August 2019 Wrap Up

 In the beginning of the year I was reading so many more books per month! 😂 With school starting up again and work, I really do read as much as I can, but there is not that much opportunity. I'm still going strong toward my Goodreads challenge (a lofty 19 book cushion at the moment), and I will finish my 2019 reading challenge!

Here are my stats for the month. I read a total of 7 books, averaging 418 pages in length. That is definitely longer than the books I've been reading the past few months so I give myself props for that! My average rating was 3.5, which is lower than last month. I blame that on my last read this month... you can see all the details below:

1. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

Rating: ★★★★☆
This was a really good book. I really loved the writing style, with the --ALL CAPS EFFECTS-- and the strikethroughs on people's names when they were dead. It really showed how the deaths weighed on Yael's conscience. She could've (should've) been so completely jaded from her past in the camp, and used that as unrelenting fuel to kill anyone who stood in the way of her mission. Instead, the death she witnessed gave her a kind of PTSD that made her terrified of death, including when she was the one doing the killing. I think that Yael was a complex protagonist, and I enjoyed reading her POV a lot. Check out my review for Blood for Blood (linked below at #6) for my review on the series as a whole.

2. Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins

Rating: ★★★★★
This is probably my favorite Kristan Higgins book so far (the fourth one I've read). It's definitely heavier topics and more serious, but I think Nora's giddy optimism kind of off sets that so I liked it. I really meant to write a review for this one, but didn't get around to it. 😕But I do highly recommend this book.

3. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
This book had some of the most unlikable characters I've ever read, I'm really impressed! Yes, that's sarcasm, because I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to hate the main character or her twin sister, but here we are, with a 2-star review. Two main reasons for the two-star rating: the plot and the characters. And, well, those are two pretty important aspects of novels. To find out more, you can find my review HERE.

4. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Rating: ★★★★★
This book was an emotional roller coaster. I hated characters, I loved characters, I loved characters I hated, and hated characters I love. The author really knows how to write character development. There were a lot of tropes in here that have been so poorly executed by many (most) YA fantasy books (enemies-to-lovers, enemies-to-friends, the chosen one, evil overlord, powerful artifact, the quest. Like really guys, there's a lot.) But! I didn't even really notice these plot points as tropes until after I finished the book and was reflecting on it because they fit so well into the story. Check out my full review HERE.

5. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

Here's another children's classic that I just thought "meh" about. I didn't rate this book because I don't feel that I am the target audience, so I am not going to get out of it what was intended by Carroll. I'm sure this is a joy for children, I just didn't really grow up with the Alice stories, so I didn't care that much about it.

6. Blood for Blood (Wolf by Wolf #2) by Ryan Graudin

Rating: ★★★★☆
This series packs a serious emotional punch. I really enjoyed my time reading, and I was really invested in the characters. I loved the moral dilemmas the characters faced (especially Felix, like wowwww), and I think the 3rd person POV was used really well to tell the story as all the characters. The first book was really just about Yael, and while she's still the main character in the second book, the author really broadened the story by incorporating more characters. Read my full review HERE.

7. Wayfarer (Passenger, #2) by Alexandra Bracken
 
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
This book... where do I even begin? How about with the simplest thing... This book is boring. It does not excite the reader. I was not drawn into the characters or the plotline, much like the first book. The book was 532 pages, but I don't even remember most of the plotline because that's how unmemorable it was. For a second there in the middle, I thought I would end up giving this 3 stars because I was intrigued at certain points, but by the halfway point I was just dragging my feet to finish this. So what went wrong? Read my full review HERE.

Review for "Wayfarer" by Alexandra Bracken

What was history anyway but the lies of a winning few? Why was it worth protecting, when it forgot the starving child under siege, the slave woman on her deathbed, the man lost at sea? 


 

 Rating:★☆☆☆☆

This book... where do I even begin? How about with the simplest thing... This book is boring. It does not excite the reader. I was not drawn into the characters or the plotline, much like the first book. The book was 532 pages, but I don't even remember most of the plotline because that's how unmemorable it was. For a second there in the middle, I thought I would end up giving this 3 stars because I was intrigued at certain points, but by the halfway point I was just dragging my feet to finish this. So what went wrong?

There are so many characters, and none of them are written well. There are also characters just thrown into the mix, to be abandoned and then returned to at the end of the book. If this was supposed to be a twist, it's honestly just corny. Speaking of corniness... this whole book is a melodramatic cringe. There are too many quotes about destiny and love that just made me want to stick a fork in an electrical socket. Here's a quote from the final battle:

...when the Shadow stabbed at his heart, the bead caught the tip of the blade.

