Category Archives: Books

Someone Knows – Lisa Scottoline

Someone Knows – Lisa ScottolineTitle: Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline
Publishing Info: April 9, 2019 by Penguin
Source: Received from the publisher for review purposes
Genres: Adult, Mystery/Thriller
Date Completed: March 29, 2019
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // Goodreads

From the New York Times-bestselling author comes a pulse-pounding domestic thriller about a group of friends who have been bound for twenty years by a single secret—and will now be undone by it. Someone Knows is an emotional exploration of friendship and family, as well as a psychological exploration of guilt and memory.

Twenty years ago, in an upscale suburb of Philadelphia, four teenagers spent a summer as closest friends: drinking, sharing secrets, testing boundaries. When a new boy looked to join them, they decided to pull a prank on him, convincing him to play Russian roulette as an initiation into their group. They secretly planned to leave the gun unloaded—but what happened next would change each of them forever.

Now three of the four reunite for the first time since that horrible summer. The guilt—and the lingering question about who loaded the gun—drove them apart. But after one of the group apparently commits suicide with a gun, their old secrets come roaring back. One of them is going to figure out if the new suicide is what it seems, and if it connects to the events of that long-ago summer. Someone knows exactly what happened—but who? And how far will they go to keep their secrets buried?

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This was my first Lisa Scottoline book, receiving it from the publisher as a review option. I decided to give it a try because I’ve been expanding my reading into more adult (vs YA) reads lately and mysteries/thrillers are definitely one of the places I expand to first! I’ve always been a big mystery/thriller reader and this one piqued my interest.

SOMEONE KNOWS had some interesting points but really, it just felt entirely too long. The book is about a secret that a group of friends (or I guess part of the point is that they’re all not really friends) has been keeping since they were fifteen and how it’s still affecting them as adults, or that’s how the synopsis reads. Really the book is split into two parts: a before, detailing the lives of the teens leading up to the secret, the secret itself, and part of it immediately after; and a “20 years later” which catches up with this group in their adult life. The first half was wholly dedicated to the kids as teens, which I don’t mind since I read YA all the time, but it was not at all what I was expecting and I don’t feel like that was the best way to structure this novel, or at least it felt too separate for my particular tastes. I had really expected this to focus much more on the adult lives of everyone, getting some more thriller aspects in there with how the secret haunted each person and who might spill the beans, MAYBE even keeping us in suspense of what this secret was. The beginning of the book does reveal it pretty quickly so that ended up not being a secret to the readers, although we did have to wait to see exactly how it happened and why.

What bothered me is that 60% of the book was dedicated to this “before” and we got the whole chunk of it all at once. The story was told chronically, which was fine, but I just felt like the “before” lasted way too long. There were a lot of different POVs which doesn’t bother me, but I did feel like a lot of them weren’t really necessary. I’m not even sure that all of the POVs of the main characters involved in this secret were even necessary with the way that the book was written. I can take or leave flashbacks but I think this book could have benefitted from either flashing back to the “before” throughout the book or even just having the characters reveal things throughout the book through plot and dialogue and not even having the whole “before”. It was far too much and far too long for my taste. It did add character development buuuuuut these characters really weren’t that deep for the most part anyway (are most 15-year-olds? Nah.) so it just felt like the focus was in the wrong place for me.

The “after” was okay… some things were messed up. Some things provided an interesting thrill. Mostly, it felt a little anticlimactic. I was hoping for some more natural suspense throughout the whole book and the beginning felt like far too much set-up with the ending trying to jam-pack in the excitement and curiosities.

I wasn’t really satisfied with this one and it didn’t really do a lot for me, but it was still a fine read. I still was engaged the whole time and got to know the characters, so it was pretty middle-of-the-road for me! I’m not sure if I’d directly recommend reading it but I also wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading it either…

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Kept Me Hooked On: Adult thrillers. I’ve been stepping out of my normal reads to try some new books! I’ve been having a great time expanding into adult mysteries and thrillers for a nice change of pace from YA.
Left Me Wanting More: Or really less… Instead of wanting more, I wanted a little less here. I didn’t think the beginning of the book was really necessary for it to be on its own. I wish the backstory would have been more woven in instead of a block of Before and a block of After.

Addiction Rating
Try it

While I wasn’t head-over-heels for this one, I also wouldn’t discourage someone from reading it either. It has its twists but I didn’t love the format and structure of the book, but that may not be the case for everyone!

