Nightingale by Amy Lukavics

Nightingale by Amy Lukavics

3.5 stars

June Hardie is your typical seventeen-year-old girl living in 1951. She has a boyfriend, comes from a good wholesome family, goes to school, and is learning how to cook. Except nothing is as it seems and the truth is her boyfriend is just another ploy for her father to have a booming business, her family is stilted and she hates her mother as much as her mother seems to hate her, all she wants is to go to college, and cooking doesn’t please her. Writing is her passion. June loves to write about the aliens that are torturing and rearranging her heroine. June Hardie can’t stop writing her story. Everything went wrong one morning and she woke up to find her parents replaced. Her parents are her parents now she is trapped in the Institution alongside girls who all have seemed to have encounters as strange as June. The Institution doesn’t want to help June and the girls have no hope of getting out the easy way. Getting better doesn’t seem to be an option. That synopsis that I wrote is a lot and it’s not even half of this story. This story is wild and there is far too much going on. It can be a bit overwhelming at times, but that’s what I like about Lukavics she packs a lot of social commentaries into a horror setting (usually not present day). I’ve always been fascinated by the 1950s housewife. I’m a huge fan of Revolutionary Road and I’ve written countless essays on the topic for literature classes, so this was right up my alley. It is all very Virginia Wolff combined with Sylvia Plath thrown into an outrageous horror setting. Lukavics’ writing is palpable and addicting. She is a well-crafted horror writer who knows how to intrigue and shock the reader. I wasn’t able to put this book down and felt like I just had to know what was going to happen next. The problem, however, was that I wasn’t a fan of the ending or the conclusion. It was lackluster, but I’ll speak more about that towards the end of my review.



“June thought of the story she wrote, thought about the aliens, always taking people away and changing them and trying to put them back as if nothing had happened. But nobody was ever quite right after coming back.”

Whimsical Writing Scale: 3.75

The main female character is June. I’ve noticed a pattern with Lukavics’ main heroines. I can’t stand them. They are usually very contrived women who are appealing to my inner feminist in the sense of me being like, “YAS, girl! Down with the patriarchy and the stifling confines of society, but also can you stop creeping me out?” The last heroine I encounter from her in Daughters Unto Devils was demon-possessed and wanted to murder her siblings. This girl wants to murder everyone and some point “satisfyingly” taints her family’s homecooked meal with her blood. It was weird, y’all. She has a lot of weird imaginings where she sees herself in the most horrifying and gruesome visions and she enjoys them. It’s a little too weird for my liking and she just feels skeevy. I felt like I was encountering a psychopath (and I kind of was, but no spoilers because it’s not that simple). She wasn’t a horrible character, but I wasn’t rooting for her. I just wanted to know what the heck was going on and why she was in this weird situation in the first place.


“She loved stories like that, the ones that made you realize how very created our ideas of safety and basic rights were.”

Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 3

There is some girl group power in the Institution, but I didn’t really buy any of their friendships as a group dynamic. Everyone kind of seemed to be doing their own thing and was out for themselves. Eleanor is June’s roommate and she is one of the major characters in the Institution and is eventually June’s lover. I honestly wasn’t buying the romance because it all of a sudden happened, but it was different to see a lesbian romance in a horror story outside of American Horror Story. I just wasn’t buying it and also, that ending. How cliché. June’s family was a lot to take in. I didn’t like them and I’m not supposed to, but I kind of wished that their dynamic wasn’t so tainted. Also, the plot with her brother, Fred, escalated. I was supposed to believe he was this evil man, but really he was just a stand in for defeating the patriarchy in familial situations, which I’m not against, but I would have preferred more character development to get me to hate him.


“This wasn’t supposed to be a nightmare house, it was supposed to be a place built to make people feel better.”

Character Scale: 3.5

The Villain- Joya… Nurse Joya. She is like Sister Mary Eunice minus the nun costume and she’s less demonic and more Lovecraftian. This was all very Lovecraftian and I wasn’t against it because intergalactic feuds are interesting, but also, I know nothing about anything. I have more questions than answers.



“She savored her gift from the land of stars and voids.”

Villain Scale: 3.5

So, this horror novel is incredibly feminist and I loved that. It has a lot of wonderful commentary on the 1950s, suburbia, women writers, mental health treatment, hysteria, lobotomies, and family confines and expectations. I love all these things and it was a treat to read, but I have to talk about that ending and how I can’t really wrap my head around it, so here’s a quote that references Virginia Wolff and I’ll leave you with that before I give spoilers.


