I'm Back!

Holy Cow - I can't believe it has been five months since I started writing this post!  I honestly don't even remember what books I've read since January.  I had to go back through my library books due notices, and I am pretty sure I still missed some (the library's email system was down for three months so I didn't get any notices between December and March!).  I think I've got fourteen books to tell you about (!), so I am going to have to split those between two posts.  Here is the first half:

Igniting Darkness, by Robin LaFevers, is the second book in a duology, which is a follow-up to her His Fair Assassin trilogy. (You can find my quick blurb about the trilogy here, and my mini-review of Courting Darkness here.)  The series is about a group of assassin nuns, and each book must be read in order or nothing makes any sense.  I liked this one a little better than the first book in the duology, but I think that is mostly because the first one had to spend time getting the story rolling, so this one was just smooth sailing to the end.  Just like all of the previous books in the series, this book was jam packed with romance, and action, and intrigue, all rolled into a very well-written package.  This is a pretty short mini-review, so I'll leave you with one of my favorite lines from the story:  "I mean, I have longed for you for years, finally have you, and now I find it has been like wanting a piece of rotten fruit."  The king might have thought this about one of the assassin nuns, but I assure you it in no way describes this book!   (Reading Level 5.1 / Upper Grades)

Well, I pretty much hated Seven Endless Forests by April Genevieve Tucholke. Yes, hated.  The book is set in the same world as The Boneless Mercies (see my mini-review here), which I really liked, but this one was just . . . too much I guess.  The way everything was girl-centered was refreshingly unique in the first book, but it just felt weird in this one.  The way everything (the people, the places, the battles . . .) had strange names like the Salt and Marsh Witch War, the Evil Stepmother Tavern, Cloven Tell, Butcher Bards and Pig Witches and Fremish wolf-priests, gave the original story an interesting fantasy feel, but in this one there were too many references to these things and it felt overdone.  Same goes for all of the sagas and legends they mention - in this book, it was just enough already after awhile, because it was somehow exhausting trying to keep up with all of the references to imaginary proper nouns. The first book was supposed to be a retelling of Beowulf, and I think it did a good job, and this one was obviously supposed to be based on the King Arthur myth, but it did NOT do a good job.  It mostly just threw lame references in here and there with place names and the like.  And there was waaaaaaay too much drinking and taking drugs going on.  Oh, and strangely intimate behavior between all of the characters.  As if all people who lived in Dark Age-type societies spent all their time sitting under trees getting hammered . . . . and then singing and crying about their dead . . . . and then sleeping in each other's arms.  The crazy thing is, I was all into this book at the beginning.  It was only once the story got properly going that it all fell apart.  Unfortunately, by the time I had completely hit my limit, I only had like 50 pages to go, so I went ahead and finished the thing.  But it was painful.  Sooooooo painful.

A couple of years ago I read a book that was supposed to be a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story.  It was awful.  At the end of my post about it (you can read it here), I said I was going to have to be on the lookout for a better one.  Well folks, I finally found it!  A Curse So Dark and Lonely, by Brigid Kemmerer was a wonderful surprise.  I didn't even realize it was supposed to be a Beauty and the Beast story.  I thought it was supposed to be something creepy.  (I know, the briars on the cover might have been a clue, but I just saw dark and curse!)  Anyway, this book was exactly what a fairytale retelling should be.  It stayed true to the original concept while offering something new and unexpected.  Actually, the fact that it was a full-length novel meant that it offered quite a bit of unexpectedness, but all by way of putting meat on its bones and creating characters with depth.  Everything about this book was AMAZING, especially the way the male characters spoke - the dialogue would make any romantic weak in the knees.  If you like fairytales, or romance, or romantic-action-fantasy (because this book has it all), you have got to go out and get a copy and read this ASAP.  Trust me - you won't be disappointed!   (Reading Level 4.2 / Upper Grades)

A Heart So Fierce and Broken is the sequel to A Curse So Dark and Lonely.  I didn't realize the first one was part of a trilogy until I got to the end and it was perfectly obvious that, although there was a perfectly good resolution to the story, the author just knew we would want more so she was going to keep on going.  Now, I don't mean to rain on the parade, but this one was actually a bit disappointing.  Not because it wasn't fantastic - it was!  But this one focused not on the main character from the first book, the prince, but instead on his sidekick.  (Okay. Horrible word choice.  He was the commander of the Royal Guard, and what the two young men went through was hardly a comedy or flippant adventure.)  What the author did for the main character in the first book, she did again for the new main character in this one - she gave you a broken boy who you just could not help but fall in love with.  The problem?  After falling in love with the prince in the first book, the reader now had to sit through 450 pages in which he pretty much became a flat, lifeless side character.  And a horribly mean one at that - although if the author had paid him more attention, she could have put the reader inside his head and we would have understood and (somewhat) forgiven him for his actions.  (If I liked using emojis, which I do NOT, I would put one of someone crying here.)  Now, don't get me wrong - I loved this book anyway!  So you should definitely go out and get a copy of it too, and read them both ASAP!   (Reading Level 4.6 / Upper Grades)

A Vow So Bold and Deadly is the final book in the Cursebreakers saga.  (I hate the way they name trilogies these days!)  Luckily for me, this one had a release date of only a few weeks after I finished reading the second book, so I was able to order all three at once and didn't have to wait for the library to get its copy onto the shelf.  So.  This one focused on both of the young men, mostly equally, so we once again get the depth of character for the prince that was missing in the second book.  Unfortunately, the first half of the story is like a tv show where you wait five seasons for Scully and Mulder to get together, and they finally do on the season finale, only when the first episode of season six comes along, something has happened and they aren't exactly together anymore.  You know, the kind of plot development that makes you say Whaaaaat?  How could she do that to us?!  The good news is, it works itself out by the middle of the book (Whew!) so the reader can focus on how the main drama is finally going to be resolved.  This one wraps up nicely, but actually leaves things open for the author to give us some follow-up books.  Hopefully she does, because after you go out ASAP and get a copy of this one and read it, you will definitely be wanting more!   (Reading Level 4.8 / Upper Grades)

