Mid Year Book Freakout, 2018

This is a survey thing that was created over on YouTube. I think it works pretty well for blogging as well so I'm going to borrow it. Basically it's a way to take stock of what you've read so far in the year. Here is the original video for anyone interested in doing it themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Wh0rPGfRg

I still can't believe the year is halfway over. Didn't we just start 2018?

The Questions:

1) Best book you've read so far in 2018:

I have a lot of favorites so far already. But I'm going to go with Diviners Book 3: Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray. I finished it a few days ago (review is coming soon) and I have feelings you guys. So. Many. Feelings.

2) Best sequel you've read so far in 2018:

Other then Before the Devil Breaks You, some other good sequels have been:

Three Dark Crowns Book 2: One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake
Broken Earth Book 3: The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin
Winternight Trilogy Book 2: The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Wayward Children Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire

3) New release you haven't read yet but want too:

Oh geez, where to begin? Here are some of the heavy hitters

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Flavia de Luce 9: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles
Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
Illuminae Files Book 3: Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan
Trials of Apollo Book 3: The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan
Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro

4) Most anticipated release for the second half of the year:

It's so cute how they say release instead of releases

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Conqueror's Saga Book 3: Bright We Burn by Kiersten White
Custard Protocol Book 3: Competence by Gail Carriger
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab/Vengeful by V. E. Schwab
Kate Daniels Book 10: Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews
Three Dark Crowns 3: Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake
Warcross Book 2: Wildcard by Marie Lu
Strange the Dreamer 2: Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
What if It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
Renegades Book 2: Archenemies by Marissa Meyer
Peter Grant 7: Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovich

5) Biggest disappointment:

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather

This book should have been everything for me. It had so much potential. But it was all wasted on a typical plot I've seen a million times before.

6) Biggest surprise:

The Belles Book 1 by Dhonielle Clayton

I admit it, I was not expecting much from this book. I had hopes. Especially after the gorgeous cover was released. But the comparisons to The Selection kept putting me off. Luckily, the comparisons to that series turned out to not really have much merit, and this book turned out to be awesome.

7) Favorite new author:

Nnedi Okorafor
Emma Mills
Toni Morrison

8) Newest fictional crush

Yeah...I don't really do the fictonal crush thing. Plus honestly half the characters in the books I read are like 17 or whatever so me having crushes on them would be....not right. But here are some people I highly recommend as good possible romantic partners to people who are not old like me (or aromantic like me):

Finch from The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Remy from The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
Gideon from Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills
Elena from The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza
Adrian or Nova from the Renegades series by Marissa Meyer
Takumi from Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
Abby and Garrett from Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

9) Newest favorite character

The ship crew from To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

I utterly adored the Prince's ship mates from this book. They bickered and bantered and were all sassy and loyal. They were just awesome.

10) Book that made you cry:

Er...none really. I don't really cry during entertainment of any kind. I get really shocked. But I don't cry. One that did really get to me, mostly because I was just so angry on the main character's behalf was The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis. Does that count?

11) Book that made you happy:

Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills

This book is so adorable you guys. Just read it.

12) Most beautiful book you've bought/received this year:

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert.

That cover is freaking gorgeous. The one I got was an Owlcrate exclusive cover too and the background is green instead of black and I LOVE IT.

13) What books do you need to get to by the end of this year?

Well, see all the books from above. As for my Bronte sister read through, I'm in the middle of Shirley, and still have The Professor, Villette, and Emily's poems to get through. As for my classics list I'm hoping to do:
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Candide by Volitaire
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Little Prince
Howard's End by E. M. Forester
and possibly Watership Down

14) Favorite Book Community Member

Eh....don't really have one? There are lots of people I follow on blogs as well as YouTube who just all give out great content. I don't particularly have a favorite, though I do love the Owlcrate team for their subscription boxes.

