Book Reviews 010

Hey guys! I am back with another book review post. These are all the books I’ve read since mid-July. If you want a quick recap of my thoughts on these books, you can check out my TikTok where I post quick reviews of all the books I’ve read in a month. The only book not in this list is Drums of Autumn. That book is apart of the Outlander series, so I will review it when I do the series as a whole.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

This is the first of two books based on favourites from my teenage years. This novel is a prequel to the Hunger Games series. It follows Coriolanus Snow, who becomes President Snow in the Hunger Games. Coriolanus is a mentor in the 10th Hunger Games and must help Lucy Gray, the female tribute from District 12.

I loved going back into the Hunger Games universe. I really enjoyed the world that Collins has created. This book shows the origins of a lot of aspects that are so important in the later novels. It was fun to find all the little Easter eggs within the book.

While I did enjoy reading about the universe again, I will say that this novel was a little too long. The story is just over 500 pages. And while I think it was a nice long ark and I don’t think that there are necessarily any passages that should be cut out, I do think that some things could have been paired down. There were just some small comments that were completely unnecessary. It would get tedious at times, so taking out some bits would have speed up the read.

When I don’t like the main character of a novel I usually don’t like the novel overall. But despite not liking Coriolanus I still rooted for him. I still wanted him to do well. He’s arrogant, selfish and a know-it-all. This book does a really good job of giving the backstory of President Snow.

*SPOILER* I liked how this romance was. Lucy and Coriolanus fall in love but you can tell it’s not that deep. It’s only circumstantial. So it makes sense that when they have the chance to be together it all falls apart. I loved that they tried to kill each other, it just makes so much sense.

So overall I rated the book a 3.5/5. A little long and I didn’t like Coriolanus, but I loved returning to the world and learning more. I also loved Lucy Gray. I would recommend this book for any fan of the Hunger Games.

The Siren by Kiera Cass

I am a huge The Selection series fan, which was also written by Cass. So I had high expectations to say the less and I was quite disappointed.

The novel follows Kahlen, who is a siren. She works for the Ocean but luring humans to their together. By chance, she meets and falls in love with Akinli who is human, even though she can’t speak to him. I must say that I love the concept of Kahlen being a siren. She lives with a few other sirens and it was so interesting to learn about them. I wish she had developed the aspect of them being sirens more.

This has the potential to be an epic love story, but Kahlen spent most of the novel complaining! She was crying or sad or depressed. There were some create moments in the novel, like when she is in Port Clyde. I also loved her friendship with her siren sister Aisling. But in the end, I just wasn’t satisfied with how the novel finished.

Also wanted to note that this novel was written before The Selection series but published after they were out. And I think that shows. Cass was a young writer trying to figure out her grove during this book.

So I would give this book a 3/5. It has a great concept and some great moments, but the complaining was annoying. I would recommend this to anyone who is a Cass fan who wants to read her whole collection.

Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer

Ahh, I loved Twilight when I was a teenager. I didn’t get into reading until I was a tween, so this was one of the first series that I fell in love with. I was new to reading so I was able to overlook a lot of the bad writing lol. But yes I love Twilight, saw all the movies opening weekend, had posters, collectors book and even necklaces with the book cover on it. So when I say that Stephanie Meyer released Midnight Sun I immediately purchased it.

Midnight Sun is a retelling of the first novel from the perspective of Edward. It was great to return to the Twilight universe and learn more. Because it’s from Edward’s perspective, the reader can learn so much more about the Cullen Clan. The clan is arguably my favourite part about the series so I enjoyed learning about them.

Because it’s also Edward who is narrating, the reader is to experience that it’s like for Edward to hear people’s thoughts. I love the sections where Edward is listening to people. It makes you change how you feel about characters. For example, I didn’t mind Jessica from Bella’s perspective, but she is a bitch from Edward’s perspective! So I really enjoyed that.

But MAN this novel was long, slow and repetitive. The first half of the book is just Edward complaining about how good Bella’s blood smells. After a while, I was just so tired of it. I think Meyer could cut out large sections of the novel and I would be happier.

Also, Edward is very controlling. You would think that hearing Edward’s rationale would make the reader maybe sympathize with him, but I couldn’t take it. He literally would watch everything that Bella did and didn’t believe she could do anything herself. I was more of Team Jacob when I was younger and I think this novel solidified how annoying Edward can be. I think he isn’t a bad character necessarily, just how he acts with Bella is just too much.

I would give this book a 3/5. Any Twilight fan has to read this novel. But this isn’t the best book out there.

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

I finished this book on Saturday so it’s not included in my August book review on TikTok. My friends and I were huge Sarah Dessen fans when we were teenagers. I think one of my friends has read all the books she published. I’ve read a few of her books and I had a few that I haven’t read yet on my shelves. I accidentally had this book on my to-read-shelf even though I’ve read it before. It took about 10 pages to realize that I have read this novel, but I couldn’t remember exactly what was going to happen so I decided to read the book anyway.

The story follows Macy, who struggles to deal with her grief her father while her boyfriend is away for the summer. She decided to take a job catering at Wish, where she befriends the chaotic crew and mysterious Wes. The novel is an ‘effortless perfect’ type, where Macy seems perfect but the reader realizes along with Macy that it’s okay to not be perfect and to be a real human.

This novel is like a Hallmark movie in the sense that there is some cheesiness and the ending is predictable. Everything works out and everyone is happy. I think there are some great moments. And I will admit that there were some moments where I teared up a bit. I don’t know what to say guys, I am a sucker for a Sarah Dessen novel.

So I would give this a 4/5. Yes, it’s cheesy and predictable but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

And those are my book reviews guys! Woo, that was a lot. I am currently reading the Throne of Glass series, so I won’t have another book review until I’m done. But at the rate I’m going it might not be that long haha.

xoxo

Lea