Lau
Challenge: Read a mystery or thriller
I tried to read this a few months ago and could not get into it. I think it was partly because I couldn't stand reading from Libby's perspective and I also wasn't really in the mood. The characters are just not likeable at all and it wasn't as fast paced as Gone Girl was.
However, when the mystery aspect was introduced and the flashbacks started, the story started to pick up for me and I needed to know what happened next. I think that's what Gillian Flynn does best. She's able to hook the reader and make them want to read on to see what is in store for the characters.
As I said, the characters are not likeable at all and sometimes it was almost annoying to some extent. No one in this story seemed to have any good qualities, which felt a bit unrealistic and made it hard for me to concentrate in the story completely. I did like Libby's development throughout the story and I was glad the hints of romance were not actually addressed.
All in all, it was a very good mystery/thriller book. I will definitely continue reading Gillian Flynn since I love the way she always accomplished to keep you on your toes.
Challenge: Read a graphic novel
I decided to start reading more about Daredevil after finishing the Netflix series.
This is not an origin story but I quite enjoyed this volume. There were a few references to other stories that made me curious to read more but did not make me feel lost.
I liked the artwork quite a lot, especially when we get to see from Matt's perspective. I thought that the use of onomatopoeia, heart-rates, sounds and smells were really interesting.
As regards characters, I really Matt and Foggy. Their relationship continues to make me smile. This could be because of the show but I really liked them together.
Matt's quite cheeky and his lines were quite fun to read. There were some silly moments but overall, I liked him as protagonist. When he said that he could sense snipers approaching but could not tell if the taxis were taken or not broke my heart.
I also enjoyed seeing Matt and the blind boy's interactions and I hope to see them together more in the future.
There's a hint of a love interest in this first volume which I could care less. Maybe in future issues, we'll see some development in the character but I'm not looking forward to the romance, to be honest.
Quite a nice introduction to the character but I think I'll read some origin stories before continuing with the next volume.
Challenge: Read a book written by someone under 30
4.5
Victoria Schwab is my second favourite author so I can't help being biased when it comes to her books.
I read the first pages last year and I fell in love completely with the world she created. I think Victoria's strongest point is her world building. Each of the different Londons was described in such a way that there was no fear of mistaken them.
This is a very much plot driven novel but I still felt her characters were well devoloped. Kell and Rhy were my favourites but I really loved how creepy the twins were, even though I was expecting more of the villains. Holland, on the other hand, was perfect: ruthless, cunning, evil. I loved hating him.
I have to say that I am a bit disappointed with Lila, specially towards the climax of the story. It might have been a bit unrealistic but I was hoping that she was the one to defeat Astrid. She had the advantage of being more magical than Lila but there could have been a weak spot and having Lila discover it and finally defeating Astrid would have been better in my opinion. I just think it would have been better if she took down one of the baddies herself.
But I'm hoping to see her being a badass more than people telling me she's a badass in the next novel.
Another thing I enjoyed a lot was the magic system. I found every aspect interesting to read, from the basic training to the Antari showdown.
Lastly, very much as it happened with the world building, I was blown away by all the descriptions in particular with the wardrobe descriptions. The different coats that were mentioned sounded absolutely marvelous. Kell's magic coat never ceased to impress me and Lila's final outfit was perfect head to toe.
I had to force myself to stop reading because I literally couldn't put it down I almost missed my bus stop twice. Very fast paced and entertaining. Thankfully with no horrible cliffhanger but I still cannot wait to read the next instalment in the series.
Challenge: Read a funny book Read a book by a female author
I always fall for cutesy romance if it is well done, as it was the case with I've got your number . There are A TON of clichés in this novel, the formula for it is basically the same of any other chick-lit book out there but I find that Kinsella has a great way to hook you in.
The characters are ridiculous and typical of a chick-lit book: the main girl is silly but has always good intentions (she did make me want to slap some sense into her in some parts) and the main guy has a heart of gold hidden underneath a mean personality. Still I still could not put the book down.
As with Twenties Girl, I was laughing out loud pretty early on but I felt that the situations our main character was thrown in were too cruel and, sometimes, quite stupid.
