Karissa

In a Utopian world where nearly all of humanity's ailments have been cured, death is the only thing that remains. To be a scythe is to play judge, jury, and executioner. To be a scythe is to be honored, respected, obeyed. But lest anyone forget, to be a scythe is to kill. Citra and Rowan are two teens, brought into scythehood by H.S. Faraday, tasked with being his apprentices for a year. When their apprenticeships have ended, they will either be welcomed into the foray of scythedom or they will return to their previous lives. Scythe by Neal Shusterman will make you question what it is to be moral, to be human, and it will leave you guessing until the very last page.

Honestly, I wasn't sure if I'd like this book once I started reading it. It was kind of slow in the beginning; this isn't a bad thing and it felt very casual, but it was definitely a book that took its time until it didn't. That being said, I wasn't hating reading it. I was actually enjoying myself. Since I was reading this as a buddy read and doing 50 pages a day, it seemed like I was getting through it pretty quickly. It was just the plot was slow to unfold and then holy cow it was like an avalanche. I honestly really liked this book. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that for the first.. 60% ish of the book, I didn't really care for the characters. I didn't hate them by any means, I just didn't have any attachment to them really.

I also didn't think that [spoiler] romance was really necessary between Citra and Rowan, but perhaps I'm no spoiled because of This Savage Song and Our Dark Duet where the leads were unwilling partners as opposed to potential lovers.

I really liked the art work. This issue was really just a starting place for Shuri's story and didn't get deep into the meat of anything. But I'm looking forward to reading Shuri as the Black Panther and seeing where this series goes.

There is nothing more dangerous seventh grader June Harper's life than.... books. At least, that's what her parents and really almost every adult in Dogwood would have you believe. When her uber strict parents get the librarian suspended and the school makes sure all of the good– I mean “terrible,” books are removed from the library (e.g. The Lightning Thief, Goosebumps, Holes, The Crossover, etc.), June finds herself at a crossroads. Will she sit down and accept the restricted, vanilla life her parents and the school have forced upon her and her peers or will she be the hero that Dogwood Middle does not deserve, but desperately needs?

I describe this book as “Fahrenheit 451.. but for children.” I loved this book– not only do we see growth in June as a character in her relationships with her peers, but we also see her grow stronger in her convictions to stand up for what she believes in and stand up for herself, especially when the adults in her life, namely her parents, were being so absurd she might as well have called them Camus and Kierkegaard instead of Mom and Dad.

(..... get it? because... they were absurdists.)

There were parts of this book where my mouth literally fell open at how crazy her mom and dad were being (like when they were bad mouthing the teaching profession– ohhhhhhh not a thing someone with a BS in education wants to hear; I was shooting daggers at my car radio). But that's alright because the last conversation June has with her dad at the end of the book– that last line from her– tooootally made up for having to listen to her mom say that becoming a teacher was throwing your life away.

Kate escaped and August stayed. Each are fighting monsters both within and without. The war between the humans and the monsters has come to a head now that Callum Harker has died and becoming increasingly more dangerous with each passing day with Sloane at the helm. With a new, more dangerous and destructive monster on the rise, Kate returns to Verity, but will she, August, and the FTF be able to defeat it or will this new monster spell the end for Humanity.

I wondered if I would like this book as much as I liked the first one and I loved it. I loved August's character arc and the growth he made from the beginning to the end. The first book I felt was really Kate focused whereas this one was definitely more focused on August. I was not prepared for the ending though. 💔

The Illuminae series has come to an end. Everything that Kady, Ezra, Hanna, Nik, Ella, Adian, and countless others have fought for is finally coming to close as they enter their final battle in the war with BeitTech. Will they survive? Will BeiTech pay for the crimes they have committed? Or will it have all been for nothing. In the words of Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?”