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BOOKS LIKE SOMEONE KNOWS

             

What I Loved [March 2019]

In an attempt to get back into the blogging swing, I wanted to revisit my monthly recaps but in a much more casual way! Instead of focusing on stats and posts, I’m sharing some of my favorite things about this month, from books to merch to life and everything in between!

BOOKS

March was a little bit of hodge-podge of a month! I had a few quick romance reads and then a span where I really read nothing at all for over a week… I was working on some things here and there but for a while, I just wasn’t in an audiobook mood! The more I binge watch things, the more I want to find new shows to watch, but I’m starting to come up with a good balance between books and TV (until new shows get released again, and forever debating when to catch up on Game of Thrones when I’m six seasons behind and still have to read at some point)…

 

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BOOKS READ (9):

MARCH READING STATS

  • # BOOKS READ: 9
  • # BOOKS DNF: 0
  • RATINGS:
    • 5 STARS: 1
    • 4.5 STARS: 0
    • 4 STARS: 5
    • 3.5 STARS: 1
    • 3 STARS: 1
    • 2.5 STARS: 0
    • 2 STARS: 1
  • FORMATS: 
    • AUDIOBOOK: 7
    • ARC: 1
    • HARDCOVER: 1

EVENTS & WANDERINGS

I went to Virginia/Washington DC to be a vendor at Apollycon in late March! I didn’t post any photos of it to my blog account but I had a lot of fun attending as a vendor and it was a great experience in so many ways! I got to see some old friends, meet some new friends, and spend time with my husband (who came to help and also turn it into a vacation with me) and my friend Kori from @_livelaughread who also helped me run the table! It was such a great event and I hope to attend again next year!

MOVIES & SHOWS

I started a bullet journal this year in part because I wanted to make my own reading journal but also so I could keep track of TV shows! I realized how much I actually watch while I’m working and when Shane and I sit down to watch things at night so I started keeping track of the shows I’ve been binge watching!

Here’s what I watched in March:

I was actually so busy with everything going on that I didn’t keep up in my bullet journal about my TV shows! I watched more Shameless and I think I’m nearing the end of Season 4 now. After reading KILLING NOVEMBER, I decided to head back into Deadly Class because they had the same kind of vibe and I’m now caught up on all current episodes! And long the way I’ve been watching some non-binges of other favorites like The Magicians and American Gods in their new seasons.

Killing November (Killing November #1) – Adriana Mather

Killing November (Killing November #1) – Adriana MatherTitle: Killing November (Killing November #1) by Adriana Mather
Publishing Info: March 26, 2019 by Random House Publishing Group
Source: Received from the publisher for review purposes
Genres: Young Adult, Heists/Spies/Espionage
Date Completed: March 19, 2019
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // Goodreads
Related Posts: How to Hang a Witch, Haunting the Deep (How to Hang a Witch #2)

It’s a school completely off the grid, hidden by dense forest and surrounded by traps. There’s no electricity, no internet, and an eye-for-an-eye punishment system. Classes include everything from Knife-Throwing and Poisons to the Art of Deception and Historical Analysis. And all of the students are children of the world’s most elite strategists—training to become assassins, counselors, spies, and master impersonators. Into this world walks November Adley, who quickly discovers that friends are few in a school where personal revelations are discouraged and competition is everything. When another student is murdered, all eyes turn to November, who must figure out exactly how she fits into the school’s bizarre strategy games before she is found guilty of the crime…or becomes the killer’s next victim.

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I absolutely loved Adriana Mather’s debut HOW TO HANG A WITCH and followed up with the book’s sequel so when I heard that she had a new book coming out, I knew I had to pick up KILLING NOVEMBER!

If you’ve watched SyFy’s show Deadly Class, you may be the perfect audience for this book. If you haven’t, well obviously you can still enjoy it and maybe you’ll want to watch Deadly Class after this because I continued binge watching after I finished! KILLING NOVEMBER finds titular character November in a new, mysterious school after things are shaken up at home. November doesn’t exactly know how serious it is but she’s dropped in the middle of nowhere full of prominent badass/ninja/assassin/secret agent-type families (except they’re not allowed to talk about it) and she’s not entirely sure why she’s there, but we all know there’s some sort of reason!

I loved the sort of mafia/assassin/secret agent feel in KILLING NOVEMBER, especially at a boarding school specifically for the families who work in this type of secrecy or espionage. It was such a fun read with a really fun concept, full of a great balance of the severity of the situation and levity at how weird it would be to be dropped there, plus some great character sass.

