Progress Report - April 2017

You may remember that in February I posted a progress report (check it out here), in which I mentioned that I wanted to make a habit of posting similar posts every month. But with my vacation the end of March, March and April have kind of blurred together into one long month and things just got neglected.

Whoops.

Anywho!! So, in March I read five books, as well as an audio book. They were as follows:

Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill - ***** A story about a girl trying to avenge her father's death, and decide whether the man she loves is a good guy or a bad guy. It's full of adventure and innocent romance, and I adored it.

Caraval  by Stephanie Garber - ***** This is a story about the love between sisters (Scarlett & Tella). It's a magical tale of an elaborate game set on a private island. It was dark and weird and had a twist or two, and I just loved it. It definitely lived up to all the hype and anticipation for me.

Seven Deadlies: A Cautionary Tale by Gigi Levangie - *** Kind of cute. This young girl is writing a series of letters to a college admissions officer, explaining the weird things she has encountered as a "babysitter" for her peers, etc. It's all fun and games until the last couple of letters which ruined everything for me.

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley - ***** The third book in the Flavia de Luce series. This time Flavia gets involved with gypsies, and helps solves an attempted murder, as well as an old kidnapping/murder case.

Grounded by Katie Klise - **** This one was kinda weird. Similar to Flavia, Dolly is a 12 year old girl who likes a bit of a mystery. Through a kind of creepy and semi-dangerous series of events, she uncovers a cheating swindler in their midst.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (audio - technically a "re-read") - ***** One of my fave books of all time! If you haven't read it, you must. All I will say is it's magical and takes place in a circus.

In April I also read five books and an audio book. I feel like I probably could have read another, but the last one was really long! So, April's reads were:

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver - **** I wasn't sure how to feel about this one. The main character, Sam, dies and relives her last day about 10 times, changing things every time. She becomes a completely different person and ends up making very different choices, but in the end she still dies, and I couldn't quite figure out how I was supposed to feel about that.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - ***** Full of weirdness, magic, psychics, ghosts, talking trees. This story follows Blue and her Raven boys (Gansey, Adam, Ronan & Noah) on their quest to find the resting place of Owen Glendower.

Servant's Hall by Margaret Powell - *** A first-hand account of life "below stairs" from a former kitchen servant. She tells the true story of how a servant girl from downstairs married the family's son from upstairs, which helped inspire Downton Abbey (new episode of Downton of Netflix were what inspired me to pick this one up!).

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon - ***** Crazy cute love story. I can't wait for the movie!

Wildwood by Colin Meloy - ***** An adventure-packed story, very reminiscent of The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. Prue's baby brother is kidnapped by a murder of crows and taken into the Impassable Wilderness. Prue and her friend Curtis head into the forest to rescue him, and find all kinds of strange and wonderful creatures.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (audio) - ***** I love that this is written in the form of letters and telegrams, which was kind of fun with the audio version, because different actors read the different voices of the characters. I really enjoyed all the little war-time stories that are shared, and the romance we see develop.

Mid-April, seeing that I was already over two-thirds toward my goal of 35 books, I decided to increase my Goodreads goal to 45. So, to date, I have now read 25 out of 45 books and have completed 56% of my new goal. I will increase again in a few months, if I feel it is necessary. I'm really impressed with how much I've been reading this year. Part of me wishes I could read faster (so many books, so little time!), but as it is I'm reading too fast to keep up with writing reviews, so I guess I'll just stick with this pace.

Book Review: Seven Deadlies: A Cautionary Tale by Gigi Levangie

Hi guys! I decided to try a different approach to book blogging for this post. I've seen some other bloggers format their review posts in this way and I like how concise and clean it is.

 

 

Source: I bought myself a copy

 

Synopsis:

Perry Gonzalez is not like the other kids in her Beverly Hills high school—a full-blooded Latina on a scholarship, living in a tiny apartment with her mother, she doesn’t have much in common with the spoiled, privileged kids who are chauffeured to school every morning. But Perry is a budding young writer with her sights set on Bennington—and her seven deadly stories are her ticket to the Ivory Tower. To pay her way, Perry’s been babysitting (correction: teenage-sitting) and tutoring the neighborhood kids, and she has seen the dark side of adolescence: lust for the “Judas Brothers” that leads to electrocution at a private birthday party concert; wrath that inspires new and perverse family bonds; and greed, in a young Bernie Madoff acolyte who conceives of a copycat Ponzi scheme involving his own grandmother.

Review:

What are my thoughts on this book? Well... I gave it three stars on Goodreads, so my thoughts are not terribly high. It was really the ending that ruined my opinion of the book and knocked it from four stars to three for me.

It starts out with young Perry Gonzalez introducing herself to the Admissions Committee of Bennington College. Even though she is not yet old enough to be applying to college, she felt the need to show how capable, and in need of an escape, she is. She proceeds to tell the tales of seven of her privileged schoolmates who she was charged with tutoring. Each chapter tells one of their tales, and is entitled with the Deadly Sin of which the featured child is guilty.

The stories are a bit fantastical and exaggerated, but entertaining. I viewed them as the title implies: cautionary tales. Fables. Parables. Allegories. Fictional stories with sometimes exaggerated events to warn us of the consequences of our actions. And it would have been perfect to just leave it at that...

However, the author chose to include two letters at the end of the book: one more from Perry to the Admissions Office, with an admission that makes you question her sanity, and the second from Perry's mother to the Admission Officer Perry has been in touch with. It's that last letter that ruined everything.

The tales were fun, and the book was a quick read. I didn't hate it, but I would have preferred if the last two letters hadn't been included, or if they had contained different information.

Goodreads rating: ***