Reading with a Griffin: July 2023

Monday, July 24, 2023

Reviews Weeks 28-29

Reviews Weeks 28-29

July 10th-23rd

Book 112: World’s Collide

By Chris Colfer
Read July 10th
Pages Read: 448

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World’s Collide is one of the best endings that I have ever read for a series. I love how Chris brings everything from the rest of the series together to culminate in his finale. One day I hope that Chris will continue on with Alex and Connor’s story in some capacity. I would love to see more adventures with them and the gang in The Land of Stories.

Book 113: Cat’s Cafe

By Matt Tarpley
Read July 1oth
Pages Read: 168

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I adored this set of comics and cannot wait to read the second book sometime soon. These were funny and oftentimes heartwarming. A sweet collection of stories that I cannot wait to read again and again. I will definitely get a copy for my collection.

Book 114: Make You Mine

By E.M. Lindsey
Read July 11th-12th
Pages Read: 288

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I was a fan of how sweet and genuine Noah and Adriano’s relationship felt. There was not a minute that I didn’t feel that they were not a good match. This book did drag for me near the middle but picked up again towards the end. I enjoyed the sweet moments that they had as a couple. There are also a lot of family elements that are hard hitting.

Book 115: I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 5: Gert’s Inferno
By Skottie Young
Read July 13th
Pages Read: 128

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I have been hoping that Skottie would return to Gert and Fairyland and was excited to read Gert’s new adventures when he announced them. This was a lot of fun and had me laughing. Love the references as usual. The one thing this made me want to do is reread the rest of the series again. Can’t wait to see what happens next after that ending.

Book 116: Hans Christian Anderson Lives Next Door
By Cary Fagan
Read July 19th-21st
Pages Read: 160

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The title of this book was what intrigued me about it from the beginning. Then, the premise had me wanting to pick it up and learn more about Andie’s story. Andie’s voice feels authentic, and you believe that she is a middle school girl throughout. The first-person perspective fits so well with the story. It did drag for me throughout the narrative and pulled me away from the events a bit.

Andie is an aspiring poet who is drawing inspiration from Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales. At the beginning of the book, she meets her new neighbor, whom she believes is Hans Christian Anderson. She spends most of the book believing this fact. The story focuses on her friendship with this neighbor, gaining new friendships along the way, and growing as a poet. I enjoyed seeing her growth as a poet throughout the story and how it felt like a middle school girl’s first attempt at poetry. They were not perfect, but they again felt authentic to her voice, which I loved.

Overall, this was a book that I enjoyed, but not as much as I wanted to. I would recommend this to middle grade readers, especially the aspiring writers out there. Also, the illustrations were cute and fit well with Andie’s narration.

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

Book 117: Twelfth Grade Night

By Molly Horton Booth, Stephanie Kate Strohm, Jamie Green
Read July 21st
Pages Read: 160

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This was a cute retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night set in a modern-day high school setting that I loved. It had many references to some of his other plays, which is probably going to set up further adventures in this series. I particularly loved the A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet ones. The scene with Polonius behind the curtain was hilarious. Also, the illustrations throughout this graphic novel were stunning. I adored it and will definitely pick up the future books in this series.

Book 118: The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book

By Neil Gaiman
Read July 2th-23rd
Pages Read: 512

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To get ready for Season 2 of Good Omens, I decided to rewatch Season 1 and finally read this script book. This is basically the entire show just written out as a script, along with the deleted scenes. I know that script books are not for everybody, but they always bring me back to my college days of reading a ton of plays. I loved this book along with the show, which I surprisingly forgot some of the details about. Cannot wait to watch the next season at the end of this week!

Book 119: The Time-traveling Caveman

By Terry Pratchett
Read July 23rd
Pages Read: 315

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I love Terry’s short story collections and this one was quite a lot of fun. Again this is a collection of his earliest writings from when he was a teenager working for the newspaper. Even at the age of 17, Terry had a way of writing that draws you into his stories. His sense of humor shines through repeatedly throughout this collection.

Monday, July 10, 2023

Reviews Week 27

Reviews Week 27

July 3rd-9th

Book 103: The Enchantress Returns: The Land of Stories Book 2

By Chris Colfer
Read July 3rd
Pages Read: 517

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July 3rd, 2023 reread- I will forever love where Chris takes the series in this book. The team that Alex, Connor, Goldilocks, Jack, Froggy, and Red make is one that I love following along with for the rest of the series. I can’t believe that this is my 11 reread of this wonderful book. It will never get old for me.

July 6th, 2021 update- My favorite book in this series. I absolutely adore it so much!

Book 104: Delivering Dante

By Lucy Lennox
Read July 2nd- 3rd
Pages Read: 274

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I love books that deal with large families, especially when they play crucial roles in the plot. In this book and in Moving Maverick, I have fallen in love with the Marian family and will definitely be reading every book in the series. The humor that comes from the family makes these books so much better. I love the dynamic that each member of the family has with each other. What knocked this down a little for me was the amount of intimate scenes between Dante and AJ. I don’t mind those types of scenes usually but there was just too much of them in this book. In my opinion, I think that it would have been better without so many of them.

Book 105: A Grimm Warning: The Land of Stories Book 3

By Chris Colfer
Read July 4th
Pages Read: 480

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July 4th reread: This book is another absolute favorite of the series for me. The scenes with Conner and Bree in Europe are some of the best in the entire series. I enjoy how Chris took real world figures and used them in this book to help tell the story.

