Recent Reads #1

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
This is one I’d been seeing for a number of years and as someone that is huge fan of fairytales and Disney, I knew I had to pick it up. I was a little reluctant only due to its size  (488 pages) and so I decided to listen to this one on Audible. I am so glad that I did. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is the story of a school in which princes, princesses and villains are trained to be just that. Sophie is a princess, she wholeheartedly believes this. Agatha is a villain. Everything is turned upside down when both girls are put in the wrong schools. On their journey to get to their proper place, the discover more about themselves that they ever bargained for. While this books is nothing mind-blowing, I will definitely be reading the other books in this series in the coming year. 3/5 stars.

Lullaby by Leila Slimani
This is one of the books that I picked up specifically for my Reading the World challenge. Leila Slimani has French/Moroccan dual citizenship and so this one was my pick for Morocco. This is a story of a couple in Paris with two lovely children. Myriam is a high-powered lawyer who is desperate to get back to work. She find Louise, a nanny who appears to be the families saviour. She fits into their lives seamlessly and the couple wonder how they ever coped without her. However, all is not well. I LOVED THIS BOOK! This was my second 5 star book of the year and it will probably remain on of my favourites throughout the year. The strap line on the cover tells you so much about the story “The baby is dead. It only took a few seconds”. I mean if that doesn’t make you want to read it I don’t know what will!. 5/5 stars.

Autumn by Ali Smith
This is one that I’ve had in my stash since it first came out and I just handout gotten around to reading it. I decided the time was now. Everyone raves about this series so much that I needed to know what I was missing out on. This is the story of Elizabeth. In 2016 so much has changed since her friend Daniel was born in 1916. This one is hard to describe I guess. It is a social commentary of the time that we are living in (Well, Autumn 2016) and poses so many important questions; who are we? what are we made of?. The first instalment of the seasonal quartet, Autumn is beautifully written. I had already purchased Winter and hope to get around to it very soon. 4/5 stars.

 

The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
I’ve always been a big fan of re-tellings and when this first surfaced on the internet I knew that I wanted to read it. The Wrath and The Dawn duology is A Thousand and One  Nights re-telling and while I did enjoy it, there were a few problem for me. Let me start by saying that the writing is simply gorgeous.  I loved most of the characters and thought Shahrzad was a total bad-ass. The biggest issue I had with this book was Khalid. I found him really problematic as a character and just couldn’t get passed that. While I probably won’t re-read this book, I am interested in reading the second book in the duology to see where it takes me. 3/5 stars.

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
I had been eyeing this book for a while and when it turned out to the the Wildest Dreams Box book of December, I couldn’t be more thrilled. Since reading Moxie last year, I have really found a love for books, both YA and adult, that have powerful female protagonists, and this one has become one of my favourites. The Nowhere Girls is the story of three girls, three outsiders that don’t fit it, at least to begin with. It is about all girls. Grace: the new girl in town. Rosina: a queer Mexican girl with a tremendous amount of responsibilities. Elin: a super bright autistic girl with a serious love of Star Trek and marine biology. The girls band together to get justice for Lucy, a girl who was raped by some students at their high school and who received no justice. Soon they are joined by the entire female population of the school and even the community. Bold and an absolutely necessary read. 5/5 stars.

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall
Since I know absolutely nothing about global politics I decided that I should probably try to rectify that. I listened to this one on Audiobook on my way to and from work. I’ll add the synopsis in here because I don’t think I have the words to adequately describe it myself. In ten chapters (covering Russia; China; the USA; Latin America; the Middle East; Africa; India and Pakistan; Europe; Japan and Korea; and the Arctic), using maps, essays and occasionally the personal experiences of the widely travelled author, Prisoners of Geography looks at the past, present and future to offer an essential insight into one of the major factors that determines world history. While I did enjoy this book, I’m not entirely sure I retained a lot of the information I was given. It certainly was interesting though and it is something that I might read more into in the future. 3/5 stars.

 

The Gender Games: The Problem with Men and Women, from Someone Who Has Been Both by Juno Dawson
This was the second time that I had read this book. The first time I read the physical copy and this time I listened to the Audiobook. I have to say, if you haven’t read this yet I would highly recommend listening to it as it is narrated by Juno herself, who is absolutely honest. “Why we are all being messed up by gender, and what we can do about it”. It is incredibly honest, well-written, witty and insightful. I actually didn’t think I could like it more than the first time I read it, but to have Juno reading it to me completely changed the experience. Love, love, loved this. I highly recommend it. 5/5 stars.

Bonfire by Krysten Ritter
I love Krysten Ritter. Let me just get that out there. I binge-watched Don’t Trust the B**** In Apartment 23. I loved her character than that. So naturally I as a bit reluctant to read this book, every though everyone was raving about it. Bonfire is the story of Abby, an environmental lawyer who is drawn back home to Barrens, Indiana by the task of investigating a local company and the heart of the community. Abby finds more than she bargained for. The question is, can you ever outrun your past? I really did enjoy this book, more than I expected to. I hope Krysten Ritter goes on to write more books. 4/5 stars.

1984 by George Orwell
I have written a full review of 1984 here if you’d like to read that.

 

 

And there we have it! My most recent reads of 2018! What have you read this year so far? I’d love to know what you’ve been enjoy so let me know in the comments below.

Peace and pages
Amy
X

8 Replies to “Recent Reads #1”

  1. Richard says:

    🙂 🙂 🙂
    You have the same reservation about The Wrath and The Dawn as me! Khalid is such a bad character, and Shahrzad’s decision-making concerning him was downright stupid. I liked the flowery language and the cover was really good, but the story and everything concerned with Khalid put me off. I ended up giving it away! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    • tomeswithtea says:

      Did you really?! I don’t have a copy yet but I’m not sure that I’m going to finish it off. I mean, it’s only a duology and it wouldn’t take me long to read but I such real issues with Khalid! Who knows what I’ll end up doing!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. I wasnt a huge fan of School for Good and Evil, but didn’t hate it, so would be interested to hear if the series improves 🙂
    Amy xx

    Like

  3. emilyjadebooks says:

    Lullaby is one of my most anticipated reads this year! The premise sounds amazing and reviews suggest it lives up to the hype so will hopefully get a copy soon 😃

    Like

  4. A Cup of Wonderland says:

    You’ve read so much! I have had my eyes on the School for Good and Evil, Authum, The No Where Girls and The Gender Games so now I am really looking forward to getting around to them!

    Liked by 1 person

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