Reviews Week 25

    Reviews Week 25

June 19th-June 25th

Book 93: Hansel & Gretel

By Neil Gaiman

Read June 19th

Pages Read: 56

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Hansel and Gretel is a standard telling of the original fairy tale with a couple of little additions made by Neil. If you have yet to read the story, I recommend this one because it is a good telling of it. I liked it, but it does not stand out like I have come to expect from Neil’s retellings of fairy tales. 

Also, the illustrations from Lorenzo Mattotti are too dark to see at times while you are reading the story. Sometimes, they don’t even fit with what is going on in the story. One of the most telling times for this is near the end. They should have ensured the illustrations went along with the plot. 

Overall, I’m disappointed with this retelling, and that might be because I have come to expect something different from a Neil Gaiman retelling. He has far better ones than this, but I can’t say that it is not a good story. If you know “Hansel and Gretel,” you will know this story. 

*Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*

Book 94: Wyrd Sisters

By Terry Pratchett 

Read June 20th-21st

Pages Read: 297

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Reread from June 20th-21st, 2023:

It was an absolute delight rereading this wonderful novel with the new Penguin audiobook. I love the Shakespeare references throughout like the theatre being named The Disc (based on The Globe), along with his plays King Lear, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Terry did such an incredible job incorporating all of this and so much more into his story. 

This was a great introduction to Gytha “Nanny” Ogg, Magrat Garlick, and Verence. It’s been so long since I read this book and I had forgotten some of the plot points so it was a fun experience this time around. I loved reading this after reading the entire series and knowing where each of these characters is going to end up. 

One of my favorites scenes from all of the Discworld is still in this book, with Death at the end. It is just a brilliant scene that I cannot help but crack up with. I highly recommend this book! 

Review from October 30th-November 2nd, 2017:

The sixth book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and the second in the Witches subseries. This book is part of the overall series but can be read on its own. If you are new to the Discworld series or would like to know more about it you can use this link to see my other posts on them: Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

This book reintroduces Granny Weatherwax. It also introduces two other witches Nanny Ogg, the matriarch of a large tribe of Oggs and the owner of the "most evil" cat ever, and also Magrat Garlick, a junior witch, who firmly believes in all things of the occult. This annoys the other two older witches greatly. The three witches/ wyrd sisters are the main characters in this book.

A Short Synopsis

    "As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: 'When shall we three meet again?' 

     There was a pause.

     Finally, another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: 'Well, I can do next Tuesday.'"

This book parodies many of Shakespeare's plays: Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear. It borrows themes from each of these plays to help form this story. The book starts with the witches deciding on a time to meet. Magrat wants to start a witch coven with the other witches because she believes that this is what is meant to be done. "Granny" Esmerelda Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, who are much older witches do not really care for this sort of way of using magic. Throughout the whole book, we see them try to teach her the ways of magic and also learning from her. 

We then find out that the king of the land, King Verence has been killed by his cousin who wanted to take the kingdom for himself. Instead of being left to die peacefully, King Verence becomes a ghost and will remain a ghost until he fulfills his destiny. His cousin, Felmet was guided by his wicked wife to murder Verence for the throne (Terry really has fun with making the duke's wife).  Over the course of the novel, we see him trying to keep hold of the kingdom, while he slips into insanity. A major hindrance for him, at least as he believes, is the witches. He does not realize though that the witches really do not like getting into politics. Also, that witches are not actually what he believes.

After the witches are given the son of King Verence with a crown by mistake, they know that they have to find him a home. This is until he can take his rightful place on the throne. They know that it will eventually be his destiny to take over the throne. He is given to a troupe of theatre performers and the witches hide his crown in prop boxes. The story continues on from there to hilarious and strange places.

Overall Thoughts  

    "'Ah,' said Nanny. She took the girl's (Magrat) arm. 'The thing is,' she explained, 'as you progress in the Craft, you'll learn there is another rule. Esme's obeyed it all her life.' 

'And what's that?'

      'When you break rules, break 'em good and hard,' said Nanny, and grinned a set of gums that were more menacing than teeth." 

