YA

Damsel by Elana K. Arnold [Book Review] 5

 in Books / Older Readers by

Summary

“The rite has existed for as long as anyone can remember: When the king dies, his son the prince must venture out into the gray lands, slay a fierce dragon, and rescue a damsel to be his bride. This is the way things have always been.

When Ama wakes in the arms of Prince Emory, she knows none of this. She has no memory of what came before she was captured by the dragon or what horrors she faced in its lair. She knows only this handsome young man, the story he tells of her rescue, and her destiny of sitting on a throne beside him. It’s all like a dream, like something from a fairy tale.

As Ama follows Emory to the kingdom of Harding, however, she discovers that not all is as it seems. There is more to the legends of the dragons and the damsels than anyone knows, and the greatest threats may not be behind her, but around her, now, and closing in.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

So, I’m actually going to start my review of this book with the rating of it, because it may save you some time from even bothering to read this review and this book.

I give this book 2/5 teacups.

2 Teacups

Now we can get into why I thought the book was just so bad.

This book was definitely not YA!
This book is classified as YA Fantasy, but holy crap was it not. First off, there were some seriously messed up undertones of rape, sexual assault, the injury of animals and even some subtle bestiality undertones (with dragons, but that doesn’t matter). I honestly hated the fact that the Prince/King in the book was so controlling and kept making it seem like he saved this female constantly saying, “I saved you” over and over. Like shut up, we get it.

Then he comes into her room at night and pretty much almost rapes her. And she’s like “Oh, it’s okay, he’s going to be my husband, he saved me” which kind of gave me some Stockholm Syndrome vibes or something.

And then when they are talking about how to tame a dragon, I was like “WHAT THE F^*& IS GOING ON HERE?!” I had to read it a few times to make sure I read it right. Like, what the hell was the author thinking?!

The writing was so simple and…well, crappy.
For me, the writing was just so poor! It felt so jumpy, the style was too plain and I felt like this was some book that had been self-published. For a author who was a National Book Award Finalist, this book was so just nothing. For a younger YA read maybe, but due to the themes, this was not for younger YA at all, if any YA in general.

Feminist book? More like ‘women should know their place’ book.
For the ‘reviews’ on the cover talking about how this was a story of feminine power, I’d like to know what they were drinking! Until the last like….15 pages, nothing remotely feminist happened and then it was just like “here, take this, the end.” Honestly, I don’t even know what was going on with that ending. It was like there should have been so much more but the author just ended it.

Had potential but just delivered so poorly.
This was one of those books that the idea was fantastic and it could have been an amazing book! Like, it really had the potential for that, but because the author just did such a poor job in writing the story and developing it, it was just…so bad. I’m sorry. I don’t generally really dislike books but I do. When I finished it I was mixed, then I read other peoples interpretations of the book and reanalyzed my reading of it – I also did read it fast because I just had to get through it and be done. So, no, just no.

Only plus, has a gorgeous cover.
As you can see, the cover was my draw in. It caught my attention on the stand which is why I grabbed it and I also thought, from the summary, it would be good. But, sadly the story disappointed. However, the cover is really quite beautiful. So that’s one of the only reasons I gave it a 2 star and not 1 (also because I rarely give 1, but this came really close).

Overall, this is a miss.
Honestly, I don’t generally say to avoid books, but this one is one to just…not. I don’t know how these people who wrote the reviews inside the book actually enjoyed it as it was so poor…I feel like I wasted my time reading it, I’m sorry to say. And I really hate when that happens.

Happy Reading (other books)!

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

 in Books / Books-to-Movie / Young Adult / Younger Readers by

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: Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely

 in Book Reviews / Books / Hot Off The Press / Young Adult by
This post contains affiliated links for your convenience.

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!

 

Book Review: Jackaby by William Ritter 2

 in Book Reviews / Books / Young Adult by

Book Review: Jackaby by William RitterSummary

“Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary–including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain the foul deeds are the work of the kind of creature whose very existence the local authorities–with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane–seem adamant to deny.”

