Monday, December 8, 2014

2014: Book Reviews (15)

More mini reviews! About more books! Because I read so many books this year! That's literally all I'm going to say, I'm just going to jump into the books because there's a lot to go. This is going to be a long post, I think.

The Infernal Devices Manga (#1-3) by Cassie Clare and HyeKyung Baek
I really enjoyed these - I liked the art style, I loved all of them but Clockwork Princess is definitely my favorite, in both/any format. It's just so painful.

Sex Criminals, Vol 1 by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarky (5/5)
This was a very interesting and kind of strange graphic novel - and I completely loved it. I loved the art/coloring for the scenes where everything, but the characters, was frozen, but also kind of in general. Fun series, can't wait for volume 2.

The Sea of Monsters: Graphic Novel  (4/5)
This was kind of - eh. I really liked the art, but it felt like it left out / was missing too much, I just think it should have longer.

Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez (3/5)
I just really enjoyed this book? It was a fun ride - it was just that, though. It's like a weird pulp fiction, urban fantasy... horror type thing. It wasn't amazing, but it was a lot of fun to read.

Helen and Troy's Epic Road Quest by A. Lee Martinez (4/5)
Strangely really fun. And just strange in general. It has the same kind of feel to it, but it's more polished (his newest novel, I believe, while I think Gil's was his first). I did a full review of this one.

On Dublin Street (On Dublin Street #1) by Samantha Young (4/5)
I really hated this love interest at the beginning (the guy), but I ended up warming up to him and really enjoying this book over all. It's just fun and has some interesting parts to do, some therapist scenes I thought were good/interesting.

Wife by Wednesday (Weekday Brides #1) by Catherine Bybee (3/5)
Uhh... this was one of those books I'm not sure why I read it? I only gave it two stars for some reason, but I continued with the whole series and surprisingly enjoyed it. It was a weird/strange troupe that I think is used in fan fiction, but this book was just a lot of fun. And sometimes that's all I want from a book - so I should probably raise this rating to at least a 3/5 stars, I think I will.

Married by Monday (#2) by Catherine Bybee (3/5)
I also raised this rating. I'm not someone who uses the term guilty pleasure, because I don't believe in that idea of feeling guilty for reading something. But these would be those books. They're like junk food, addicting and fun and probably not strictly good for you/the best, but whatever give me the next one. (insert "another!" thor gif. You know the one)

Fiance by Friday (#3) by Catherin Bybee (3/5)
I marathoned these three books over a ridiculously short period of time. I'm not sure I'd recommend them - but they surprised me and were fun... and free if you have the Amazon Unlimited thing. Though, they're pretty cheap, anyway, only a few dollars.

Ariel: The Restored Edition by Sylvia Plath (5/5)
And on the completely other end of everything - some Plath. I was never really yes I need to read Plath, but then something happened and I realized I just wanted to read something of hers. I'd bought The Bell Jar recently, but I wanted to try her poems first, to see if I liked them. I loved them - my favorites probably being Lady Lazurus and Tulips, though I don't think I didn't really enjoy any of them.

The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde (4/5)
This took me a surprising amount of time to read for it being, technically, less then a hundred pages. I enjoyed it, but the language was a bit dense.

The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #1-3) by Brandon Sanderson
I marathoned these books over a surprisingly short period of days, I feel like I keep saying that, and gave them all 5/5 stars. I want to write a full series review for this first Mistborn trilogy, but I don't know if I can make it coherent enough to post. It would just be like: oh my god, read these books. Don't read the last 100 pages of any of them in public because oh my god. ohmygod. I highly recommend this series, and Sanderson, and this trilogy was amazing.

The Merciless by Danielle Vega (4/5)
A bit of gore, a bit of fun. I was just kind of eh about it until the last, like, sentence. (Full review here)

Tinder by Sally Garner (3/5)
Eh. I was really enjoying it at first, but it dragged on much too long. It's a gorgeous book, though, I'd highly suggest just picking it up to look at it and how pretty it is. And I thought it was okay, over all, just by the end of it, I just wanted it to be over, which isn't a good sign for a book. I might of tried to read it too quickly, but I was just in the mood to read something, not wait.

Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz #1) by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
This is a middle grade series and I didn't know what to expect out of middle grade Sanderson - but holy shit, guys, this book is fantastic and hilarious. However, probably not for most people. If you are familiar and enjoy Sanderson's humor, then this book/series is for you (go forth, read them). I think this one is fantastic, I've only read #1 and #2 as of writing this, but I've really enjoyed them both.

The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan (5/5)
I reread this whole series in a very short time period. I think this was my third time reading the series, I'm pretty sure I reread them immediately after finish The Last Olympian. I marathoned them all three times. I really enjoy these books, love them to pieces, but it'd been years since I'd read them so I wanted to reread them so everything was fresh and ready for The Blood of Olympus. Obviously, I highly recommend this series. I don't think I'll do a full series review, since I'm sure everyone had heard of it and probably knows if they want to read it or not.

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick (4/5)
I really enjoyed this book. It was a super interesting, quick read, that was also pretty intense at parts. It was also my first books by this author and I'm looking forward to more, especially because all of his books sound really interesting.

Single by Saturday (Weekday Brides #4) & Taken by Tuesday (#5)  by Catherine Bybee (3/5)
This wraps up all the books that are out in this series, though obviously there's going to be seven (I think) because days of the week. I might end up reread them next year when they're all out and just marathoning all seven of them because I'm just not sure I'm going to remember anything by then. And it's not really needed to remember eveything - but I'm sure there will be a readathon and it sounds fun to me.
Once again - this series is just fun, I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but if you like slightly ridiculous, trope filled romance novels then have I have got a super quick reads series for you. (Which I really enjoy, but I've got pet peeves I try to avoid).

Opal Fire (Stacy Justice #1) by Barbara Annino (2/5)
I really wish I had DNFed this book when I was 20% in and not feeling it, but for some reason I kept going. I need to start letting myself DNF things. I don't know, I have no real feelings about this book. It wasn't horrible, but I just didn't care?

Not Quite Dating (Not Quite #1) by Catherine Bybee (3/5)
Do you see a trend? Of reading this authors books. I'm not even sure how it keeps happening, they're just addicting and I can't escape. Anyway - this was fun and a fluffy romance book. Also I've learned something about myself, I find the cowboy thing (in books) strangely charming. It might be the use of the word darlin', I am not sure if I should be embarrassed by this or not?

Not Quite Mine (Not Quite #2) by Catherine Bybee (3/5)
I liked this one better then the first and a surprising amount, for some reason. There's a baby, there's romance cuteness, and a lot of confusion. It's still trope-y, but I apparently don't mind tropes. (I've kind of always known this about myself, as long as they're done pretty well and not eye roll inducing/bad).

Purity in Death (In Death #15) & Portrait in Death (#16) by J.D. Robb (5/5)
Not much can be said because spoilers, but I really am loving this series. Also - Eve's reaction to what Mavis tells her in Purity was hilarious and fantastic. I just love this series, I don't know why, I just do.

And I think I'm going to stop myself there, before this post gets too long, though it probably is already too long. Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Or are you planning on reading any of them?

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