Edrie Elen

~Full review posted on The Bent Bookworm~[b:Front Lines 18743370 Front Lines (Soldier Girl, #1) Michael Grant https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1434989382s/18743370.jpg 26623929] is an alternate history of WWII. The big switch-up Grant has made is adding females to the draft and using them in ALL roles across the United States military (other countries have not made such an enlightened choice). Other than that change, the book is pretty much true to history – including attitudes towards women, people of color, and people of Asian features. It is at times harsh and heartbreaking, but the main characters of Rio, Frangie, and Rainy are sympathetic and compelling as they grow and adapt to the war and their changing roles in the world. They are not only dealing with the hard reality of being females in a still very patriarchal world, but with their own coming of age, of loss and love on a personal level, and all while being swept along in the grand scheme of the war.The rituals are different now. It has always been that the men went off and the women wept and waved. There is no blueprint for what is happening now. There is no easy reference point. People don't know quite how to behave, and it's worse for the men in the station who are staying behind and feel conspicuous and ashamed.God knows the MODERN United States Army is having a hard enough time getting a grip on itself with females in the ranks, but add to that the expectations of the generation that would become the idealogical 50s housewife – the book ends in about 1943, so with a couple more years left in the war, I'm very interested to see how this shapes Grant's version of the United States in the sequel coming next year, [b:Silver Stars 30037861 Silver Stars (Soldier Girl #2) Michael Grant https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1467049903s/30037861.jpg 49196705].We spend the most time with Rio, a gutsy farm girl who finds herself in the awkward and unwanted position of being good at her army job while in her heart, just wanting to be a normal girl. Her growth is the most marked of the three main characters and I love her so much.She [Rio] has just upended her entire life based on a diner conversation with her best friend and an awkward exchange with a boy she barely knows.The other two girls – because really, they are all still girls when the books starts – are lovable as well, but I felt the most connection with Rio. There is also an unnamed first-person narrator that shows up in the beginning, middle, and end, and has some succinct insights on the war and the women in it.Will you understand if I tell you that there are times when it is better to feel the pain yourself than to see it and hear it in another?[a:Michael Grant 1599723 Michael Grant https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1412040452p2/1599723.jpg] has, I think, either been in military service or he has done his research very, very well. His descriptions of Basic Training are spot on. His knowledge of the WWII era is commendable (I went and looked a few things up to see just how accurate he was, if it all, since sometimes historical fiction writers are VERY free with the facts) and he has altered as little as possible in his writing. He's baldly honest with the racism and sexism of the time, enough to make me squirm in my chair. His descriptions of events are extremely accurate as we follow our heroines through their army journey from civilian to soldier.The one thing that bothered me was the substitute of fug or fugging for fuck or fucking...it would be one thing if the entire book was censored that way, but the words dick (the male appendage, not the name) and goddamn are used without euphemisms sooooo...that was kind of annoying and pointless. And GOD KNOWS it's every soldier's right to swear. And grumble.I loved how honest the portrayal of human nature was, and how emotions come so close to the surface during times of stress. Rio especially is torn between what she knows is waiting for her at home and what is happening in the right here right now.Strand is there, close to her heart.Jack is there, close.As a medic myself, I loved Frangie and her fighting spirit, even in the face of soldiers being SO VERY HORRIBLE to her because of her race and her gender. She just never quits. But she never stops feeling, either, she just learns to put it aside at the time. I can't wait to see her further development.Rainy, our little intelligence soldier, felt the least realistic to me. Some of her dialogue exchanges are stilted and left me with raised eyebrows. I mean, I know it was WWII and there were a lot of green soldiers thrown into positions that ordinarily they wouldn't have been...her storyline just seemed far-fetched at times. Almost like, well, we need this group to be here and we need them to meet up with her so let's throw in this over-the-top mission that makes no sense to anybody. But maybe I'm just overly skeptical.Don't go into this expecting a happily-ever-after, or an exceptionally fast paced story. The first half of the book is fairly slow as we are introduced to all the characters and how they came to be in the army. As for the ever-afters, one – the war isn't over, so we're going to have to wait and see how things turn out. For another – it's war, and people die, even the characters we've become attached to. Overall, 4/5 stars.At night we cry sometimes, and if you think that just applies to the females then you have never been in combat, because everyone cries sooner or later. Everyone cries.

Gail hasn't disappointed in her end to the Finishing School series. I was left very satisfied with the way she tied up the ends, as well as leading into or hinting at her the Parasol Protectorate series. Definitely a feel-good ending. Loved the series, but I really hope she goes back into more adult books with the Prudence series. Hehe. ;)

~Full review on The Bent Bookworm!~“You fear you will fail at the very thing you were born for. And your fear torments you...instead of shunning your fear, you must let it speak and listen carefully to what it's trying to tell you. It will give you good counsel.”Feels:Well, to start off with I got a serious case of deja vu.Thankfully it moves past that pretty quickly. There are some similarities throughout but I think that's to be expected given the mermaid subject and the intended audience. I loved the emphasis on friendship and sisterhood that is this story. There is no prince on a white horse and these princesses have to save themselves. In the end that was what really increased the rating for me.Characters:The main character is Serafina, the princess of one of several underwater merl realms. While I feel for her as she goes through the massive trauma that is the first several chapters...I never quite connected with her. Her best friend is Neela, the princess of another realm – and I adore Neela. She's so funny, and warm, and her obsession with sweets is SO relatable. I mean who doesn't try to distract people from hard things by giving them delicious food?The other princesses that they collect in their quest aren't drawn out as fully, but they're interesting and I want to know more! Ling, Becca, Ava, even cranky Astrid – they all obviously have stories of their own and they are all so beautifully different in backgrounds, their skills, even their appearances. I really like the fact that the sisterhood between them all is the main emphasis of the story. While, yes, there is a prince, and at first it seems like a romance is going to be a main part of the book – it's not. Several times I thanked all the stars that Sera was not one of those heroines who got completely distracted by her crush from the rest of the world.Plot:The plot was all very dramatic...there's a prophesy, there's a dream, there's magic...nothing all that new in the fantasy world. Again, at first I was about to throw the book across the room because it seemed all Little Mermaid-ish...but then people started dying and there was blood and spells and I was ok. Because every mermaid needs a little trauma to grow her up, am I right?The romance completely takes a backseat after the first few chapters, and I have a couple of theories on what happens to Prince Mahdi. I'm really looking forward to seeing if I'm correct in the next book(s)!Worldbuilding/Description:Donnelly does an excellent job of creating an underwater world that we can almost see and touch. It sounds lovely and enchanting! Once all the explosions and stuff have died down, naturally. She has invented words and at least part of a language for these books, I believe. There are at least words in another language that I don't recognize and that is only identified as an “age-old tongue.” So that's AWESOME.I didn't enjoy the constant puns. I'm not entertained by puns in general, so maybe they're really not that bad. But between the puns and just some awkward turns of phrase, I did a fair bit of eye-rolling.- Money = currensea.- “Getting our wrasses kicked!”- “We don't swim on ceremony.”Just stop. No one is going to forget that mermaids live underwater. Seriously. Also, there are several instances where we are told what the characters are feeling. Such as “Serafina was so excited, she was talking a million words a minute,” and “Serafina, frustrated by Astrid's unwillingness to talk...” I find that style of writing extremely irritating, but it wasn't so pervasive that I couldn't skim over it.Rating:Overall, 4 stars. Until the last chapter I was pretty sure it was going to be a 3.5 star book, but then that cliffhanger...I'm sold. I'm excited to see what happens in the next book!Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram

~Full review here on The Bent Bookworm!~I wasn't at all sure what to expect going into this. I'd never heard of the book or the author despite it apparently being a “children's classic” (??), but Gary Paulsen (didn't we all read Hatchet?) wrote the introduction so I thought it surely couldn't be too bad. I was super skeptical though, on reading the blurb...I mean, it's clearly meant to be a demonstration of how we are all PEOPLE above whatever color our skin is, but I was concerned that a book written in 1969 might not be as socially aware as it was thought at the time of publication.It was an entertaining enough little story, if a little slow at times. The style is a little dated, and I think modern kids might get bored (my husband said it was a slog for him), but an avid reader would breeze through it. I'm still a little on the fence as far as the representation. Timothy, the black man who saves Phillip from the sinking ship, is West Indian and repeatedly described as ugly – it does seem that most of his ugliness in Phillip's eyes is due to his age, though whenever Philip has a disagreement with Timothy he blames it on Timothy's race. At first he agrees with his mother's statement on black people, “They are different and they live differently. That's the way it must be.” Gradually however, he changes his mind as he actually gets to know Timothy and Timothy cares for him week after week. It was definitely predictable, but the addition of Stew Cat was sweet and I loved how he and Philip were such good buddies.Timothy's dialogue is ALL written in dialect, something that is not only (in my opinion) annoying to read but also tends to belittle the character speaking the lines. I understand it can and is sometimes only used as a device to help the reader imagine the way a character sounds – after all, there are a lot of different accents in the world – but it's an older device and has fallen out of favor due to the frequent implication that the person is inferior in some way. Also, its use makes it more difficult for some of the intended audience to comprehend the dialogue.The dialect issue was probably my biggest one with the book, since by the time the resolution comes Philip has entirely revamped his view of black people (and we hope, of anyone else different from him). I was also bothered by another aspect of Timothy's story, but can't really discuss it without spoilers, so....I'll just leave it at that.Overall, it was an okay book. I think there are much BETTER books on the market now, that would suit the purpose of helping privileged kids see outside of their world, but in 1969 this was probably pretty revolutionary.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+

~Full review here on The Bent Bookworm!~Heartless is, as everything I have read by Marissa Meyer, beautifully written. However, compared to the Lunar Chronicles, I felt it did start off very slow. I was at 44% (according to GoodReads) before I felt like there was a big, activating event and the story took off. Not that it was BORING, per se, but just...well, I felt like I was wondering around a very brightly colored and rather strange candyland-type world, petrified of what was going to jump out at me (because I was CONVINCED something horrible was going to happen any minute).I was extremely curious as to how Cath was going to go from our heroine and a sympathetic character, into the horrid Queen of Hearts. I had huge doubts – was pretty sure I would either not like the character at all if it was going to be believable. I WAS WRONG, OK. Because I thought Cath was really sweet (naive, but sweet), and I felt like she was my little sister and wanted to protect her. Her relationship with Jest was predictable but cute. And then as the story progresses and we see her start to unravel...I thought it was actually believable.The story actually explains very well how the Queen of Hearts came to be who she was, and it shows her in a COMPLETELY new light. In the end I really felt like she was justified, or at least could understand why she became the kind of queen she did. Overall I thought the story could have been a little darker – I was definitely EXPECTING a little more action and darkness and blood, but in the end it all worked really well together.OH. Let's not forget – THE CAKE. OMG THE CAKE. This book made me freaking HUNGRY on an ENTIRELY unacceptable level. I am not even sorry for the caps lock. But seriously...there is so much scrumptious sounding baking in this book. Pumpkin cake. Tarts. Cake. Scones. Did I mention PUMPKIN CAKE?!? I think it should have been mandatory to include SOME kind of recipe. Just saying. 😛Highly recommend if you like fairy tales and especially Alice in Wonderland (also cake). Just don't go in expecting a fast-paced story like the Lunar Chronicles. This is an entirely different story and style!Follow me on social media! Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+

