DB
So good things – they changed the narrator for this (to Natalie Naudus). Ferrick and Vataea thankfully had different (better) accents. Did that mean I enjoyed this more? No, unfortunately, not. I think it's because I had struggled with the first book that I just wanted to get this one done.
As the book went on I liked Amora less and less
slides $2 and a home video of me dancing to a Hozier song to the publishers
PLEASE RELEASE THIS SOONER
This book felt more like a nonfiction true crime book/podcast/documentary than an actual thriller. Even though I don't really read/listen/watch them, I just didn't get the feeling that this was meant to be a book? Maybe I would've liked it more had it been a podcast or a fictional documentary.
Also, as much as I don't really want to say this – Paul Adams was not an interesting character. It was like waiting paint dry, if I may be so bold as to say.
I felt like this book kept hinting at something supernatural, like the murders or the murderer were something supernatural, but looking at some spoiler reviews tell me that's not the case. And it just, I don't know, feels like North tried to push that ‘is it supernatural, is it not?' angle in a way to keep people reading? If a book is supernatural or includes a supernatural plot/characters – I want to know. I don't want to ‘keep reading for the suspense'.
I finished this around 2 am and my eyes welled up! Which is a major thing as I rarely cry in books.
Review to come - I promise
The first 50% of the book had me thinking it was very close to A Cinderella Story – probably because I was watching it before reading this book. But while it reminded me of A Cinderella Story at the beginning – their texting to each other, how close Jack and Pepper were to each in other in correlation withe their online anonymous texts; the similarity ends at the texts. Because this is way different than A Cinderella Story. It's being compared to You've Got Mail, which is a movie I still haven't watched.
I thought that Pepper was very me – when she has this sarcastic view on things, and then I thought I was Jack when he admits that he sometimes he doesn't think before he says things. So basically I realised I was all the characters, which sounds like a very YA thing to say
Warnings: sexual assault. Homophobia. Possibly others further into the book.
I picked this up because I liked the premise and people were speaking about it. I also got to like 40-something % and found myself just swiping through the pages.
So yeah. I figured if I was absentmindedly turning the pages, it meant I wasn't actually interested in the story.
in break your glass slippers, like its sequel down below (and probably the third book as well) someone gives advice to the main character (if you can even have a main character in a poetry collection). Because this collection has notes of Cinderella, it's the fairy godmother who's giving advice.
With Cinderella we mostly know what this collection will focus on feeling trapped, not feeling good enough even though you're doing all that you can. Again, it focuses on self-worth and telling the reader through the fairy godmother – you're good enough, you're more than good enough.
I didn't even reach the 5% mark. I tried hard with this one, but it was definitely not to be. It wasn't holding my attention at all. I got through the first chapter and realized I wouldn't be finishing the book, but tried a bit more. But ended up (like I knew I would) deciding to stop reading.
It was the case of the writer thinking they were capable of writing lengthy sentences and thinking it would work because they're writing a fantasy book – it's even more seen when it's a high/epic fantasy book. It's a very, very common thing to have long sentences for fantasy because I don't know, apparently fantasy = long sentences. Some authors do it well and I'm not too annoyed by it. Personally I think we could without long sentences in fantasy or anywhere else. Like learn where to end one sentence and begin another (of course, I'm including myself here). Smythe, unfortunately, is not an author who knows how to masterfully create long sentences.
That was mostly the reason for dnfing the book. I could tell I would have this issue the entire way through and I wasn't interested in having to slog through a near full paragraph and it just being one sentence. Plus, the characters didn't capture my interest from the beginning.
Goodreads says it's a trilogy!!!! Which I'm very excited about! I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to see what the other books will hold. Especially after that ending! This post will be mostly be just rambling about how much I connected to the characters (well, mostly the main character). So it might be a bit long.
If you were wondering what on earth I was doing, rambling on in the summary; the main character (Nick) has ADHD. The book is ownvoices for its queer rep and the neurodiverse rep. I have ADHD, so I was pretty excited to see a MAIN character have it too. And while I can't speak for medicated ADHD rep (because I haven't been on meds since like high school), I do think it was great representation of how a person with ADHD thinks and reacts and speaks.
