Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.79 Stars Content Rating: PG-13 (mostly for violence) In 1919, Ada Navarra—the intrepid daughter of immigrants—and Corinne Wells—a spunky, devil-may-care heiress—make an unlikely pair. But at the Cast Iron nightclub in Boston, anything and everything is possible. At night, on stage together, the two best friends, whose “afflicted” blood gives them the ability to create illusions through art, weave magic under the employ of Johnny Dervish, the club’s owner and a notorious gangster. By day, Ada and Corinne use these same skills to con the city’s elite in an attempt to keep the club afloat. When a “job” goes awry and Ada is imprisoned, she realizes they’re on the precipice of danger. Only Corinne—her partner in crime—can break her out of Haversham Asylum. But once Ada is out, they face betrayal at every turn. (goodreads.com) PSA: Please take a moment to put on your favorite swing music or electro swing music. If you are unfamiliar with this type of music I have created a playlist for you which you can find here (and some of the songs on that playlist you’ll find are by a channel called Postmodern Jukebox, and if you like popular songs being turned into vintage songs you should really go check it out because it is amazing). *end PSA* I’m sure we’ve all read or will read The Great Gatsby and that we all have opinions on it. Personally, I wasn’t really a fan of it. I know the characters are supposed to be people who the reader dislikes, but I think F. Scott Fitzgerald did too good of a job. Obviously, you are free to feel about it how you will, I just didn’t like it. The Great Gatsby takes place toward the end of the 1920’s I believe, and Iron Cast takes place right as that era was getting started so they aren’t exactly at the same time, but they had a lot of the same things going on with Prohibition, dance clubs, racism, living life on the edge, and fantastic music. So forgive me, but I’m going to clump them into the same time period. As far as “Roaring Twenties” books go, I like this one much better than I like The Great Gatsby. Maybe because this book is about teenage girls so I can relate to it better, or maybe because Iron Cast was focused more on danger, crime, politics, and excitement than a convoluted love story. There are two love stories in this book, but they are really well written and they don’t take up the whole focus of the plot. The characters are actually more interested in solving their huge problems than they are interested in smooching up a storm. Which was quite refreshing. The set up for this book is really interesting and grabs the reader’s interest immediately. It kind of reminded me of X-Men, but in the 20’s. There are these people called “hemopaths” who have superpowers that they can control by wielding the arts. For example, songsmiths can make you feel emotions or forget things if they are playing music or singing. I don’t want to talk too much about the powers because I don’t want to spoil it for you if you read it, but there are some really cool ones that work really well with the plot. And the reason it reminded me of X-Men is because society hates the hemopaths because of their abilities. The characters were great and I could honestly spend this whole post just talking about them. I promise I won’t examine every single character individually though. We’d be here for a while. I’ll just tell you about the main characters. We have Ada Navarra as one of the two protagonists. Out of her and the other MC I think she’s my favorite. She was witty, kind, and smart, but she wasn’t always sure of herself and sometimes she made mistakes. She has a lot to deal with, what with not only being a hemopath, but also being a person of color in the 1920’s. She handles her difficult situations with a level head and she acts like a real person. Ada’s best friend, Corinne, was also pretty great. She was the more humorous of the two and the more excitable. In the book she is a marvelous con woman and can think on her feet. Even though tricking someone out of their money is something that would make me feel sick for doing, I always love reading about clever con artist characters. I love it when they outsmart everyone else in the room and do it all with a smile on their face. And typically those characters are men or boys (or twelve year old criminal masterminds) so it was really fun to have the fairly feminine Corinne out there making fools of the bad guys. Another character worth mentioning is Gabriel Stone. AKA the obligatory young adult novel mysterious brooding hunk. Alright, he was more than just a hunk. He was also kind and open to new ideas, which is a bigger deal than you think. How many YA guys - who aren’t the main character - can you think of who take time to consider both sides of every argument and who admit when they are wrong? Seriously, tell me if you think of any because none are coming to mind right now. Moving on, I really loved the way the plot fell together and how everything worked. I liked the mystery and secrets woven through the old timey gang atmosphere. The hemopath powers made it a fantastical read for anyone who likes for their historical fiction to play a little outside of history, and the glitz and glam of it all was fun to read about. I highly recommend reading this book with a bit of period music playing in the background if you like music while you read. It will really bring it to life for you, especially since they are usually playing music in the story. That about wraps up my review, I hope you enjoyed it! Reading any good books this summer? I’m very slowly making my way through my TBR pile… and adding more things to it. Well, they’re playing my song, so I’d better run! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28818313-iron-cast
