#threestars

[greygullhaven]

OK... pretty obvious....

Duke- Bad Decisions Dwight- Alcohol Nathan- Bail Money

[a-duck-with-a-book]

REVIEW // Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

★★★☆☆

🌟 HIDDEN GEM 🌟

I WANTED TO LOVE THIS BOOK!!! I REALLY DID!!!

There were some parts that really blew me away-passages where Bashardoust deftly explores the themes of love and feminism in a fairy tale format. I was especially impressed with some of Mina's chapters, where we really got to reflect on the agency and role of women in storytelling. Relationships among female characters are so often misused by authors, and I was incredibly pleased to find a story where the trope of girls hating on other girls for the sake of "girl power" or easy conflict was completely turned on its head. These were the parts that blew me away:

(SPOILER) Mina didn’t know if he meant Lynet or Emilia, and she wasn’t sure if Nicholas knew, either, or if they had come together to form one beautiful dead woman, far from his reach. He’d love me, too, if I were dead, Mina thought. For all the bitterness that lay between them, she knew that if she died on the spot, he would weep for her. He would mold her memory into a wife he could love, and he would worship her dead body just as he had shunned the living one. He loves nothing so much as his own grief. (SPOILER END)

Those few glimpses into the potential of this book, however, is what made it all the more disappointing.

image: detail of January (14th century), Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento

I believe this is Bashardoust's debut novel, so I'm looking forward to picking up Girl, Serpent, Thorn to see just how much her writing has improved-because I really was not on board with her style in this book. There is quite a bit of repetition:

Lynet didn’t remain lying in the snow too long—she didn’t want anyone to come passing by and find her there, especially not Nadia. She knew Nadia had nothing to do with her birth—her creation—but Nadia was the one who had told her, and so Lynet blamed her for it anyway.

And if Lynet wanted to prove that, then she had to stand still for once and make a choice—just as she had to trust Mina to make her choice. Only their choices would determine who they were in the end.

But more importantly, there are so many instances of telling the reader something rather than showing. Because the relationship between Lynet and Mina is so central to the book, I expected it to be developed fully. Yet so many of its intricacies, and of the arcs of the characters themselves, are simply stated in sentences that pop up whenever the author needs us to know that the dynamics between two characters have changed or than a specific character has grown in some way. Adding to the fact that so much of this book is tied up in internal monologues and reflection, it often feels jarring to spend entire chapters in a characters mind only to have them make a decision or statement soon after which we have not seen them consider before. For example, at one point Lynet states:

(SPOILER) “I have power over snow,” Lynet said. “I can transform it and tell it what to do. I think … I think I could make the snow stop falling, if I wanted.”

At this point, we know that she has powers over snow, but she has never really thought about how this could be used to stop the curse. This statement comes right after we have passed considerable time seeing Lynet's train of thought, and her sudden "oh, here's a way to put an end to this major conflict" was so out of the blue. (END SPOILER)

At another point, Lynet says:

(SPOILER) "I know,” Lynet answered. “But I’m ready now. I know what kind of queen I want to be.”

But again, you can't simply TELL us that. We haven't seen any actual character development beyond Lynet going from place A to Place B and the author tellings us that after this arduous day trip she is suddenly much more mature and ready to be queen. (END SPOILER)

There are also two romances in this book that I really couldn't get invested in. As nice as it is to see wlw relationships, at this point I have read many other much more well-developed ones than this. I really did not feel that there was any chemistry between Nadia and Lynet, and their romance only seemed to take away from the plot surrounding the relationship between Lynet and Mina. I felt the same way with Mina and the Hunstman, although I did feel like their interactions served to show us Mina's internal struggles and growth in a way that Lynet/Nadia didn't. I kind of felt that the romances in the book were overall redundant, and I wish they hadn't been inserted as they seem to take away from the rest of the plot. Overall, this book showed a lot of potential, but the plot, characters, and world were not developed with enough care to truly fulfill the purpose of the story.

a duck's review of Girls Made of Snow and Glass

3/5: I WANTED TO LOVE THIS BOOK!!! I REALLY DID!!! There were some parts that really blew me away-passages where Bashardoust deftly explore

[tbrhappens]

