About Me

Not Your Ordinary Book Group

I have always loved reading, but finding a good read has become increasingly difficult with the vast array of genres, authors and titles available. I am very grateful that I found a wonderful book group to help me.

Not Your Ordinary Book Group meets once a month in the Bangor Public Library, Maine, where we share coffee, cookies and our love of reading. We read two books a month, one that is Mystery, Suspense or Horror and one that is Romance, Fantasy or Women's Fiction. The  titles up for the vote come from a list of suggestions from the members. These are not necessarily works of great literary merit, but they are usually entertaining and compelling, some even require a chili pepper rating for their spicy content! The group is full of amazing ladies and has introduced me to some wonderful books and authors, but, more importantly, it is great fun.

The Chili Pepper Rating

The NYOBG Website 

I would like to thank Jan and Sarah for all their hard work starting and running the group, and Barbara McDade, the Library Director, for supporting us during a time of limited resources. Jan is also responsible for many of the original graphics.

The Purpose Behind The Blog

I want to review as many of the books that I read as I can. Some of these will be the NYOBG picks and others will be those recommended by the group members during the meetings. There will also be those that catch my eye whilst I sort through the New Acquisitions Cart when I volunteer at the library, plus those that are already sitting on my groaning book shelves, never mind those recommended by friends and family or even Amazon . . . so the titles and genres will be many and varied.

Please note: although some of the titles I review may be Young Adult fiction, the reviews here are aimed at an adult readership, so they will make reference to some things unsuitable for younger readers. 

My Rating System

5 Stars

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. It is a classic that I could re-read frequently and lose myself in every single time. It either has no flaws or is so amazing that any flaws are inconsequential. I love it and it has possibly changed my life or how I view the world. If I had to choose a suitcase of books to be the only things I could read for the rest of my life, this book would be one of them. I will recommend this to as many people as possible at every opportunity.

4 Stars

This is a really good book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is well written and very entertaining with memorable aspects, although it has some minor flaws. I would definitely recommend it to people who enjoy the genre.

3 Stars

This is a good book, which is a pleasant enough read. It has a good number of minor flaws or it is predictable or clichéd in some ways, but not enough to make it a bad read. Recommended to fill in time before something better comes along.

2 Stars

I didn’t enjoy reading this book. I had huge problems with it but it has some redeeming qualities that kept me engaged to the end. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone unless they had nothing else to read.   

1 Star

I really disliked what I read of this book (I probably didn’t finish it). Although I appreciate that other people might like it, I could not overlook the major problems and / or suspend my disbelief sufficiently to feel like this was anything other than a massive waste of my time. Of course, I am not likely to write full reviews for 1 star books, mainly because I don’t finish them, but also because I don’t want to spend any more time on them.  

Please note that everything I post is written by me unless I link to the original author.