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Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.05 Stars Content Rating: PG Miss Harriet Peabody dreams of the day she can open up a shop selling refashioned gowns to independent working women like herself. Unfortunately, when an errand for her millinery shop job goes sadly awry due to a difficult customer, she finds herself without an income. Mr. Oliver Addleshaw is on the verge of his biggest business deal yet when he learns his potential partner prefers to deal with men who are settled down and wed. When Oliver witnesses his ex not-quite-fiancée causing the hapless Harriet to lose her job, he tries to make it up to her by enlisting her help in making a good impression on his business partner. Harriet quickly finds her love of fashion can't make her fashionable. She'll never truly fit into Oliver's world, with its fancy dinners and elegant balls, but just as she's ready to call off the fake relationship a threat from her past forces both Oliver and Harriet to discover that love can come in the most surprising packages. (goodreads.com) The main reason I read this book was because it sounded like a book my mom might enjoy and we often enjoy the same books, at least when they are historical fiction or the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. I also quite liked the idea of Harriet, the protagonist, opening a shop to sell dresses to independent working women. Plus fashion, particularly of the historical variety, has always been interesting to me. I’m thrilled that this book did not disappoint after the last three books I’ve reviewed. It may not have been the best book in the world or even the best thing I’ve read this year, but I enjoyed it a lot and had a grand time reading it on the hammock in our backyard now that the weather is finally turning nice again - and I didn’t even get a sunburn! The main character of our story is Miss Harriet Peabody, who works in a hat shop, making hats. She loves designing clothes from repurposed dresses and she has a troubled past. There are many historical romances that I’ve read where the female MC is pretty much just a porcelain doll who occasionally spews out a few witty things. Harriet, however, was refreshingly human and she had character traits that she kept throughout the entirety of the novel. She was funny, interesting, and had flaws like a real person. She was described to be exceptionally beautiful, which pretty much every character remarked on just like in most of these historical romances, but I guess it is too much to ask for a person to behave realistically and look normal. Mr. Oliver Addleshaw is the male protagonist and I liked him decidedly less than I liked Harriet. He’s basically this really rich dude (he frequently likes to remind everyone that he is one of the wealthiest men in America) who throws money around like candy during a parade. And he’s supposed to be a ruthless businessman, but we don’t really see a lot of that. And that’s about all we know about him. I didn’t like him because he was rather manipulative when it came to how he treated Harriet. His character development was also kind of meh. He went from not caring that poor people existed to a saintly figure in the blink of an eye. The side characters might have been my favorite part of the book. They all felt like they deserved their own book (and two of them actually get it) and they actually had lives outside of what was going on with Harriet and Oliver! I could hardly believe there were strong supporting characters in this book! It was fantastic! My favorites were Abigail Hart, a kindly old lady, and Archibald Addleshaw, Oliver’s grandfather. Oh, and obviously Buford (the dog). The plot of this story was downright ridiculous. At totally unbelievable. And absurd. And I loved it. It was so much fun to read and it didn’t go in the direction I was expecting it to even if once it started going that way it got rather predictable. I had a lot of fun with the plots and subplots and I hope to read the next two books in the series to see where all of those subplots go. I was confused about if this book was a Christian book or not. Because going into it I didn’t think it was, but then Harriet prayed a lot and sort of seemed to be a Christian maybe (though her faith seemed more based on works, so I dunno). And then minor spoiler Oliver goes to church and prays for forgiveness at the end of the book. It kind of felt like the author had read 2 Corinthians 6:14, remembered that Harriet is (possibly) a Christian but didn’t say anything about if Oliver was so she decided to quickly make him one (though no one ever mentioned Christ in this book even if they mentioned God quite a few times). End minor spoiler. So I’m just not sure if this is a plain old historical fiction or if it is a Christian historical fiction. Another problem I had with the book, though I could overlook it, was the historical inaccuracy. I didn’t feel like there was much research done for this book. There were just a few things that seemed off, but given the plot was pretty unbelievable to begin with I just shrugged and moved on. If you are really into the historical aspect of books then this may not be the book for you. Otherwise, I truly did enjoy this book and had a fun time reading it. I will be interested to see what happens in the two sequels and I hope they are as amusing as this one is. I recommend After a Fashion for a bit of light reading, a lazy reading day, or if you really like cheesy romances. Thanks for reading, but I really must be off as I have a very fancy dinner to get to with a duke. Image source: https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403190200l/22504489.jpg Personal Rating: 3.75 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.13 Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse. Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance. The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both. (goodreads.com) As much as I adore those Little Free Libraries I had never actually taken a book from one. One of the book boxes near me was getting kind of full (stuffed with these crumbling old Westerns and a few odds and ends) so I decided to take one. No, I’d never heard of this one before and I didn’t really have any idea what it was about, but I liked the cover so I grabbed it. What an emotional roller coaster of a book! Goodness, there were so many sad parts. But I love the characters and the story. It was a great read. The main characters, Molly and Vivian, were interesting. I started out wanting to hear Molly’s story only and not caring about the historical drama taking place in the late 1920’s and 1930’s. However, the writing was so good that by the end of it I was totally invested in both character’s lives and the similarities between them. Though, I might have liked the parts with Vivian a bit more by the end. The plot was fantastically woven, though to a person who is used to reading stories about teenagers overthrowing governments it seemed a little boring at first. If you really want to enjoy this book then you have to be ready for a bit of slowness now and then, between the emotionally charged parts. It was an endearing and historically accurate story of a girl, torn from everything she knows first as an immigrant and then as a child on an orphan train. The historical aspects were particularly interesting to me, partially because of the time they took place in. I would have expected a story like this to be a few decades earlier in history and it was interesting to see it happening in the late twenties and to learn about how the orphan trains and the adoptions afterward really worked. I like a bit of learning in my reading from time to time and this book was fascinating. While it was not a book that stood out in any particular way or really blew me away, I did enjoy it and I found it to be an interesting read. It seems like the kind of book you might read for a literature class or for a book club full of people who read much more meaningful works than I do on a regular basis. You know those book clubs, the ones that are welcoming to everyone and read thought provoking books that you never actually thought you’d read, but you ended up liking? I’ve never been to one of those book clubs or any book club really. Come to think of it, I might like to start one someday. It would be a good way to socialize and talk about books. Note to self: consider book club. Anywho, I really did enjoy this read and I do recommend it. However, I feel that I ought to mention that there is a descriptive scene of a child getting molested. There are not many other negative aspects that I can think of in the book, but that was a big one that really shocked me. I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and I saw a slightly different version of this same book in the children’s section. I’m assuming that someone saw that the rest of the book was suitable for children and removed that and other violent or mature parts from the book so you might try looking into that as an option if you want to read this book. TTFN! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15818107-orphan-train?ac=1&from_search=true Personal Rating: 2.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.11 Stars Lady Sabine is harboring a skin blemish, one, that if revealed, could cause her to be branded as a witch, put her life in danger, and damage her chances of making a good marriage. After all, what nobleman would want to marry a woman so flawed? Sir Bennet is returning home to protect his family from an imminent attack by neighboring lords who seek repayment of debts. Without fortune or means to pay those debts, Sir Bennet realizes his only option is to make a marriage match with a wealthy noblewoman. As a man of honor, he loathes the idea of courting a woman for her money, but with time running out for his family’s safety, what other choice does he have? As Lady Sabine and Sir Bennet are thrust together under dangerous circumstances, will they both be able to learn to trust each other enough to share their deepest secrets? Or will those secrets ultimately lead to their demise? (goodreads.com) If you recall all the way back to July of 2016, my very first book review was for a novel by the name of An Uncertain Choice. I did that review because I had won an ARC of the sequel to that book (A Daring Sacrifice) in a Goodreads Giveaway and wanted to review both. The third book in that series finally came out last year and I have read it. And because I reviewed the first two I thought I’d better keep up the tradition and review the last one as well. As much as I love reading the cheesy love stories and pious adventures that occur in Christian young adult novels, I do understand when a book is actually good or not. Full disclosure: I enjoyed reading this book. I often have a good time rolling my eyes at less than realistic romance and just downright cardboard characters, I like reading this kind of book. However, I acknowledge the fact that this book was, frankly, not very good. If you don’t get down to the details then this book has pretty much the same plot as the first two. Or at least it felt the same. There’s a noblewoman who has a problem that she cannot trust anyone to help her with. There’s a nobleman/knight who also has a big problem. When they meet they second guess their love for each