Mini-Reviews: July Reads

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

I’ll be honest, parts of this book were really confusing for me. I’m not entirely sure what the Haberson map was all about. And the ending was a tad fuzzy for me as well.

With that being said, Shepherd is a good writer and the flashback scenes were really great. I didn’t LOVE Nell and it’s always hard for me when I can’t really connect to a main character. But I thought the other characters were fine.

I was really anticipating this book, but overall it was just okay for me. 3/5

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It was a little boring at times and I had a hard time relating to Laurie in general. I liked the heisty bits, but that really wasn’t very much of the story. I would have liked more of Laurie’s brothers maybe? More of her immediate family? I don’t know. It just didn’t feel totally well-rounded to me, though I did appreciate Laurie’s journey of self-discovery. 3/5

Love at First by Kate Claybourn

Light and easy with a fun cast of secondary characters. I thought this book had a good amount of depth with our main characters without getting too heavy. I enjoyed both Will and Nora as characters as well. 4/5

Counterfeit by Kristin Chen

This book was written in a unique way and I didn’t always enjoy it. I didn’t like the main characters and couldn’t relate to any of the decisions they made. As a young Chinese American mother myself, I expected to relate to Ava more, but I just didn’t. At all. I feel like the plot itself could have been written in a more suspenseful way. Overall, I just feel pretty disappointed in this one. 2.5/5

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

TO NO ONE’S SURPRISE, I LOVED THIS BOOK. Anyway, it had just the right amount of romance while also balancing the Stapleton’s family dynamic and Hannah’s past. I liked the other members of the Protection Agency as secondary characters. The ending genuinely took me by surprise and I wondered how the author was going to explain it, but everything made sense in the end. I thought the pacing was great. We got enough time with the main characters without feeling like the story was dragging. Overall, if you’re a fan of celebrity romances, this should definitely go on your list! And if you’re not, this is still a fun book! 5/5

Daughter of Sparta by Claire Andrews

It was just kind of hard for me to buy Daphne as the savior of Olympus. Every single time she fought someone, she was always “barely” getting out of the way of a fist or sword or whatever. Her fighting skills just didn’t seem that impressive and the reader wasn’t let in on her thoughts or strategy most of the time. So in the end, it feels like our heroine just happens to win a bunch of fights. Also, the romance with Apollo is just not it. 3/5

Mini-Reviews: May Reads

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

Well. I can’t say any of the characters were very likable (maybe just Lawrence). Seriously though! This may be one of the most unlikable families I’ve ever read about. I’m not sure what I was supposed to get out of this book either…what was the moral? Forgiveness? Living your truest self? Having children is the greatest joy you could ever have? Idk. Maybe this book was just over my head. 3/5

Book of Night by Holly Black

I really wanted to like this book. I REALLY wanted to like it. And some parts I actually did like, but mostly this book just felt kind of messy. The world didn’t make a ton of sense. And where Black’s vision of “Fae” is so clear, this more urban fantasy (which she’s done so well in the past with her Tithe books) just fell flat. The magic system didn’t make a ton of sense to me and there were so many new terms being thrown at me that I never got a good grasp on.

The parts I did like: the last confrontation at Salt’s house. That’s kind of it. The rest was just okay. The ending was unexpected and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Overall, I’m disappointed and disappointed in my disappointment. 3/5

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

It’s definitely an interesting experience to read a book as an adult that you loved as a teenager. I love the way Sarah Dessen writes. It’s like slipping on a cozy sweater on a cold day. It’s just so comfortable and easy for me.

This book in particular I reread before watching the new Netflix movie. And while I still enjoyed Auden as a character, the one who really stood out to me this time was Heidi. I hadn’t read this book since becoming a mom myself. Two kids later, let me tell you, that scene of Heidi sitting in the dark with the baby is SO REAL. I mean, I even have a really present husband, but with my first there were times when I would sit and cry and hope that ANYONE would come save me. The depictions of new motherhood were clearly written by someone who knows what it’s like.

Overall, I really enjoyed my reread. This is one that I forget about sometimes, but it’s up among Dessen’s best imo. 4/5

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

I’m so happy I liked this book! I really liked Beach Read, but People We Meet on Vacation was just okay for me. I liked the premise of the city girl who always gets dumped for the small town girl being able to tell her side of the story. Nora and Libby had a really sweet relationship and I almost wish we’d gotten MORE of that. Charlie was sweet and all, but the romance didn’t need to be as big a part of it in my opinion.

