Category: mini reviews

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mini reviews Wrap Up

August Wrap Up

Here is a bit of a delayed wrap up. August once again proved to be a not so great for reading month, but I did like what I read.


Wrap Up
Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi: 3 stars
Fable by Adrienne Young: 4.5 stars*

continuing:
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (audiobook)

Mini Reviews

Beasts Made of Night: I liked this one, but didn’t love it. Taj grew on me and the world was interesting, but the book was quite a bit different than I expected. I will be continuing the series and am curious as to how it will resolve.
Fable: I really enjoyed this one. I found it almost impossible to put down and loved the vivid descriptions. Full Review

*I recieved an uncorrected proof of Fable from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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mini reviews Wrap Up

July Wrap Up

It definitely feels like summer here. All I want to do is curl up with a good book and a cold glass of lemonade with the AC blasting.

Do you have a beverage you just crave when it’s hot out? Or one you have to have while you’re reading?

July definitely didn’t go to plan, but that’s okay I still got some reading in.

Wrap Up

Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang: 3.5 stars*
The Girl with the Whispering Shadow by D.E. Night: 4 stars*
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson: 4.5 stars/audio 5 stars

Continuing:
Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

*These books were review copies provided to me at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

Mini Reviews

Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang: While I’m still not sure how I feel about this one. I did enjoy reading it. It was hard to put down. Though an adult book, it felt more like a YA novel.
Full Review here.

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow by D.E. Night: This book is what a sequel should be. Stakes are raised. The world building is expanded. And it is just such a fun read, despite some dragging in the beginning.
Full Review here.


The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson: The audio for this one is out-freaking-standing. The world building is just…well it’s Sanderson… awesome. It is very long, but well paced, and while I don’t love flashbacks and some past events are constantly hinted at, everything comes together quite well. The Stormlight Archive definitely deserves the hype. If you haven’t loved Sanderson’s other works this one is still worth a read.
Full Review to come.

Thoughts so far:

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi : Onyebuchi’s writing just pulls you in and doesn’t let go. Putting this one down has been a struggle. Though I’m not sure how I feel about the characters or the book itself; it is proving to be very different than expected (why do I have expectations anymore?) I like it. I almost didn’t pick this one up due to some mixed reviews. So, I would say give this one a shot if you’re still debating reading it or not.
Prediction: 3 or 4 star read.

What were you’re favorite July reads? What are you looking forward to reading in August?

Categories
mini reviews TBR Wrap Up

December Recap

I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season!

I can’t believe December is over! I mean where did 2018 go?

I met my reading goal for the year of 50 books a few months ago so I knew I didn’t have to stress over it, but there were so many books I still wanted to read and finish.

December is my catch-all month so I tried finishing as many books as I could that I started and abandoned earlier in the year. I also tried to sneak in a few holiday/festive reads.

December TBR

Books to Read:
The Afterlife of Holly Chase* by Cynthia Hand
My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories* edited by Stephanie Perkins
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
Books to Finish Before Year’s End:
A Court of Wings and Ruin (audiobook) by Sarah J Maas
The Hobbit (audiobook reread)*  by J.R.R. Tolkien
City of Bones (audiobook reread) by Cassandra Clare
Mistborn (audiobook) by Brandon Sanderson
Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
Kingdom of Ruins (kindle)* by D.C. Marino
Ready Player One (audiobook)* by Ernest Cline

*These books were priority reads

December Wrap Up

December definitely didn’t go as I planned, but not a lot of things have the last few months. I didn’t get all of those books finished, not even the priority reads, but I did at least get some reading done.