I have so so many notes in my Kindle that's just ME in all caps and etc etc because I RELATED so much to the main character!! And that's really really important for me (someday I'll do a post on what makes or breaks a book for me) – to connect to a character and to relate to them. Nick was definitely one of them, what he said I felt. Like when he said something embarrassing and immediately regretted it? I've spent multiple nights thinking back to literally anything mildly embarrassing I've said in the past.
And when he rambles and goes on about x or y topic and other people are like... and they don't exactly know what to do or say; or sometimes (and this does happen) that even your best or closest friends or family do say something rude about the ADHD. And it hurt Nick, and it hurt me as well. Because that is something that happens alll the time. I don't think people really get how it affects our day-to-day life/living. There's never a moment where my ADHD lets me like... rest. Not even at night, when I'm ‘trained' to sleep. My brain is always on overdrive and multitasking and thinking and thinking and thinking.
But anyway! Let's carry on from all the rambling. I loved the other characters. Seth
I was annoyed with this book because it did that thing!! Where the synopsis LOOKs really super good and then it falls along the way and I'm left trying to think if I'm bad at picking books or if the books are bad at picking me.
I could barely connect to ANY of the characters. I found them so unlikeable and there were so many problematic elements, which was a big reason why I didn't like them. I can deal (and probably even like) unlikeable characters, but this was on another level. Like even when I decided to dnf and skipped ahead a bit (to see if there's something that would interest me), there was nothing.
Ariel's always been one of my favourite Disney Princesses. It's definitely the fact that she's a mermaid and it's sad that there aren't more Little Mermaid adaptations! But I'm quite happy with what we got in Once Upon a Time and I can't wait for the live-action adaptation!
It had gorgeous writing, just flowed across the pages and brought me into the story. It held true to the story we all know and love. The book also has The True-Hearted Tin Soldier, which was a happy surprise, as I love that story – so that was fun to see.
Fun fact: The words the little mermaid appears 49 times in the book.
This was a very quick dnf – I chose to mark it as dnf at four percent... that's a very quick choice. I didn't realise this was a spin-off sequel/prequel series to the original Trylle trilogy. It wasn't really marketed properly.
I've only read the first book like years ago, I can't remember if I liked it or not. The very very little I read of this didn't really impress me much?
The formatting was a bit off as well. Several times if a book started with the letters f and i (five, first etc) it would disappear. So it wouldn't say five but ve, not first but rst. I was able to get what the sentence was, but it kept taking me out of the story, which also led to me wanting to dnf.
Ooh my gosh. This book!! So I have Rheumatoid Arthritis (diagnosed in June 2018). Pretty early in it so I'm still figuring out when I should give my body a break and all (absolutely not good at this) but I'm pretty sure that this is my first time reading a book with a character who has RA? And I read what she was thinking about her body and joints and everything and it's exactly what I feel?
Like when it said: “They think it's completely ridiculous that a person can just...have a sick life and be fine with it. So they have to build this story around you kicking the illness's ass. You can't coexist with it. You can't incorporate it into yourself. Because they don't. So you can't.” – LIKE I FELT THAT DOWN IN MY SOUL. And I know I'm early in my diagnosis, but I feel it and I know exactly what they're talking about. Like why can't we just live with the diagnosis? Why do we have to wish it away? Why should we want to be ‘perfectly' healthy and ‘normal' – Newsflash! Why is being healthy considered to be the normal?
Their relationship with each other was SO CUTE even before they got together! I loved how real they were with each other and they understood each other. And they were great as individual characters – I liked how they were written and how they came across on the page. AND WHEN they STARTED to give each other PET NAMES I'M SOFT.
