Category: Uncategorized

ARC Review | The Girl Who Never Came Back

3.5 stars

This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting, and it ended up being a bit of a letdown for me. While I generally enjoy books that go back and forth between time periods and perspectives, it just didn’t work for me this time. I was more invested in the chapters dealing with the past than with the present, though I was still hoping for more.

The past chapters deal with Sylvia and her time working with the SOE during the war, and the times after trying to find one of her operatives, the beautiful Phyllis (seriously; every time Sylvia talks about Phyllis, she has to mention how beautiful or lovely she was. It was a bit odd and got rather grating after a while). And while there were parts in between chapters that were directions out of an SOE manual, I was hoping for a bit more explanation on what they and the operatives did. It’s not an organization I’m super familiar with, so a bit more information would have been helpful.

The present chapters are told from Peg’s perspective, who is a long time friend of Sylvia’s. I didn’t find these chapters very engaging or interesting, and found my attention wandering more during these parts. Peg isn’t as good of a narrator, and I found a lot of what she discussed to be rather boring. It’s these chapters that made me feel less connected to the story and the main reason this didn’t get as high of a rating. The ending was also rather abrupt; I would have liked to know exactly what Sylvia’s letter to Humphrey said. I think it would have given the book a little better of a send off.

This wasn’t terrible by any means, and I’m sure many people will enjoy it. It just wasn’t engaging enough for me.

ARC Review | The Shamshine Blind

3.5 stars

This book was quite the chore to get through for the first half. It was equal parts ambitious but unbelievable, interesting and boring. There was a lot of info dumping, but at the same time you get left in the dark about a lot of things involving the war, psychopigments, and what happened to make cities like Boise and Iowa City the big cities in the country. You’re left to assume a lot of things and you have to suspend your disbelief a bit on psychopigments in general and Argentina winning a war that a lot of people may not really know about. I had only the most basic knowledge of the Falkland War, and I think that will be the case for many others. There is no information about the war, just that it happened and Argentina won due to the development of psychopigments.

After about the halfway point, things start picking up and getting more interesting, though there are still points where it drags a bit. It was hard for me to believe that no one anywhere and at any point had tried to develop Lavender Hope before. It seemed like more of a convenience for the plot’s sake that Curtida and her group were the first ones to think of it and try to harvest it. The idea they come up with for getting the Hope is a little farfetched as well. There had to have been other options, but again it just seemed very convenient. There was a good cast of characters, though I did find the main character a bit on the bland side. I don’t know if this was because of her neurodivergent status, but even neurodivergent people have personalities, likes, hobbies, etc.

I do have to say that Curtida’s description of feeling like a “beige-carpeted waiting room” after being hit with ennui is one of my favorite descriptions ever. There was a lot of good writing, and the plot involving psychopigments is very unique, which I liked. However, I feel like it could benefit from a little more backstory on certain events and better pacing. Those looking for a good detective story with unique factors and a bit of science fiction will probably enjoy this, though it may be hard for some to get through.

ARC Review | Ms. Adventure

I picked this book up because volcanoes have fascinated me for years. I wanted to learn more about them, and while this book didn’t go into as much detail as I’d hoped, I still enjoyed it. I loved reading about the different trips the author took to volcanoes around the world, and all the scientific parts about it. There were a couple times I felt the author was bragging a bit, as in “look at me and how special I am”, but it wasn’t enough to sour the book. My only wish is that there had been more science and more information on volcanoes themselves. I know this was more a memoir of the author’s time working around volcanoes than an actual book on the science of them, but I would have loved to have more information. It’s a good read for anyone with a passing interest, but for anyone looking for science, they may find it a bit lacking.

ARC Review | Leonora in the Morning Light

While I was reading this book I found myself stopping a lot and looking up different things – artists, paintings, locations. I had never heard of Leonora before reading this, and found myself wanting to know more about her as I went on. There were other people in the book that I had also never heard of, some that I had but didn’t know a lot about, and some that I was quite familiar with. Even then, I didn’t always know about the paintings they mentioned, and stopped a lot to look up each one. Sometimes having to stop a lot in a book to look up things takes me out of the book, but in this case it helped keep me more involved. I wanted to know about these people, since they were real people in a real time, and I wanted to know what their paintings looked it, so it would help me visualize the story more. I have to admit, I’ve never been the biggest fan of surrealism; however, this did give me more of an appreciation for the art.