“Maybe having to exist in a single room forever wouldn’t be too awful of a thing.”
 
All along June’s story was about herself and her own alien abduction at ten-years-old. Which makes sense to me because I suspected that must be the case because she knew too well how she wanted her character to be tortured and she just kind of was able to get it all down at unearthly speed. I don’t know anything about the aliens who abducted her or why. Then the whole thing about Joya and the other nurses being one entity and race that eats people to survive – they are basically earth bottom feeders and the aliens want to destroy them. It’s all very all over the place. The showdown was kind of cool and different from what I expected. But the ending, June has all these powers from her abductions (mind control, manipulation, healing, etc.) and she manipulates her fiancée into being her slave forever and then murdered her brother because he ruined her chance to go write and he had to go because reasons? It was just weird. I was unfulfilled and just felt kind of knocked off my rocker a bit by where the story decided to go. I just don't know exactly how I feel. Do I like this or hate it? No, but I am confused on processing my thoughts.

Overall, I really enjoyed Nightingale and it has a lot of interesting facets that make it stand out from the horror YA genre. It’s not my favorite by Lukavics, but I do think it’ll find its fans. Especially those who love aliens and feminism and maybe Lovecraftian weirdness. This is one I definitely recommend!


Plotastic Scale: 3.25

Cover Thoughts: I live for this cover. The colors. The creepiness

Thank you, Netgalley and Harlequin Teen, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Are you planning to read Nightingale? What are some of your favorite YA horror novels? Let me know down below in the comments!

October & November Reading Wrap-Up + Last Round of Goals Catch-Up

Hi, everyone! Sorry that I wasn't able to post an October wrap-up earlier, but since I have finished my finals for the fall semester (WHOOP!) I decided to combine my wrap-ups from those two months. This semester was taxing and I was able to take away a lot of things and I have really grown a lot this semester. I didn't do a ton of reading, but I did get some reading done!

Books Read in October:

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware 3 stars This is my first Ruth Ware and I wasn't a huge fan. I loved the atmosphere and the narrator has the creepiest voices (highly recommend), but the mystery was lackluster and I couldn't really get into the story. I wasn't captured in the way that I hoped I would be, but I don't regret spending time on this one. I just wasn't blown away.

You by Caroline Kepnes 5 stars Y'all, this book is as creepy as everyone said it was and Joe was a likable guy which made it even creepier. I loved this so much and the audiobook was funny, held me captive (HAHAHAHA), and is hands down one of the best listening experiences I've had this year. Truly terrifying and it never stopped shocking me. It kept going and it always packed a punch. (Also, I'm over halfway through the TV show and I love it.)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 4.25 stars I loved listening to this and it has great satirical commentary, but I didn't love it like I thought I would. It was great, but I wanted more and I'm not sure if I want to continue with the series because I felt pretty fulfilled by the ending. Is it worth continuing?

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han 3 stars This was so disappointing compared to To All the Boys I've Loved Before. It was cute and I love the family dynamic, but the drama was drawn out and this is a book that doesn't need to exist. Check out my review here.

Overall Thoughts (for October):

I read a total of 4 books in October (5 if you can't the textbook for social justice education that I counted on GR) and they were all audiobooks. I did read physical books, but I did not finish any. Okay, technically I read some of You physically, but I listened to it more than read it. It was a dual reading experience. Also, I'm kind of bummed that I didn't read in spooky books this year during the season, but You was scary enough. You is the book I recommend the most and it's not horror, so don't let it the fact that it is unsettling deter you because it's amazing!

Books Read in November:

 

A Passage to India by E.M. Forester 3.5 stars This is one of those classics that I had on my TBR but never actually had intentions to pick up. I'm glad that my Brit Lit class forced me to though because I learned so much in our discussions and about British colonization in India. The novel itself is not particularly amazing, but it focuses on really important topics within the dynamics of oppression and racism.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan 4.25 stars This is not my kind of book, but I loved it a lot. I couldn't stop laughing at the antics of Nick's family and it has its faults, but it's so enjoyable. I wasn't a huge fan of the movie, but I did really like it. I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the series!

White Teeth by Zadie Smith 4.5 stars This novel is spectacular. It's a fantastic social study of British people who have been impacted by colonization. The problem is that the characters don't hold your attention. Things happen to them and you are fine with these outrageous tragedies, but they don't move you. That's why I can't give this novel a perfect rating because as much as I loved it, I also felt disconnected to it.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton 2.25 stars I had been trying to finish this book for months and I was so happy that I finally did at the end of the month. This book has a fantastic premise about a man who wakes up in the bodies of multiple hosts every day to discover the truth behind a murder, but it was a slog. Check out my review here.

