Book Review: Heroine Complex

TITLE: Heroine Complex
Book 1 in the Heroine Complex series
AUTHOR: Sarah Kuhn
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Romance, Superheros
PREMISE: An assistant to a superhero struggles with new found super powers...
MY REVIEW: I've been meaning to read this forever. I don't know why it took so long for me to get to it. It just did. I enjoyed this one a lot. I will warn, there's actually a lot of sex scenes in this. Way more then I was expecting, actually. I don't mind sex scenes, but I know that can be an issue with some readers.
This was actually more romance focused then the summary let on. If you're a romance reader, you actually should probably like this. It follows a lot of the romance genre beats. There's some good character stuff in it as well. I love that it wasn't afraid to make all its characters flawed.
If you want a really serious urban fantasy...this probably won't be for you. It's more character/romance focused then it is on world-building. But the character stuff is great and is what is going to keep me reading the series. The next book goes into another character and her romance and I actually am really looking forward to that. I found the character really interesting.
WHO SHOULD READ: superhero fans, romance fans, Marvel fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five kick-ass women with powers

Book Review: The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You

TITLE: The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You
AUTHOR: Lily Anderson
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Contemporary, Romance
PREMISE: When their friends start dating, two people who can't stand each other agree to try and get along for their friend's sake....
MY REVIEW: After reading and enjoying Undead Girl Gang, I decided to just go ahead and read the author's other books. This one is different from Undead Girl Gang. It's a contemporary book with romance in it. Luckily for the author, I've been in a romance mood, thanks to Crazy Rich Asians and the To All the Boys I've Loved Before movie.
This is one of those classic enemies to lovers kind of plots. It's honestly, just fun. It's also very nerdy. All the characters are geeks, so there are references to all sorts of things. The dialogue is great, there's a bit of a funny twist at the end and I liked all the friends.
If you want ground-breaking, this book isn't it. But if you want just a cute and fluffy contemporary romance, with lots of geek references, it absolutely delivers. There's a companion book out there and I've already read that too, so a review will be coming soon.
WHO SHOULD READ: geeks, contemporary romance fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five cute romances

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

Book Review: How to Hang a Witch

TITLE: How to Hang a Witch
Book 1 in a series
AUTHOR: Adriana Mather
PUBLISHED: 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: A girl who is a descendant from one of the judges in the Salem Witch Trials moves to Salem, Massachusetts....
MY REVIEW: Sigh, I wanted to like this one so badly. Really, I did. I honestly should of. It has witches, Salem Witch Trials, girls banding together...this should have been right up my alley. Unfortunately the author did every YA cliche in the book, so what should have been a fun ride, turned into a boring cliched mess.
Literally every bad YA trope is in here: girl moves to new town and is automatically hated for no real reason, adults are all incompetent and honestly should not be in charge of children (especially that principal who basically victim blamed the main character for being bullied), girls can't be friends nonsense, love triangles, insta-love, obvious villain being obvious, and so much more. I honestly lost track of how many times I rolled my eyes while reading this.
This book was just...lazy. I've read this book a million times and I've read books that do the premise better. The writing is okay, and I guess the plot gets the job done. But I was just so bored throughout it that I can't even call this an enjoyable cliche read. It's just..dull. With nothing new to really say or do.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that don't mind lots of cliches
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five cliche boring books

Book Review: Lab Girl

TITLE: Lab Girl
AUTHOR: Hope Jahren
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Memoir, Science
PREMISE: A woman talks about her life as a scientist.
MY REVIEW: This book helped me come to a realization: books dealing with science, kind of bore me. In the book's defense, I didn't realize this when I picked it up. I don't read science books as a rule. But reading this, I kind of realized this was what was going on and why I couldn't get into it.
I'm not blaming the book for my boredom. The author did try her best to make things interesting. I did like the look into how labs are run and why science is so damn expensive. I am impressed with her and other scientists who do this work. I don't think I could handle it, to tell you the truth. But, I was still just really bored while reading it.
So this is yet another it's not you, it's me sort of situation. If you really love science and want to know more about plant life and stuff like that, this book will absolutely be for you. But if you're like me and kind of don't really care...it will probably bore you.
WHO SHOULD READ: people interested plant life, people who like science books
MY RATING: Three out of Five solid books that just aren't for me