First of all, I have always thought Lady Macbeth was bad, well the duchess could give her a run for her money. She's just as manipulative, but more in a humorous way.  I don't find her to be as mad as Lady Macbeth though. Her husband, on the other hand, has completely lost any touch with his sanity. This is where the King Lear elements fall into play. The duke is followed along by his loyal Fool, who is probably the most sensible person on the duke's side. 

I love when an author uses themes from other stories and makes them their own. I have always been a fan of Shakespeare's plays, especially Macbeth and Hamlet. It was great being able to recognize the references to his plays throughout the book and made the scenes even funnier. Where it diverges from the original source material is what makes this book for me. I enjoyed getting to know each of the witches and seeing their relationship with each other and others. Granny Weatherwax became one of my favorite characters ever in Equal Rites and this book has just solidified that for me. All of the witches are so complex and intriguing. I cannot wait to read the other books with them. 

Also, the scene with Death near the end of this book is my favorite. I will never get enough of Death as a character. He's the best. I would write out the whole scene here, but it would spoil the book. I will put one quick quote though. 

"This worried Death. He was used to people claiming that they were not dead, because death always came as a shock, and a lot of people have some trouble getting over it. But people claiming that they were dead with every breath in their body was a new and unsettling experience."

By all means, you don't have to have read any of the plays I mentioned to read this book. I believe that you would still enjoy it. But I do feel that many of the jokes that Terry Pratchett uses in this book are funnier because of my knowledge of these plays.

I cannot recommend this series enough. It may seem intimidating, but really it isn't once you get into it. You can really start it anywhere you want and you won't really miss anything. Each of the books stands on their own for the most part. I hope you enjoy Terry Pratchett's Discworld if you do decide to pick any of them up. I know that I do.

Book 95: Lore Olympus Volume 4

By Rachel Smythe 

Read June 21st

Pages Read: 416

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This series just keeps getting better with each book. I cannot wait to read the fifth volume later on this year and see what happens next with Hades and Persephone. Rachel Smythe’s books are definitely one of the most unique takes on Greek Mythology that I have read. I love this version of the myths.

Book 96: Stargazing at Noon

By Amanda Torroni 

Read June 21st

Pages Read: 144

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I really liked the way this collection was formatted with the phases of the moon and how the poetry fit with these phases. The final section was the most heartbreaking and hit me hard while reading them. I loved that section the most. Overall, I liked this collection of poems.

Book 97: All or Nothing

By Riina Y.T. 

Read June 21st

Pages Read: 145

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I have kept up the tradition of reading at least one Christmas book in the summer. All or Nothing was such a sweet story that I highly enjoyed. Remmy and Carter were great characters that I loved following on their trek to get Remmy home to his family for Christmas. I loved the roadtrip and just watching them get to know each other better. A cute time that made me happy, which is why I decided to read it.

My Favorites of Spring 2023

 🌸 My Favorites of Spring 2023 🌼

Below, I have listed some of my favorite music, movies, movie trailers, YouTube videos, and TV that I have watched or listened to this spring. This has been a great season for some amazing entertainment. It'll be fun to show that off, also. 

🎞️ Movies/Specials:

1. Love Again (watched May 13th)

~ I had a ball watching this movie today, with my mother, my best friend, and her mother. It is definitely the perfect movie for a good laugh with friends. Also, Celine Dion’s music is some of my favorites and I loved her songs in this movie. It was just a lot of fun watching this gem and I highly recommend it to the romantic comedy fans. Loved Sam, Priyanka, and Celine. 

 

🎵 Music:

This season has been so great for music. I spent a lot of time listening to all of these songs and albums over and over again. 

1. Luke Combs’s new album: Gettin Old

~I’ll always love Luke Combs’s voice. He has such a great style to his singing that stands out from other country music singers. Definitely, one of my favorites along with Scotty McCreery and George Strait. 

~So many great songs on this album, my favorite would be his cover of “Fast Car.” I adore the original by Tracy Chapman but his is just great in every way. 

2. “Eyes Closed” by Ed Sheeran- Absolutely beautiful. 

3. “Where Did All The Guitars Go” by McFly- I have loved McFly since I was a teenager and am ecstatic that they have new music coming out. 

4. “Hope I’m Not the Only One” by Logan Mize- Love this song so much. Logan has a great voice. 