Book Review: Leah on the Offbeat

TITLE: Leah on the Offbeat
Companion book in the Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda series
AUTHOR: Becky Albertalli
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: April 24rth, 2018
GENRE: Contemporary, Romance
PREMISE: Simon's friend Leah goes through her own set of troubles as she deals with the looming of college, dealing with her sexuality, and a crush on a girl that she thinks is hopeless...
MY REVIEW: I love Becky Albertalli's books, so I should probably give a bias warning for this review. She's basically an auto-buy author for me now. So whenever there are more Albertalli books in the future, I will be reading them.
As with all of Albertalli's books, this one was just cute. It is fast paced, there's some great lines in it that just nail things, and there's a romance I actually don't mind. I will admit that story wise...this was all over the place and I kind of think it lost focus too much. Quality wise...I think it's not as good as her first two books.
But it is still very enjoyable. At the end of the day, it was mostly what I wanted from it, so I'm not complaining too loudly and don't think it's bad or anything like that. I can't wait for whatever she has in store for us next. The only one I know of coming out is the one she's writing with Adam Silvera that's coming out later this year. I am thrilled about it and have my money and my tissues ready.
WHO SHOULD READ: Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five happy reads

My Big Fat Recommendation List: F Authors

Here are all the books I recommend written by authors whose name begins with the letter F.

Childrens/Middle-Grade

Harriet the Spy series by Louise Fitzhugh
The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan
The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox
Corduroy picture book series by Don Freeman

Cornelia Funke
Inkworld Trilogy
The Thief Lord

Young Adult Fiction

Jessica's Guide Duology by Beth Fantaskey
Of Metal and Wishes Duology by Sarah Fine
Incarceron Duology by Catherine Fisher
Beastly by Alex Flinn
Willful Machines by Tim Floreen
Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody

Gayle Forman
If I Stay Duology
Just One Day Duology
I Was Here

Bhinian Empire Duology by Miram Forster
Dark Star Trilogy by Bethany Frenette

Esther Friesner
Nobody's Princess Duology
Spirit's Princess Duology
Sphinx's Princess Duology

Adult Fiction

Contemporary/General Fiction
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Room With a View by E. M. Forester

Mystery
Hannah Swenson series by Joanne Fluke

Fantasy
Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde

Science-Fiction
Welcome to Night Vale series by Joseph Fink

Non-Fiction

Carrie Fisher
Wishful Drinking
The Princess Diarest

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin
Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin

Book Review: Gunslinger Girl

TITLE: Gunslinger Girl
AUTHOR: Lyndsay Ely
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: January 2nd, 2018
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: A girl escapes her home life and goes on a journey to a town where she becomes a sharp shooter for entertainment...
MY REVIEW: These James Patterson imprint books have been a real mixed bag for me. Much like how James Patterson's books are, now that I think about it. This latest book is no exception. I do give the author many points for creativity factor and readability factor. But story-wise...it was just okay all across the board.
The world-building is really interesting and where I see most of the creativity. She also writes nicely and cleanly and manages to spin a fast-paced tale. But other then those things...nothing much about this stood out for me. The characters were all the usual types that you see in YA these days. The story was okay...but not what I'd call a must read. Even the writing, which I mentioned was nice...is just okay. Everything is just...okay. Nothing, aside from some creative world-building, really stands out in this book.
So I don't know how I feel about this one to be honest. I enjoyed it as I read it. There's nothing particularly bad about it or anything. It's just...very average. I basically finished it, shrugged, and then promptly moved on to the next book in my pile. But I've seen some people love this. So...I don't know. I say check it out from the library, and see if it's for you, before buying it.
WHO SHOULD READ: James Patterson fans, dystopian fans, Hunger Games fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five shrugs

