Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating at time of review: 3.97 Stars Content Rating: R (profanity, violence, gore, sexual content) Trigger Warnings: Violence, blood, abuse, war. As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago. Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind. When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh. And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn. (goodreads.com) I’m not someone who is usually drawn to the horror genre, but every once in a while I’ll come across a book that piques my interest. Though there are definitely horror elements to this book, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a horror story. It’s really more of a historical romance that happens to have scary vampires and even scarier colonialism. Since I’m not a regular scary story reader, there were parts that gave me the creeps, but I think someone who regularly reads horror would probably find this book tame for that genre. There wasn’t much that I didn’t like about this book. Personally, I don’t care for sexual scenes in my books, but the majority of that content was “off-screen” in this book anyway, with just a few easily skimmable parts with vague descriptions. So that wasn’t terrible. Apart from that, the only thing I didn’t really care for was how the ending was tied up so neatly. Not that I didn’t appreciate a happy ending, but it was maybe a little too perfect. The characters in this story were fantastic, I was fully invested in chapters from both Nena and Néstor’s perspectives and rooting for both of them, even though they were fighting each other at times. I loved the way their relationship developed and that they were reunited after such a long time. The background characters, for the most part, felt real and well rounded, not just cardboard cutouts for the main characters to bounce ideas off of. The only people who did not seem like real people were the invading Americans, and since they were set up to be some of the monsters of the story, that made sense. The vampires were not the cape wearing, castle owning sort. So, if you are looking for suave seductive vampires with cunning plots, this is not the book for you. These vampires are described like wild animals and act like it too. There is nothing romantic about them as they attack random animals and melt out of their skin from time to time. Very gross. Since English is my first language and I have forgotten most of the Spanish I learned in high school, I was frequently looking up words. There are many terms in the story that are spoken in Spanish exclusively and a few phrases as well. Even if I hadn’t looked them up, the context that these words are used in still lets you know what’s going on, but if you, like me, have to know every detail of what is being said and you don’t speak Spanish, it might be helpful to have a translator app nearby while reading. This is a really random note to throw into this review, but this is my blog and I make the rules, so I’m going to throw it in anyway: my first experience learning about Mexico and the surrounding area during the 1800’s was from reading the Josefina American Girl books. Because of this, much of my mental image for the setting is based on the illustrations for the Josefina books. In a way, it almost made this book feel weirdly nostalgic, which added to my enjoyment. So, if Josefina was your favorite American Girl growing up (she’s in my top three favorites) and you like gory vampires, then this may be the perfect book for you! I’ve been in a reading slump most of the summer and now into the fall (partially because I’ve been focusing on my writing, partially because of work, and partially because the internet is way too distracting). It has been taking me forever to get through books, even when they’re really good. There’s one book I’ve been slowly reading since the beginning of June and it’s late September now. However, with Vampires of El Norte, I could have read it in one sitting if stupid things like life hadn’t gotten in the way. This is a good read for the upcoming spooky season, even though the book is set in the spring. The atmosphere feels almost autumnal, especially with the cold nights spent sitting close together watching in trepidation to see if a vampire will show up. If you like historical romances and don’t mind a bit of sexual content and strong language and a lot of violence then I recommend giving this book a try! I’m off to go hide my cows from the vampires! I’ll see you in the next review! Thanks for reading! Image sources: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4590322-meet-josefina https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/63892214
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Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads rating at time of review: Content Rating: R (for violence and suggestive scenes) Trigger Warnings: Murder, assault, an almost rape/murder, funeral for a teenager, kidnapping, prostitution. Cassandra Caravello is one of Renaissance Venice’s lucky elite: with elegant gowns, sparkling jewels, her own lady’s maid, and a wealthy fiancé, she has everything a girl could desire. Yet ever since her parents’ death, Cassandra has felt trapped, alone in a city of water, where the dark and labyrinthine canals whisper of escape. When Cass stumbles upon a murdered woman—practically in her own backyard—she’s drawn into a dangerous world of courtesans, killers, and secret societies. Soon, she finds herself falling for Falco, a mysterious artist with a mischievous grin... and a spectacular skill for trouble. Can Cassandra find the murderer, before he finds her? And will she stay true to her fiancé, or succumb to her uncontrollable feelings for Falco? (goodreads.com) A book about Venice? In the Renaissance? With a spooky murder mystery? Don’t mind if I do, hand it over! Originally, I thought this book was going to have fantasy elements to it, because it was shelved in the young adult fantasy section of the library. However, after reading the first book in this series, I