And like also there's this part where Isabel talks about her uncle sending her an article about how carbs are linked to arthritis – which is EXACTLY how my uncle is and like yes I am on keto – my aunt won't cook for different people, so I've just adapted. But the pain isn't any less because I've dropped the carbs. There's so many articles cross-sectioning or whatever the word actually is. And why do people think they know more about something else than you? Even if you don't know a lot about your illness, it doesn't mean other people should come along and wave articles at you and yell: “Hear ye, hear ye, eating 2 of this per week will KILL you within a year!”
Also, NO ONE talks about how it makes you tired and I am here to say... that it does. Some days – especially on the bad days I just have enough energy to go down for a coffee and that's it. And I was so happy to see Isabel say it. And I want more of this!! in books! More characters with illnesses who talk about it.
I really liked Sasha's sister – she was fun reading about whenever she showed up in the plot. I liked their friends for the most part. They did say things and do things I side-eyed for a while but in a way I understood it because I know how they think. And what they think. And it is like that – not everyone totally understands when they know about your illness.
I moved between liking and disliking the book throughout. I had an okay time reading it but I wouldn't reread the book. I thought of maybe carrying on but I'll let go. There's so many other books and series I need to get to.
I liked the friendship group and how they interacted with each other, but I didn't like the main character. I did like the casual touching amongst the friendship group. There wasn't much of a solid plot and I think that's what annoyed me the most. I also wasn't following along really because it just wasn't holding enough of my attention but it felt like there wasn't a good amount of plot anyway.
Is it 5 stars because they have like 5 or something cats? What? No! I'm not that superficial (honestly it probably is). But even if there were no black cats I'd still rate this a full 5 stars. Because it was so so fun and adorable. This had me grinning from ear-to-ear and I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a wholesome graphic novel.
I loved seeing the forest creatures – I wanted to know more/see more of them. I loved how they were drawn – I mean I loved how the entire book was illustrated, but I think the forest creatures have my heart the most.
I liked how the plot was laid out and how everything happened. It kept me intrigued and I was never bored even though it's a short book. Although, as it's over 200 pages – is that considered big for a graphic novel? The element of mystery was done well and I didn't suss out the plot twist!
Nova and Tam were two absolutely adorable characters and I loved getting to know them. They had such a sweet relationship and made me feel warm all throughout. This is certainly a warm hug in a book – in fact it's like a warm hug for every page in the book. Nova's grandmothers were also sweet and funny and I loved how welcoming and caring they were!
Read this post on my blog!
Disclaimer: I received this e-arc through A Novel Take PR in exchange for a free and honest review. The link in the book's details is to the book's Goodreads' page. The summary and all the graphics were provided by A Novel Take PR. All opinions expressed are my own.
I'll admit, I usually like to summarise the summary myself, because it makes it really fun. But then I saw the graphics and knew I'd have to put off the summary revision for another day. So this review will look different because I wanted to showcase some of the graphics! Thank you so much to A Novel Take PR – for the review copy and the slot on the blog tour. Go check them out!
I did not realise this was like 764 pages!! I thought it as a nice 300-400 somewhere fantasy, and my eyes grew a tad bit wide because the last time I read a book over 600 pages was I think The Wise Man's Fear? And that took me a month or two to finish ahaha. So I thought I would take a week or even two to finish this one, because it's so huge. But I actually finished this really quickly!! It was so so good that I didn't even notice how much I was reading at a time until I looked at the time? Which is definitely a tell (for me) that I really enjoyed a book.
This book gave me everything, from a brief mention of currency (which, oddly, is a thing I absolutely love to read in fantasies), to characters I knew I could root for and absolutely love, and which ones I should watch out for.
Tauren Darrica and Kalai Ro-Ani were two characters I had such fun reading about. I loved meeting them and getting to know them; seeing them meet each other and getting to know each other. Tauren is that type of character who likes to think they're tough but he's actually really soft and he cares about people and wants to help them. I loved seeing how fierce Kalai gets because he takes on a job as an archivist, which isn't really known for its action and drama.