I didn’t realize this was a series when I started it but thankfully this book has that sort of feel anyway! I could tell by the pacing that it was setting up for a series and I am totally here for it! There’s a little bit revealed in this book about the overall series plot and some little hints of things you see coming, but there’s still a whole lot more to explore and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

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Kept Me Hooked On: Assassin School. The whole assassin/espionage concept was just so much fun! I loved the assassin school and all of the secrecy surrounding it.
Left Me Wanting More: Reveals. Even though it is the first in a series, I did want juuuust a bit more history and reveals in this installment!

Addiction Rating
Read it!

I had a lot of fun with this one and it really hit the sweet spot of so many things that I enjoy in a book! I’m really looking forward to continuing the series.

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BOOKS LIKE KILLING NOVEMBER

             

Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4) – Matt de la Pena

Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4) – Matt de la PenaTitle: Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4) by Matt de la Pena
Publishing Info: March 5, 2019 by Random House Publishing Group
Source: Received from the publisher for review purposes
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Superheroes
Date Completed: March 15, 2019
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // Goodreads

When the dawn breaks, a hero rises.

His power is beyond imagining.

Clark Kent has always been faster, stronger--better--than everyone around him. But he wasn't raised to show off, and drawing attention to himself could be dangerous. Plus, it's not like he's earned his powers . . . yet.

But power comes with a price.

Lately it's difficult to hold back and keep his heroics in the shadows. When Clark follows the sound of a girl crying, he comes across Gloria Alvarez and discovers a dark secret lurking in Smallville. Turns out, Clark's not the only one hiding something. Teaming up with his best friend, Lana Lang, he throws himself into the pursuit of the truth. What evil lies below the surface of his small town? And what will it cost Clark to learn about his past as he steps into the light to become the future Man of Steel? Because before he can save the world, he must save Smallville.

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This was a pretty disappointing installment in the DC Icons series and though I haven’t read Catwoman yet (I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on the audio), it’s the most disappointing. This book didn’t even feel like Superman’s origin story much at all. Aside from some of the things that even non-Superman fans know about him (strength, speed, x-ray vision), there really wasn’t much to show how Clark Kent started exploring his powers and what that meant to him as a person and especially as a teenager figuring out who he was and what he wanted to do with his life, which is even heavier than the normal coming-of-age story because of his powers and his potential.

Each of these books has a villain which, not being a comic book reader, I would say may or may not be the most “notorious” villain that we know from the comics or movies. We see Lex Luthor here but he’s not the main antagonist of the story, similar to seeing Harvey Dent in the Batman installment of this series. I don’t really know any other Batman villains so I don’t know if the one in this book is canon or not but he didn’t really feel very complex in any way. Actually, none of the characters seemed complex at all. For it being Clark Kent’s story, there wasn’t much personality packed in here and the side characters didn’t really provide much character growth either.

Some of this could have been overlooked if I had enjoyed the story, which I really didn’t connect with either. Matt de la Pena took this opportunity to explore some important issues of immigration and racism but it just didn’t fit with the Superman story for me and the way that it was incorporated actually felt more demeaning instead of eye-opening. I felt like we needed to actually spend time with Clark and his story (since this IS a book about Clark Kent/Superman after all), so trying to put all of those concepts and issues in this book left us with little time, only exploring the surface areas of these issues with some blanket statements that didn’t tackle the issue well. Maybe it could have worked better somehow but I felt like it was not adapted well into this book and some of the supernatural elements of the adaptation made it feel hokey, taking away from its importance.

This was just a big miss for me. I had hoped to enjoy reading more about Superman and getting to know Clark Kent’s story and I feel like there just wasn’t really much about him at all besides basic plot points that could have been shared in a few paragraphs or chapters.

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Kept Me Hooked On: Superheroes, I guess. I’m not a big comic person and I don’t follow a lot of superhero stories but I actually was interested in reading about Superman since I kind of had the tiniest of childhood connections to him, at least compared to the other DC Icons featured.
Left Me Wanting More: Superman Substance. I felt like this book wasn’t even about Clark Kent. The basics were involved but it didn’t really make me feel like the author knew or cared about writing the Superman origin story.

Addiction Rating
Skip it

Even if you have read the others, I still wouldn’t recommend this book. I was really disappointed in it in so many ways. I guess if you’re finishing the series, it’s worth it just to finish but I can’t make any promises that you’ll enjoy it, especially if you’re expecting a good Superman story.

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BOOKS LIKE SUPERMAN: DAWNBREAKER

             

My Favorite Half-Night Stand – Christina Lauren

My Favorite Half-Night Stand – Christina LaurenTitle: My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
Publishing Info: December 4, 2018 by Simon & Schuster
Source: Scribd
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Date Completed: February 7, 2019
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // Goodreads

Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.