can find no blatant use of magic. There may have been something vaguely alluded to because it seemed like the main character had “premonitions” of some sort, but none of those came true so I’m not sure what exactly was going on there. I’d say that this first book is mainly mystery/romance. My favorite thing about this book was the immersion into Venice. C’mon, you know me. You knew that was going to be what I liked best. When I was reading it, I felt like I was there, like I could run away to Italy in a book. After I finished reading, I almost didn’t want to pick up another book because I knew it wouldn’t be set in Venice and I wouldn’t be learning more clues to solve the mystery. My least favorite thing was, unsurprisingly, how much sexual stuff was going on. C’mon, you know me. You knew that was going to be what I liked least. It just felt like an unnecessary amount of talking about prostitution, affairs, secret trysts, etc. There was only one scene that described anything happening in detail and it wasn’t terribly graphic (and it was easily skimmed through) and it was really not needed for the plot of the story or for the development of the main character. Or if it was, I’m sure it could have just been mentioned briefly, rather than described at all. To my great irritation, books about Venice are like books about vampires. Both are intriguing topics that I find fun to read about, but both are always swamped in steamy, sensual writing that I don’t care for. Maybe there just needs to be more children’s books about Venice. And vampires, come to think of it. Maybe even both together, but not like that Doctor Who episode (fun fact, I’ve only seen three or four episodes of Doctor Who, picked out for me by my friends and they decided that one of those episodes should be “Blink” because I guess they wanted me to have nightmares or something *glares good naturedly at friends* but one friend also showed me “The Vampires of Venice” which was great, but not exactly what I have in mind for more stories about vampires and Venice). Enough of my rambling about what I want for the future of Venetian and Vampirian (is that a word?) literature. Moving on with the review! Let’s talk about characters, shall we?
Cassandra is the main character and she is a pretty standard 2012 YA book heroine in some ways but also different in other ways. For one thing, she seems to have quite a strong “not like other girls” streak and one character literally tells her that she is not like other girls. I’m sure that line killed back in good ole twenty-twelve, but it’s been a decade since then and the phrase induces more cringe than anything. Regardless, Cass was also different from standard 2012 heroines because, despite being “not like other girls”, she also had a couple of awesome gal-pals who she could confide in and she wasn’t a complete snob or running around wearing trousers because she’s just “too tough for dresses”. Not that there is anything wrong with wearing pants, sometimes pants just don’t make sense in the context of Renaissance Venice for a young noblewoman. Anyway, Cass isn’t the worst MC that I’ve ever read, but she definitely had her annoying moments. Then we have Falco. The artistic bad boy who worships science instead of God. Wowza, what a rebel (although, honestly, at that time in history being an atheist out loud was pretty darn dangerous). He’s also the main love interest for the book, even though Cass is betrothed to another guy named Luca. I won’t say too much about Luca for fear of spoilers, but I will say that I got kind of an icky vibe from Falco for the whole book. Something about him just seems wack, even though I’m pretty sure he’s supposed to be a good guy. I wasn’t a fan of him and his constant peer pressure of Cass. And the two of them rarely have a conversation that isn’t an argument. If they aren’t arguing then they are smooching. How they had time to decide that they loved each other, we will never know. One character that I really liked but who wasn’t in the book very much was Sienna, the lady’s maid to Cass. Sienna started off somewhat distant from the main characters and I didn’t think she’d be involved in the whole murder mystery at all. Again, I don't want to say too much, but she does become a bigger part of the story later on and her arc is continued in what I’ve read of the sequel, though Cass is still the MC. There were plenty of other interesting side characters as well, but there were almost too many and I sort of lost track of them. I would suggest keeping somewhat of a list of names mentioned. It might make the big “who-dun-did-it” reveal at the end more satisfying. Just because of the setting, I want to finish this book series, but the end of the first book doesn’t leave all of the ends tied up, so the suspense will also keep me reading until the end of the trilogy. I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves mysteries, Venice, or the Italian Renaissance, but doesn’t mind some violence and spice (although most regular spice readers wouldn’t even consider it spice, they’d probably think of it more as just a tad zesty, but it was spicy for me). It really is a read that sucks you in and keeps your attention, so if you do check it out, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading, I’d better be finding a gondola to take me to a masquerade ball. Alla prossima! Image sources: Cover: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9999795-venom Gifs from giphy.com Personal Rating: 2 stars Goodreads rating at time of review: 3.62 stars Content Rating: R (for violence, sex, abuse, and language) TW: Domestic abuse, animal abuse, rape, addiction, mental health, violence, stalking, and probably some other things I’m forgetting. In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with "the dust of one hundred dogs," dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body-with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager and all she needs to escape her no-good family and establish a luxurious life of her own is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica… (goodreads.com) Believe