I always like getting a peek behind the publishing curtain, so that aspect was fun too. I’d like to think that in another life I’d have gotten into publishing.

Overall, I thought Henry did a good job playing with tropes. Honestly, my main complaint is that she’s managed to create another fictional book within her book that I’m dying to read. 4/5

Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Alison Rose Greenberg

I just didn’t love Zoey as a main character. Firstly, she seemed a little implausible as a person (manic pixie dream girl but as a super successful advertising exec). Secondly, I think we’re just too different. I couldn’t relate to her at all.

Then there are the flashbacks. So many flashbacks. I think the first 10 chapters is all flashback. I didn’t personally gel with the writing style from this book. Not to say that it was poorly written, I think it was fine, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Overall, this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. 2/5

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I went into it with low expectations since I wasn’t jazzed by the synopsis and didn’t love Carrie from Malibu. But it’s TJR so I was going to read it regardless. And it totally took me by surprise. Obviously it’s beautifully written and it actually made me care about tennis (which is a true feat).

The relationship between Carrie and her father was a perfect focus for this book. Javier was a bright spot every time he was on the page. Plotwise, this book was very predictable. However, it’s still so enjoyable that I didn’t even care. Carrie is fantastic and is truly a great character. She’s complicated and imperfect but also unapologetically herself.

Overall, I just loved this book. If you’re a TJR fan, read this book. If you’re not yet a TJR fan, read this book and then binge her backlist. 5/5

Note: I received a copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mini-Reviews: January Reads

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

Let’s be clear—none of these characters are likable. They are all selfish, entitled, horrible people. With that being said, the mystery is intriguing and the puzzle pieces are satisfying to put together. Each person legitimately has a motive and it was more than halfway through that I felt I had a good handle on who did it and why. So if you’re looking for a murder mystery, this is a pretty good one. But if you’re looking for a book with enjoyable characters, look elsewhere. 3.5/5

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

This book is wordy. Very wordy. I’d say probably 75% of the book is El’s inner dialogue. At least. There were times I had to reread sentences because they didn’t quite make sense the first time I read them. With all that being said, I still really enjoyed this book. I happen to like El’s voice as a character and so reading 300+ pages of her snark was fun for me (though I can understand why others might be less enthused).

The stakes are higher in this book as El is actively trying to prepare herself and her alliance for graduation. Things are made much harder when it seems like the Scholomance is specifically out to get El. The action in this book was pretty straightforward and I thought the logic of the students as they got their plans together made a lot of sense. I also really liked that we expanded our cast of characters with this book. But with more characters and the amount of time we spend in El’s head, we don’t really get to learn much more about preexisting characters like Liu, Aadhya, and Chloe which would have been nice.

Overall, I can see how this series won’t be for everyone, but I love it. Can’t wait for the next one! 4/5

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Typically for mysteries, I like to be able to fit the puzzle pieces together myself and form my own conclusions. You can’t do that with this book, unfortunately, too much happens off screen. Despite that, I still really enjoyed this book. I thought the audio was just delightful. The narrator is very good and it reminded me a bit of the audio for the Flavia de Luce series which I’ve also enjoyed. I loved our cast of elderly characters and I thought that Donna and Chris rounded out the ensemble really well. The scene where the Thursday Murder Club all sit down with Chris and Donna for the first time had me laughing out loud multiple times. Overall, a fun little murder mystery and I’ll definitely be continuing the series! 4/5

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

I don’t know that I really understand what I just read…but I liked it? There was something about it that I found to be really calming even though some of the events were not. Piranesi is an endearingly innocent character. I thought the length of this book was perfect—a lesser author would have stretched it out for another 150 pages. 4/5

To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters

Wow. Okay, so these two main characters are absolutely infuriating. Multiple times throughout this book they come to some sort of resolution, but then by the next page they’re fighting again. And it’s basically always over some misunderstanding where if they would just COMMUNICATE everyone could get on the same page. But I guess then we wouldn’t have a book. This book is fine. It’s nothing special in this realm of regency romances. Will I continue the series? Maybe. I’ll say this though, poor Wooton doesn’t deserve to be treated like this and needs his own book. 3/5

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters

Just fine. Once again, the main characters were kind of infuriating and I felt like the resolution happened really quickly (like all within the last 20 pages). 3/5

The Maid by Nita Prose

I felt so mad while reading this book at basically every single character. The way Molly was being treated was disgusting. With that being said, that fact made the book’s conclusion especially satisfying. I loved Molly as a character. She felt really refreshing. The mystery was also a fun one to try to solve. Who exactly is involved and who knows what information? Overall, I’d definitely recommend this book, but prepare for it to make you a little mad. 4/5