other for pages on end until they have a climactic problem that forces them to realize how much they actually do love each other. Happily ever after, the end. Meh! And the characters are always kind of blergh as well. Sir Bennet was in the first book of this series and I remember him having a bit of a personality there, but it seems to have vanished in this book. He’s just your average charming knight with a “perfectly sculpted nose” (that’s a direct quote). I felt like his personality was kind of parroting the heroine’s personality. Speaking of the female protagonist, Lady Sabine, she actually had a unique personality! That was a lovely, change from Lady Rosemarie in the first book and the stereotypical “strong woman” that we saw in Lady Juliana. Sabine actually said some witty things and could even be funny at times. It was sad to see her vibrant character squashed by Sir Bennet behaving in exactly the same way as she did, just more masculinely. Once again, we see a complete lack of interesting side characters apart from Sabine’s grandmother, who was a tricky lady who seems like she should have a book of her own - and not about when she was young either. I want a book about Sabine’s granny as a granny. I don’t know why, but I do. Sadly, the rest of the non-protagonist characters were mostly just there as plot devices and fillers. Not very interesting, not remarkable, just props. The series is called “An Uncertain Choice” after the first book, but that name kind of does fit all three novels. Every single chapter was filled with the guy and the girl being uncertain about whether or not they loved each other. They just kept thinking about it and nothing else. Every decision they made in their day-to-day lives made them think of each other for some reason and thinking of each other made them question whether the other person loved them or if they loved the other person. Over and over and over again. Nonstop uncertainty. To sum up this brief review: there isn’t much new material here. It is very much what I picture when I think of “YA Christian Fiction” in every way. Unrealistic romance (Sir Bennet was way too romantic to be real, I mean, the guy is supposed to be running a castle and it seems like all he ever has on his mind is Sabine - then again, I’ve never experienced any romance so maybe that’s what it’s like? idk), simple a predictable plot, mostly boring characters with no development, and a nicely wrapped up ending. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. If you read it I hope you find some enjoyment in it too, whether it be from actually liking the book or because you thought the cheesiness was entertaining. It is relatively short and not a bad way to spend your afternoon. Just be warned that toward the end there is quite a bit of smooching. Oh dear! My castle is under siege! I’d best go defend it! Fare thee well! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30649325-for-love-and-honor Personal Rating: 2.5 Stars Goodreads rating: 3.76 Stars When Annalisa Townsend’s ship is set upon by pirates in search of her father’s treasure, one of the crew, James Sterling, discovers her in the hold. When he moves to take her necklace, she begs him not to, as it is all she has left of her mother. He accepts a kiss in exchange for the necklace. “A fair trade, m’lady,” he tells her afterward, before disappearing. A year later, with a forged letter of marque, Annalisa is intent on hunting down the wretched James Sterling and reclaiming her father’s treasure from him. But now she’s in danger of him stealing something far more vulnerable this time: her heart. (goodreads.com) I don’t know about you, but I love a good pirate story. There’s just something about the freedom, adventure, high seas, clothing style, and sword fighting that gets to me. Probably because for a while Peter Pan was my favorite book. I first came across this book when going through the Goodreads giveaways. It looked interesting so I entered to win it, but did not and therefore forgot about it. Then, as many of these blog posts start out, I was at a used book sale with a friend *waves to friend* and spotted this in one of the piles. So I grabbed it, brought it home, and eventually read it. It was a rather short read so I think it only took me a day or two. That day or two was filled with a lot of rolling eyes and snorts. Okay, so, you know me, I don’t hate romance in books but I’m not necessarily in favor of it either. I had hoped this book would be a lot more like Treasure Island and a lot less like Romeo and Juliet. Not to say that it has a tragic ending, but the insta love in this thing was irritating and I could scarcely stand it. So, we start out with this girl, who is helpless and afraid and her ship is being attacked by pirates. She happens to encounter a pirate who wants her necklace, which happens to have belonged to her dead mother. She refuses to give it to him and offers her ring instead. He takes the ring - and a kiss and goes on his merry way. Fast forward a year and this pirate, James, is down on his luck and can’t stop thinking about the girl, Annalisa. Meanwhile, Annalisa has become a privateer, and is in the process of hunting down James. When they meet up again - minor spoiler - she catches him and convinces him to help her find some treasure. And there is a love triangle, and James is dark and mysterious, and there’s lots of cheesy lines, and the ending was unrealistic. Not a terrible waste of a day, but not something I’ll likely read again. We’ve got good ole Annalisa as our MC, right? And she goes from wimpy to “I want to kick all the pirate patooties”. I mean, good for her, but the speed at which she garners the capabilities to kick pirate patooty is remarkable. It’s