Books I Read Last August | More Mini-Reviews

I’m still trying really hard to catch up so here are some short reviews for books that I read almost six months ago.

Thieving Weasels by Billy Taylor [ARC]
I really like heists–they’re pretty much my favorite thing to read about or watch in a movie/show. I enjoy things that I find clever and heists (like Rube Goldberg machines) I find to be extremely clever. I thought this book was going to be a nice heist story, but it turned out to be a little more focused on the main character and a little less focused on the heist than I would have liked it to have been. I had a hard time enjoying this book because I found almost all of the characters to be extremely unlikable. Obviously I think we’re not supposed to like Skip’s family, but I think the story would have been more interesting if any of the secondary characters had even a smidge of charm. Skip as a main character was fine, but I didn’t really find myself connecting with him. I thought the ending was extremely satisfying (maybe a little too neat) but overall I thought this one was fine but not amazing. 3/5

The Hawkweed Prophecy by Irena Brignull [ARC]
This book started out SO SLOW. Seriously, the only reason I made it past the first couple of chapters was because I had a physical ARC that I had received at BookCon so I felt like I kind of HAD to read it.Once you get past the beginning, however, I thought this book was extremely unexpected. The reader comes to love both Poppy and Ember and it’s hard to decide which one you have more sympathy for. I thought that the characters were well-developed and there was just enough of a plot to keep the story moving. The romance was tastefully done and I thought that Leo was just another interesting and unique character that added depth to the overall story. My main criticism is probably that I’m not a big fan of the cover. 4/5

Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan
I’m really scraping the bottom of the barrel to remember my thoughts on this one…I remember that I liked it, but I’m having a hard time remembering anything else. I think I liked the main character, though I didn’t always understand her actions. I remember there was one aspect of the plot where she had to betray someone or something and she had a really good reason for doing it. But then when she gets caught and everyone gets mad at her, she tries to defend herself but then doesn’t bring up her really good reason. That was confusing. I also remember that the villain in this book was SO EVIL and I loved it. I liked the romance and I liked Julia’s powers as well. Overall, I liked this book even if I don’t remember why and I’m very excited for the sequel which will come out later this year. 4/5

Note: ARCs were provided free from NetGalley or the publisher in exchange for an honest review.