Shipped

Shipped by Angie Hockman

Between taking night classes for her MBA and her demanding day job at a cruise line, marketing manager Henley Evans barely has time for herself, let alone family, friends, or dating. But when she’s shortlisted for the promotion of her dreams, all her sacrifices finally seem worth it. The only problem? Graeme Crawford-Collins, the remote social media manager and the bane of her existence, is also up for the position. Although they’ve never met in person, their epic email battles are the stuff of office legend. Their boss tasks each of them with drafting a proposal on how to boost bookings in the Galápagos—best proposal wins the promotion. There’s just one catch: they have to go on a company cruise to the Galápagos Islands...together. But when the two meet on the ship, Henley is shocked to discover that the real Graeme is nothing like she imagined. As they explore the Islands together, she soon finds the line between loathing and liking thinner than a postcard. With her career dreams in her sights and a growing attraction to the competition, Henley begins questioning her life choices. Because what’s the point of working all the time if you never actually live?

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5 Stars) 

Review: 

Henley is a hard-working, career-driven woman who has one major problem... Graeme! Graeme, the man who seems to love nothing more than getting on Henley’s bad side, taking praise for Henley’s ideas and generally making her life more miserable. 

The story takes place between Seattle, where Henley lives, and where her job at a cruise line is based; and on the actual cruise to the Galápagos. I loved the cruise setting, ensuring that the characters must communicate, because... well.. there’s nowhere else for them to go. This is the classic enemies-to-lovers, career-focused romance.  The characters were diverse and felt believable, but something about this story just didn’t catch my attention in the way I’d hoped. Generally Shipped is a really cute book that I think others will really enjoy. 

Publishing Information: 

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. Shipped will be published on January 19, 2021.

[strangelyokay]

Anime Review: Dororo

!Spoiler Alert! !Spoiler Alert! !Spoiler Alert! !Spoiler Alert! !Spoiler Alert! !Spoiler Alert!

Summary:

The world is ravaged by war, disease, and famine, an ambition man wants to rule and is willing to do anything to create and maintain a prospering kingdom. His greed drives him to cast out Buddha and put his faith in the twelve demons. The demons will deliver him his wish, but it will cost him his soul and one thing equal to the price. Sometime later his first son is born, his wife adores her son, but the midwives are horrified, the newborn has no limbs, no face, no skin, no senses, the demons have devoured his humanity. The newborn should have died, but a Buddha statue sacrifices his head to let the baby keep his and he stays alive.

The man laughs in joy, now he is sure that his wish will come true, he asks a midwife to drown the newborn, and tells his wife she will have another son and they will rule, she cries for her baby.

The midwife takes the baby, but has sympathy for the child, she believes the child has the will to live and wants to do so. So, she places the newborn in an abandon boat, it drifts, and he is found by a man scared from war, who builds fake human limbs. The child grows up not feeling anything, fighting monsters, until the man discovers that the child regains his body parts by killing the demons that took his limbs. So, the boy sets out to regain his humanity.

First initial thoughts:

So, when I started this anime I was prepared for a sad series, I mean the summary isn't really lighthearted, but also the anime was drawn in a style typical for a depressing anime. Dark and grim were my assumptions, but I thought the story could provide an adventure and bring satisfying satisfaction to the viewer. Also, sometimes sad series deliver a good story, even when the endings are anything but happily ever after. Keep in mind I hate sad endings, still I will be the first to say a story is good, even if the ending was sad, even if I'll never watch it again.

The series had 24 episodes in total, that is actually a great number since the summary made it sound like it would take longer to wrap up. Usually when anime's have 13 episodes, and the topics are complicated, the story never gets a completed ending. So 24 is a good number for a typical adventure series.

Review:

So, in my opinion the story was good, not completely great and not as satisfying as one would hope, but still good. What I mean by that is that the story will keep you entertain and even deliver some deep moments, but the story will stop short of a meaningful impact.

The series was about Hyakkimaru the child born without his humanity, but the series was titled after Dororo, Hyakkimaru companion. After a couple of episodes, it is clear why the creators decided this, since Hyakkimaru is basically a doll, Dororo is the viewer’s guide through the adventure. Hayakkimaru, can't talk, feel, hear, and can only see souls in different colors in his blinded state, this strange sight is the only source Hyakkimaru has to distinguish monsters from humans. Without Dororo, the viewers would be observing a young man without any personality killing monsters, hoping to get all his body parts back and blindly maneuvering through the world.