I checked out Winter White and Wicked, by Shannon Dittmore, because I loved the cover.  (Yes, I actually do that.  It was even better in person - the actual cover was all silvery-metallic.)  I pretty much hated it for the entire first half.  It was about a girl who was a trucker, maybe the best there was, and a rebel leader made a bargain with her to do a very dangerous haul for him.  It read a whole lot like The Rift (find my mini-review here), which I also hated for the entire first half and then liked by the end.  This one also seemed like a combination of fantasy and science fiction (there wasn't really any science fiction to it, it just felt like that kind of story), and also kind-of-mythology and indigenous folklore, I guess?  (I am not really a fan of folklore.)  It was a weird mix.  The book was actually super boring and kind of dumb, and then something happened that was super interesting and so unique that I'd never come across the idea in a book before.  And then we learned some deep dark secrets about two of the main characters, and then I really enjoyed the last 15% of the story.  Unfortunately, the author makes you totally pumped to find out what is going to happen to these people, and leaves everything just hanging . . . but there is no indication anywhere online that there is going to be a sequel.  So maybe hold off on this one for a bit and see if the author gets signed to write part two.  On second thought, maybe you should actually buy a copy, so the sales will be good and the author will get signed to write part two!   (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

The last book I'm going to share has a bit of a longer review - I have much more I want to say about it than will fit into a mini-review, but I honestly don't have the time to go back through the book and find the kinds of examples that I usually put into a full-length review.

Damsel, by Elana K. Arnold, was fantastic!  It was so very unique, I don't know if I've ever come across anything like it.  The concept, as well as the writing, had me hooked from the very first chapter.  It was written in the third person, but in that way that wonderful storytellers use.  You know, the way that puts the wonder in wonderful.  The way that sets you on the edge of your seat, not because there is intense action, but because there is an intensity to the story and you become immersed in the story itself, and you are anxiously anticipating where it will go.  The author has a wonderful way of explaining things, looking at everything from an angle that is slightly skewed, and she has a way with words that makes the mundane sound deep and mysterious and utterly and completely fairy-tale-ish (but in the traditional, dark, and definitely NOT Disney way).  

Although shelved in the young adult fiction section, the book is for the somewhat older reader, because it is quite risque, with references to particular body parts and states of arousal and conquests.  It does it, for the most part, however, in very - for lack of a better word - literary way.  A way that makes it all somehow less, and yet much, much more shocking at the same time.  Almost like what is being written is so unseemly that it has to be said in code.  It's the kind of thing that would make a matron blush.  It's the kind of thing that Mrs. Pruitt would gleefully make my senior honors English class read. (Some of you know exactly what I mean.)

And speaking of literary, this book has a very definite theme - one should never try to tame something that is wild.  The author does an excellent job of weaving together multiple story elements to gradually build this theme before delivering the final, massive punch at the end of the story.  The book also has motifs - eyes, everywhere there are eyes. . . . and cats.  What is it with all the cats?  Oh, and heat.  Hot dragons' breaths and warm amniotic fluid and fires and suns and burning fevers.  This is the kind of book that would be perfect for homeschooled older teens.  Well, let me clarify that.  If a teenager is homeschooled because the school system doesn't offer what they need, then, perfect.  If, however, a teen is homeschooled because their parents wish them to remain innocent and naive, then this one is probably not a very good idea.

Now, this book has been touted as a feminist novel, presumably because the prince is a typical product of the patriarchy - almost archetypically so.  No, scratch that - completely archetypically so.  He is the epitome of the stereotypical fairytale prince, but without the innocent Disney glamour.  Not a bad guy, but not a good choice for any woman not on board with living a Victorian-era, married kind of life.  And then, of course, there is the heroine, who is not so sure that she wants to live the rest of her life in a situation where she is basically owned by a man.  A woman who comes to realize her own value, and the power she holds within.  So I can see why feminists would love it.  But you know what?  This doesn't have to be a "feminist" novel in order to talk about these things.  In fact, when I read it, I saw it as more of a historical-anthropological study of human nature and patriarchal societies (no judgement, just an observation of their characteristics) and the strength of the human spirit.  So even non-feminist women should be able to enjoy it as well (as long as they don't have delicate sensibilities that could be offended by the risque bits).  I've already ordered a copy for my home library, so you can be confident that this one is a keeper.   (Reading Level 6.8 / Upper Grades)

So there you have the first half of the fourteen books - all but one of which I had read way back in February when I first started writing this post.  Next time I'll cover the rest, and since I've already read them, I'll just need to find the time to write those reviews!

Well, here we are again, nearly two months since my last post . . . and only five books read!  Back when I was reading over a hundred books a year (I've only managed 33 so far in 2020), I was getting in two to three hours a day, and I would read a whole book over a weekend every month or two.  Ahh, those were the days.  Now I'm managing only about 40 minutes of reading each day, so it is taking something like two weeks to read some of these books.  Of course, I've had so much on my plate that I'm pretty sure I forget to add a book every so often.  This actually happened with the first book I'll share in this post - I forgot to add it to my Goodreads list (which is how I try to keep track of what to put in these posts) and only found it by going back for the past three months through my library notices in my email!  Hopefully I'm mostly only missing the mediocre ones, right?

The Sweetest Spell, by Suzanne Selfors was, well, different.  I honestly don't remember whether I put it on my to-read list first, or if I just ran across it in the library.  I'm pretty skeptical of either, actually, because the cover is pretty cheesy, and the blurb on Goodreads says, "Magic and romance entwine in this fantastical world where true love and chocolate conquer all."  Also, cheesy.  I thought the premise that the girl could churn milk into chocolate was pretty dumb (and, now that I think of it, it's especially dumb because milkmaids churn cream not milk, duh!), but the blurb also says stuff like, "Emmeline Thistle, a dirt-scratcher's daughter, has escaped death twice-first, on the night she was born, and second, on the day her entire village was swept away by flood." I thought that was pretty interesting.  Anywaaaaay . . . I wasn't super impressed at the beginning of the story, because it did have some more stuff that was pretty dumb, but the further I got into it, the more it read like a fairy tale that I'd just never heard before and I liked it more and more, and by the time I finished it I was like, Huh. That was something special!  And I promptly set out to find myself a brand-new copy for my home library.  (And this is where I share with you a bit of wisdom that it shouldn't have taken me this long to learn but did: If you read a book and think you might even possibly ever want to read it again, you should buy a copy NOW because once it goes out of print you won't be able to find a new hardcover copy and you won't be able to check it out of the library either because everyone will have stolen - Oh, I mean lost - all of the library copies and you will be stuck buying one of THOSE even though you are loathe to reward the thieves -I mean silly people who misplace things.)  So, I really think you should read this book, if, of course, you can still actually find a copy in your local library.  It was really original, and really lovely, and a really good fairy-tale-love-story-adventure and I think once you get past the first few chapters you will really, really like it too.  (Reading Level 4.4 / Middle Grade +)