Graphic Novel series Review: Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat

TITLE: Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat
AUTHOR: Kate Leth
ARTIST: Brittney L. Williams
Volumes: 1: Hooked on a Feline
2: Don't Stop Me-Ow
3: Careless Whiskers
PUBLISHED: between 2015 and 2017
GENRE: Superhero
PREMISE: Patsy Walker, fresh from returning from hell itself, tries to adjust to life again.
MY REVIEW: I started this series about a year or so ago after falling in love with the Jessica Jones TV show. Trish was my favorite, and this does involve her in...a slight way. Be warned, this Hellcat is very very different from TV Trish Walker (and yes, I have...feelings about what season 2 did with her. Lots of feelings. Not all of them positive). Honestly, if you're going to delve into the comics for any of the Defenders shows, just know they're all pretty different. Accept for Daredevil. He is as much of a disaster in the comics as he is on the show.
This series is a very light and fluffy series and honestly, I kind of love it for that. You don't need to have much comics knowledge going into it. It's pretty separate from the Marvel comics. You might want to know who some of the side characters such as She-Hulk or America Chavez are, but it is not necessary to understand the story.
This was a sadly short-lived series. Though really these days, a year and a half is a pretty good run for solo titles that are not A-listers like Captain America and such. If you're looking for a cute all-ages type of comic to dive into that doesn't require much vast knowledge of the Marvel universe, this is a good one to start with.
WHO SHOULD READ: Jessica Jones TV show fans, Marvel fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five cute series that I miss

Book Review: Swing Time

TITLE: Swing Time
AUTHOR: Zadie Smith
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: Two girls lives intertwine when they're kids and taking a dance class...
MY REVIEW: I have never read Zadie Smith before. I've been meaning to read NW and On Beauty for awhile now, but I just never have gotten around to it. So this is my first Zadie Smith book. I do definitely see why she's a thing.
Her writing is beautiful. There are so many quotable lines in this, that I lost track of all of them. Story wise...this was interesting, but I felt like it needed more focus. Too me, there were actually two stories going on here: one where there were two girls who became friends as kids, but slowly grew apart over the years, and another with one of the girls as an adult and the things she was going through. The stories didn't really gel well for me. So there were pacing issues.
I'm kind of torn on this book to be honest. Part of me, wants to give it high marks, because the writing is gorgeous and it talks about a lot of important subjects and issues that I think are worth talking about. But the pacing and plotting were, to me, kind of a mess. I definitely will be still picking up Smith's other books though. From what people tell me, this isn't the best of her work.
WHO SHOULD READ: Zadie Smith fans, fans of Another Brooklyn, contemporary literature fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five interesting, but kind of messy stories

Book Review: Around the Way Girl

TITLE: Around the Way Girl
AUTHOR: Taraji P. Henson
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Celebrity memoir
PREMISE: Actor Taraji P. Henson talks about her life.
MY REVIEW: This review will be short because honestly, there's not much to say about this one. It's a very typical celebrity memoir. I can tell you, I really like Taraji, which is why I picked this up. Like most people, I became aware of her when Empire became a thing (I still have not seen it. Sorry guys). I then grew to like her as an actor when I watched Person of Interest a couple of years ago (seriously, watch this show. It's the best). I also highly recommend Hidden Figures, if you haven't seen it yet.
There are a few things in here about her that I actually did not know. She doesn't really tell many dark secrets or anything like that. But it does make me admire her a lot. It's decently written. I can tell she's the one telling me these stories. Which at the end of the day, is all I ask from my celebrity memoirs: that it does actually at least feel like the person is the one telling you their stories and not some ghost writer.
There's no huge bombshells. It's funny and very fast-paced. If you like Taraji and want to know more about her, this is a good one to pick up.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Taraji P. Henson
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five solid memoirs