The plot was quite predictable and, for what I've seen, Kinsella tends to repeat the basic premise in all of her books. That being said, I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Yes, it's not perfect and has quite a few problems but I found myself totally immersed in it and had a lot of fun.
Challenge: Read a book with a one-word title
I wasn't blown away by Pearce's previous novel but I still enjoyed it. This one, on the other hand, was a major improvement, in my opinion, from Sweetly. The characters seemed very real, even if some of them were mystical creatures.
The three main characters had the same objective in life, to become their own self, but the three of them went about it in different ways and I really enjoyed reading about it. Although there were three different POVS in this book, telling characters apart was not issue.
Again I really appreciated the descriptions of the town and, especially, of the underwater world. But overall, I think the strongest point has to be the characters and their struggles. I'm glad that the romantic aspect wasn't an issue this time around and I actually liked a lot the romantic interest.
I really want to read the other books in the series because there are some references that I didn't fully understand and I think knowing everything might have made the reading experience better.
Challenge: Read a book that's more than 100 years old
I struggled a lot with this book. Even though the book is quite short, it seemed that the more I read the less progress I made.
I was expecting a lot from this anthology and, honestly, I was quite disappointed by the second or third story.
I'm glad I read the source material for so many well-known stories but I was left wanting more from it too.
Challenge: Read a book with a color in the title
I've become completly biased when it comes to Stephen King but I can say without a doubt that this is one of the best books I've ever read. King keeps surprising me with his ability to take on different topics and being able to write beautiful stories. I still can't believe that he's only known as a horror writer when he's able to produce much more than simple jump scares. I don't think I can say much about it other than it was beautiful and tragic.
I think this is one of the worst reviews I've written but I simply have no words to describe this book. Just read it.
Challenge: Read a book based on or turned into a TV show
I was looking forward to reading this since it was the very first Sherlock Holmes story. I'm thinking of re-reading The Hound..., which I didn't like much, because I enjoyed quite a lot both The Adventures... and this book.
Moffat ends his introduction with “We love sweet reason and good friendships” and I have to say it's a great way to summarize how I feel about Sherlock Holmes stories. I'm drawn to Sherlock/Watson dynamics and loved to see how they were so different but worked so well together.
Even though I've read (and also saw it in the different adaptations) that Sherlock is so cruel and rude, he didn't come across like that IN THIS NOVEL to me at all. He was very sarcastic and full of himself but to me, he wasn't being a douche to anyone.
I have to say that I was very surprised by the second part of the novel. Although I was quite confused at first, I thought it was a completely new way to tell the culprit's story and I like it.
Challenge: Read a book you started but never finished Read a book that was originally written in a different language
This book is not for me, definitely. I tried several times to read it in the past and could not get into it so I would never finish it.
This time was no different. I forced myself to finish it because of the book challenge and I will NEVER do that again. I suffered every time I read some passages, I dreaded the moment I had to pick it up and I got frustrated that not finishing this was slowing my reading.
Challenge: Read a book from an author you love that you haven't read yet Read a book set in high school
I had really high hopes for this book and I'm happy they were met. Victoria Schwab is able to create interesting and believable characters. I quite enjoy seeing Mac and Wesley in a different environment and seeing how they both react to it.
I still have problems with love triangles. In this book I was especially annoyed with it because of the people involved in the triangle. I saw no point of having it and it made me dread the moment of the confrontation.
Also, I wasn't a big fan of the flashbacks this time around but I could see their purpose so I'm not going to hold it against the book.
All in all, The Unbound was a great sequel. To be honest, I'm dreading the release of the third book just because I can imagine what problems might arise with the characters and I just don't want them to stay like this FOREVERRRR.
Challenge: Read a book that came out the year you were born Read a graphic novel
I really liked how this comic explored The Joker's past. Using flashbacks of what happened to him before his accident, the author drew parallelism with both Batman's past and origins and Gordon's present nightmare. Also, I liked that idea that even The Joker himself isn't sure of what his origins were.
I loved the idea that tragedy can break even the most honest man and that everyone is capable of going as mad as the villains.
The other aspect I liked was that the ending didn't actually give the reader a certain answer as to what was the outcome of the encounter between Batman and The Joker. Knowing Batman, one can say that there's only one possibilty but the general tone of the comic, dark and twisted, can lead us to think otherwise.