Overall Thoughts (for November):

I finished 4 books in November and they all had ties to British colonization and the effect of Western culture. Well except Evelyn Hardcastle, but it felt very British. The book I recommend the most is White Teeth. It's an absurd novel that spans multiple decades and Smith's writing is enchanting.

2018 Goals:

 -I want to finish at least three series (five doesn't seem doable). COMPLETED 4/3 

*I finished The 5th Wave Trilogy with reading two novels!

*Burn for Burn trilogy was finally finished!

*I read and started The Lord of the Rings trilogy in one month! 

*I finished the original Sevenwaters trilogy by Juliet Marillier with two novels read.
-I want to read five sequels (I don't have to finish the series). COMPLETED 11/5 

*Flawless by Sara Shepard is book 2 in the PLL series. 

*The Infinite Sea and The Last Star by Rick Yancey are the 2nd and 3rd book in The 5th Wave series.

*The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon is the fifth book in the Outlander series. 

*The Lord of the Rings: The Towers and The Return of the King are the first and second in the LOTR trilogy.

*Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian is the last book in the Burn for Burn trilogy.

 *Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier is the second book in the Sevenwaters series.

*Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier is the third and final novel in the original Sevenwaters trilogy. 

*A Court of Frost and Starlight is the novella in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series 

*Prince Caspian is the second book in the Chronicles of Narnia. 

*P.S. I Still Love You is the second book in the To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy.
-I also want to read four short story collections. COMPLETED 6/4 

 *Harry Potter and Philosophy. 

*Manga Classics: The Jungle Book

*Starlings

*Manga Classics: The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

*The Merry Spinster 
*A Wilderness Station
-I want to read three classics that are not Stephen King novels. COMPLETED 19/3 

*Manga Classics: The Jungle Book

*Anne Frank Remembered

*The ABC Murders

*Manga Classics: The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

*The Master Plan of Evangelism (Christian Classic) 

*The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 

*Heaven (It's one of the few real V.C. Andrews novels.)

*The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

*The Pursuit of Holiness (Christian Classic) 
*A Wilderness Station
*Against Forgetting 

*The Stepford Wives

 *Prince Caspian

*The Bible

*Frankenstein

*The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 

*A Passage to India

-I want to read five Stephen King novels (I've already read one in 2018). 4/5  

*The Long Walk (5 stars)

*Gerald's Game (5 stars) 

*IT (5 stars-reread) 
*The Shining (5 stars)

Read 2018 ARCs. Read 25!
Books I Posted on End of the Year Survey. YES! 7/18

*The Fiery Cross

*Ashes to Ashes

*Gerald's Game 

*God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

*Son of the Shadows 
*The Shining 

*You

Currently Reading/ Hoping to Finish in December:

 

Already Finished: Pieces of Her, Nightingale

Netgalley ARCs: Nightingale, Salt, A Darker Shade of Magic

Eldeweiss ARCs: Amity

I would love to finish all of these books to start the year fresh in 2019 with no old reads weighing me down. In reality, I don't know if I'll actually do that because I want to start other stuff, too.

Books I Want to Try to Get To:

Ebooks

   

I'm trying to get back to Netgalley ARCs. I'd also like to try some 2018 releases that I couldn't get to, but we shall see if I do that.

Audiobooks

 

The top three are audiobooks I've started and I need to finish, so I'm praying that I get these back before the end of the month. The rest are books I have holds for!

Books I Own 

  

I've been listening to These Broken Stars for months. I'm not a big fan and I think that's why it keeps expiring and I keep having to renew it. This time I will finish it! I've read In Cold Blood before, but I want to listen to the audiobook! I've never read Gone with the Wind before and it intimidates me, so hopefully I can get pulled in by the audiobook!

Have you read any of these books? Let me know your thoughts on them down below in the comments!

The Seven 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

2.25 stars

“Nothing like a mask to reveal somebody’s true nature.”