Awww the earring necklace that Etta gave to Nicholas as a token of her undying love saved him from dying, awwww. NOT. First of all, that just makes no sense. A SWORD was stopped by a... BEAD? Come on. And even if it did make sense, that's the cheesiest plot point I've ever heard.

We've covered characters and writing, and this segues me into the last flaw of the book: the plot itself. I mentioned that it's boring, but also it just doesn't make sense. There are so many plot holes with the time travel plot because it isn't well established in the beginning, and it makes the whole thing implausible. The author tries to make predetermined destinies coexist with free will, and by definition these two things cannot coexist. It just does not make sense. I was also confused by parts, I didn't understand what was going on with Li Min, or Rose's Grand Plan. Things were not explained well. It was incredibly frustrating.

There were also just some parts of the plot that made me laugh at how ridiculous and unnecessary they were. For example: the Shadows and the Ancient One. There was already enough going on with the Ironwoods, Lindens, and Hemlocks, why add in some scary spooky Shadow dudes just for the heck of it? If the author really wanted to add another competing group, why not add the Jacarandas, who were consistently mentioned but never actually showed up in the story? The Ancient One is, perhaps, the biggest plot letdown of this novel. I actually snorted at the part where Etta literally THROWS A TORCH at him, and he burns up like tissue paper. Like what??? This dude is the most powerful traveler, and everyone is afraid of him, and he has an army, and he's going to Thanos everyone out of existence, but he gets taken down by little more than a lit match? I think that is the epitome of the lack of logic in this book.

My overall series rating: 1.5 stars. Obviously, I didn't like it. It was kind of a waste of my time, and I do not recommend this time travel story. I do plan on reading The Darkest Minds (also by Alexandra Bracken) in the future, so fingers crossed that I like that one better!

Review for "Blood for Blood" by Ryan Graudin

"You and I are not monsters. If anything, we're miracles."


 

Rating: ★★★★☆

This series packs a serious emotional punch. I really enjoyed my time reading, and I was really invested in the characters. I loved the moral dilemmas the characters faced (especially Felix, like wowwww), and I think the 3rd person POV was used really well to tell the story as all the characters. The first book was really just about Yael, and while she's still the main character in the second book, the author really broadened the story by incorporating more characters.

The story didn't really go in the direction I thought it would. It was shocking at times, but not in a way I'm sure I liked. The first book was more of a quest plotline while this book was more of a political war plotline, and I just think some of the twists were unrealistic/corny. That's my personal opinion, obviously I still really like this series as I give it 4/5 stars.

Overall on the duology, I can't decide which book I liked more (and they both got 4 stars from me, so I guess that makes sense). The first book was stronger in plot, but the second book was stronger in characters. Normally strong characters would win out, but I only say the characters were stronger because there were MORE of them. Yael was still an amazing character in the first book, and seeing her struggles with her past and making hard choices in the first book was really great. I really loved the writing style in this book, with the --ALL CAPS EFFECTS-- and the strikethroughs on people's names when they were dead. It really showed how the deaths weighed on Yael's conscience. She could've (should've) been so completely jaded from her past in the camp, and used that as unrelenting fuel to kill anyone who stood in the way of her mission. Instead, the death she witnessed gave her a kind of PTSD that made her terrified of death, including when she was the one doing the killing. I think that Yael was a complex protagonist, and I enjoyed reading her POV a lot.

I also really liked Luka's development. It's mentioned several times in the book how he went from the National Socialists' poster boy to national rebel. In the first book, we don't get his POV, so we don't know any of his history. Knowing his past was really cool, and it made sense with how he makes his decisions. I'm torn over whether or not I liked the Luka-Yael romance or if it was unnecessary, like the author was just putting it in there because he felt that a YA should have a love story. I really thought it was sweet how Luka's inner monologue was admitting that he was staying and joining the resistance for Yael, but I think their admissions of loving each other in the end of the book were a bit rash and corny. To be fair, they were in the middle of an extremely dangerous mission where they could very likely die so I mean YOLO, but still it felt weird to read. I liked [ Luka's honorable death, like I like that he died for a cause he only just joined because he knew he was making up for time spent being the face of a horrible government (hide spoiler)] but I wasn't a huge fan of how that all went down exactly. I just felt like he deserved something bigger and more dramatic.