The Girl the Sea Gave Back is the second book by Adrienne Young.  I told you about her first one, Sky in the Deep in my last post (here).  I loved that one.  I was really hoping that I would love this one too.  Lucky for me, and for you too, I guess, I did.  Yay!  So, I got the impression before I read it that it was one of those books that takes place "in the world of" the previous book, but had entirely different characters.  It wasn't exactly - it was written from the perspective of two different characters, one of whom was entirely new, and the other who had been a child in the first book and was now a young man of sixteen (I think!)  The writing was a bit different in this one, partly because it was written from two different perspectives, but also because the heroine was a "Truthtongue," which means she read the bones and told the future, but of course in an enigmatic way.  So in keeping with that, the book is kind of, how to explain it?  Minimalistic?  Kind of like April Genevieve Tucholke's The Boneless Mercies or Ally Condie's The Voyage of Poe Blythe.  I don't come across stories like those very often (only these three easily come to mind out of the thousand I've read), but it packs the same punch as they do without all the words that could have been used to make it 100 pages longer.  Not that it was short - at 327 pages it was an average length - but if the author HAD added 100 pages, it would have been something entirely different.  Anyway, I think somebody over in Hollywood needs to make these two books into a movie or a miniseries, or heck, how about a full-length series?  It was a fantastic read and I was sorry when it was over.  (And yes, a copy now sits on my bookcase!)  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

I have a bit of advice for you before you read Warrior of the Wild: don't read it right after The Girl the Sea Gave Back, like I did.  Don't read it after Sky in the Deep, either.  Do you see the cover art?  The battle axe?  The characters in the other two books use the same weapon . . . because they are bada** Nordic warriors. . . whose story is told in two absolutely amazing books.  This one . . . not so much.  It's like the other two are Academy Award winning historical fiction films and this one is a B movie with a strange mix of genres.  Maybe even a bad B movie with a strange mix of genres.  Maybe the kind that you sit through the whole thing because you have nothing better to do, but you groan and roll your eyes a lot and never recommend to a friend.  Now, to be fair, if I hadn't read it right after a kinda-sorta similar book that was AWESOME, I might not have been comparing everything about it to said 5-star book, thus finding it severely lacking.  Maybe I would have only found it somewhat lacking.  Maybe, if the heroine was a bit more likeable, and the third wheel a bit less stereotypical and annoying, and it didn't have these stupid weird beasts that made it feel almost science-fiction-ish instead of historical fantasy-ish, and the writing had more depth, and the name of the god wasn't "Peruxolo" which, for some reason grated on my nerves every single time I read it, I might have actually enjoyed the romantic tension and accompanying banter between the two main characters, since it was just like in the author's previous The Daughter of the Pirate King duology that I just loved.  Come to think of it, the author followed pretty much the same formula for this one - kicka** warrior (pirate) girl who meets a bada** warrior (pirate) boy and she hates him until she doesn't, and she has an absent (mostly) mother and a cruel and demanding chief (king) of a father and she has to prove herself to him, and the boy helps her complete a task so she can do that.  Okay.  So now you know the whole story, and you don't need to bother trying to read this mediocre (at best) book.  Go check out Tricia Levenseller's first series instead.  It was WAAAAY better.

When I first heard of The Merciful Crow I HAD to read it.  Why?  Well, if you've been following my blog since the beginning, you'll know it's because of the CROW.  I have a thing for crows.  Or ravens, those will do too.  I will read every single book I can get my hands on with those darned birds, and I am more than a little bit disappointed when such a book does not deliver what a book with crows should.  For those of you who understand . . . you get it, right?  If you don't know what I'm talking about, well, I don't think I can explain it to you.  So, moving on, the crow in this book is not a crow at all.  Not a bird, but a girl of the Crow social caste - a caste whose sole purpose in life is to remove and burn plague victims.  Which means, of course, that they are outcastes.  But, even though the crow was not an actual crow, this book delivered everything I expected it to and more.  It is sooooooo original.  Well, not wholly original, but it took a whole bunch of original and not-so-original parts and put them together in a wholly original way.  And, if you read my way-back-when review of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, you'll understand when I say that it also has TEETH, but even those are wholly original (So here's one for you, Janelle!), making this an absolutely fantastic work of (historical-ish) fantasy.  Of course . . . . I do have a few complaints:  (Allow me to step up onto my soapbox for a moment.)  The (young) author threw in a whole bunch of non-traditional orientations (if you know what I mean), but almost all of the references were completely irrelevant to the story, so it seemed like either the editor told the author she needed to add it all in there (don't mess  with somebody else's art!), or she has been conditioned by modern society to think adding it in is necessary (as an avid reader, I can tell you it IS NOT.  It is just distracting, especially the use of  "they" as a singular pronoun used over and over in a novel).  In line with this is the character of the female general, who just so happens to have many husbands and wives.  As any anthropologist will tell you, the main reason that polygamy is practiced is because a man gains wealth and status by having multiple wives - he typically pays a bride-price for each wife, but those wives will have daughters for whom other men will pay a bride-price to him.  Even in the well-known religious group that had polygamy as one of its customs, the purpose was to have as many children as possible for a future benefit.  Having multiple husbands does not help a woman have more children, and besides, cultures with this practice are rare, usually only occurring when the male to female ratio is severely out of balance or when men are prone to die in battle and leave children with no father.  So, how about let's not throw non-sensical elements into a story just for the sake of modern identity politics, yeah?   It is also pretty obvious that the author was trying to give a 'social justice' message in this story, but anybody who has obtained even a rudimentary education should realize that the book has parallels with the types of societal ills that have been occurring over and over and over again across the entire world since the beginning of civilization when social classes first emerged.  (Don't get me wrong - I wholeheartedly think such systems are unfair, it just irritates me that many readers will not understand that it is not a new problem, nor has it historically been primarily related to race.)  So.  If you like fantasy, and you crave something original, and you are on board with the social justice movement, you will love this book.  If however, you just love fantasy, and crave something original, and have mastered the eye-roll and ignore method of dealing with certain things, I think you will also love this book.  (Reading Level: 5.5 / Upper Grades)

Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child, by S. Craig Zahler, was a bit weird.  It is the story about a strangely malformed boy who is shuttled from place to place during the course of his childhood.  So strangely malformed that the story itself doesn't really fit into one specific genre, but not in the annoying way (like some other books I've recently read).  Goodreads tags it as Fantasy, Fiction, and Horror, but I think it is pretty light on the horror part and should have Sci-fi added in.  So, obviously, the story itself is a little weird.  It is also written in a very interesting way, with certain quirks that are used throughout.  For example, the author uses verbs and adjectives that aren't commonly used, but sprinkled in here and there in just the right amount to give the story a unique, interesting feel without sounding boring or pretentious.  He also gives the age for every single character when they are first introduced, which is kind of annoying the first two times, but once you pick up on the pattern is actually quite brilliant, because it makes you look at each character in a way that draws upon your preconceived ideas of a person of that age.  The story is often quirky and sometimes funny, but it is also sometimes sad.  It is a fascinating read, and took me less than a week to finish, so you might be able to get through it in only a few days if you have some free time on your hands.  Definitely a winner.  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

I am still in the middle of reading another book right now . . . actually, I'm only 56 pages into it with 481 pages to go, so who knows how long that will take.  Maybe even past Christmas, which would put me over two months since my last post, so I'm going to save it for next time.  Happy reading!

It's Been HOW Long Since I've Put Up a Post?

Well, apparently my last post was published waaaaaaay back in August.  You'd think being under pandemic restrictions would make ones life simpler, but somehow I've accumulated way too many responsibilities and I almost never have to time to read or blog anymore.  I actually started this post on October 1st, and here we are almost a whole month later.  Sorry about that.  At least I've got some great recommendations for you!

The Accidental Highwayman (plus 17 other words!), by Benn Tripp, was a big thick book.  It was a historical fantasy story, meaning that it was a historical fiction story, with a young man being chased across the countryside by the authorities due to a case of mistaken identity, but it was also fantasy because, while fleeing from said authorities, he got entangled with a witch and a fairy princess and a whole bunch of other fey creatures.  I probably would have abandoned it as soon as I figured this out, but the book was just too darn funny, saying things like, "Neither of us could remember our mothers, who had perished young in the fashion of the times."  All in all, it took me a really long time to read, but I enjoyed it in the end, and I might even check out the second book in the series, even though the first one felt just fine as a standalone.    (Reading Level 6.8 / Middle Grades)

White Stag, by Kara Barbieri, was also part one of a trilogy, and it was also fantasy.  This one, however, was High Fantasy.  I am not a fan of High Fantasy.  I almost chucked it aside during chapter one when they started talking about all of the goblins.  I stuck with it, though, because I don't usually read High Fantasy and figured I should at least give it a chance.  I stuck with it despite the fact that the writing wasn't all that great.  It wasn't bad, mind you, it was just . . . I don't know, I guess it felt like it needed some polishing. This one also took me awhile, but I finally managed to make it through it, and even went through an opinion change from Uuuuggghhh, to Meh, to Hmmmm, this isn't so bad after all.  I don't think I'll read the next installment, though, but if you like High Fantasy, you would probably like this trilogy.   (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

I checked out Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young ages ago, and kept passing it over on the shelf.  Finally, when I was down to three books I didn't really want to read anymore, I pulled it down and gave it a try.  You know what I'm going to say now, don't you?      I LOVED this book!    OMG, I already ordered my own copy, just two days after I finished reading it.  It tells the story of a teenage girl who is a warrior, and one day, during a battle against her people's generations-long enemy, she sees her supposedly dead brother on the battlefield . . . .  fighting for the other side.  This book is full of battle-action and personal angst and romance and evolving relationships, and it teaches a powerful lesson about humanity and family and hate and love and if you haven't already read it you really should.  Soon.  And probably buy a copy for your own home library too.  Really.  It's that good.   (Reading Level 4.8 / Upper Grades)

I don't usually read adult fiction novels because I've found that they tend to be wordy, or dry, or stupidly unrelatable to me.  For some reason I made an exception for Sin Eater: A Novel by Megan Campisi.  And boy, am I glad I did.  This book was really, really good!  It tells the story of a sin eater, which is supposedly someone who ate people's sins before they died but that is about all we know because the historical references are quite few and far between and also very vague.  I guess the sin eating concept had something to do with providing people absolution, but maybe in a more pagan type of way instead of having the priest come give the last rights or something.  Anyway, the premise behind the story is that sin eaters were shunned, you know, for being full of the sins they had eaten, and the heroine of the story is made into a sin eater as a punishment for a crime.  The book is wonderfully written and has a well-developed theme and all that good stuff, and even though it is a bit crude at times, it was really quite impactful.  Now, some people would interpret this as a feminist novel, but, coming from the background of both a historian and anthropologist, I can confidently say that it is more about personal strength under adversity and the concept of freedom and finding a place to belong than anything else.  And do you know what else I liked about it?  It is a historical fiction murder mystery, and it is set in the Elizabethan period, and the author makes a big deal about it being FICTION, but it is really heavily based on fact that is quite cleverly disguised in a way that is perfectly obvious.  Wonderful!   (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

I purchased a paperback copy of Billy Creekmore from the Bookoutlet website for like one dollar a couple of years ago.  Not only was I was drawn to the Lewis Hine photo on the cover of this book by Tracey Porter, but also, I mean, one dollar(!).   I pulled it off the shelf after abandoning the three books left from my library haul.  (I didn't stick with them long enough to even bother telling you about them.)   This book was historical fiction, set sometime right around the turn of the last century.  It tells the story of an orphan who ends up working in a coal mine before getting involved with some labor union trouble and having to run away, ultimately joining the circus.  It gave a great picture of the time period and was witty, and interesting, and sad, and uplifting.  Not only that, but it was also a pretty quick read.  Although the main character is a ten year old boy, I found the story very entertaining, and I think both boys and girls of all ages would enjoy it.   (Reading Level 5.4/ Middle Grades)

Into the Bright Unknown was the final book in Rae Carson's Gold Seer Trilogy.  I mentioned in an earlier post (read it here) that I really loved the characters and the writing style of the the first two books, but that by the end of the second book I was really getting tired of the overbearing theme of the oppression of women and the evils of the patriarchy bla, bla, bla.  I wasn't going to read the third book, but I asked myself, how bad could it possibly be?  Well, it was pretty bad.  The entire beginning of the book really went overboard with this theme, and I just couldn't deal with three hundred more pages of it.  So, I took it back to the library and moved on to something better . . . . 