This installment had considerably less... “action” than Illuminae and Gemina but it still seemed to move quickly, just not quite as fast as the other two. However, I still found myself enjoying it quite a bit. The history between Rhys and Asha and how it affected their interactions with each other was nice. It reminded me a hit of how Kady and Ezra were originally at the beginning of Illuminae in a sense. I also liked that not everything was wholly black and white in this book; in the other two, it kind of was– BeiTech bad, everyone else good. Anyone associated with BeiTech = Satan reincarnate, everyone else...decent at the very least. However in this book you can see that there are shades of humanity still within BeiTech troops even when they are following orders. You can also see how good people, or those deemed as such, can do bad things thinking that they are doing what is right, what is best. I wholeheartedly enjoyed this series and maybe, if my heart can take it, I will reread it.

Edie Kits is an early 20-something college student just trying to pass French so she can go to Paris in the summer and study abroad in the Fall. That is her goal: Paris, Paris, Paris. Her French professor, Mr. Clément, and the cute TA, Wes Hudson, make it achieving this goal hard enough without the added complication of her disability. Edie Kits has central auditory processing disorder (CAPD); messages get jumbled up or completely distorted, especially in noisy environments where she can't focus. You know what also makes it hard for her to focus? Wes Hudson. Between her growing infatuation for him and struggling to pass French 102, will she ever make it to Paris?

I wanted to like this book. I really did. It is a #OwnVoices novel for a disability that 1. doesn't have a lot of visibility in fiction and 2. doesn't have a lot of visibility in the real world either. I was also looking forward to a cute, fluffy romance, especially considering my past few reads this month. Unfortunately, by 30 pages in, I wasn't feeling it and by 60, I was ready to DNF this book. However, since the ebook was only 160 pages, I figured I might as well finish it. By 111, I just started skimming the pages to get the gist of what was going on and to find out how it ended.

I thought the concept was cute and like I said, I was excited to read it. It wasn't a /bad/ book, in my opinion, but it was not the book for me. However... it just....... annoyed me more than anything and that is incredibly disappointing. Edie was whiny and the hot, then cold, then lukewarm, then tundra aspect of her relationship with Hudson was just ridiculous. At many points in the book it felt like she was overreacting and because she wanted to be upset, or wanted to find some... flaw in Hudson to be like “See! Paris,” she would twist things to be offended. All of the characters, even Edie, were quite flat and one dimensional and I really just didn't understand Hudson. One moment he was all “I can't do this; you can't have it both ways,” and then quite literally in the same breath said, “Let's overanalyze this later and kiss for now.” It made no sense. His reactions– their entire relationship– did not make sense to me, at all. And part of me thought that maybe things that he was doing– the constant apologizing, the biting at his nail beds, the bouncing knees– were pointing to an anxiety disorder and that would maybe explain things, but.... no, that was never even suggested. Edie was just as bad; she wanted to say she wasn't leading the boy on, that he knew what he was getting into, but just as often as she was like, “Nooooo, Paris. None of this,” her actions contradicted her words and she continued to pursue a relationship with him– even if she didn't want to admit to herself that it was a relationship (if you're not in a relationship with someone and you're sure that they know that they're “just your tutor,” then why do you feel the need to preemptively break up with them, hm?)

I am very proud of the author for writing a book that sheds light on her own disability, one that we don't hear or see in the real world or fiction that often. And like I said, it's not a -bad- book and I'm sure that there are many with tastes different than mine that might love this book. However, I just... really did not like it.

They were not lying when they described this book as Guardians of the Galaxy meets the Breakfast Club. I /loved/ this book. I think I was 50 pages in or so when I decided right then and there that I needed a Kal standalone. I think he's my favorite of the bunch, simply because, if we're comparing the crew to the Guardians, he's the Drax 100% and he's just perfect. I'm really looking forward to rereading this book once it is released and having the final copy in my hands. I'm also really looking forward to seeing where the series goes from here and what kind of shenanigans the group with get into.

The review below contains spoilers referring to the ending of Illuminae.



BeiTech is at it again. The Lincoln failed. Hypatia is survived and are en route to Heimdall. BeiTech will not fail again. Enter Hannah Donnelly and Nik Malikov, the commander's daughter and a drug dealing mafia member. Two unlikely bedfellows forced to work together to stop BeiTech's audit team (read: Murder Force), to save themselves, Heimdall, and Hypatia. The fate of the universe is literally in their hands.... No pressure.

