Currently Reading: Fawkes

I’m not sure if I’ve posted a “Currently Reading” before, but here it is! I don’t know the full Guy Fawkes story, so I know parts of this may be lost on me, but I’m here for the journey!

Paraphrased from Goodreads: Its about Thomas Fawkes, who is turning to stone, with the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s plot to assassinate the king of England.

There are wars going on. Wars where color power alters the natural rhythm of 17th century London. And when the king calls for peace, no one listens until he finally calls for death.

Keepers think the Igniters caused the plague. Igniters think the Keepers did. But all Thomas knows is that the Stone Plague infecting his eye is spreading. And if he doesn’t do something soon, he’ll be a lifeless statue. So when his Keeper father, Guy Fawkes, invites him to join the Gunpowder Plot—claiming it will put an end to the plague—Thomas is in.

The problem: Doing so will destroy the family of the girl Thomas loves. But backing out of the plot will send his father and the other plotters to the gallows. To save one, Thomas will lose the other.

No matter Thomas’s choice, one thing is clear: once the decision is made and the color masks have been put on, there’s no turning back

Far From The Tree || Book Review

Title: Far From The Tree

Author:  Robin Benway

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Teen Fiction

Page Count: 374

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A contemporary novel about three adopted siblings who find each other at just the right moment.

Being the middle child has its ups and downs.

But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—

Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.

And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.

Let’s Talk About It:

What an absolutely amazing contemporary! I went into it knowing that it has gotten rave reviews but I was amazed by how fantastic this story is!

I don’t feel I even have the words to express how fantastic this book is. It is touching, emotional, and somehow heart-warming and heart-wrenching at the same time.  I went back and forth from crying from sadness to crying from happiness all throughout the novel.

It starts with Grace who is an only child, but she’s always known that she was adopted. But shortly after she gives birth to her own daughter while she’s still in high school, and gives the baby up for adoption, she decides that it’s time to start looking for her biological mother.  And its through this that she learns that she has two biological siblings – an older brother  (Joaquin) and a younger sister (Maya).

Maya is very blunt and very outspoken about everything. Shes grown up as the only brunette in a red headed family, so shes always kind of felt like an outsider in her own family. Especially since her younger sister was born not too long after their parents adopted Maya. We learn that her family is going through a very hard time because of her mothers alcoholism, so learning that she has other family comes at just the right time.

Joaquin hasn’t had the luck that the other girls have had. While they were adopted into loving homes as babies, he spent his life in and out of foster homes. He’s learned not to let his guard so that he doesn’t end up disappointed or hurt. So he tries his hardest not to let anyone get too close, even after meeting Maya and Grace.

Through the book, we get a deeper look into each of the siblings emotional and relationship issues, but it also shows us how much they have in common. But little by little, they let their walls down with one another and try to help each other deal with their issues.

My Rating:

I gave Far From The Tree a solid 5 star rating. I would 100% recommend this book to absolutely everyone! It was a really well written book. If you’re a fan of the tv shows Parenthood and This Is Us, or you just enjoy anything family centered then this is the book for you!

Booktube-A-Thon Part 1

Hey guys, I have a new video up on my awkward and inconsistent Booktube channel!

Check it out here  and let me know what you think!

 

Speak || A Review

Title: Speak

Author:  Laurie Halse Anderson

Publisher: Puffin

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction,

Page Count: 208

Synopsis from Goodreads:

“Speak up for yourself–we want to know what you have to say.” From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication.

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.

Let’s Talk About It:

There are no doubts that it is a very important book for the subject it deals with. We need so many more books on this subject that I think would actually “speak” to me.

So something happened at a party to Melinda and she stops speaking. She is not popular in school and her friends have started to cut her out of their lives. They don’t want to see her anymore as they find her “not speaking” behavior strange but they don’t really try to figure out the reason for this. They just accept it (great friends they are). To me, her parents don’t really care to ask why either. They’re just upset that she doesn’t speak. She does have an art teacher that helps her break out of her shell and forces her to dig deeper inside herself and deal with emotions.

She eventually does start to come out of her shell and start expressing herself but I was kind of a little late for me. The story was good, however, and people that go through this type of thing need love and support, not ignored.