it or not, this is actually a book my cat selected for me to read. I saw a person on TikTok do a video where they put some books they wanted to read in a circle and then put their pet snake in the middle of the circle to see which book the snake wanted them to read next. I decided to copy this with my cat Elinor in the TikTok you can find here. Now you’re probably looking at this video and then looking at my rating of this book and thinking “sheesh, your cat is terrible at picking out books”. And… well, you may be right, but how can we know for sure unless she picks more? This was only her first try. Besides, I think Elinor picked out this book because it’s been on my TBR for quite some time and she sensed it was not good, but knew I wouldn’t ever get rid of it without reading it. So she prompted me to read it so I could see that it was bad and then pass it on to someone else out in the world. At least, that’s the theory I’m going with. Anyway! Moving on. I thought this book was going to be great or at least decent because the premise sounded so interesting and I love a good pirate story. I also thought it was going to be a book for teens, and while it is tagged as being YA/Teen on Goodreads, I definitely felt that it was more for adults. Putting this book in YA feels similar to putting the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas in YA. Like yeah, okay, I guess it could technically be for “young adults” but young adults and teens are lumped together and you have to remember that “teen” starts at 13. And younger kids than that browse the teen section. I’m just saying. I feel like that’s my biggest bone to pick with this book. If it had been presented as an adult book then I would have been less shocked at the mature content. Well, probably not because you know at heart I’m secretly an old, eternally scandalized church lady clutching her pearls. But I at least would have had an inkling! Apart from all of the dark and troublesome themes in this book, the plot was actually pretty interesting. (If it hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have finished it and this review wouldn’t exist.) The story is broken down into chapters of Saffron Adams in the 1980s and 90s, backstory for Emer Morrisey from the late 1600s, and sections that are one part dog training advice and one part more back story. Saffron Adams is the human reincarnation of Emer Morrisey, a pirate who was cursed to live many lives as dogs before turning back into a human. She also retains all of Emer’s memories, including the memory of where she buried her treasure and of all the time she spent as dogs. As far as characters go: they were okay. Most of them were horrible people, but the only one we get much development for is Emer/Saffron. She was a decent main character. She went through a lot of terrible stuff and changed a lot from the beginning of the book to the end. One thing I couldn’t stand about her was how she was such a I’m-not-like-other-girls-girl and how little she cared for other women when she was a pirate and when she was a highschooler. Like, I get the book was published in 2009 when that was the thing, but it really is so irksome. I did wish there were more piratical adventures. The chapters that took place in the 1600s were really just backstory for how Emer became a pirate until the book gets to chapter 20 or so, which is pretty late in the book. And after that, there were plenty of pirate shenanigans from Emer, but they were told in broad strokes, just giving the reader an overview of the things she did. I had hoped that Saffron would also get up to pirate business, but her chapters were mainly about her time spent with her struggling family. She mainly dealt with her mother’s high expectations for her and her brother’s drug addiction until she graduated high school and was free to go look for treasure, which was, again, late in the book. Still, there was enough going on and enough intrigue that it kept me interested. I feel like the pace really began to pick up after the halfway point and from there on out it was pretty exciting. However, despite the attention keeping writing and the plot, if I had known about all of the rape, addiction, and abuse that were going to be in this book, I probably would have never read it and I do not recommend it. I’m going to do a spoiler section/rant below, so feel free to keep reading if you don’t care about spoilers. Otherwise, thanks for stopping by, best of luck in all of your treasure hunting adventures. Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33931132-the-dust-of-100-dogs Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.10 Stars Content Rating: Strong PG-13 (for language, violence, smoking/drinking, and suggestive remarks) Trigger Warnings: Drug overdose, parent death, rape is alluded to, brief use of racist language. With her mama recently dead and her pa sight unseen since birth, fourteen-year-old Amelia is suddenly in charge of her younger brother and sister, and of the family gas station. Harley Blevins, local king and emperor of Standard Oil, is in hot pursuit to clinch his fuel monopoly. To keep him at bay and her family out of foster care, Melia must come up with a father, and fast. And so when a hobo rolls out of a passing truck, Melia grabs opportunity by its beard. Can she hold off the hounds till she comes of age? (goodreads.com) This book was fantastic. I won’t beat around the bush with “I found this book here” or “this book interested me because”—it doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that this is an amazing, heartbreaking, uplifting, giggle and tear inducing book with incredibly likeable (and one detestable) characters. That’s it. That’s all you need to know. Okay, maybe you need to know more than that. You’re probably wondering why, if this book is so wonderful, I only gave it four stars and not five. Or you might be wondering what exactly about this book was so good. You may even require some convincing that a book about a gas station could even be interesting. And, because you have