Young Adult


The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson [Book Review] 19

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Summary

“First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

As it’s spooky season, I had to give some of the classics for this season a read. I’ve read all the basics like Dracula , Stephen King books, Clive Barker booksand many others. But this one, I hadn’t read. 

I recently started a small book club with my mum, so we read books together, and as we were going to be quite busy this month, this was the perfect book – it’s not too long and not exactly a difficult read.

Spooky without being scary.
As the book is quite old, their idea of scary is not our idea of scary, which was kind of nice. I wasn’t reading this book and absolutely terrified or questioning if I could read it at night. It was just a classic kind of scary read, like Dracula. So as an autumnal read, this one fits the bill perfect. I’d say 15 and older could give this one ago, if they can get around some of the strange writing styles.

A little slow but picked up suddenly.
Now, since it’s an older book, I have to be careful with this comment. Books now are written at a much faster pace to appease the reader. This one had a very slow beginning that had you questioning exactly when something was going to happen. You were nearly halfway through the book before you even made it to Hill House and 3/4 of the way through before the strange stuff started happening. It made the read a little slow in a sense, but you also wanted to get through it faster to find out what was going to happen and when.

Nothing like the modern movie The Haunting.
In early 2000’s, a movie with Liam Neeson and other famous actors came out called The Haunting which is based off of this book. I went into this book thinking it was going to be like the movie. This movie is a common one many have seen, so I’m going to say now that if you think it’ll be like the movie, then you’re wrong. It definitely had some parallels and the overall idea was similar, but it wasn’t the same for the most part. The ending especially.

Eleanor is a little odd, just naturally.
What adds to the book is the fact that the main character is quite…out there. She’s odd so even from the beginning you just seem to be thrown off from the way she speaks and thinks. It actually puts you off balance as a reader. The speaking patterns are all over the place, which seems to confuse you. While you were reading it can be a little confusing, as her thought processes is like a roller-coaster, but afterwards you realize that it adds to the whole story!

Kind of shocking the ending.
You had this idea of how it was going to end and it didn’t end that way at all. Don’t worry, I’m not going to spoil anything, but just be prepared to not be ready for what happens. You think you can figure it out and then boom.

Overall, I absolutely loved the book. Even though it was a little slower, it’s a classic and such a good read. It’s not needed around Halloween but it’s great for autumn in general. It’s bite sized, so no need to worry about it being a massive reading commitment.

I easily give this book a 5 our of 5 teacups!

5 teacups

Spooky Reading!


Book Review: The House With a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs 22

Summary

“When Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan. comes to stay with his uncle Jonathan, he expects to meet an ordinary person. But he is wrong. Uncle Jonathan and his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmermann, are both witches! Lewis is thrilled. At first, watchng magic is enough. Then Lewis experiments with magic himself and unknowingly resurrects the former owner of the house: a woman named Serenna Izard. It seems that Serenna and her husband built a timepiece into the walls–a clock that could obliterate humankind. And only the Barnavelts can stop it!”

-From Amazon.com

Review

I actually only read this book because of the upcoming movie, which I am SOOOO excited about.

Of course, once I found out that it was a book, I had to get it. I will start off by saying that it is a younger YA novel, but that really didn’t bother me at all.

The book kept me page turning and so curious as to what would potentially be happening next. It was a very simple book to read, due to it being made for younger readers, but it wasn’t so simple that I felt like I was loosing brain cells as I was reading the book, which is always really nice.

As for the story, it was pretty straight forward. There was a boy in a house with some magical people and there was a clock, somewhere, and they had to find it. The people who used to live in the house were bad so there was that basic good versus evil idea going through the book. My complaint with the climax was it wasn’t very…climatic. I wouldn’t say it was anti-climatic because it resolved and it did go somewhere, but with adult novels they generally are a little bit more epic. I had to keep reminding myself that it was a book for younger kids so there couldn’t be the kind of violence and epicness that older YA novels, and adult novels, have in them. For the age it was meant for, it was good!

