It took me a stupidly long time to read this book but should not in anyway reflect on how good it was/how much I liked it. Rather with all the news and stress and then getting furloughed because of COVID-19 I couldn't focus. I couldn't tune out the world, the noise, the news. But I got to the point where I had to and just turned it off, put down the phone, ignored the media for a little each day and got my glove back a bit. And was able to read again.
So this is Sarah Maas' new series and it is listed as being Adult Fantasy and not YA like her other outings, Throne of Glass & Court of Thorns and Roses. I will say that if it was me classifying this I would probably still put it with YA. I think the only thing that made it more "adult" was the "sex stuff" which wasn't as much as you might think for a book that was 799 pages long.
The world building, which is often something that can trip up first books, was done well here. It isn't spelled out all at once which can give books a slow start, instead things kind of are explained or told as the story moves on.
I think some people found Bryce a little immature or annoying. I liked her and felt from the beginning the party girl depiction was a mask she was wearing and not really her. Give her time if you don't like her, I think she will grow on you.
Hunt is just..well I loved him!!
There is family drama, magic and fantasy, love, creatures, a mystery, all in all I really liked this a lot and am looking forward to more.
I can't say much more because I don't want to spoil anyone. I will end by saying not everything is what it seems.
(Finished March 29, 2020)
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Friday, March 13, 2020
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
This was the Barnes & Noble YA Bookclub book for March. I thought it was kind if funny that it was meeting on Friday the 13th and it was a mystery/murder story. My son goes to the Bookclub at the store I work at as often as he can and he was excited to read this one. Then he started it and he reads an hour a day at least (to earn his screen time) and he was going to split this with a Star Wars Legends book he has. But then not he day he started he he got so into it he lost track of time and read it for over an hour. High praise indeed. He was so into and excited by what he was reading. So when it was time for me to start my next bookI picked it up to see if I was interested and I was hooked instantly.
Pip lives in a town that suffered a horrible incident 5 years before her senior year. Andi, a teenage girl, vanished and was presumed murdered. Her boyfriend Salil killed himself when he is blamed and just before he did he texted a confession to his father. But Pip doesn't think he did it. She knew him and he was always so kind and nice and she couldn't imagine he could do such a thing. This becomes the basis for her senior capstone project, she is going to look into the case and prove Sal is innocent.
Playing amateur sleuth with the help of Sal's brother Ravi she gets into more than she could have imagined. There are twists and turns, clues that could be real or could be red herrings, and suspense. It doesn't take long for her to realize things are not what they seemed at the time and it was all too convenient. Sal's friends, his best friends, changed their story taking away his alibi. Why? Was Andi more than a sweet high school senior? Why would someone want her dead if it wasn't Sal?
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder was a really, really good book! It does exactly what I like in mystery stories, it kept me guessing, made me think I had it figured out a few times, and then even though I was close a few times, it surprised me a little with the ending.
(Finished March 12, 2020)
Pip lives in a town that suffered a horrible incident 5 years before her senior year. Andi, a teenage girl, vanished and was presumed murdered. Her boyfriend Salil killed himself when he is blamed and just before he did he texted a confession to his father. But Pip doesn't think he did it. She knew him and he was always so kind and nice and she couldn't imagine he could do such a thing. This becomes the basis for her senior capstone project, she is going to look into the case and prove Sal is innocent.
Playing amateur sleuth with the help of Sal's brother Ravi she gets into more than she could have imagined. There are twists and turns, clues that could be real or could be red herrings, and suspense. It doesn't take long for her to realize things are not what they seemed at the time and it was all too convenient. Sal's friends, his best friends, changed their story taking away his alibi. Why? Was Andi more than a sweet high school senior? Why would someone want her dead if it wasn't Sal?
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder was a really, really good book! It does exactly what I like in mystery stories, it kept me guessing, made me think I had it figured out a few times, and then even though I was close a few times, it surprised me a little with the ending.
(Finished March 12, 2020)
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Pages & Co.: The Bookwanderers (Pages & Co. #1) by Anna James
At B&N there is something new happening. It is called The Book of the Month. Each month we will have some featured books to share with customers. A young read or kids book, some fiction, and a non fiction. And as a bookseller I am supposed to share these books with customers. I hope to be able to get truly excited about at least one of them so it is easier to sell. I have a real problem trying to push books I don't believe in. I don't mean selling books I wouldn't read or have no interest in, that happens every day, I mean trying to push customers into books I can't at least share something about with them and maybe even get excited about. Last month there was one, To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret by Jedidiah Jenkins.
And this month it was this one. I read the back of the book and immediately I was interested. It is a Young Read book. Yes I am in my late 40's but I have no problem reading a "kid's" book if the story is a good one. Plus I can then put good stories into the hands of the kids I work with, for example there was Aru Shah and the End of Time.