Now Felix was interesting. We definitely got more of him (compared to Luka) in the first book because with Yael impersonating Adele it went into their family history a bit. But Felix's moral dilemma in this story was so, so well executed. His motives are almost the exact same as Yael's, but in an opposite context. Yael knows that killing the bad guys in order to prevent more death in the future is worth it, but she still has trouble doing it. Felix knows (thinks) that betraying the resistance will save his family's lives, but he still has so many doubts and regrets about it. His panic is portrayed really well, and I think it makes it hard to hate him, even if he did ruin things and was wrong. I don't love Adele, but Felix, FELIX, was an awesome character.

One last thing about the series as a whole - I can't decide if I loved or hated the skin shifter plotline! And that was like the main part of the story. It was just a bit too science fiction (in a book that felt more historical fiction) for me to completely jump on board. The science to me just does not make sense, and it made things a bit too convenient throughout the story (except of course, Yael ruined that by have 5 large conspicuous wolf tattoos on her arm, but I suppose she had a pretty telling inmate tattoo to begin with). The skin shifting was interesting, but then when SPOILER Miriam came in and was ALSO a skin shifter... it just felt kind of silly. It was fun, but it brought down the novel's level of legitimacy.

Review for "Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi

We are all children of blood and bone. All instruments of vengeance and virtue. 

 
Rating: ★★★★★

This book was an emotional roller coaster. I hated characters, I loved characters, I loved characters I hated, and hated characters I love. The author really knows how to write character development. There were a lot of tropes in here that have been so poorly executed by many (most) YA fantasy books (enemies-to-lovers, enemies-to-friends, the chosen one, evil overlord, powerful artifact, the quest. Like really guys, there's a lot.) But! I didn't even really notice these plot points as tropes until after I finished the book and was reflecting on it because they fit so well into the story.

Let's talk about the characters:

Zélie:
I was worried about this one in the beginning. When she's in Mama Agba's school learning to fight, and is just so eager and ferocious, I was kinda like hmmmm this is cliche and cringey. However, this initial reaction to Zélie is really a testament to the author's ability to develop the characters throughout the story. Zélie starts out jaded and feisty, but she learns how to also love and still be strong. The author opens the book with the scene of Zélie's mother dying, so that's not a spoiler, but despite the viciousness and brutality of her mother's death, I still didn't really empathize. I thought it was just another trope (dead mother), but as the story progressed we saw how Zélie's history affected her everyday choices and emotions. By the end of the book, I was really emotional over Zélie and everything she went through both as a child and on the journey. I definitely think she was an improved character in this story (if also a little naive). I think I came to connect more with Zélie (and think she's naive) through her relationship with Inan.

Inan:
I was surprised by the first Inan chapter. I thought he was just going to be a nameless, faceless evil pursuer of the main trio, but I actually like what the author did with him. Part of the excitement of the story is not knowing if Inan really has changed or if he's about the betray everything to and for the throne. Part of that mystery is uncovered because we read his perspective, so his inner monologue was pretty telling, but I actually liked that because it kept me from being so anxious while reading. I think Inan and Zélie's relationship was complicated and sweet, and I had mixed feelings about whether or not I liked it throughout my reading journey. By the end of the final scene, I decided that I liked it. If there's one part of Inan's story I could've had more of, it's his relationship with Amari. They had one reconciliation, but the author ends that chapter by saying "But when his hands wrap around my back, all I can think of are how his fingers are resting just above my scars." And then that's the last we really hear about Amari and Inan.

Amari:
I was kind of with Zélie in the beginning of the novel, meaning that I thought Amari was a foolish, sheltered girl who was trying to be the savior of something she didn't even really understand. Again, the character development floored me. Amari is so strong and fierce, and I wish we had gotten even more of that fierceness. Her motives don't make a ton of sense to me; she decided to hate her father and the whole throne because he killed her friend, even though she'd grown up being told why magic is so horrible. I guess I would've been more empathetic if we'd seen more of Amari and Binta's relationship before everything happened with Binta, but I still think it's hard to believe that in just a couple days Amari goes from timid princess to [SPOILER: killing her father.] We didn't really see the extent of her hatred for Saran or her love for Binta in the exposition, but other than that I thought Amari was great.