July 7th, 2021 update: Gotta say that I will always love the direction Chris took this series in. The ending will always be hard to read. Love Connor's adventure over in Europe and seeing the twins taken on the world by themselves for a while. Also, the parts with the Grimm brothers are some of the best.

Book 106: Into the Tempest

By N. R. Walker
Read July 4th
Pages Read: 198

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N. R. Walker’s characters are some of my favorites in romance fiction. I love how she creates romantic leads that stand out along with the side characters. Tully and Jeremiah are great together and I highly enjoyed following along with them as they tried to survive the Tropical Cyclone. This is a very emotional book that I adored from the start to the finish. Tully is a big ball of sunshine that just wants to love and help Jeremiah as much as he can. He has a wonderful family that I loved seeing so much of in this book. I can’t wait for book 3 to see what will happen next with these guys.

Book 107: To the Moon and Back

By N. R. Walker
Read July 7th
Pages Read: 220

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This book was absolutely adorable in every way. I adored the story, characters, and every single minute of it. Gideon and Toby were a great couple and I loved watching them with the little “chicken nugget,” Benson. Just adorable! Also, that cameo at the end made me so happy!! I won’t spoil it here but now I want to read that book again.

Book 108: Star Wars: Darth Vader- Dark Lord of the Sith, Vol. 2: Legacy’s End

By Charles Soule
Read July 8th
Pages Read: 144

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I have started two Darth Vader graphic novel series and I think that this is the best out of them both. It feels like it is a direct continuation from the prequels. The characterization of Vader in this volume was interesting especially in the parts when he is mediating. I enjoyed the visualizations in those sections so much. Cannot wait to see where else Soule takes this story in the other two volumes.

Book 109: Beyond the Kingdoms: The Land of Stories Book 4

By Chris Colfer
Read July 9th
Pages Read: 422

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I absolutely adore this series beyond words.

Book 110: An Author’s Odyssey: The Land of Stories Book 5

By Chris Colfer
Read July 9th
Pages Read: 448

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July 9th, 2021 update: I can honestly say that I wish I was in Connor's place in this book. At least being able to have a potion and to be able to go into my own writing. I cannot imagine being able to meet my own characters and spending so much time with them. It will always be my dream. There is such a great quote in this book

"Traveling into the short stories had been all Conner could think about since he'd first had the idea. Naturally, the circumstances to warrant the trip were terrible, but he still felt like the luckiest author in the world. Who else got to visit the worlds and meet the people that existed in their imagination? Conner often fantasized about seeing a film or a play based on his writing one day but this would be much better than that. It wouldn't be someone else's interpretation or adaptation of his words, everything would be purely as he'd envisioned it."

I think this is a dream of a lot of authors and I can honestly say that it would probably be the best thing to ever happen for me. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book again and visiting these characters yet again. This series will never get old.

July 17th, 2016 update: This one is the funniest out of the series. I loved it so much. I cannot wait until the next one.

Book 111: Peanut Butter Kisses

By Pepper Espinoza
Read July 9th
Pages Read: 41

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This was a cute story but it was far too short to be enjoyable. It ended too soon for my liking. I did like the competition aspect and how the chocolates were important to Peter. There was not much substance to this story though, so I can’t rate it highly.

Monday, July 3, 2023

Reviews Week 26

Reviews Week 26

June 26th-July 2nd

Book 98: Paradise Lodge

By Riina Y. T.
Read June 26th
Pages Read: 112

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I enjoy forced proximity stories a lot and Paradise Lodge was a good example of one, though I will say that this book was just too quick for my liking.

Book 99: Replica

By Lauren Oliver
Read June 22nd-29th
Pages Read: 570

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Lauren Oliver has always had books that sound so interesting. I had bought this book when it first came out and just never picked it up, but I’m glad that I finally have now. It took me quite a while to get into this story. The concept was pretty interesting with the three different ways of reading it. I decided to listen to the audiobook, which starts with Lyra’s perspective and then goes into Gemma’s.

The whole idea of the replicas had me wanting to know what would happen next and I was surprised by many of the plot points throughout. I liked how we got pieces of Gemma’s tale from Lyra’s but never fully knew what was going on until we read Gemma’s. At least in the way that I read it. I will definitely be picking up the sequel sometime soon. I have to know what is going to happen next with Gemma and Lyra.

Book 100: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

By William Goldman
Read June 30th
Pages Read: 392

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I have adored The Princess Bride movie ever since I was a child and have been meaning to read this book for years. William Goldman has such a unique way of writing that stands out throughout this novel. The fake abridgment aspects of the plot were so clever, especially when he used them when he was telling the story. I love when he breaks out of the story for a bit to say something that he said to his father when he was reading it to him as a child. It was just a fun way of telling the story that I have never seen done before. The story is what I thought it would be and so much more. It was a wonderful book that I’m glad to be able to say that I have finally read.

Book 101: Moving Maverick

By Lucy Lennox
Read July 1st
Pages Read: 288

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A sweet story that I had such a great time reading last night. I loved following Mav and Beau as they navigated their feelings for each other, along with the hardships that life was giving them. It made me want to read more of the Made Marian books and I definitely want to pick up the Dante book that is supposed to follow this one.

Book 102: The Wishing Spell:

The Land of Spells Book 1

By Chris Colfer
Read July 2nd
Pages Read: 438

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Every time I reread this book it’s as if I’m going back home again. It’s a wonderful experience returning to a book that you adore with all your heart and visiting characters that feel like old friends because of how many times you have read their adventures. This is my most read book by far and I cannot recommend it enough. I love how Chris has continued on with many of the classic tales in Alex and Connor’s first adventure into the Land of Stories.