Book Review: Before the Fall

TITLE: Before the Fall
AUTHOR: Noah Hawley
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: After a plane crash, a survivor tries to make sense of what happened and deals with the fallout.
MY REVIEW: I have...very mixed feelings about this one. I picked it up because it promised me a mystery and I love those. Unfortunately, it wasn't really a mystery, it was a character study. Which...okay, I like those too. But if your summary is promising thrilling mystery things, maybe...give that in the book?
Instead of a mystery plot, we get a meandering plot where the author goes into the backstory of every person on the plane. He keeps trying to mislead you into thinking there was some sort of conspiracy, only to later give the most inane reason for the crash at the end. There was a lot of build up, but not really much pay off. I would be fine with no mystery if there was at least some sort of thing the author was trying to say. But it was kind of like the author was going out of his way not to say anything. Especially anything political. Which was weird considering how much politics got brought up. Every time I thought maybe he was trying to make a point about something, he would quickly turn around and then back track with something. Basically, he was trying his best not be conservative or liberal. Which...okay. You don't want to tie yourself to a political party, that's up to you. But if you're unwilling to say anything about your ideas on politics...maybe don't bring up politics. Just a thought.
If you want a character study book, I suppose this does the trick. It's just that's not what I picked this book up for. So I was a bit disappointed in it. Writing was okay, but honestly, this was mostly a bit of a let down for me.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that like character study books
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five wandering plots

Book Review: The Fate of the Tearling

TITLE: The Faste of the Tearling
Book 3 in the Queen of the Tearling Trilogy
AUTHOR: Erika Johansen
PUBLISHED: 2016
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: Learn what happens to Kelsea and the rest of the characters of the Tearling in this conclusion of the Queen of the Tearling trilogy...
MY REVIEW: I meant to read this one ages ago. It just sort of slipped my mind. Tearling has been one of those trilogies that built up so well. I liked the first one enough, but the second one was just phenomenal. This one...was good, I'm just not terribly sure how I feel about the ending.
I don't want to go into spoilers but my feelings are so wrapped up in the ending that avoiding spoilers is kind of hard...let's just say...there are time travel shenanigans involved and the ending was definitely not at all what I expected it to be. I don't think it's a bad ending...but I'm also not fond of it either.
I don't know guys. I seem to have a very up and down sort of relationship with this trilogy. There are things I love about it (Kelsea for instance. Kelsea is awesome). There are things I can do without. The ending was one of those things I could do without. According to the author though, chances are good we're getting more Tearling books in the future. So...I'm not even sure if this is the ending of it.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read the first two books, Game of Thrones fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five meh endings (or IS IT an ending????)
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Four out of Five

Quotable lines from the book:

"These people are so damn proud of their hatred! Hatred is easy, and lazy to boot. It's love that demands the effort, love that extracts a price from each of us. Love costs; this its value."

Gif summary of feelings

Book Review: Scythe

TITLE: Scythe
Book 1 in the Arc of Scythe series
AUTHOR: Neal Shusterman
PUBLISHED: November 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: In a dystopian future, people have found a way to not die. Two kids become an apprentice to a Scythe: a being who is the only person in the world who can kill people to keep the population down.
MY REVIEW: Neal Shusterman is one of those authors who I have been meaning to read for awhile now. There's no reason I haven't picked up his books yet. It just didn't happen until now. Now that I've read Scythe...I get why he's a thing.
I'll be honest, his writing style isn't much to write home about. I also don't think much of the forced romance in here. But everything else from the plot, to the characters, to the interesting premise that was used effectively to talk about humanity and the way we deal with things....that was great. It was also very twisty and kept you guessing until the end.
Is it a tad over-the-top in places? Maybe. But I say it's better to be over the top. Better to be over the top then just plain boring. This book was definitely not boring. The end was a good place to leave off and I can't wait to read the sequel which came out a few months ago.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dystopian fans, Neal Shusterman fans, those who like action books
MY RATING: Four out of Five reapers

Gif summary of feelings:

The Big Giant End of the Year Wrap Up Part II

Continuing from yesterday, here are the books I've read (so far) this month. Tomorrow will be the beginning of my favorite of the year lists (yes lists, I divide them up because I can't choose just ten favorite books to talk about. I'm just not wired that way).

Books I read in December (so far):

TITLE: One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter
AUTHOR: Scaachi Koul
PUBLISHED: March 7th, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essays
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Very interesting collection of essays. I can definitely see why this has been making the rounds.
MY RATING: Four out of Five

TITLE: Our Dark Duet
Monsters of Verity Duology
AUTHOR: Victoria Schwab
PUBLISHED: June 13th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Schwab delivers again with another amazing ending to a duology.  But it's probably zero surprise to any of you I loved this, lets face it: I'm Victoria Schwab trash and am here for anything she writes.
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five
RATING FOR SERIES: Four out of Five solid duologies

TITLE: Girls Made of Snow and Glass
AUTHOR: Melissa Bashardoust
PUBLISHED: September 5th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, Retelling
RANDOM THOUGHTS: One of my favorite fantasy debuts this year. This one retold Snow White SO much better then Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (and didn't have girl hate going on either).
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five

TITLE: The Dire King
Book 4 in the Jackaby series
AUTHOR: William Ritter
PUBLISHED: August 22nd, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fantasy
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Okay ending. I felt it was rather rushed to be honest. But it ended it in  a satisfactory way so I don't feel too cheated.
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five
RATING FOR SERIES: Four out of Five

TITLE: Wonder Woman-Warbringer
Book 1 in the DC Icons series
AUTHOR: Leigh Bardugo
PUBLISHED: August 28th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy/Superhero/media tie-in
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Solid take on Diana and what it might have been like for her as a teenager. If you're just coming into this from the movie: it completely ignores the movie. And honestly the comics continuity in general from what I can see. So I just see this as one of the many different AU Dianas out there.
MY RATING: Four out of Five

TITLE: The Gilded Years
AUTHOR: Karin Tanabe
PUBLISHED: 2016
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Historical Fiction
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Solid historical novel. A bit predictable but otherwise not bad. Not sure how well it will do as a movie (it's been optioned for a film apparently) as a lot of the middle parts are rather dull. But we'll see.
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: Hunger: A Memoir of My Body
AUTHOR: Roxane Gay
PUBLISHED: June 13th, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Memoir/Essays
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Amazing memoir from Roxane Gay. If you guys haven't checked out Bad Feminist yet, seriously do so.
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five

TITLE: Ash and Quill
Book 3 in the Great Library series
AUTHOR: Rachel Caine
PUBLISHED: July 11th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian/Alternate History
RANDOM THOUGHTS: I am now completely caught up with series. This makes me happy but also sad because now I have to wait for the next book like everyone else...
MY RATING: Four out of Five

TITLE: Dear Martin
AUTHOR: Nic Stone
PUBLISHED: October 17th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary
RANDOM THOUGHTS: I wanted to love this. I appreciate what the author was trying to do...but ultimately....this was just okay. The writing style was not my favorite, there was way too much excusing white people for the shit we do (I'm white and I'm sorry stop excusing us, seriously. We need to be held accountable and called out on our shit. Otherwise I guarantee we will never change), and plot choices that bugged me here and there. Plus I tried not too, but I couldn't help but compare it to The Hate U Give and I'm sorry but The Hate U Give is ten times better in quality. It's not bad. It just....was not my favorite.
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: Little & Lion
AUTHOR: Brandy Colbert
PUBLISHED: August 8th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Damn good contemporary book. I have to say, contemporary genre, you all knocked it out of the park this year. More then half of my favorite reads from this year have been contemporary reads which is pretty unusual for me.
MY RATING: Four out of Five

