Books I've Read in 2017 #42-44

 

Hi, everyone! I'm back with another prefilmed video in which I rehash and review some of the books I read in 2017. Surprisingly, I went from a crappy book to a decent book to an amazing book. Interesting, how that worked out!

THE BOOKS:

 

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft - 1 star This was a huge bust for me. It kind of ruined Lovecraft for me. Every time I think about Lovecraft now I think of his worst book, which is sad because he has some great stuff, but this left such a bad taste in my mouth that it overshadows his bibliography for me.

Too Scot to Handle by Grace Burrowes - 3.25 stars This wasn't bad HR, but it wasn't a great one. It was kind of mediocre, but slightly better than average at the same time (if that makes any sense). Check out my review here. 

Firestarter by Stephen King - 5 stars This is one of my favorite King novels. I was a huge fan of the father-daughter relationship and how it mirrored Project Ultra (but not really because we don't want the government to kill King). I loved it so much and can't recommend it enough!

Recommend the Most:

Firestarter!!!! Everyone needs to read this one because it is so good. The movie with Drew Berrymore is great, too, but the book is so flipping fantastic and I can't believe that this one isn't talked about more.

STATS:

Books Reviewed: 1

Books Rated Over 4 stars: 1

New Favorites: 1

Books That Changed My Life: 0

Owned: 3

The funny thing is that these are the exact same stats from my last video post. LOL

Have you read any of these books? Are you going to pick up Firestarter? You should and if you are turned off by horror, it's not really horror at all. There are a few creepy and horrifying elements towards the end, but this focuses on a father and daughter running from the government agency that created their powers. Let me know your thoughts down below in the comments!

Books I've Read in 2017 #39-41

 

Hi, everyone! Today I'll be talking about some of the books that I read in 2017.

THE BOOKS: 

 

The Tommyknockers by Stephen King - 4.5 stars A lot of people, including King himself, think this book is horrible, but I really enjoyed. I love creepy alien stories and this book was right up my alley. It had it problems, mainly with the writing in certain sections becoming clunky and uninteresting, but overall, this was a fun ride.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin - 1.5- 2 stars I'm conflicted on this book. I originally gave it a 3 star rating, but I completely disagree with that after further reflection. I'll be able to give a solid rating once I write a review.

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff - 3 stars This was a sweet children's novel that is a favorite in readers' circles. Check out my review here.

Recommend the Most:

The Tommyknockers by Stephen King was my favorite out of these three novels and it was a lot of fun. I think a lot of alien/sci-fi fans will love it. 

STATS:

Books Reviewed: 1

Books Rated Over 4 stars: 1

New Favorites: 1

Book That Changed My Life: 0

Owned: 3

Have you read any of these books? Are you planning to? Have you seen the movie for The Tommyknockers or Pictures of Hollis Woods? Did you like them? Let me know down below in the comments!

Deadly Sweet by Lola Dodge

DEADLY SWEET PUBLISHES JANUARY 16, 2018

Deadly Sweet by Lola Dodge

First book in the Spellwork Syndicate series

3 stars
Anise Wise is tired of hiding from the humans of the world. It doesn’t that matter that witches are a well-known magical species, humans hate and fear them. All Anise wants to do is bake and create cakes that could allow her to have a bakery one day. The problem is that she keeps getting rejected from colleges and she and her mother are barely scraping by. When an incident arises and Anise finds herself in Taos to be an apprentice to her great-aunt Agatha. The catch? Agatha’s last apprentice went missing and Anise finds herself the target of a powerful and out of control warlock. Dodge’s newest series opener is a lot of fun. This is a fun witch novel that takes an interesting approach by making witches common knowledge to regular humans. This incites fear, but it also creates the dynamic of witches being seen as tourist attractions. It makes the story a little bit more complex than the run of the mill witch story, but this story doesn’t go beyond that. It is a very simple story and it can be a bit predictable. While the story is predictable, Dodge attempts to make Anise’s passions the centerpiece of her magic- baking is at the story’s centerfold. The baking makes this story unique and fun. Dodge isn’t the best urban fantasy writer, but the story is fun and I’d definitely recommend it to fans of witch stories and characters who bake.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3

The main character is Anise. She isn’t the most original character, but her love and passion for baking made me love reading her PoV because she had a purpose outside of hunting a big bad guy like most UF heroines. It made her dynamic. She isn’t the most fleshed out character, but her passion is so strong that it makes her story fun to follow. Mainly, I’m just rooting for her because I want to see her bake more deserts.



Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 3.25

There are two potential love interests in this story. One is a huge character, but I don’t know if their relationship will blossom into more, but I’m betting that it will in later novels because of this guy’s role in her life as a protector. The other well, he isn’t a love interest anymore, but for the sake of not spoiling this incredibly short novel, I’ll leave it at that.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 2

The Villain- I called this one from the moment this character was introduced. Mainly because Dodge seems to depict all men with tattoos as villains. At the beginning of the novel, Anise is nearly assaulted by an older man covered in tattoos. The villain is covered in tattoos. It made the story arc incredibly obvious and I wasn’t surprised in the least.


Villain Scale: 3

The characters are all just kind of there. None of them feel concrete and I didn’t feel attached to any of them and I feel like it is because there are so many characters being introduced and mentioned that the few that should’ve been fleshed out were briefly touched on, but not further expanded upon. I’m sure Dodge will expand upon the friendships that Anise made in the next novel, which I really hope she does because the character friendship could be a lot of fun.


Character Scale: 3

This is a fast, quick story that I definitely recommend if you are in the mood for a quick read to past the time that doesn’t require a lot of concentration and thought. Magical baking is really what sealed the deal for me when it came to this story and I think it will be a lot of fun for readers, especially younger readers who are getting into the paranormal genre.


Plotastic Scale: 3.25

Cover Thoughts: I love this cover. It’s purple and the cake looks scrumptious. I’m a definite fan of it.

Thank you, Netgalley and Inkmonster, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Do you love books about witches? What are some of your favorite books about baking? Are you interested in picking up Deadly Sweet? Let me know down below in the comments!

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

First book in the Hungry Plague

3.25 stars

Melanie wakes up in a cell each morning and waits to be strapped in and rolled to the classroom. Melanie love stories and she loves the stories that Miss Justineau tells the class. Melanie love Miss Justineau so much, but she doesn’t like Dr. Caldwell. She especially doesn’t like how her classmates don’t come back after going through the double doors. That’s all I’m going to tell you about this novel because I think it’s really fun to go in blind or almost completely blind. If you look at the synopsis provided by the publisher it gives great hints to what this story is about and I’m sure you can guess. But if you don’t want to be spoiled and want to go in blind then only read this first section.


Carey offers a story that bounces in between intense and gripping and slow and full of infodumps. Most infodumps can be unbearable and overwhelming, but Carey does a great job of presenting them in easy and understandable ways that don’t feel overwhelming. This is not at all what I expected and I wasn’t pleasantly surprised, particularly in the beginning. I personally think the best parts of The Girl with All the Gifts are the beginning, the take over section, and the very end. Anything between the 45-85% could’ve been cut and I would have been perfectly happy with the way this story would have progressed. The biggest thing I would tell would be readers is that this novel is fun, gory, and intense at times, but at others, the pace changes and the story becomes slightly boring and redundant. However, it only falls into this every now and then.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3

From here on out, I will be discussing the characters and that contains spoilers, so bye.
The main character in this story is Melanie. There are other PoVs and other characters, but this is Melanie’s story and Melanie’s world (which is kind of punny spoiler). Melanie’s character is one of innocence. She has been cloaked and hidden away from the truth of her nature… that she is a hungry- a zombie. Melanie’s urges are controlled with heavy douses of scent blockers and only be fed once a week. This is Melanie’s story of finding out who she really is. It’s a coming of age zombie story. I kind of love that concept. It’s so interesting and beautifully simple because coming of age stories are so popular, but when you pair it with the prospect of something paranormal it becomes unique. Melanie is a strong little girl and I loved her PoVs the most. She is hands down my favorite thing about this novel.