The Royals Next Door by Karina Halle

Yeah…just not my favorite. Authors sometimes like to do this thing where they want their main character to be like “I don’t even know why this guy likes me? He’s so special and I’m so normal (or below-average) and it makes no sense!” Sometimes the reader can see what the main character can’t and the romance makes sense. But then other times the author has done too good of a job and the reader also can’t tell why the love interest is attracted to her. That was the case with this book. We are given no real reason for their relationship other than vicinity and that made it hard to get invested in the whole book. 2/5

New-ish Release Mini-Reviews

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

I went into this book kind of wondering why it was necessary, but I was sucked back into Panem right away. I forgot how engaging Collins is as a writer and this book brought to mind everything I loved about The Hunger Games in the first place. I thought it was really interesting to see what the early Games were like and how Coriolanus introduced some things that lasted even until Katniss played. In a lot of ways, this book is really reminiscent of Marissa Meyer’s Heartless. In both books, we know that our main character will eventually become a horrible person, but it’s not immediately clear how they get there. I felt my feelings towards Coriolanus slowly changing as the book went on. He was someone I could sympathize with at the beginning, but over time he turned into someone I really didn’t like. I’m curious to know how much of his backstory already existed while Collins wrote The Hunger Games and how much she pulled together for this book. I thought it was so interesting how Collins weaved in all the things in his background that explain just why he hates Katniss so much. Almost everything about her must remind him of Lucy Gray. Overall, if you were a fan of the original trilogy, I would definitely recommend this. I didn’t feel like it was a waste of time at all. 4/5

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Big Summer

I had no idea what this book was about when I started it so I was STUNNED that it turned into a murder mystery. Despite that somewhat pleasant surprise, I only found this book to be okay. There were so many flashbacks to the point where I was getting confused about what was actually happening in the current timeline. I kept losing track of where my character was supposed to be while she was thinking about the past. The ending was okay if not the most satisfying–it didn’t totally make sense to me. I didn’t find Nick and Daphne to be very convincing as a couple. I felt like they needed to have more of a confrontation than they did regarding Nick’s ulterior motives. My main takeaway, however, is that Darshi is an amazing angel friend and Daphne doesn’t deserve her. 3/5

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Happy & You Know It

This book also wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be. I didn’t find Claire to be a very likable character. A lot of the time I felt a little impatient with her. I also didn’t understand the depth of the betrayal she felt when she learned certain facts about the group–I thought she wildly overreacted. This book definitely had some Big Little Lies vibes to it almost where we have a group of mom and their secrets. I thought the prologue at the beginning of the book did a really great job of keeping the momentum going towards the end (again, similar to BLL). I thought the ending was a bit unexpected, but interesting and in retrospect, I can see the seeds that were planted along the way. Overall, I didn’t love the characters or the book as a whole, but I appreciated the frank depiction of what it’s like to be a new mother. I can testify that all those feelings about motherhood are real and accurate. 3/5

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Oona Out of Order

I was so disappointed by this book! My main problem was just that I didn’t care for Oona. I don’t think she made a single decision that I agreed with. Seriously. Not a single one. It’s so hard for me to connect with a character when I don’t agree with their decision-making. I just can’t separate myself like that. I didn’t totally understand her obsession with Dale. I understand that he was her high school boyfriend and first love and she didn’t really get closure on their relationship right away, but she’s as hung up on him after seven years (and other relationships) as she was in the first year. It just didn’t ring authentic to me. But what do I know? I never had a high school boyfriend. I also thought the pacing of the book was off. Each year, we would spend a lot of time on just a few days and then the rest of the year would take up like two paragraphs and we’d be on to the next. My last issue is the fact that we never really get to see Oona turn into “future Oona”. They felt like two completely separate characters and I really wanted to see Oona turn into that person who is “future Oona”, but we never do. There were definitely some twists that I didn’t see coming, but they weren’t enough to redeem this book. 2/5

The Vanishing Half

Oh gosh, I really feel like I’m in the minority with this one, but I thought it was just okay. The premise itself is pretty intriguing, but something about the pacing was off to me. The different narratives all felt really long and I think it could have benefited from alternating narratives or something. The whole story just seemed to move really slow. I’m not necessarily opposed to a leisurely paced story, but I really wasn’t getting anything out of this one. Despite the slow pace, I never felt connected to any of the character. It made it so I just didn’t really care much what was going on. Honestly, there were a couple of times that I almost set this book down for good. In the end, I think the relationship between Jude and Desiree was compelling and encouraging, but it was kind of offset by Stella and Kennedy’s relationship. 3/5

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Rereading Twilight as an adult

It was always my plan to reread Twilight this year, but with the Midnight Sun announcement I thought I’d better do it sooner rather than later to avoid long wait times on a hold list.