My Rating:

I gave Speak 3 stars. I didn’t absolutely hate it but I also didn’t love it like most did. I can definitely see how important this book is but honestly I was bored and felt disconnected until the last 30-ish pages. But I also realize that this book needs to exist because these things do happen and need to be discussed.

Moon River || A Review

Title: Moon River

Author:  Amber D. Tran

Publisher: Mountain Girl Press

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Literary Fiction

Page Count: 222

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In this debut novel from author Amber D. Tran, a tale of adolescence and heartbreak unfolds. Nine-year-old Abigail Kavanagh first meets Ryan Mills during the summer of 1999. A shy and awkward boy, Ryan hides behind his wide-framed glasses while Abigail is determined to learn everything there is to know about him. The next few summers are filled with birthday parties, adventures in and around the West Virginian mountainsides, and late night conversations where they share their most secretive and personal thoughts.

Their friendship starts to crumble when Abigail befriends the attractive and musical Lilly Anderson, a girl who is also interested in uncovering the mysterious nature surrounding Ryan. However, everything comes to an end the summer of 2004, and Abigail must decide if her new journey is worth traveling alone.

Let’s Talk About It:

First let me say that the synopsis does not fully describe how much of an emotional rollercoaster this novel is about to take you on. It was hard at first for me to get into this book, I think because I had just read an an action filled dystopian and my brain was having a hard time adjusting to a different story.  But once I got wrapped up in the emotions and feelings, I was eager to see where it was headed and I loved it!

My Rating:

I’m going to give Moon River a solid 4 rating. I enjoyed the journey the story took me on and I loved how the author fully describes all the love and angsty feelings of a young love.

Book Review||Crazy House by James Patterson

 

Title: Crazy House

Author:  James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet

Publisher: Hachette Book Group

Genre: YA, Science Fiction > Dystopian

Page Count: 368

Synopsis from Goodreads:

No one gets out alive.

Seventeen-year-old Becca Greenfield was snatched from her home and thrown without reazon into a hellish prison known as the Crazy House. To avoid execution, she’s told to shut her mouth and keep her head down.

Becca was never really good at either.

Her only hope for survival is for her sister, Cassie, to find her—that the “good twin” will stop following the rules and start breaking them, before it’s too late. Because the jailers at Crazy House soon discover they made a mistake that could get both sisters killed…

Let’s Talk About It:

This is my very first James Patterson read and I was admittedly a bit hesitant at first, but it promised to be the next Hunger Games so obviously I had to see what it was all about. I quickly learned that the synopsis doesn’t do the book any justice.  And the next Hunger Games it is not.

So the story opens up with Becca Greenfield missing from her home. Her twin, Cassie, went out to find her. Where they live is called a cell and is only so big, so Cassie should surely be able to find her. What she finds is that her sister had been leading a sort of secret side life. Cassie didn’t exactly find her, she ended up getting kidnapped as well, and to her horror, she joined her sister in a prison just for kids. In this prison, children were forced to fight for their survival, because they were on the Death Row.

Other interesting parts of this story was the focus on cell balance.  We learn that if a couple wants to start a family or have multiple children, they first have to apply for and be approved for a child license. The only way that the couple is granted the license is if someone has died and basically cleared up space for them to have a child. We learn that if a person is getting too old or not useful for The United, then they are offered assisted suicide. (Curious how that works for a family to have twins?? Would multiple people had to have died and why did they grant this family a license for two?)

The characters were somewhat fascinating. The story was told alternatively by Cassie, Becca, Nate (another kid from their cell) and Ms. Strepp, the prison warden. She was definitely the most intriguing among all the characters, I couldn’t really figure her out.  She reminded me a little of Effie Trinket and at times I didn’t know if I hated her or liked her.  However, the ending answered some questions I had about her.

I also liked how the story unfolded. We were gradually taken from the normal routine of the everyday life that was changed by Becca’s disappearance, and then we get to the Crazy House.

I TORE through this book in 2 days. I just HAD to see how it ended.