TITLE: Final Girls
AUTHOR: Riley Sager
PUBLISHED: July 11th, 2017
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Thriller/Horror
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Okay thriller. I could tell the author was trying to be subversive but they quickly fell into many regular tropes that happen in horror/thrillers such as weird hang ups on sex/slut shaming/women can't be friends nonsense etc. I am still side-eyeing the author like hell for his reasoning behind the female pen name.
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: Wicked Like Wildfire
Book 1 in the Hibiscus Daughter series
AUTHOR: Lana Popovic
PUBLISHED: August 15th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy
RANDOM THOUGHTS: One of the most interesting magic systems I've come across. Beautifully written and I loved that most of it involved family and family history. It's just...terribly slow in the middle.
MY RATING: Four out of Five

TITLE: The Afterlife of Holly Chase
AUTHOR: Cynthia Hand
PUBLISHED: October 24rth, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Paranormal, Classic Book Referencing
RANDOM THOUGHTS: This book is best read when you're on that Christmas high like I was when I read it (I finished it around Christmas Eve as a matter of fact). It's like the best of those cheesy Christmas TV specials in book form and it's delightful.
MY RATING: Four out of Five

The Big Giant End of the Year Review Wrap-Up PART 1

Okay, it's time to face facts: I'm behind. If I don't catch up now, I won't ever catch up. So Here is one big random wrap up of what I read in the last half of November.:

TITLE: The Hearts We Sold
AUTHOR: Emily Lloyd-Jones
PUBLISHED: August 8th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Liked it a lot. Unusual ending and lots of good themes.
MY RATING: Four out of Five

TITLE: In Other Lands
AUTHOR: Sarah Rees Brennan
PUBLISHED: August 15th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Utterly hilarious fantasy parody. One of my favorite reads of the year.
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five

TITLE: A Study in Scarlet Women
Book 1 in the Lady Sherlock series
AUTHOR: Sherry Thomas
PUBLISHED: 2016
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Mystery
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Wanted to like it, but for something that was supposed to be a female Sherlock doing sleuthing, the female Sherlock didn't do much of the actual sleuthing.
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: The Collapsing Empire
Book 1 in the Interdependency series
AUTHOR: John Scalzi
PUBLISHED:March 21rst, 2017
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Science-Fiction
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Good start to a new series. Don't have much to say about it. It was good sci-fi, that's about it.
MY RATING: Four out of Five

TITLE: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns
Book 1 in the Rise of the Empress series
AUTHOR: Julie C. Dao
PUBLISHED: October 10th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, Retelling
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Wanted to like it because the idea is great and the writing is good, but there was just too much girl hate going on in this. There is some major internal misogyny going on here.
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: Warcross
Book 1 in the Warcross series
AUTHOR: Marie Lu
PUBLISHED: September 12th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopianish, Sci-fi
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Lu has done it again and delivered another awesome series start. One of my favorite new series of the year.
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five



Graphic Novels:
Spinning by Tillie Walden
Giant Days Vols. 2 and 3
Princess Jellyfish Vol. 2

Book Review: Sex Object

TITLE: Sex Object, A Memoir
AUTHOR: Jessica Valenti
PUBLISHED: June, 2016
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essays, Feminism
PREMISE: A collection of essays from columnist Jessica Valenti that center around the ways in which sex has effected her and other women.
MY REVIEW: Jessica Valenti has been around for quite awhile, but I confess...I've never read her books. I've been meaning too, it just never happened until now. After reading this one, I'll definitely be looking into her other books.
For those trying to wrap your minds around Weinstein, Moore, Franken etc. I definitely recommend picking this one up if you are wondering how exactly we got here. There is a lot of stuff in here that is pretty timely and some of these essays were written quite a few years ago. Oh and FYI, women have actually been calling out sexual harassment stuff for quite awhile now. Stop acting like the news that there's a rape culture out there is somehow brand new information. We've been telling you about it for years now. You're just now finally forced to acknowledge it because the media finally decided to pay attention to it.
I should get back to the book...anyway, there are a lot of great essays in this one. The most notable ones for me are the essays titled Subways and Grilled Cheese. If you want to really get angry at people, Valenti ends the book with some of the comments she's received online from people about the essays. All I can say is...wow.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, those reading up on rape culture
MY RATING: Four out of Five thought provoking essays