This book was a rollercoaster of emotions that I did not need. I laughed, I cried... I cried a lot, I had reprieve.... and then I cried some more. Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff are very good at what they do. They know exactly how to eviscerate your heart, stitch it back together, and then tear it apart some more. This book is so.... so... so good. Just as good as the first. But I think I'm gonna need to take a break before reading book three. I'm not sure my heart can handle it at the moment.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are on opposite sides. They're on opposite sides of the city (North vs. South), opposite sides of a war (Harker vs. Flynn), and even opposite sides of humanity (Human vs. Monster). Kate wants her father's love– I mean his respect (side eyes); August wants it to be human. Somehow the two, as different as they could be are forced to work together and fight against the monsters, both real and human, for their survival.

This book was so... so... so good. I cannot say that enough. At first, I wasn't sure if I'd like it, thinking that it'd just be your typical hate to love, forbidden relationship type of YA book. BOY WAS I WRONG. It was so refreshing to read a YA novel that romance between the leads wasn't a thing at all. August and Kate hate each other– well... Kate hates August– and by the end of it, they are able to form a friendship. Take note other YA authors: boys and girls can be friends without romantic feelings being involved. AND THAT ENDING THOUGH. I can't wait to read the sequel and see how this series concludes.

Review To Come

You know those books you pick up in between your serious reads? The lighthearted palette cleansers you indulge in before jumping back into the main course? That is what Crazy Rich Asians was for me. When selling it to people, I often describe it as “Singaporean Sex in the City.” It's a humorous read that explores the lives of several fictitious million and billionaire families and it's not meant to be taken seriously. Nick and Rachel, two of the main characters, are likable enough and even if you detest Eleanor Young, you still look forward to reading what outrageous thing she's going to do next.

If you've seen the movie and think you know the gist of how the novel goes, you're both right and wrong. There's quite a bit that the movie left out that allows for the novel to still be interesting and readable for those of us that watched the movie without finishing the book first. Shakespeare it is not, but if you want a light, funny read, I definitely suggest picking Crazy Rich Asians up. The only reason I give it a 4-star rating instead of 5 is because at times it felt like there were almost too many family members/characters mentioned that I found myself getting a little confused as to who was related to who and what their purpose for being mentioned was.

If you choose to read only one historical fiction work this year, choose The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict. Prior to reading this book, I had no idea who Hedy Lamarr was and I'm ashamed of that fact after having finished it. She was a strong, powerful woman that does not nearly get the credit that she deserves. We hear of Marie Curie, Margaret Sanger, Susan B. Anthony, but quite rarely, if ever, do we hear of Hedy Lamarr and the amazing contribution she made that has led us to such luxuries as Bluetooth, GPS, and of course, Wi-Fi.

Edited 2/6/19 after revisiting the book: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I liked The Only Woman in the Room at first but the longer I sat with it... the more the ending bothered me. I really liked the beginning and thought that it was moving well and I was interested, but then... the latter half of the book seemed very rushed and Hedy's intelligence and her scientific knowledge seemed to come out of nowhere. She went from being a token in the room to suddenly knowing how to create a frequency jumping device for missiles. Honestly I would rather have had 50, even 75 more pages added to the book so that way more of that could be fleshed out. I also didn't like how Hedy seemed to just... give up at the end. She was such a spitfire woman with such fortitude and moxy and then the ending just seemed so.. uncharacteristic for her. To quote one of the ladies I discussed this book with, it seemed as if “the author did just what everyone else did to Hedy throughout her life: she dismissed her.”

I was not sure how I felt about this book at the beginning. Fair warning there is A LOT of religion in this book. Religion plays a major role in the character development and the universe. Not a dealbreaker in a book for me, but it might be for some people. I wasn't sure for 80% where the book was going and just kind of wanted it to be over. There were elements of the writing that I liked, but overall I didn't feel like the book was going anywhere. It was very slice-of-life and I could kind of see that the author wanted to focus more on character development than actual plot but... boy howdy did I HATE Hannah by the end of this book. The first part of the book was good. The second and third bits were ... ehhh.... and the last part of the book was awful. Choices that were made in terms of Hannah's character were infuriating and made absolutely no sense and I felt at times that diversity was thrown in simply just to have diversity.