Can you imagine being able to wander into your favorite books? To meet and chat with your favorite characters? For a brief time to be part of the story? To be a Bookwanderer...That is what Anna James has given us in the first book in her Pages & Co. series.
Eleven-year-old Tilly lives in a charming bookstore with her grandparents. Her mom vanished when she was a few months old. Things go on pretty normally for her until she meets some interesting "characters" in the shop. Characters that turn out to be Anne (yes that Anne, from Green Gables) and Alice (yep! Wonderland). Then she goes with them into their books. And things begin to change in Tilly's life.
She learns she is a wanderer and she comes from a long line of wanderers. Along with her friend, her best friend, because he is totally best friend material, Oskar an adventure begins that may just answer the question that has been waiting for an answer for her entire life, what really happened to her mum.
This book is adventurous, mysterious, exciting, and charming...ABSOLUTELY CHARMING!!!!
I am so thrilled to have sold a lot of these and will continue to hand sell it long after its Book of the Month status is over. And I will read the rest of the series too.
(Finished March 10, 2020)
Sunday, March 8, 2020
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
I read this because it was my job to, it is the bookclub book for March 10 and I am the discussion leader at the B&N where I work. When I first heard about it I was excited. It sounded like a great book to talk about. A middle class woman who owns a little bookstore in Acapulco. She has a son and her husband is a journalist. A journalist writing about the cartels.
One of his articles gets him and others in their family killed sending Lydia and her son on the run from the Cartel leader. This puts her on the road to trying to get to the United States. The trip is long and dangerous. Not only is she trying to get her and her son away from the Cartel that killed her family but the trip itself is inherently dangerous, crossing the dessert, the risk of harm from others migrating, the risk of abuse by the "authorities", and of course getting caught and sent back. I was excited to read this.
But then the controversy began. It started with anger over a white woman writing this story and trying to make it her own. Much of the blame goes to how the rollout was handled by Flat Iron Books. They played up her having a grandmother from Puerto Rico. They talked about her husband having been undocumented. But then more became known. While coming to the main land from Puerto Rican is not even close to the same experience as those coming from the South American countries or Mexico, people from PR are United States citizens and can travel freely to the states. The part that was harder to swallow was her husband's story. Yes he came here as an undocumented person, but he came from Ireland. As a white man he would not have had the same experience, lived with the same fears, as a person with brown/dark skin, and to equate the two is wrong. And so there was cries that this was not just a person writing a well researched, well written story, but a person trying to appropriate it as their own. More on this after a brief rundown on what I thought of the book itself.
And with this background I started to read the book. I tried not to judge it by the controversy and at times I succeeded but it was always in the back of my mind. The story was actually really good. I felt for Lydia and Luca. Beto broke my heart. Soledad and Rebeca are incredible characters and I felt their pain. As she travels north we see the migrant journey through her eyes. There is so much pain and danger and fear. But she sees kindness and beauty too. She is forced to face the life of privilege she had before and the way she used to think of those making this journey while she watched, read, or listened to the news from the comfort of her home and business and it made her sad and angry with herself and uncomfortable at time. It is something I could relate to reading it as a white woman and the unearned privilege that comes with the luck of being born in this skin. It is painful and uncomfortable but is needed if there will ever be change. The imagery is stunning, the pain seeps off the page, and it is hard to deny how well the story is written.
But it is so hard to separate it from the outside noise. I thought it was all on Flat Iron, they even issued an apology for the way they handled the launch of this book. But then I read the author's notes and it felt like she was embracing this narrative too. I don't know if that was the choice of the editor or not but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
So I am not going to rate this book on goodreads with stars, I will just say it was a 5 star story with a 0 star background and leave it at that.
(Finished March 8, 2019)
One of his articles gets him and others in their family killed sending Lydia and her son on the run from the Cartel leader. This puts her on the road to trying to get to the United States. The trip is long and dangerous. Not only is she trying to get her and her son away from the Cartel that killed her family but the trip itself is inherently dangerous, crossing the dessert, the risk of harm from others migrating, the risk of abuse by the "authorities", and of course getting caught and sent back. I was excited to read this.
But then the controversy began. It started with anger over a white woman writing this story and trying to make it her own. Much of the blame goes to how the rollout was handled by Flat Iron Books. They played up her having a grandmother from Puerto Rico. They talked about her husband having been undocumented. But then more became known. While coming to the main land from Puerto Rican is not even close to the same experience as those coming from the South American countries or Mexico, people from PR are United States citizens and can travel freely to the states. The part that was harder to swallow was her husband's story. Yes he came here as an undocumented person, but he came from Ireland. As a white man he would not have had the same experience, lived with the same fears, as a person with brown/dark skin, and to equate the two is wrong. And so there was cries that this was not just a person writing a well researched, well written story, but a person trying to appropriate it as their own. More on this after a brief rundown on what I thought of the book itself.
