So just like everything else with my posts for the past few months I have procrastinated a lot. So here is a whole half a year’s worth of books I’ve gotten (whoops)! I have linked each title to it’s Goodreads page in case you want more info and I’ve included my own full reviews if they apply as well!
I’m just gonna slide back in here and act like I haven’t been MIA for 2 months….
Also always looking for an excuse to use ‘John Wick’ gifs. Sorry, the unannounced break was needed apparently. I have been out of the loop and I actually hate not knowing what’s going on in the book community, I’ve missed it! Without further ado here’s my (mostly reading) wrap ups for May and June!
I actually think about this a lot, there are books out there that I rated and reviewed that I just don’t agree with anymore. Sometimes it just takes more time for me to mull over my thoughts. Some books I think deserve a higher rating now and some a lower rating, whether I’ll actually change them or not we’ll see! I also always feel like I should re-write my old reviews too, so cringey!
This was “created” by Lost in a Story!
The Rules:
Current TBR: 774
Book #130
The Calling by James Frey
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
I bought this when it first came out when I was wondering around Target looking for a book to buy, I really regret blindly buying it now of course. I have zero interest in even reading it. Plus I don’t hear good things about the author…..
The Judgement: Go
Book #131
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
I’m on the fence with this one because I think I will read it eventually (especially since my grandpa has been asking me if I’ve read it yet, forever) but just not soon. I have other books I’d rather get to.
The Judgement: Go
Book #132
White Cat by Holly Black
Date Added: July 31st, 2015
I know, I know. I said I think Holly’s books aren’t really for me but I do own this so I want to at least try it….and also I want to try “The Cruel Prince” because of the hype.
The Judgement: Keep
Book #133
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Date Added: August 3rd, 2015
I actually don’t really remember why I added this one…..hm.
The Judgement: Go
Book #134
In The Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters
Date Added: August 4th, 2015
I absolutely adored “The Steep & Thorny Way” and loved Cat’s writing so I’m really excited to read another of her books!
The Judgement: Keep
Book #135
The Uninvited by Cat Winters
Date Added: August 4th, 2015
Yep another Cat Winters book….
The Judgement: Keep
Book #136
Born of Illusion by Teri Brown
Date Added: August 4th, 2015
I love magic and magicians, it’s always a fun time for me so I’m excited to read this one!
The Judgement: Keep
Book #137
The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Date Added: August 4th, 2015
This one actually sounds pretty good, with robots and things, but I think I’ll just remove it until I read more of Clarke’s books and decide if I like her style first.
The Judgement: Go
Book #138
The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Date Added: August 4th, 2015
Okay so there are apparently PIRATES in this book so I’m going to keep it of course because I love me a good pirate story even if it’s minor pirates.
The Judgement: Keep
Book #139
Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Date Added: August 4th, 2015
This one sounds interesting, people living in a dome in Antarctica! I got a cheap copy on my Kindle so I’ll give it a shot.
The Judgement: Keep
Have you read any of these? What did you think?
Do you think I should have kept any of these books?
Do you agree with any of my keeps or discards?
Let me know in the comments!
When her seventeenth summer solstice arrives, Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron.
Growing up in the southern Kingdom of Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her for such a life. While some are born with an innate talent for one of the five passions—art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge—Brienna struggled to find hers until she belatedly chose to study knowledge. However, despite all her preparations, Brienna’s greatest fear comes true—the solstice does not go according to plan and she is left without a patron.
Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, and with no other choices, she accepts. But there is much more to his story, and Brienna soon discovers that he has sought her out for his own vengeful gain. For there is a dangerous plot being planned to overthrow the king of Maevana—the archrival kingdom of Valenia—and restore the rightful queen, and her magic, to the northern throne. And others are involved—some closer to Brienna than she realizes.
With war brewing between the two lands, Brienna must choose whose side she will remain loyal to—passion or blood. Because a queen is destined to rise and lead the battle to reclaim the crown. The ultimate decision Brienna must determine is: Who will be that queen?
**** Huge thank you to HarperTeen for sending me an ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review ****
This was kind of disappointing because I felt it had a lot of potential to be amazing but it was just….extremely slow. It wasn’t terrible by any means but I just felt it was boring.
Essentially the plot revolves around Brienna who is studying to be a passion of knowledge at Magnalia house with 5 other girls who are studying each passion as well-arts, drama, music, wit, and knowledge. She is left without a patron though and is swept up in a plot to overthrow a king! That’s the story! There’s also a kind of subplot where we are left wondering who Brienna’s father/family history is the entire book too, but this is literally given away by the family tree at the beginning of the book! Why would they do this? You want us to sit in suspense and make it a big mystery throughout the story and yet reveal it in the family tree at the beginning of the book? Needless to say I DO NOT recommend reading those before you read the book.