So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.

But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship...but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.

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This was super cute! I almost always enjoy a good friends-to-more romance and I really loved how this one was handled. The online dating aspect was brought about in a cute way, really getting the whole group involved and not making it so singled out for the two main characters. I really loved how there wasn’t a love triangle or anything and how everyone didn’t have to get paired off in the end.

The big friend group was a ton of fun and I had a great time reading about Millie and all of her guy friends! I really loved the dynamic and how each guy had a unique personality. With so many, it was a little confusing at first but as I got to know the group, they really did stand out on their own.

I thought the romance was cute and handled well! It had a great pace, in my opinion, and I liked the back-and-forth with the characters’ feelings and how they were unsure of what to do. It really felt natural but still fit a novel well, not dragging anything out too long and not jumping into anything too quickly.

Quite enjoyable and one I’d recommend for a nice, light romance! I would recommend for fans of THE HATING GAME (except THG is just so perfect).

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Kept Me Hooked On: Adult romance. I haven’t read a lot of adult/romance books lately and I’ve been dipping into a few adult contemporary/romance noels. These have been ranging more on the romance end than just a love story and they’ve been really fun!
Left Me Wanting More: Friend time. I really did enjoy the romance kicking off right off the bat but I also wished for a little more friend time as well.

Addiction Rating
Read it!

This was a great read and really fun all-around! The sass amongst the characters was perfect and I enjoyed the world-building and story.

book_recommendations1

BOOKS LIKE MY FAVORITE HALF-NIGHT STAND

             

Warrior of the Wild – Tricia Levenseller

Warrior of the Wild – Tricia LevensellerTitle: Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller
Publishing Info: February 26, 2018 by Macmillan
Source: Received from the publisher for review purposes
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Date Completed: March 9, 2019
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // Goodreads
Related Posts: Daughter of the Pirate King (Daughter of the Pirate King #1)

How do you kill a god?

As her father's chosen heir, eighteen-year-old Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness with an impossible quest: to win back her honour, she must kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year or die trying.

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WARRIOR OF THE WILD was such a fun read! I was a little worried because I’ve been really hit-or-miss with YA fantasy recently (a lot of it feeling too young in many ways, which is not a bad thing since it is young adult fiction but just not something I’ve been connecting with as of late) so I was really happy that I enjoyed WARRIOR OF THE WILD so much! I immediately got hooked on the tone of the book and really connected with Rasmira as a fierce warrior and really felt her fierceness in a true way.

The characters really made this book for me. I really enjoyed Rasmira’s character and loved that she was fierce but not a caricature of a fierce warrior. She had many layers to her characters and I could tell that a lot of thought and care was put into her reactions and interactions with other characters. There were many instances where she would stop to think how she was relating to another character and how it affected her, really taking into account the full picture. It wasn’t just a quick reaction or stubbornness for the sake of being fierce. The stubborn quality came from a true place in her heart where she stuck to her morals and beliefs while still growing to question where they came from and what was best for her.

I really enjoyed the story taking place in the wild, away from the bustle of the fantasy society to really focus on a few characters. I really loved the character relationships and interactions and I loved how they developed. The trio of Rasmira, Soren, and Iric was perfect. There was no love triangle and the friendships were beautiful. Each friendship was complicated with its own conflicts and I really liked how the introduction of Rasmira into the duo of Soren and Iric really shook things up to create a new dynamic. I actually could have used less romance, as little as there was, because I was enjoying the friendships so much and some of the kissing just felt a little out of place at times, but that could have also been because I was enjoying the friendships so much.

I also REALLY liked that it was a stand alone. I totally felt like it could have been drawn out into a series, following what happens if/when the characters return back to their villages, but I really appreciated that it wasn’t forced to continue into a series and bring up a whole new set of conflicts. This was wholly resolved in one book and I like where the end of this book left the readers! It was a quick read, settling on the perfect amount of time — not dragging on too long and not wrapping up too quickly. addiction_factor1

Kept Me Hooked On: YA Fantasy. I’ve been reading more adult books lately and have been shying away from some YA, just not hooking onto the tone. I’m so glad I enjoyed this one and fell right into it!
Left Me Wanting More: After-story. I really did enjoy where the book ended but it also made me want to see what else would happen! I wanted to see where the characters would go and what would happen after the book ended.

Addiction Rating
Read it

This was a great read and really fun all-around! The sass amongst the characters was perfect and I enjoyed the world-building and story.

