Lauren Henderson
This book honestly made me a little bit sad. Because I loved the story line and the set up of the characters, but it was missing the depth of character development that I crave. Don't get me wrong... I can compromise plot for character development some. But when it's completely lacking, there is just no emotion. This book could have had a lot of that if more emphasis had been placed on letting us inside the characters' heads.
The more I think about it, the more I think the reason is just there was too much story packed into this book. I think it could have been two books and had more balance between character and plot development. But I would definitely give this author another shot. I think there's definitely some promise, and this was not a terrible first start.
Bold Women in History is a beautiful and bright book for young readers. The author did a great job of highlighting interesting facts from these women's lives in short chapters. It is written in a very conversational and easy-to-follow tone.
I especially like how many of the women in this book were connected to each other, and that is mentioned where applicable but is never redundant. Some of these women all lived around the same time and even KNEW EACH OTHER. Showing how these stories are related really brings history alive to me.
I love the “Explore More” and “Did You Know?” excerpts at the end of each woman's story as well. I think these are great details for those who are interested in going deeper and a great way to incorporate some exciting/random facts. A lot of these grabbed my attention, and I learned a few things that I didn't know!
This would be a great book for teachers to use in their classroom one chapter at a time for a unit study and also a great book for young readers to read through at their own pace for an extra dose of history.
*Thank you to the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I love Sarah Jio! I can always trust her stories to pull me out of a reading slump. They are so easy to digest with just enough serendipity to create a magical atmosphere without being cheesy. This story was such a comfort read for me.. again. The characters are beautifully drawn. I'm always blown away by the amount of character development Sarah can get into such short novels.
The mood of her stories brings back so much nostalgia for me. So ethereal and romantical. I always feel the same way I did reading and re-reading The Secret Garden as a child.
I'm honestly just sad I'm reaching the end of her backlog. But there's always re-reading.
I will admit that I am generally skeptical of witchy books because I expect them to focus on magic too much and forget about the plot and character development.
But... I LOVED THIS BOOK.
The atmosphere Louisa Morgan creates in this book is so romantic. I absolutely loved the entire story as well. The characters are very well developed and connected. The interweaving of generational trauma and individual stories was so subtle and realistic. The magic was almost just a side plot, so it felt like a natural part of this story that instead focused on the lives of the women in this family.. who just happened to be witches.
Perfectly done.
This was actually a really cute book. I read it on the plane to and from vacation last week, and it was a perfect lighthearted read for such an occasion. Definitely helped my transition into and out of vacation mode. I didn't feel this story had nearly as much depth as The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, but the characters were all unique and relatable, which I always appreciate. Overall, a heartwarming story but didn't pull me in. If I hadn't been on vacation with extra time, I'm not sure that I would have finished it.
2020 Reread: oh so magical.. this was such an enlightening reread. I LOVED.. and I mean super loved this book as a little girl. Now, I can see how this overwhelmingly affected me and shaped me into the reader that I am. It is so full of magic and wonder, so atmospheric. Just takes you away. It's really not dark like my inner child remembered but does deal with some very real issues that have stood the test of time - children who are lonely, adults who have hidden themselves away, and self awakening. So so so good. Still the best book ever. Confirmed.
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I loved The Secret Garden when I was younger. In my child mind it seemed slightly scary though. In my mind I still hear all the squeaky floors and see all the cobwebs. I still feel her loneliness. I wonder if this is how it really is. I think it's time for a re-read to have a fresh view.
Read about 30% before I called it quits. The writing is an absurd amount of telling in too long sentences instead of showing.. and way too much passive tense... which are slowly becoming my super pet peeves. I think the story is good, so I was almost willing to forgive the weird passive writing, but it was too much to handle in the end. Sorry, beautiful cover.. but DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER.
So nerdy and quirky and whimsical. The characters in this book are all really well written with their own voices. Such a refreshing and different bookish chick lit. It was kind of like a bookish and cutesy Eleanor Oliphant, which I also loved. I guess I'm a sucker for the adult coming of age books. Because let's be real.. we're all always coming of age. This book has so much packed in here but it was so well executed. Nothing felt unfinished to me.
Abby Waxman is extremely quippy and even breaks the fourth wall (is that a thing in books?), but it never gets cheesy. I get cheesed out pretty easily, so I'm super impressed.
I remember how much I loved this book when I was about 10 years old. I would sit in my corner in my bean bag and read for hours. But now it seems like a distant memory that I can't quite reach. I don't really remember the story anymore... therefore I must re-read it soon. And possibly on to the entire series.
April 2020 reread: This was such a good reread to pull me put of the COVID blues. I couldn't handle anything heavy, so turned to this and it was perfect. It's so magical. And just made me remember a lot about how I felt as a child.. because I truly identified with Anne. I'm not that little girl anymore and not 100% like Anne, but I do remember that little girl who felt so understood by Anne. It was lovely to sit with her for a little while.
DNF. Quit around page 100.
I'm not thrilled. I think its probably just me - I was automatically turned off by the stereotypical Southern women's club drama and overly hick names. The dialogue is also extremely forced and strange (very clearly written by a man who doesn't understand women), and none of the characters actually have their own character - this is an automatic no-go for me. Plus, bring in the vampire and you all the sudden have a weird telenovella forced plot/dialogue vibe going on.
Just bad.
Terrible. Literally nothing has happened and every character is outrageously boring.. except Jessie. I actually quit this book after 275 pages because a thing actually finally happened and guess what.. then everyone reacted extremely stupidly. So I'm done done cause ain't nobody got time for finishing books that they don't like.
(I'm doing a terrible job picking books lately and that makes me very sad)
I recently read Sourdough, the latest book by this author, and loved it!! So I immediately started Mr. Penumbra. And then... This book completely lost me about half way through. I was digging the old quirky bookstore with the also quirky owner and strange visitors.. then the story started revealing what was actually going on with this bookstore and it's just way too outlandish for me. I found myself rolling my eyes several times and just had to put it down. I used to consider it a sin to not finish a book, but I figure you shouldn't waste your time on something you aren't actually enjoying. Life is too short.
I always love Joshilyn Jackson's books when I first start them. Her story ideas are always great, and this one is no exception. However, I always find myself getting bored and sometimes rolling my eyes about halfway through. And this time I figured out that it's because the morals that she chooses to convey are always forced. But I always keep on reading because I want to find out how it ends, so I can't say that I don't like them. Because the ending is usually very good.
This book is an average story that I can't decide if I'm glad I read or if I wasted my time on.
I absolutely love quick feel good stories with some quirkiness, so that's why I picked this book up. IT WAS SO GOOD!! I loved the entire thing. This was the perfect palate cleanser because I have been bogged down in a giant fantasy book. Sourdough is so lighthearted but encouraging with so much emotional depth. Robin Sloan has definitely become a new favorite.
This is a very poor account of the filming of the original Star Wars trilogy, as it was proclaimed to be. Instead it is a lot of whining about how Harrison Ford is hard to read.. so meh. Carrie Fisher is witty at times, and I was intrigued until it got to her diary entries. And then I just wanted to die rather than finish this little stomp down memory lane.
Unfortunately the ending is not nearly enticing as the journey to get there. I was hooked until the last 50 pages where you start figuring out the case. And while it was twisty, I feel like the way the case ended was the least exciting and believable out of the possibilities throughout the story. It was just so bland. This was a five star read for me until the end. I think Tana French is a talented writer so I'll give her another shot eventually.