Wow, Wow, WOW, WOW, WOW! An Enchantment of Ravens, by Margaret Rogerson, was . . . . just incredible!  So, you've got a girl who lives in a town called Whimsy, which is kind of between the world of the Fair Folk and the Regular world.  The Fair Folk come to Whimsy to get things made from humans, because they can't practice "Craft" themselves.  So, this girl, she's a portrait artist, and a master of the Craft.  And then there is a guy, who just so happens to be of the Fair Folk, and not only that, but he is the prince of the Autumn Court.  And he just so happens to come to the girl to get his portrait done.  Now, it also happens that Fair Folk and humans are forbidden from falling in love, and if they do, well, let's just say the consequences are dire.  For both of them.  So what do you think happens?  Yes, the girl and the prince fall in love.  This book is a spectacular Fantasy Romance, with a healthy dose of action and intrigue mixed in.  It is beautiful, and romantic (duh!), and funny, and exciting, and heartbreaking, and . . . well . . . absolutely perfect.  I mean, if there was a word for more than perfect, this book would be that.  If you like Fantasy, and you like Romance, you should run out and get yourself a copy a.s.a.p.   (Reading Level 6.3 / Upper Grades)

Ruthless Gods is the second book in a fantasy series written by Emily Duncan.  I read the first book almost exactly one year ago, and unfortunately made the mistake of reading it soon after it was released.  So of course, when I sat down to read this one, I was already confused enough by the end of the first chapter that I decided I had better reread the first one, Wicked Saints.  Lucky for me, I had purchased my own copy, so it was just sitting on my bookshelf already.  (Oh, see, I was wondering how I managed to read so few books over the past two months - that's because I also read Wicked Saints, which was a pretty long book, again!)  Anyway, I vaguely remembered that the first book had a fantastic story, but writing that wasn't the greatest - go back and read my review of it, here.  No, really, go back and read it!   So, I actually enjoyed the book more the second time around. It made a lot more sense and since I was already desensitized to the dumb blood magic thing, it didn't really seem even half as dumb. I was curious to see if the second book would be about the same, or worse, or better. Let me tell you, it was better! The story was still so gloriously unique, and even MORE dark and tragic, and the writing was better, and did I say dark and tragic? Just Wow. Unfortunately, the final book in the series won't be released until next April, but since I've got my very own copy of this one sitting on my bookshelf already, I'll be able to reread it as well before then. And I really am looking forward to reading it again. Somebody make this into a movie, please!   (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

More Covid-19 Reading

Well, since my last post (sorry it's been so long!), we've still been in semi-lockdown.  My city libraries actually opened back up for a bit, and once again, I had this weird feeling that they were going to close down again and so I made a trip and got a new haul of books the day before they announced the re-closure of all branches.  For some reason, almost all of the books I've read since my last post were at least somewhat related to fairy tales.  So if you like that sort of thing, I've got some great recommendations for you.  If it's not typically what you're into, who knows, maybe if you try one of the ones I thought were fantastic, you might improve your opinion of the genre!

The Beautiful, by Renee Ahdieh, is a fairly new book with a, well, beautiful cover.  Not fairy-tale-ish in the least (I got to those a little later).  Something about the blurb made me want to read it, but I couldn't actually remember what, so I was a bit surprised when I started reading and it was a historical fiction story.  Strike that - it was a historical fantasy story, because it had characters who were apparently vampires, but I didn't get very far in before I decided I'd rather read something else.  There wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, other than the fact that I didn't really care for the male lead character, not because of his characteristics, because I am usually a sucker for the bad boy, but I guess just because of the writing, which I guess would explain why I wasn't really into the plot either.  If you like historical fantasy and books about vampires, you might want to give it a try, though.

The Dark Beneath the Ice.  I just couldn't stick with this one, folks.  It was written by Amelinda Berube, the same author as Here There Are Monsters, which I really enjoyed, but I just couldn't get into this one.  For one thing, the main character wasn't very likable.  She wasn't unlikable either, which might actually be worse, because how interesting can a book be when you can't even form an opinion about the heroine?  Also, the story just seemed to be taking absolutely forever to go anywhere, and I just didn't have the patience for that.  So.  Another book abandoned.

Blythewood, by Carol Goodman, had been on my list of books to read for like, years.  I have no idea why I never checked it out.  I couldn't even remember what it was supposed to be about, so I was once again a bit surprised when it turned out to be one of those hot angel guy books.  Only it was actually a hot angel guy book with a twist, because it was a historical fantasy book that read a lot like historical fiction, with girls at a special boarding school learning how to fight all kinds of uncanny creatures, angel (bad angel? actually demons?) types included.  In addition, there was a bit of a mystery involved, and a HUGE twist at the end that really set it apart from the other hot angel guy books I've come across.  It is actually part one in a trilogy, but even though I enjoyed this first installment, I'm not feeling an urge to go out and read the second book.  So, we'll see.  (Reading Level 6.3 / Upper Grades)

Entwined, by Heather Dixon, just might be my new favorite book.  Yes.  F.A.V.O.R.I.T.E.  It retells the story of the twelve dancing princesses, but I can't really tell you how true to the original it is, because I have never actually read the original version.  (For some reason I always hated that story when I was a kid!)  Anyway, this story does have magic, and twelve princesses who go dancing in some otherworld that they enter through the fireplace in their bedroom, and the task set to suitors to find out what is going on, and a guy who had been a soldier, and a magical invisibility cloak, so, based on what my sister-in-law told me, I think it is pretty true to the original.  What I know, though, is that it was amazing!  Everything about the story was fantastic, and the icing on the cake was the unique personalities of each princess.  And the craziest thing is that it didn't really read like a fairy tale, so if you are not really into fairy tales but enjoy historical fantasy, you will love it anyway.  OMG, this book was perfect.  Go read it, if you haven't already!  (Reading Level 5.0 / Middle Grade +)