The series wasn't as complicated after a couple of episodes, a pattern of killing monsters was established and the companions would travel from village to village, meeting new people, and sharing new experiences. Honestly it reminded me a little of the anime Inyuasha, but without the funny comedy or the hints of romance. The story did have some comedic moments, but it wasn’t nearly enough to outweigh the seriousness of the situation the characters were constantly in. Every so often Dororo past would come up, of course it was sad, but her past would hint at a brighter future. The problem with those hints is that it is expected they will lead somewhere, and even though the story ends with the impression that it does, it is very vague.

After half of the story was over, we are introduced to the problematic situation in Hyakkimaru obtaining all his body parts. By achieving his goal, he will kill the land that his father has traded him for. That means the people of that land will suffer, through war and famine all over again. This anime really harps on how terrible the state of the land is, I mean it is so often brought up, that if for a second you think, “I’ll forget it” nope you won’t. Hyakkimaru never, struggles with the decision to keep going, Dororo is actually the one that tries to stop him a couple of times, for fear of losing him. This is around the time I started to question whether he should get his parts back, I mean I still rooted for Hyakkimaru, especially after we are introduced to the rest of his family. It’s just that up to that point he was basically complete, and through the story we meet many unfortunate people, that a part of me thought is it worth it? However, the part of me that wanted to see his justice play out gave in more and so I was glad he continued.

Now the reason I think this anime was great was because you wanted to keep watching, you wanted the resolution to the story and some happiness to the characters. The problems were in the small details, they were inconsistent, and often overlooked, and they were a necessity to the story. Maybe they needed more episodes, but the story seemed rushed towards the end and when we finally got to the conclusion, the ending was not satisfying. Also, they emphasis the trails of living and the beauty of continuing to live despite everything. Still there’s a point where some characters can survive, but choose death, making no attempt to survive. I mean that is like the main point of this series. I think maybe the last episode was the one that might have made the anime a little bit of a downer. I like the anime, personally I would rate it three stars out of five.

Comment down below!

[thegirlwiththebarnowltattoo]

Book: Turtles All the Way Down Author: John Green Pages: 288 Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary Rating: ★★★

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis. Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. Synopsis taken from Goodreads.

My Thoughts

First, I want to say that this was my 3rd book from John Green and so far it’s his best one. Although I must say that he’s definitely not one of my favorite authors and I strongly disliked TFIOS - but let’s not talk about that.

This book differed from his previous novels. It seemed more personal and not so teenagerish (is that even a word..). I’ve seen that many big booktubers have been loving this book and giving it 5/5 stars but for me it was a 3,5/5. When I compare this to History Is All You Left Me, I liked the latter much more.

As I’m into psychology, I thoroughly enjoyed how mental health issues had a big part in this novel. You can never speak too much about mental health and this book gave a good representation of OCD.

The writing itself was a bit too philosophical to what I like to read and I wasn’t a huge fan of the story. For me it lacked depth and character development. I strongly disliked Daisy and the other characters were just alright, Aza included.

I would recommend reading this book and I know it has given a lot to many readers but for me it didn’t. Maybe John Green’s novels just aren’t my thing.

[bforbookslut]

Angst and Sexy Take Centre Stage in Rachel van Dyken’s Infraction

I have given Infraction by Rachel van Dyken a ☆☆☆ rating. It is Book 2 of the Players Game series. It is New Adult Contemporary Romance. Skyscape publishes it. It will be published January 9, 2018.

The blurb reads:

Pro footballer Miller Quinton would do anything for his best friend and teammate—including “fake dating” his friend’s sister. What no one knows is that seven months ago in Vegas, Miller and Kinsey did a whole lot more than just kiss. Miller knows that this cheerleader is off-limits to him and any guy on the team. Still, he can’t stop himself.

Kinsey’s whole world is on the verge of crumbling. Her dad has cancer. Her overprotective brother is falling apart. Dating Miller may be a fake-out, but he’s the one guy who can make her forget about everything—including all the reasons she stayed away from football players. With each heated moment, Miller feels more like a safe place…even though he’s not safe at all.

