Tag: Book Review

Book Review

Book Review 008

by Lea2 Comments on Book Review 008

Hey guys! I am back with another book review! I am pretty proud of myself, I now read books at the rate of 1 per week/week and a half. I never had the energy to read when I was in school, but now that’s I’m done it’s all I want to do. Today I have four books, one stand-alone and series.

The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn

I believe that my mom got this for me either for my birthday or Christmas a year or two ago. After reading The Woman on the Train a couple of years ago I’ve gotten into adult mystery/thriller dramas. It makes sense since I enjoy watching thriller movies. This one was okay. The story follows Dr. Anna Fox, an agoraphobe (someone who is afraid of leaving their home/crowded places) who witnesses a brutal crime in her neighbours’ house.

I liked Anna, the main character. Finn really plays up the unreliable narrative aspect of Anna, so I was supposed to question what Anna was thinking. But because I liked her I couldn’t help but believe her. It was also interesting to read about an agoraphobe during a pandemic because Anna was too scared to leave her house and I wasn’t supposed to leave my house.

I found that not a lot happened throughout the novel. And when stuff did happen it wasn’t that exciting or impactful. I also found the twist at the ending that amazing. I didn’t guess it, but it wasn’t very satisfying.

I am giving this book a 3/5. I enjoyed it, but there are better thriller novels out there.

The Lacey Chronicles by Eve Edwards

I like to review series altogether, because realistically who reads the 3rd novel of a series if they didn’t read the rest? Some books in a series are better than others, but I like to recommend them as a whole. So overall I give The Lacey Chronicles a 4/5 and will break it down.

The first novel, The Other Countess, follows Ellie and Will. Ellie is the daughter of a Spanish Countess and English alchemist. Will is the Earl of Dorset. Will hates Ellie because her father financially ruined her late father. The second novel, The Queen’s Lady follows Jane and Will’s younger brother James. Jane is a widow and the newest lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth and James is setting sails to the Americas. The final novel, The Rogue’s Princess, follows Kit and Mercy. Kit is the illegitimate brother of Will and James and a famous actor in London. Mercy is the daughter of a rich, Puritan merchant.

As you can tell, all three novels are historical romances. What I really like about them is that they focus on aspects that are not always common in YA historical novels. The novels discuss alchemy, death, racism and religion. They are not deep dives into these topics, but they give more than some other novels. For example, an important secondary novel in the second book is Diego. He is a black man who was stolen from Africa and is a servant to Will and James. Edwards gives Diego autonomy by writing in his perspective and he is integral to the storyline instead of just being a token black person. Now I will say that Edwards doesn’t necessarily dives deep into these topics, but I appreciate that she at least mentions them instead of leaving them out.

It’s hard for me to pick a favourite. I like the main characters in the first the most, but I found that the first lacked the depth and complexity of some of the later novels. I give this series because I think it’s some of the best YA historical fiction I’ve read. But I wouldn’t say it’s genre-breaking, so it isn’t a 5/5. If you like historical fiction I highly recommend you read this series.

And those are the books I read. With every book review, please let me know in the comments what are some of your favourite books or books that you have read recently.

xoxo

Lea

Book Review

Book Review 007

by Lea1 Comment on Book Review 007

Hey guys! Today I am back with another book review. Today I have three books! I am very impressed with how much I have been able to read lately. I am making up for the fact that it took me four months to read one book. 😂

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I have also decided to instill a rating system to help give some structure to my reviews. 5/5 is amazing everyone should read. 4/5 is pretty good but not perfect. 3/5 is not bad, if you are interested in the novel then read it but not wow everyone needs to read it. 2/5 is major issues but I was still able to finish the book. 1/5 is trash but I finished the book still. 0/5 would be for a book I didn’t finish.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

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I actually wrote my first book review on the first novel, The Handmaid’s Tale! I have since watched the tv show and I love the tv show. I know it’s not for everyone, but media academic in me absolutely adores the tv show.  It also won the Man Booker Prize AND was Goodreads Best Fiction of 2019. All of this preamble is to say that I had high hopes going into this novel.

Well it did not disappoint. I quickly settled into the world of Gilead again. This novel is set 15 years since The Handmaid’s Tale and follows the story of three woman: Aunt Lydia, Agnes and Daisy. The novel borrows aspects from the tv show but some things are different than the show. I think having watched the tv show will help the reader, but having not seen wouldn’t hinder someone.

I liked all three of the main characters. Atwood did an amazing job of creating complex characters. I liked them but also would get frustrated with them, just like real people. I also like how the characters point-of-view can change my feelings on a character. For example, I generally liked Agnes, but found her annoying from Daisy’s point-of-view. I think this highlights how important people’s perspectives are.

I found this book way more readable compared to the first novel. One of my comments on the previous novel was that I found some passages to be a little too description and heavy with literary devices. This novel did have some, but it was mostly Aunt Lydia’s sections that had it. It was in small enough doses that I found it interesting. I think the average reader would find the novel easy to read.

Overall I was happy with the ending. I’m sure some people might be disappointed. But this novel is not about the fall of Gilead but the build up to it. I also found the epilogue to be super satisfying for me personally.

Overall I give this novel a 4.5/5. I think this novel was well written and the themes are super important. But I do realize that this novel deals with some heavy themes are just not for everyone.

The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

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So I bought this novel when I was a teenager – this book was published in 2013. I know Kiersten White is famous for her Paranormalcy series and I heard good reviews about that series so I thought this book would be good.

It’s not yet I still couldn’t put the book down.

This book is confusing. Isadora is the human daughter or Egyptian gods, and she moves to California to live with her brother. Unless you know a lot about Egyptian gods this book is very confusing. By the end of the book I can say I have a better understanding on Egyptian mythology, but I had to do a lot of Googling at the beginning because White didn’t explain anything very well.

