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January "Real" Books
I'm taking part in a challenge on Goodreads to read more "real" books this year instead of just reading ebooks.
In January I read 8!
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October books update
October, AKA the month of me somewhat trying to actually read like an adult! So, some updates.
First, the YA portion: I had to read Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare for a challenge on Goodreads. I hate Cassandra Clare so this was a bit painful but I actually was able to do it! I also read Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce (meh, she's written better) and Spy Glass (Glass #3) by Maria V. Snyder which was definitely better than the other two books but still a 3-star read.
OK, adult books now! I read Dime Store Magic (Women of the Otherworld #3) by Kelley Armstrong. I like Kelley Armstrong and I like witches so I thought for sure that I would like DSM but again, just ok. While it was as interesting as a supernatural custody battle could be, could still have been a lot better and the main character was a bit irritating. Industrial Magic (book #4) was a lot better and had a more interesting plot and cast of characters. 4 stars!
For class I had to read Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions by John (Fire) Lame Deer, as well as Sundiatta, An Epic of Old Mali by D.T. Niane. Both are a bit unfair to rate because while I liked the stories and found them both really interesting, I ALSO had to read them for class which always brings down the enjoyment a bit because you know you have to analyze it in a specific way while reading it and have to keep a paper topic or test questions in mind. But I still definitely enjoyed reading them.
I also FINALLY read Gillian Flynn novels for the first time. I've been hearing about her for ages and have definitely been curious, but also a bit of a wimp because when it comes to reading, I feel things like fear super easily. Reading Gone Girl was a personal challenge, but what surprised me was that a few days later I read Dark Places too. After putting her off for a couple years, I read 2 in under a week. So, Gone Girl! It was interesting once I got past the bit boring first half, but once I got to the twist it picked up. Still didn't really like it much. And the ending left me really dissatisfied which actually made me worried about reading Dark Places. I gave GG 3 stars.
I liked Dark Places more. I read it at night only intending to read a few chapters, but ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting, which is always a good sign. I find it absolutely fascinating how Gillian Flynn really doesn't try to make her characters likable. Still, Libby did grow on me throughout the book. I'm also not usually a fan of multiple perspective but strangely didn't mind it here. Overall, I gave the book 3.5-4 stars.
I will try to post another update soon :)
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Why BookLikes dominates that other book site...don't remember it's name.
Mess with the BookLikes, you get the Dawid
The subject is crap but Dawid's comment makes it awesome so you have to see it.
AnHeC managed to make it on STGRB's brand spanking new BookLike's Sidebar of Popularity for no reason other than her Friends list.
Dawid's comment deserves All The Likes:
Pass this baby around.
Trying to actually be a bit of an adult this month and try out some adult books and classics since I'm a bit tired of YA currently.
Hoping to read:
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (my first novel by her! I've heard good things)
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier
And then I'm also a bit behind on some books that came out recently that I've been meaning to read!
YA books to catch up on:
The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas
Once We Were by Kat Zhang
The Bride Wore Size 12 by Meg Cabot
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
I might add more later but am trying (and failing!) to take it a bit slow since classes have recently started again.
Has anyone figured out how to edit entries? I've had some issues transferring my reviews over, including the fact that there are no longer spoiler tags so I want to give a spoiler warning at the top. I can't seem to figure it out.
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To be honest, I have no idea whether or not I liked [b:Fangirl|16068905|Fangirl|Rainbow Rowell|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1355886270s/16068905.jpg|21861351]. I liked it much better than I did [b:Eleanor & Park|15745753|Eleanor & Park|Rainbow Rowell|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1341952742s/15745753.jpg|17225055] so that was definitely a plus. My enjoyment waves went up and down throughout the novel, which makes this a rather hard one to rate. Sometimes the way she phrased things was a bit weird and the dialogue was of the sort where I felt like I was reading book dialogue, if that makes sense. Like everything was planned out and calculated instead of being dialogue. It's not something usually noticeable to me but it was here. But I think this is the sort of situation where a lot of the problems had more to do with me than the actual book, so be prepared for a some personal anecdotes and a lot of rambling. On a shallow level, Cath is the sort of fangirl I really can't stand. The big name fan/slasher who is kind of obnoxious about how much she thinks/talks about Simon Snow and is very open about her involvement with everyone. The me from ten years ago, the one who was obsessed with Harry Potter and was super involved in fandom would have been so thrilled with all of that, and I think a big part of that was that (minus the BNF/slasher bit) I could relate SO MUCH of my past self to Cath but in the most frustrating way possible to who I am right now. The fandom escape and obsession and making that the priority over schoolwork, like when she decided that failing her creative writing class was less important than working on her fanfiction because she was too scared to write her own stuff, and even started to do that when offered a second chance made me want to shake some sense into her the entire time. I could see myself in her relationship with her mother and her sister (especially when they both have different ways of responding to the whole mother thing and end up pushing each other away because of it), I could see myself in how in control she had to be in terms of partying/boys/other people and how she pushed others away, her uncertainty if her college is the right place for her at first because it's not clicking the way she wanted it to, and how she let things in her personal life get in the way of her academic life. She made some of the same mistakes I did, at a somewhat worse level. Yet somehow, despite seeing so much of myself in Cath, I still feel like I don't really know her. That might be another part of my frustration with the book, my ability to almost but not quite connect to her. Finally, I had some problems with the pacing. [b:Fangirl|16068905|Fangirl|Rainbow Rowell|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1355886270s/16068905.jpg|21861351] was 433 pages, yet the ending seemed really abrupt to me and the middle dragged and did we really need so many pages of her fanfiction excerpts? There could have just been a mention of her reading her story out loud instead of actually having everything she read actually be there. It's like when Dorian from [b:The Picture of Dorian Gray|5297|The Picture of Dorian Gray|Oscar Wilde|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320467562s/5297.jpg|1858012] read a book within a book, it's not that interesting to me as the reader and can we just get to the main story already! It definitely could have used some stronger editing, it didn't need all 433 pages.