Books Read in December:

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (audiobook reread): 2.5 stars
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (audiobook reread): 3 stars
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audiobook): 3 stars
Gravity Falls: Lost Legends by Alex Hirsch: 4 stars
The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand: 4 stars
The Hobbit (audiobook reread): 2 stars

Mini Reviews

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare: Oh boy…I didn’t like this one this time around. I really enjoyed the series when I first read it, but this time…I mean just yeah…I didn’t enjoy the writing style and disliked most of the main characters.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare: I didn’t struggle as much with this one, maybe it was the narrator, maybe it was the Clave drama, I’m not sure, but I still wasn’t a big fan of the characters, and I mean it’s kind of hard to enjoy this series when you don’t like Clary or Jace, and I really don’t like Jace. I could tolerate him my first read through, but this time I found his character to be quite problematic.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: I finally finished!!! First of all, Will Wheaton deserves 5 stars (okay all the stars) for his performance. He did an amazing job and really brought the story to life. I had a really hard time rating this one since his narration had a lot of impact on my motivation to keep listening. I got bored with the plot a little before the halfway point, but then couldn’t pick it back up because I saw the movie with my family—which was quite different in places. So I needed some time to separate the two. I did like the story, but I wouldn’t have had a problem with putting this one on my DNF list. I think overall the read was worth it, but at some point the 80’s references became too much and the plot just got boring for me.

Gravity Falls: Lost Legends by Alex Hirsch: I absolutely love Gravity Falls. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a cartoon show that was aired on Disney and Disney XD. At times it would be too silly and immature for me, but overall I enjoy it immensely (and just don’t rewatch those episodes). So, after it ended I had to get this book. If you’ve seen the show this book is basically the episodes “Bottomless Pit!” and “Little Gift Shop of Horrors” in comic form. It was such a fun return to Gravity Falls and truly captured the heart and soul of the show.

The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand: I really enjoyed this one. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go because Holly’s not exactly likable at first, but it was such a great read. Were some things predictable? Yes, but there was a great cast of characters and once the plot got moving I didn’t want to put it down.  If you’re thinking about a holiday read for next year I definitely recommend it.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien: I have a confession. I’ve tried to read this book about seven times in the last five years never finishing it. I read it once back in middle school (“for fun”) and even then didn’t really enjoy it…though now, having just finished it, I’m not 100% sure I actually did finish it back then. I didn’t enjoy it. I just didn’t connect with the characters, and it didn’t hold my attention. Honestly, I’m really bummed. I mean it’s a book that’s so loved and it just wasn’t for me. I’m glad I did finish it though and can knock it off my bucket list. I am still going to give The Lord of the Rings trilogy a try.

 

Summary

So December was pretty much a month of unpopular opinions for me. I didn’t exactly end the year on high note in terms of ratings either, but that’s okay. There are so many awesome reads to look forward to in 2019!

What was your favorite read of December?

Categories
mini reviews TBR Wrap Up

November Recap

I may not have finished NaNoWriMo, but I actually successfully completed my November TBR!!!

November Wrap Up

I set my sights low in November because of all the post hurricane things we were dealing with and my lack of focus when it came to reading.

I also pretty much abandoned any book I was reading from the previous months except for the Throne of Glass series.

November TBR

Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd
Obsido by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas

Now Kingdom of Ash was going to be tricky because I still hadn’t finished Empire of Storms and Tower of  Dawn, but I did it! Audiobooks are life savers when you can’t sit down and bring yourself to read a physical book.

 

November Wrap Up

Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread): 4 stars
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread): 5 stars
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas (audiobook): 3.5 stars
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (finished audiobook reread) 4.5 stars
Gemina  by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (audiobook reread): 4.5 stars
Obsido by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (audiobook and book): 4.5 stars
Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd: 3 stars

Mini Reviews

Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread)*

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread)*

*I actually read/listened to Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas together switching between the two and it was such a cool experience. I think it actually made it better and I didn’t have to remember as much while reading Tower of Dawn. Though I wouldn’t recommend doing this your first time through.

I enjoyed these two more this time around. They set up Kingdom of Ash well.

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas (audiobook): Oh I have thoughts on this book. First of all I have to say that this was a solid conclusion to a series. I liked it, but I do however have issues with it .

Obsido by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (audiobook and book): I already have said how much I enjoyed Illuminae and Gemina so I didn’t see the need to give them their own little reviews again. Obsidio was such a great conclusion to the series and it was so good! If you haven’t read it yet you need to. (I highly suggest reading the books and listening to the audiobooks simultaneously.)

Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd: I’m not really sure how I feel about this one. I really liked the magic system and the world building, but overall it was just okay for me. I wasn’t a big fan of Anouk and didn’t find some of the resolutions or reactions to be realistic, but that might have just been me. I am curious as to what happens next so I will be reading Midnight Beauties.

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mini reviews Reviews Wrap Up

October Wrap Up

So wow…it’s been over two months since I last posted.

October my friends was quite the month.

If you watched the news at all in October you probably heard at least a mention of Hurricane Michael. We’re still dealing with the aftermath. (We also just got internet back December 10.)

You are here for books though. I do mention it because I obviously wasn’t up for a lot of reading (and I’m still not).  I only finished two books, well a book and an enovella via audio and that was before it hit.

Books Read in October

This Body’s Not Big Enough For Both Of Us by Edgar Cantero: 2 stars
The Lost Sisters by Holly Black (audiobook): 5 stars

Mini Reviews

This Body’s Not Big Enough For Both Of Us by Edgar Cantero: I didn’t really like this book. The entire time I wanted to put it down because it just wasn’t for me, but I couldn’t because I had to know what happened next and how the story would end.  The story though is quite face paced and unpredictable, and not just because of well hidden clues; things seem quite random at times. All in all it’s one crazy ride.

The Lost Sisters by Holly Black (audiobook): The audio for this is absolutely amazing. I didn’t really know what to expect based on the premise of the book, but I found it quite captivating. I had planned to do some household tasks and take bookstagram photos while listening, but ended up just sitting, completely absorbed in the story. I thought it helped explain some things in The Cruel Prince as well as give more insight into a a few of the characters.

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mini reviews Wrap Up

September Wrap Up

I had some big reading plans for September, and can you really blame me after the great month I had in August?

Unfortunately the weather has been doing some crazy things here and I’ve been suffering a lot of headaches and they’ve been bad. So, I didn’t get a lot of reading done.

Books Read in September

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff : 4 stars
Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff: 3 stars
Murmur  by Emily Israd (kindle): 3 stars
Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread): 5 stars
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread): 5 stars

Mini Reviews

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff : I quite liked this book. The characters were likable and the world intriguing. There was a lot of world building/set up, which was handled well, but I did struggle a bit to keep up as I’m not that familiar with steampunk. Overall a good read, but dense.

Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff: This book had me often asking “why is this here? What is the point of this?” We get an influx of new characters/POVs and they all end up on their own paths. So while the new characters and plot twists were interesting it felt like reading several side quests. I honestly couldn’t tell if the book was still Yukiko’s story (and I liked her plot thread the least). However, the other plot lines were good and how everything came together made it worth the read.

Murmur  by Emily Israd: I was sent a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. You can read the full review here (I will put a link here when it’s posted). I quite liked the book. The story was interesting. The characters were fully developed and likable. The friendships were fun and well written. Despite feeling as if a few details were being completely dropped/ignored the whole story and resolution of the mystery were done well.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas:  This was the book that made me fall in love with the Throne of Glass series. I loved it even more this time around.  There was so much character development and the stakes get even higher.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas: I also loved this book even more this time around and it’s my favorite of the series.  Everything really starts to come together in this book. Maas did an excellent job weaving together and balancing all the different character POVs .

 

Still Reading:
Endsinger by Jay Kristoff
Kingdom of Ruins by D.C. Marino  (kindle)
Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

Summary:
Book(s) I enjoyed the most: Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows.  I am loving Escaping from Houdini.


What was your favorite read of September? Did you read all the books you planned to?

Categories
mini reviews Wrap Up

August Wrap UP

I read a lot of good books in August!

Continued Reading from July:
The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) by Rick Riordan: 4 stars
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (kindle): 3.5 Stars
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread) : 3.5 stars
Prey by Michael Crichton (audio book): 1.5 stars

August Reading

Circe by Madeline Miller (buddy read): 5 stars
Illuminae by Amie Kaufamn and Jay Kristoff (audio/book combo read): 4.5 stars
Gemina by Amie Kaufamn and Jay Kristoff (audio/book combo read): 4.5 stars
Uprooted by Naomi Novik: 4 stars
Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff (buddy read): 5 stars
Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories Edited by Stephanie Perkins: 3.5 stars
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread): 4 stars

Mini Reviews

The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) by Rick Riordan: This book was probably the fastest moving book of the series. I wanted to read it but I had to put it down and had a hard time picking the book back up. Though once I did I didn’t want to stop reading. I felt like it was a good solid finish to the series. It had all the humor and action you expect from a Riordan novel.