I remember the first time I saw Twilight. My older sister had checked it out from the library and I remember reading the cover flap. I don’t remember what my immediate thoughts were, but it was during the period of the time that I read many of my sister’s library books without her knowing in the middle of the night. Regardless of when I ended up reading it, I loved it. I loved the entire series though I was never Team Edward or Team Jacob (I was Team Jasper). Since then, a lot of criticism has come out regarding the Bella/Edward relationship. I was too young at the time to recognize any potential abusive situations so I was really curious how the books might read as an adult.

So here I am rereading the books over 10 years, a husband, two degrees, and a kid later. I am in as different a stage of life as I could possibly be from when I first read these books. First, I just want to talk about the writing. I found the first person narrative to be really grating. I’ve read other books that were narrated in the first person that didn’t seem so self-absorbed. I didn’t particularly enjoy being in Bella’s head that much. It was also clear to me that Meyer was trying to write in this really lush and descriptive way, but it doesn’t come off smoothly. Her descriptions end up bogging down the entire story. Honestly, I would love to take a red pen to these books because I think that we could cut out about 200 pages from EACH BOOK (probably 300 from the last one). Especially in the last book, I just noticed that it took FOREVER to get through the story. There were so many pages and chapters where nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. We get this huge internal monologue about nothing and when the character comes back to the present, five seconds have passed. It was just so infuriating, especially in the last book when I just wanted to be done.

The plot itself isn’t bad. It’s not a bad story by any means (despite the love triangle). I actually do find this entire community of vampires to be interesting. In the later books it gets more into vampire history and I thought that part was different and perhaps could have been expanded on. It just didn’t need to take as much time as it did.

Characters…this is ultimately where I feel the books really suffer. As a kid, I think I remember liking both Jacob and Edward fine. Bella was just okay for me, even back then. With this reread though, I realize that all of these characters are AWFUL. Bella is extremely codependent. She goes from an over-reliance on Edward to an over-reliance on Jacob. She also has this recurring problem of underestimating the paranormal creatures in her life. Or perhaps it’s less an underestimation of their skill, but an overestimation of their willingness to die for her? Anytime one of the groups (vampires or werewolves) decides to go fight someone, she has this freakout because she thinks everyone is going to die and it’ll be her fault. It’s such a complete overreaction and she does it time and time again. It’s infuriating. Obviously, they’re going because they think they can win–maybe give the paranormal creatures (who you really know nothing about) a little more credit, Bella.

This time around, I can definitely see that Edward is super controlling. In Eclipse, he literally is trying to tell Bella who she can be friends with. She has to ask his permission to do anything and it drove me crazy. It’s also super creepy that he crept into Bella’s room to watch her sleep. That will never not be creepy. He doesn’t start treating Bella as any sort of an equal partner until like…the end of Eclipse. He’s also terrible at communicating with her (as in, he doesn’t).

Jacob is hotheaded and not at all respectful of any of the choices that Bella makes unless he completely agrees with it. My jaw was literally on the floor when Jacob sexually assaults Bella not once, but TWICE. And he thinks he did nothing wrong! He sort of apologizes? But in a way that’s clear that he would definitely do it over again.

And now…the relationships. Bella and Edward quickly jump into being “in love” when “in lust” is more like it. What is their relationship based off of? Nothing of substance, that’s for sure. Bella can’t control herself when they kiss and if that’s not the definition of “in lust”, then I don’t know what is. Even as a kid, I remember being really confused by Bella’s physical overreactions. Later on in the series, Bella finds that she’s actually in love with BOTH Edward and Jacob. I know she’s supposed to be really mature for her age (even though she doesn’t act like it), but I just have a hard time seeing how a teenager could be truly in love with both Edward and Jacob to the extent that she seems to be. It’s just too much.