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BOOKS LIKE WARRIOR OF THE WILD

             

Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7) – Sarah J. Maas

Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7) – Sarah J. MaasTitle: Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7) by Sarah J. Maas
Publishing Info: October 23, 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing
Source: Anderson's Bookshop
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Date Completed: November 17, 2018
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // Goodreads
Related Posts: The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass #0.1 - 0.5), Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1), Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2), Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3), A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1), Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4), A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2), Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5), A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3)

Years in the making, Sarah J. Maas’s #1 New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series draws to an epic, unforgettable conclusion. Aelin Galathynius’s journey from slave to king’s assassin to the queen of a once-great kingdom reaches its heart-rending finale as war erupts across her world. . .

Aelin has risked everything to save her people―but at a tremendous cost. Locked within an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will as she endures months of torture. Aware that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, though her resolve begins to unravel with each passing day…

With Aelin captured, Aedion and Lysandra remain the last line of defense to protect Terrasen from utter destruction. Yet they soon realize that the many allies they’ve gathered to battle Erawan’s hordes might not be enough to save them. Scattered across the continent and racing against time, Chaol, Manon, and Dorian are forced to forge their own paths to meet their fates. Hanging in the balance is any hope of salvation―and a better world.

And across the sea, his companions unwavering beside him, Rowan hunts to find his captured wife and queen―before she is lost to him forever.

As the threads of fate weave together at last, all must fight, if they are to have a chance at a future. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever in the explosive final chapter of the Throne of Glass series.

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So. This was the end and I had one roller coaster of a ride with this series! I went from enjoying the first book to adoring the next three, like favorite-series-ever adoration, to being super salty about EMPIRE OF STORMS, DNFing TOWER OF DAWN, and falling somewhere in the middle with KINGDOM OF ASH. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a mixed range of feelings toward a series overall, so bear with my thoughts here. I’ll try to express both the loves and the things I didn’t enjoy.

Let’s start with the good things. Sarah J. Maas created this huge series that appealed so to many readers who didn’t think they were fantasy fans, including myself. This was one of the series that launched me into reading fantasy and knowing I could enjoy these big series. She created a very firm, passionate connection with Aelin, packed a lot of punches and surprises, and brought so many characters to life that became immense fan-favorites. I loved how she connected things from the entire Throne of Glass world in the first four books and the ending for Aelin and the crew felt right and satisfying.

My issue throughout all of KINGDOM OF ASH was just that it was too long. In Sarah’s Chicago tour stop, she said she “would die” (yes, that’s a direct quote) if she had to cut any more from this book and I felt like there was a lot that could have been condensed, especially from books 4- 7. There’s a lot that happens on the page with so many characters and as much as they are loved, I think characters like Elide, Manon, Aedion, and Lysandra didn’t really need as much on-page time as they were given in KINGDOM OF ASH. Aedion and Lysandra to carry a lot of that action when things are happening away from Aelin, but it didn’t really push the story forward. There was a lot of battle action and, of course, there was romance, but everything felt like it really could have been shorter and more focused. I didn’t think Nesryn needed any POV chapters at all and her part in this book really didn’t push anything forward. I’m still salty about Chaol’s role in the series, being so prominent through QUEEN OF SHADOWS, being eliminated in EoS only to have ToD and then his real purpose for the series seemed only to bring Yrene to the fray, which was EXTREMELY important and made me even more upset that Yrene only came to the series in a novella and in TOWER OF DAWN when she should have been a much more prominent character of this series from the start. I actually think she should have swapped focus with Manon, who I loved earlier on but didn’t connect with in KINGDOM OF ASH much at all. I also felt like Manon didn’t get the ending she deserved, not because of the THINGS that happened but because I was so excited for her connection with Aelin and how they crossed paths in the previous books and something just didn’t connect. Yes, her storyline does play an important role in the battle at Terrasen but I feel like we left her in a place that is deserving of a whole new series focused on Manon because I just don’t like where her story ended in this series.

I also noticed right away that I had issues with the writing this book. There were a lot of sentence fragments.
On every page.
In so many ways.
In every third paragraph.
And it really broke up the flow of the story. There were a lot of places where a sentence was chopped into fragments where it could have just gone on as a continuing idea and it really made things choppy and dramatic. I get it — they’re for effect — but it doesn’t have to be every other paragraph or every fifth sentence. It was a LOT.