so little faith in me, I will give you an actual review instead of just gushing about how much I liked this book. You’re welcome. First things first: why did I only give it four stars? There are a couple of reasons. The first being that there was unnecessary use of racial slurs. It was hardly there, and only popped up once or twice. And sure, it was probably accurate to something a person of that time would say, but it had nothing to do with the plot, the instance that I remember most clearly was really just in a throwaway line that didn’t add anything. It’s one thing if a slur or harmful language is important to the story, but it doesn’t sit well with me when that sort of thing is thrown around without cause. So that’s one of the reasons for losing a star. The other reason is just because I personally was not comfortable reading about some of the subjects I mentioned in the TW section above. Also, there was a heckin’ lot of foul language and you know how we feel about that round here in these parts. Apart from those things, I really did love this book. I’m a sucker for “found family” stories and this one played that trope out to perfection. It also had a unique setting in a gas station during the Great Depression in Virginia, which turned out to be a really interesting and fresh setting for a book. I loved the different ways the family in this book improved their gas station and the lengths they went to protect it from the disgustingly evil Harley Blevins (I really would have liked to punch this guy in the face… with a baseball bat… or a brick… a couple of dozen times). Reading about the different promotions they’d run to make a little extra cash, or the things they’d do to make the station nicer, or the meals they’d cook, was just my cup of tea. And the characters! Apart from Harley Blevins (aka the Scum of the Earth), the characters were so likeable it was ridiculous. The story is told from Melia’s (the MC) point of view and it is written the way she would speak, regional slang and all. She was such a strong and interesting character with actual development that didn’t feel rushed. I don’t think I have ever liked a first person narrator more. Her siblings, Earle and Janey were adorable and also had their own lives apart from being adorable children. They had their own wants and thoughts and motivations. Oftentimes, kid characters in YA and adult novels are so flat and boring and just there to be cute. But Earle and Janey were so much more than that and drove the plot in their own way. Then, of course, there was Hiriam, who you aren’t really sure what to make of when you first meet him, but I promise he grows on you. I could probably go over each and every character from this book and tell you about them, but I won’t do that because I don’t have the energy to type that long of a review. Suffice to say, that even the town snobs of the story eventually started to warm up. Pretty much everyone except Harley Blevins (the Poopiest Poop of this book and possibly all time) was likeable or interesting. I do want to throw out that Christians in this book are not portrayed in a good light, though it can be a realistic light unfortunately. They treat Melia and her family poorly because they don’t go to church and are just very judgmental and hypocritical in general. While the Christians in the town in this story eventually get better, it really irks me that Harley Freaking Blevins used God and religion as an excuse to do the things he does. He also sees his faith as a business transaction with God, which is not accurate. He sort of reminds me of Frollo from Hunchback of Notre Dame (the Disney movie, I’ve never read the book) using his position of power and the name of God to judge others and bend them to his will. Which is not what God is for. God isn’t a god of bargains, He is a god of unconditional love. Lucky Strikes was truly a compelling historical fiction and I may read it again at some point down the line. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who is interested in Depression-era fiction, gas stations of yesteryear, or just stories about finding family and yourself. Thank you for reading, I’m off to fill up my gas tank… no literally, it is getting low. Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23546616-lucky-strikes Personal Rating: 5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.02 Content Rating: PG-13 Trigger Warnings: Depictions of war (WWII) and some violence. Joshua Pearl comes from a world that we no longer believe in — a world of fairy tale. He knows that his great love waits for him there, but he is stuck in an unfamiliar time and place — an old-world marshmallow shop in Paris on the eve of World War II. As his memories begin to fade, Joshua seeks out strange objects: tiny fragments of tales that have already been told, trinkets that might possibly help him prove his own story before his love is lost forever. (goodreads.com) This, like Raybearer, was a book for the book club I do with some of my coworkers. We are reading a book from a different country every month and for May we did France. This book was originally written in French and I was a little apprehensive to read it at first as some reviews said that they thought it didn’t make as much sense in English. However, though it was a bit confusing at first due to the alternating points of view and scrambled timeline, it didn’t take long for me to sort things out and get wrapped up in the story. I actually liked this story so much when I finished it that I shelved it next to Inkheart and The Thief Lord (if you know me then you know how high of an honor that is). The Book of Pearl is a wonderful mixture of fairy tale, historical fiction, and contemporary fantasy. There are three different stories going on in this book. The story of a fairy tale inspired land, the story of a young man in World War II, and the story of a different young man with a camera (in more modern times). It takes a little while to sort out who is who, especially if you go into the book fairly blind as I did, but I’d say by the end of Part One everything