#fiction book reveiw

[carolearlycooney]

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

Dear Fellow Reader, It is only mid to late August, but I can tell that fall is coming. Partly because it gets so much cooler at night. It is like the sun just can’t keep the warmth up all day and night anymore. That it is tired and just needs a break. I notice the mornings are quieter also. In the spring, the early mornings are alive with birds vying for notice. As we move into fall, they are…

[wordshurtme5305]

WHM book review

TW: violence, gore, horror, child abuse, genocide, racism, sexism, ableism and sexual assault

(spoiler free)

Last week I had the pleasure of reading Cormac McCarthy's . . .

Blood Meridian.

The story follows a fourteen year old boy who ran away from his abusive home, wandering aimlessly and fighting men for a while he then joins a group of scalp hunters that are contracted by the Mexican government.

The vivid and visceral writing of the story puts you in this primal world of violence and hate as you're described how men are disemboweled and scalped, with every bloody detail.

Ultimately - I would give blood meridian an absolute ⭐⭐⭐⭐ of 5 for its great writing and horror

(I'm sorry I never came back to review Starship Troopers but I swear more book reviews will come)

[gardenfeather-book-reviews]

"Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

  Aristotle Mendoza, or Ari, prefers to be alone. Maybe it's because his brother is in jail and his parents refuse to talk about it. Maybe it's because he doesn’t relate to the other 15 year old boys. He didn’t have any friends, until he met Dante over the summer before junior year. Dante is outgoing, polite, and is liked by everyone he meets. Everything Ari wants to be. 

       Aristotle and Dante is an explorative coming of age novel that truly embodies the experience of being a teenager. Ari and Dante are trapped between being children and adults. Ari battles with depression throughout the book and struggles to find himself. Dante doesn’t feel that he is enough or that he belongs.  

       It is an incredible representation of teenagers. The story uses a new way of exploring the teenage experience of being strung between adulthood and being a child that is very different to books that approach the same theme. 

       Benjamin Alire Sáenz has written a story about culture, identity, and finding yourself that is expertly crafted. It uses expertly placed and clear symbolism. The novel is easy to follow but still complex. Aristotle and Dante is an incredible, romantic story about young queer love and self discovery. 

[punki-miltonia]

Ten Word Book Reviews: The Maidens

All the possibility, none taken; inauthentic, vapid; left wanting more

[annafromuni]

Not Sure How I Feel About As Death Draws Near

As Death Draws Near, the fifth novel in Anna Lee Huber’s Lady Darby Mystery Series, started off on an interesting foot. We have a sudden summons to Ireland, the return of a troublesome character from the first book, and a sensitive significance of religion as the tensions bubble between Protestant and Catholics. Unfortunately, it didn’t reach the heights it could’ve for me. I felt that there was…

[kjudgemental]

The Fountains of Paradise - Classic Sci-fi Novel Review

New review, this time classic Arthur C. Clarke. Thanks for checking it out.

Author: Arthur C. Clarke Publisher: Gollancz Country: UK Year: 1979 What was intended to be Clarke’s last science-fiction novel (yeah, that went well) is tight, snug, and cosily familiar. There’s something about a Clarke novel that does that; one of the reasons why I love his work every time I get around to ploughing through a few pages. In this novel, a scientist and engineer plans to use a…

[dkehoe]

This Chick Read: Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renée Rosen

Two young women’s lives intersect in 1938 New York during the Great Recession, Gloria Downing, whose father had just been caught swindling money from his clients, and Estée Lauder a young woman selling face cream in the beauty parlor where Gloria finds a job. They strike up a friendship and each of them pursue careers in the beauty industry although on slightly different paths. Estée takes on the…

[annegrove]

Book Review: The Letters

Book Review: The Letters

The LettersStand Alone BookLuanne Rice and Joseph MonningerContemporary RomanceBantamSeptember 23, 2008199 pagesLight, Easy ReadRecommend A married couple coping with the death of their son seek healing independently from each other in opposite ends of the country. Distance separates them but through a series of letters they begin to release their pain and connect with the spark which ignited…

[tcplnyteens]

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie’s world changed forever when her sister came into it, and it changed again when she was taken from it. Follow Sadie as she tracks her sister's killer on the road to revenge, and with West McCray as he follows Sadie’s footsteps, hoping to find her before it's too late. This thriller will have you sitting on the edge of your seat, and keep you wanting more even after it's over, afterall I don't think any of us can take another dead girl.

----SPOILERS----

I can't express how much I truly love this book, I've read it three times and everytime I read it it hits just as hard. The mixed format of podcast episodes and Sadie's point of view really draws you in and has you picking up all the lost connections and near misses. This story is so compelling and keeps you on the edge of your seat. As a person who avidly listens to true crime podcasts this book immediately drew me in, Sadie’s character is complex and beautiful in the most tragic way. This is a story about sisters and the bond that would drive you to do anything for the ones you love. One of my favorite parts of this book is that we get to see West's process of involvement, how invested he gets in this story and how invested he gets into trying to save Sadie from herself. As much as I know this is a book review and you want to know my thoughts, this book leaves me relatively speechless, you feel this book in your heart and in your stomach, it's a journey to say the least, it's a book I think everyone should read, definitely has made its way onto my top ten favorite book list.