The plot was extremely slow paced and at times very boring. Brienna’s time at Magnalia house is spent gossiping with the other girls and they talk about their passions and such. It was tedious, so very tedious. From there I usually love the whole “rebellion” side of plots but this was very underwhelming, it completely lacked any action or twists. What twists there were, were completely predictable and in no way surprised me. That was probably one of the things that disappointed me the most since it took away any suspense from the story for me.
I also felt a lot of things were a little too convenient in order to move the plot forward and the ending felt rushed.
I DID like the family dynamics and lineages though, they were fun to keep track of especially with all of the political intrigue.
Also I really loved the idea of the passions and what little world building there was, was really interesting. However, I felt that there could have been a lot more world building and what there was could have been expanded on. I liked the magic system too, in which magic passes woman to woman and not to men whatsoever. Very feminist, which I loved.
The writing did flow well and was very descriptive, I think it’s one of the few reasons I managed to push through the entire 464 pages.
Overall the characters were kind of “meh”, they were all likable enough but I definitely felt like they could have used a little more complexity.
Brienna was an okay protagonist, I didn’t love her and I didn’t hate her. I did like that she was very brave and bound and determined to help aid the “rebels” and that she didn’t make a bunch of stupid decisions either.
There were quite a few side characters such as Brienna’s peers who were all fine, but I really liked the rebel characters the most such as Alderic, Luc, and Yseult. But as I already mentioned I thought everyone could have been developed a bit more.
The romance was definitely my least favorite thing about “The Queen’s Rising” right up there next to the painfully slow pacing. There is a developing romance throughout the book between Brienna and her teacher, Master Cartier. It was extremely awkward, lacked chemistry, and not to mention completely inappropriate. Sorry but I do not enjoy teacher/student relationships and that’s just my opinion.
Plus the romance became too much of a focus at times and was completely unnecessary.
Overall, this book just fell really short for me and I’m left feeling kind of disappointed with it. I expected a lot more action, suspense, and build up.
What I Loved:
What I Didn’t Love:
Sorry, but I can’t really say I recommend this book as it wasn’t anything new to the YA Fantasy genre at all and was slow an predictable.
Links: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository / Barnes & Noble
Follow Me Elsewhere: Twitter * Instagram * Goodreads
So I decided to join the Beat the Backlist challenge this year as I have SO many books I need to read that I own! My goal for this year is 60 books on my backlist TBR and hopefully I’ll get through more than that as well.
There are a couple 2017 releases on here but MOST of these were released even earlier than that, as I said I want to get through my older books. Here are the books I’m hoping to read!
You can sign up for 2018 Beat the Backlist here.
Did you sign up for the Beat the Backlist challenge this year?
What are some of the books you’re hoping to read?
Have you read any of these? What did you think?
Let me know in the comments!
Follow Me Elsewhere: Twitter * Instagram * Goodreads
Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can’t escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.
Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it’s Justyce who is under attack.
Trigger Warnings: Racism, Sexism/Misogyny, Violence, & Police Brutality
Honestly, how do I even begin to write a review for an excellent book such as this?
A brilliantly written book that is not only incredibly powerful and packs a lot of punch in just 210 pages. I can already tell that “Dear Martin” and “The Hate U Give” are going to be compared and let me just tell you: read them both. They are both excellent and both deserve to be read as they handle important issues like police brutality and racism.
Of course I’d just like to say that I, being a white woman, can’t even begin to fully understand the issues described in this book nor can I fully give my opinion on them because of that. However, I do think this book is very important and I urge you all to give it a read. That being said you should definitely check out some #OwnVoices reviews of this book and if you know of any please feel free to link them below!
Right off the bat I’d like to say that it was great to be reading from Justyce’s POV, he’s just a great character but it was also nice to read from not only a male POV but also a POC POV in YA. I also really enjoyed the sections of the story in which Justyce wrote his letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. they added so much insight into not only his character but the issues that African Americans endure every day.
While this book focuses a lot on police brutality it also focuses a lot on racism micro-agressions as well. For example throughout the course of the story Justyce is faced with white male peers constantly making racist jokes and telling him to “quit being so sensitive” about them at the same time. Many of the side characters act atrociously in this perspective throughout the story too. I will say that one of the characters makes a bit of a turn around by the end of the story, which was nice to see.