Book Review: The Dangerous Art of Blending In

TITLE: The Dangerous Art of Blending In
AUTHOR: Angelo Surmelis
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: January 30th, 2018
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A boy tries to survive high school and an abusive household all while dealing with his growing knowledge that he is gay.
MY REVIEW: First I'm going to give several trigger warnings for this book. The character's mother is incredibly abusive, both physically and emotionally. He also faces major bullying and there's lots of homophobic language used throughout the story by people. If all of that is triggering for you...maybe wait to read the book. I mean it started to piss me off while reading it and I'm not even gay, nor have I ever been abused. But the people in this book (not the main character or his love interest, but like the bullies and the mother and basically every crappy person enabling them in that town) just made me so freaking angry. If you have any sort of empathy...it'll probably make you angry as well.
Which is probably what hindered my enjoyment of this. But I also recognize, this book was not written with me, a het-leaning demisexual woman, in mind. It was written for gay teens. To give gay teens hope. To show them they can survive and it gets better and all of that. This is a daily reminder: just because something does not speak to you. Does not mean it won't speak to anyone else. Not every book/movie/TV show is written for just you. Which I think is a good thing. It means we get more variety in our entertainment.
So personally, I had a hard time enjoying this one. But I also see that story-wise it's good. The writing is powerful. For people who need this kind of book in their lives, I definitely recommend it.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of things like Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, The Miseducation of Cameron Post fans, etc.
MY RATING: Four out of Five powerful stories that weren't for me, but still good

Book Review: Chaotic Good

TITLE: Chaotic Good
AUTHOR: Whitney Gardner
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: March 13th, 2018
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A girl who is sick of being ostracized by male geeks, dresses up as a male to be able to go her local comic book store in peace. Things do not go how she plans...
MY REVIEW: This is more of what I am taking to calling geek lit. I am mostly enjoying these geek lit books. But one thing about them is bugging me, and that thing persists in this book: it does not call out the geek world on its issues enough. I know what you're thinking, wait...this book sounds designed to call out the stuff like sexism in it? And to be sure, Gardner definitely goes farther on calling out shit then most of these books do. But...I can't help but notice it never once mentioned the word sexism, nor did it imply that the problem was sexism and that's...really baffling to me. This was talking about fake geek girl crap, and fake geek girl crap exists, mostly because of sexism. There is some of the usual bs elitism that floats around geeks involved as well, but mostly....it's sexism. I've yet to see any male geek who didn't know some obscure piece of information get called a fake geek. Laughed at a bit, sure. But he's still welcome to play Dungeons and Dragons. If a female geek doesn't know the random thing, she gets told to go away and stop pretending she's a geek.
Honestly, the way the author handled the character of Brody in general, just really bugged the shit out of me and dragged down the whole novel for me really. Yes, sometimes a character would tell him he was being a jerk. Cameron got a great tell off scene at the end. But...even she never once told him to his face that hey, you're being sexist, you know that, right? Quite frankly...someone really needed to tell him this.
I'm sorry, but I've dealt with way too many guys in fandom who are like Brody. Who will say all the bs he says, then insist that they totally aren't sexist, how dare you suggest such a thing! It's been my experience, guys like Brody...tend to ruin fandom. My advice to anyone who runs into a guy like him is a) Call him on his shit, please. Tell him outright he is being sexist and it is not okay. B) If he doesn't change his behavior...ditch him. Because if he sticks around spreading his toxic views to the group, your friend group is going to disappear, because they don't want to deal with him.
If it wasn't for Brody and the mishandling of that entire issue...I would have liked this a lot more. The main character is fun, it does address some stuff like male privilege and does that well. It did try to address the fake geek girl stuff and definitely said it was wrong...but by not talking about the sexism part of it...I'm not sure if it handled the subject that well. All of this is just more then a little disappointing as I loved this author's last book so much.
WHO SHOULD READ: Queens of Geek fans, Geekerella fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five sad sighs

So You've Finally: Read and Watched The Handmaid's Tale

Trying to get back into the swing of doing recommendation lists again. We'll see how long this lasts.
This time, I've got a list for fans of The Handmaid's Tale. This book has been everywhere lately, thanks to the TV show, our current crappy political situation here in the US, and even it being on the Great American Read List.
I confess, I haven't seen the TV show. because I don't have a Hulu subscription. I have however read (and highly recommend) the book. Here are just some recommendations for people who...not sure if enjoyed is the right word here, as the book is scary as hell (or at least I found it scary as hell). Liked, I guess? Note: you're not going to see the usual suspects like 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 etc. Because more then likely, you've either already read those, or you've been recommended them a million times already.

