Review: The Distance Between Us

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another really cute, easy to read story by Kasie West... I might just have to read all her books now. I loved the main character's sense of humor and I must say that the nice male lead in this story is a refreshing change from reading about jackasses that girls fall in love with. Good plot, but the winner in this story is Caymen, in my opinion. I would recommend and reread.

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge

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Review: P.S. I Like You

P.S. I Like You by Kasie West
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was such a cute story of two teenagers writing anonymous notes back and forth on a desk in a class they share. I was able to predict from the beginning who would end up together at the end, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of this light read. It was freaking adorable. Would definitely recommend and read again.

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 MMD Reading for Fun Challenge - A book you don't want to admit you're dying to read (this is such a weird prompt -- any book I'm dying to read I have no problem admitting to, but I guess since this is a teen book and I'm an older woman I should not want to admit it....? I don't know, just putting it on there even though I don't care about telling people I read this book. haha)

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Review: The Magician's Nephew

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read this book a looong time ago. I didn't remember most of it. Having seen the movies that are out regarding Narnia, I enjoyed reading about the origins of the land and how the Queen and animals of that land came to be. It was an interesting, well-written book and I loved the illustrations in this particular edition. I can't wait to read the next one.

Cover: 4 out of 5

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 One Classic A Month (1/7)

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Review: A Court of Mist and Fury

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. Just wow.

[2nd time reading]
The first time I read this book I barreled through it. The second time, I took my time reading it and enjoyed it more. I found details that I didn't remember reading the first time. It was still exciting and well-written and I still love the characters like I did the first go-round. I wish I was able to hold off until right before the third is released, but I couldn't! And now I have to wait... :(

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 Pop Sugar Challenge - A book you've read before that never fails to make you smile

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Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Apparently I didn't do a written review the first time I read this.

Second time reading... still love it as much as I did the first time! It was fun finding clues and foreshadowing from the events in the second book.

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge

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Review: Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book

Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cover: 4 out of 5 stars. I like how magical it looks and, of course, the library!

First, I am biased. Beauty & the Beast is my favorite story/Disney movie and so I seek out retellings. I love Belle and how she loves reading and stands up for herself. I love the Beast and how he is a flawed character given a second chance. No Prince Charming here.

This story kind of jumps into the middle of the Disney movie. Belle had just run away from the castle and was attacked by the pack of wolves. Beast comes out and saves her and this story begins the day after this event. He gives her the library and she finds a special book called Nevermore and steps into its pages. The story itself was entertaining. It was fun reading about these characters and getting more from them than just what the movie could show us. The ending was a little cheesy, in my opinion, but I would definitely recommend. If you're an adult reading this, remember it's a middle grade book. It is detailed, but not as detailed as I would imagine an adult version of this to be.

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 Pop Sugar Challenge - A book that's published in 2017

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Review: Vampire Academy

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was... another vampire book. I liked it fine and I do realize it's been out for some time, but it was just another vampire book for me. To be fair, it may have been me personally. I've read quite a few vampire books and it's possible I'm just over it.

Some things that set this book apart were the different types of vampires along with the idea of guardians, which I liked. I liked the strong friendship between the two main female characters. I enjoyed the main character's bad-ass female role, but sometimes it felt more catty and mean.

I think that I may continue this series if I remember to, but it feels like something I'd enjoy more as a summer read. For now, I'm putting reading the rest on hold.

Cover: 3 out of 5

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 Pop Sugar Challenge - A book involving a mythical creature

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Review: Night Shift

Night Shift by B.R. Myers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is about a teenage boy who takes a job as a night security guard in an old school department store in Manhattan. He heard it's haunted and starts seeing strange things. There's history to the building and mystery surrounding the people he meets there. When I was younger I used to imagine being locked into a mall or department store for the night and how fun that would be! This book kind of has that feel to it and I love the description of this department store Willards. I would love to visit or even work at a store like this!

This was an easy read with some twists and turns. I liked the characters and really liked that it was from the boy's perspective. There were a couple plot twists that I saw coming before they happened, but that didn't take away from enjoying the story. I saw that it may be the start to a series and I would definitely want to read more about these characters!