Tzain:
[SPOILER: So, I knew that obviously either Tzain or Inan was going to die in the book because we couldn't have Tzain and Amari in love AND Inan and Zélie in love, that's weird and borderline incest. But I really thought it would be Tzain! Mainly because he didn't have a POV like Inan did, but I also thought it would make more of an impact on Zélie in terms of developing more the sequel. That being said, I thought Inan's death was fitting and cruel and honorable, and the more I think about it the more I liked the way that he died.] I started out really liking Tzain. I thought he was the perfect overprotective older brother figure. It started going downhill for me when he was getting so controlling over Zélie about Inan. On one hand, yeah she was being kind of naive, but since the reader knew Inan's thoughts and knew that he had good intentions, it was hard to see Tzain so rigid in his hate for Inan. I really hope they take Tzain's character arc to the next level in the sequel, and I would love to see more other Tzain and Amari's relationship because I thought it was so cute in this book (if sparse).

The plot is not the most original in the world, like there aren't any shocking plot twists, but I think the journey really worked for the story. I was intrigued by every new land and culture the characters were exposed to, and I am really excited to see more parts of Orisha in the next novel. Also - I highly recommend the audiobook; I thought the narration was fantastic!

Review for "The Upside of Unrequited" by Becky Albertalli

This book had some of the most unlikable characters I've ever read, I'm really impressed! Yes, that's sarcasm, because I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to hate the main character or her twin sister, but here we are, writing a 2-star review. I have not (yet) read Simon, so this review is based entirely on the content of the novel (in my opinion) and not on a preexisting bias of any kind.



Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Two main reasons for the two-star rating: the plot and the characters. And, well, those are two pretty important aspects of novels.

Most of the characters were completely unlikable to me, and they weren't supposed to be. I found them all super basic, like not interesting at all, and they were also just horrible people. CASSIE was the WORST. And I imagine that at times we were supposed to be mad at Cassie as Molly was, but generally I think she was supposed to be seen as a quirky cute LGBT character, and it just completely fell flat. Where she was meant to be strong, she came off as abrasive; where she was meant to be transparent, she was bratty; where she was meant to be teenage relatable, she was just an immature little girl trying to act older than she was.

I also was really rubbed the wrong way by Molly. This girl does not know how to act! She's had 27 unrequited crushes (first of all, who counts their crushes? I mean I guess that was supposed to be the cutesy part of the novel's theme but I'm not here for it), and yet she still doesn't know how to not be a jealous you-know-what as soon as she thinks one might like her back. And straight off the bat she was a judgmental you-know-what! Like ya girl's had 27 unrequited crushes but she's ready to come in here making fun of people because they enjoy GOT and LOTR? At least they have some kind of personality...

I guess I'm wondering this: can a person be fundamentally sexually repulsive? I mean, maybe Reid's not cool or muscular enough for sex. And if I like him anyway, what does that say about me? Is it because I'm scared to like someone hotter?

LIKE Y'ALL THAT IS LITERALLY A QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK. I cannot. I canNOT. Molly is also just not nice. I mean, maybe I should start carrying flyers with my list of schools, ranked by preference. Or maybe--maybe--these random adults should reflect on why they give a shit in the first place. Like girl, who hurt you?! You have no reason to be this jaded. Clean up your act, it's not cute. People are just trying to show they care and are interested in your life, and you know that if no one ever asked this kind of stuff you'd be complaining about how you don't get enough attention. I've never been so heated over a fictional character.

I feel like I've made it obvious that Reid was, IMO, the only likable character in the book and I actually did like him a lot and he did not get the appreciation he deserves. Mina was a dumb, forgettable character, and so were the two boys (can't even remember their names now). Molly does get some points because her personal narrative does admit that she knows she's being a terrible human, so at least she's self aware sometimes. I can't get over how much I hated Cassie though, oops.

And the plot was also just super basic. I didn't hate it, but I was never surprised or excited by it. As soon as Molly met Reid, we all knew how this story was going to end. We just had to get through 340 pages to get there. I feel like the author was trying to do a John Green An Abundance of Katherines thing with the whole 27 crushes plot, but the references/backstories of the crushes were just randomly inserted into the story and didn't make a lot of sense in supporting the plot or the character development.

I'd also like to complain a little bit about the writing. There were just some sentences added onto paragraphs where they did not flow at all, and it was honestly distracting. Reid tugs the front end and guides me over to a bench outside the store. Then, he pushes the cart to the side and sits, looking up at me expectantly. I sit down next to him. The writing is just so choppy and basic. It's literally just writing out actions sequentially.

So yeah, this one was not for me. It gets a bonus star because the diversity is so freaking there, and I appreciate that. At times I felt like the plot relied too much on the quirky diverse character traits, like how Cassie goes off about feminism that one time. I mean, sure girl go off, but I was cringing.