The exposition wasn’t very great and the conflict was very flat throughout the novel. Like this is such an interesting concept and White didn’t do anything interesting with it!

Also none of the characters felt real. Isadora was infuriating and I didn’t connect with her whatsoever. She was just annoying and nothing is worst than an annoying protagonist, especially when it’s a first-person novel. Ry, the love interest, was so idolized that he didn’t feel real. Their romance was just so fake.

I predicted the big reveal at the ending. I think it’s fine to be able to predict the ending but it has to be satisfying. I can always predict at the end of a Hallmark romance movie that the girl and guy will get together, but if they did a good job of setting up the romance it will be satisfying. This end was just flat because there was a lack of conflict leading up to it.

BUT despite all the flaws I was still hooked into the novel. I kept finding myself wanting to read the novel to find out what was going to happen. I think because of the lack of a good plot line I was always hoping it would get better but it didn’t.

Overall I would give this a 2/5. It was pretty bad and I wouldn’t recommend it. But I still finished it and enjoyed the book even though it was so bad.

Educated by Tara Westover

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This book has been on my to-read list for a while. It’s a best-selling novel – last I checked it’s at number two on the non-fiction list. There is a lot of hype around the novel.

The book is a memoir of Westover’s life growing up in a Mormon survivalist household. Her father rejects many Western conventions such as public education and health care because he is afraid of the government. She grows up in rural Idaho with her six older siblings. The story follows her life and how she progressively receives higher education.

The book is a real slow burn at the beginning. It took me a couple of days to get through the first 150 pages. But I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing because it made me sit and reflect on what I was reading. But once you settle into Westover’s novel I became hooked, and read the last 100 pages in on sitting.

The content can be quite shocking. Tara Westover is the victim of much violence from one of her problems. Many of her family members, including herself, and subject to horrible injuries that are described in much detail. So I wouldn’t recommend this novel if violence and gore and aspects you steer clear of.

Much of the violence and injury is because Westover’s father puts his faith before the safety of his family. This is one passage that Westover discusses this that made me sit back and think. Westover is figuring out her religion and her relationship with her family, which is oftentimes at odds against the education that she is seeking.

I also want to note that this is a memoir, which is a tricky vehicle of storytelling because it’s one-sided. I do like that Westover acknowledges the issues with her memory. Many times she has footnotes describing how she and members of her family remember an event differently. I like that she included these notes in her book.

Overall I think this is a good book. It’s hard to say I enjoyed parts of the novel because it can be hard to read about people’s trauma. But I liked that this book made me sit and think about themes such as religion, family and education. I would give the memoir a 4/5. I don’t think everyone would love this book, but I think it’s an important book and I’m glad I read it.

And those are my book reviews guys! Totally opposite books haha. Let me know what you have been reading lately or if you have any book recommendations for me!

xoxo

Lea

Book Review

Book Review 006

by Lea1 Comment on Book Review 006

Hey guys! Today I am here with another book review. One of the few good things about quarantine is that I have more time to read. Hopefully, I will be posting book reviews more frequently.

book review 006

Today’s book is Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors. I have read Coffeehouse Angel by Selfors as well, but I can’t remember the plot or my thoughts about the novel. It’s an older novel, published in 2011. I bought this when I was a teenager and just now got around to reading it.

I picked this novel because I wanted something light and easy. Like a Hallmark movie that is easy and has a happy ending. WELL, this novel is not what I expected.

Description: The main character, Alice, is the daughter of a best-selling romance author. But her mother has been secretly hospitalized for mental illness. Alice needs to write a new book for her mother. Alice meets Errol, a stranger who claims to be Cupid and has a story for her to write.

Now maybe I just misread the except, but I thought Alice was going to be writing the novel near the beginning of the novel. But it takes a while to get going. During the first half of the novel, I was wondering when they were going to get to the book writing back.

The book is very readable. So while I was waiting for the plot to speed up, I still was going through the book quickly. The tempo was good that I was always wanting to pick up the book and learn what was going to happen next.

Now I thought this book was going to be a romance novel, so I was disappointed when the romance was a secondary plot. Tony, the love interest, is cute and I liked him. But I was left wanting more.

The main theme/point of the novel was mental illness. Alice’s mother is bipolar. Throughout the novel, Alice is dealing with her relationship with her mother. She is also afraid that she is going to inherit her mother’s disease, which complicates her relationship with Errol.

It’s hard because this novel is nine years ago and society’s views and opinions on mental health have come a long way since this book came out. I think at the time it was one of the first YA novels discussing it, so I think that’s good that it broke down the stigma. But I think our understanding of mental illness has changed since the book came out and so some things are outdated. This is just something to keep in mind – especially since I didn’t know the novel was going to focus so much on this when going into it.

There is also some magical realism in the novel with the character Errol being Cupid. While I understand that Alice was reluctant to believe Errol because of her fear of mental illness, I also found it infuriating. I was like come on, just accept it and let’s move on. I also wanted more. I felt that the magical realism was very surface level and wasn’t explained very thoroughly. I think Selfors could have taken away from other side characters to have better told Errol’s story.

What I loved most about the novel is the cast of characters. They are all so different and not what you see in an average teen romance. I enjoyed all the characters and thought most of them were more multidimensional than the main character. I also liked how all the characters plot-lines ended.

My overall thoughts were that I enjoyed the book even though it wasn’t what I expected going into it. I was hooked and wanted to know what going to happen next. I would recommend this book if you are interested in reading a YA novel about mental illness. Like I mentioned it’s a little outdated but still cute.

And that is my review! Let me know if you have read this novel and what your thoughts were. I am also currently reading The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and I’m also done so there should be another book review soon.

xoxo

Lea