only a year. And she gets herself a boat, a crew, a sword (and now she’s “a natural” fencer), and wanted posters all across the Caribbean and southern USA in that relatively short amount of time. Plus, her whole mind set changes, which I suppose could happen, but just seems far fetched in the way it is written. On top of that, Annalisa isn’t exactly an interesting character. She’s got nothing about her that makes me think: “ooh, what a cool character trait! I wish more characters were like that.” She’s kind of more along the lines of: “I couldn’t pick this character out of a police lineup.” You’re probably getting tired of hearing me say this, but I’m getting real tired of the female protagonists in YA literature. (Maybe Marissa Meyer set the bar too high…) They are all starting to blend together in my head and they all have the same face, build, hair color, attitude, and inexplicable urge to do something drastic and change their world. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent, but no promises that I won’t do it again. Okay, let’s talk about James before I get too crazy. James, Jim, Jimmy. You did not disappoint in your role of “guy with a tragic past and no cause to fight for”. Actually, Jimbo, you kind of reminded me a bit of Han Solo, which would have been fine, except there are so many Han Solo wannabes in the world of YA lit these days. You had no original character traits. You had an alluring scar on your face. You were strikingly handsome in the most nondescriptive way possible. Again, I’d better hope you don’t mug me because you ain’t standing out in a police lineup, pal. Sure, you had a few funny one liners, but most of the things you said and thought were 100% natural cheese. And you were a bit of a womanizer so you have that going against you too. While the characters did nothing for the story, the storyline itself wasn’t completely awful. If you dial back the romance a little it’s actually an interesting adventure with some fun shenanigans along the way. So kudos to the author for that. But you know, I really need to stop reading creative writing tips on the internet because I start to hold up books to those writing tips and tricks and sayings and quotes and advice to judge the book by them. For example, Ray Bradbury once wrote: “Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.” Translation: your story needs a plot and characters, but the characters are really what make the book something special. And To Catch a Pirate had a lovely plot, but subpar characters. Well, that’s about all I have to say about this book. If you’re in the mood for some romantic pirate stuff then this is a great read for you. If you don’t like either of those things then you will hate this book so don’t even bother reading it. Well, you can if you want to. I’m not going to tell you how to live your life. I should probably go eat lunch now. Mmm… the dining hall is serving chicken tenders and curly fries today. Yeah, I should definitely go. Fair wind to ye, me hearties! Arrrrgh! *hoists hook in the air and adjusts eyepatch* Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/493051.To_Catch_a_Pirate?ac=1&from_search=true Personal Rating: 2.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.32 Lady A is the most notorious blackmailer in the city. With just a mask and a gown to disguise her, she sweeps into lavish balls and exclusive events collecting the most valuable currency in 1725 London-secrets. But leading a double life isn't easy. By day Lady A is just a seventeen-year-old girl named Arista who lives in fear of her abusive master,Bones, and passes herself off as a boy to move safely through the squalor of London's slums. When Bones attempts to dispose of his pawn forever, Arista is rescued by the last person she expects: Jonathan Wild, an infamous thief who moves seamlessly between the city's criminal underworld and its most elite circles. Arista partners with Wild on her own terms in order to save enough money to buy passage out of London. Everything changes when she meets Grae Sinclair, the son of a wealthy merchant. Grae has traveled the world, seen the exotic lands Arista has longed to escape to her whole life, and he loves Arista for who she is-not for what she can do for him. Being with Grae gives something Arista something precious that she swore off long ago: hope. He has promised to help Arista escape the life of crime that has claimed her since she was a child. But can you ever truly escape the past? (goodreads.com) This is one of the books I bought because I have no self control inside Barnes and Noble. I saw it, the description was intriguing, I had a gift card, I purchased it. Do not leave me unattended in the bookstore, I will come out of there with at least one book. Unfortunately (fortunately), Barnes and Noble is right next to where I work and I bring home a lot of books. Regardless, let’s get to the actual review, shall we? There were some parts of this book that I enjoyed, but most of it I was just trying to get through without falling asleep. I know, that’s an awful thing to say, but it really wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped it would be. The plot seemed to be constantly on the verge of doing something exciting, but when it got there it was quite anticlimactic - even the murders. I was also not loving the characters. I can think of no nice way to say this: the main character was bland. Lady A, or Arista, is supposed to be this super awesome exciting lady who knows how to do stuff and kick tush (pardon my language). She never actually did that much. Sadly, rather than kicking other’s patooties, Arista often had to have hers saved - and pretty much always by men. Her thoughts were all similar to each other; all