~Full review on The Bent Bookworm!~“He read a lot. Used a lot of big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often...he always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing.” – Wayne Westerberg, referring to Chris (Alex) McCandlessFirst of all, this is not just a biography of Chris McCandless. Yes, it tells his story, but then it goes off on several trails of OTHER wilderness-loving solitaries (some of which survived, and some didn't).More people have seen the movie than read the book, and from what I can tell the movie is more streamlined. My DH really enjoyed it and has been asking me to watch it with him for at least a couple of years, but I'm very resistant to watching a movie before the book that inspired it. (Don't even get me started on how I felt about going to see Fantastic Beasts in theatre.) When a friend mentioned he had a copy just lying around, I jumped on the chance. Surprised by how it small it was, I sat down and devoured it...in about 4 hours. Quite a long time for my usual reading speed.The first couple of chapters are a brief narrative of the events leading up to Chris' journey “into the wild,” and then the events surrounding the discovery of his body. I was really shocked that part was over so quickly! I was expecting more of a lead-up. But as soon as all the bare facts are out (maybe the result of the Outside article that originally ran on McCandless?), Krakauer goes back in time to dig through McCandless' early life, then his hobo life after college. I was eerily struck by how similar some of the descriptions of his known thoughts and behaviors were to my own. An introvert, a reader, a thinker – someone who lived inside his own head for long stretches of time – these were all things with which I can easily identify. It was creepy.McCandless was either a visionary or a reckless idiot. It's obvious that Krakauer feels he was the former, but I think the judgment could go either way. For someone SO intelligent, McCandless' intentional self-sabatoge (throwing away the maps, refusing to take advice from seasoned hunters and hikers) is just ABSURD. No matter how pretty his prose, there is no way to explain that part of his adventure away. On the other hand, he made it 113 days, and from the photos and journal he left behind, he was actually doing pretty well until some infected berries made his body turn on itself.Maybe he was both. The most intelligent people are often noted for their decided lack of common sense. He formed his views on wilderness at least partially from fiction – an extremely dangerous concept.McCandless read and reread [b:The Call of the Wild 1852 The Call of the Wild Jack London https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1452291694s/1852.jpg 3252320] and [b:White Fang 43035 White Fang Jack London https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1475878443s/43035.jpg 2949952]. He was so enthralled by these tales that he seemed to forget they were works of fiction, constructions of the imagination that had more to do with London's romantic sensibilities than with the actualities of life in the subartic wilderness.The middle portion of the book delves a lot into other wilderness personalities. I found them interesting, but while in some ways similar to McCandless they are all different enough to warrant their own tales. They feel a bit like filler. Interesting filler, but filler nonetheless.McCandless' backstory is filled with drama between himself and his family. He seemed to be more than capable of making friends, yet has a nonexistent relationship with his parents. While purportedly close to one sister...he leaves her without any sort of goodbye. Loner, indeed. Again, I can relate...but cutting off one's family entirely is almost never a good thing (cases of abuse and intolerance exempted of course). Like Ken Sleight, the biographer of another wilderness disappearing act, Everett Ruess, says:“Everett was a loner; but he liked people too damn much to stay down there and live in secret the rest of his life. A lot of us are like that...we like companionship, see, but we can't stand to be around people for very long. So we get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out again.”Again, that quandary is one I feel and have felt very often. Unlike McCandless, I've never felt strongly enough about any of it to just chuck my entire life and go off into the woods. Perhaps that's a lack of backbone on my part. Or perhaps it just shows that I have one.One of McCandless' last journal entries:I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books , music, love for one's neighbor – such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children, perhaps – what more can the heart of a man desire?Still a bit on the melodramatic side. What, exactly, had he lived through? A spoiled white child from doting parents that GAVE AWAY his livelihood to wander like an outcast? At the same time...it rings a note of truth there that makes my heart ache. He seems to echo Oscar Wilde:With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?I'm giving 5/5 stars, based solely on how I felt immediately after finishing the book. Looking at it now I would probably say 4 because of all the extraneous information and meandering.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram

~Check out all my reviews over on The Bent Bookworm!~ 3/5 stars. The third in the Spirit Animals series, Blood Ties moves the quest of the four Chosen kids - Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan - onward. This time they are searching for the talisman of the Great Beast Dinesh (the elephant). After the startling end to the second book, this one picks up right after those events, and for the first two-thirds has separate timelines following the separated parties. The separation of the group really made this book struggle. There was so much back and forth that it was really annoying and a bit confusing. Also, the writing is kind of awkward at times - I think Nix is used to writing for an older audience, and struggled some with writing a middle grade. The last third of the book is what saved it from a lower star rating. The battle scene was well-written, and the ending broke my heart. As usual, the next step in the quest is revealed as well, and that sounds extremely interesting.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram

Another Stephanie Plum...not as funny as some of the other ones, and left me feeling more annoyed than usual at Stephanie's double love life.

~Full review here on The Bent Bookworm!~Cute. Fluffy. Dogs. Sounds like an awesome time, right? I adore dogs and I've even contemplated trying to establish a dog-walking business myself to bring in some side hustle cash, so I thought for sure I would love this book! I kind of did...and I kind of didn't. There is one huge, glaring issue in particular, but...Good Things FirstDogs! Obviously.Andie isn't even particularly a dog person before the story starts, but after a chance encounter with one she quickly gets lured in. PUPPY LOVE! Anyone who can resist is either heartless or allergic. 😛 Anyway.Friends! Andie and her three best girlfriends are tight. They care so much about each other, it just leaps off the page. I love the way the group texts were presented in the hard copy of the book, complete with emojis. It was awesome and hysterical and oh-so-accurate.Cute. Andie and Clark are SO different and yet they work and are adorable together.Andie is a sexual being and it is portrayed in a POSITIVE light. I loved this. For far too long it's been the THING for guys to be players and have casual hookups and be cheered for doing so, while if a girl does the same she's a slut. Not so here. Andie does have emotional struggles, which contribute to her inability (in the beginning) to connect with any of her boyfriends much beyond a fun and physical level. Even when she does begin to realize that oh hey, feelings are ok even if they're sometimes annoying, she still enjoys the physical side of things. YES! The book doesn't go into too much detail and is pretty tame as far as sexual stuff really, but the implications are there.Not Great StuffThis book is nothing but a HUGE basketful of privilege. White privilege, rich privilege, political privilege, straight privilege...all of it. This smacked me in the face even though yes, I'm white and straight. I am not and have never been from the kind of world this book exists in – where all teenagers have their own cars, the newest phones, perfectly safe neighborhoods, huge houses, don't NEED a job but only work one to avoid boredom...WTF. There are no characters of any other nationality or color, or sexual identity. Like they don't even exist. WHAT WORLD DO YOU LIVE IN?!? I was extremely bothered and this aspect alone is what brings my rating down. I understand that sure, in some places, this is how people live. But the characters in this book don't seem to have any idea of how well off they are, or that there's anything special about their lives. I guess, maybe, that this is supposed to be a light-hearted, escapism type read...but even if so I just can't buy it. It's not okay and I am extremely disappointed. I'm not sure I will be trying anymore Matson books. Looking at the other reviews on GoodReads, I seem to be one of the only people bothered by this aspect...so maybe I'm oversensitive or something. But it just rubbed me wrong, maybe because of the sheer cluelessness of the characters.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+

Maggie Stiefvater is going to be at MY LOCAL BOOKSTORE THIS WEEKEND!! So I thought it warrented a re-read and maybe final completion of the entire Raven Cycle. :D
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I know I'm a little late on the bandwagon for this one. However, I couldn't resist starting the series after seeing all the Instagram hype over the last book coming out a few months ago, so here we are! I was very reticent about starting this series. I absolutely loved the idea of it – set in Virginia, Arthurian legend mixed with modern-day paganism, characters with...issues. However, the YA trappings worried me, as I couldn't help but think that the idea could very well be ruined by trying to force it into a YA style writing and or setting.

