Book Review: The Glass Spare by Lauren DeStefano

 

The Glass Spare

by Lauren DeStefano

Source: The November "Castles. Courts and Kingdoms" box from OwlCrate

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic

Plot:

Wilhelmina "Wil" Heidle is a princess, the apple of her mother's eye, and one of her father's best-kept secret weapons as a potential spy. Wil is the youngest of four, the beloved daughter after three sons, a spare who will never see the throne. Wil is close to two of her brothers: Owen (the heir), and Gerdie (the second youngest, and alchemist). Baron (second oldest, the first spare) is a despicable character, only loved by his mother, and even she fears him.

 

The story of Wil's birth is quite special. By all accounts she appeared to be cursed and should not have lived, but did. She looks nothing like the rest of her family, which makes her excellent spy material. She has a knack for fighting and undercover work (she often escapes the palace to find special ingredients for Gerdie's alchemy). Wil wants nothing more than to travel the world, and if being her father's spy (and thereby earning his approval) is the only way to do it, so be it.

 

But soon everything changes. Wil's life is threatened, and in her fight for her life, something inside her awakens. She suddenly has the ability to turn living things to "stone" when she is upset. Actually, gemstones. Emeralds, diamonds, rubies, etc.

 

After a series of unfortunate events, Wil's family now believes that she is dead, and she is on the run, trying to find a way to cure the curse, and save her kingdom.

Review:

I found this book to have a bit of a slow start. I mean, I was interested from the beginning, because, what a great premise!, but it wasn't quite able to hold my attention. This may have been due  to my own mindset at the time, as I was trying to finish the book in December as part of the Facebook group Life and Lit's Bingo reading challenge, which I guess was a bit too much stress. I decided to set it aside for a couple of weeks, and when I came back to it, things seemed to be a bit more interesting, and by the halfway point I was hooked.

I seem to have a real problem with fantasy world-building. It doesn't seem to matter what the world is, if it isn't the here and now, I tend to have a hard time picturing it. I found the world in this book to be rather confusing. On the one hand, it sounded medieval to me, King Arthur-esque. However, upon further research, I suppose it's meant to be more like King Midas' time period, which would be Ancient Greece (I honestly didn't remember this from history?). But the presence of modern technology (electricity, elevators...) really threw me off.

 

Aside from that, I really enjoyed the adventure, and the sort-of romance. I really like this idea of a cursed princess, I love the "Midas touch" aspect, and I appreciated that it wasn't all about the romance. I was really frustrated with the ending because it's what I consider a bit of a cliffhanger; Wil still hasn't found the cure for her curse, she has to go back to her kingdom to save someone's life, something tragic may have happened back in her kingdom but we don't know for sure, and we don't know what kind of deal she made with the Marveler, or what will be expected of her in the future after she returns... *sigh* I guess I'll just have to wait for the sequel!

Overall, I found it an interesting read, and I think I would recommend it to someone who likes fantasy. :)

 

 

My Goodreads rating:

 

It's Monday! What Are YOU Reading? #8

Good Monday afternoon! Let me tell you, I was not this chipper this morning. I didn't sleep very much last night, my brain was running on high speed, so I was groggy and grumpy this morning, and it was something like -23*C. Yuck. Anyway... feeling a little less murderous this afternoon...

 

I have been working on some new book reviews, but they're not quite ready yet, but I thought I should post something for you guys... You know, all two of you, waiting with bated breath... *insert massive eye roll*

 

So, what am I reading this week? Well that's kind of a long story, that starts before Christmas... If you want the long-story-short version, please skip over the blue text...

 

Right, so I like to try to give my nephews each a book and something else for Christmas/birthdays. I've been gifting my younger nephew the Harry Potter series, so he was taken care of for Christmas, but I needed to find something for my older nephew, plus his birthday is January 1st, so I actually had to find two books for him.

 

I did a little consulting on the Facebook groups, and got lots of great ideas! The most suggested, and the one I thought would be the best-received was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, especially with the movie coming out in March! So I ordered that one, and then I couldn't decide between two other suggestions. One was the Alfred Kropp series, the other was the Alex Rider series. They both looked pretty interesting, but I thought I had settled on Alex Rider because it seemed a little more his style (these are spy books with a lot of extreme sports, which he loves). As it turns out, I accidentally ordered both books, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp (Alfred Kropp #1) and Stormbreaker (Alex Rider #1).

 

I kept hearing good things about Ready Player One, and I really wanted to read it myself, so I considered keeping it, (I mean, I really struggled with this...), and just giving him the other two, since I had them. But I knew he would like Ready Player One, and I had bought it for him, so what to do? Well I knew that I wasn't interested in reading Alex Rider myself, and that it would be more his thing, so I gave him that book for Christmas, leaving myself a few days to decide what to do with the others.