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo: I’d been wanting to read this one for a while. I really liked the world building/mythos of the story. However, at times it took a minute to see who was telling the story. I was also pretty ambivalent for about a fourth of the story, but I did end up invested and enjoying it.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas: This is one of my least favorite books in the series. Though going back and rereading it, having read the rest of the series, I enjoyed it a lot more this time around.

Prey by Michael Crichton: Oh this book…I’m so glad to have finished it. I didn’t find any of the characters likable, and the audio book narrator did NOT help. Several of the characters were whiny and for characters that were supposed to be really smart they did a lot of really dumb things.

Circe by Madeline Miller: This book was beautifully written. I laughed. I cried. I felt all the things. If you’ve been thinking about picking this up you should.

Illuminae and Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: These books are so different from each other in terms of plot, but both amazing! The audio cast was incredible and the print format is really cool. I was really intimidated by the format so I decided to listen with the audio at the same time and it just added to it. In fact there are some details in the audio that are not in the print book and vice-versa. These books were amazing and if you haven’t read them you need to!

Uprooted by Naomi Novik: This book was completely different then I expected. It was good, a bit slow at first, but once the plot got moving I couldn’t stop reading. It was a very unique and enchanting read.

Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff: I definitely didn’t know what to expect from this book. It was actually quite different from Nevernight, but just as good. There are so many twists and while some predictable others are quite surprising. I can’t wait for Darkdawn.

Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories Edited by Stephanie Perkins: This was an anthology of 12 stories.I enjoyed most of them. The standouts for me were “In Ninety Minutes, Turn North” by Stephanie Perkins, “Inertia” by Veronica Roth, and “Head, Scales, Tongue, Tale” by Leigh Bardugo.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread): I enjoyed this one a lot more than the first time. That ending was the reason I originally decide to give the series one more book before giving it up.

Summary:

Book(s) I enjoyed the most: Illuminae and Gemina
Book(s) I enjoyed the least: Prey

Categories
mini reviews Reviews TBR Wrap Up

July Recap (TBR/Wrap Up)

I decided to combine my TBR and Wrap Up Post for July.

July TBR

So for the month of July I again set out with a slightly ambitious TBR, a lot of it made up of the overflow from unread books in June.

Continued from June:

The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2) by Rick Riordan
War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

July TBR:

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco
Summer Days and Summer Nights Edited by Stepahnie Perkins
The Pisces by Melissa Broader
Vicious by V.E. Schwab (group read)
The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) by Rick Riordan
The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (kindle)
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread)

I was most excited to read Vicious and Hunting Prince Dracula.

Wrap Up:

I didn’t get to everything I wanted to read, but that’s not surprising. I make big lists because as a mood reader I need options.

July Wrap Up:

The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2) by Rick Riordan: 4 stars
My Plain Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows (audiobook): 5 stars
The Pisces by Melissa Broder: 1.5 stars
Vicious by V.E. Schwab: 5 stars (ALL THE STARS)
Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco: 4 stars

Mini Reviews

The Hammer of Thor: Once this book starts it doesn’t stop. This is everything I expect of a Riordan book. It’s hard to put down, it’s funny, there’s action, and really great characters.

My Plain Jane (audiobook): I absolutely adored the narrator for this book. The story was a fun, spooky read. I haven’t read Jane Eyre, but now I definitely want to.

The Pisces: I really didn’t like this book. The protagonist was completely unlikable, as were most of (if not all) the other characters. The “romance” aspects of the book were cringe worth. I read this because it seemed interesting even though I knew I wasn’t the target audience, and while I really didn’t like it I felt compelled to read to the end to see how things were resolved.

Vicious: This book was amazing! Schwab’s writing was completely addictive. I hated putting Vicious down. I loved the characters and found Schwab’s use of dual timelines engaging and masterful.