-From Amazon.com

 

Review

So I kept seeing this book all over and I’m pretty sure I borrowed it from the library a while back, but never got to it. So at the library I grabbed it again and decided to read it first (as it was the shortest out of all the books I borrowed).

I finished it in about 4 hours. It was so catchy!

Honestly it was like Supernatural mixed with Sherlock…like two of my favorite things! So naturally I had to love it!

It kept the pages turning just because you were naturally curious as to what was going to happen, with the mystery but also about the relationship between Abigail and Jackaby. So I just kept reading and reading, and then we got to solving the mystery and I had to keep reading. So I read it in a few hours.

It wasn’t a long story so it wasn’t exactly difficult to read it quickly (only about 300 pages) but it was also gripping.

There wasn’t a lot of character development in this book but this is a series, so I’m going to have to pick up the other books later to find out what happens, but I have a lot of lists that I really want to read first, so this will have to wait.

Honestly though, with a lot of people talking about this book and seeming to really love it, I didn’t understand the hype so much. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it but it wasn’t a book I would tell everyone that they have to read first. But of course, this is my personal opinion. It was different, and also not exactly the kind of book I generally read, genre wise.

Never the less, it was a decent read and if you have time, I would suggest checking it out.

For that, I will give it a 4/5 teacups!

rating four tea cups mlcwo

Happy Reading!

Singing Fire by T.L. Martin

 in Book Reviews / Books / Fantasy / Young Adult by

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. 

Singing Fire by T.L. Martin

Summary

“Constant chills, panic attacks, and now paranoia – there’s a reason seventeen-year-old Charlie keeps to herself. Life is looking up when she gets a job at a whimsical tea shop and gains a few new friends, but little does Charlie know there are secrets lurking beyond its door. It only takes one night for her perspective on her small town to change forever. As if witches, vampires, and demons weren’t enough, she soon realizes she’s being hunted for a power she didn’t know she possessed. Singing Fire takes Charlie through an unexpected journey of self-discovery, betrayal, and forbidden love all while the clock is ticking for her to defeat the dark souls pursuing her – before anyone else dear to her has to die. Singing Fire is the first of a two-part series, and its sequel, Raining Fire, is due for release in 2017.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

I absolutely loved this book! Ms. Martin sent me an email asking for me to give it a read and the initial reason I said yes was because the cover was gorgeous. It caught my eye, as well as the summary. I love fantasy kind of books and I hadn’t read one for a little while, so I figured that it was time to.

Now this book just had so much amazing stuff going on. First of all, it was fantasy but not so much so that it wasn’t based in reality. It was kind of like the Shadowhunters idea where they were hiding in plain site. Then you have this girl who just gets sucked into the world. And then you have this vampire who she falls in love with (of course).

I mean come on! Who doesn’t love a good fantasy story, with romance, and a vampire!

I also loved the fact that the ‘base of operation’ was a tea shop! I mean my blood is literally tea, so I had to give it a read just because of that. I just loved imagining this beautiful tea shop that was so small and magical and had all these little secrets. In my mind it was so magical and beautiful.

The book was also not terribly long but so much happened within the short story! I read it in a few hours, outside in the sun (which was amazing) and I just couldn’t put it down. I wanted to know what was going to happen next and it just kept going and it kept you guessing all the way until the last sentence. I mean that ending had me dying. Come on Ms. Martin!!!! You just had to throw that curve ball! I loved it ‘cus I didn’t see half of the ending coming and it has me NEEDING the next book (which I am so excited for).

The cover of this book is also gorgeous as well. The turquoise with the fire in the middle just caught my eye as the colors were visually pleasing. I mean they say don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but you all should know by now that it’s all part of the package. I generally don’t have it negatively impact a book, but it can definitely make a book even better!

Overall I absolutely loved this book! Go check it out on amazon here!

It was definitely a read that I will be reading again in the summer, and just before I get the next book!

Happy Reading!