My Rating:

Ok so while I did devour this book in 2 days, there were some things I didn’t like about it. FIRST, don’t make a promise to me on the cover of this book that I can stop waiting for the next Hunger Games – BECAUSE I’M STILL WAITING. But back to the review…

Cassie and Becca’s voices were too similar and hard to tell apart at times.  One could argue that this was because they were twins, but eh. As far as I know, this book is a stand alone, but the ending and questions left unanswered could easily leave this open for another book or possibly a series. I liked it more than I didn’t so I’m going to give it a solid 4.

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore – Review

Title: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Author: Matthew Sullivan
Publisher: Scribner (June 2017)
Genre: Fiction, Suspense
Page Count: 336

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

When a bookshop patron commits suicide, it’s his favorite store clerk who must unravel the puzzle he left behind in this fiendishly clever debut novel from an award-winning short story writer.

Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the ‘BookFrogs’—the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves.

But when youngest BookFrog Joey Molina kills himself in the bookstore’s upper level, Lydia’s life comes unglued. Always Joey’s favorite bookseller, Lydia has been bequeathed his meager worldly possessions: Trinkets and books, the detritus of a lonely, uncared-for man. But when Lydia pages through his books, she finds them defaced in ways both disturbing and inexplicable. They reveal the psyche of a young man on the verge of an emotional reckoning. And they seem to contain a hidden message. What did Joey know? And what does it have to do with Lydia?

As Lydia untangles the mystery of Joey’s suicide, she unearths a long buried memory from her own violent childhood. Details from that one bloody night begin to circle back. Her distant father returns to the fold, along with an obsessive local cop and the Hammerman, a murderer who came into Lydia’s life long ago—and never completely left, as she discovers.

 

Let’s Talk About It:

So many BookTubers have this as part of their TBR and I’ve seen it while scrolling through Goodreads, but since I tend to stick to YA, I didn’t pay much attention to it.  While looking for my next read I decided to give it a chance and now I wish I would have read it sooner!

I loved Lydia. I loved her coworker Plath even thought she wasn’t much of a main character, she was spunky! I loved how the plot developed. Starting out, it bothered me that we didn’t get much of the backstory at first, I’m greedy and impatient sometimes. But the more I read, the more I appreciated how bits of backstory were sprinkled in – it kept me intrigued and kept me pushing forward to see how it all played out. Secondary characters were brought out and made you suspicious. I was seriously suspicious of everyone. Apparently I have trust issues. I side eyed and squinted my eyes at almost everyone. What are their intentions? Why are they here? What did they know? Are THEY the Hammerman?

I loved Joey also. Oh man, I loved him.  He wasn’t in the book long. Well, living anyway. But as Lydia sorted through his belongings and his book clues, you find out so much more about him.  I would even enjoy a novel completely about Joey’s life!  If ever there was a character that I just wantedto give a big hug to, its Joey.

There were a few aspects of the story that I didn’t like.  Friendships out of thin air, characters that left me wanting more from them, and that the synopsis makes it seem like this story is about Joey and a bookstore, but for me it wasn’t.  Also, Lydia’s dad’s character was a bit….odd to me, and I wanted more of that story as well.

All in all, this was definitely a good read.  Very suspenseful but also a cozy kind of read, parts of it pulled at my heartstrings. Every spare moment I had was spent tearing through MatBIB. 

My Rating:

 The only thing that is keeping me from giving this a solid 5 is that some parts of the plot were lacking. I don’t want to give spoilers, so I won’t go into detail. 

End of Summer Reads

According to the calendar, its still summer! Although were I live, its already starting to feel like fall. So with these last few weeks, my plan was to squeeze in 2 books that I’ve had on my Summer TBR.  But let’s be real here – I’m going to read them regardless of the season.

First up, Always and Forever, Lara Jean

There’s just something so sweet and innocent about this trilogy that I really love.  I’m also just realizing that I did a review on the first one, but not the second one, and I’m already talking about the third one.

If you’re looking for a new trilogy to read or looking for a lighthearted read, then I highly recommend visiting with Lara Jean!

 

The other book that I have waiting in my Summer TBR is When Dimple Met Rishi

I don’t know too much about When Dimple Met Rishi other than the basic synopsis.  I’m kind of liking the idea of going into a book not knowing too much about it.  But its summer, there’s romance, and there’s coffee on the cover…I’m sold!

 

So tell me, friends, whats left on your Summer TBR?