Some other older sci-fi recommendations:

Earthseed series by Octavia Butler

Hainish Cycle series by Ursula K. Le Guin

Some more recently published recommendations:

Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Vivian Apple duology by Katie Coyle

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas

American War by Omar El Akkad

The Chemical Garden Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano

Bitch Planet graphic novel series by Kelley Sue DeConnick

Some non-fiction dealing with the subjects brought up in the book/show:

Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi

Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message That Feminism's Work is Done by Susan J. Douglas

Reading Through the Classics (Play version): Waiting for Godot

TITLE: Waiting for Godot
AUTHOR: Samuel Beckett
CATEGORY: Play
GENRE: Um...Magical realism...I guess?
PUBLISHED: 1952
PREMISE: Two old men wait for a man they call Godot every day. Here are just some of the things that happen to them while they wait...
MY THOUGHTS: This is a weird play. Like, of all the plays I've read so far I think the weirdest is either this one or Angels in America. But like Angels in America....this works for me.
A large part of it is the banter. I love me some good banter, and this play has that in spades. It just makes you laugh, even as you have no idea what's going on sometimes.
I enjoyed this. It is a weird ass play. But apparently, weird ass plays are my thing. What can you do?
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the play, Angels in America fans, philosophy fans

Book Review: Scrappy Little Nobody

TITLE: Scrappy Little Nobody
AUTHOR: Anna Kendrick
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Celebrity Memoir
PREMISE: Actress Anna Kendrick talks about her life.
MY REVIEW: I...honestly don't have much to say about this book. It is basically what it is: a memoir written by Anna Kendrick.
It's very typical celebrity memoir stuff. She talks about her childhood a bit. She goes into how her career started. There are some bits here and there about the movies she has been in (not much about Pitch Perfect, oddly enough). and so on. There weren't any major reveals that shocked me or anything like that. If you're a big Anna Kendrick fan, you're probably aware of most of the information in here.
So it's an okay memoir. It just doesn't really blow me away. I don't look at Kendrick differently or anything like that. It's just an average celebrity memoir.
WHO SHOULD READ: Anna Kendrick fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five shrugs

My Big Fat Recommendation List: E Authors

Here are all the books I recommend by authors whose last name start with E. It won't be long probably. Last names starting with E don't seem to be common, in the writing world at least.

Childrens/Middle-Grade Books

Tales of Magic series by Edward Eager
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman (picture book)

Young Adult

Wildthorn by Jane Eagland
Court of Fives Trilogy by Kate Elliott
The Pimpernelles Duology by Patricia Elliott
This is Our Story by Ashley Elston
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
Ivory and Bone series by Julie Eshbaugh

Jennifer Estep
Mythos Academy series
Black Blade Trilogy

Adult Fiction

Contemporary
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans

Historical Fiction
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquival

Fantasy
Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep

Mystery
Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich

Plays

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler

Book Review: The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall

TITLE: The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall
AUTHOR: Katie Alender
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: 2015
GENRE: Paranormal
PREMISE: A girl inherits a mansion full of secrets, and ghosts.
MY REVIEW: This was a random pick up from the library for me. At the time I was craving ghost stories. I tend to do this when it gets hot and muggy outside. I crave a weird combination of ghost stories, gothic historical fiction, and then cute and fluffy contemporaries. I don't get it either, but it is what it is.
Alender is always good for a fun ghost story so I picked this slightly older book up that I meant to read awhile ago. It was a fun time. It's not a must read or anything like that. But if you're in the mood for ghosts, this should give you your fix. It's a nice and fast-paced plot, the characters are interesting, the atmosphere is great. It's exactly what I wanted at the time I picked it up.
This is a very quick read and was very nicely done. Again, not exactly a must read. But if you want a fun story with ghosts, this should do the trick.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that want ghost stories, Katie Alender fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five decent reads

