Monday, July 20, 2020

My Dad Reads

Murder in the Crooked House
My dad has had another good reading month, most of this is from June but probably crosses over into July. I usually give him books in batches and so this was just one batch. Also I always use some liberty when I describe how my dad feels about each book, the rating and ideas are his but he really is a man of few words and thinks grunts/noises describe his feelings accurately enough. 

The Wives by Tarryn Fischer 2-2.5/5 Dad said he didn't really care for this one, he felt it was all over the place, and boring. I've definitely heard some mixed reviews on this one so I'm not surprised he didn't like it. 

Layover by David Bell 3.5/5 He enjoyed this one and would recommend it but he's also read better. He thought it was actually written good and felt that it kept him in suspense. He said and I quote  "not too bad."

A New Kind of Monster by Timothy Appleby 4/5 My father liked this one, he thought it was well written. He was kept wondering about the psychology of the guy and felt like the author did a good job of going into background information.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 4/5 Dad liked how well the author wrote even when switching up the perspective every chapter, even if a book has multiple pov's or time changes if it's not done well he isn't into it. He liked that this book kept him wondering on not just who the murderer was but also who the victim was. He said that the ending in this book was the best. 

Murder in the Crooked House 4.5-5/5 My dad was actually thinking about not finishing this one, he was 50 pages in and pretty fed up but kept reading, he doesn't really like giving up on books I've noticed. He's got way more patience than I do, but it got really good he said. He loved the concept of the house and just kept repeating how he "would never have thought of how it was done, ever." He also really just loved how unique the whole book was and even liked it with the translation.

Trace: who killed Maria James? by Rachael Brown 3-3.5/5 So I think my dad really enjoyed this book, he mention a few times about conspiracies that were probably involved and I guess it was just wild ride. He was really mad though because it's a true crime novel and it's still unsolved. He thinks it's solvable based on DNA things, etc... and he felt like this book was written prematurely because of it's ability to be solved. 

The Killer Across the Table by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker 4.5/5 Dad really liked this one but he didn't have much to say except he liked how it gave a lot of different killers/information, and described how they murdered... I don't know how to say that without making my dad sound like killer, I swear he's not though...😝

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager 5/5 I didn't think my dad was going to love this book as much as he did but he absolutely loved it. He loved it because the whole book he had no idea what was going to happen or who did things, etc... He is obsessed with the twist this book provided and now I'm going to have to get this author's other books for him because I think he'll like them. 

#thewives #tracewhokilledmariajames #thelasttimeilied #murderinthecrookedhouse #thekilleracrossthetable #thehuntingparty #layover #anewkindofmonster #mydadreads


My Pride Reading List...and not pride... (June Read List)

Red, White & Royal Blue
In June I read  in order 
So I had been hoping to read all LGBT+ books in June but obviously I binged all of Elle Kennedy's hockey romances (except for the one with pregnancy because I just can't get over pregnancy romance...personal dislike in my romance). Apparently during covid, Elle wrote the Dare and I just needed to reread all the others so I could fully appreciate and remember who all the characters were. My favorites were definitely The Score, and The Risk <3 sooooooo sexy...... but honestly I don't know why I love these so much, they're just fun and sexy and I love the characters, some of the stories are lacking though...

I myself identify as queer, I'm in a queer relationship and so LGBTQA+ books really hold a special place for me. They were also the best books I had read in June, sorry Elle but not sorry... My favorite was 100% This is How You Lose the Time War, and I'm not even going to say anything because it's getting it's own post later, with my favorite quotes. Otherwise I really liked Red, White and Royal Blue and These Witches Don't Burn. Both were really awesome, one was adult contemporary and the other was teen urban fantasy. I plan on reading more of both authors again in the future! 

Friday, July 17, 2020

Disney's Twisted Tales

So This is Love
I've never read the Twisted Tales before but Disney usually does a pretty decent job at putting out quality projects, and who can really go wrong with a twist on a classic. I love fairy tale retellings and finally one caught my eye, so I bought it. 

I bought and read So This is Love by Elizabeth Lim, who also wrote the Mulan twisted tale. I thought it was a bit drab/unrealistic in the beginning because the whole love at first sight trope isn't my favorite, but I mean it was a Cinderella retelling so what did I expect? 😝 But that really changed as the book went on, I read this hoping to read more about the romance but to be honest those were the most boring parts. The parts where Cinderella was making her way in the world were soooo good and I was living for her just being the best she could be!!!

I did like the triple perspective, there wasn't actually too much dept to the plot (I feel like disney standards are probably fairly restrictive). 

Overall I think I gave this a 4/5? Maybe 3 but it was definitely worth reading, if you have younger teens this whole series is good for them. 

Thursday, July 16, 2020

A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation Volume 1

A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation, Vol. 1
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for honest review.

This was super cute, and honestly there's not much I can say about it because manga are pretty short overall. I like the art, I liked the characters and I loved the story and when I felt like the author was explaining too much they actually stopped right at the moment where I felt like I might get bored. It was pretty perfect actually, the only thing keeping it from 5 stars is that it wasn't very action packed. Everything was a little too convenient and fell into place perfectly there was no excitement. 

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso

The Obsidian Tower (Rooks and Ruin, #1)
ARC recieved in exchange from NetGalley for honest review.

Ok, real time... Ugh, this review is hard to write, I'm not actually finished this book but I also really wanted to write this review because feelings. I have a lot of them and it's complicated but also I just really don't want to finish it anytime soon, which I think is also valid? However, I also really don't want to not finish it either? sooooooo complicated.

The Obsidian Tower is well written and well thought out and feels quite intentional. I love almost everything, and I love reading it but I'm also extremely bored. There are lots of fun and DIVERSE characters which I'm living for, the diversity feels so natural which is surprising because there's so much of it. But also this book is very, and I mean VERY politically based, there are no action scenes, anything exciting that happens so far, happens "off-screen." And to be honest, I'm really bored, I have to push myself to keep reading, there's tons of things happening and lots of incredibly well written characters whom I love but also nothing is happening...? I don't know, this book for me but it also really isn't? 

I plan on finishing it eventually but not anytime soon, especially since I'm over 70% through it which is why I feel comfortable writing this. 

3.5/5 stars

Heir of Lies by Mallory McCartney

ARC recieved through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

 Heir of Lies is a little boring to be honest, but the writing was fun and fast paced. I did enjoy reading this but I did also put it in my timeout corner for awhile, while I thought it was fun I didn't really enjoy reading about Emory or Adair, I liked the story more than I liked the characters. The world building was a lot of fun but also it kind of felt like I was reading any old fantasy, not a unique one.

Overall I'd definitely recommend this to younger-mid teens, and maybe people who don't have as much experience with fantasy or epic fantasy because of how fun and easy to read it was.

Overall 3/5 stars.