is pretty clear. If you are looking for a book that delves deep into the characters emotions, this is not that. It is told more like a fairytale than a novel, but I still feel like you get to know all of the important players in it, just not necessarily through their thoughts on the events. Because of the unique way that it is told, I feel that it would make for an excellent movie. For real. If anyone reading this is in the movie industry (ha) and the author agrees, can we, uh, can we get on that, please? I don’t know if it would make a lot of money or not, but I just want it. But not Disney. They’d ruin it (like they did with a certain other book-to-movie adaptation). Thanks. Good talk. If you are someone who likes beautiful writing, fairies, fiction set during World War II, a freaking marshmallow shop, or adventure, then I recommend you give this book a shot. I may or may not have stayed up until 1:30am to finish it because I was so enchanted by it. And I may have hugged it when I was done with it. You know, just normal stuff. Well, I’m off to eat a bag full of marshmallows and pretend they are as fancy as the ones in this book. Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34877733-the-book-of-pearl Personal Rating: 5 stars Goodreads Rating: 4.03 Stars Content Rating: Light R (for language and described nudity) Trigger warnings: Racial slurs are used, a character is put in an uncomfortable somewhat sexual situation. By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, "Dear Miss Sweetie." When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society's ills, but she's not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta's most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light. (goodreads.com) I won this book in an Instagram giveaway hosted by Stephanie Garber (author of Caraval), so thank you very very much to Stephanie Garber! A friend of mine and a coworker both recommended this book to me around the same time, saying it was a wonderful read and that I had to read it. I am notoriously bad at actually picking up the books recommended to me by friends and coworkers (I’ll usually say something along the lines of “I’ll have to check it out!”, add it to my Goodreads TBR, and then, unfortunately, forget about it). However I do have a good streak of reading books I am given right away. So, thankfully, I picked this one up as soon as I was able and promptly devoured it. The first chapters are a little slow, but I still enjoyed them because there was quite a bit of talk about millinery and hat making, which is a topic that is fascinating to me (thanks to Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle). Even with the slow chapters, once you get into this book then you really are trapped there. I may or may not have stayed up until 3:30 AM in order to finish it because once those twists start coming they don’t stop coming (♪ fed to the rules and I hit the ground running, didn’t make sense not to live for fun, your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb…♪) and I got sucked in like a spider meeting a vacuum cleaner hose. The plot of this book had everything you could want from a historical fiction. It had mystery, social tensions, secrets, betrayals, hats, horses, seriously creepy crooks, newspapers, advice columns, and a dash of romance. The shocking reveals all seem to hit you at once and it’s like gut punch after incredible gut punch! I gasped aloud at some of the revelations and kept saying “one more chapter” until there were no more chapters. Along with the excellent plot, the writing itself was engaging and refined. There are so many beautiful words used in this story as the MC, Jo and another character speak about words and writing. The way that Stacey Lee spins out tired sayings with a new flair really kept my attention and sparked my brain. It was nice to read a story with writing that felt smart and polished. I may be praising this book too heavily, but it really was wonderful. And the characters were *chef’s kiss* magnificent. All of them felt SO WELL ROUNDED. They acted like real people and I didn’t always know what their next step was going to be or what was going on inside their head. As with real human beings, I could hazard a guess and project my own experiences on these characters to try and understand why they did what they did and what they were thinking. It was so interesting to me to have characters who I am not always being told the exact motives of. Sometimes you never learn why people do things or what impact their actions and the actions of others has on them and I think it is okay to never learn that about characters sometimes too. Every character, even the loathsome ones felt like they could have been real people. On another note, I never knew much of anything about the Chinese immigrants to America during the late 1800s. I had no idea what some of the issues they faced were and it was incredibly fascinating to learn. Much of the time we see race issues in the history of America as just being black and white, but there was and is so much more to it and this book does a good job of showing that. I am so glad to have read this book and I highly recommend it. Please give it a read! Well, I’m off to write to Miss Sweetie for advice! Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33224061-the-downstairs-girl Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.77 Content Rating: PG-13 (for violence and a creepy dude) Possible trigger warnings: Rape (nothing actually happens, but the situation is set up). England, 1381: Delia's idyllic life as daughter of an earl is shattered when her father dies and his wife accuses Delia's seven brothers of treason and murder. The youngest is only ten years old, but this doesn't stop the guards from hauling them off to the Tower of London. There they await a grim fate, as child-king Richard II is executing anyone who poses a threat to his throne. Delia is their only hope for pardon and freedom. Sir Geoffrey did not expect his first assignment as captain of the guard to be the arrest of boys so young. He dutifully imprisons the brothers, but he can't ignore the sense, rooted in personal experience, that injustice and treachery are at work. Determined to rescue her brothers, Delia secures a position as a seamstress for the queen. Her quest is all but impossible as the executions continue. Sir Geoffrey offers to be her ally, but should she trust him in a court where everyone has an agenda? (goodreads.com) I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, so thank you to anyone who made that giveaway possible! As usual, I want to start things off by complimenting whoever was in charge of the cover design. I absolutely love the color palette and, of course, the poofy dress. I’m fairly certain that the dress is not historically accurate—or at least not for the situation that Delia found herself in—but it is a lovely dress nonetheless. I was hesitant to start this book, honestly. While I have read books by Melanie Dickerson before and enjoyed parts of them, as a whole they usually aren’t my jam. Her plots are exciting, but her characters are always kind of bland. The protagonists in each of her books are almost indistinguishable from each other and, though they are nice and pleasant people, they make for very boring book characters. I will say that, though I enjoyed this book about ten times more than I enjoyed my last Melanie Dickerson book, the characters were still pretty blah. Delia was kind and sweet and good and Sir Geoffry was noble and honorable and protective. Which could be said of most of the other lead characters in Melanie Dickerson’s other books. Maybe Sir Geoffry wasn’t as moody as the Margrave of Thornbeck (whose name I cannot remember for the life of me) from The Beautiful Pretender, but that’s about where the differences end as far as personality goes. One thing I did like about Delia, or at least relate to, was that she was struggling to trust God with the lives of her brothers. Typically, I feel, Dickerson’s characters do not have this worry. Delia wasn’t always sure that things were going to be okay, she worried that her brothers would be executed and she struggled with trusting that God had a plan for her if her brothers did die. I could relate to that worry and fear and even the distrust at times. It was nice to have something to relate to with the MC in this book, even if she was otherwise sort of boring. Because of Delia’s fear for her brothers and the discussion over if God would save them from execution or not, the book held more suspense for me. Would all of her brothers actually survive? If they didn’t, what would happen to Delia? If they do survive, how would they escape their impending doom? I liked this suspense, though I was a little disappointed with the ending. I won’t say more on that, because of spoilers, but I was sort of hoping for more excitement. The core message of the book, about trusting God, didn’t really wrap up the way I wanted it to either. I don’t think there was any event in the story to really make the points stick. But I will say that the particular message it was trying to convey is what made the book for me and made me stick around to see what happens. So it does have that going for it. To wrap up, I found this book to be more interesting than any of the other Melanie Dickerson books I’ve read, but I am still not a fan of how she writes her characters and if her characters are going to continue to be as flat as they are then I think there need to be some twists in the plot to keep the readers interest. I loved the coziness of knitting and sewing in this book, but since the characters personalities aren't adding anything interesting, I’d really like to see something unexpected happen. Of course, as always, those are just my thoughts on the book and as a whole, I did really enjoy reading this, I just wish the ending had been more satisfying. Well, I’m off to knit seven sweaters! TTFN! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52509575-court-of-swans Personal Rating:5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.7 Stars Content Rating: PG Possible trigger warnings: mental health, domestic abuse It’s 1929, and twelve-year-old Martha has no choice but to work as a maid in the New York City mansion of the wealthy Sewell family. But, despite the Gatsby-like parties and trimmings of success, she suspects something might be deeply wrong in the household—specifically with Rose Sewell, the formerly vivacious lady of the house who now refuses to leave her room. The other servants say Rose is crazy, but scrappy, strong-willed Martha thinks there’s more to the story—and that the paintings in the Sewell’s gallery contain a hidden message detailing the truth. But in a house filled with secrets, nothing is quite what it seems, and no one is who they say. Can Martha follow the clues, decipher the code, and solve the mystery of what’s really going on with Rose Sewell . . . ? (goodreads.com) Now, I know I start many reviews this way, but LOOK AT THAT GOSH DARNED BEAUTIFUL COVER. Stunning. 10/10 cover art, and in person the gold bits are actually shiny so that’s pretty awesome. Okay, that out of the way, let’s get going with the real review for this book. I got this book for Christmas a couple of years ago and it has been sitting in a box for a while with a load of other books waiting to be read. Despite it’s beautiful cover, it was not a priority read for me and I wasn’t sure that I was ever going to get to reading it. But… then Medieval-a-thon 2021 came along and one of the prompts was for a book with a gilded cover. Since I’m trying to read more of my physical TBR now that I have the shelf space to display it all, I came across this book and decided to go for it. Though it took me a couple of chapters to get into it, I ended up not wanting to put this book down. I skipped breakfast one morning so I could stay in bed reading this and, though breakfast isn’t my favorite, I do hate to miss a meal. But it was worth it in this case! The main character, Martha, while a tad sacreligious at times, was fun to read about. She really balanced being a mischievous scamp