5. “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus

6. “I Wanna Dance With You” by Skylar Austin

7. “Wings” by Jonas Brothers

8. “That’s Not How This Works” by Charlie Puth, feat Dan & Shay

9. “Waffle House” by Jonas Brothers- My favorite of the Jonas Brothers songs

10. “Song About  You” by The Band CAMINO

11. “Black and White” by Niall Horgan

12. “That’s When” by Taylor Swift, feat. Keith Urban- I adore this song so darn much! 

13. “Say You Love Me” by Steve Grand

14. “I Think I Like You” by The Band CAMINO

15. “Wish You The Best” by Lewis Capaldi

16. “If You Go Down (I’m Going Down Too) by Kelsea Ballerini

17. “Make Your Own Kind of Music” by Cass Elliot 

18. “Hits Different” by Taylor Swift

19. “Rhythm of the Night” by DeBarge

20. “You’re Losing Me” by Taylor Swift

📺 TV Shows:

1. The Clone Wars Season 1 (episodes 15-22)- Season 7 (episode 12)

- The Clone Wars is one of the best pieces of Star Wars entertainment that there is. I loved every minute of watching this show and seeing how they developed most of the characters throughout all of the season. This is an absolutely brilliant show that every Star Wars fan should watch. It is incredible. 

🖥️ YouTube:

1. Books and Lala

~who has blurbed my favorite books?

~Astrology Book Controls my TBR for a Week ♈🔥- I’m not someone who believes in Astrological signs but these videos are always a lot of fun. 

 ~Reading Books from Failed Video Ideas

~ Attempting to Solve a Mystery 🔍 Before the Book Ends- Such a fun video. I love Kayla’s video ideas. 

~upcoming books you need to read

~ Have I Read a Book Published in Every Year of My Life?- This is such a neat idea and I decided that I wanted to also do it for the books that I have read by the time I am watching this video. (watched May 18th, 2023)

1993 ✅ 1994 ✅ 1995 ✅ 1996 ✅ 1997 ✅ 1998 ✅ 1999 ✅ 2000 ✅ 2001 ✅ 2002 ✅ 2003 ✅ 2004 ✅ 2005 ✅ 2006 ✅ 2007 ✅ 2008 ✅ 2009 ✅ 2010 ✅ 2011 ✅ 2012 ✅ 2013 ✅ 2014 ✅ 2015 ✅ 2016 ✅ 2017 ✅ 2018 ✅ 2019 ✅ 2020 ✅ 2021 ✅ 2022 ✅ 2023 ✅

30/30- I have read a book published in every year that I have been alive. Also, I have at least one 5 star read for each of the years that I have been alive. That is so cool. Terry Pratchett definitely helped with that, lol. I have read a book published in almost ever one of these years just with Terry’s books. 

~ My Giant Summer TBR 🌴🩴☀️- I’m reading The Princess Bride this month (June), so that’s pretty cool that we are reading it near the same time. 

 

~ Reading Books You Didn't Finish- Makes me want to read Babel.

~ Choosing My Next Read | Scavenger Hunt Decides My TBR- I love when she does the Scavenger Hunt!! I remember watching Peter’s video six years ago and completing it along with him. I decided that I’m going to do it this year. 

1. Grab your favourite book. Go to the acknowledgements, and the first name you see, find a book by an author with the same name. 

~ My favorite book is Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. 

~ It does not have an acknowledgements page so I went with her dedication, which is to Stephen. 

2. Pick something on that cover and find another book with the thing in the title. 

~I picked Fairy Tale by Stephen King.

~On the cover, I picked a tree. 

3. Go to page 50, line 5. Pick a word from that line and find a title with that word. 

~My book with tree in the title is: Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi.

~My word from the fifth line is: they.

4. Find a 5-star read with the same colours on the cover.  

~ My book that I picked with ‘they’ in the title is The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. 

~ The book I picked that was 5-star read with the same colors on the cover is A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness because it has white, black, and gray on the cover. Also, it is one of my top 10 favorite books. 

5. Find a book with the same number of pages. (hint hint, goodreads is your friend) 

~The book with the same amount of pages as A Monster Calls is The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander, with 206 pages. 

6. Flip open to any page. The first name you see, find a book by an author with who shares that name. 

~ This one was a hard question to answer because the names in The Castle of Llyr are all fantasy names, so they would not be names of authors. So, I decided to open to the first page of the book and look at that and found the name John from St. John’s University. 