The opening of The Raven Boys (2012, Maggie Stiefvater) drops you right into a world that, at first, I wasn't entirely sure I was familiar with. 16-year-old Blue Sargent has grown up in a household where clairvoyance is taken for granted and psychic abilities accepted as normal. The rest of the world though, isn't so sure – the modern day Virginia depicted is quite typical of the current America, complete with attitudes toward spirituality outside the realm of mainstream Christianity. Blue is the only one of the family to not be gifted some type of clairvoyance herself, but she is still incredibly perceptive and intelligent as a person. She definitely marches to the tune of her own drum, regardless.

She wasn't interested in telling other people's futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.

~Full review here on The Bent Bookworm!~Hyperbole and a Half is hilarious and immensely relatable. IMMENSELY. Allie is clearly a nerdy, bookish, animal-loving introvert, and so many times I felt like the book was ABOUT me. Sidenote: I had no idea this was where the phrase “ALL THE THINGS” originated, despite it being one of my favorites! I laughed until tears ran down my face, and then a little bit later I actually cried, because I couldn't believe someone else actually felt the way I had the last year or so. I took pictures of the pages to send to my best friend, because I hadn't been able to explain to anyone how I felt, and this book had just done it.Just wanting to stop existing. Just wanting to disappear. Not permanently, really, at least not in my mind.How did she articulate that so well? I could have written that myself if I could have just figured out how. She goes on to briefly mention that she discovered she was not the only one who felt this way, that while not a healthy state of mind, it did not make her weird or an outcast, even if it felt like that. She obtained help for her depression and went on to feel like her usual self again, able to enjoy her relationships and her dogs. She doesn't dwell on it, and the book moves along to happier, more hilarious scenes...but this is what really stuck out to me and earned this book a permanent place on my shelf and will have me recommending it to every introvert kindred spirit, ever.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+

~Follow all my reviews over on The Bent Bookworm!~Wild Born is the first in the Spirit Animals middle-grade series (complete with the online game), written by a line-up of amazing writers who have already made their stamp in the world of either MG or YA. I just happened to walk by the series on the shelf at my local library and stopped, attracted by the pretty spines (yes, I'm shallow sometimes). Then I realized that Brandon Mull (Fablehaven series), Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Cycle), and a string of other amazing writers had contributed books...and I was TOTALLY invested before even knowing what they were about!The story is set in the fantasy world of Erdas - which is clearly based on our world with similar geographical and cultural divides, and in a time where sword fighting and martial arts are common place, and the calvary is supreme on the battlefield. Four kids undergo the coming-of-age ritual of their people, and call forth a spirit animal! That's exciting enough in itself, but these are not just normal spirit animals, but beasts out of legend and almost out of time. There is a lot of world set-up in this one, but it's presented as the story goes along and I found it fascinating. Also there weren't many scenes where some kind of action wasn't happening as the characters progressed from one bump in the road to the next. I loved it! Especially near the beginning, there was a little more tell vs. show than I like, but it smoothed itself out for the most part. I love how different all the kids are, and how their bonds with their animals proceed on individual paths. My favorite has to be the nonconformist, Rollan, who wants to do good in the world but refuses to completely believe in the mainstream. Also his spirit animal is a falcon, what's not to love? The plot is obviously only getting started, but I felt the reunion between the four was somewhat rushed at the end of the book. It's going to be super interesting to see how all these different authors write in the same world and with some (if not all) of the same characters. 4/5 stars. Highly recommend, and these will be going on my shelf at home! Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram

~Full review here on The Bent Bookworm!Everyone has read this book already. Everyone, except me. Therefore, I'm departing from my usual format for my Crown of Midnight review. This is a play-by-play of my reactions as I read the book – yes, I kept very detailed notes, down to the page number! I probably could have finished it a lot faster without...but I just couldn't stop. I also took a lot MORE of these notes in the last half of the book than the first, hehe. It probably goes without saying, but, um...**SPOILER ALERT!!! For ToG, Books 1 & 2***Beginning: Well, hopefully a few people will have become actual adults this time...(you can see my rather unimpressed review of Throne of Glass here)6 – Ewwwww...glad to see Celaena hasn't lost her love of the dramatic, I guess?15 – “Plans” seem a little overrated.25 – Why is Chaol still so worried about the king? The king is evil. Chaol is not. I don't understand this loyalty.29 – I don't like this Roland person.31 – WHY SO MANY CLOTHES AND SHOES?!? I don't understand.36 –Unlike Celaena's [bookshelf], which housed every title she got her hands on, whether she liked the book or not.THERE'S my girl.43 – I want a necklace that glows when danger is near, damn it.74 – And now I miss MY best friend, damn it. Nehemia is the best.89 – Chaol, you overprotective ASS...you better watch yourself.91 – Ugh. I've never been comfortable with the idea of courtiers/courtesans, male or female (not in this context, anyway). I get that sometimes it's a lifestyle choice, but in this case it's pure slavery and...UGH.92 – I'm a little disturbed that so far the only same sex relationships in this series are portrayed as a taboo thing, something to hide and keep behind closed doors. I get that maybe that's how Adarlan's society IS, buuuuut...it seems like it never occurs to anyone, even our heroine, to look at it differently.111 – Aaaaahhh secret passageways and tunnels!! Or rather, more of them.138 – Phew. There for a minute I thought we were headed for a love SQUARE. At least now we're back to love triangle that IS NOT a triangle, according to Dorian. Just keep believing that there, little buddy.192 – Ok. I love Chaol, as much as he's flawed and torn by his idea of loyalty. And I feel like my heart is going to be broken by it somewhere along the line...223 – Now there's the assassin I've been waiting to see!229 – WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING OMG NO NO NO NO.230 – THIS IS ALL WRONG. SO WRONG. WHAT EVEN.241 –Death was her curse and her gift, and death had been her good friend these long, long years.246 – I'm so sad I don't even know if I can keep reading this.(puts book down for about a day)267 –Then Celaena and the King of Adarlan smiled at each other, and it was the most terrifying thing Dorian had ever seen.Yikes.291 – I love how everyone gets upset and distraught and...runs to the library for their happy place.294 – Are you kidding me, Chaol?? You're STILL having twinges of conscience about this bloody tyrant of a king? Or is it Dorian you're actually worried about? Because that's slightly more acceptable even if it doesn't make you any less stupid.296 – Ooooh is the battle hungry rebel guard a woman?297 – LOL JK300 –“Then you will always have a place here.”Oh, god, Dorian. Come on now.309 – Well, that doesn't reek of LotR AT ALL.313 – OH MY GOD CHAOL. Just because she'll never trust you again doesn't make her a threat to one of her best friends.328 – Hold on – does it occur to anyone that she's going to have to walk/climb/run back up ALL THOSE STAIRS? That's a lot of freakin' stairs...339 – Haha. Ok well, glad someone addressed that problem.357 –The world didn't need an assassin with a coward's heart. It needed someone like Nehemia.366 – Archer =373 – Yes, yes beg ALL the gods that will listen.374 – NOT FLEETFOOT!!! 378 – Okay, any man that will risk his life to save her dog...379 – Well I knew SOMETHING was coming I just didn't expect THAT SOMETHING.Am I the only one that was just...not expecting that AT ALL??389 – That's right, call her a good woman. Probably not the best thing you could have said right there.393 - WAIT WHAT?!?!? SHE KNEW ALL ALONG?????? WTF?!?398 – “Her” kind, clever prince? WHA?405 –“Knowing the truth, whatever it may be, will not change what you must do tomorrow – where you must go.”Why have I not seen THIS quote on a t-shirt?408 –Never forgive, never forget.Yeah, ok. So. That was one big puddle of feelings and some confusion. I have many mixed...thoughts. I felt this one was much better written than the first (thank you, SJM, for sparing us the many repeated descriptions of just.how.beautiful. Celaena is), and it was overall much more interesting. We learned a lot more about the world, about Celaena's background (OBviously), as well as Chaol's, and some new, very interesting characters were introduced (Baba Yellowlegs?? I was so disappointed that she had such a brief part).I'm so bummed that Nehemia died. And in such a truly SENSELESS way. Actually, bummed doesn't even begin to describe it. The book itself even states that it was a catalyst, an instigator, that she sacrificed herself in order to goad Celaena into action...WTF?!? That is so wrong and sad on so many levels. I'm extremely disappointed in that aspect. I've seen a few different bloggers talk about how in some very popular books, POC are used as plot devices...and I'm guessing that this is one of the chief offenders. No matter how much of an amazing character Nehemia was, the fact is that her death was used as a tool is just beyond sad.The ending was awesome, though. I love that Celaena is strong enough to say goodbye, even when she knows it is probably goodbye forever, or at least goodbye to the happiness she had. I still love Chaol even if he's a complete dunderhead, and I have hopes that he will come around. He doesn't seem to be an ENTIRELY lost cause. And Dorian...I can't even begin to figure out what's going on with Dorian. He's such an utterly nice person, and it kind of makes him boring but I want him to be happy. Oh, and whatever happened to Roland?? Like he was there, and vaguely creepy and unsettling and then he was just...nothing. So confused.This is such a popular series I'm sure most people who read my blog have read it, so (WITHOUT spoiling the next books, please!), tell me what you think! I'd love to talk about it some more.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+

~Full review found on The Bent Bookworm!~

I was instantly doubtful of this book, but it came recommended by a good friend so I gave it a shot. I am happy to report that the actual reading improved the impression I had drawn based on the cover (gag) and title (odd). Overall I'm giving it 3.5 stars...I am leaning towards 4, but...the sheer length of it is taking a half star off for me. I don't mind longer books, as I read faster than average...but honestly this one could have been edited a little better, starting with less scenes of boring medieval castle chores. The writing itself is of excellent quality, I have no complaints whatsoever! Emily Barker has created a colorful world peopled with interesting characters. I finished it in about 3 days, despite the staggering 570 pages!

I'm a sucker for any books that have to do with books or bookish people, and Nora's grad school/literary critic/teacher occupation intrigued me. Her personal life woes in the beginning are oh-so-very first world, but thankfully we don't spend much time with that before she goes wandering and plunges headlong into the other world. The first, oh, about 60 pages...I felt like I was drunk and wandering around trying to figure out what was going on. At first I was extremely annoyed and though I wouldn't be able to finish the book, but then as I kept going I realized that the feeling was intentional, to make us feel how Nora feels when she first enters the alternate world. Well done indeed. Maybe keep it to 40 pages next time though.

Nope, I couldn't finish it. Even though it's been sitting right here for ages and ages...I just have absolutely no interest in finishing it. Which is sad, because it's supposed to be such a good story.