This book ripped my heart out on more than one occasion and then put it back together. It was one of the few books I read in 2018 that actually had me excited for reading, as I had previously been in a pretty long book drought. You have to read this book. The only other thing I will say is that I would like to name a future pet Jimette.

I was sent this book in e-book format by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book is so real and powerful and important. Having known of Brittani since I was in middle school and following her channel off and on over that time, I always had the impression that she was this bubbly person with the perfect life. This book just goes to further prove that the front people put on is not always the same as to what is going on behind the scenes. Reading this book... felt like I was sitting in my living room with a friend as she caught me up with her life. I could not put it down; I started the book on the 28th of November, and I think I finished it on the 1st of December. I felt so.. connected to Brittani, especially during the first few chapters. It was.... refreshing and reassuring that I had someone to relate to in the dating world: someone who didn't really date, who'd never had sex, etc. It made me feel like less of a loser to know that someone else was also in the same boat. But then you get deeper into the book, deeper into her story, about what really happened with Milos and it's just awful the things that happened and I think that the narrative is so raw and honest and really.. I feel like everyone should read it.

I loved this book. I felt like it was well researched and impeccably written. I had very little knowledge of Circe outside of the Odyssey (which portrays her as this horrid monster) and reading this book really rounded her out and made me look at her in a completely different view. This is definitely one that I would reread in the future and have been recommending to all of my friends.

Laia and Elias live in a Rome-esque kingdom under the control of an emperor. Laia is a Scholar, the lowest rank in the class system. Elias is a Mask, a martial soldier tasked with carrying out the will of the empire. Their worlds cross when Laia disguises herself as a slave to infiltrate the walls of Blackcliff Academy in order to uncover information that could save her brother's life. Elias, on the other hand, is forced to compete in the Trials, four difficult tasks that will try the very essence of his mind, his body, and his soul, to be the next emperor.

This was such an refreshing dystopian novel. The typical elements that readers often see in YA dystopian novels were there: a tyrannical government, a caste system, etcetera. However, Tahir takes these elements and she weaves them in such a way that An Ember in the Ashes doesn't feel like the typical dystopian novel. Skies! It is unique and quirky in its own right and it's near impossible to put down.

We get two character perspectives (Laia and Elias) that alternate throughout the novel (odd chapters are Laia, even chapters are Elias). We are able to fall in love with the two characters separately and then fall deeper once the storylines intersect and the two become greater forces in each others' lives. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book.

What I particularly enjoyed in this book, though it's just one of the many, many things I loved, was that the romance was on the side. It was there, of course, but it wasn't really an element that was in your face throughout the novel and it didn't really come into play until towards the end. I think this really allowed for the storyline and for the characters to fully develop (and let's be honest, with all that Laia and Elias were dealing with, they needed a romance like they needed a sword to the neck). It also sets up for a lot of drama and angst for the sequel (and there better be a sequel, because that ending...!)

I read this book back in 4th or 5th grade; I'll give it a proper rating once I've re-read.

The One and Only Ivan focuses in on a gorilla named Ivan who lives in a strip mall zoo. He doesn't think his life is so bad; he has his friends and he gets to create art for the people who visit the zoo. It is only when Ruby, a young elephant, joins him at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade that Ivan begins to question everything he once thought about his home. Told in short diary-like entries, The One and Only Ivan will pull at your heart strings and at times rip it completely out of your chest, but also fill you up with such happy, hopeful fluttering feelings. It is a fantastic, wonderful read. I cannot recommend it enough.

“Hunched over and silent is no way to face the world.”

Ally is a 6th grade student who cannot read. She has spent her entire school career thinking that she cannot read because she isn't smart enough, that she is just too stupid to learn how to read. So what does she do? She does what every great magician does: distract. She creates disruptions and acts up, does anything to be sent out of class to avoid having to read. Sure, her teachers and principal think that she's a problem child, but she doesn't have to read, so.. success, right? Sure, that is until she gets a new teacher, Mr. Daniels, refuses to play those reindeer games. He decides that any problem they have will be solved in the classroom and through him, and new friends, Ally's self-esteem and self-worth grows tremendously and she learns that being atypical is not synonymous with dumb.