-maren

[gamespritemode]

I know I've been inactive for a while, but I'm back at it again! Check out my latest video

[thewyrdwritere]

Vinland by George Mackay Brown My rating: 3 of 5 stars ‘This Voyage of ours will be famous…..told over winter fires from Iceland to Ireland’ Vinland tells the tale of a young Norse boy, Ranald Sigmundson from Breckness Orkney. Forced into his father's life at sea, eking out a living trading with Iceland, Ranald learns what it means to have a weak man for a father and stows away with the charismatic Leif Ericson, the famous adventurer of Norse saga. And so Ranald finds himself at the heart of a saga joining Leif on his adventure to Greenland and then on into the west, chasing the dream of a new land, the eponymous Vinland. George Mackay Brown's Vinland, and Ranald, is reminiscent of Treasure Island and young Jim Hawkins. Initially an adventure set at sea told from a naïve young boy’s perspective as he first steps out into world, yet as the expedition to Vinland unfolds, the narrative reveals something more than its adventuresome beginnings suggested….Vinland is the march of time, a coming of age tale and the dream of youth that fades into the responsibilities of maturity. MacKay Brown weaves multiple themes, conflicts and dramatic contrasts throughout the skein of Ranald’s life in a marvellous feat of long-term narration. As Ranald returns home a wiser, stronger young man his adventures and the dream of returning to Vinland are waylaid by an increasing set of domestic responsibilities and local leadership that soon relegates Vinland to a fireside tale and then sullen silences. Ranald’s homecoming is idyllic, a young adult full of vigour, enthusiastic at life's opportunities, the confidence drawn from responsibility, thoughts of marriage and children, but not just yet. However as the years pass the insidious creep of politics, warfare and bloodshed that swirls around the Orkney Earls leaves Ranald evermore disaffected with his life. Ranald as a character is always growing, always revealingly another thread of McKay Brown's long term storytelling. A brief sojourn into war and Irish king-making leaves a distinct impression on Ranald, one of pointlessness and does much to dissuade Ranald of the innocence of youth. When Ranald finds sanctuary in the hands of the Christian church, something of an epiphany occurs, revealing a narrative dichotomy, pitching the old barbarous Viking traditions against the more enlightened spirit of Christianity into Ranald's coming of age. It seems telling that as Ranald's husbandry of the Breckness farm grows the prosperity and community the local Viking ships become less and less successful. The cultural and societal conflicts find a parallel in Ranald's internal world where a melancholic tension resides with maturity and domestic duty overshadowing the adventures of youth and the fading dream of Vinland. Both narrative threads reflect the march of history and the world changing tensions as the dangerous unpredictable Viking age met the emergence of a more administrative Christian age. Ranald himself is a character full of conflicted tension. As Ranald hits middle age he admits to a yearning madness for the sea (and the adventure of his youth), a yearning put aside to run a farm and raise a family, because it was the right thing to do. There is a rage against the injustice of responsibility and within Ranald’s conflict there is a kernel of modernity where perhaps our own dreams of youth have been set aside for work and family. Ranald is a poignant figure for anyone who has ever chosen responsibility over pleasure for fear that given half an opportunity they would desert and set sail for their own personal Vinland. Yet for the reader there is a further conflict, raised on the modern interpretation of the Viking sagas and history, the stylised violence and near hero worship of the freedom Vikings represent....it's something of a kick in the teeth to see the romanticism of the Viking life thoroughly dismantled by the gentle hand of a Christian priest... Mackay Brown brings a startling historical accuracy to his narrative, richly detailed in period knowledge and skaldic tradition that brings Middle Ages Orkney to fascinating life. There is a lyrical and poetic quality at times emulating the sagas, the waxing/waning of the moon likened to a shy girl becoming a bride, a princess and then a wife that lights the lantern to bring the shepherds home in a blizzard, beautifully conjuring the life and fears of Norse Orkney. Yet even the skaldic tradition of the narrative is subject to the conflict of the narrative’s overall theme. The language and culture of skaldic poetry, sagas and Norse mythology infuses Ranald’s youth yet over time the language changes, bursts of Latin and hymn illuminating the growing Christian influence on Norse society. As Ranald approaches old age and death, the prose features less skaldic poetry, less mythology and more prosaic historical detail and a Christian inspired hermitage of religious-philosophy and theology. Does Ranald realise the cultural overlap, dreams of a Christian Eden paralleling the dreams of Viking Vinland? Is the author’s intent to extol Christian piety over Viking adventure? A clue perhaps in Ranald’s old age, riven with dementia the only coherent memory is of building a ship to sail west….yet MacKay Brown weaves ambiguously, in life Ranald was celebrated in skaldic verse but with death eulogised through Christian requiem. Perhaps Ranald is the living embodiment of a cultural change, a moment in time when Viking became Christian. Richly detailed, lyrical, poetic, emotional and multi layered, Vinland is an immersive read, bringing to life a rapidly changing historical Orkney seen through the eyes of a poignantly characterised Ranald Sigmundson. ‘Be thou, Lord, at the helm, when at last the voyager turns his face to the west’ View all my reviews