~ John was an easy author to find because one of my favorite writers is John Green. So I picked one of my favorites of his which is Paper Towns. 

7. Find another title with the same number of letters. 

~ In Paper Towns there are 10 letters. 

~ Another book with 10 letters is Set In Stone by Mari Mancusi.

8. Find a book with a similar cover. 

~ A book with a similar cover to Set In Stone is The Land of Stories: The Enchtress Returns by Chris Colfer. They both are purple and have the villian in the foreground and the hero/heroes at the front. 

9. Flip to a random page. Point at a word, and find that word in a book title on your TBR shelf. 

~ I flipped to page 337 in the book and found the word branches. 

~The book that is on my TBR shelf with branches is A Branch of Silver, A Branch of Gold by Anne Elisabeth Stengl.

10. Read! 

2. SuperCarlin Brothers

~PROOF That Snoke is Cloned From Grogu | Mandalorian Star Wars Film Theory

~What If Draco ACTUALLY Killed Dumbledore| Harry Potter Film Theory 

~What If Sirius TOLD HARRY How To Use The Mirrors| Harry Potter Film Theory - Would have been a good idea on Sirius’s part

~ TRON Lightcycle Run REVIEW & Disney Adventure-  Love their Disney videos. One day, I’ll go too. 

~ J vs Ben: We FAILED Even More Harry Potter Trivia- REDEMPTION Quiz

~ How the Weasley Twins Knew What to Bet Ludo Bagman | Harry Potter Film Theory 

~Harry Potter TV Series REBOOT! What’s It Going to Be About?| Harry Potter Film Theory- I don’t know what to think about this reboot. On one hand, I love the original movies, but on the other, there are so many scenes that are not in the movies that would be great to see. Also, the show could focus on stuff that Harry was not able to see himself that was going on at the same time. So truthfully, this could be a really cool. I love the ideas that Ben is talking about in this video. 

~J vs Ben: HAPPIEST Harry Potter TRIVIA Quiz Ever

~Gusteau’s BIG Secret Revealed | Ratatouille Pixar Film Theory

~J vs Ben ULTIMATE Department of Mysteries Harry Potter TRIVIA Quiz

~Top 10 Best (and Most EPIC) Star Wars Scenes Ever | Star Wars Film Theory

~What if Mirabel Had Died When Casita Fell | Encanto Disney Film Theory- Very sad

~What if Crookshanks KILLED Wormtail | Harry Potter Film Theory- Yeah, it’s too bad that this didn’t happen. 

~Who Created the UNFORGIVABLE Curses | Harry Potter Film Theory

~What If Neville Was The Chosen One | Harry Potter Film Theory- New Series… YAY!!!!

~ J vs Ben: ULTIMATE Harry Potter Prank Trivia Quiz | WHEEL OF PUNISHMENT- So much fun, lol!

~ Top 5 PRE Deathly Hallows Fan Theories | Harry Potter Film Theory- Fun video, I remember hearing some of these at that time.

~ What If Neville Was The Chosen One- Part 2 | Harry Potter Film Theory 

~ J vs Ben: Hardest Harry Potter Families Trivia Quiz EVER

3. The Library of Allenxandria

~ Discworld City Watch Books Ranked! | There’s No Such Thing as Too Much Vimes- I’ll always love Allen’s Discworld videos. My list is very similar to his, Night Watch is very much my favorite of the Watch books. It is one of the best of the Discworld books.  

~Book Jeopardy Season 2 Episode 3 | Theo v RJ v Alex- Finally, it’s back!!

~ Talks by the Fire: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire- Absolutely, hilarious! 

~ The First Line Challenge Returns! | ft. My Wonderful Wife, Christina!

4. Good Mythical Morning/More

~ What Disney Character is This Food?- I am too good at guessing Disney characters made out of food. Lol

~ What Was This Pasta Tossed In?- Hilarious!

~ International Pickles Taste Test- Love these International taste tests.

~  We Get Put On The Spot (Game)

~ Ranting with Helium Balloons | The Big Blow Up- This will forever be one of my favorite videos of theirs. It’s hilarious. 

~ Can We Beat The Hardest Game in the World- Oh my goodness, this is hilarious! Haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. 