with being a responsible older sibling well and I liked that she could cause trouble and have fun, but then turn around and be kind hearted to her mother and brothers. I also loved her resolve to solve the mystery of what was going on with Mrs. Sewell. She is the narrator of the story and when we first meet her she is one hundred years old and sitting down to type out the tale of what happened when she worked in the Sewell house, leading up to a shocking turn of events. (She tells you about this shocking turn of events right at the beginning, but it is still fun to fit the puzzle pieces together to see how the situation escalated to that point.) I found this to be an atmospheric read as well. It set the scene for the late 1920’s with prohibition, the Hoover-Smith election, mentions of 20’s film stars, and the early signs of the market crash. But apart from all of that, it also talked about day to day life of a working class family as well as the more glamorous upper class during this time period and it even had a Gatsby-esque party to really throw things into high gear. It made me want to walk around 1920’s New York City and dance to some swing music. As I’m sitting here writing this review, I’m trying to think of something to critique about the story, but nothing comes to mind that I didn’t enjoy about it. So, real quick, I’m going to change my rating from 4 stars to 5. And it’s not like this is the best book I’ve ever read or anything, but it was charming and sweet and exciting. I stayed up too late reading it and I can’t think of any reason why it shouldn’t get a glowing review. I’m sure, when I read it, there was something that I didn’t like, but it’s been a week since then and I can’t remember what it was so… 5 stars! Ha! You can’t stop me! Of course, a completely positive review does not make for great blog content, so there is that, but I’m sure we’ll all survive. I’ll try to read something terrible soon, I promise. Then we can all laugh about it together. But, the book I’m reading currently is a good one (I’ll still review it though) and the book I’m reading after that is part of the Grishaverse series so I can’t imagine that will be bad, so it might be a minute before I write a good old fashioned negative review. So be patient. That’s all I have for today, but thank you for reading! I’m off to chaotically rearrange famous paintings in my personal art gallery (aka move around my own doodles on my refrigerator). Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32078140-the-gallery Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.79 Stars Content Rating: Light R (for dark themes) TRIGGER WARNINGS: Suicide, rape, miscarriage, abuse, murder, incest (like I said, dark themes). Grace Mae knows madness. She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum. When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past. (goodreads.com) I debated for a while about whether or not I should write a review for this book. As you can probably tell from the synopsis and the trigger warning list I put above the synopsis, this is a book with some dark content. Like, really dark. And I wasn’t sure that I wanted to share with anyone who happens to read my blog that I read this book and enjoyed it. Because if I say I like a book with all of the stuff that happens in this book then I seem like a bit of a weirdo, right? But in the end I decided to write a review because I cannot stop thinking about this book and I wanted to express what I thought of it. Being completely honest here, this book is not for everyone. It’s not for most people. From the very beginning we learn that the father of the main character, Grace, raped and impregnated her. That’s the kind of stuff that makes me feel sick to read about. What’s worse is, right after that he sent her to an inhumane insane asylum and she was treated horribly by nearly everyone there. This is not a light cheerful read at all. And there are a slew of horrible things that happen to Grace, her friends, and others in this book. And still, I rated it four stars. Once you get past all of the vile happenings in this story there is actually some great content. The plot is interesting and gives an interesting view of asylums in the 1890s. (Of course, I’ve heard some complaints that the details of the asylums and the patients may not be completely accurate. So, if you read historical fiction for the history alone, then this probably isn’t the book for you.) The mystery part of it is well paced and surprising. The characters are engaging. It’s just getting past all of the horrible happenings that makes this book a difficult read. Let’s talk about the characters though. Grace, the MC, was a character who I immediately felt interested in learning more about. I wanted to know her story and what her future held. I wanted to know her reactions to things and how she would handle situations. I think when an author creates characters that you have an interest in seeing how they would react to things that they never even encounter in the book, the author has created life-like, or at least captivating, characters. Grace was like that for me. I wanted to see what she would do in different scenarios and how she would react to new characters. I liked her more than I have probably ever liked another female character in the historical fiction genre. Then we have Thornhollow, the doctor who rescues Grace from the cruel asylum in Boston. This guy is a decent character. He was interesting, but I felt like I’d seen his character before in Sherlock Holmes and other big brain types who are more interested in the science or thrill of the mystery than the people involved. Still, he wasn’t just a complete Sherlock clone. He had some traits that made him a fun character, like how he got flustered whenever he was thought to be improper or a situation arose that might make him look like anything less than a gentleman. He wasn’t in the book as much as I thought he would be, but when he was it was generally entertaining. There is an amazing cast of other characters that add to the book and it wouldn’t