December 2020 TBR

Honestly…I don’t even know if I want to make a TBR for this month because I haven’t really been following them, but here we are.

• Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane – Currently Reading
• How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black
• Here’s Looking At You by Mhairi McFarlane
• Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
• The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
• Master of One by Jaida Jones & Dani Bennett

And we’ll see what else I get to. I’ve been so bad at doing ARCs lately so I’ve got quite a few of those piled up…

What are you guys reading this month? Let me know in the comments!

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

Order: Hardcover | eBook

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

Order: Hardcover | eBook

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

Order: Hardcover | eBook

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

Order: Hardcover | eBook

Buzz Books 2018 | Young Adult Spring/Summer (part 2/2)

NetGalley puts out this great compilation every season of some of the hot new Young Adult books that will be coming out. Here are my thoughts on the last 6 books featured and here’s a link to my thoughts on the first 6. As always, covers link to Goodreads.

Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen (3/20)

Cover: This seems like a historical fiction war thriller maybe? Which is potentially intriguing, but just based on the cover I don’t know that I would pick it up off a shelf. 4/10

Premise: OKAY. This premise is actually super interesting to me. As we all know, I love books about boarding schools and this sounds like it’s right up that alley. This book sounds like a cross between Wolf by Wolf and the Finishing School series. 9/10

Excerpt: The book starts off pretty fast-paced and I really like the German that’s sprinkled throughout. I’m definitely interested in reading more–hopefully the main character continues to hold my interest. 8/10

TBR?: Yes

Furyborn by Claire Legrand (5/22)

Cover: I don’t know…this just looks like a lot of books that are being published right now. Some kind of high-ish fantasy land where a girl comes from nothing to become a super powerful queen/leader/ruler. It just seems a little generic at this point? I think a few years ago this would have really appealed to me though. 6/10

Premise: Does this book involve some kind of time travel too? I don’t know, I’m really not interested in this. The premise does not appeal to me at all. 2/10

Excerpt: I can already tell that this world is going to take way too much set-up time than I would want to invest. And the writing was fine, but not good enough to keep my attention. Also, already knowing that it’s a trilogy is another strike against it imo. 2/10

TBR?: No

Twelve Steps to Normal by Farrah Penn (3/13)

Cover: I feel very neutral about this cover. I like the simplicity of it and the overall design, but it just doesn’t really look like it’s going to be about something that I’m interested in. 5/10

Premise: The summary makes me slightly more interested in this book. I like the idea of the main character having to come back to her old life and reevaluate things. I’m less certain about the fact that it’s written by a Buzzfeed writer. I’ve read some really great things on Buzzfeed, but also some things that weren’t so well-written. 6/10

Excerpt: The writing feels fresh, in a way. I think the main character will be interesting and difficult at times, but overall likable. I also think we’re going to see some really complicated interactions between her and her dad and that’s kind of exciting to explore. 7/10

TBR?: Yes

Frat Girl by Kiley Roache (3/27)

Cover: This book just feels like it’s trying too hard. The tagline on the cover is “there’s a feminist in the frat house”. That just seems like it’s going to come with such obvious complications. In my opinion, a book could have the same overall topics and themes but handle it in a much more subtle and mature way. This feels like too much. 2/10

Premise: Yeah okay, that summary is pretty much exactly what I thought it might be. It just leaves me with a big, sarcastic, “Gee, wonder how this is going to turn out?”. It has the slightest potential of becoming a cute college romance, but I can just tell that the main characters are actually going to bug the crap out of me. 4/10

Excerpt: I can already tell that I don’t like any of these characters. The main character herself is fine, but her two friends are too snarky and rebellious to feel realistic. 3/10

TBR?: NO

Reclaiming Shilo Snow by Mary Weber (3/6)

Cover: This looks like it will be some kind of sci-fi book with probable romance between a human girl and a not-quite-human boy (my money’s on cyborg, but could be alien I suppose). Again, maybe would have appealed to me a few years ago, but now…yawn. 4/10

Premise: The summary told me nothing except that this is actually the second book in a series. That is not necessarily something that is in this book’s favor. After reading the summary for the first book, I am still not very interested. 3/10

Excerpt: I’m going to skip the excerpt since the book is not the first in a series. Wouldn’t want to spoil anything.

TBR?: No

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young (4/24)

Cover: This cover is slightly intriguing. Why does she have an axe? It’s kind of giving me Thor/Norse vibes. What exactly is this book about? 5/10

Premise: Hmmm…I can’t tell if this is going to be like a resurrection book or zombies or something else…dark magic maybe? I’m a little more interested than I was before. 6/10

Excerpt: I’m just not sure about this one. Again, I’m not sure that the time it takes to setup this new world is worth my investment. The main character seems okay though. 6/10

TBR?: Maybe, we’ll see what other people say about it.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve heard anything about these books!