Strands of Bronze and Gold, by Jane Nickerson, was supposed to be a retelling of the Bluebeard fairy tale.  Once again, I've never read the original, but if you read my last post, I told you about a book that was a (kind of?) twisted tale of the same story, so I'm aware of the general gist of it.  This one was set in the antebellum South, and it was a very good work of historical fiction.  Notice I didn't say historical fantasy, because there really wasn't any magic going on.  It just took the main concepts of the story (minus the magic) and used that for the plot.  So basically it was about a red-headed girl who goes to live with her utterly charming godfather, who just so happens to be a sociopath who might have killed all of his ex-wives, all of whom had red hair, just like the girl in the story.  It was surprisingly good, especially considering the fact that I thought her earlier book fell a bit flat.  And to think, I'd had a brand-new copy of it on my bookshelf for over a year now, ever since I got it on a clearance sale for like, two dollars.  (Reading Level 5.8 / Upper Grades)

Tear You Apart, by Sarah Cross, is the companion novel to Kill Me Softly, the twisted tale I just mentioned.  Whereas I had a love-hate relationship with the first book, I absolutely LOVED this one.  It took the story of two of the side characters from the first book and ran with it, and it was so brilliantly done, it is now also one of my favorite books of all time.  (Yes, I've already purchased my own copy!)  It follows the character Viv, who has a Snow White curse, and Henley, her best friend/boyfriend who has been cursed to be her huntsman.  Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that, when it comes time to kill her and take her heart to the queen, he will actually spare her like in the Disney version of the story.  As you might imagine, this causes a lot or relationship angst for the two of them.  It is this dynamic between the two, and the achingly beautiful/sorrowful situation that makes the book so great.  There is only one problem:  there are quite a few references to characteristics of the "cursed," as well as cameos of the major characters from the first book, and none of it is going to make a whole lot of sense if you haven't read  . . . the first book.  Yes, the one that I was so conflicted about.  My suggestion?  Grab a copy of both, read the first one quickly, and then start the second one immediately, before you say, nah, it can't possibly be any better (I almost didn't check it out myself!!!), and then savor every wonderful minute of it.  (Reading Level 5.1 / Upper Grades)

House of Salt and Sorrows, wouldn't you know, was another Twelve Dancing Princesses story.  (I didn't mention it, but that fairy tale actually played a part in the book I just told you about!)  So, it was a fairy tale retold.  But Erin Craig couldn't just do a traditional retelling.  No, she had to tweak the status of the girls, who were the daughters of a Duke instead of princesses, and she had to make a thoroughly unique setting, which was an island dukedom full of seafaring people, and she had to make it a mix of traditional English customs and fantasy religious beliefs, and theeeeen she had to throw in this utterly bizarre horror story element.  It was crazy - but crazy good as well!  Once again, fans of historical fiction, historical fantasy, horror stories, and fairy tales as well should really enjoy this book.  (Reading Level 5.0 / Upper Grades)

The Bone Houses is the second book I've read by Emily Lloyd-Jones.  Her first book was a weird kind of supernatural fantasy/science fiction mix, with such a poignant reveal in the last chapter that I just had to buy my own copy.  This book was also an interesting mix: the reviews on the book jacket call it "a horror-drenched fairy tale" and say that it is "reminiscent of the Grimm Brothers, the Brontes, and Neil Gaiman," and the blurb inside the book jacket says it is "equal parts classic horror novel and original fairy tale."  All are absolutely true, because this book is a zombie apocalypse/fairy tale mashup.  But it doesn't feel like your average zombie story AT ALL.  There just so happens to be a bunch of risen dead, but they have risen because of magic.  And there is a grave-digging girl and a map-making boy, and they both have a secret from their past, and they set out together to stop the fantasy zombies, and then there is such a poignant twist at the end that you want to just run out and buy a copy for your home library because you know you will want to read it several more times in your life and once it is out of print you won't be able to find a copy again.  Guess what?  This is the third new addition to my all-time favorites list in the past month.  How does that even happen?!   (Reading Level ? / Middle Grade +)

So that's all I managed to read over the last seven weeks or so.  Hopefully I can find a way to pick up the pace a bit; otherwise I'll only have four books to share if I put up a new post in a month like I am supposed to!  

Yikes!

Wow.  I can't believe that it has been more than two months since I've put up a post.  Somehow, with the whole feeling of suspended animation cause by the Coronavirus lockdown, I seem to have lost all sense of time!  I checked out a small haul of books when the libraries first started closing, and I thought I'd run out and have to dig into the few books I own and haven't read yet that I've been saving for just such a scenario (not that I ever imagined the world would come to a standstill - just that I wouldn't be able to get to the library for some reason!), but I seem to have been much more busy than ever with everyone staying home!

So here is the rundown of what I've managed to get through:

The Rift, by Rachael Craw, was a weird science fiction/fantasy mix, based on the premise that there was an island with a protected herd of deer and inhabitants called Rangers who managed and protected the herd from hunters who would come and try to poach them because it had been discovered that their antlers held some magical healing properties that could cure cancer and all that.  Apparently, they had these properties because the deer were descended from some woman from Greek mythology who was turned into such a creature, and there was this rift in the space-time continuum that sometimes let in some kind of hell-hound or something that hunted the deer and killed people, but if they bit a person and they didn't die, they would get some kind of powers like special sight or something.  I pretty much hated the premise.  I also didn't like the female lead in the slightest.  The hero of the story, however, was everything you would want him to be, which was the only reason I kept on with the book past the third chapter.  Surprisingly, by the time I was about halfway through, I saw why the author chose the dumb backstory, and the interaction between the hero and his band of friends got pretty darn good, and even the female lead became sort of likeable.  So.  Maybe don't abandon the book right from he start like I almost did.  Who knows?  You might actually enjoy it.  (Reading Level ? / Middle Grade +)

Minor Prophets, by Jimmy Cajoleas, was okay.  There was nothing particularly great about it, but there was also nothing that particularly bothered me about it.  It was about a teenage boy who had seen visions for his entire life.  After his mother dies, he and his sister are convinced that their stepfather is trying to kill them, so they end up running off to their estranged grandmother's defunct commune.  Once they get there, though, things get weird, and it turns out that the commune housed a cult and the grandmother starts grooming the boy to be their new prophet.  The story has some suspense, and a bit of a mystery with an interesting twist at the end; overall it was a decent read.  Much better than any of the books I abandoned, so go ahead and give it a try.  (Reading Level ? / Middle Grade +)