What would you do if you woke and couldn’t remember who you are, but you know that the body you’re in isn’t yours? Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight potential witnesses to the crime and that means eight hosts for you to inhabit. You are charged with identifying the killer by a mysterious man in a Plague Doctor costume and it will set you free of Blackheath, a hell of its own. The problem is that some hosts are smarter than others and some know more than others. Aiden has to use the hosts to his advantage while also battling a footman who wants him dead and allies who could be looking to murder him. I do want to comment Turton on capturing a very Agatha Christie-like mood. This is one of the view mysteries that I’ve read outside of Christie that I’ve felt that intense and dark mood enveloped with a light tongue-in-cheekiness. I did enjoy Turton’s ability to create scenes at times, but at others I felt so bored. I found the story and its transitions easy to put down. I didn’t hunger to come back to the story and I didn’t have an overwhelming desire to unearth who killed Evelyn Hardcastle. The story itself has captivating qualities, but Turton’s writing style did not capture me intently enough for me to speed through this suspense novel. It took me three months to read this and this novel is over 400-pages which in my opinion was far too long because there was so much exposition and setup as he is entering new hosts. I’m kind of salty to be honest. This was a novel I was anticipating and I was left feeling unsatisfied while reading. However, I will say that the ending did redeem my enjoyment overall, but the process was so unbearable that it overwhelmed my overall enjoyment of the novel.



Whimsical Writing Scale: 2.25

“None of them is your real face, or your real personality. Those were stripped from you when you entered Blackheath, and they won’t be returned until you leave.”

Aiden is not a very visceral main character. I don’t know who he is or why I should root for him to get free of the confines of Blackheath because he himself doesn’t know who he is. I found that this was both interesting to the development of the plot and overall revelations at the end about his past, but also, I didn’t care enough about him to care about who he was outside of this eternal hell. I’m just uninterested in his character.

Swoon Worthy Scale: 1.5
There are a lot of characters and to be honest, I don’t have one favorite. That’s disappointing because one would expect that at least one character would capture my heart and get my interest piqued. In reality, these characters were despicable and didn’t enhance my desire to know what was going on because I couldn’t buy that any of them were evil enough to leave their own selfish obsessions of sin and depravity to plot a murder that looks like a suicide. I guess the most interesting character was the Plague Doctor, especially towards the end because I have so many questions about how the justice system in this world works and how one becomes trapped in this kind of role as an observer.



Character Scale: 1.5

“Not all hells are created equal.”

The Villain- There were so many villains in this plot. Like I said the characters suck, but I did love this twist. What a ride and how dark. I actually bought it and was enthralled by the character’s callousness.



Villain Scale: 3.25

Overall, I was incredibly sad not to have loved this novel but I do think that many will find it to be a treat. It has a wonderful concept and while the execution fell short for me, I believe many will be pleased with this story. If it intrigues you, don’t let my negative saltiness turn you away from this novel because it may be one that blows you away. Especially if you are looking for an Agatha Christie with a Twilight Zone twist.



Plotastic Scale: 3.25

Cover Thoughts: This feels like an Agatha Christie novel in Gatsby font.

Thank you, Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

 

Have you read The Seven 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle or plan to? What did you like about this novel or piques your interest about? Let me know down below in the comments!  

To All the Boys I've Loved Before & P.S. I Still Love You

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

First in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Trilogy

3.5 stars

Lara Jean loves to love. She has a secret box filled with the letters she has written to every boy she’s fallen in love with. The problem is that these secret letters have been sent out and now her sister’s boyfriend (now ex because she’s relocated to Scotland for college) who she has loved all this time knows. To make matter worse, the most popular boy in school thinks she is in love with him. Lara Jean has to juggle drama like in one of her romance novels and being in love is not at all what she expects. I love the audiobook for this. The narrator is fantastic and I really connected to Lara Jean. I loved her character, her family, her baking, and her antics. I had so much fun immersing myself into the world of Lara Jean and the love life drama was so much fun. This novel isn’t incredibly complex and it won’t blow you away unless your main jam is contemporary. I’ll be honest I’m not much a contemporary romance reader, but the listening experience made it fun and I know that it helped me connect to otherwise ridiculous characters. Han is a fantastic writer who is able to create characters with depth and charm that make the drama fly by.



Whimsical Writing Scale: 4

Narration Scale: 5

Lara Jean is a fantastic female character. She leads the cast with vigor and flair. She knows who she is and what she loves (or who… well, maybe not so much). She’s passionate and her love for her family is one of my favorite things about her. I felt like I was a Covey family member and I loved the integration between Korean and American culture. Some of my favorite passages were Lara Jean’s introspection on being half-Korean and what that meant for her through stereotypes or people’s expectations.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 4

The love triangle here is no triangle for me. Josh is a character who I could do without. He annoyed me to no end and I just wanted Lara Jean to have a genuine friendship with him without the love because for me it felt like she didn’t love him, but the idea of loving him because she knew him so well. However, I’m all about Peter Kavinsky. He stole my heart, but he also needed to be smacked because he was still so hung up on his ex and it made no sense to me because he was treated so badly. Anyway, I shipped them hard.