Cover: 5 out of 5 stars. Love this retro looking cover with the old style font. It's one of the reasons I chose this book.

*Note: I received a free review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 Pop Sugar Challenge - A book by an author from a country you've never visited (Canada)

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Review: I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough"

I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough" by Brené Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really interesting book about women and the shame they feel. It discussed different areas of shame, how others contribute to it (media, family, friends), and how we put it on ourselves. It gave tips and ideas for shame resilience and had a short discussion about men and shame at the end. I would definitely recommend for anyone who has shame issues themselves or for those who are interested in the why behind behavior.

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 Pop Sugar Challenge - A book with a subtitle
2017 Mount TBR Challenge

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Review: The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This illustrated version of selected tales of Brothers Grimm is beautiful! Each story has an interesting introduction as to the history of that particular tale. It also has biographies of each artist included in the book. The stories themselves are interesting: some are kind of weird, some are violent, and a lot of them have abrupt endings. However, my own children loved hearing me read them aloud and seemed to appreciate the lack of sugar coating on the stories. And the illustrations... I cannot say enough how much I loved them! This is definitely a keepsake type of book!

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 One Classic a Month Challenge
2017 Mount TBR Challenge
2017 Pop Sugar Challenge - A book with a family member term in the title
Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge - Rapunzel; Snow White and Rose Red

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Review: Ensnared

Ensnared by Rita Stradling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cover: 4 out of 5 stars. Liked the silhouette with gears and such in the background.

Book: 3 out of 5 stars (I liked it)
Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney story and I love books telling this story in different ways. This story is more of a science fiction version in a time where robots and AI are a part of everyday life. The main character, Alainn, takes the place of an AI robot that is supposed to be the companion of a billionaire who never leaves his home or shows his face. Since it's a retelling, we pretty much know what's going to happen. They will fall in love against all odds.

I felt like there wasn't enough world building for me in this story. It's obviously in the future because of the robots and the technology in the tower where our "beast" lives, however, it doesn't say the time period or how the world came to this point of technology. The plot is predictable, as I mentioned, but there's some holes in some places (it's never made clear why they all need saving in Lorccan's house) and too much info in other places (Greg). I think that after a certain crucial moment in the story (trying not to put any spoilers), the story keeps going along when it should have just been wrapped up.

In regards to characters, I think there are a lot of characters and some of them just don't feel necessary to the story. The ones that are necessary, such as Alainn's dad, didn't get that much time. This kind of goes along with the last chapters of the book not really being necessary. It made a good effort to try and wrap up everyone's story, but not all of them needed to be wrapped up.

Having said all that, this was an easy read (I finished it in an afternoon) that kept my interest and I cared enough to keep reading to the end. The two main characters were likable and the AI robot aspect of it interesting. Though it had it's faults, I was still able to enjoy the story overall.

*Note: I received an advance copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge



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Review: Raven Song

Raven Song by I.A. Ashcroft
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cover: 4 out of 5 stars. I really like the cover on this book. I think it relates to the book and I like the stars inside the raven and the font for the title. I would pick up this book to try just based on the cover. [My reading copy was an ebook.]

This book was really good and I enjoyed reading it! It had action, mystery, suspense, violence, magic, and maybe a hint of romance to come. It seems to be several genres at once (science fiction, urban fantasy, and dystopia), which was interesting. I was pulled into the story easily and probably would have finished this book more quickly if it weren't an ebook (not my personal preference). There were a lot of interesting characters and I liked the character development for the most part. There were some side characters that definitely gave me the creeps! I do wish that I felt a bit more connection with the two main characters though. I'm not sure why because I felt they were well written, but I didn't feel that attached to them for some reason.

There were parts of the story and characters mentioned that left me with wanting more information about them, but since this is the first book in a 4 book series, I am hoping that any questions I have will be answered in the following books.

This first book had a sense of closure for the story at hand, which I definitely appreciate, but the ending was a promise of a new adventure in the next book. I will definitely want to read more of this series and would recommend to those who like these types of genres.

