not all bad, right? After all, she can drink alcohol now, and she’s almost finished school . . .

Then she wakes up the next day . . . and another seven years have passed.

Every day is another brand-new adventure for Delaney as she struggles to adjust. But no matter what she tries, she just can’t seem to break the cycle.

Now she just has to figure out what’s happening . . . before time runs out . . .

The Introduction:

This book is my first ARC from Advance Read and it delivered. I had to take Never Enough Time; come on, time travel? Intriguing time travel? With a dangerous deadline?

I couldn’t pass this one up!

The Positive Sides:

The most wonderful thing about this book (besides the sheer idea for the story, which was expertly developed) is undoubtedly the teen talk. It’s reminiscent of a teenager’s voice and thoughts. I haven’t been one for many years now, but I felt like fifteen years old again—or at least an insight into a teen’s mind. Also, it was done without slang, which made it even more enjoyable and true.

In the same line of thought, the tone of voice of Delaney Archer (the MC) is clear and sharp. Her humor is sometimes really funny. There are witty bits from all the characters and they’ve all got distinctive, lovable personalities.

The chapters’ endings are worth mentioning too! Most of the times, they leave you guessing for they’re either quite tense or intriguing. Speaking of endings, the last pages of this book are beautiful, kick-ass and full of feels. It’s so sweet—I didn’t expect it. I thought it would end with a small bang, probably an ”ordinary” (a.k.a boring) explanation. Good grief was I wrong! I LOVED it and will always remember how Never Enough Time broke all the barriers of expectations.

The Negative Sides:

There are way too many swear words to be okay. It took me half the book before I tolerated them. It was that bad. I understand the author meant to show the character’s voice, but it just sounded as though she tried too hard. Several cussing in the dialogue would have been enough to grasp how foul-mouthed Delaney is—but was it truly necessary everywhere in the narration too?

Speaking of exceeding numbers, I found there were too many italicized words. It becomes natural and breaks the ”special effect” it’s used for. It’s the same thing with repetitions. Delaney repeats the same idea or sentence over and over again in very few pages, even in paragraphs. That is unpleasant to read. I think with it being mentioned once or twice would be enough to get the drift.

Last, there’s a friend of Delaney who’s named ”Marie”. So far so good. But the issue here is that she’s Latina… Her name sounds completely French to me (and I would know since it’s my first language)—it’s even written in the French way! To respect the Latino origins of this character, she should have been named ”Maria” or something similar.

In Conclusion:

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. However, if I considered only the entertainment it offered me, I’d give it a 5, no kidding. But the excessive swearing and over-the-top voice took half the book to get used to, so I had to take a star out for it was driving me crazy.

BUT just to tell you how much I liked it, I even subscribed to her newsletter on her Web site. Yup! I can’t wait to hear more about her work.

Quatre

If you want to learn more about R.T.W Lipkin, feel free to take a look at her Web site. Don’t forget you can follow her author page on Amazon.com. Last, Lipkin was interviewed in June by Ellen from It’s Write Now about Never Enough Time.