Re-reading via audiobook. There is soooooo much I didn't remember!He PURRED?!? Are you freaking kidding me?!? headdesk_________I have soooooo many feelings about this book. I loved it, but I have issues with it. I loved the characters, but I want to throttle them. This is my cherry pop for [a:Sarah J Maas 3433047 Sarah J. Maas https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1582137198p2/3433047.jpg]' books, and I have to say I'm quite definitely hooked. I've already checked out [b:A Court of Mist and Fury 17927395 A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2) Sarah J. Maas https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546406996l/17927395.SY75.jpg 25126749] from the library (thank the stars they HAD it for once). Sadly it will probably be waiting until next weekend, when I can devote an entire day to devouring it all in one go. I'm a bit confused by the GoodReads page for the series, because it lists 8 (count them! 8!) books...while the FAQ on Maas' author website clearly says “third and final book in the series is slated to be published in 2017.” SOMEONE HELP ME UNDERSTAND!!!! Ahem. Anywho, barring some unforgivable deviation in writing, I'm sure I will be biting my nails for the next release. I'm already waffling on my book buying ban.ADDENDUM: Oops. A little more digging revealed the big announcement! I am trying not to get my expectations too high as I haven't read that much of her work yet, buuuuut...yeah. So much hope and potential.My first impression, on page 7 (yes, page 7), was, “Holy shit does this woman know how to set the atmosphere!” As Fayre is stalking the wolf, my heart was pounding. I actually put the book down for a minute. I was startled at being that sucked in that fast. As the story continued, I continued to be impressed by the world building. Somehow she managed to do it without the massive info-dumps so many authors resort to using. Whoohoo! Mad props. And, I can feel the snow. I can see the poverty, and then the masked glittering court. Ooooh.Characters. Ah, where do I even start. This could be a very long post. Fayre, we all love you. I do wish you didn't have quite such a guilt complex though. About 1/5 of the way through the book, she has a dream about the wolf she killed – killed because all her life she was told that wolves were evil, as were the Fae, and would slaughter her and her family without pausing to think twice. And yet, after spending just a few days in the Spring Court, she is suddenly overwrought. Fayre dear, why so many guilty feels?It was regret, and maybe shame, that coated my tongue, my bones. I shuddered as if I could fling it off, and kicked back the sheets to rise from the bed.All very dramatic of course, but, um...knowing what she knew at that point in time, I think most of us with an ounce of backbone would have killed the wolf too. Just saying. I'm willing to chalk that up to her being 19 and impressionable. And horny.Then there is the whole Tamlin Problem. Because while he has some great lines... (Um....possible SPOILERS? You've been warned...I tried to be vague but might not have been as vague as I thought)Against slavery, against tyranny, I would gladly go to my death, no matter whose freedom I was defending....he's a lying bastard who never even apologizes for his myriad deceptions! UGH! I actually kind of liked his over-flown, flowery, stilted mannerisms until his lies are all uncovered. And then even when Fayre is hit in the fucking FACE with them, she just accepts them and follows him to...er...some-indefinite-place-of-mortal-peril.At least Fayre realizes, however briefly, that she's caught a bad case of the hots.I knew I was headed down a path that would likely end in my moral heart being left in pieces, and yet...and yet I couldn't stop myself.Well. Bravo to her for realizing it and consciously making the choice, at least. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. The key is personal responsibility, which Fayre seems to have in spades (albeit exhibiting itself most often as the aforementioned guilt complex).Also, re: Tamlin – HOW, and WHY IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT'S HOLY, is it SEXY for your love interest to lose control and be a mindless beast? I get it, it's Beauty and the Beast, yadda yadda. But. NOT COOL!! Thankfully that scene is short and not portrayed entirely positively...but it was still more sexy than horrific and it really disturbed me.About halfway through I felt the story became really predictable. Maybe due to the Beauty and the Beast influence? Still a bit sad. However, Maas still has some lovely, lovely prose that actually stirred my little non-believing critic's heart.I was loosened, a top whirling around and around, and I didn't know who I danced with or what they looked like, only that I had become the music and the fire and the night, and there was nothing that could slow me down.Ahhhhh. Yes. Talk to me, baby. I kind of wished I was drunk while reading this, because I'm pretty sure I would have been spinning right along with Feyre.Then we're kind of back to the predictabilty. Boo. But then, a few interesting things happen. But then, there's this riddle deal thrown in – was that supposed to be a big mystery? Because honestly. I hadn't even finished reading it before I was mumbling the answer at the pages in front of me, and yet SOMEHOW it takes Fayre several more chapters to figure it out.So, this is near the end. I was thinking this was a 3/5 star book. Then...Rhysand happened. Also there's the little not-much-explained story of Lucien. And OMG Fayre. What happened to you, Love? She's still Fayre and yet...her naivety and what innocence she had left gets wiped entirely clean. But there is still Rhysand...omg. What...what?? Dun-dun-dun, and it's over. Leaving me reeling in my chair and desperately checking the library catalog for the second one. Despite all the flaws. Despite my homicidal feelings toward Tamlin. Despite odd division of the story into 75% slow, sweet romance and then BAM! 25% knives and blood and confusion.It was lovely, for all its flaws. I am going to be tearing my hair out until I get through A Court of Mist and Fury.3.5/5 stars.Oh, but...Fayre? Can you please, please get over your obsession with the “shell” of your ear?

Wolf is one of my favorite characters from The Lunar Chronicles, and Scarlet+Wolf is definitely my favorite couple. I loved seeing more of Wolf's background, of what his family was like before he became the soldier we know in Scarlet. The details about how exactly he and his pack were commissioned/trained were pretty cool, too. My only complaint is that it seems rather rushed, to condense SO much time into such a short story. We needed more time to really feel Wolf's pain and growth. I think his story could very well be an entire book on its own! Also there's so much potential to grow the series up a little. I love the Lunar Chronicles, but I feel like they are kind of...tame. Wolf's back story is less so than most of the other characters' and would be a great spinoff. Of course I'd also love to see what he and Scarlet get up to in the future too! Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram

~Check out all my reviews over on The Bent Bookworm!~ Heirs and Graces is the 7th in Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness series, and I'm happy to say it continued in the vein of the 6th book, which I think was the best in the series so far.“Nothing more dangerous than an educated woman.”Things I Liked- We got more of Darcy and Georgie together! This made me so happy, as I feel like Darcy was really in the background unnecessarily for several books.- Jack, the Australian heir, was a breath of fresh air to the stodgy British household of his grandmother. I loved it.- The mystery was one of those that was clearly a framing of another person from the very start, but I was really unsure of who I liked for the actual culprit until much closer to the end. I love mysteries like this, because it's just not as much fun if you figure it out a quarter of the way through the book!Overall 4/5 StarsThis was another solid addition to the series! Nothing spectacular, but a very enjoyable read with mostly characters we're familiar with – which is exactly what I want out of a cozy mystery!Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram

~Full review on The Bent Bookworm!~“People have destructive impulses. Some of us want to see the world in ruins just for the fun of it...even if we're ruined along with it.”FeelsI've only read one of [a:Rick Riordan 15872 Rick Riordan https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1383677264p2/15872.jpg]'s other series, the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I actually read them back in 2014, at an extremely low point while I was away from home doing some rather strenuous training. Reading has always been my escape and those books – even though from a genre very different from what I was mostly reading at the time – were the absolute perfect thing for me. I think a re-read is in order soon.Anyway, THIS book, brought back all the “falling into another world” feeling of those. Perfect slump-defeating read! I don't remember laughing this hard during my Percy Jackson reads. From chapter titles like “I Do Mighty Combat with Eggs” and “Though Shalt Not Poop on the Head of Art,” to some of the most zany characters of Riordan's creation I've met yet, it was a great mood lifter. It's the dialogue in this story that really zings. It's absolutely amazing and genius, even the minor characters. Like this little gem between Magnus and Valhalla Hotel's manager.“Then why don't you just say A.D.?”“Because Anno Domini, in the Year of Our Lord, is fine for Christians, but Thor gets a little upset. He still holds a grudge that Jesus never showed up for that duel he challenged to.”“Say what now?”I love Riordan's blasphemy. LOVE IT. I love that he just takes shots at every religion and mythology out there, nothing is sacred – and yet he stops short of disrespecting the people who hold actual beliefs.CharactersMagnus Chase is hilariously snarky, with the balls to talk back to both bad guys and gods – who are sometimes one and the same. His initial circumstances are horrifying, yet he never completely lets it snuff his desire for life. I loved Samirah al-Abbas (Sam), the Valkyrie – she has attitude for miles, spunk, and drive. And a sharp wit, which results in more hilarity.“You named your tree.”“Most important things have names.” She frowned at me. “Who are you again?”Blitz and Hearth, Magnus' best friends on the streets, are such unique characters in their own right too. While they were frequent comic relief they also put SO MUCH heart into the story. There's quite a slew of other minor characters, and I hope some of them show up in future books! I do have to say...the story doesn't end happily for all of them. I was inordinately pleased with that (yes, I'm a horrible person), because I strongly believe even middle-grade YA books need to be somewhat realistic. Which yes, I also realize somewhat ironic to say about a fantasy book, but...it's a GOOD ending.PlotMagnus is a clueless teenager in the beginning, propelled into events way above his pay grade by a series of crazy happenings including the death of his mother. After two years of hiding he is found and given a strange destiny that he can't understand. Everything happens EXTREMELY fast in the beginning and in the whirlwind Magnus is suddenly thrown into the crazy world of the gods of Asgard. He isn't the person he always thought he was, and he might just be the only person capable of coordinating all the necessary elements. Basically the world is about to end when the Fenris Wolf's rope breaks. It starts off sounding fairly simple but gets convoluted rather quickly.Magnus, Sam, Blitz, and Hearth go odd on several side quests that, while entertaining, seem to detract from the progress of the general story. I personally still enjoyed them, but I think the general age group that this book is aimed at might lose interest or get a little lost. Still, there were more awesome quotes, especially from the dwarves (because dwarves are always awesome).“It is woven with the most powerful paradoxes in the Nine Worlds – Wi-Fi with no lag, a politician's sincerity, a printer that prints, healthy deep-fried food, and an interesting grammar lecture!”Worldbuilding/SettingThe world building is good, but it's not the best part of this book. Like I said already, where Riordan really shines is in the snappy dialogue. The description and setting is exactly what this book needs but it's not the standout here.Final RatingOverall I'm giving 4/5 stars. While I loved it, it definitely dragged a bit in all the world-hopping that they ended up doing and I think that it could possibly turn off a lot of its prospective audience. Not so much adults, but kids. When I was of that age I was already a voracious reader so it might not have bothered me but I think I might not have picked it up in the first place. Still, definitely worth reading and if you have an indefatigable young reader tell them to give it a try!Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram

Pretty standard for a Stephanie Plum novel. Predictable, but isn't that why we read them? I always know I will get a good giggle at some point in the book, and this one didn't disappoint. One of the better recent ones.

Only finished because the writing was...ok. The mystery was perfectly abysmal and extremely unrealistic. Why is this series popular?

A storm is a good title for this book. Because there's an absolute shit-storm of stuff going on...overall I enjoyed it and will be reading the next one, but wow my brain was a little scrambled at times!

More to come, maybe...

~Check out all my reviews over on The Bent Bookworm!~

The Twelve Clues of Christmas completely rekindled my interest in this series! I was starting to debate whether or not I wanted to continue with this series after Naughty in Nice, which was lighthearted and fun but not much mystery or substance and nothing really progressed in the main plot. I'm so glad I kept reading! Book 6 was soooo much better. There was a real mystery in this one, and things kept happening at such a pace I could barely put it down and even though I had suspicions about the killer throughout the book I didn't actually figure it out until about the last third.

Things I Liked

- Darcy had some more page time! He and Georgie seemed to work things out a little better and I liked that.
- Georgie is, per usual, trying to find somewhere to live and somehow to support herself and this time instead of the queen coming through with an “assignment,” she actually finds a job that suits both herself and the royal relatives. Her mother just happens to be nearby, being her usual flighty but charming self.
- The murders – yes, more than one this time – just kept coming and getting stranger and...is it weird that I really liked that?