5.  Charlie Hopkinson/ Not Obi-Wan Kenobi

~ Anakin REACTS to Grogu Escaping Order 66

~ Anakin REACTS to his old buddy returning

~ Gandalf REACTS to Bilbo ‘Never aging a day’

~ Obi Wan loses his mind over Lizzo in the mandalorian 

~ Anakin meets Padme in the afterlife

~ Qui-Gonn Reacts to ‘The Force’ being Anakin’s Dad

~ Qui-Gonn watches his fight with Maul for the FIRST

~ Anakin reacts to getting roasted by the council

~ Anakin reacts to Padme’s funeral 

6. Dominic Noble

- The fact that I have not had Dom on this list is ridiculous. His videos are always some of my favorites that I watch, especially his Lost in Adaptation series. I love his thoughts on literature and his type of humor. 

~ The Horse and His Boy Broke the Lore

~How to Train Your Dragon- Lost in Adaptation

~ The Fellowship of the Ring~ Lost in Adaptation 

~ Twilight Eclipse ~ Lost in Adaptation- These will never get old.

Other Favorites

 1. MasterClass Presents: Neil Gaiman Teaches the Art of Storytelling

~I have been wanting to watch Neil Gaiman's MasterClass for years and now I can from my library on Hoopla. Neil is one of my absolute favorite authors ever and hearing his insights in writing is everything. This is going to be so much fun! 

 

~ In the sections below, I'm going to talk about my favorite takeaways from each of the episodes, along with some notes I took from his insights into writing.

~Episode 2: Truth in Fiction (watched March 23rd)- I love the idea of truths that fiction can give you even though it is not real. Great examples with "Little Red Riding Hood" and his book Coraline. His antidote of how he came up with the message for Coraline, really shows the idea of truths in fiction. He shows the importance of fiction and finding what is real in these "fake" stories. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is one of my favorites of Neil's, because of how personal it feels. Neil's story about writing this book was beautiful. I hope that Neil will eventually write an autobiography.

~Episode 3: Sources of Inspiration (watched March 29th)- Writers definitely have a compost heap. I cannot tell you how many ideas I have for stories that are just that, stories. Inspirations can be anything not just literary. I love his story of his experience with Snow White and how that inspired his retelling, Snow, Glass, Apples. One of my favorite things is taking a classic story and making your own take on it so this exercise that he is talking about speaks to me so much. My series The Chronicles of Grimmless is literately me doing that. 

~Episode 4: Finding Your Voice (watched March 29th)- Starting writing with imitation and then continue on from that. There will be mistakes and they may be the most important thing for young writers. I love the Chuck Jones quote. It’s important to get the bad words out and find your own voice. Great use of Terry Pratchett to illustrate his point of having to finish pieces that you are working on. I know that I’m guilty of not finishing pieces. He’s right about his stories feeling all like him. That you can tell that they are Neil Gaiman stories. Good example of American Gods for finding the correct voice for a piece and Stardust for the narration and voice. It’s one of my favorites of his because of how it feels like an old fairy tale. His way of describing The Ocean at the End of the Lane is brilliant. Love that the narration is first person and that it takes you through  the main character’s memories. 

~Episode 5: Developing the Story (watched March 29th)- Love his story about his son, Ash’s favorite game: the What’s Going to Happen Game. It is important for a writer to play this with their readers and keep them wanting/guessing what is going to happen next. I love his essay from the book Stories that he read. Four important words to remember “and then what happened?” The author has to care what is going to happen in the story and imbue it into their writing, so that anyone reading it will to. When he starts a new story, he writes down everything he knows about the story on a piece of paper. A giant brain dump, with words and doodles. Just a way of telling himself everything he knows. This helps brings connections between the ideas. Want to make sure you have some sort of idea of what the story is about. You get the idea and then what it is about will lead you through writing it. The Neverwhere story he told is interesting and makes me want to read it even more than I did before. Creating conflict is an important part of writing. Knowing what your characters want will help lead you through a story. This is such a true statement. Characters take over the story so much and also your mind.  

~Episode 6: Story Case Study: The Graveyard Book (watched March 31st)- First, of all this makes me want to read The Graveyard Book again. I love listening to Neil read is works. He is one of my absolute favorite audiobook narrators and I loved listening to him explain his story. He has the very best voice to read a book. I could listen to him read anything. 