2 in 1 Poetry Books Review

So I read two poetry books this past month. I know, who am I? But I am going to be doing poetry as the genre I'm focusing on next year and I thought I'd get an early taste of it by knocking off some recent poetry releases off the TBR list. Here they are:

TITLE: The Princess Saves Herself in This One
AUTHOR: Amanda Lovelace
CATEGORY: Poetry
PUBLISHED: 2016
SOME THOUGHTS: I liked this one. As I often say with these things: I am not a poetry expert. I haven't even taken a class in it. I can't tell you what is good style and what is bad style and whatnot. All I can do right now is let you know if I liked it or not. I liked this one.
MY RATING: Three and a half I liked it shrugs

TITLE: There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce
AUTHOR: Morgan Parker
CATEGORY: Poetry
PUBLISHED: February 14th, 2017
SOME THOUGHTS: Again I liked this. Again...not sure if it is actually good or not. But I can tell you there's some poems in here that really struck a cord with me.
MY RATING: Four out of Five cleverly titled poems

Review Catch-up: Four mini-reviews of books I've Read Recently:

Okay, I"m way behind on book reviews. I meant to have more this past week, but time got away from me. So here are five quick reviews of some books I've read in the past two months:

TITLE: Lady Midnight
Book 1 in the Dark Artifices series
AUTHOR: Cassandra Clare
PUBLISHED: 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
THOUGHTS: Same old, same old from Cassandra Clare. Sorry guys, I don't see this amazing breakthrough people on YouTube kept saying this book was. This had literally the same plot points as Mortal Instruments had, down too beloved adult figure turning around and betraying them all.
But, we've established I'm trash for this series, so despite issues I have with it...I'll still read the next one. Curse my weakness.
WHO SHOULD READ: Die-hard Cassandra Clare fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: The Refugees
AUTHOR: Viet Thanh Nguyen
PUBLISHED: February 7th, 2017
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Contemporary/Short Stories
THOUGHTS: Typical short story collection. Some better then others. I suspect there was some nuance in these stories that was lost on me though, because a lot of it focuses on issues in Vietnam and I don't particularly know much about that country (other then we had a war there, and whole lot of issues sprung up from that war). It has made me interested in picking up The Sympathizer though.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the author's book The Sympathizer
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: Madly (called The Potions Diaries in the UK)
Book 1 in the Potions series
AUTHOR: Amy Alward
PUBLISHED: 2015
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy
THOUGHTS: Cute fantasy about a girl entering a potions contest. The writing is a bit juvenile so this probably geared more towards the younger YA crowd, rather then the older one. So if you know any tweens who love Descendants and are looking for something to read, I would absolutely give them this.
WHO SHOULD READ: younger teens, Descendents fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: My Life, My Love, My Legacy
 AUTHOR: Coretta Scott King
PUBLISHED: January 17th, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Biography
THOUGHTS: Pretty typical biography. What was most interesting to me, was the peeks into the Civil Rights movement that we don't often see. Since she was the wife of MLK, King did get a front row seat into the planning that went on and in many cases during and after her husband's death, often organized things like marches and many other things she didn't get enough credit for.
WHO SHOULD READ: those interested in learning about civil rights history
MY RATING: Four out of Five

Book Review: Talking as Fast as I Can

TITLE: Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls and Gilmore Girls to Everything In Between
AUTHOR: Lauren Graham
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: November 2016
GENRE: Memoirs
PREMISE: Actress Lauren Graham talks about her life during the filming of Gilmore Girls, Parenthood and much more.
MY REVIEW: Celebrity memoirs are for a certain type of audience. Namely, it's for people who are fans of the person writing the memoir. If you are not a fan of the person in question, you more then likely aren't going to be picking this up at all. But I am a Lauren Graham fan and a huge Gilmore Girls fan (for the record, I am team Rory Needs to Work on Herself Before She Has a Boyfriend).
This was a pretty typical memoir. There's nothing really major revealed in it. It's a quick and easy read. I finished it in a day. The thing I most liked was the chapter where she watches through Gilmore Girls and shares some thoughts.
So if you are a Lauren Graham or just Gilmore Girls/Parenthood fan...pick this one up. If you aren't...you probably were never going to read this in the first place. From what I hear the audiobook is much better then reading it. Apparently Graham herself narrates it and does a really good job. So if you are inclined towards audiobooks, I'd try it that way.
WHO SHOULD READ: Lauren Graham fans, Gilmore Girl fans, Parenthood fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five fun memoirs