This book is F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C. I cried reading this book at least three times. If you have ever felt alone, afraid, stupid, worthless– this book is for you. I can't sing enough praises about this book. Just do yourself a favor and read it.

I did not like this book. I did not like it at all. It was so difficult to actually get through the physical book for me that I had to get the audiobook and listen on 1.25 and 1.5x speed just to get through it. In my opinion, it was awful. It was dry, the plot didn't really seem to go anywhere, and there were more than a few times that I was actually angry at this book. It really felt like the author was pandering towards a certain kind of audience. I'm all for feminism– I would consider myself a feminist– but this book was just.... it was just too much. The only saving grace for this book, in my eyes, was Cory's storyline. Honestly, I would rather have read just a book focused on his storyline and his alone.

Not rating because I know I've read this but couldn't tell you really anything about it. Can't even remember if I finished the sequel or the final book in the series.

Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson: four generations later, but the same crazy shenanigans. The two teen aged descendants of Sherlock and James Watson may attend the same Northeastern prep school, but they are by no means as close as their great-great-great grandparents. If it wasn't for the mysterious death of one of their classmates, the two probably wouldn't have had anything to do with each other.

I really appreciated this re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes. The story is original and I love that Charlotte is a strong, independent lead female. I can also appreciate the fact that she is not perfect; yes, she is extremely smart, much like her great-great-great grandfather, Sherlock Holmes, but she is not infallible. She has her emotional moments, has her addictions. She's a fully realized character who isn't wholly good or wholly bad. I also love the fact that romance is a thing that exists in this book but it is not the focus at all.

April May is your typical 20-something just trying to get through life as painlessly as possible despite working a job that is about as exciting as Wonder Bread™. She lives with her girlfriend, Maya, in New York City and her life is pretty, well, average. That is, until Carl and his merry band of other-Carls appear in cities all over the world. April May being the millennial child of the internet does what any of us would more than likely do in this day in age: wake up her best friend, Andy, and film a YouTube video “interviewing” Carl. What starts out as a silly 15-minutes of fame moment spirals into something larger than April May could have ever imagined. When the Backstreet Boys spoke of being “Larger than Life,” they had nothing on New York Carl, and April May is suddenly thrown into the limelight, forced center-stage, into the world of secrecy, backstabbing, and horrid PR-agents. And to top it all off, she has to find out what the Carls want as the safety of the world might depend on it.

I will start off saying that I really enjoyed this book. I liked the voice of the characters and the writing style and found it really easy to get into and stay into it. The story is told in a retrospective way as if April May is telling you the story herself of what happened with the Carls and her life, like she was actually in the room talking with you. I think that's why I liked the book so much; she felt real. She made horrid decisions and there were parts of the book where I kind of hated her for the things that she did. However, that is also why I loved her as a character. In real life, we can love someone but hate what they do, or find someone irritating and hate them for one reason but love them for another. She wasn't wholeheartedly black nor white; she was... April May.

I'm looking forward to the second book and I recommend this one for anyone wanting a weird kinda alien sci-fi read. And maybe if I ever meet Hank Green I can ask him the question that has been plaguing me since finishing the book: Why Arby's???

In this second installment of the Charlotte Holmes series, Charlotte and Jamie are off in London and then traipse about Europe in order to find out what happened to Charlotte's uncle, Leander. Along the way, they discover secrets about their friends, their families, and even about themselves.

I did not like this one as much as I liked the first one. Don't get me wrong, this was an alright book. I enjoyed listening to it on my daily drives. As a young adult book, it was fine. As a mystery, it was confusing in parts, but overall it was alright. The thing that made me like this one less than its predecessor is the relationship between Jamie and Charlotte. As many have pointed out below, their relationship and the angsty romance between them was too much in this one. What I liked most about the first one is that yes, there was hints of romance between the two lead characters, but the main focus was on the plot and the mystery. It almost felt like, in parts, the romance and the relationship was the most important thing and the mystery and the story was second priority.