~Episode 7: Short Fiction (watched March 31st)- Great introduction his short story collection M is for Magic. The insight that he gives from Roger Zelazny about how the short stories he wrote are like the last chapter of a novel they had never written, is brilliant. It is so important that the characters in a short story seem like they have life outside of the story. Such a cool idea for it. Neil’s point of starting with the idea, that you are paying by the word in a short story, is a cool one. To see if you can write a story with as little words as possible. Yay, he read his “Nicholas Was…” story, which is about Santa Claus. One of my absolute favorites of his short stories. 

~Episode 8: Short Fiction Case Study: "March Tale" (watched March 31st)- I like his story at the beginning of how he started to write “March Tale.” This story is another great one. A great example to show what he was saying in the previous episode about short fiction, especially with the idea that the story could be an a final chapter. I like how he showed how he could expand on his story. 

Reviews Week 24

   Reviews Week 24

June 12th-June 18th

Book 90: The Truth About Riley

By Henrietta Clarke

Read June 13th

Pages Read: 318

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I adored this book's story and had a fun time rereading it. It reminds me of one of my favorite movies You've Got Mail, with Riley and Cameron starting the friendship/relationship, not knowing each other over the phone. It also reminded me of the movie, with the fact that they often see each other in person but do not know that they are. 

The romance was so cute, and I could not get enough of reading about these two as they fell in love. I loved following Riley and Cameron, but also their friends and family. Such an adorable book that I adore with all my heart!

Book 91: Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately

By Alicia Cook

Read June 14th

Pages Read: 126

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I love how Alicia used music along with her poems to help convey the messages and her feelings throughout this volume. This is a beautiful collection of poetry that I fully enjoyed reading. I especially loved the Blackout poetry in the Side B section of this book. It was such an interesting idea to take her poems from Side A and use them to create a new poem through Blackout poetry. Cannot wait to pick up her other collections.

Book 92: A Warning About Swans

By R. M. Romero

Read June 

Pages Read: 384

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R. M. Romero’s writing in A Warning of Swans was magnificent. I loved following Hilde’s story as she leaves her home and sisters in the woods to live with a young baron nicknamed Richter. She believes she will be free of all confinements there, unlike in her home in the woods, but soon realizes she is more trapped with Richter. 

This excellent novel written in verse is a historical fantasy book based loosely on Swan Lake with aspects of The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I loved the addition of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who is famously called the Fairy tale King because of the murals that he has painted in his castle, Neuschwanstein. In this book, he hires Franz to paint these famous murals. Hilde becomes drawn to Franz over her time with them. I enjoyed both Franz’s and Ludwig’s parts in this tale. 

I highly recommend this stunning tale that feels like a fairy tale. Romero’s writing was beautiful, and I could not get enough of Hilde’s story. I will definitely be adding this novel to my collection.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC of this wonderful book. All opinions are my own.*

Reviews Week 23

  Reviews Week 23

June 5th-June 11th

Book 84: Dearly

By Margaret Atwood 

Read June 5th

Pages Read: 124

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I did not enjoy this poetry collection the way I wanted to. There were a couple of poems that I liked quite a bit, but most of them I did not.

Book 85: Where Hope Comes From

By Nikita Gill

Read June 6th

Pages Read: 148

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Nikita Gill’s poetic voice is one of the best that I have ever read. I adore picking up a collection of poetry and spending an hour reading through her beautiful writing style. There are a lot of feelings that I could relate to in this book and each poem hit me hard as I was reading. The feeling of hopefulness that encompasses the entire piece is something that a lot of us need. I cannot wait to pick up another of Nikita’s collections soon.

Book 86: Transformations

By Anne Sexton

Read June 7th

Pages Read: 112

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Another miss for me this month with poetry. I was looking forward to reading this collection because I love fairy tale retellings and have heard great things about Anne Sexton’s poems. The poems in this piece were not for me and I did not enjoy most of them at all. Many of these poems were uncomfortable to read, especially the Rapunzel one.