Hunting Prince Dracula: The book has a great cast of characters and more complex mysteries. The superstitions and folklore at the heart of the mystery and the (well used) castle setting gave it an even creepier vibe then SJTR. I did have a few issues, but overall it was a great read.

Summary

Book(s) I enjoyed the most: Vicious and My Plain Jane
Book(s) I enjoyed the least: The Pisces

Still Reading*

The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) by Rick Riordan
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (kindle)
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (audiobook reread)
(Forever Still Reading:)
Prey by Micheal Crichton
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

*I don’t want to start The Burning Maze until I finish The Ship of the Dead. I also have no motivation to finish War Storm at the moment, but will come back to it.

What was your favorite July read? What August releases are you looking forward to?(*cough*  City of Ghosts *cough*)

Categories
mini reviews Reviews Wrap Up

June Wrap Up

So remember that super ambitious TBR list I had…

Well here’s how my reading for the month went.

Continued Reading from May:

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (buddy read): 5 stars
The Dire King by William Ritter (buddy read): 3 stars
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman  (audiobook): 3.5 stars

June Reading

So while I didn’t come close to tackling my ambitious TBR I did at least finish the Fox and Wit June Reading Challenge

Books Read in June

[A book with “blade” in title]
The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas (audiobook/reread) 3.5 stars
[A book w/male character narrator]
The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1)  by Rick Riordan 3.5 stars
[A book that takes place in a library]
The Archived by Victoria Schwab 4.5 stars 
The Unbound by Victoria Schwab 5 stars
[A book with two authors]
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows 4 stars
[A book about mental health]
Turtles All The Way Down by John Green 3.5 stars
[Book made into a movie]
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (audiobook) 3 stars

Mini Reviews

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff: I absolutely loved this book from the get go. (Which made me nervous because that doesn’t happen often.) The footnotes were such a cool and unique way to world build. I absolutely love Mia and Mr. Kindly. I will be doing a more in depth review of this book.

The Dire King by William Ritter: This book was okay. I was just really disappointed in it. It still had the banter and the magic of the other books, but it had high stakes and a huge cast of characters and it just didn’t deliver.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman  (audiobook): If you haven’t listened to an audio book by Mr. Gaiman stop what you’re doing and go try a sample. His narration alone is worth 5 stars. I think he did a great job, but I just enjoyed it. That’s more because of the myths themselves, not his writing.

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas (audiobook/reread): I still don’t love this book. I liked it a lot more the second time around. The Assassin and The Desert was my favorite of the collection. I do not recommend starting the series with this one.

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1)  by Rick Riordan: This was good, but such a struggle to get through until about the half way point. It was definitely worth it and I’m really enjoying the rest of the series.

The Archived by Victoria Schwab: This book was so good after a few chapters I couldn’t put it down. I loved the twists and turns and though I figured most of them out Schwab always left a little seed of doubt in my mind. I actually have a full review posted on GoodReads.

The Unbound by Victoria Schwab: I LOVED this book. It had a different feel from The Archived, and I liked it more. If you enjoyed The Archived you need to read this one if you haven’t already.

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows: This book was really fun. It took me a while to get into the story. It follows 3 POVs, but once you get used to the world, and the story is set up, it’s great.

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green: I liked this book. It was a bit painful to read because of the anxiety, had it not been germ/health focused I’m not sure I’d have been able to read it. I also was expecting more mystery solving, so I was a bit disappointed. Overall a good read.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (audiobook) : I know this is a beloved children’s classic and I know I enjoyed the series when I was younger, but I didn’t really have strong feelings about the book this time around. The narrator was good. I think it’s because at this point I knew everything that was going to happen so I just had to get through the story.

Summary

Book(s) I enjoyed the most: Nevernight and The Unbound
Book(s) I enjoyed the least: The Dire King*

*I was disappointed in how this series ended, but the book itself was disappointing as well. I’m treating the book as a separate entity.

Still Reading

The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2) by Rick Riordan
War Storm by Victoria Aveyard
(Forever Still Reading):
Prey by Micheal Crichton
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline