Read Sky At Night

[thecoolradcoffin]

hope this explains it

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I’ve loved the Lord of the Rings movies and now I’m finally gonna sit myself down and read the books!

I started the first book a week or so ago, I think. I knew this was going to take a while. Between the slow pacing and the prose, I was prepared to reread sentences a bunch and accepted that this would take time. Dear lord, it’s taking longer than I thought. I’m only 80 pages in, and have, like 300 still to go. It almost puts me to sleep at times and I can only read a few pages at a time before I want to do something else. But I’m determined to get through them because I love the lore and maybe it’ll pick up.

     The Road goes ever on and on...

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Oh Boy

Jeez, ok. It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted, but I’m still here, still reading; slowly competing my Reading Challenge. My initial goal was 36, but when I created my reading challenge page for my bullet journal, I could only fit 32. Which is retrospect isn’t bad. It’s still a good amount of books for the average reader and a bit of a blessing in disguise as I’ve had a stressful couple months that have set me back.

Anyway, I’m gonna give a quick recap of the books I’ve read since Tweet Cute.

The Wolf in the Whale: It’s basically about an Inuit girl born to be her tribe's gateway to the spirit world. But when events separate her from her powers and family, she runs into a Viking running from his past too. Together, they learn how small their worlds really are and what part they play in an epic battle between their gods. It’s a cool read, but very long, clocking in at over 500 pages. It’s a sweet and empowering story of finding out who you are and learning to find peace when your destiny isn’t what you thought it would be.

Where the Forest Meets the Stars: The short version is that a woman finishing her graduate thesis on nesting birds gets attached to a little girl who claims she’s from another planet and helps her find home. The long version is bananas and an incredibly emotional story about learning to break free of our pasts and put down that shield that is keeping us from a future with our best selves. 

The Hunger Games: I’m beyond excited for the coming prequel that will be released in the spring of next year. So I decided to reread the series (and watch the movies.) I’ll add Catching Fire to the list as well, because I’ll be finishing that tonight. 

After Catching Fire, that will put me at 24 books this year and  roughly 75% complete. Mockingjay will be up next, but then after that, who knows!

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My Wish Has Been Granted!

A big thank you to St. Martin’s Press for granting my Net Galley wish to read this book! It was delightful and I can’t wait til it hits the shelves.

Guys, I finished Tweet Cute and my god is it adorable. First book in a while that I couldn't put down. It was delightful, charming, beautiful, and unexpected in how I thought things would play out. 

To simplify,  it’s about high schoolers Jack and Pepper who can’t stand one another; the class clown versus the class valedictorian. But when a Twitter war breaks out between their respective families business, their spat goes viral and soon they find they’re falling for each other - through public tweets and on an anonymous app Jack built. 

The main characters are very likable and relatable, struggling with finding their place in a world that seems to be pushing them into their respectable families business. A couple things tripped me up though, like how some of the texting conversations were formatted, but then again it's an uncorrected copy, so I imagine it'll be cleaned up before its release. 

And a few moments were so YA, like the classic miscommunication trope that seems to end a relationship before they decide that's what it is, and even a little a bit like “Really?” but it's all minor stuff that doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the book. It's one I'll be picking up when it's released late January 2020 

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Guys, I found it!

I’ve broken the DNF curse! 

The lovely folks at St Martin’s Press granted my wish on Net Galley and allowed me to read this book before it hits shelves late January of next year.

I’m a sucker for Rom Coms, dudes and less than half way through this book, I can easily see it becoming a movie. It’s got humor and wit and I love it to pieces! 

Look forward to the full review soon!

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Help

My past, like three books have all been DNFs. Give me something I can get through!

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OFFICIALLY HALF WAY THROUGH MY 2019 CHALLENGE!

My dudes, I have reached the half way mark of my 2019 Reading Challenge! I’ve slowed my pace and am starting to get behind, but that’s life,

Finally finished my book club’s pick and I recommend y’all do the same. It’s a story of passion, heart ache, and the complex definition of being Cuban.

Based on the synopsis, it’s not one I would have chosen for myself. After the passing of her grandmother Elisa, Marisol is bestowed the task of scattering her grandmother’s ashes in Cuba, her homeland. Thinking she’s here to discover more about her heritage and family history, Marisol’s life takes a drastic turn as she comes face to face with Cuba’s present struggles and the cost of digging too deep.

It’s one of those stories that follows two timelines, the past and present meeting together in the end, like The Lost Letter by Julian Cantor and The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen (Both of which I recommend.) It’s a pretty topical story and beautifully written with characters you root and fear for. Having never been to Cuba, Cleeton does a beautiful job of describing it’s aged, palm tree lines streets and the majestic waters of the surrounding sea. You feel the character’s trials and the ache they have to make Cuba a proper, democratic home. I was near bawling by the end of it and, like, a bunch of the way through.

So pick it up today! The next installment When We Left Cuba is out now and follows Elisa’s sister Beatriz.

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Geez, oh wow

OK. This one has been on my Net Galley check list for a long time. I finally got around to finishing it and oh man is it a good one!

There’s a lot to this book, so I’ll give you the short summary of this fantastical thriller. On an island lives a Duke and his twelve daughters. One by one the girls dwindle from twelve to eight, leading the islanders to believe the Thaumas girls are cursed. One of the daughters, Annaleigh, begins to look into the mysterious deaths of her older sisters and discovers there’s more at play here than she thinks.

Yes, I did say thriller. It’s supernatural story that delves into it’s own mythology, which is stupendous. It’s beautifully and hauntingly written and towards the end I found myself skimming so I could find out what happens next. That being said, I think I clung to it’s summary so much that I was trying to use it to piece the story together rather than letting the story guide me. This will be a reread for sure.

This book comes out next month, early August 2019, and I highly recommend it if you’re into mythologies, ghost stories, sea turtles, and imagined living on Pyke from Game of Thrones. 

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This is Not Supposed to Happen

Dudes, Jenni Keer, the author of The Unlikely Life of Maisie Meadows  commented on my review that I posted to Goodreads 

It was just... so awkward. Like, it wasn’t a bad review. I really enjoyed the book, but I said that the sentences were too long sometimes and she was like “been reading too much Jane Austin.” 

This wasn’t supposed to happen! Authors don’t read and comment on reviews for their boook!?

‘Scuse me, while I wash the anxiety off 

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Alright my dudes,

I finally finished The Unlikely Life of Maisie Meadows and I loved it!

It took a while for the story to get good, I found myself only being able to get through a chapter at a time, but when it picks up what unfolds is charming as fuck.

It’s a story about a girl trying to reunite a long lost tea set as well as her broken family. Along the way she discovers that family is the people who choose you, even if you’re not bonded by blood, and for the love of God, just tell the man you love him and don’t let Shakespearean miscommunication get in the way of your happiness!

The ending was predictable in places, but still came with surprises and now I want to move to England, drink tea and work in an antique shop with it’s own cast of quirky characters! BRB getting my passport renewed.

But for reals, I recommend this book when it comes out early July.

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Alright dudes. It’s been a while. 

My book club meet two weeks ago to discuss the Sisters Brothers which I very much enjoyed and they did too. That makes me happy as it was my pick this time around. 

There wasn’t a whole lot to talk about; it was a pretty straight forward story about the rise and fall of Eli and Charlie Sisters, two bounty hunters in 1850′s Oregon heading out on their most recent mission. Eli, however, is having second thoughts about the business and is looking for a change. Let’s just say they find it.

As I think I said before it’s written in the language of the times so it may seem devoid of humor and bland, but listening to the audio book helps with understanding the tone and attitude of the characters. Either way, I enjoyed this and want to watch the movie.

Currently I’m back to checking things off my Net Galley list with The Unlikely Life of Maisie Meadows. I’m enjoying it so far, although the writing can trip me up. I don’t know if it’s because of the British slang or that fact that the sentences seem like a complicated jumble of words just to hit that word count. It took a while to get the hang of the story, but it’s picked up and I’m looking forward to finishing the story of marketing exec Maisie Meadow’s time at the  Gildersleeves  Auction House.

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I’m Back...

From my journey through Darkwood

First off, as always, a big thank you to Netgalley and Farrago for allowing me to be the first to read this delightful book before it hits the shelves in mid June of this year.

It’s been a bust month. A family matter brought me and my fiancee home to Massachusetts for a week and I’ve been working on some cross stitch projects for my family. But I managed to finish a funny twist on popular fairy tales.

The first in the Darkwood series, the story follows Hansel and Gretel in a village where witchcraft and maths are forbidden and a misunderstanding forces Gretel to flee into the feared Darkwood. There she meets a gang of colorful characters and together, they’ll save her village from those who foster fear and resentment towards the misunderstood creatures that dwell in the wood.