Book Review: This Will Be My Undoing

TITLE: This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
AUTHOR: Morgan Jerkins
PUBLISHED: January 30th, 2018
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essays
PREMISE: A series of essays by Morgan Jerkins diving into things like feminism, racism, pop culture and so much more.
MY REVIEW: Lately I've found that I really enjoy essays. Particularly I like listening to them via audiobook. Which is what I did with this one and I highly recommend it. The author does the narration herself and she's pretty good at it.
I personally really liked this one. As with most essay collections, some are better then others. One or two go a little too long for my taste, but she still makes her point. The subjects raised are interesting ones that not many people talk about. For instance, she talks about a trip to Japan and the differences between how she was treated there, versus the United States.
I think it was a pretty solid collection. I hope we see more from this author in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that like essay collections, Roxane Gay fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five interesting essays

Book Review: From a Certain Point of View

TITLE: Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View
AUTHOR: various
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: October 2017
GENRE: Science Fiction
PREMISE: A collection of short stories that retells A New Hope from various side characters points of view.
MY REVIEW: Star Wars books are always a bit of a mixed bag. I have had much better luck with the newer books then with the older ones, but that still doesn't mean everything is guaranteed to be good. This short story collection, is a big like the Star Wars books: a mixed bag.
I do really like the idea of it. It basically goes through the movie A New Hope and just kind of gives different viewpoints of it. For instance, we get a story from the captain of the ship Leia escaped on, there's one from Aunt Beru, one from a paperwork person on the Death Star (a particular favorite of mine), a stormtrooper, heck there's even one from the monster in the trash compactor.
It's a wide and varied collection. Some I really loved, most were just shrug sort of stories. But it was a great writing exercise idea. I vote we do another one of these for each of the other movies.
WHO SHOULD READ: Star Wars fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five solid short story collections

Book Review: The Belles

TITLE: The Belles
Book 1 in The Belles series
AUTHOR: Dhonielle Clayton
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: February 6th, 2018
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: In a world where beauty is everything, one girl competes to be the favorite Belle and learns that there is more to her world then there seems...
MY REVIEW: I admit it...I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this. People kept comparing it to The Selection and I kind of loathe that series. But thankfully, this turned out to be ten times better then The Selection (and frankly, nothing like that series) and I wound up really enjoying it.
It is not really groundbreaking stuff. YA fantasy that does social commentary happen all the time. But this is very enjoyable and very readable. I love the world Clayton has built here. Like with The Cruel Prince, it's one of those worlds that has me itching to get out my drawing supplies, it's so vivid. The main character is enjoyable, there's plot intrigue, some good twists at the end, and I honestly kind of love the villain in this.
This was just a very nice, solid, YA fantasy. I think YA fantasy and I are starting to get our groove back. I've really enjoyed the last few I've read and that has been a nice change from the past year of just okay to boring fantasy books.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dhonielle Clayton fans, if you enjoyed all the descriptions of the Capital in Hunger Games (this place is like the Capital on steroids)
MY RATING: Four out of Five solid starts to a series

Book Review: Stay With Me

TITLE: Stay With Me
AUTHOR: Ayobami Adebayo
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: August 2017
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A couple talks about the difficulties in their marriage.
MY REVIEW: This book was honestly just a case of not for me. I didn't click with it at all. I didn't personally find it engaging, but did see why others liked it. The writing is beautiful, the story is interesting. It just personally fell flat for me.
Part of it is just personal taste I think. Books dealing with marriages just don't really interest me that much. I will say, it's a very quick read. You can probably finish it in like two days. There is a lot going on and it's very dramatic.
It just wasn't for me.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Americanah, An American Marriage fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five good books that weren't for me