be at all the same without them, but I don’t want to go into too much detail about them for fear of spoiling something. So, yes, there are heavy and unpleasant topics dealt with in this book. There are many things in this book that would make it a terrible read for many people. However, I loved the plot and the characters and the way Grace was finding herself in this story. It is a book that has stuck in my mind a week after reading it and I doubt it will be leaving my thoughts any time soon. Do I recommend this book? I’m not sure that I do, honestly. There is so much dealt with in A Madness So Discreet that I don’t know if I can say I would want to tell anyone else to read it. Even if I am glad that I did. Thank you for reading this review! National Suicide Prevention Hotline (USA): 1-800-273-8255 Crisis Text Line (USA): 741741 Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24376529-a-madness-so-discreet?ac=1&from_search=true Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.72 Stars Content Rating: Strong PG Parallel stories set in different times, one told in prose and one in pictures, converge as a Ella unravels the mystery of the girl next door. 1982: Mary is a lonely orphan at the Thornhill Institute for Children at the very moment that it's shutting its doors. When her few friends are all adopted or re-homed and she is left to face a volatile bully alone, her revenge will have a lasting effect on the bully, on Mary, and on Thornhill itself. 2017: Ella has just moved to a new town where she knows no one. From her room on the top floor of her new home, she has a perfect view of the dilapidated, abandoned Thornhill Institute across the way, where she glimpses a girl in the window. Determined to befriend the girl, Ella resolves to unravel Thornhill's shadowy past. Told in alternating, interwoven plotlines—Mary's through intimate diary entries and Ella's in bold, striking art—Pam Smy's Thornhill is a haunting exploration of human connection, and a suspense-filled story. (goodreads.com) In honor of this book being halfway told by beautiful illustrations, I’ve decided to share how I came across this book and part of my reaction to it in picture form. Enjoy my fantastic art skills: After that you probably don’t even need me to give my usual kind of remarks on the book, but since Thornhill is also told with words I’d better use some too. Let me say that I have mixed feelings about this book. So if I seem a bit back and forth about whether I liked it or not it’s because I’m not sure. For one thing, I thought the story telling was very well done and the illustrations were amazing. I loved that it was a different format from your typical novel and I love the dark lack-of-color scheme. It just looks so enticing and spooky and wonderful. It is a visually appealing book and I love that. But the story, man! It was well told and I was interested all the way through. I was fully invested in the characters. And I can’t say much without spoilers, but yeesh! That ending made me made, sad, frustrated, oddly happy, and satisfied all at the same time (I had similar feelings after Avengers: Infinity War). I don’t know how that happened but I kind of like a book that leaves me reeling, you know? It makes the excitement more authentic I think. Basically, this book was about two girls with thirty-five years that separate them who both just want to fit in and have friends, but are having a hard time of it. The girl in 1982, Mary, tells her story in the form of a diary. She describes the horrors the other girls living at her girls’ home put her through and how she deals with that (not in a healthy way, I’m going to be honest). The girl in the present, Ella, has her story told through gorgeous illustrations. She is facing life without her mother and with her father absent most of the time. She just moved into a house right by Thornhill and she keeps seeing a girl on the grounds of the old school who she wants to befriend. And this was a really interesting story. This novel was meant to be spooky, I think, and I know a lot of other people who read it are complaining that it wasn’t actually that scary. Okay, but… try reading it at midnight with all the lights in the house off except your reading lamp. That’s when you get scared to look up from the book because you’re afraid of what you’ll see (or won’t see) in the shadows. At least, that’s how I read all scary things to maximize the creepiness. And it really worked for the illustrations toward the end of the book. Yikes. I will admit that it could have been a lot creepier, but I think part of it is that sometimes print isn’t the best format for a scary story. A movie of Thornhill probs would have had me cowering behind a pillow. I don’t do scary movies. The creepiness level of this book was like a mild version of Neil Gaiman, I think. It kind of reminded me of The Graveyard Book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and Coraline a little. Anyway, it’s a really interesting book, for sure. It’s just odd. And sad. I don’t know if I recommend it or not. I would give you a warning for potential triggers for bullying and possibly suicide, so be wary of that. Otherwise, I mostly enjoyed this novel I think. Of course, you could flash beautiful covers and illustrations in my face and I’d probably say I liked nearly anything. Heck, if they made math books pretty enough I might have ended up doing something math related with my life. Eh, actually, I don’t think even books can be that persuasive. Thanks for reading my review! I hope you enjoyed it! What do you think of telling stories through illustrations? Have you read any other books told in this format, like maybe The Invention of Hugo Cabret or Wonderstruck (both by Brian Selznick)? I haven’t, but I’d be willing to try some more because I really liked it in Thornhill. Well, I am off to go make some creepy puppets and leave them around the grounds of an abandoned school. Ta-ta! Book cover source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33163379-thornhill |
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