Miss Justineau also plays a huge role in this story and it in a way is as much of her story as it is Melanie. I wasn’t the biggest fan of her PoVs and she was more of Melanie’s green light than a human being. Even in moments where I should feel sympathy for her, I didn’t care too much for her character. However, she does have her moments. Like when she punches Dr. Caldwell in the face.


Dr. Caldwell is a sociopathic doctor hell-bent on slicing and dicing little kids for her research. If the zombie outbreak hadn’t occurred she would probably be a doctor with a God complex. Anyway, I wanted to knock her out as many times and Miss Justineau did, but that ending was so satisfying.


Sergeant Parks holds a tight ship at the compound and he seemed to be a real hard ass at first, but as the story progresses he begins to show simple compassions and understanding towards Melanie. I really began to like him and appreciate him.


There was also another character whose name I’ve forgotten, but damn did he go out with a horrible bang. Goes to show you should never abandon ship out of fear because worse things are waiting for the lone wolf.


Character Scale: 3.25

The Villain- This was done very well. Dr. Caldwell is the main villain in this story, but the hungries are another threat. However, Carey chooses to show the hunpgries in a different light, not only through Melanie, but through science and that was incredibly fascinating.


Villain Scale: 3.5

My favorite scene in this whole novel is a spoiler I was incredibly impressed by the zombie takeover scene at the base. It was intense, heart stopping, and a wild ride. Carey wrote an amazing sequence and it was by far my favorite aspect of this novel and I would recommend this novel to zombie fans alone just because of the sequence.


Overall, this was a fun novel. It wasn’t groundbreaking and I didn’t enjoy it as much as my friends on GR did, but I did enjoy and I do recommend it to zombie fans.


Plotastic Scale: 4

Cover Thoughts: I love this cover. The colors and Melanie are so freaking vibrant.

Thank you, Netgalley and Orbit, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Have you read The Girl with All the Gifts? Have you seen the movie? I haven't and I would like to know if it's worth checking out. Let me know down below in the comments!

December Reading Wrap-Up

Hi, everyone! I hope you have been having a wonderful 2017 and that 2018 is going wonderfully for you. I talked about a couple posts ago in my Fall Semester Reading Wrap-Up about how I wanted to reflect each month ago on how many books I read and what I read. Mainly I just want to keep everyone up to date on my recent reads because I'm kind of a lazy reviewer and sometimes don't review books until four years later. LOL

BOOKS I READ IN DECEMBER

 The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald 5 stars This is my fourth reread of Gatsby and I love more and more every time that I pick it up. When I first read Gatsby I liked it, but I didn't love it. It wasn't until reading it twice that it become a book I loved and ever since then I've appreciated this book more and more. It's one of my all-time favorite novels.

Collected Stories - Raymond Carver 3 stars I didn't read the entirety of this collection. I tried and I planned to, but I find Carver incredibly mediocre and hard to get through. His minimalist style is simple, but incredibly boring and uneventful. The only story I gave 5 stars to was "Cathedral". Check out my review of the stories I read here. 

Branded - Keary Taylor 2 stars DNF @ page 48 This one was boring and I've outgrown this type of storytelling as a reader. Check out my review here. 

Angel Fever - L.A. Weatherly 2.25 stars I wasn't the biggest fan of this one. I would compare the series progression to that of Divergent. It starts out strong, but it becomes more boring, predictable, and inconsistent as the story arc progresses. However, Angel Fever wasn't half the mess that Allegiant was. Check out my review here.

Of Poetry & Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin - Phil Cushway and Michael Warr (editors) 4.5 stars This collection is absolutely stunning. It's gripping, emotionally heart wrenching, and beautiful. I wasn't a big fan of a couple of poems (which is why it didn't get a full 5 stars), but the majority of these poems were absolutely captivating and beautiful. I highly recommend this collection. Not only because the poems are beautiful, but because the content is relevant to today's social climate and it's important to see what minority poets are saying and representing in their voices because they represent the black community through their poems. My favorite poem in this collection is "No Wound of Exit" by Patricia Smith. Check out my review here. 