Book Review: Postmortem

TITLE: Postmortem
Book 1 in the Kay Scarpetta series
AUTHOR: Patricia Cornwell
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: 1990
GENRE: Mystery
PREMISE: A medical examiner gets caught up in a case involving a serial killer.
MY REVIEW: There are several thoughts I had about this, not all of them very good. I do have to give the author credit where credit is due though: this is apparently the first forensic mystery. All the stuff like Bones or CSI...we have her to thank for that. That is no small feat, to create a mini-genre.
Unfortunately...it is VERY dated. It also prescribes to White Feminism (feminism that wants to empower white women, but doesn't give a damn about anyone else) from what I can see, which...yeah no. Also don't get me started on the cop the author stuck Kay with. If I want to smack the people solving the mystery, that is not a good thing.
It gets the plot done and is very readable...I just didn't enjoy it, at all. It's just way too dated in attitudes and honestly too slow of a mystery for my taste. This was just very much a case of not for me.
WHO SHOULD READ: Forensic mystery fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five very dated series

Modern Classic Review: The Woman in Black

TITLE: The Woman in Black
AUTHOR: Susan Hill
PUBLISHED: 1983
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Paranormal, Historical Fiction
PREMISE: A man goes an old mansion to discover it is haunted...
MY THOUGHTS: The Woman in Black is very old school ghost story du jour. I personally really enjoyed it. I believe I've mentioned I love ghosts here, well this is basically ghost story 101.
This is another book that I think is perfect for the summer. It's atmospheric, has a great creepy vibe, and builds suspense very nicely. As it's a novella, it moves very quickly, but it tells the story in a satisfactory way.
If you want a quick read that gives a nice spooky vibe for those summer thunderstorms, I highly recommend this classic ghost story.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of ghost stories, those that have seen the movie

Book Review: Annihilation

TITLE: Annihilation
Book 1 in the Southern Beach Trilogy
AUTHOR: Jeff Vandermeer
PUBLISHED: 2014
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Science Fiction
PREMISE: A group of scientists get sent on a mission to a mysterious wilderness that society is still trying to explain...
MY REVIEW: This was...an interesting book. I'm not sure how good it is (opinion on that seems to be wide and varied). But it is definitely interesting. If you're into battles and whatnot, then this is not going to be your book. It's a  very slow moving and more psychological and atmospheric sort of sci-fi book.
I personally kind of liked it. I think it ended very abruptly. So you basically have to have the second one right away. It does read very quickly. My favorite part of it was how atmospheric it was. There's this building sense of dread throughout it that is used very well. So it's kind of like a sci-fi A Quiet Place.
This is one of those things that I suspect is not for everyone. You either like this sort of book, or you just get bored with it. I have not seen the movie at all, but from what I understand they kind of butchered it. So I probably never will see it. But I will be picking up the next two books in the future sometime.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Bird Box, fans of A Quiet Place, those who like more psychological sci-fi
MY RATING: Four out of Five wtf plants

Book Review: The Hazel Wood

TITLE: The Hazel Wood
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Melissa Albert
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: January 30th, 2018
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: A girls mother disappears and finding her requires looking into an old book of fairy tales....
MY REVIEW: This is a book that will probably not be for everyone. Hence all the mixed reviews on Goodreads. It's a very quirky type of story with whimsical writing and a slow pace. If you loved the prose in stuff like Strange the Dreamer and The Raven Boys, you'll probably love this. If you wished those had moved a little quicker...it might not be your thing.
Luckily, it was my thing. I love dark fairy tales. This had that in spades. The best parts in the book happen near the end, where there's a pretty good twist. It's not a mind-blowing twist (I kind of saw it coming early on) but when it happens, it changes things and gets very meta and look, I like meta things okay?
This is not a perfect debut. There are pacing issues, and a lot of conveniences and what not. But it is the first fantasy debut in a while that really spoke to me and didn't feel like a redo of something I'd seen before. I loved it. I can't wait for more.
WHO SHOULD READ: Alice in Wonderland fans, fairy tale fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five really promising debuts