Book Review: Freedom is a Constant Struggle

TITLE: Freedom is a Constant Struggle
AUTHOR: Angela Y. Davis
PUBLISHED: January 2016
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Speech/Interview/Article collection
PREMISE: A collection of interviews/articles/speeches that Angela Y. Davis gave over the past few years.
MY REVIEW: I'm not terribly sure how to review this one to be honest. It's not really a book persay, it's mostly just a collection of speeches, or articles, or interviews that activist Angela Y. Davis gave in recent years. If you are a big Davis fan, this is a good one to have. If you aren't...you probably weren't going to seek it out in the first place.
There are a lot of interesting thoughts here. Reading this made me wish I could see her give these speeches in person. I wish they gave some sort of background on what the items were for exactly. Some I could figure out, but others such as the interviews, I did not.
This is a very short book. You can probably read it in less then a day. The speeches at least are well worth your time.
WHO SHOULD READ: Angela Y. Davis fans, those interested in the recent BLM protests
MY RATING: Four out of Five interesting speeches

Book Review: The Underground Railroad

TITLE: The Underground Railroad
AUTHOR: Colson Whitehead
PUBLISHED: August 2016
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Historical Fiction
PREMISE: Cora escapes her hellish life on a plantation along the underground railroad...
MY REVIEW: You very likely have already heard about this book. Chances are, you've already read it. Chances are, you already know if you want to read it or not. It's one of those books that has been everywhere, partly because the author apparently has been around awhile and because Oprah blessed the book by making it her book club pick last year.
Books that get this big can be very hit or miss for me. But luckily, this one turned out to be a hit. Once again I must point out: Oprah does get it right on her book picks sometimes. Not all the time (I wound up hating Love in the Time of Cholera) but a lot of the time. The writing in this book is phenomenal. The characters are fully fleshed out and if you don't wind up rooting for Cora by the end...I don't know what to say to you.
The historical research is top notch here, the story is powerful and memorable, the characters are great. Like, the only bad thing I can say about it is that it's a bit like Color Purple where all the constant hardship can sometimes feel draining. But also like Color Purple the character survives and becomes strong and it's just inspiring.
WHO SHOULD READ: Color Purple fans, Colson Whitehead fans, anyone inclined to read it
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five harrowing journeys that are worth it

Book Review: Searching for John Hughes

TITLE: Searching for John Hughes-Or Everything I Thought I Needed to Know About Life I Learned From Watching 80s Movies
AUTHOR: Jason Diamond
PUBLISHED: November 29th, 2016
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Memoir/slight biography
PREMISE: A guy talks about John Hughes and how he related to Hughes and his movies.
MY REVIEW: Sigh. Okay, if one looks at this book as just what it is: a memoir. It's...okay. It gets the job done. The author's writing is engaging and whatnot. But here's the thing: I kept wanting the original idea that the author said he intended this book to be. See, originally, he had been planning on making this a John Hughes biography with a critique/analysis of Hughes filmography. Sounds great right? Why didn't he write that?!
Instead, we get a memoir about HIS life. He talks about how he became a Hughes fan and how the films effected him. Look, not to disparage anybody but his life...is frankly not that interesting. I don't understand why exactly we couldn't get the biography about John Hughes instead.
So this book's main fault is that it's not the original idea and that idea was ten times more interesting so I kind of just felt cheated as I read through it. As I said, it's an okay memoir. I just pine for what could have been.
WHO SHOULD READ: John Hughes fans (who are okay with reading something that is not completely about John Hughes)
MY RATING: Three out of Five books that could have been better