Now temptation is testing every rule in the game of love. But how long can they go on playing when winning is a harder goal than either of them imagined?

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Merry Christmas guys and a Happy New Year! How was your Christmas? It’s always been a quiet affair for me, some time with family and just lazing at home. Keep an eye out for my 2017 wrap-up tomorrow because a new year means a new post! As always, my reviews may contain spoilers. I say may because what’s a spoiler to you may not be a spoiler for me.

I was disappointed with Infraction.

I absolutely adored the first book in this series, Fraternize. It made me laugh, cry and my heart ached with how much it made me feel.

Don’t get me wrong. Rachel van Dyken cannot do any wrong and Infraction was a good read. But, Infraction, felt like it was trying too hard. More often than not, it felt a little extreme, outlandish and lacking a realness. I didn’t devour it like Fraternize and in fact, I will guiltily admit that I was not interested in finishing it.

From the get-go, we know that Kinsey and Miller are going to be together. That’s obvious enough. Because of this, the entire book felt like one messy rollercoaster ride of “can you just fucking work your shit out and get together already???”. On the brighter side, we also learn a great deal about Kinsey and Jax’s background and their sibling relationship (which was turned up to eleven here) and we get to see Miller’s soft side. And, of course, we get more of Rachel van Dyken’s signature hilarious yet charming banter!

For a fake dating story, I expected a lot more unresolved sexual tension but since the sex was already over and done with in Vegas, Infraction was a hell lot more romantic. Once you’re past the sex, it’s all about falling in love and taking off the rose-coloured glasses.

Infraction follows Miller and Kinsey’s journey of being forced together and learning about each other. In the process, they also learn about themselves and naturally, fall in love. Is there a plot? I’d say the most generic one around. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, big drama happens to break them up, there are some tears and heart-to-hearts and then, the happily ever after.

It got a little boring at the halfway mark because Infraction does nothing new. I didn’t care for Jax’s overprotectiveness with Kinsey but if you’re looking for an answer, Infraction gives it to you.

But, finally, the book rounds a beautiful corner! The ending was gorgeous though and it brought tears to my eyes. Hint: it involves family which is such an important thing to both Kinsey and Miller.

We do get a lot less sports in Infraction, despite Jax being team captain and a minor focus of the book. Instead, it looks at domestic and sexual violence and cancer. I think Rachel van Dyken dealt wonderfully with both these topics without turning the romance into a sob story or a medical drama. I do wish Kinsey had more justice when it came to Anderson, her abusive ex, because she deserved it.

Speaking off, naturally, the focus of Infraction is on Kinsey and Miller with some sideshow of Jax. Although, I felt Jax played far too big of a role and took the focus away from Kinsey and Miller with his presence constantly looking over them.

I adored Kinsey’s strength and her feistiness in the first book, but she is reduced to a whiny, tantrum-throwing adult. With every turn of the page, someone had to reassure her of her feelings and “save her”. But after spending an entire life with Jax constantly breathing down her neck and making sure she’s fine, it’s not a surprise.

But the real gem is Miller. He was respectful all the time, even if he constantly wanted to rip Kinsey’s clothes off. He’s such a sweetheart and so caring. While I don’t have a maternal bone in my body so seeing guys do well with kids doesn’t really get me going, but Miller reassuring a dying child just pulled at my heart strings.

What really ticked me off about Infraction was Jax. His overprotectiveness and obsessiveness of Kinsey is unrealistic and I’d say borderline abusive. And the more I learnt of their relationship, the faster the stars dropped. He locked her in on prom night. Yet, no one seems to find that weird or called the cops on him. He has good intentions and he never intended to hurt her; clearly, he isn’t a predator of some sort. But Kinsey’s only reaction is to run away, cry, scream etc instead of confronting him like an independent adult.

I’m glad that in the end, Jax learnt to let go. And Miller had the best line to go with it:

“This is what love looks like, man, it protects, not by keeping everything hidden but by being honest.”

But it still bothers me.

I felt that Jax deserved his own book, if only to work out the mechanics of his relationship with Harley and his God-complex which I felt kept being brushed off and excused. I also felt that Harley deserved a lot more credit and spotlight. She felt unfairly robbed.