[dailycozydreaming]

thursday 19.03.20: book review: to all the boys i’ve loved before by jenny han 

I have never read something so perfectly romantic before. Although I may be biased as I fell in love with Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky long before I picked up this book. I had worried that the book would pale in comparison to my love of the movie, I needn’t have worried. Lara and Peters chemistry, the stunning aesthetic and comedic timing are all present and wonderfully portrayed.

for more visit me here or keep reading below 😊

Lara Jean is a delightful character who I can’t help but fall in love with, she speaks to the introvert in me. She enjoys baking, reading and romance. She simply put, is me at sixteen. At times she can come across as slightly childish or juvenile – but I think this is part of her charm. Not everyone is out here to make waves. Overall, I enjoyed how she was written and the role she played in this story. Let me talk for a minute about Peter Kavinsky, this is the only aspect from movie to book that doesn’t quite hold up. Now don’t mistake me book Peter is amazing; he is the boy everyone wants in high school, but Noah Centineo has charisma coming off him in waves. While I enjoyed him in the book, I think he really came to life in the movie. This was really a super cute read, the plot was somewhat basic, but as one of my all-time favourite tropes the fake relationship, I couldn’t help but enjoy it. Even knowing what was coming the little moments of drama (I am looking at you hot tub sex tape) still made for an interesting read. While this may not be the deepest book I have ever read, it was one of the most fun. With a lovely aesthetic woven through beautiful descriptions, genuinely nice and fun characters or plain adorable plot devices this was a great read!

[gardenfeather-book-reviews]

"Vicious" by V.E. Schwab

Ten years ago Victor and Eli, competitive roommates and aspiring doctors, discovered the risky secret to acquiring magic abilities. Present day Victor has escaped prison and is looking for Eli.

        This is one of my favorite books. Schwab is able to balance the mystery and magic, past and present, perfectly. The characters are complex and compelling. The book makes you question who is the good guy and who is the bad one in a new way. I was constantly changing my opinions about who was in the right and wrong. It broke the mold of good versus evil. And it makes you question how far your own morals go.   

[punki-miltonia]

Ten Word Book Reviews: If We Were Villains

Beautiful prose, great characters, captivating plot; a well written book

[thegoddessofliterature]

Some underrated f/f book recommendations-Part 1 of 2

You can thank me later ;).

I am gonna be sharing some of my favorite quotes from the books. Both of them were amazing and I gave them 4.75 stars.

The writing style: enchanting

The romance: enrapturing

“Nonsense. Absolute rubbish. You’re—” Pat groped for a word. “Outstanding. You’re beautiful and kind and—champagne, everything about you is champagne. Bubbling and delicious and special.”

“Of course I was. Goodness, Pat.” She took Pat’s whisky glass, leaned over to put both on the bedside table, then turned back with a look that blended determination, uncertainty, and a definite glint of wickedness. “You do know I like you awfully, don’t you?”

Quotes from Proper English by Kj Charles

“How much of your innocence can I ruin in the course of one evening?'

'I’m already reasonably ruined”

“We thought we were separate satellites, but we aren’t. We’re stars, and though we might burn separately, we’ll always be in one another’s orbit.”

“I am tired of twisting myself into painful shapes for mere scraps of respect or consideration. Tired of bending this way and that in search of approval that will only ever be half granted.”

Quotes from Ladies Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite.

[huffreadz]

𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 . ( aka about the blog ! )

note - add ‘ read more ’ later

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

hello! my name is mitch , i go by she / they pronouns , i live in the PST time zone , i’m a minor and a student , and i am a bisexual woman !!

i learned to read a bit later in life when i was maybe 6 or 7 years old. i had a rough time at first but now and over many many years i’ve grown to love and adore reading.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

FAVORITES .

oh boy i have a lot of favorites. some of the books i hold the most love for are as follows ; i’ll give you the sun by jandy nelson , the sky is everywhere by jandy nelson , the percy jackson and the olympians series by rick riordan , wayward son by rainbow rowell , and they both die at the end by adam silvera.

i mostly read young adult fiction with lgbt characters. i like feeling represented , ya know? i think that’s a universal thing lmao. my favorite genres are mystery , romance , fantasy , and drama. i don’t know if there’s a specific name for a trope i like but it basically begins as a romance novel but goes the route of self discovery and closure type thing. if you have a recommendation for me , please send it!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

DISCALIMER .

i will occasionally write reviews on here or mention triggering content. if a post contains a trigger , i will tag “trigger /”. if you need something specific tagged , shoot me an ask or an IM asking me to do so and i happily will.

i fall in love with basically every book i read. our opinions may not align. please do not be an ass to me just because you disagree with my opinions on a specific book. we all have different tastes and preference.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

NO - NOs .

biphobia , homophobia , transphobia , panphobia , racism , white-washing , smut written about minors , pedophilia , incest , non con , boot-lickers , tr*mp supporters , and support of blue l*ves matter. if you indulge in / support / act in support of any of the things listed above you are not welcomed on my page and that is that.