As for the main character Lewis Barnavelt, for me, he was a little bit obnoxious because he seemed like a real wimpy kid. I haven’t read the whole series of books with him so I know nothing about the series, but in this book I just wanted to shake him sometimes. He wanted to cry a lot and he felt like curling into a bawl quite a few times. I don’t generally mind a weak-ish character but just the timing of it and then his sudden bounce back was a little…meh. Of course, once again, it’s for younger readers so they won’t be noticing those kinds of things.

The novel, overall, was still an enjoyable read. It was also wonderful because it had illustrations. Not tons of them, but a few were dropped here and there, which brought the inner child in me out as I have’t had a book will illustrations in soooooo long! I was extremely happy!

In relation to the movie….

I’m definitely curious as to what the movie is going to do. Based off the trailer, it looks to be pretty big and epic, doesn’t it?

Just based off the trailer, I can already see so many differences between the book and the movie. The two adults should be older, the uncle should be a redhead, Lewis should be quite fat…the small things. There also seems to be some sort of creature or something in the movie?

I mean, I’m still going to see it as I don’t have an attachment to this book like with others….but I can already see that it has been Hollywood-ized.

That all aside, I still give the book 4/5 teacups! I don’t give it 5 because it’s a little bit below me and reading it, I see some flaws in the book, but for a child me, I’d have given it 5 teacups.

Still, 4 teacups means I thoroughly did enjoy it and do recommend checking it out. Especially if you’re going to be going to see the movie!

4 Teacups


Upcoming Book to Movie: The House with a Clock in Its Walls

A new upcoming book to movie is The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs has me soooooo excited!

So first, it’s a book! I’m reading through that currently! Check it out here. It’s a young YA kind of book, but honestly as an adult, I’m still absolutely loving it!

Now, there’s a moving coming out in the next few months and based on the trailer I am so happy. It looks pretty close to the book, and it has Jack Black!

Check it out and let me know what you think.

But I am definitely going to be watching this movie ASAP!


Book Review: A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

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book review: a court of frost and starlight by sarah j. maas

From Instagram

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Summary

“A companion tale to the #1 New York Times bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses series that takes place several months after the explosive events of A Court of Wings and Ruin

Narrated by Feyre and Rhysand, this story bridges the events in A Court of Wings and Ruin and the upcoming novels in the series.
Feyre, Rhys and their companions are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it a hard-earned reprieve. Yet even the festive atmosphere can’t keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated – scars that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of their court.”

-From sarahjmaas.com

 

Review

book review: a court of frost and starlight by sarah j. maas

From Instagram

Once again, I am happily surprised with this series. I was a little disappointed as it was so short. It is smaller than ACOTAR, so I was kind of curious how the story was going to continue. But as I started to read, I realized that this book wasn’t actually a continuation of the story, but more of a light filler to show what they were doing in their off time. It was a deviation from the story, which isn’t bad, but not exactly what I was expecting. That being said, I did really enjoy it.

I’m always a little confused what age range this book falls into, because it is YA, but I would say mature YA. The story itself is perfectly fine, but some of the love scenes are a lot for younger YA, so I classify it as mature YA. In that area, it fits perfectly!

POWERCOUPLE GOALS!
First off, I just have to say how much I love these two. They’re honestly so strong and powerful. Feyre is such a fantastic character. A strong woman and doesn’t take prisoners. Then you have Rhysand who is protective and wants the best for Feyre, but knows when to step back and let her do her thing. The two of them together could rule the universe. They also have the best Court of friends who support them. I mean these characters are all completely unique and Feyre and Rhys are the best….I can’t stop with how much I love the two of them. You get to really see their dynamic in this book and the struggles that each of them are facing, alone, but together.

The Court of Dreams by Charlie-Bowater Deviant Art

Side stories give you another perspective.
I do love side stories though, where it’s more of a novella, because you get to see another side of the characters and you’re just reading about the characters being themselves. It just expands the characters to let you see another side of them that the main story line might not be able to cover. I do like when that is done because I feel that a single chapter within a book doesn’t do the characters justice. Sure, it can give you a glimpse, but having a side book that is completely different is refreshing.

Chapters changed between characters.
I am personally not a fan of when authors do this. I like to immerse myself in the book, so when a chapter is suddenly in someone else’s POV, I really do struggle to figure out what is going on and where they are, and then I have to remember who exactly is being covered within this chapter. I know that some readers really enjoy that, as it gives you more perspectives, but when every chapter is a different characters POV, I feel like I’m being jostled around a little bit and spending the entire time figuring out where and who, I am.