Lastly, let’s talk about Renesmee. Now, this part of the plot was a tad more of a stretch for me. Why does Renesmee grow and develop so fast? No one knows. On a side note, let’s talk about her name. Renesmee Carlie–the ultimate name mashup. So cringe. The cringiest of the cringe names. So bad. But back on topic, because of her quick development, I had a really hard time keeping an image of her in my head. Does she look like a toddler but act like a ten-year-old? Or is she just like…a mini ten-year-old? On another note, I didn’t love her interactions with Bella. Or rather…I didn’t love Bella’s interactions with Renesmee. I remember this from before as well–Bella never reads like a mom to me. Especially now that I AM a mom, I feel like Bella reads more like an older sister or something. There’s so much internal monologuing about literally everything else, but I just don’t feel from Bella what it’s actually like to be someone’s mom.

Overall, this was a very interesting experience and I’m glad to be done with it. I can safely say that I will not be rereading these books ever again and I have no interest in picking up Midnight Sun. Twos across the board.

Have you read or reread the Twilight series as an adult? What were your thoughts?

Pre-Quarantine Mini-Reviews

I had a bunch of books that I read before all of this crazy stuff started happening, but I just never got around to posting my reviews. Well, here they are now! Better late than never, right?

Lucky Caller by Emma Mills

I was so excited to get my hands on this book! Over the summer I became a full Emma Mills convert and this book didn’t disappoint! Her characters are always so fun (if a little too witty and clever to be realistic). I liked the sister element of this book a lot and even wished there had been a bit more. I was also jazzed to see some IUPUI representation (that’s where I got my online MLS degree–go Jags!). There were some plot elements that I could have predicted from a mile away and others that I thought were a bit of a stretch, but overall I really liked this book. I thought it had a good message about the transitional times in your life and the people you might meet there. 4/5

Order: Hardcover | Paperback (preorder) | Kindle

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

I’ve been meaning to read some Ruth Ware for a while and the premise of this book really drew me in. The atmosphere in this book was pretty well done. Reading this book, I just felt cold because Hal is cold like the whole time. Overall, I thought this book was alright, but I had some issues with Hal and some inconsistencies that I felt ran throughout the whole book. First, Hal. She mentally berates herself over and over again for not acting appropriately. For example, she’s so mad at herself for acting surprised to learn that Ezra and Maud were twins, but she made it clear that she didn’t even know that she had uncles so…obviously she wouldn’t know that Ezra and Maud were twins–relax Hal, you’re fine. Then the inconsistencies. Hal makes a big deal about telling Ezra to call her Hal, but earlier in the book Mitzi had already called her that? Just one example. In the end, I can appreciate some of the smaller things that were scattered throughout the book, but I feel like a lot of the time Hal is just being dumb. I think she could have figured out more than she did before she did. At this point, I might try another Ruth Ware book, but if that one doesn’t impress me either, I might be giving up on her. 3.5/5

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Sword & Pen by Rachel Caine

This series! I absolutely love it and this was such a great conclusion. The stakes are HIGH in this book for every single character and I’m amazed that Caine is able to pull that off without things feeling exaggerated. She also does a great job of recapping important plot points from the previous books without feeling info-dumpy which is so common in series books. The characters continue to be the characters that we all know and love. I especially enjoyed Dario in this book–his relationship with Khalila adds another layer to his character which I think is needed. Their relationship feels so sweet and genuine to me. Something I love about this series as a whole, is that I think each character feels realistically developed. It would be really interesting to go back to the beginning and compare who they were in book one to this last book. Overall, I love this series and everyone should read it. 4.5/5

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We Are the Wildcats by Siobhan Vivian [ARC 3/31]

This book was such a disappointment. I was hoping to get an awesome girl power/friendship story but instead we get a story about an adult man playing questionable mind games with teenage girls. No thanks. The whole book just kind of made me feel mad the entire time. And I also couldn’t get over the math for Coach’s age. The girls think he’s about 26, but this is his 7th year coaching (not to mention he played field hockey in and after college for at least a little bit). How did he have time for all of that? Also, that would mean he was hired to be the Varsity Field Hockey coach when he was like…19 or 20? Just a couple years older than the girls he’s coaching? I have a hard time believing a high school would EVER make a hiring decision like that. But anyway, I’m getting off-track…it’s just something I was dwelling on pretty much the whole book. I just didn’t think this book was very good. What was the point? What am I supposed to take away? So, so disappointing. 2/5

Meet Me At Midnight by Jessica Pennington [ARC 4/7]

This book surprised me! It’s a pretty fun summer time romance book–perfect for a beach day. I thought the main characters Sidney and Asher had great chemistry even if their interactions felt a little cringe at times (though maybe I just felt that way because I’m not a teenager anymore). There were a few times that the author refused to go along with widely accepted tropes for this type of book, and I really appreciated that. I don’t want to give any spoilers or anything, so I won’t go into specifics. But sometimes authors almost…fabricate drama? I never really felt like that happened in this book. I was super into the first two thirds, but then the last third was a bit less enjoyable (which kept it from being a four star read for me). Throughout, I really liked our two main characters, but towards the end they both made decisions and acted in ways that made me like them a little less. Overall, I would definitely recommend this as a summer read! 3.5/5

Preorder: Hardcover | Kindle

Note: ARCs were received free from NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.