And with this background I started to read the book. I tried not to judge it by the controversy and at times I succeeded but it was always in the back of my mind. The story was actually really good. I felt for Lydia and Luca. Beto broke my heart. Soledad and Rebeca are incredible characters and I felt their pain. As she travels north we see the migrant journey through her eyes. There is so much pain and danger and fear. But she sees kindness and beauty too. She is forced to face the life of privilege she had before and the way she used to think of those making this journey while she watched, read, or listened to the news from the comfort of her home and business and it made her sad and angry with herself and uncomfortable at time. It is something I could relate to reading it as a white woman and the unearned privilege that comes with the luck of being born in this skin. It is painful and uncomfortable but is needed if there will ever be change. The imagery is stunning, the pain seeps off the page, and it is hard to deny how well the story is written.
But it is so hard to separate it from the outside noise. I thought it was all on Flat Iron, they even issued an apology for the way they handled the launch of this book. But then I read the author's notes and it felt like she was embracing this narrative too. I don't know if that was the choice of the editor or not but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
So I am not going to rate this book on goodreads with stars, I will just say it was a 5 star story with a 0 star background and leave it at that.
(Finished March 8, 2019)
Monday, March 2, 2020
Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig
This is my third outing with Caleb. First was White Rabbit and then Death Prefers Blondes. He is also one of my favorites on Twitter!!
I am anxiously awaiting his next book The Fell of Dark so I thought I would go back to his start while I wait. And I am so glad I did and so sorry I didn't read it sooner!!
I loved Flynn and am now thinking a crossover with Margo would be great fun. His coming to terms with himself and his sexuality is as important to the story as is what happened to January. Flynn doesn't always make wise choices, I'm thinking his little balcony escapade and what follows but I never doubted his heart.
Part way through I thought I had it figured out, and before Flynn did, but I didn't see the twist coming until I was in the middle of it and I am so glad. I really much prefer not figuring out who done its. I like being surprised, I like thinking I got it and then finding out I was wrong. And Caleb got that here.
I can't say much more because the risk of spoilers is high and not being spoiled will add to your enjoyment of this mystery.
Just trust me, if Caleb writes it you want to be there for it.
(Finished March 2, 2020)
I am anxiously awaiting his next book The Fell of Dark so I thought I would go back to his start while I wait. And I am so glad I did and so sorry I didn't read it sooner!!
I loved Flynn and am now thinking a crossover with Margo would be great fun. His coming to terms with himself and his sexuality is as important to the story as is what happened to January. Flynn doesn't always make wise choices, I'm thinking his little balcony escapade and what follows but I never doubted his heart.
Part way through I thought I had it figured out, and before Flynn did, but I didn't see the twist coming until I was in the middle of it and I am so glad. I really much prefer not figuring out who done its. I like being surprised, I like thinking I got it and then finding out I was wrong. And Caleb got that here.
I can't say much more because the risk of spoilers is high and not being spoiled will add to your enjoyment of this mystery.
Just trust me, if Caleb writes it you want to be there for it.
(Finished March 2, 2020)
Sunday, March 1, 2020
I Am Not Okay With This by Charles Forsman
I read this in one sitting in about a half hour. I read it because my son binged the show on Netflix and then came to the B&N where I work yesterday and found this on the shelf and read it and bought it. I couldn't sleep last night/early this morning and so I watched the show. And I liked it. I loved the character of Stan more than any other and he made the show for me.
This morning we went grocery shopping and were talking about it and my son said he wanted me to read it because it was different than the show. He also raved about it on his Instagram account.
And now here I am posting this about it....I want to say right off the bat, and I am sorry for the spolierish nature of this but I feel like it needs to be said: this could trigger someone affected by content about rape and suicide.
The Netflix show makes this feel like a thriller/ghost story. The book does not but has more the feel of someone dealing with declining mental health. I think maybe Syd (and her dad before her) had some kind of mental illness and this is all part of her symptoms, her impulse control, her moods, and then the ending....
I was very glad to see this as the closing page of the book:
This morning we went grocery shopping and were talking about it and my son said he wanted me to read it because it was different than the show. He also raved about it on his Instagram account.
And now here I am posting this about it....I want to say right off the bat, and I am sorry for the spolierish nature of this but I feel like it needs to be said: this could trigger someone affected by content about rape and suicide.
The Netflix show makes this feel like a thriller/ghost story. The book does not but has more the feel of someone dealing with declining mental health. I think maybe Syd (and her dad before her) had some kind of mental illness and this is all part of her symptoms, her impulse control, her moods, and then the ending....
I was very glad to see this as the closing page of the book:
(Finished March 1, 2020)