I also felt like there was a real lack of world-building here. There was a lot of time spent with characters and witnessing their actions, but too many big moments and concepts were presented with not a lot of weight supporting them. Some of the big worldly concepts felt like they just happened without a lead up and readers are just expected to accept them as things that are possible in this world because hey, there’s magic. Granted, there’s a certain understanding that some of these characters have fae magic and that doesn’t really need explanation, and that I get, but some of the wyrdkey/portal/magical item/god/magical ability concepts seemed to just sort of happen. For how big and detailed these books are, I felt like more attention should have been focused on some of these interesting details about the political structure and magical rules. Too many characters seemed to be able to just have these certain magical abilities all of a sudden and I wouldn’t question it if it was just one who discovered they had more powers than they knew, but it kind of happened a lot and other moments seemed to come out of nowhere with these random grand magical gestures happening at the most convenient times when they were never mentioned before. I’m not off-put by their existence but I would have liked to see the characters discuss more about how some of these abilities worked, what sort of lore there was behind powers that could destroy the Valg, why some people inherited or developed X powers, etc. There were too many things that I felt like I was just supposed to take as they came instead of making a really cool connection into the rules of the magic.

And lastly, while I did feel like the ending was a great way to wrap up the series, I did still feel like there weren’t enough risks taken and not enough was… sacrificed, mostly because I’ve had these feelings before with the Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy and I couldn’t shake that feeling in this epic conclusion either. War isn’t clean and it isn’t pretty and it doesn’t protect all of the best people. There were some choices made and sacrifices given but it still felt a little too happy and perfect in a few ways. I’m glad I finished the series and I’m glad I read it and it was quite the epic adventure.

 

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Kept Me Hooked On: Finales. I am glad that I finished the series! It’s always so complicated ending a series but it’s so refreshing as well.
Left Me Wanting More: PLOT. Ugh, I felt so frustrated that this book barely moved anything forward. It was the finale!! We spent far too much time with the characters and their love stories or random action sequences that did nothing for the book when so much could have been happening.

Addiction Rating
Read it

If you’ve made it to the end, it’s worth finishing! I did like finishing the series even if I didn’t really love it.

book_recommendations1

BOOKS LIKE KINGDOM OF ASH

             

What I Loved [February 2019]

In an attempt to get back into the blogging swing, I wanted to revisit my monthly recaps but in a much more casual way! Instead of focusing on stats and posts, I’m sharing some of my favorite things about this month, from books to merch to life and everything in between!

BOOKS

I had a couple DNFs in February that screwed up my reading flow! Then I just decided to do a series re-read and getting into some more TV show binges, because that’s become quite a norm for me now! As much as I love spending all my time listening to audiobooks, I’ve really been enjoying this break from listening and I watched some great shows this month! But anyway, this part is about the books so let’s get to it!

 

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BOOKS READ (8):

DNFs:

  • Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things #1) by Gwneda Bond
  • The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2) by Maureen Johnson

FEBRUARY READING STATS

  • # BOOKS READ: 8
  • # BOOKS DNF: 2
  • RATINGS:
    • 5 STARS: 2
    • 4.5 STARS: 1
    • 4 STARS: 2
    • 3.5 STARS: 0
    • 3 STARS: 3
    • 2.5 STARS: 0
  • FORMATS: 
    • AUDIOBOOK: 8
    • ARC: 0
    • HARDCOVER: 0

EVENTS & WANDERINGS

I stopped by local indie Harvey’s Tales again while I was in the area, just to stop in, and also made it into local Indies The Bookshop of Glen Ellyn (to drop off more candles!) and Prairie Path Books in Wheaton. I had never been into the Wheaton bookstore before and it was great to see the Glen Ellyn bookstore after its remodel!

 

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MOVIES & SHOWS

I started a bullet journal this year in part because I wanted to make my own reading journal but also so I could keep track of TV shows! I realized how much I actually watch while I’m working and when Shane and I sit down to watch things at night so I started keeping track of the shows I’ve been binge watching!

Here’s what I watched in February:

  • THE OFFICE (Netflix): Finished Season 5 (started in January), watched all of seasons 6-9 | SERIES FINISHED
  • BETTER CALL SAUL (Netflix, Amazon): Finished Season 3 (started in January), purchased Season 4 to watch via Amazon | SERIES FINISHED THROUGH CURRENT RELEASES
  • THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY (Netflix): Started and finished Season 1 | SERIES FINISHED THROUGH CURRENT RELEASES
  • THE SANTA CLARITA DIET (Netflix): Started and finished Seasons 1 and 2 | SERIES FINISHED THROUGH CURRENT RELEASES

I had a lot of fun completing my re-watch of The Office because I hadn’t seen the later seasons until earlier this year (which is what prompted my re-watch) and I still hadn’t seen all of the episodes! I had missed some here and there so it was great to really know that I’ve seen everything.