Swoon Worthy Scale: Josh-1 Peter: 4

The Villain- I was so annoyed with how this letter thing was handled. There were NO CONSEQUENCES. None. That just doesn’t seem realistic to me in the least because most of the women I know would still have grudges against a family member if they did this. Also, it was obvious who sent the letters out. Plus, the extra mean girl stuff went way too far and I forget how crazy some girls are when they are high school to get revenge when they feel they’ve been wronged.


Villain Scale: 2

I loved the characters. The nursing home residents, Chris, Lara Jean’s dad, Margot, and Kitty. I just loved the dynamics of all the relationships. The characters were wonderful and the best thing about contemporaries are the great relationships that the reader gets to witness and become apart of.


Character Scale: 4

I was a fan of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. It has its issues in predictability and frustrating plot lines, but it is so much fun. This is just fun and when I don’t look beyond that and just appreciate it for what it is, I find myself smiling giddily.



Plotastic Scale: 3.25

Cover Thoughts: Iconic, but not a favorite.

 

 

 

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

Second book in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Trilogy

3 stars

Lara Jean never thought she would fall for Peter Kavinsky. Now that they are official life should be great, but things keep coming up and Lara Jean isn’t sure she can trust Peter. Even weirder is the fact that John Ambrose McClaren has shown up and Lara Jean isn’t sure the love she wrote of in her letters is a thing of the past. At first, I was loving this, but I quickly got frustrated. If I’m being honest, this is a great example of a second book that was written because there needed to be loose ends tied up. Half of this book was filler to cover all those loose ends that could’ve been fixed in a first book. Not only that but I found myself getting annoyed with the characters I once loved. Han’s writing is still sweet, but it wasn’t enough to make a weak plot carry on. All the characterization in the world can’t save a story that is based off of loose ends from a previous novel struggles to makes its own plot through another love triangle. The narration was still good, but I found my frustration with the characters made it harder to enjoy the story and my listening experience.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 2.5

Narration Scale: 4

Lara Jean lost her charm. She became that girlfriend without a trusting bone and it turned into obsessive and petty fighting. I don’t have time for such antics. Don’t even get me started on her chasing after John Ambrose. It was ridiculous and it reminded me of those stories about girls who chase after the first thing they see after a bad breakup. That was what John Ambrose McClaren was for me and it made the whole storyline just uncomfortable and I was ready to move on. Also, she is too wishy-washy. I realized that Lara Jean doesn’t know what she wants and even in the final chapter I wasn’t convinced that she was really choosing anybody because she will probably fall in love with some random stranger, she sees in a coffee shop four months down the road from the end of this novel.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2.5

I was frustrated with Peter, too. Not as frustrated as I was with Lara Jean but I was annoyed with him because he doesn’t fight hard enough. He’s the type of person to give up on the wrong people and fight for the toxic ones. I don’t have patience for that either. This is the problem with reading about high school drama when you are an adult, it becomes annoying and frustrating. John Ambrose McClaren can just get out of the way. He’s nothing but a petty plot hole that easily could be written out of this whole narrative. He’s character is also uninteresting. He would speak and I could feel my eyes rolling into my head. Over it.


Swoon Worthy Scale: Peter- 3.5 John Ambrose- 1.5

The Villain- I’m over mean girl drama. The whole reason was just so petty and I’m happy that Lara Jean finally stood up in the right way in the end instead of carrying on with silly games.


Villain Scale: 3

I still loved the Covey family and they are hands down the best thing about this whole book. I loved the lady at the nursing home, whose name I can’t remember, she was the epitome of old lady sass.


Character Scale: 4

Overall, I’m disappointed with this follow-up. I wasn’t impressed and it left me feeling a bit sad because I really loved To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Hopefully, I’ll enjoy the final book in this trilogy.


Plotastic Scale: 3.25

Cover Thoughts: Lara Jean has the cutest outfits.

 

Are you a fan of the To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy? What is your favorite book in the series? Did you love the movie or hate it? Are you excited to possibly see a sequel? Are you a Peter Kavinsky or a John Ambrose McClaren girl? Do you think I'll like the last book? Let me know down below in the comments!