Rachel van Dyken is a goddess when it comes to banter. The writing is sexy and charming and laugh-out-loud funny. The push and pull and flirting (unintentional and not) between Miller and Kinsey is adorable. Especially calling each other Chicken and Waffles. Like, hello, guys? That’s something couples do so you’re not fooling anyone.

But, the sex just seemed blah to me. And even the tension just didn’t make my lady bits tingle at all.

Overall, Infraction didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I still loved it because Rachel van Dyken is a goddess but it didn’t live up to my expectations and perhaps, that’s my fault. I loved the previous installment far too much. I do hope there are more installments in this series (please give me the entire team!) because Rachel writes phenomenally and there’s something fresh and light about her writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. This review edition may differ from the final edition.

[a-duck-with-a-book]

REVIEW // Girls of Paper and Fire (Girls of Paper and Fire, #1) by Natasha Ngan

★★★☆☆

There are many things that Ngan, in my opinion, does incredibly well-her writing style is beautiful (and, as I noticed in my Kindle edition, very quotable-there were so many frequently highlighted sections!), the story is interesting, and the characters are likable. Then why is it that I didn't love it? The main culprit was the pacing. I felt like I spent a lot of time waiting for things to happen. There isn't even a lot of build-up. This is not the kind of slow plot that builds more and more tension and excitement that it releases in an exhilarating finale. Mostly, I simply felt like we were walking around aimlessly waiting for Lei to do something or, as was more frequently the case, for something to happen to her. I almost felt like Ngan made a mistake and meant for Wren to be the protagonist, but published the version of the story where the character who does all of the interesting things is only a side character.

// image: official cover art //

(SPOILER) It felt a bit cheap in the end to have played up Wren and all of her abilities just to make Lei the one to finally sink in the blade. While I understand Lei's rage at the way the king had violated her (and I will admit that her killing him was supremely satisfying after recent events), I still found it hard to believe that someone who was entirely unaware of the conspiracy until shortly before and had only begun training to fight shortly thereafter was entrusted with the execution of such an important assassination. (SPOILER END) The constant "well... when's the plot going to start moving" feel of the story made it difficult for me to get invested in the characters and their relationships, (SPOILER) which meant that I, unfortunately, did not feel strongly one way or the other for Wren and Lei's romance. I think that if I had encountered their relationship a year or so ago, when I still hadn't read as many f/f fantasies, I would have loved them a lot more. However, I have since read a lot more well developed and emotionally impactful romances between two women, so it simply didn't stand out. (SPOILER END) I do think I will pick up the sequel,(especially after that ending!!! I was honestly really upset at how it undid all of the satisfaction of the climax of the first book) but I was just a bit too let down by this novel.

Francesca's review of Girls of Paper and Fire (Girls of Paper and Fire, #1)

3/5: There are many things that Ngan, in my opinion, does incredibly well-her writing style is beautiful (and, as I noticed in my Kindle edi

[thegirlwiththebarnowltattoo]

Book: It (audiobook) Author: Stephen King Narrator: Steven Weber Pages: 1156 (44h 55m) Genre: Fiction - Horror Rating: ★★★

Synopsis

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made 28 years ago calls them to reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children. Now children are being murdered again, and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry's sewers. Synopsis taken from Goodreads.

My Thoughts

This was my second audiobook. I had some trouble keeping up with the happenings for the first half of the book. I can’t tell if it would have been easier with an actual book or if the plot was just a little hard to follow. I think that what made it hard was that there was 7 people who we followed in both their teenage years and in adulthood so it wasn’t easy to remember who was who before you actually got to know them.

I’ve read many books by Stephen King and I really enjoy him as an author. I don’t usually go for horror books but there’s something in his books that I like. I don’t find his books to be too scary but this one with The Shining must be one of his more chilling works. I also haven’t seen either of the films so the only thing I knew going into the book was that there was a clown living in the sewers.

I loved how all the main characters had such diverse personalities and compelling stories but my favorites were Eddie and Stan. Steven Weber, the narrator, was entertaining and I didn’t mind at all listening to his voice for almost 45 hours. He made the characters come alive.

I would recommend reading this book as it it one of King’s most well-known books but also because I did really enjoy it. I would’ve rated it 4 stars but being hard to follow dropped it to 3 stars.