she seems to want to think about is how hard her life is now and how she wants to get away from it. Even when she’s in danger she’s thinking about how this wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t been an orphan. I believe there was an attempted love triangle, but one can’t really be sure as one of the gentleman in the triangle only showed up when the plot needed a boost. The other man in the triangle was not overly interesting. He was sweet, but, like a platypus, he didn’t do much. Well, I guess that isn’t entirely true, he reliably rescued Arista almost every time she was in danger. Let’s talk about the villain, eh? He’s not as villainy as I was hoping. His scheme was kind of obvious and you know from the start that, even if he acts nice, you really can’t trust him. I don’t really know what to think of him beyond that, as he doesn’t really do anything to make me mad, glad, or sad. It’s like there needed to be a villain so this guy just got tossed in. Some positive elements to this book… eh… uh… the art is gorgeous! I love the delicate lace patterns throughout the book and on the cover. Another positive is that Arista and the guy she ends up with are actually a very cute couple and I think they went well together. Besides that, there’s not a ton of good things I can say about this book except that it was decently interesting and not a terrible use of my time. Did I like this book? It was okay. Do I recommend this book? Not particularly. So, that’s it for this review. Thanks for reading! The next review I do will probably be for the book I’m currently reading, which is one of the strangest most interesting things I’ve read in awhile. You’ll see what I mean soon. Farewell my friends! Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26245755-tangled-webs Personal Rating: 1.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.87 Stars As the daughter of King Saul, Michal lives a life of privilege but one that is haunted by her father's unpredictable moods and by competition from her beautiful older sister. When Michal falls for young David, the harpist who plays to calm her father, she has no idea what romance, adventures, and heartache await her. (goodreads.com) Happy Monday, y'all! I hope you had a wonderful weekend filled to the very brim with awesomeness! Lately I’ve been reading through 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel for my devotions and it came to mind that my grandma had given us these books about the wives of King David and that they might be interesting to read. So I went down to the basement where there is a little library-school-room type of thing (I’m in charge of organizing the books and that isn’t going well at the moment) and dug out this book and it’s sequel. Then I started to read. Now I wish I hadn’t. For those of you who may not have been raised up on Bible stories and Sunday School songs, let me give you a little background. David, the guy who killed Goliath, was married many times (though, not as many times as his son Solomon, who was married to about 700 women) at the same time. No, Christians do not support bigamy or polygamy and I’m about as weirded out as you are. Having multiple wives is not good and yet here we have David, the man after God’s own heart, getting married again and again. It’s weird, man, and at the moment I can’t really figure out what was going on. I’ll probably look into it, but it’s weird. Out of David’s many wives, his first was Michal, daughter of King Saul (a guy who really wanted to kill David). This book described the relationship between David and Michal. It’s going to be kind of hard to review this book because it is based on actual events as described in the Bible, but I shall try my best. Fasten your seatbelts folks and here we go. The best comparison for this book is running the mile in the Presidential Fitness Test. Back when I actually participated in this testing there was nothing I dreaded more than running a mile. I’d take a hundred flu vaccination (something else I loathe) and eating a bucket full of carrots (least favorite vegetable) over running that mile. However, I always did it and even though my time wasn’t great, it wasn’t awful either. Anyway, reading this book reminded me of running the mile. The first chunk or lap is okay, you’ve got a good pace going and you can’t be sure of how things will turn out. Then comes the second lap or section and you are growing weary, wondering if you’re nearly there. On the third lap/book part you are panting, aching, and wishing this thing would just finish up and get over with because you really cannot stand it a moment longer. Finally you’re on the last lap and though you are dying and stumbling over yourself to get to the finish line, that last hundred meters isn’t so bad after all. Then you flop over on the ground and possibly throw up. The throwing up thing only happened with the running, not the reading, but I think my point still stands. As you can probably tell by that last paragraph and my rating (wonder of wonders, it’s actually lower than my rating for Me Before You!) I did not like or enjoy this book. I don’t even know why I kept reading it. Can I tell you something about Christian fiction (aka Inspirational fiction, as listed in libraries)? It’s mostly written by really great and neat Christian people who want to share the Gospel through stories or put some good old fashioned morals into storytelling. The problem is, these lovely Christian people are so excited about getting the Word of God out there that they forget a tiny detail… they can’t write. Now, this is a very stereotypical statement, and I have read some excellent Christian books before, but the fact is that these stories, moral filled though