Book 87: The West Wind

By Alexandria Warwick

Read June 7th-9th

Pages Read: 626

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I have been looking forward to reading this excellent book since I finished the first of The Four Winds books at the beginning of last year. Zephyrus, The West Wind, interested me as a character in the first book, and I wanted to see where this book took him. I'm happy to say I enjoyed this as much as the first one. The use of Greek mythology and the Scottish ballad Tam Lin were great in this book. There are mentions of The Odyssey and the myth of Hyacinth, which are part of Zephyrus's backstory. 

My favorite part of this book was learning more about Zephyrus and seeing his interactions with Brielle. Their interactions were quite funny at times, and I enjoyed watching them fall in love. Watching Brielle grow as a person was also an essential part of this book. She is a character that you cannot help but root for and hope that she will succeed. I don't read books that focus heavily on religion too often, but I found Brielle's journey an integral part of her story. 

Another aspect of this novel that stands out is learning about Zephyrus's other brother Notus. I'm hoping that we will get a book about him if Alexandria continues with this series. He is a character that I would love to learn more about. 

I highly recommend this book and know that I will add this to my collection along with the first. 

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*

Book 88: Second Chance at First Love

By N. R. Walker

Read June 10th

Pages Read: 116

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N. R. Walker’s books are always a lot of fun for me. I loved the setting of this one with the camping tour in Kakadu National Park in Australia. It made me want to go there and see those beautiful sites. Also, second chance romances are some of my favorites when they are done this well. Paul and Derek were cute together and I look forward to seeing them more throughout the rest of the series. Hopefully, they will show up at least a little bit. 

Book 89: Outrun the Rain

By N. R. Walker

Read June 11th

Pages Read: 216

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Another great N. R. Walker romance with a cool premise. I have never read books about storm chasers, so that was really cool to read about in this one. Has the classic N. R. Walker humor that just had me laughing out loud. Tully and Jeremiah were characters that I enjoyed following, but Jeremiah did get annoy at times. Tully was so beyond sweet and I loved him so much. I look forward to seeing that happens next with these guys. 

Reviews Week 22

 Reviews Week 22

May 29th- June 4th

Book 81: Lost in a Good Book

By Jasper Fforde

Read May 27th-29th

Pages Read: 399

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I adore the Thursday Next series and cannot wait to continue with it after this book. Jasper Fforde surprised me a bit in this book's direction after the last one, but it sure was great. The book jumping, mystery, and time travel aspects are just as enjoyable as they were in the previous novel. I'd love to be able to travel to books just like Thursday does. 

In this adventure, Thursday's husband, Landon, gets eradicated, and he spends the story trying to get him back. She is also trying to help her father save the world and learn about her ability to book jump. A new group called the Jurisfiction is introduced, teaching Thursday about her ability. 

It was great that we got the Cheshire Cat, the Red Queen, and many other characters along the way. Miss Havisham from Great Expectations was a joy, and I love her relationship with Thursday. I look forward to seeing more of her in future books. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will be continuing with the next book in June.

Book 82: The Girl Who Speaks Bear

By Sophie Anderson

Read May 30th-31st

Pages Read: 416

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Such a beautiful story! I loved how Sophie used the fairy tales throughout the entire book and how they fit along with the rest of the novel. Vanka’s adventure was one that I could not get enough of. Sophie’s writing style is great and I love her Russian folktale/fairy tale novels.

Book 83: The Story of the Hundred Promises

By Neil Cochrane 

Read June 1st-4th

Pages Read: 400

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Neil Cochrane's writing is absolutely stunning throughout this beautiful novel. I had such a great time reading about Darragh and Merrigan. The book's first part focuses on Darragh's journey to find the Enchanter he met when he was thirteen. I love how it combined his story with the tales of the Enchanter that his land tells. Then, when we get to the book's second part, we find out the Enchanter's story, named Merrigan. 

I loved how Neil weaved so many tales of love that the characters feel. This is not your typical "Beauty and the Beast" retelling, but it does have some of the elements. It was interesting to see how they were used to tell this story. 

This novel is one of the most beautiful books I have read of the year, and I look forward to reading more of Neil's work. I will say, go in expecting this to have elements of "Beauty and the Beast," but remember, as the synopsis says, that it is loose. The tales that Neil has created for this book were some of the best parts, and I loved seeing how they fit in with the rest of the story, especially after you learn about Merrigan's life.