Currently reading
Bearing an Hourglass
Peter the Great: His Life and World
A Curse Dark As Gold - Audio Library Edition
The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel
Les Misérables
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Healing Trauma
Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli & Isles 8 Book Bundle: The Surgeon, The Apprentice, The Sinner, Body Double, Vanish, The Mephisto Club, The Keepsake, Ice Cold
Wow, that went south in a hurry. There are some books that should never be sequels, and this one is a good example. The plot is basically "Dearly, Departed goes on". There is no significant movement. Several more viewpoint characters are added and while they do have some good points, most of them sound the same. It was hard to get motivated to read several hundred more pages about a civil rights movement where I don't even understand the stakes. So this book is done. Luckily the author is moving on to other projects. Hopefully the next one will be as enjoyable as her debut.Memo to me: Sequels need to have a plot unique to them that still ties into the larger series story line. If there isn't a bad guy/ticking clock/problem that is unique to that novel then the sequel won't work.
Not what I expected in a good way. I've been a long time fan of zits the comic strip. When I found out they were doing a YA graphic novel I was a little dubious. Turns out it works. The story was fine, it's the illustrations that really make it. My husband loved it, I was a little less enthused but still enjoyed it.
I just want a moment to give Cynthia Hand a round of applause. She took a lot of elements that don't normally work for me, made them her own, and rocked them. I'm going to read anything she ever rights, including cookbooks and tech manuals. That being said, she lost it a little with Boundless. The characters are still great. Clara's interactions with the supporting cast make me feel like I'm watching through a window. If only her story line was as tight. Instead it meanders as she tries to rap up all the threads that Unearthly and Hallowed have left over. In the end she trips and left me with a confused mass of ending that wrapped everything up tight and yet had no respect for the individuality of her characters that she's been so careful to keep up to this point. No where near as important but even more odd was the clarification on angels. It turned the world into a more religious place and yet left the main characters very secular. It felt very jarring. I loved this series but hope that Hand's grip on ending become better over the course of her career.
My recent forays into favorite novels turned graphic novels haven't been that rewarding so it was with general dubiousness that I looked at Soulless. A trusted voice said that it was the best one she'd ever read. Luckily it's easy to convince me to read a book and I jumped right in! Soulless's tongue in cheek narration translates perfectly into Manga. All the big eyes and scribbled cheeks fit right in. If you like Manga or Soulless the novel this is a book for you.
Ugh... what? I'm really not sure what happened here. This is a case of heroine fatigue. Kate, pushed to her limits by book 1, is shoved right off the cliff in book 2. Carter's voice was still so strong and there was still enough for me to love the characters so I'm not giving up yet. I'm a little sad with what happened to the romance. Carter has a deft hand at squeezing the most angst possible out of a scene. It's a talent, except when it alienates me from the characters. One scene got me to the point where I don't know if I can root for Kate and Henry anymore. I think that Kate staying might be worse for both of them. I know that's not how it's going to work out. It's a romance! That being said if Kate where a real life friend I would be taking her to a divorce lawyer.
The novella is very different from the novel in this series. There is quite a bit of action in Hunt and new interesting characters. We also get to see a bit more of the Zeus character. I really loved seeing things through Henry's eyes and it makes me look forward to Goddess Interrupted.
I binge read the first two and half books in this series (two books and a novella is 2 1/2, right?). I'm trying to pull apart my different impressions for separate books. I really, really liked The Goddess Test. Carter writes Kate so strongly that I couldn't help but get wrapped up in her. I loved her unspooling relationship with Henry. There were a few things that were a little too neat for me in the resolution but not enough so to ruin the story.
I like Jennifer Estep, I really do. It's just Venom made me realize a few of her weaknesses. Did you know she's a serial repeater? Every theme, every allusion, and almost all descriptions will be repeated multiple times. It made me feel like she was batting me around the head with it. She also felt the need to tell me everything from the characters to the situations without giving me the chance to discover it for myself. It's fine to a certain point but gets frustrating in the long run. For all of that she's an enjoyable writer. That probably sounds patronizing, but it's really true. For all her ticks she has strong characters and interesting situations. I look forward to more Gin books.
If ever there was a book not to judge by it's cover, it's this one. Shift looks like it's the BDSM version of Twilight. Instead it's a fantasy-like ghost story, meaning less scary and more world building. Shift also stays away from the second book slump, having a story line all to itself that still leaves threads for the next book. There was a little too much talk of sex for me, but then again I'm not a teenager. Hormones no longer run my life! I'm really excited for Shine so I can figure out how it ends!
After the bang of Tricks of the Trade the PSI series ends with a whimper. It's not that Gilman isn't a good writer, she is. She's just not a great one. Dragon Justice suffered from some odd character development, cheap emotional tricks, and a really jumbled plot line. It was still satisfying in it's own way so I'll still check out her other works. I just wish I hadn't been so underwhelmed.
I've been curious about the lives of transgender people. So many in our culture describe it as clear cut either for good or for bad. I was interested in hearing about all the tiny choices that led up to and came from a big one. Sadly Crossing isn't the novel to tell me. Despite what should be an electric story line the boring narrator lost me.
I can't help but feel there is something to this book I missed. It's unbelievably strange. That having been said it's strangeness is like Stravinsky ballet, perfectly done in it's own way. I really admired the ascending and descending arc that was created in the first half by Amy and Nick between their two narratives. The gradual dissonance was genius.
A trailer park princess who just happens to be a literal elven princess? There is no possible way not to die laughing. So go read it and enjoy great action, funny characters, and interesting magic.
Do you ever run across a novel you loved as a teen? This morning I got that experience when I saw a mention of Mara, Daughter of the Nile. I read this back when I took great books for granted, assuming that there were thousands of them just waiting for me. I actually remember the plot! Enough jabbering. It's a great book and if you missed it as a teenager you should totally grab it now!
I've been really worried about writing style today. I started writing when I was 13 and haven't stopped since. It's hard to deny that this is a career I've wanted and worked for. I've learned that there is a big difference between writing and writing well. 2k to 10k breaks down Aaron's solutions to some technical difficulties that a lot of authors face as their trying to navigate the waters from hobbyist to professional. I've tried out some of her suggestions already and liked quite a few of them. As with all how-to books mileage will vary. It's very short and has good internal progression so I didn't have to worry about a million conflicting ideas. The one annoying thing is that there are some pretty obvious typos. Considering it's a writing how-to book it really got annoying.
This is a spin-off of a series I never read. As a new reader it had a really steep learning curve that I probably fell off of. There were a lot of things I didn't get. I'm thinking this was a book for the fans so that's more my problem then the novels. I liked the three characters and they felt really distinct, something hard to do with three first person narrations. The plot was interesting if superficial. For all the high stakes it felt very breezy. One thing that really bugged me was how Clyde, the werepossum doesn't become interesting until after he becomes a werelion as well. Like he could only be a sidekick as a werepossum but now he was the coolest thing so he could get the girl and save the world. Considering that I loved the message of less awesome were-beings having personality in their own right it was really disappointing.