My Cozy Book Corner: December 2019

Monday, December 30, 2019

2020 Book List

The Guinevere Deception (Camelot Rising #1) by Kiersten White

I really enjoyed The Dark Decent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and enjoyed the trip back to the Buffyverse in Slayer so when a retelling of the Arthur legend was announced I trusted Kiersten to do it well. Well she didn't, she did it more than well, it was amazing. Enough twists and surprises to make it feel fresh and new but enough of the tale of Arthur, Merlin, and Excalibur to be true to the legend.

I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would and that is saying something since I fully expected to find it awesome.

I can't say a lot, well really much of anything more than READ THIS because the little twists and surprises are so important.

There is everything you expect from a Camelot tale, magic, danger, knights, mystery, romance...

Thank you for a great last book of the year read Kiersten!!!
(Finished December 30, 2019)

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

This was the B&N Bookclub pick for the January 7, 2020 group so I had to read it. The story sounded very interesting from the blurb on the dust jacket and so I was glad B&N picked it since it was not like most of the prior picks and I had never read anything Lisa Jewell before so I don't think I would have read it if it wasn't the pick. I may have at some point if it showed up on the paperback special deal table. so in that sense I am glad it was the While I didn't love, didn't have the overwhelming desire to stay up late into the night after long shifts at work over this busy holiday season, I didn't dislike it. It's a solid 3.5 or 4 star book.

I did figure out many of the elements of the who done it. And it was but it was but I did figure out most of the story. That keeps it from being a higher rated, 5 star book. But the tension of what happened in this house to these kids, the specifics of how the crime was committed, and the interesting back and forth of the story telling for the reveal was well done. I like the way she uses first person when she is telling Henry's side of things in the past and third person for the current day points of view. The voices of the three main characters telling us the story are consistent and distinct which I like. I don't like when an author does the multiple voice thing but you can't tell who is who. Jewell did this well and that is another major push into the higher rating.

Overall an interesting story and I am looking forward to talking with the book club participants about their thoughts.

(Finished December 25, 2019)

Friday, December 13, 2019

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

I own but have not read her other book, The Night Circus, but from what I have heard from others who didn't like that one they still loved this one. I read this because Rachel put it in my locker at work with a note that said "This book is so amazing, I bought it!" That's big because one of the perks of our job is being able to borrow hard cover books.

I started this as soon as I finished Call Down The Hawk, and it was the only thing I think that could have eased me from that world. The Starless Sea clock in at just under 500 pages. About 320 pages in I was starting to dread returning the book to Rachel, of not having this book in my possession, so I went out and purchased my own copy.

It is truly beautiful and amazing. It is a twisty tale of a story buried in a story buried in a story. It is a lovely ode to stories both told and written. It goes from the first had account of Zachary Ezra Rawlins to stories in other books and back. I wish I could tell you more but there is something that feels important about letting you discover it all for yourself when you read it for the first time. Yes first time as in there will be more time after. This is one you will want to go back to and reread when you need it, a good story that is full of love and adventure and beautiful imagery (cat size bees excluded).

I love this fairytale. I love everything about it. The only complaint I have is that it ended.

(Finished December 13, 2019)

Monday, December 9, 2019

Call Down the Hawk (Dreamer Trilogy #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Following The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily, Lily Blue, and The Raven King comes a new adventure this time with Ronan at the center. His brothers Declan and Matthew are back as is Adam. Gansey and Blue get mentions but don't actually appear and while they are missed there is so much here to love that it doesn't take away from the love I have for the start of this new trilogy.

If you haven't finished The Raven Cycle then you might feel spoiled by reading further.

Adam and Ronan are amazing and I love them and that they love each other. There are some bumps and I expect to find it fleshed out in books 2 and 3. There is a new character, Farooq-Lane, I didn't know if I liked at first but ended up really liking and see some real potential for development in her. Other new introductions are the Hennessy girls and people called Visionaries as well as covert government agents looking to save the world from what they call Zeds but which we know as Dreamers (like Ronan and his father). Declan gets some real character development here and all the ways I disliked him have become ways I love him.

There is a mystery around Bryde, who is he, what is he, why is he, and is he good or evil or is it less black and white than that?

I would have finished this sooner of work and sleep didn't get in my way; I totally enjoyed this installment and now am among those anxiously awaiting to devour more of Maggie's lovely words.

(Finished December 9, 2019)

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Queen of the Conquered (Queen of the Conquered #1) by Kacen Callender

I won a copy of this book from a giveaway Kacen did on their twitter. I had just had the honor of meeting them at LeakyCon and then won and was very excited.

It is book 1 of a series, I am not sure of how many. I had read This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story and really enjoyed it and was excited to read this story. It sounded fascinating. I think though I did it a disservice. I read it after I finished The Raven Cycle and while Call Down The Hawk was sitting on my TBR cart and I was feeling the pull to it because of how much I ended up loving the characters and story. So part of me was destined to be in a hurry and anxious to get to it and so I think that is why I had a hard time feeling totally invested here. It took a but but I did get into the story. It is interesting world building. Queen of the Conquered takes place in a nation that has slaves, plantains, and magic called kraft here. The white skin and blonde hair and blue eyes is the valued look among the ruling class. This group not only feels like they are ordained to own others, the brown and black members of their world, but that kraft is their right only and that if someone of color has it they stole it. As in the slave society that we know form our shameful history, slaves here are not supposed to read, and even those people of color who have freedom are aware they can be enslaved at any time and that they have less freedoms than the colonizers.

Sigourney lives in this world and she is the only survivor after her family is massacred. They have been killed because of the power the family had managed to amass. She wants revenge. But she isn't the only one. She is loathed by her people, the people of this island nation because she hasn't freed her slaves. She says she can't until she is the ruler and then she will free everyone but she needs them until she has control, to help her take this power from the colonizers. The questions of does the ends justify the means, would she really free them once she has the power she is after or will she be corrupted by it, is she already corrupted, who killed her family, what is really happening on the island, and what is the deal with this odd king of their are all part of what book 1 tackles.

The world building is interesting and I was a bit surprised by the ending. I think I would have loved this more had I help off a little longer and read Call Down The Hawk, I would have then been ready (well not ready but forced ) to move on while waiting for the next book in that series. Also, I started reading this just around Thanksgiving and there was so much time I couldn't be reading between cooking and working (retail) Black Friday Weekend that it was hard to get into a grove with long blocks of time for reading.

This is also quite different from Kacen's other book which was a YA and a romance.

(Finished December 3, 2019)