It’s a book aimed at middle school aged kids and it’s written as such. By that I mean there’s a lot of exposition and explanation in the dialogue, especially during the climax. But that’s all well and good since, like I said, it’s aimed at a younger age group than yours truly. It’s got a great cast of characters and is very relatable, especially in this day and age. It touches upon authoritarianism and intolerance and shows us what can be if we keep an open mind and heart.

I recommend this book when it’s released next month!

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Bethlehem

Dear Christ how I loved this book!

It took a a bit for the story to get going. At first all I thought was “OK? So what?? What’s the story, what’s the point?” But as the story got deeper and more was revealed I devoured the rest of the book!

It’s beautifully written and characters that I had no interest in at first started to grow on me. I highly recommend this when it comes out in early July of this year. Thanks to Net Galley and St Martin’s Press for the advanced copy. I’ll be adding it to my To Buy list on Goodreads!

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What’s Next

Finished The Widow last week and I stand by my opinion of it was just meh. The culprit was predictable and the only thing that kept me going was wanting to find out what happened to the little girl. There was a lot to talk about at my book club, though, which was nice; lots of good discussions. My pick is next and I chose The Sisters Brothers. It’s about a pair of bounty hunter brothers, one of which is having a hard time with their next hit. It’s the one on my to-read list I’m most excited about and I hope the girls like it. We have until June 1st to read, which will give me plenty of time to catch up on reading AND on my current project.

My immediate family, parents and sisters, all have birthdays in the next 3 months and I’m making them all different cross stitch patterns. I always feel bad that I never get them anything (LA is expensive) but I can make them something and I love that I picked up this hobby! 

Anyway that’s the plan for the next few months!

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*UpDaTe*

It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve posted, and I’ve been sick these past couple days, so I thought I’d give an update.

I don’t usually do this, but I’m in the middle of two books right now. The first one I started because I thought I had more time before I had to start reading my book club book, which I’ll get to, but the deadline snuck up on me so now I’m reading Bethlehem and The Widow.

It took a little bit, but I’m very much enjoying Bethlehem. It’s roughly about this two large and rich families in Bethlehem PA and how their lives have intermingles, especially when one of the wealthy sons marries outside their income bracket. There are sooo many characters and the family trees are so large that I have to slow down a sec to remember who is who. But Kelly has captured my interest and I’ll be picking this up again when I finish my book club book which is.....

I’m not enjoying this like I thought I would. It’s a murder mystery thriller type about a woman who’s husband has died and instead of learning all his dirty secrets after the event, she’s always known them, playing along as the devote wife who wouldn’t say anything otherwise. So now she has the chance to tell the truth, but will she?

I don’t know, nothing about the plot or characters is catching my interest. If it wasn’t for my book club, I would have called this one a DNF. And, to me, there’s nothing interesting about this twist; that the wife has known all along and stood by a seemingly ,manipulative man. But it’s slow going, so I’ll see y’all on the other side when I finish. 

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Aaaaaaand we’re back...

...back to DNF status. I got about 17% of the way through before I just couldn’t anymore. I thought I could get through this one because it was short (212 page) and the cover and writing piqued my interest, but it lost me early on. It’s pretty much about feuding rich families in Texas.

*TRIGGER WARNING: CUTTING*

Yeah, there’s a scene, very early on, where a character uses a razor and cuts a road map into her thigh. It made me squirm the entire time; I was so uncomfortable. After that the book lost me with all the real estate business talk. I’m sure it’ll appeal to some out there, but not this gal.

A thank you, though, to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Press , as always, for an advanced copy. 

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I never thought I could love again...

After trying a stream of bad or unfinshable books, I thought I wouldn’t be able to get through another book; what if I had lost my appetite for books and that I’d never get through my growing “To Read” list. I have some time to kill before I have to pick up my next book for my book club and, after starting and stopping this one a couple times, I decided to read The Alice Network.

I was lucky to win this in a Goodreads giveaway and I would only get a few pages in before I thought I should read something else; knock a few books of my NetGalley list. I’m so happy I stuck with this book!

The story alternates between one of our heroines journey through the aftermath of WWII and our other heroine’s involvement in The Great War. Together they travel to tie up loose ends and get closure on the people most important to them. I love getting so into a book that I worry for the safety of the characters and want them to succeed in the face of evil. And I’m not finding myself just skimming through the get to the better story, I’m actually trying to not to look ahead to either the last page or the next paragraph or piece of dialogue.

I can’t wait to finish this story!