Overall really happy and going to re-read soon!
I loved this book. I’m really excited for the next one (there is another one right?) and I’ll be re-reading again soon. I read it so fast the first time as I was excited and now I can actually sit down and read it and digest it properly.


book review: a court of frost and starlight by sarah j. maas

This book gets 4.5/5 teacups. It only doesn’t get 5 teacups as it’s a side story and I wasn’t expecting that, also the jumping around, but still, it’s one of my favorites!
rating four tea cups mlcwo

HAPPY READING!


Book Review: Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely

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Summary

“James Patterson presents a bold new heroine—a cross between Katniss Everdeen and Annie Oakley: Serendipity Jones, the fastest sharpshooter in tomorrow’s West.

Seventeen-year-old Serendipity “Pity” Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She’s been offered a life of fame and fortune in Cessation, a glittering city where lawlessness is a way of life. But the price she pays for her freedom may be too great….

In this extraordinary debut from Lyndsay Ely, the West is once again wild after a Second Civil War fractures the U.S. into a broken, dangerous land. Pity’s struggle against the dark and twisted underbelly of a corrupt city will haunt you long after the final bullet is shot.”

-From BN.com

Review

This book was absolutely fantastic and not what I thought it was going to be like at all.

Absolutely gorgeous cover!
First off, just look at that cover! It’s so beautiful! What caught me were the colors and the combination chosen (photo above slightly muted as color corrected for Instagram) but that’s what initially drew me in. Then the female on the cover. Clearly there was going to be a badass lead and I just had to pick it up then. I don’t think I read the summary before I borrowed the book, and even before I read it, I only skimmed it. So honestly I didn’t really know what the book was about going into it. Just that it was about a girl and she had some guns.

Strong female lead.
As I said before, it clearly had a strong female lead and boy did it ever! Pity was such a fantastic character. She was realistic, in that she didn’t do something that was ‘superhero’ like like some characters do. She was completely human, just with the ability of being a good shot, and even then she wasn’t always perfect. That was one thing I really liked. She was strong, but wasn’t perfect! I like when you have flaws in your main character as it just makes them so much more relate-able. She felt things, she got injured like everyone else, she got confused and fell in love.

She developed through the book as well, which was fantastic. Sometimes you come across stagnant characters who just kind of have a personality and don’t grow or shift through the book. Sometimes that is okay, but when they develop with the story and as they interact with others, the story line is just so much better. So seeing her develop was definitely a highlight.

Fast paced ending but didn’t see it coming.
The ending of the book moved fast, like the final action sequence. But it didn’t move too fast that it was like ‘here is the book and oh, quickly, here’s the closing’ like some books do. The build up to the end was slow and I really didn’t know where the book was actually going at some points, but not in a bad way. I was just so caught up in the life of Pity and what was happening within the world she was in, it didn’t really bother me that I wasn’t sure where the story was eventually going because it kept me invested in her and seeing what happened. Then the ending came and you were like ‘ohhhh!’

Ambiguous time period.
I was a little unclear as to the time period of the book. I know that it happens some time in the future but I was just kind of unclear as to what kind of world I was looking at. I got this kind of Mad Max/The Gunslinger vibe from the entire book and I was able to visualize everything on my own, but if you struggle coming up with visualizations of worlds and such, it might have been a little challenging. It was after a New Civil War and the world had been supposedly destroyed with kind of a New World Order going on and such, but I sometimes had a feeling it could be a modern day kind of thing just based in the middle of nowhere. It’s not a complaint about the book, as it didn’t detract from my reading experience, but just something I noticed.

Highly recommend!
Overall I really did enjoy this book. If I had the money I would buy it and will add it to my list, but borrowing it will have to suffice for now. However if you want this book, get it from either Amazon or Barnes & Noble. It definitely is a book you might want to re-read because there was just so much and you could re-read it and find something new in the story. I loved the strong characters and the story line kept the pages turning. I mean I read it in one sitting in 3 hours.

Happy Reading!