November ARC Mini-Reviews

Secrets & Suitors by Joanna Baker

I’m always down for a good Regency romance–I love the feel-goodishness of them. There’s something about the propriety of the time that somehow makes the leading men that much more swoon-worthy too. With that being said, it’s still important to have a feisty heroine and I mostly felt like Nora was a wet blanket. I hoped that she would develop and mature as the book went on, but I was to be disappointed. Honestly, I think Susanna would have been a MUCH more interesting protagonist. I just thought Nora was too down on herself! She can’t be charming and desirable while simultaneously being COMPLETELY oblivious to any of her good qualities. Nora also had an unbearable amount of angsty internal dialogue. If I had a dollar for every time she thought something like, “We are only friends” or “I must control my heart” or “He doesn’t feel the same” I would have much money. In the end, I didn’t think this book was SO bad, but it wasn’t great either. Just okay. 3/5

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Deadly Little Scandals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I really liked the first book in this series (Little White Lies) and I was super excited to continue the story. From the beginning, I’ve found Sawyer to be an extremely likable protagonist (if somewhat overly capable). In this book especially, I really liked Sawyer’s relationship with both Lily and John David. I love how protective Sawyer is of Lily and their relationship. Sawyer grew up without any extended family, so that relationship is really precious to her. I also liked the main friend group of Sawyer, Lily, Campbell, and Sadie Grace. They’re all supportive and mostly nice to each other which is refreshing. Unfortunately, the plot in this book was just so complicated. There are two main plot points that get mashed together and I feel like the author should have just picked one of them. It almost feels like this book just got away from her? There are elements of it too that I don’t feel like jive with how characters were portrayed in the first book. I still liked the book (Sawyer really carries it for me) and I’ll read the next one (if there is one) but man, some really weird stuff went down in this book. 4/5

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Sisters of Shadow & Light by Sara B. Larson

I thought this book was maybe going to be a Sleeping Beauty kind of thing (I mean, there’s a giant hedge) but it’s not. So if you thought that too, just know it’s not. Zuhra as a main character was…okay. I really wanted to like her, but I just found her to be a little whiny and overdramatic at times. I also thought she lacked consistency? I hoped this book would be really focused on the sister relationship and while that was semi-present, it felt like both Zuhra and Inara’s romances got in the way of developing that. And (as is often the case in YA unfortunately) there was almost no basis for the TWO romantic threads that we’re given. Literally, almost no context for why the romantic interests are drawn to our leads. *sigh* I guess I’ll just keep waiting for a well-developed YA romance. My main issue with the book, though, was pacing. It took me SO LONG to read this book. Honestly, I felt like the author could have cut out half the words and it still would have been a well-written book. HALF THE WORDS. At around 70%, I just started skimming. In addition to that, hardly anything happens from chapter to chapter and a lot of them alternate perspectives between the sisters which does NOT help–it just makes the story end up feeling really jerky. In the end, I’m a little intrigued by where the story goes next, but I probably won’t continue the series. 2.5/5

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever read a King Arthur retelling…? At the very least, I haven’t read one in a long time. I mostly liked Guinevere as our main character, but she kept coming to these conclusions that just seemed completely wrong to me and barreling full steam ahead. I mean, I recognize that the reader usually has more information than the characters do, but she just really needed to slow her roll. It was also difficult to fully embrace Guinevere because she doesn’t really know who she is (literally). Her memory of her past is super spotty and it made it hard for me to get a good sense of who she is as a character. So while I liked her, I didn’t feel like I could get completely on board with her. The plot was intriguing enough and we’ll see where the next book goes. I have one big issue with this book, but it’s kind of spoiler-y so I won’t talk about it, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending. I’ll just close by saying that book two better have like five times as many Arthur/Guinevere moments. 3.5/5

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Note: I received copies of these books free from NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.