Dun-dun-dun-dun. Isn't that just such a foreboding title? The title alone was actually what made me first notice this book (unfortunately I don't remember if it was on a blog post or my random wanderings through the long halls of GoodReads). Then, oh hey! It's set in West Virginia – which has a real soft spot in my heart, due to my absolute favorite childhood place being my great-grandparents' farm there.Unfortunately, I was ultimately disappointed with [b:A Killing in the Hills 13538549 A Killing in the Hills (Bell Elkins, #1) Julia Keller https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337487546s/13538549.jpg 18887960], which was author [a:Julia Keller 1245113 Julia Keller https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1258074347p2/1245113.jpg]‘s debut novel (2012). I'm torn between 2.5 and 3 stars out of 5. The issues I had with it were several and overarching and I was in a near-constant state of annoyance.First. What the everlasting fuck does this author have against teenagers? Carla, the teenage daughter of Bell Elkins, is quite truthfully the flattest character I've encountered in a long time. It honestly feels like the author has a personal vendetta against teenagers and took it all out in her writing of Carla. It nearly made me DNF the book, it's THAT bad. All the way down to her “flying thumbs” on her cell phone. Trust me, we've had quite enough of the cell phone cracks. Maybe she just doesn't have experience with young adults and needed a stock list of characteristics. Sullen? Check. Irresponsible? Check. Drug experimentation? Check. Constantly on the phone? Check. Throwing snarky comments at Mom? Check. Ugh.Second, I don't see what the switching of POV to the killer (every few chapters) did for the story. To me you could have left out all those chapters and nothing would have changed. It was just...irritating. Jarring. Trying too hard to be scary.Speaking of jarring...third problem. Bell's back story, which is told in flashbacks, felt so familiar. Leftover. Used. Been there done that. The entire story is pretty darn predictable, but especially this part. It felt like the author was trying to be sensational or thriller-like, and in the process just borrowed pieces from popular books in the genre. Sigh.So, why did I even finish it? I'm not someone who feels bad about tossing a book onto my DNF stack. Life is too short to waste on books that make me want to pull my hair out or have me rolling my eyes every 30 seconds.The one thing Julia Keller is good at (and maybe I should have seen this coming, since her Pulitzer was for journalism) – is describing her setting. I could have sworn I was walking right down the main drag in my grandparents' town, Backwoods, WV. Which also happened to be the county seat, just like this one. In fact, there were enough similarities to make me suspect she used their town as the model! Her similes are rather drawn out and overly wordy (see what I did there?), but in her place descriptions they are mostly bearable.It was a shabby afterthought of a town tucked in the notch between two peaks of the Appalachian Mountains, like the last letter stuck in a mail slot after the post office has closed down for keeps. Then there were some spot-on characterizations of the locals accompanied by lines here and there that did genuinely make my heart ache. But, sadly those moments were short-lived and few, and often accompanied by much telling as opposed to showing.A lot of the people in Raythune County felt invisible. They felt marginalized, forgotten....Being on television, even if it was only to say, Yessir, we're all pretty darned scared 'round here after that awful shooting', no question 'bout it, might be the high point of their lives.Overall...I can't recommend this one, sadly. Not even in hopes of a sequel. I don't have enough time to read as it is, and while I'm mildly curious as to what will happen to a couple of the characters in this book, I highly doubt that mild curiosity will ever overcome my massive TBR enough to bump the second of this series to the top. Which, somehow, has accumulated five books. I honestly don't know how.I'm taking the time to write this because I wasn't just “meh” about it, I was massively disappointed. West Virginia and it's people, with all the problems of drugs, unemployment, and violence, is very close to my heart and I feel it could have been given so much better treatment. Not to gloss anything over, but not to throw worn out sermons (re: drug use) at the reader either. Keller tried to convey the beauty and the pain of the place but ultimately I think the unoriginality of her plot and characters will be what stands out to most readers.

~Full review on The Bent Bookworm!~Narration:The narrators for this Audible Editions version were fabulous. Each character has their own narrator for their various journal entries, letters, etc., and they were all easily distinguished from each other. I listened at 1.25% speed, which helped with the 15 hour, 28 minute length.Feels:I was mostly just very intrigued the whole way through! It was so very different than anything I've ever read. I was invested in the characters but not terribly attached, if that makes sense. I felt like I learned a lot from this novel, even though it was fiction. I learned a lot about British/European culture at that time, how they looked at the supernatural, and how they looked at women.Characters:First of all, let's get this Count Dracula straight. Dracula is not something out of True Blood or Twilight. He is not sexy. He does not sparkle. He is not emo or hurt and in need of someone to comfort and heal him. He is evil, cruel, barbaric, and intent on taking over the world. Ok, maybe just England, but still. He is imposing and has a certain ability to manipulate people even without his supernatural powers, something that I think must have been a part of even his regular-human personality.Then you have the other main characters, which starts off with Jonathan Harker and his fiancee' (later wife) Mina. They are just normal people trying to live a happy life, and suddenly they are thrown into this mess of Dracula's creating. Jonathan actually travels to Dracula's castle, never realizing until much later that the Count is much more than a normal man. Mina doesn't actually meet Dracula until much later, but she has quite an experience with him due to his involvement with her dearest friend, Lucy.Lucy is the person who actually brings all the other characters together. She is the typical Victorian blushing virgin, and somehow manages to attract marriage proposals from several men all at once. When she becomes a target for some unknown horror, they all come together – not without some awkwardness – to try to help her.Plot:The plot can be summed up in two words: vampire slayers. Because while this book takes AGES to get to the point, in the end that's what it's about. Vanquishing the evil that is Count Dracula and his minions, preventing him from further colonization. There are a couple of sub-plots, but they really don't add a whole lot to the story, in my opinion. Like many books of this era, Dracula is very wordy and goes on and on and on about points that most modern readers really don't care about.Worldbuilding/Setting:The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through the forests.Stoker does a marvelous job of making us see, here, feel, and even smell the setting of Transylvania, the seaside, London. I have absolutely no complaints. I never once felt as though I couldn't picture the world of the characters. To him of course, the world was HIS world.Rating/Other Thoughts:Let me get to these other thoughts before I give my rating.First of all, the religious atmosphere of this book. It really took me by surprise, but I guess, given that the main characters are British during the 1890s (Queen Victoria's reign). I was disappointed that the only things (other than garlic) to repel the vampires are relics of the Christian church. I was extremely disappointed by how many pages were devoted to the characters musing on their rightness with God, on whether or not they would go to heaven or hell, and other similar topics. All very accurate to how people thought and believed during that time.Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, whose very existence would defame Him. He has allowed us to redeem one soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem more. Like them we shall travel toward sunrise; and like them, if we fall, we fall in good cause.Secondly, the treatment of women. Again it's very accurate to how women in Victorian England were expected to behave, how they were looked at by men and the world at large. Mina Harker, at least, does not entirely accept the traditional role of the fainting female even if she is very willing to accept being the weaker sex. Accurate or not, I find the subservience the female characters demonstrate disturbing. Also disturbing is that Jonathan Harker objects to the female vampire who come to him based solely on the fact that they appear sexually attractive and do not behave like Victoria's shrinking violet female model. He is attracted to them by their beauty and their open admission of their desire, and yet he feels he sins in the attraction.I realize that this is all my perspective through a 21st century lens. The points that strike me as repression and bigotry were completely normal and accepted in society at that time. Does that make them right? Of course not. It does explain how and why characters reacted the way they did, however inexplicable their actions seem to a modern reader.Overall, I'm giving 4 stars. The story, for all its faults, is still gripping even over a hundred years later. Dracula has given rise to countless spin-off tales, even if most modern day readers consider vampires (and werewolves) more sexy than terrifying. Vampires, with their super-human powers of shape changing and manipulation, have enthralled people's imaginations for decades. I don't see Dracula leaving the classics list any time soon.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+———————Holy shit, I FINALLY finished this damn book. Real review to come.