Sandy
A fun fast paced but too short adventure
This is my third book by Victoria Schwab. I've read her adult book Shades of Magic, her YA book The Savage Song and now her middle grade book City of Ghosts. This book was a fun and fast paced read, I found the characters interesting and the setting Edinburgh, Scotland delightful (I want to see it now minus the ghosts). I wish th book was longer though, it felt too short and I thought we could have seen more of Lara and the city. I will check out the next book in the series
More like 4.5. it took a bit to get into it partly because it was my first audio book and secondly it was a different kind of writing style then what I normally read, but once I was in I was invested. Not sure how I would describe this one, its multiple points of view, about a family of Saints and the Pilgrims who seek them out and its also about love and different ways you show it and about fears and hopes. If you give it a try I recommend the audiobook I thought the narrator fit perfectly.
I love Sophie Kinsella's writing because she always makes me smile. She is my go to when I am looking for a light and fun read and there were many parts of this book that had me laughing. However, this wasn't one of my favourites of her books, I would definitely recommend Can You Keep A Secret, Finding Audrey, My Not So Perfect Life, and many of her other books before handing this book over to someone because if this was your first Sophia Kinsella it might not encourage you to seek out her other books (but you should).
I think my main issue with this book is that the conflict could have been resolved if the characters had been honest with each other, and whenever that is the case it's just frustrating watching the characters struggle as I shout “ASK HIM!” “TELL HER” “BE HONEST”.
The twist was unexpectedly more serious than I expected it to be, but if it hadn't been that serious of a secret then I would have thought Sylvie's husband and mother were going over the top, granted I do agree they should have been honest with her from the beginning.
You always have to be careful with your expectations when starting a book because a book can either meet them, fall short of them, or exceed them, so it is best you go in with no expectations at all. I, of course, had expectations, I had heard reviews and seen the movie trailer. For the longest time, I had an urge to read this book because it sounded good, but I hadn't read this book because it sounded scary and I don't do scary. But well I saw the movie trailer (Sandra Bullock!), and then the Kindle edition went on sale for $2.99 US. So I told myself if you can get through the book then maybe you can watch the movie.
The premise of Bird Box is scary. A mother of two four-year-old children has to make it 20 miles down a river to a haven blindfolded because if she opens her eyes, she will see something that will make her kill those closest to her and then herself. We don't know what this thing is but its real and it's out there.
Luckily for me, this book wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be, but that was also the disappointing part. I could have read this book a long time ago. I never really cared all that much about the characters, we didn't learn much about them before the Problem starting. I didn't need to see their lives before the timeline in the book but other than Tom we never learned much about their back story including Malorie's and she's the main character. I mean I don't need to like a character, but I have to them interesting and to find them interesting I need to know about them. I would have loved to learn more about Cheryl and Felix and Jules, even Don. I wanted to understand more of why he was the way he was. In survivor horror, I liked learning what makes a character tick and seeing how people react to situations differently especially since the real danger isn't what you cannot see but how people act when they do see whatever is outside.
There were a few creepy moments in this book it did have me compelled to finish it because I needed to know what happened at the end, but it didn't get GOOD for me until the last twenty per cent.
This wasn't the book for me. I enjoyed reading about the heroine's job as a mayor's chief of staff and her arts rehabilitation program for teens. I also loved the side character's Maddie, Carlos, and Lauren but we only get to see Lauren in the beginning of the book and then never again. I did not like the hero Drew (I thought he was an ass most of the time) and yeah this one wasn't for me.
Once you change expectations it's ok
I judged this book by its title and summary and did not get the book I expected. I thought this was going to be a book about a person who decided to have a baby after years of going between having and not having, but this is a book about a person's 9-month pregnancy after years of wanting to have a baby and then going through the usual fears and doubts. So, not the book I expected, but once I accepted it for what it was, it was OK.
Baby Love was a journal turned into a memoir, and there were a lot of opinions that I thought the author was better off keeping to herself. I did not agree with her view that every woman should be a mother or that she told a stranger who said she does not want to have children that she still had time to change her mind. Sure the stranger does, but no one wants to hear that they will change their mind about not having kids, it's obnoxious. The author's attitude towards motherhood and pregnancy felt idyllic at times. I understand she was happy and excited to be a mother, and she did have the fears about not being a good mom and not being able to provide for her child, but she kept elevating motherhood to be this holier than thou role which just had me internally rolling my eyes.
On the plus side, this was a short book, and the writing is broken up into days, so the pace was quick. My favourite parts were in the beginning when the author was talking about going through depression and having to take medication while pregnant and agonising over the decision to stop or stay on her medication. As someone who does get depressed, it was interesting to read about a pregnant mother's experience.
This was a quick and straight forward read about a woman who decides to quit her job and run away to Puerto Rico after she finds out she has a rare type cancer and her husband is gay all on the same day. There is more to the story than that, but I don't want to give away too many details. My main criticism for this book is that it didn't really have me feeling anything for the characters as I thought they lacked complexity and depth and did not feel like real people.
I loved Rolling in the Deep; it was just the right amount of horror for me. It is gruesome and bloody and had me thinking about it long after, but it did not give me nightmares. I enjoyed Mira Grant's writing style, there was humor, and there was tension. I appreciated the research she put into the book that made finding mermaids plausible and terrifying. These are the kind of mermaids you neither want to find or want to be found by. I loved the ensemble cast of characters from the Imagine filmmakers, to the scientist, to the performers, and the Captain and her first mate. A few reviews were saying that the story wasn't long enough to properly flesh out the ensemble cast to get you to care about them and what happened to them, but I had no problem being scared and sorry for them. I was glued to the pages, I felt the tension, and I hoped that someone might survive (even though I knew from the beginning no one would). And I will be reading Into the Drowning Deep.
This book left me with feelings, feelings I did not want. I generally read fiction to escape, to take a break from deep thoughts and ideas, but The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo had me thinking deep. It had me thinking about my life choices; my relationships (familial, platonic, romantic) ; how I feel about my job, and how would I feel about what I've done with my life if I looked back on it. I mean, I think about these things often and randomly, and they usually leave me depressed. This book, which I thought was going to be just a light fun read, unexpectedly had me evaluating myself, my life and how I've gotten to where I am.
I would never have picked up this book if it had not 1 been recommended to me and 2 caught my eye with its vibrant green cover from the shelf of my work's little free library. It's not my usual kind of read; I lean towards fantasy, YA, and when I do read an adult contemporary its usually a romance and a light, funny book and this was not either of those. Yes, there is romance in this book, but it is not a romance. It is about the life of Evelyn Hugo and the decisions she made to achieve the life she thought she wanted.
I recommend it if you like complex characters, being forced to reflect on your own life story, drama, and great writing.
A Cute and very quick read.
I love Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate and Finishing school series. They are always full and manners, whit, and magic. This short story was quite different from those two other series. Its a cute and light stoey that I think it could be read and enjoyed by middle graders.
Scifi, action, and conspiracies all set in a near-future Taipei. If you love protagonists who break the law to bring down evil corporations then pick up this book. It's a quick and entertaining read and the only thing I wish it had were perspectives from Zhou's friends. I would happily read a sequel or companion book about hacker Lingyi and ninja Iris.