Based off of Clue, but somehow not as fun | In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund [ARC]

A few students are left behind at Blackbrook Academy tying up a few loose ends. This wouldn’t ordinarily be a problem, but when a harsh winter storm hits, they’re left stranded in one of the school’s dorm houses and have no choice but to bunk down for the night. When they wake up the next morning, they find that Headmaster Boddy has been stabbed! Was it suicide? A looter? Or someone in the house?

TL;DR – The mystery itself wasn’t super compelling and in the end it came out feeling half-baked.

I requested this book for two reasons: 1) I like Clue and 2) I’ve really enjoyed some of Diana Peterfreund’s other books (the Jane Austen retellings). Unfortunately, this book fell extremely flat for me. First of all, I couldn’t figure out what this collection of students was doing on campus? Why wasn’t anyone else there? This may have been explained and I just missed it, but that question was hanging over the entire book for me.

Another problem was that I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters. They all had these backstories, but none of them got enough screen time to get fleshed out. Instead, tragedies were hinted at (repeatedly) but never explained. This just ended up making me annoyed with all of the characters for not explaining themselves. There were also two random characters that were completely unnecessary? I guess this is supposed to be the first book in a series, so maybe they’ll come into play in later books. But honestly, this book does not make me want to pick up the rest of the series. If I had to pick a favorite character I guess I would say Orchid? She was the least annoying.

And then we come to the “mystery”. It felt extremely light. A murder occurred IN THE HOUSE that all of these students were sleeping in and I felt like there should’ve been a more…horrific tone to the book perhaps? But that just wasn’t there. I didn’t find the mystery compelling at all and wasn’t super invested in figuring out who the killer was. Too many of the characters were like, “Well, I know it’s not ME”. With the actual game of Clue it very well COULD be you, so that may have been something interesting to play with (sleepwalking? bad reaction to sleeping pills?). Unfortunately, what we actually get is an unsatisfying, half-baked solution tacked on at the end.

Overall, I felt like this just wasn’t a great book. I didn’t feel like it was written very clearly. I thought it did fairly well as a Clue tribute, but it even had some room to lean into that a little more too. In the end, I think they should have more firmly chosen what direction to take this book in (Clue tribute or murder mystery) without trying to do both. That may seem contradictory…but that’s how I feel.

Overall Rating: 2
Language: None
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: None
Sexual Content: None

Note: I received a copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well…at least I can say I’ve read it | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre is an orphan raised by her uncle’s wife. Despite her uncle’s dying wish to have Jane raised as one of his own children, his wife treats Jane as nothing more than a nuisance. Jane is glad to be sent away to school where she makes new friends and eventually grows into a learned young lady. After some time, she feels that it is her duty to move on and advertises her skills as a governess. Her employer, Mr. Rochester, is unlike any man she’s ever known. As she finally starts to find happiness in her life, Jane will have to find the strength to stick to her principles and learn what it means to be an independent woman.

TL;DR – A deliciously Gothic setting surrounds two characters who I really don’t care about.

I became interested in reading this book because it’s one of those stories that I think a lot of people generally know (he kept his crazy wife in the attic!) but I knew nothing else about it. Then I read My Plain Jane and really enjoyed it, but there were a few plot points that I was just like, “Wait…does this REALLY happen in Jane Eyre?” So I had to read the source material to find out.

Unfortunately, I did not like this book. I feel bad about it because both my mom and sister told me this was one of their favorite books but I just…didn’t feel the same (why is this book a favorite? WHYYYYY????). Firstly, I didn’t care for Mr. Rochester. He didn’t really seem like that great of a guy to me. I found almost all of his conversations with Jane to be abrasive and confusing–it was like a very aggressive ping pong match that he was playing with himself. Despite that, he also had these moments of ultimate patheticness and I just wanted to grab him by the collar and say, “BE AN ADULT”. He was both overly aggressive and overly whiny and it just wasn’t a good combo.

Reading Goodreads reviews when I had finished, I realized that a lot of people really like Jane’s progression, I guess? While I do see some growth, I never particularly cared for her character either. There’s just something about her–even as a little girl–that rubs me the wrong way. I think similar to Rochester, there were some times that I just wanted to say, “PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER”. I don’t really see the strength in her that a lot of other readers see. I don’t understand how she managed to fall in love with Mr. Rochester while he was basically baiting her with the whole Miss Ingram situation. It almost felt to me like her feelings for Mr. Rochester were at least partially born from a sort of self-loathing? And because of that, I never liked them together. The parts where I most liked Jane is when she had moved on and had become a teacher. But then she goes on back to Mr. Rochester for no reason and with no notice (rude). I just don’t see their relationship as being romantic in any way. I’m sorry, I don’t.