they are, aren’t as interesting as many other novels. Christian authors tend to be so focused on stuffing a story full with good morals that the plot and characters suffer. Knowing that David gets married to several women made it kind of hard for me to get into the romance of this book. At first it seemed like a regular old love story, but then they get separated and he gets married again and again and she gets married again and then they get thrown back together and the romance is trying desperately to hold on, but it just vanishes. I’d say that this book started out as a romance and ended up as a… well I don’t know exactly. This is definitely not a book for feminists. You probably guessed as much when I mentioned the polygamy. Aside from that fact, it was also very hard to read from Michal’s POV as she pretty much idolizes David and is helpless without him. We do get a turn around by the end of the book, and I almost liked the last chapter, but for the most part Michal is pathetic. Then there was David. As a child I’d hear stories about David and think he was the coolest guy in the Bible (apart from Jesus of course, because when you are in Sunday school no one is cooler than Jesus - actually, when you are anywhere, no one is cooler than Jesus). David slew Goliath, David was an awesome king, David did what God told him to, David was the best. Then I read this book and we have David start out as kind of cool, but then he turned into this guy who treats his wives as nothing more than objects to further his political campaign and who pretty much blames Michal for all the problems they have (granted, many of the problems were her fault). One thing that was good about this book was it’s historical accuracy. Of course, the author seemed so focused on the accuracy that she was afraid to add any more detail than necessary. Basically, if you want to know the plot of this book I’d suggested reading 1st and 2nd Samuel, it will save you a lot of time and provide all the same information without the romantic bits, which were hard to read anyway. An awkward topic portrayed awkwardly with awkward situations and awkward wording. The whole thing was tough to read and had me cringing through most of it. Safe to say, I won’t be reading the next two books in this series (Abigal and Bathsheba - golly, I don’t even want to think about how disastrous the one on Bathsheba would be). What are your thoughts? Should I have given this book a little more leniency? Have you ever read this book or do you plan to? Do you think I should do a Friday opinion post about Christian fiction? I’d love to hear what you think! Comment below! For more information about Michal and her role in David’s life I suggest Bible Gateway’s Article about her. Well, that’s it for me today. See y’all later! Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6140017-michal?ac=1&from_search=true (Yes, I am posting two reviews in one day, it's my birthday so I'll do as I please. I might even post another one this evening.) Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.01 Stars For three years, the Cloaked Bandit has terrorized Wessex, robbing the nobility by knifepoint and a well-placed arrow. But little does anyone know, this bandit is in fact Juliana Wessex, the rightful ruler of the land and a girl her tyrannical uncle—the current Lord Wessex—believes was killed along with her father. Juliana has become skilled at hiding from Lord Wessex in the forest, using her stolen goods to provide food and shelter to the peasants her uncle has taxed into poverty. But when she robs Collin Goodrich, her red hair betrays her true identity. Lord Collin remembers Juliana from their childhood—and challenges her to stay on his estate for a week in hopes she will leave her thieving ways and become a proper lady once more. Juliana is intrigued by Collin and his charms, but only time will tell if he can overcome her distaste of the nobility—as well as win her heart. (goodreads.com) I won an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of this book in a Goodreads giveaway and because of that I purchased and read the first book in the series, An Uncertain Choice. Personally, I enjoyed this book much more than the one before it. I liked the action scenes, the characters, and the settings better than I liked those features in the first book. While I liked Juliana better than I liked Rosemarie (from the first book), I still had a hard time getting attached to her. She brags quite frequently, which was tolerable for a while, but got on my nerves at certain points. I liked that she didn’t mind stealing at first, but came to realize it was not the path she should be taking in her life. I also liked that she was out in the battles with all of the guys, instead of being rescued most of the time like other female protagonists (cough, cough, Lady Rosemarie, cough, cough). She was a decent character, but she’s not a memorable one. Lord Collin was by far my favorite part of this book. While the guys in YA novels are hardly ever very interesting to me, Lord Collin pretty much made this book. Not his constant flirting, which was a bit hard to read, but his all around personality. He was funny, he was witty, and I was genuinely concerned for what would happen to him in this story. I’m glad that many of the chapters were told from his perspective, in contrast to An Uncertain Choice, where the male protagonist gets very few chapters in his voice and the ones that he does get are kind of dull. I never felt bored with Collin’s chapters. The plot for this story was good, but it felt a bit too much like the plot from the first book. Much of both stories were centered around helping the poor, which I have no objection to, but they never really helped