Walk on Earth a Stranger, by Rae Carson, is the first book in a series.  I actually also read the second book, Like a River Glorious, but the library system in my city has lost the third one and I haven't managed to track down a copy yet.  So far, I have loved and hated this series.  Mostly I loved it.  It is set in Georgia at the end of the 1840's, and is all about a girl who can sense gold.  Now, this is very fortunate for her and her family, because it allowed them to hide away a nice little stash during the Georgia gold rush of the preceding ten years.  It was also fortunate, because the story takes place at the beginning of the California gold rush.  It was not so fortunate, however, because the girl's nefarious uncle somehow discovered her ability, thus murdering her parents, stealing their stash, and trying to take custody of our heroine.  This book and its sequel follow the girl as she runs away, meets up with her half-Cherokee best friend (who wants to be her boyfriend), and makes the journey across the country to California.  I love historical fiction, and this one is VERY well written, with perfect characters and dialogue and everything else that makes a good book.  So why did I hate it?  Well, a major premise of the series is that women back then were second-class citizens who had no rights, that they couldn't own land, and that they were at the complete mercy of the men in charge.  Stupid.  I don't know why we have all been sold this lie - I have been doing extensive research into 19th century Georgia for my other blog, and I have read through many deed books and court records, and you know what?  There were a LOT of women who owned land, both jointly with their husbands and in their own right.  So I say once again, if you are going to write historical fiction . . . Know. Your. History.  And that was my rant, but if you can ignore that problem and not let yourself get brainwashed by the propaganda, well, go ahead and read this series, because everything else about it was awesome.  (Reading Level 4.8 / Middle Grade +)

I waited a long, long time to check out Sally Green's The Smoke Thieves duology and when I finally got my hands on it, I was very disappointed!  It turns out that the books have plenty of action and intrigue, but are just as much a double love story.  One of the love stories is actually a love triangle between a princess, her bodyguard, and the prince she is betrothed to.   I didn't like the princess or her bodyguard, and the dialogue between them was so bad it was painful to read.  I liked the prince a whole lot more, but unfortunately, he was kind of a minor character.  The other love story was between two young men - the illegitimate son of a prince and the prince's servant.  I  liked the illegitimate son of a prince pretty well, but really, really, really didn't like the servant he was in love with.  My favorite characters of all were an unlikely pair of demon hunters, but one is killed off by end of first book (maybe he's not really dead - I mean, their part of the story was the best!)  Anyway, both books in the series were super thick, taking forever to read, and trying to get through them was sooooooo tedious that I decided to just quit 87 pages into the second one.  (Besides, I still had eight library books on my shelf more than a month after the libraries closed!)  This series was nowhere near as good as Green's Half Bad trilogy, so if you haven't read that yet, pick those books up instead.

Toward a Secret Sky by Heather Maclean was . . .  was . . . dumb, I guess?  It was one of those books where the girl falls for the hot angel guy, only this one was set in Scottland so the angel guy wore a kilt . . . Yeah.  It was pretty dumb.  I managed to get 130 pages into it before I needed to read something better, so I set it aside thinking I might go back to it - I didn't, and, looking back, I'm not sorry.

Okay.  I actually read Revenge & the Wild, by Michelle Modesto, way back in January.  Let me rephrase that.  I actually attempted to read it.  I made it all the way to page two, not enjoying a single minute of it, and then the story went like this: "Ahead of them on the right was the Tight Ship saloon, a squalid hole in the wall with piano music and cigar smoke rolling out of the open windows.  Westie's horse reared up as an elf and a young man crashed through the swinging doors into the street, a twisting ball of fists and foul language. . . an ogre and a dwarf (or what Westie thought was a dwarf; she was always getting them confused with the bakhtak - stocky little creatures blamed for causing nightmares) stepped out of the saloon behind them to watch the fisticuffs."  And I was like, um, no.  Fantasy and Wild West do not mix.  So, I quit reading.  Which was just as well, because as I went back just now to type that little bit up for you, I noticed that a couple of paragraphs later it continued with, "The ogre looked from the young man to Westie's mechanical arm, then dropped him to the ground.  On the opposite side of the road, at the blood brothel, a group of vampires cheered for the fight to continue . . . "  I think I've given you enough to decide whether or not to give this one a go.  For me it was a definite NO.

Cursed, by Thomas Wheeler, was another book that just was not for me.  It was supposed to be a remake of the Arthurian legend, but with a girl as the main character instead.  I was worried that I wasn't going to like it because it was based on a screenplay for a tv show (or something like that).  It turns out my fears were well-founded, because I didn't like it.  I tried so hard to like it.  I made it through something like a hundred pages before I finally gave up on it.  Uuuuggghh.  I don't have anything else to say about it.

I feel pretty conflicted about Sarah Cross's Kill Me Softly.  It was a fairytale retold kind of book, set in modern times but in an imaginary place, and the concept was quite interesting - there are people who are cursed and are fated to live the fate of a fairytale character, but everything happens through a modern lens - like the girl fated to be like Snow White has a stepmom with big fake boobs and the huntsman is their gardener (ha ha!).  I actually loved the concept.  What I hated was the way the author carried it out at times.  The main character?  Hated her (most of the time anyway).  She was not likeable at all.  However, I loved the brother of her 'boyfriend' who had a love-hate relationship with her.  I loooved the dialogue between those two.  I hated, hated, hated the fact that the main character was only 15 years old and was hooking up with a guy who was 21 (um, hello?)  I hated the fact that neither the author, nor her editor, nor any single character in the book seemed to have a problem with the idea of a grown man having a relationship with a young teen.  I get why she set it up that way, but I think she could have put a little more thought into how to get the same dynamics without presenting something as being acceptable that our society does not accept.  (I could stand on my soapbox for an hour on the hypocrisy in tv shows and books when it comes to real life vs what is accepted in fiction.)   Anyway, I loved the way the book focused on the dark nature of the original fairytale stories, and I loved the way it all turned out in the end, so I guess if you balance the parts I enjoyed with the parts that made me absolutely cringe, I'd say this is a three-star book.  If only the book was as good as its cover. . . .   (Reading Level 5.0 / Upper Grades)


Yeah, so, my whole lockdown reading experience was far from great.  Maybe that's why I didn't make better progress (I still have three of those books I checked out in March that I haven't even started!!)  I'll try to read more often during the next month, and hopefully I'll have some good books to share with you afterward.

Things Are Good!

The past two months have been good.  Really good.  Not only did I finally get caught up with updating all of the book lists and links on this blog, but I got four new books, and a new bookcase to put them on!  On top of that, I somehow managed to read one great book after another.  See?

Okay, so I actually read Enchanted by Alethea Kontis way back in November, but it just didn't seem to fit with the whole vibe of  my last post, so I decided to save it.  Now, you can pretty much ignore the cover of this one, because it was obviously chosen during that period of time when every single book had a picture of a girl in a prom dress/evening gown on the cover, regardless of the time period in which it was set and the fact that the heroine probably never even dressed up once in the story.  This book is actually an amalgamation of half the fairy tales out there.  I wasn't really feeling it at first, but the further I got into it, the more I liked it.  It wove aspects of the fairy tales together and hung the bits and pieces on an original plot, with enough other original stuff thrown in to make it seem, well, original, but familiar in a whimsical way.  I loved it.  Soooooooo much better than some of those other takes on fairy tales that I've read (see my review here).  It ends in a way that makes it just fine as a standalone, even though it is the first part in a trilogy.   I haven't had a chance to check out the other two books yet, but in the meantime I am planning to buy a copy of this one for sure.  (Reading Level: 5.6 / Middle Grade +)

I grabbed Dangerous Alliance: An Austentacious Romance by Jennieke Cohen off the new releases shelf on a whim, because I didn't have a historical fiction book in my haul and thought I might be in the  mood for one.  I was a bit skeptical, since the title implied it had something to do with the novels of Jane Austen, and I am really, really NOT into 19th Century (or in this case, even older) literature.  Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised.  The story follows the independent-minded daughter of an earl who, due to unfortunate circumstances involving her sister, is forced to find a husband ASAP.  It has wit, and humor, and romance, and action, and intrigue, and is really a highly entertaining read.  Great for fans of historical fiction or romance novels!  (Reading Level: ? / Middle Grade +)

Let's Call It a Doomsday, by Katie Henry, is another book that I just grabbed off the shelf at the library without really knowing what it was supposed to be about.  It turned out to be the story of a Mormon girl from Berkeley, whose anxiety disorder has turned her into a doomsday prepper.  She meets a girl who believes she has seen the end of the world, and together they set out to find a 'prophet' who can help interpret her dreams.  The book tackles the sensitive topics of mental illness, homelessness, bisexuality, and the questioning of one's faith.  You would think it would be emotional, and it is, but it is also surprising and fun, with interesting characters, witty dialogue, and a twist at the end that left me absolutely dumbfounded.  I'm actually going to put up a longer post about this book soon, because I have some very specific things I'd like to say about what I did and didn't like in it, but overall, it was another great read.  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

I had been waiting to check out Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson ever since it was published back in 2018!  It is the first part in a new duology that is a companion series to the The Remnant Chronicles trilogy (see my review of the third book here).  The original books were so popular, that I guess everybody wanted to read the new ones, too, and it took a year and a half for people to stop putting holds on it!  Anyway, this book is Mary Pearson at her finest.  It has everything that made the original trilogy great (you know, action and intrigue and romance done perfectly), only I think this one might actually be better.  I read through the entire 505 page book in like, four days.  Yes, it was that good.  (Reading Level: 5.3 / Upper Grades)

After finishing Dance of Thieves, I made a special trip to the library the very next morning to check out the sequel, Vow of Thieves.  Then, I read all 480 pages in like, three days.  Then, I sat down at my computer and went to the Book Outlet website to see if they had any copies for sale, and yay! they have both books in the duology in stock!  I am so going to buy them as soon as I decide which other books to purchase in order to get free shipping!  If for some strange reason you haven't read this series yet, you need to do so at your first opportunity.  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

While I was at the library getting a copy of Vow of Thieves, I picked up a newly published book that I wanted to read: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett.  Now, I was so unimpressed with Liggett's first book, Blood & Salt, that I didn't even finish the trilogy, but this one . . . this one was AMAZING.  Now, I know it was intended to be and has been interpreted by those who have read it as some kind of  feminist manifesto against the 'patriarchy,' since it unapologetically portrays an almost cult-like society in which the men oppress the women in dramatic ways.  So, if you are the kind of person who wants to cheer when you hear "down with the patriarchy," this book is for you.  If, however, hearing that sentiment makes you want to give an eye roll to end all eye rolls, well, curiously enough, this book is also for you, because it manages to call out the ideology of male-dominated cultures without screaming about the evils of the 'patriarchy.'  In fact, the word patriarchy doesn't appear in the book even once.  And although near the end of the story she uses the phrase "speak my truth" instead of just saying "speak the truth," it feels more like Liggett is a product of progressive indoctrination than like she is trying to indoctrinate others.  The Grace Year is quite possibly the best book I've read in a long while.  It is an unbelievably breathtaking and compelling story that teaches a profound lesson about men and women.  Loved it, loved it, loved it.  (And I'm pretty sure you will, too.)  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

When my two year old nephew saw the cover of Wilder Girls, by Rory Power, he said "That book scary!"  I didn't think it was supposed to be a scary story, but it turns out that it was, kind of.  It was all about girls who live at a boarding school on an isolated island.  The girls, and the island, and all of the animals on the island get infected with some kind of something, and it makes all kinds of weird things happen to them, like one girl gets glowing hair, and one gets two heartbeats, and one grows a second spine outside her skin.  Stuff like that.  So of course they get quarantined and so on and so forth.  It is mostly science fiction, but it actually does have some pretty good horror elements here and there, along with plenty of suspense.  I didn't care for it so much at first, but then I started to enjoy the writing more and after awhile I just couldn't put it down.  The ending was a little bit disappointing, but not bad, so I would definitely encourage you to read it.  (Just a heads-up:  the book focuses a lot on the different kinds of relationships between the girls, some of which are non-traditional in nature.)  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)


So I didn't read a whole lot of books in the past two months, but I was lucky enough to only read good ones.  Hopefully I fare as well next month!

My new bookcase with the overflow from my other bookcase plus my new books.