Secondary characters were fine. I liked Adele though I wish we’d gotten some kind of translation for her (alas, I do not speak French). I liked Jane’s cousins too, but I feel like St. John kind of gets the shaft. He helps Jane immensely but then he doesn’t get a happy ending? I mean, I think he ended up doing what he wanted, but I’m not convinced he was happy. He was a good guy and I think he deserved more than that.

In the end, I’m glad that I can say I’ve read Jane Eyre now, but I’m not in any hurry to give it another go. I read it over the course of two months so perhaps if I read it quicker it would read better? With that being said, I don’t feel it would make me like the characters any more.

Overall Rating: 2
Language: None
Violence: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild

Monday Minis [Mini-Reviews]

This month has been great for me so far reading-wise. I’ve gotten super into the Lumberjanes comics lately (I’m planning on writing a full review on the series when I’m finished). I’ve also been reading some non-fiction and book club picks. Here are some mini-reviews for you on some books that I’ve finished the last couple of months.

Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau

Right off the bat, I’m super aggravated by the way that Andreus’ curse is dangled in front of our faces. They literally never explain what his “curse” is and it sounds like he just as asthma maybe? Which doesn’t actually seem like a big deal…but maybe I’m wrong because, again, THEY NEVER EXPLAIN. Overall, Andreus was such an annoying character. He was just so stupid and I literally don’t think he made a single good choice. Carys was better, but both she and Andreus mentioned how Carys is really good at making deductions and seeing things that others wouldn’t, but we never really see that happen either. Lastly, I would think that the bond between twins is stronger than it’s made out to be in this book. Carys obviously still cares about her twin, but Andreus drops her as soon as humanly possible once the competition starts. Again, he is so stupid. 2/5

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

This is a book that I picked up on a whim at the end of my shift one day. I don’t have a ton to say about it, but I thought it was really interesting and the artwork was beautiful. It’s really amazing how graphic novels can convey so much in one panel when it would take pages in a novel. I liked how the beginning of the book really stuck to the different color schemes to help the reader tell the two timelines apart. As the stories came together, the color schemes did as well and I thought that was really cool. I also really liked the fish ships and the world building in general was just really interesting. From what I could tell, it seems like this world (galaxy? universe?) is only populated by women, so if you’re looking for queer romance, this book is saturated with it. Lastly, I really enjoyed how much depth the secondary and minor characters had. It was surprising, to be honest, I mean even the school bully had this depth that didn’t get totally explored, but was touched on. 4/5

ebook | Hardcover | Paperback

Bonnie & Clyde: The Making of a Legend by Karen Blumenthal

I didn’t know very much about Bonnie and Clyde before reading this book. The author does a really good job throughout helping the reader to see what parts of their story is known as fact, what is believed to be true, and what is complete myth. Newspapers at the time weren’t super concerned with reporting that absolute truth and were more interested in the drama that was inherent with Bonnie and Clyde. A lot of times if something went down and the cops couldn’t figure out who it was, the newspapers would blame Bonnie and Clyde. Another thing I found interesting was that the cops at the time seemed to be SUPER incompetent. There wasn’t really any training. A lot of people just joined the force because they needed a little extra money and their regular work wasn’t cutting it. That’s part of the reason why Bonnie and Clyde were able to evade capture for so long. The last thing I really liked about this book was that the author had panels on each person that Bonnie and Clyde killed. Over time, Bonnie and Clyde have become wildly glamorized, but it’s important to remember that they killed A LOT of people. 4/5

ebook | Hardcover

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I saw a few clips from the movie a while back when it came out, and that kind of turned me off to reading the book. It was just kind of…weird. And I think I remember the other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible were wearing some pretty scandalous outfits? Anyway, I wasn’t really planning on reading this book, but then I did and I’m glad I decided to! This book was creepy and weird in all the best ways. I loved the cat–he was probably my favorite character–and Coraline was not far behind. She was super spunky and also a believable child. I think she had some intelligence and seriousness that made her feel more mature, but it wasn’t unbelievable that a child would act like that. I would have liked a little bit more of a hunt with Coraline looking for the marbles, but the story also felt really tight as it was. I just think it would have made it a little more fun, but I guess it wasn’t really a fun situation to be in. I liked how the story ended too, with part of the other mother making it into Coraline’s world. I think there’s some symbolism there (and throughout the book) that I’m probably missing, but I enjoyed it. I just need to figure out how to get my husband to like the name Coraline now… 4/5

ebook | Hardcover | Paperback