Leonora is almost exactly what I picture when I think of artists – young and carefree, not wanting to live by the rules society had put down for her. The author mentioned several books about her at the end, and I plan on reading them to learn more about her. I had heard of Max Ernst, but wasn’t too familiar with him. I hadn’t known all he went through during the war and after, and was only familiar with a few of his paintings. I’m looking forward to learning more about him as well. Others, such as Picasso and Kahlo, I am more familiar with. However, I hadn’t known how all their lives intersected and crossed, as I didn’t really know about the surrealists and the group they belonged to. I became emotionally invested in the story, especially with Leonora and Max. I found myself hoping things would turn out differently, even though I knew they wouldn’t. Love can be such a strange thing at times – wonderful at one moment, heartbreaking at the next. 

While I started reading this book as a fan of WWII, it gave me a new appreciation for the people themselves. I hope this book gets picked up by those like me, who wanted more on the war but gain a lot more than that in the end; a new love for art, and the people who created it. 

ARC Review | Mayhem

2.5

I feel like this book could have been so much more. I was intrigued by the description; a cross between The Lost Boys and The Craft with a female lead sounded like it would be amazing. However, the book fell totally flat, and it was almost an exact rip-off of The Lost Boys at times, which made for a really frustrating read. I wanted a book that was inspired by The Lost Boys, not one that basically copied it. The whole conflict with the kidnapper felt like it was wrapped up way too easily, and how it was taken care of was extremely disappointing after all the hype of the magic. Same goes with the conflict with Lyle. It was this huge buildup with a lot of backstory, and then it was over in a couple of paragraphs. I think this book could have been great, had a few things been changed, and had it been more original instead of borrowing so heavily from other sources.

New Year’s Goals

5 Reading Goals

1. Keep up with ARC’s – I’ve missed deadlines before, so I really want to make sure that I don’t do that this year, whether it’s writing down due dates on a calendar or putting them in my phone.
2. Read more books on my shelves – I have a ton of books on my bookshelves that have been sitting there for ages, so it’s time to really crack down on them.
3. Work on long books – I always put off the really long books, so there’s plenty to be read. I have a hard time committing to them when they’re 700+ pages, and as a result I have a lot on my shelves. This goes hand in hand with the goal before.
4. Utilize used book stores and library – I did this a lot last year, and I want to continue doing it. Instead of paying full price for books I don’t even know that I’ll like, I’d rather use the library or used book stores first, and then spend the money for a nice copy when I know I like it.
5. Attend more author meet and greets – My work schedule may make this one a little hard, but hopefully I can go to at least a few.

All pretty straightforward goals I think, and all pretty easy to achieve.

5 Skating Goals

1. Work on forward to backwards transitions – This has been a struggle for me, and I don’t exactly know why, though I’m guessing it’s a combination of confidence and not wanting to fall. I can do the transitions, just not at a very fast speed, so the goal is really to do them while still skating at a normal speed.
2. Learn the Waltz Jump – Even if it takes to the end of the year, this is something I’d really like to achieve. My end goal from the beginning has been to learn to jump, and I think it’s completely possible to learn that this year. I’ve been skating less than a year, but with a whole year to achieve this, I’ve got plenty of time.
3. Practice when possible – Right now my work schedule is such that I can go to the rink every day; I just don’t. I get off work and sometimes I’m too tired or just don’t feel like it, so I’d really like to start going more.
4. Gain more confidence – I’ve been doing pretty good with this, but there’s still room for improvement.
5. Keep improving – This is for moves I already know and ones I don’t. I know I’m improved a lot since I started and can do some moves very well, but there’s others that need more work, and there’s still a lot to learn.

Again, pretty straightforward goals, but these will take a lot of work and dedication.

I’m excited for the new year, and I have a lot of other things I’d like to accomplish in other areas. Here’s hoping for a good year.

Year in Review

Total books read: 150
Total pages read: 46,685
ARC’s: 10
Audiobooks: 81
Graphic novels: 25
Longest book: “War Storm” by Victoria Aveyard – 662 pages
Shortest book: “Opal” by Maggie Stiefvater – 38 pages
Favorite books: “Into Thin Air”, “Check, Please!”, “Redshirts”, “Spineless”, “The Bees”
Least favorite books: “Mr. Mercedes”, “Violin”, “As I Lay Dying”,

All in all a pretty successful year. For most of the year I had a job where I could listen to audiobooks while I worked, which is why there’s so many. Now I have a job where I can’t do that, so it’ll be almost all print books again. I don’t think I’ll be able to read as many books next year either; not only because I can’t listen to audiobooks at work anymore, but also because I have many other things to do in my free time. I’m still hoping to read 50 books, which is a pretty respectable goal. I’m hoping I’ll have more ARC’s to read next year as well. I have a list of reading goals for the new year, but that’ll be another post.