One other thing that I mentioned in the trigger warnings was sexism and misogyny which we do see a bit of in this story and while it’s challenged I don’t think it was challenged enough. At one point during the story Justyce’s best friend, Manny, states that he isn’t interested in black girls because they’re “ghetto and full of attitude” and Justyce doesn’t want to date the girl he’s interested in because she’s white and his mother would not approve.
Aside from the plot the pacing is very fast and the writing is excellent, it’s easy to breeze through this one! I’ll also be looking forward to anything Nic Stone will be writing in the future as well!
Also my only real complaint is that it wasn’t longer!
I really enjoyed Justyce’s character as well as his friend Manny, his love interest SJ, and their debate teacher whom they refer to as Doc. I thought they were all great characters and good people on top of that. I have to say though SJ, honestly, was my favorite I loved how fiesty and intelligent she was every time she would speak up about the racist and unintelligent remarks made by some of their classmates. I wish there would have been more development for a lot of the characters but with such a short novel that can’t really be helped.
As for some of the other characters such as Justyce’s peers, whom I don’t remember all of their names because they were horrible people, I loathed them. They were so blatantly ignorant and racist it was ridiculous and got to the point where I thought to myself “Do people actually talk this way?!” to which the answer is yes there are horrible people out there that do talk, think, and act like the people in this story.
There was a bit of romance in “Dear Martin” and sometimes I felt it became too much of a focus in the plot and a little….overly dramatic. There’s a love triangle between Justyce, his on again, off again girlfriend Melo, and his friend SJ. Melo is clearly not a great girlfriend and manipulates Justyce whereas SJ is clearly perfect for him, so of course I spent the entire book rooting for Justyce x SJ! I really loved their relationship. So overall I did like the romance but like I said it got to be a little “too much” at times.
Overall thoughts: a fantastic book that my review simply cannot do justice (pun, unintentional!).
What I Loved:
What I Didn’t Love:
I cannot recommend “Dear Martin” enough, it is an extremely important and powerful novel. I also recommend checking out “The Hate U Give” as well if you have already read this one and loved it!
Links: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository / Barnes & Noble
Follow Me Elsewhere: Twitter * Instagram * Goodreads
This was “created” by Lost in a Story!
The Rules:
Current TBR: 774
**** For some reason I skipped a book last week! But I’m back on track this week.****
Book #120
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
I don’t know if I’ll ever actually get around to reading this but I’ll keep it for now since I own it. Plus I really loved “The Shining”!
The Judgement: Keep
Book #121
The Gift by James Patterson
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
I did enjoy “Witch and Wizard” when I read it AGES ago but I don’t really think I want to continue with the series anymore.
The Judgement: Go
Book #122
Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
Once again I read this series a while ago and enjoyed it but I don’t think I’ll ever continue with it.
The Judgement: Go
Book #123
School’s Out Forever by James Patterson
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
Again, read a while ago. Don’t want to continue with the series.
The Judgement: Go
Book #124
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
Are you guys seeing a pattern here in this patch of my TBR? Series I started and won’t be finishing because I just didn’t really think “Divergent” was that great.
The Judgement: Go
Book #125
The Name of Stars by Maureen Johnson
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
A sort of retelling of Jack the Ripper including a girl who can essentially see ghosts, at least that’s what it sounds like! It sounds interesting and I own a copy so I’d like to see if it’s any good.
The Judgement: Keep
Book #126
Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
I love Star Wars and I love zombies but I just don’t know about this one anymore. Maybe I’ll read it eventually or maybe not but for now meh.
The Judgement: Go
Book #127
I, Iago by Nicole Galland
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
I freaking love “Othello” it is by far my favorite Shakespeare play and Iago is one of my absolute favorite villains. So of course I’d love to read anything related to the play!
The Judgement: Keep
Book #128
Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance by Oliver Bowden
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
I really love the Assassin’s Creed games especially the Ezio ones and so I kind of wanted the book but I just don’t think I’ll read it. I’d rather go play the game!
The Judgement: Go
Book #129
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
Date Added: July 29th, 2015
I tried reading this a really long time ago and just wasn’t very intrigued by it, I just don’t think Holly Black’s writing is for me. Although I will be trying “The Cruel Prince” because the hype is ridiculous.
The Judgement: Go
Have you read any of these? What did you think?
Do you think I should have kept any of these books?
Do you agree with any of my keeps or discards?
Let me know in the comments!
thesassygeek.wordpress.com 