Another thing I really loved was seeing them become closer to one another and, furthermore, wanting to be closer to each other – which really really warmed my Grinchly heart. They brought out the best in each other and made each other go for what they wanted! I don't normally go seeking romance out (in books), but I'd seek this romance out.
Yes, there are dragons in this novel. Is dragon a genre? Well, it's one now. I loved seeing the dragons and reading about the different types of dragons – I could read about dragon types and wings, scales, even how strong the tail is, for ages. The dragons in this are funny and compassionate. Even though they don't speak, they have bounds of personality – does that make sense? I feel like that makes sense.
Look at how great that chapter logo looks! I had to upload it to show you. And the character art? So good!
I can't say much on the plot, the book is really long so the plot develops a lot and there's some twists and turns (which I loved). But there's also mystery and intrigue, which is done really well! I kept wanting to know more and turning the page so quickly, I must've paged more than one page
Let's put this book under ‘historical fiction books DB actually likes' – right there by The Gilded Wolves. I absolutely loved this book. I'm not really keen on most historical fictions as a lot of the time the writing tends to be a bit wooden at times. But this definitely wasn't the case with this one! I loved it from the first chapter, took me nearly no time to get into the story and start loving the characters.
Every time I heard the word ‘Nonna' or any mention of Italian food I smiled so widely because it reminded me of my Nonna. The one who would take off her slipper and throw it at me (and nearly always hit me) if I were annoying her or being naughty – which, you know, was barely ever because I was such a good girl
Had to read for college. Found it boring and Marlow a pretentious, racist and self-obsessed narrator who thinks himself above natives. I understand that was Conrad's way of telling the readers how senseless the world is. Though I do congratulate Conrad on writing such fine English with it being his third language.
Chinua Achebe wrote a bloody fine essay detailing why he doesn't like Heart of Darkness. It's called An Image of Africa, and it's wonderful. Read that instead of this.
*I'm giving it two stars on account of the writing. If only Goodreads had half-stars.
The writing feels very juvenile – not like it's meant to be an adult book. I don't like the main character and how she views and talks about everyone. And I think there was a fatphobic comment? Who knows what else there might be?
By the writing was juvenile, I meant there were lines like: So much cursing! So much yelling! And in shouty all-caps.
I was reading by Chapter 12 and told myself that if, by Chapter 15, I'm still not interested, we're marking it as dnf. And so I reached Chapter 15, and I still wasn't interested.
I usually know early on if I'm not going to enjoy a book or possibly mark it as did-not-finish if the characters aren't working for me. Either I don't like the way they speak, the way they treat others. I also dnf early on if I don't like the narration or if the 1st POV just doesn't work for me. With this book it was the main character. Wren. I didn't like her character early. I couldn't get myself to care for what she cared for, get angry at what she was angry at. If she was interested in something, I could not get myself interested in it.
I also didn't like the way magic and the magic system/rules were written into the book. I don't know if there were any other magic other than healing and destructive magic. From what I read, healing magic was only to be used either in the military or in the clergy. I didn't like that they force you into one of two roles in order for you to use magic. What's the penalty if they catch you using magic and you're not in the army or a nun? They kill you? That's even more restrictive.
I liked Hal enough to try to reading (at least until 40%) but his personality didn't shine enough to intrigue me. The plot played a disappointing factor as well. I was sort of interested in carrying on to see what the plot would shape into and how the characters played a role in it, but ultimately, it couldn't give me the boost to carry on.
Yes, I've recently read like 2 or something comics about books and stuff. But I will also read 500 more. I loved all the comics in here. It is very similar to Book Love – which is why I probably picked it up, so I definitely liked that.
This is a heartwarming comic about books and the love of books – which is definitely something I can get behind on. And also that comic of recommending a book to someone? Me with a total stranger who became a close friend of mine and is still a very close friend, all because I took the plunge and recommended a book to her. So, recommend books to people! You'll never know what'll happen!
And also – the page where it talks about wanting to beat the tablet's estimated reading?? That is me to a t! I love to constantly looking at the Kindle's estimated time and see how quickly I can make it go down