 

What I ended up deciding was just to give him Ready Player One, but start reading it myself. I started reading it, mistakenly thinking I would have enough time to read the whole thing before his party on the 1st, but I only got about halfway through before the party rolled around and I had to give it away! So I put my name in right away for an interlibrary loan copy, thinking I would probably get it this past week. No dice. I only got the call last Friday that it was delivered, but the library is closed on Monday, so I have to wait until tomorrow! Then I will finally be able to finish Ready Player One!

 

So, long-story-short, I am "currently reading" Ready Player One, even though it has not been in my possession for two weeks, and I will only be able to resume reading it tomorrow. In the meantime, I am also reading Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I won't have time to finish it before I get my hands back on Ready Player One, but I just might possibly finish both of them this week - we'll have to see! :)

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read Ready Player One yet? I was loving it, what I've read so far, and really can't wait to finish it, and then for the movie to come out in a couple months!!

 

 

2017 Reads

Hey guys! I thought I would make a complete list of the books I've read in 2017, with links to any reviews I've written. Just, you know, in case you were interested or whatever... You probably aren't, but let's be honest, this isn't about you. ;)

I believe I had originally set my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal this year to 30, because that's how many books I read last year. I quickly reached that goal, so I pushed it up to 52. I had reached that by the end of... October, I think? At that point I decided not to set a higher goal, but just see how many books I would end up reading by the end of the year. As things progressed I unofficially gave myself a goal of 75, and I have managed to achieve that!

Reading went really well for me this year! I didn't go through many reading slumps, and I consistently read a minimum of 4 novels per month, at my normal pace - no stressing or pushing to read faster. At the end, I'll admit I read a few shorter books in order to complete a couple challenges and reach my "unofficial goal," but they're still books, and I did read them! ;) There are probably a few areas of my life that I didn't pay as much attention to in order to read more (other hobbies, mostly), but aside from my penpals, I don't think my reading twice as much this year has had much affect on anybody else. I will admit that my penpals may have suffered a bit of neglect this year... :/

According to my Goodreads Year in Books, the most popular book I read was All the Light We Cannot See, and the longest book I read was Wildwood. As you can see from the list below, I was doing alright with reviewing for a while, but I quickly got sidetracked (by reading more books!). I think one of my goals for 2018 will be to set aside time every 3-4 weeks to review any books I've finished in that time period. Or to try to review as soon as I've finished (that would be ideal). Actually, ideally, I should take notes as I'm reading, but that would just require too much organization and commitment on my part! ;) 

1. Flawed by Cecelia Ahern (****) - review here
2. The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister (***) - review here
3. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (****) - review here
4. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (*****) - review here
5. Da Vinci's Tiger by L.M. Elliott (**) - review here
6. The Woman Next Door by Barbara Delinsky - audio (***)
7. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (*****) - review here
8. Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth (****) - review here
9. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (**) - review here
10. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (*****) - review here
11. P. S. I Like You by Kasie West (***) - review here
12. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - audio (***)
13. The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry (****) - review here
14. Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill (*****) - review here
15. Caraval by Stephanie Garber (*****) - review here
16. Seven Deadlies: A Cautionary Tale by Gigi Levangie (***) - review here
17. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (audio / reread) (*****)
18. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley (*****)
19. Grounded by Kate Klise (****)
20. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (****) - review here
21. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (*****) - review here
22. Servants' Hall: A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance by Margaret Powell (***)
23. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (*****) - review here
24. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer - audio (*****)
25. Wildwood by Colin Meloy (*****) - review here
26. Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell (***)
27. Look Into My Eyes by Lauren Child (****)
28. The Girl With the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts (****)
29. Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch (*****) - review here
30. Sweet Misfortune by Kevin Alan Milne (****)
31. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (****) - review here
32. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (*****)
33. Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill (***)
34. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (*****) - review here
35. Wonder by R.J. Palacia (*****) - review here
36. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (*****)
37. The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands (*****)
38. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (****) - review here
39. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (*****) - review here
40. Future Perfect by Jen Larsen (****)
41. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (****)
42. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (*****)
43. Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller (*****) - review here
44. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (***)
45. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (****)
46. All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps by Dave Isay (****)
47. New World: Rising by Jennifer Wilson (****)
48. Peter Pan by E.M. Barrie (****) - review here
49. Everland by Wendy Spinale (****)
50. Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman (*****)
51. What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum (*****)
52. 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad (**)
53. The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee (*****)
54. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling - audio (**)
55. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (*****)
56. Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (***) - review here
57. One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake (*****)
58. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (*****)
59. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (****) - review here
60. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith - audio (*****)
61. A Good Day to Buy by Sherry Harris (****)
62. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith - audio (*****)
63. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (****)
64. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco (****)- review here
65. Warcross by Marie Lu (****)
66. Glass Houses by Louise Penny (*****) - review here
67. Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan (***)
68. Dear Santa: Children's Christmas Letters and Wish Lists, 1870-1920 (*****)
69. Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore (***) - review here
70. Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows (****)
71. A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (*****)
72. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (****)
73. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (****)
74. Matchless by Gregory Maguire (***)
75. For One More Day by Mitch Albom (****)

And that's it for 2017! I think this is the most books I have ever read in a year, and I'm pretty stoked about that. If it isn't, it certainly has been years since I've been able to achieve that.