Shane and I loved Breaking Bad and we’ve been loving Better Call Saul! We dropped the money to buy the 4th season from Amazon so we didn’t have to stop watching it even though it’ll probably be on Netflix later this year.

I absolutely LOVED The Umbrella Academy and thought it was so good!! It was so enjoyable, I loved the abilities, the characters were great, and there were some awesome twists I didn’t see coming!

And lastly, I binge watched The Santa Clarita Diet in two days, basically watching the first season in one day and the second season the next day, both while I was working. It was so funny while being dark and I just had so much fun watching it!

I also watched all four Hunger Games movies after listening to the books as re-reads and I had never seen the last movie, actually! It was the perfect reason to re-watch the movies and finally see the very last one.

Skyward (Skyward #1) – Brandon Sanderson

Skyward (Skyward #1) – Brandon SandersonTitle: Skyward (Skyward #1) by Brandon Sanderson
Publishing Info: November 6, 2018 by Random House Publishing Group
Source: Amazon, Audible
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Date Completed: February 5, 2019
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // Goodreads
Related Posts: Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn #1), The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2), The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3), The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4), Legion (Legion #1) & Legion: Skin Deep (Legion #2), , The Emperor's Soul, The Eleventh Metal (Mistborn #0.5), , Firstborn, Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5), The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn #6), Calamity (The Reckoners #3), , Perfect State, Mistborn: Secret History (Mistborn #3.5), Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, Elantris, The Rithmatist (Rithmatist #1), Warbreaker (Warbreaker #1), The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1), Snapshot, Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2), Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive #2.5), Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive #3)

Spensa's world has been under attack for decades. Now pilots are the heroes of what's left of the human race, and becoming one has always been Spensa's dream. Since she was a little girl, she has imagined soaring skyward and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with that of her father's—a pilot himself who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, leaving Spensa the daughter of a coward, her chances of attending Flight School slim to none.

No one will let Spensa forget what her father did, yet fate works in mysterious ways. Flight school might be a long shot, but she is determined to fly. And an accidental discovery in a long-forgotten cavern might just provide her with a way to claim the stars.

bookreview1

Well, this is awkward. I seem to be one of the only people so far who hasn’t really loved or enjoyed this book. SKYWARD was just…. fine. I’ve read all of Sanderson’s major published works (minus some of the latest Alcatraz books since I’m not a big MG reader) and this one fell really flat for me. I’ve come to know Sanderson’s writing and no matter what kind of book he’s writing, there’s still that typical style that packs a novel with punches and sass. SKYWARD did have some enjoyable moments and it did have its great sassy characters, but nothing really stood out for me while reading.

I felt like SKYWARD, in short, was slow. I kept waiting for things to get interesting and they kind of never did until the very end, by which time my interest was long gone. I’m used to picking up more things along the way and I kept trying to grab those pieces as I read but the “clues” either felt really obvious or weren’t divulged at all, making for a frustrating reading experience. It almost felt like he toned down the world-building for this, and I won’t say it’s *because* it’s YA but it felt like he aimed to write this younger than his adult novels, which is fine and that appeals to the actual teen audience, but I also felt like it was a little too muted. I really missed a lot of his incredible writing style where there are so many layers to the book and I just didn’t really feel it here. The big plot twist (towards which the whole book is building) happens at the very end, but even then I didn’t quite love it. I felt like all of the flight school and repetitive mentions of how the main character’s father was a coward was overkill. There were a lot of action sequences with fighting off the bad guys where I felt the book could have benefitted from other important pieces of plot or world-building.

I also didn’t love the character relationships here either. I did like the friendships created but I still didn’t feel connected to them, like these characters were really a squad. They did come together and I enjoyed it, but I don’t know… they just never felt totally cohesive where I wanted to shout “#squadgoals!”, you know? I liked that this book didn’t really have a romance because I really don’t need a romance to enjoy a book. Things did start building in a certain direction but I also think I would have enjoyed it more if that tension had started building a little bit more in book one. I don’t need characters to get together right away but that development felt slow to me also. I wanted to see more on-screen time with the two we know are building towards a love interest to really build their relationship for me and there were only small portions of that here with the two of them alone. I did see the chemistry but it was in too short of a timeframe.

SKYWARD was a fine read and it wasn’t a bad one by any means, but compared to the other books I’ve read from Brandon Sanderson, it’s by far my least favorite. I just felt like it could have used a lot more development and a lot fewer details and fight scenes. I’m sure I’ll continue the series because it’s Brandon Sanderson and that would be hard NOT to continue but I’m also really bummed that I didn’t love this book and it’ll be hard to go into the next book with an open mind.

 

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addiction_factor1

Kept Me Hooked On: Space Adventures. I really, really love adventures in space, especially ones that take us to new corners of the galaxy.
Left Me Wanting More: Advancement of plot. Brandon Sanderson has the great concept of some serious twists but I wanted it to lead up to it a little bit more. I felt like there was some poor hinting and then it just happened. I wanted more of that adult-feel with the plot development and it felt too easy or quick.

Addiction Rating
Try it

It was enjoyable even though it wasn’t a favorite of mine. A lot of people seem to still like it so I’d say give it a shot!

book_recommendations1

BOOKS LIKE SKYWARD

             

The Importance of Re-Reading

I’ve always been a big re-reader, visiting my favorite books over and over again. It started way back in the day when I didn’t know where or how to find new books so I just ended up reading Harry Potter over and over and once I discovered Twilight, that was the next series binge re-read on a constant repeat. If I love something, I tend to make sure I revisit it multiple times, from books to movies to TV shows… and hey, we’ll even throw foods and desserts in there because when the “usual” is amazing, why bother straying?

Re-reading has always been really important to me, and the more books I read, the more important it feels to keep going back to the ones that I enjoyed so much! Over the years, I’ve learned how much I take away from re-reading and how much I enjoy it in so many ways.

My recent re-reads!

RE-READING REFRESHES MY LONG-TERM MEMORY BRAIN

My brain is very much a long-term memory brain! I still remember phone numbers and addresses from my friends in elementary school. I once memorized 200 digits of pi for extra credit sophomore year of high school. If I repeat something enough, it sticks in my brain and it sticks HARD. If I read a book once, sure I’ll remember what it was about. Some excellent twists or points or characters might stick in my brain. But I know from personal experience, the more I repeat reading (and same goes for watching), the more I can stick things to my memory in clear, precise detail!

I had an old co-worker who would watch a TV show once and then relay half the episode to me the next day. I had trouble recalling what even happened on the episode until he reminded me! But I can recite my favorite movies to you all the way through, getting quotes and inflection exactly right because I’ve repeated them so many times. The same goes for reading, especially when I’m listening to audiobooks! I’ve listened to THE SCORPIO RACES six or seven times now and I can remember exact lines from the book in the narrators’ voices. Not only do I remember specific details, I actually can recite things with the audiobook too! There’s no way I could remember quotes without reading them (or listening to them) multiple times.

Re-reading is also SO helpful when I need to refresh my memory on a series! Before I started KING OF SCARS, I re-read all of The Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology! I had already read through the Shadow and Bone trilogy three times and Six of Crows twice but I wanted to read them again to get a better focus for the characters in KING OF SCARS and I knew I had forgotten SO much in just a couple of years. It was so helpful to read them all over again and remember specifically what happened, committing all those details to memory again!

RE-READING GIVES ME MORE TIME WITH MY FAVORITES

Who doesn’t like to spend time with their favorite things? I can’t imagine reading a favorite book only once and never again. Sure, I’ve got a huge case of FOMO with all those books still on my TBR but if I know I loved a book so much, I simply HAVE to go back and read it again. I know there’s a reason I enjoyed it so much and I want to have that experience again, even if it’s not exactly the same as when I first read it (since sometimes nothing is ever the same as the first time)! I love the feelings that these special stories give me and I love being able to see new things about a book or character each time I read it! Sometimes I forget about something until I read it again, or I’ll realize something new about a relationship or a small Easter egg I never noticed before. There’s always something new to discover and see how much an author put into their work!

RE-READING IS A GUARANTEE TO ENJOY MY NEXT READ

Sometimes I go through a streak of books that I don’t have strong feelings for or haven’t enjoyed. Picking up an old favorite is a guarantee that I’ll enjoy what I’m reading and since it’s usually a series that I’m re-reading so I have a few amazing reads all in a row!

IT’S A GREAT BREAK FROM A FULL-FOCUS READ

Even if I’ve only read a book once before, a re-read lets me multi-task a little bit more and I don’t have to focus quite as much. Since I’m usually re-reading via audiobook, I can focus a little less on the book and a little more on work or whatever the task is at hand, still being able to read and follow the story but not having to discover a new world or meet new characters. My brain gets to relax just a little bit and I don’t have to focus on a brand-new read.


Do you do a lot of re-reading? Do you only re-read for series preparation or do you read your favorites over and over?
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