*Note: I received a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge

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Review: Illuminae

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book... I had to give myself a couple days before reviewing it. It was so good! I read along in the book while listening to the audio book and my 5 stars is for both the audio version and the hardcover edition. I am really surprised by how invested I was in the characters because of the format of how this book is written, but somehow I was and I just loved it.

Audio book: This audio book played more like what I imagine an old time radio show would have played. There were different voice actors, music, and sound effects. It really added to the reading experience. I'm not much for audio books, but this one was amazing!

Hardcover book: This book is set up in such a unique way that I can't imagine not reading the hard copy. It's as if you had a file plopped on your desk and you are going through all the different pieces in it. You would really be missing out since it's so visually interesting. (Side Note: There are some things left out of the audio book because it would just be too hard to explain or say. Usually they were photos.) I have never read a book like this before and I would definitely recommend it not only to those who like science fiction, but anyone wanting something completely unique to read.

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 MMD Reading for Fun - Book you were excited to buy/borrow but haven't read yet
2017 Llama Library Challenge - Bonus: A science fiction audio book
2017 Pop Sugar Challenge - An audiobook

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Review: A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Second reading] I read this book again even though I read it for the first time recently. I originally stopped reading somewhere in the second book because I lost my momentum. However, I found the first two of the series for 99 cents each so I decided to try again. My first go round was on ebook and it is not my preferred method, especially with longer books.

I really liked this first book. I knocked off a star because I thought it was unnecessarily long and there were some parts that were just hard to get through. I personally liked the amount of description of alchemy, wine, and food. I loved the historical references. I noticed the author is a professor of history and also writes a wine blog, and I like how she incorporated those interests into her storytelling. I liked all the different plot points and hope that over the next two novels everything kind of comes together.

In regards to the main characters, Diana and Matthew, I have mixed feelings. I feel like their "love" was kind of insta-love, which I'm not a fan of. There was a sort of explanation thrown out by Diana that "witches fall in love quickly," but I'm not sure if that was just added to explain their very speedy love for each other. The character, Diana, goes back and forth between being interesting and being somewhat flat. I wouldn't necessary call her weak because her inability to use her witchy powers is explained towards the end. Her opinion of herself did seem to be lacking some confidence, but it wasn't as bad as the female leads in other books where they talk about how disgusting they are through the whole thing. Matthew has more depth, in my opinion, although the predictable anger that seems to go with supernatural/bad boy stories is there. Why is everyone so angry all the time?? Having said all that, none of these character qualities was enough to turn me off the story or make me dislike them. I like their romance and their story.

I like the side characters in this story as well and I'm glad each of them was given some page time. I appreciated the characters and liked knowing more about them. It's easier to have an opinion on whether or not I like a character when I know plenty about them. I love the Bishop house and all its quirks. I think that was one of my favorite things about this book.

I would definitely recommend this book, but probably not to anyone who is more fond of books that have a lot of events full of action that happen close together. This book is more for lingering over and takes a certain level of patience. I myself have to be in the mood to read a book like this and will not be reading the second one in the series until I feel like I have the patience to finish it without getting frustrated. I will be reading some faster paced books in the meantime. :)

Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 MMD Reading for Fun - A book you've already read
2017 MMD Reading for Growth - Three books by the same author (1 of 3)
2017 Pop Sugar Challenge - A book you got from a used book sale

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Review: More Than Friends

More Than Friends by Aria Grace
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This story was a novella, which I am not a fan of. There's not enough time to get to know characters or their story and that was true in this case. The writing was good and I liked the characters enough to wish there was more to this one.



Challenges:
2017 Llama Library Romance Challenge - February: A book with a new-to-you kink
2017 Mount TBR Challenge

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Review: Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a pretty funny book. I liked the characters and the plot was pretty good. It dated itself (L'egg eggs?! Haven't seen those since my mom bought them when I was in high school! haha), but luckily not too much. Loved the humor. I will eventually want to finish this trilogy, but I'm not in any hurry to do so.



Challenges:
2017 Goodreads Challenge
2017 Llama Library Reading Challenge - February: A romance featuring a taboo relationship

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