I'm sad to read that the author himself doesn't find this to be an interesting read because I enjoyed it a lot.
Challenge: Read a book a friend recommended
This is my third García Marquez book and I still can get into his writing. In this particular book, there are no divisions other than the indentation of the paragraphs, which made me feel overwhelmed with the amount of information I was getting.
Everyone in town had something to say about the death and we get flashbacks here and there. It was way too much confusing for me. The more confused I got, the less interested in the book I was.
The idea and the plot were interesting but the way it was executed didn't go well with me.
The First Doctor is not my favourite at all (granted, I haven't watched all his episodes yet but still, I don't like him) and this story didn't change that.The plot was OK, I didn't care for the references to other doctors or the characters. Well, I did care for one, Aldridge. He seemed really interesting and I actually liked his interactions with the First Doctor.I thought the Epilogue was a nice touch, though.
This is the first book of the year reading challenge, which is a mix between Kat's TBR-Challenge and PopSugar's reading challenge.
(I didn't have a jar so I put it in an old little tin box)
For this month, I had to read a book I was supposed to read in school/uni but didn't. I generally read all the books that I'm assigned at uni (because we don't get a lot) so I went for one of the optional books.The premise of this book was interesting. Each chapter is a sort of short story following the painting Girl in Hyacinth Blue and how the different owners get it or lose it. The book starts at the “present” and with each chapter, it goes back until the moment Vermeer painted the picture.As it usually happens with short stories, not every owner's story was engaging. I could connect with some of the owners but with others, the story seemed to drag. The language was quite accessible and the narrative covers several time periods so I could see why a teacher would pick this particular novel to study in class.All in all, it was a good book with an interesting idea for a plot but it sometimes felt like a chore to read it.
COULD.NOT.STOP.READING.
This book was amazing! I've read everywhere that the story was really messed up, that the characters were messed up, that once you start you can't put it, blah-blah. There was so much hype around it that I just didn't think the book was going to be as good. I'm so glad I was wrong. I was hooked since the beginning. The shared POVs were handled incredibly well and there were always mini-cliffhangers that made me want to continue reading.
As for the characters, I can't say I liked any of them but, nevertheless, I still found their interactions and development in their stories really interesting to read.
I thought the idea of exploring a marriage from the inside (Nick and Amy's) and comparing it with others (Nick's parents' and Amy's parents') was very engaging. Even though Nick and Amy's situation were taken to an extreme, it's not rare to see the problems they face in everyday life.
And THAT ENDING!!! The ending was wonderful. It left the story open for the readers to come up with whatever resolution they like. I like open endings when they are done right and this one was done in a marvelous way.
I'm extremely happy with how much Gone Girl lived up to my expectations.
I really enjoyed this one. The first ten pages had me laughing really hard but I thought the problems the main character faced were too cruel on Kinsella's part. I know they were made to make the readers laugh but I felt really bad for Lara, instead of finding it funny.
Luckily, the book picked up in the second half. I really liked the characters that were introduced as well as the “mystery” aspect.
I found Kinsella's style of writing to be very natural and fresh and I simply couldn't put the book down.
Twenties Girl is a lovely romantic novel which does follow the typical romance formula but was written in such an intertaining way that one can help but read on. I ighly recommend it.
I was expecting so much of this book and, honestly, I was quite disappointed. I thought the stories were going to be filled with cuteness and romance but in my opinion, the stories are quite average and instead of cuteness, they were filled with drama. Not one of the main characters in any of the stories had a backstory without some sort of problematic circumstance (a dead parent, a mean step-parent, friends that don't understand them, etc).
Don't get me wrong, the stories were OK but after a few stories with the same melodramatic background, I got bored. Stephanie Perkins' story was perfect (there was a bit of drama but it wasn't addressed as much as in the other ones and, of course, there was TONS of cuteness and perfection) and that was what made this book a 3.5 one instead of 3.
Along with Perkins' story, I really enjoyed The Lady And The Fox by Kelly Link and Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han. Rainbow Rowell's story fell flat for me.
All in all, it was a good anthology but not as good as I was expecting.