Shadow Heir (Dark Swan Novels)
Warning: despite my (what I consider) neutral rating for [b:Shadow Heir|11506205|Shadow Heir (Dark Swan, #4)|Richelle Mead|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1318458874s/11506205.jpg|15509965], this will be a rant-filled review that will discuss all the books in the series. I've had many issues with this series, mostly in terms of all the mentions of rape which include rape attempts both current and past as well as successful rapes both current and past. This really bothered me, and even made me focus more on the issues with the consensual sex in this series. Eugenie enjoys kinky sex and being submissive, which is fine and I have no problems with and I probably wouldn't have even focused on if not for the aforementioned issues with rape. When she was having sex with Dorian, there were two times that stood out to me. The first was the first time they had sex. Dorian said repeatedly that he would only have sex with her if she wanted it because he has no interest in sleeping with someone who wasn't interested. He also makes a deal with her, she can either sleep with him and he will help her rescue Jasmine immediately, or she can train with him until her magic abilities are improved and she can go and rescue Jasmine herself. At one point, Eugenie tells him to tie her up and order him around so that she has no control in the situation and has to sleep with him. In another book in the series, Dorian says in two separate occasions that will she give him a blowjob or will he have to make her? With Kiyo, there was a time where a bunch of people are downstairs and waiting for her, and Eugenie says that she has to go down and meet them and there is no time for sex. Kiyo insists and manages to have sex with her anyway. All of these situations are ultimately consensual as Eugenie goes along with them, but with all the mentions of rape in the book already making me uncomfortable (I HATE rape as a plot-device) these disturbed me further. I also really disliked how this series did the love-triangle. One guy would do something to piss Eugenie off and she would immediately jump into the bed of the other. I don't have a problem with a heroine sleeping with different people but in this case it was, "Make up your mind and stop playing with both of them!" and the ending is especially hilarious considering her trust issues with both of them throughout the book. Yet somehow it's OK for her to hide from Dorian that he's the father of her babies because she wants to protect them and thinks that being raised by strangers who are unable to protect them if something happens is better than being raised by their mother and father in a kingdom with a bunch of guards to protect them. Plus they probably have magical abilities which will manifest at some point. It's hard to appreciate her ending up with Dorian when she's being a hypocrite and I know this will cause a lot of issues between them if it were to come to light. Eugenie, what is worse, being lied to about his purposes behind a magical crown that you were going to use anyway even though you had been told multiple times that he had ulterior motives, or being deceived about the children you've always wanted to have? But I don't have high opinions of Eugenie's intelligence. When she's in hiding and supposed to be protecting herself and her babies and was told not to use ANY fairy or shamanic magic that could draw attention to herself, she does it anyway. She is absolutely convinced that the father has to be Kiyo and can't be Dorian's at all despite the fact that she slept with both of them within days of each other and while she might have been angry with Dorian, at the time she said there was no way to him was when she was under his protection and far angrier at Kiyo. Yet she is so surprised when Kiyo says that he knew it couldn't have been his due to his vasectomy and lied to her because he thought that if she thought it was his she would be more likely to abort the fetuses. Gentry can have kids with humans, Eugenie's existence is proof of that! I probably enjoyed this book the most because there is only ONE sex scene in it which was entirely consensual, very little mentions of rape, and was the end of her flip-flopping around. When she made her choice, I actually said, "FINALLY!" Everyone gave Kiyo a well-deserved hard time the entire book. However, the ending really did not seem like a series ending.
Storm Born
Storm Born in a nutshell:
1. Some prophecy involving a son which makes it so that every magical creature wants to have sex with the main character in order to be the father of that son, making it so Eugenie has to constantly fight off various rape attempts. She's not the only one, though. Lots of mentions of humans being kidnapped and forced to become mistresses of the magical creatures.
2. A love triangle. I will say this, though. Most love triangles I don't care much about but I did feel this one more as I loathed her with one of the characters (and I have a feeling that they're going to be endgame) and liked her more with the other.
3. An identity crisis and some magic lessons, mostly to promote said love triangle.
4. SEX, SEX, AND MORE SEX!
5. Not much in the way of actual plot.