The Shadow Out of Time - H.P. Lovecraft 3 stars The beginning started out strong, but this one was a snooze fest. Totally unimpressed. 

Great Tales of Horror - H.P. Lovecraft 3.83 stars for the entire collection. Finishing "The Shadow Out of Time" meant that I finally finished the tome of Lovecraft's twenty stories that I picked up at Barnes & Noble and started reading February 7, 2016. This was a massive feat. I have mixed feelings on Lovecraft. I love some of his work, hate some of them, but feel neutral on others. He's a wishy-washy author for me and I feel like the stories I was most excited about were the ones that let me down the most. The stories that I hadn't heard anyone talk about where my absolute favorites. The Colour Out of Space is my favorite Lovecraft. I plan on doing a review on the whole collection at some point.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 4 stars It took me sixth months to listen to the audiobook, but I finally have read a Dickens novel. I'm so proud of myself because I was always intimidated by him and never planned to pick him up. I read a Manga Classics adaptations of Great Expectations and was intrigued by the story and since I owned the audiobook, I picked it up. I absolutely enjoyed it and I want to tell everyone not to be afraid of Dickens. Start small because this one is so much fun and it is a simple, yet somewhat complex, story.

Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts - David Baggett and Shawn E. Klein (editors) 2 stars This collection is a bust. I think the writers jumped the gun with making certain points before HBP & DH were published. Check out my review here. 

Uprooted - Naomi Novik 5 stars This is why I don't make favorites list until after 2017. Uprooted made my top ten of 2017 and is one of my favorite fantasy novels ever. Check out my review here.

The Girl with All the Gifts - M.R. Carey 3.25 stars I expected to love this one a lot more than I did. Some of it was intense and gripping, but other parts were boring and felt dragged out. This book clocks in at 460 pages and I think it could've been shaved down to 400. 

Thoughts on December: I completed nine books out of the fourteen that I planned to finish reading. I'm so happy and pleasantly surprised that I read 11 books in December. I also completed my GR reading goal the first week of December, so everything that followed was without purpose of hitting a goal. December was a productive month for reading, blogging, YouTube, and enjoying life. 

Currently Reading / Hoping to Finish in January:

 

The first five novels are books that were on my CR shelf in December. Out of all of the books I'm currently reading I will most certainly finish The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles, Cruel Beauty (audiobook), Deadly Sweet (almost done), and Amity (super short). 

What books did you read in December 2017? Have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts on them? Let me know down below in the comments!

Modern Classics, Fantasy, and Literary Fiction Book Haul

 

Hi, everyone! I hope you are all doing well. Here are some more of the books that I bought in the fall semester. These are the modern classics that I had to read for my Literary Studies class, the fantasy books I decided to pick up, and the literary fiction novels that I found at a book sale on campus.

THE BOOKS:

 

 

Out of these ten books I've read five. Half of them I read for a class, but at least I'm not just buying books without picking them up. I'm most excited for Strange the Dreamer and His Majesty's Dragon because I loved the author's previous novel(s) and loved them so much.

Have you read any of these books? Are you planning on reading any of these books? Let me know down below in the comments.

Favorite Books of 2017

  

Hi, everyone! It's that time of the year where I talk about my favorite books of the year. I read 94 books in 2017 and I found a lot of favorites. These are specifically books I gave 5 stars and while I have favorites with lower ratings, focusing specifically on the books I gave 5 stars made it easier to make this list. I may do a discussion/follow-up post on other books I rated 4 stars and higher.

THE BOOKS:

Honorable Mentions:

 

 

Reviews: 

When I Am Though with You 

Eileen

Girls Made of Snow and Glass (forgot to mention in video) 

10.

 

Review

9.

 

8.

 

7.

 

6.

 

5.

 

4.

 

 Review

3.

 

2.

 

THE BEST BOOK 2017/LIFE

 

What were your favorite books of 2017? Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? Let me know down below in the comments!