So, I've just set my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal for 2018 to 80. Five more than 2017, which I think should be achievable. Providing that the new year goes as smoothly as this past year, with no real obstacles... We'll see! I will definitely try to continue reviewing the books I've read this year (or at least the ones I really liked), and will try to be more on top of the blogging/reviewing situation in 2018.

Happy New Year everyone, and happy reading!

Book Review: Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore

Wild Beauty

by Anna-Marie McLemore

Source: Received in an OwlCrate box (October "Find Me In The Forest")

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magical Realism

Synopsis:

Love grows such strange things.

For nearly a century, the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds of La Pradera, the lush estate gardens that enchant guests from around the world. They’ve also hidden a tragic legacy: if they fall in love too deeply, their lovers vanish. But then, after generations of vanishings, a strange boy appears in the gardens.

The boy is a mystery to Estrella, the Nomeolvides girl who finds him, and to her family, but he’s even more a mystery to himself; he knows nothing more about who he is or where he came from than his first name. As Estrella tries to help Fel piece together his unknown past, La Pradera leads them to secrets as dangerous as they are magical in this stunning exploration of love, loss, and family

Review:

I'm not sure if it's the magical realism, or the author's writing style, or what exactly it was that I didn't like about this book, but I was disappointed. We received it in the October OwlCrate box, which I was soooo excited about! I had added this one to my Goodreads To Read list ages ago, because it was so gorgeous. Then when we got it in the box, with the exclusive cover, I was just over the moon. So I read it fairly soon after, and, well... Not what I was expecting or hoping for from this book.

I have a huge tendency to not really read too much about a book before I pick it up. Very generally speaking, if somebody posts a picture of a book cover on Instagram with a little blurb (ex: it's about this family of women who live in a beautiful garden and grow flowers from their hands), that's usually enough for me. Sometimes I will read the full synopsis on Goodreads, or if I'm holding the physical book I might read the flyleaf, but I really truly unapologetically judge books by their covers and the recommendations of my peers. Not reviews - I never read reviews before I read a book - but if someone I know says "I loved this book!" and it's a genre I enjoy, and it has a pretty cover, to boot... good enough!

All that to say that I honestly hadn't read what the book was about before it came in the OwlCrate box. The synopsis is intriguing, so I was anxious to read it, but, I had a really hard time enjoying it.

The imagery is absolutely beautiful, there is no denying that. The author's description of flowers and colours is exceptional. The story itself, I felt a bit lost in. I see how everything tied together in the end, but getting there... there were many things that just felt like distractions from the main story, or unnecessary embellishments, or I don't know... I really wasn't sure where things were going or what the purpose of all these characters was, or anything until probably 2/3 into the book. The characters also weren't all that special to me. I liked them, but didn't feel there was much to connect to, and there were so many!

I may give the author's other books a chance, should I ever come across them, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find her books, based on how I felt about Wild Beauty. They all have great synopses, but so did this one, so...

In the end, it was an ok read for me. It only has a 3.73 star rating on Goodreads so I obviously am not the only one who feels it may have missed the mark. Not sure I would recommend it, but I know that a lot of people on the Life & Lit and OwlCrate Society groups loved it, so... Read at your own risk, I guess! :)

My Goodreads rating:

It's Monday! What Are YOU Reading? #7

So I will be writing a Year in Review type post next week, most likely, but I just felt like I haven't been super active in the last couple weeks, so I thought I would write a quick Monday post!

One of the Facebook groups I'm in, called Life & Lit, has been doing different challenges and activities all month long, under the theme of Yule Ball (from the Harry Potter books/movies). One of the biggest challenges is the Yule Bingo. The bingo card is divided into 16 squares, with one column for each of the four houses (Griffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff), and each square is a character or major element from the Harry Potter stories, which represents a theme of a possible book (ex: Butterbeer is a for a sweet book, and Harry is for a book with the "chosen one" trope). You get one point for your house per square you block off, and if you block off the whole column for your house, you get a bingo, which means 5 points! It's a lot of fun!

So, I've been working away at the Yule Bingo. I have read five books so far this month for that. I need to read two more from the Ravenclaw column to get bingo, and then if I read just one more book after that, I will have reached my unofficial goal of 75 books! I think it's totally achievable! At the end of November I wasn't so sure I'd be able to make it, but I've been doing really well. Admittedly, a couple of the books I've read this month were shorter/kids' stories, but still!