the peasants in concrete ways. They gave out food and clothing, but eventually those things will run out or fall apart. What I would have liked to see was the MCs helping their people to help themselves. Setting aside farming land, altering laws, or creating jobs. I did like that in A Daring Sacrifice that they wound up building homes for the poor, but I still felt they could have done more. The peasants in this series actually seem kind of lazy because they aren’t farming or working at trades. Unfortunately, the peasants, apart from a few, were mostly just props in the story. Once again, A Daring Sacrifice did much better about including the poor as actual characters that An Uncertain Choice, but it still only gave about three peasants names. The fight scenes were exciting and interesting in this book, though the final battle seemed very similar to the fight scene at the end of the first one. I liked the physical fights as well as the verbal ones. Collin and Irene’s arguments were particularly interesting. Irene in herself was an amusing character and she reminded me a lot of Caroline Bingley from Pride and Prejudice. Some of this stuff I’m just being snooty about, but as a whole I enjoyed this book immensely and I’m very happy to have read it. The third book to this series, For Love and Honor, is set to come out March 7th, 2017 and I am quite excited for it. Until next time! Image: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25280316-a-daring-sacrifice (First real post! Hip-hip-hooray! I hope you like it!) Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.82 Stars Due to her parents' promise at her birth, Lady Rosemarie has been prepared to become a nun on the day she turns eighteen. Then, a month before her birthday, a friend of her father's enters the kingdom and proclaims her parents' will left a second choice. If Rosemarie can marry before the eve of her eighteenth year, she will be exempt from the ancient vow. Before long, Rosemarie is presented with the three most handsome and brave knights in the land. But when the competition for her heart seemingly results in a knight playing foul, she begins to wonder if the cloister is the best place after all. If only one of the knights the one who appears the most guilty had not already captured her heart. (goodreads.com) Sounds a bit like medieval Bachelorette, doesn’t it? A girl, potential suitors, competitions, romantic outings, a choice to make… yep sounds a lot like a certain reality TV show. For parts of the book it does get kind of ridiculous how much the main character, Rosemarie, thinks about these three men who have come to woo her. However, it is understandable as she only has a month to fall in love and that is the main plot of the book. Of course there is more than just romance happening in this story, there is also some jousting, some fighting, some praying, some chess playing - oh! And a man almost gets boiled alive. The amount of torture methods used in this book was surprising, since it is supposed to be a romance. Personally, I kind of enjoyed the exciting and gruesome tortures, though I was always relieved when the victims got rescued. The boiling, stretching, branding, tongue ripping, and other horrible sounding things added some spice to the story. It was unexpected and interesting. Most of this book held my interest well. The plot twists were a bit predictable, and occasionally I would become bored with Rosemarie constantly questioning how she felt and how the love interest felt and what everybody was thinking and what they thought of her and what she thought of them and so forth and so on. Lady Rosemarie started out as a rather annoying character with way too many worries about what people thought of her. She ended as a not-so-annoying character with a few less worries about what people thought of her. What I’m saying is, there wasn’t a ton of character development going on with our MC, but there was enough to make her less irritating. Something else that bothered me was the writing style. It wasn’t hard to read or anything, but it was just hard for me to get into the first person narrative. As I’m finding is common for Christian novels, the protagonist has a lot of thoughts about things and, lucky us, we get to read every single one of those thoughts. It just bothered me how much she told the reader and how little was shown. Besides that I had no problems. Well, apart from the random uses of “you’re” when “you are” would have fit the style of speech much better in most instances. Besides that, no problems with the writing. Some of the aspects of this novel that I really enjoyed were the descriptions, the villain, the dog, and Rosemarie’s ability to turn to God for all of her worries. I didn’t feel like this book had some big huge message for me, just that it was a regular story with some Christian values. While I enjoyed the change from some of the more preach-y Christian fiction, I do wish that a personal relationship with Christ had been mentioned, as I couldn’t find one. All together, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to someone who isn’t nitpicky about character development, writing style, or historical accuracy and just wants a nice story to read. I very highly recommend reading the prequel, The Vow, before reading this because it clears up a lot of the backstory. Well, thanks for reading my first post that’s actually about books and not just about me. I hope you liked it and that you’ll come back on Wednesday when I post another review-opinion-thingy. ¡Adios! Image:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22900446-an-uncertain-choice?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true |
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