I got into a bit of a slump over the weekend, but my current read is The Glass Spare by Lauren Destefano, which came in the November OwlCrate box. It sounds good, and what I've read so far has been good, but I just haven't felt like reading that much lately, and I had other stuff going on this weekend.

After I finish The Glass Spare, I intend to read Matchless: A Christmas Story by Gregory Maguire. It's a shorter one, so I should be able to finish it in a day, depending on what else is going on. And then I think I'd like to try to read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, before I give it to my nephew for his birthday on January first!

What are you guys reading this week? How have you done with your reading goals this year?

Book Review: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

A Man Called Ove

by Fredrik Backman

Source: Found a used copy in a book sale

Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Humour

Synopsis:

A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Review:

This book had a slow start for me. It didn't quite grab my attention at the start. That was partially due to the fact that I was (once again) attempting to read several books at once. However, I had heard some really wonderful things about this book, so I definitely wanted to stick with it and give it a solid shot. I decided that I would need to set aside any other books I was reading and force myself to read A Man Called Ove, otherwise I would be too tempted to read faster paced Young Adult novels.

 

Once I was focused on this book alone, it was still kind of slow for me. There were some funny parts (poor old Ove just can't catch a break!), but it still didn't really mean much to me, and I was finding the flashbacks a bit annoying.

After about the 3/4 mark, however, I was completely invested. It wasn't that anything significant happened, or anything like that; something in my mind just clicked, I guess, and I suddenly really needed to know what was going to happen to Ove and his neighbours. I suppose I was also starting to see the picture the flashbacks were tying to show us.

And then the ending... Well, once I got there, I finally knew what everyone had been talking about! This certainly is a very moving story, with a tear-jerking ending. As curmudgeonly an old grouch as Ove is, he's a really loveable character. I enjoyed how we see Ove's crusty old frozen heart slowly melt and soften to encompass those around him - both new and old.

It was especially funny entertaining for me to read this story, as I work with the elderly on a daily basis. Trust me, I've met a few Ove's. Of course, Ove isn't really as old as he acts, which I suppose is part of his charm.

Overall, a touching story, and I do recommend it!





























My Goodreads rating:

Book Review: Glass Houses by Louise Penny

Glass Houses

by Louise Penny

Genre: Mystery, Contemporary, Fiction

Synopsis:

When a mysterious figure appears on the village green on a cold November day in Three Pines, Armand Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, knows something is seriously wrong. Yet he does nothing. Legally, what can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized.

From the moment its shadow falls over Three Pines, Gamache suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. When it suddenly vanishes and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied.

In the early days of the investigation into the murder, and months later, as the trial for the accused begins in a Montreal courtroom on a steamy day in July, the Chief Superintendent continues to struggle with actions he’s set in motion, from which there is no going back. “This case began in a higher court,” he tells the judge, “and it’s going to end there.”

And regardless of the trial’s outcome, he must face his own conscience.

In her latest utterly gripping book, number-one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny shatters the conventions of the crime novel to explore what Gandhi called the court of conscience. A court that supersedes all others.

Review:

As always, I must warn you that this post may contain spoilers. I don't find that I have much of a filter when it comes to these things.


Honestly, I don't think I will ever not like a Louise Penny book. I'm only sorry I didn't read this one sooner, and that when I did start reading it, I didn't give it the attention it deserved. I adore the world that Louise Penny has created in these books. Not just Three Pines, and not just because it's set in the region where I live... I love the people as if they were my own friends and neighbours, and I love the atmosphere, and I love the attention she gives to food.

So before I read it, I saw a ton of reviews that toted this novel as her "best one yet" and everyone saying it was their favourite... I won't say that, but I will say that it took on a slightly different feel, and I liked it. It made me cry, and that's usually a sign of a very good book. (Or maybe I was just an emotional wreck when I was reading it... Who knows?)

The story goes back and forth between the events leading up to a murder that took place in Three Pines in November, and the Montreal courtroom in July, where the case is being tried and Armand is giving his testimony.

Of course there is more to the story than the murder itself. In previous books, Louise dealt with corruption in the government; in this one she addresses drug cartels. In order to stop this one significant source of crime and death in Quebec, Gamache and his team must launch a huge top secret undercover operation which results in many more deaths, and crimes that they themselves must commit, for the greater good. The line between right and wrong is not always clear.

I mentioned it in my Goodreads review, but I'll say it again here, the last three chapters were really what got me. The major action scenes happen then (which were what made me cry), we finally discover who the murderer was, as well as the identity of the head of the drug cartel, and we are left in suspense to find out whether or not Armand Gamache will maintain his title as Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec!

My Goodreads rating: