Stranger Things Book Tag

In honor of Stranger Things being back, I decided to do this tag!

I tried to track down the original post but from what I’ve gathered it doesn’t even exist anymore, so can’t link anything back. Anyway, I’m just gonna do the tag.

1) The Vanishing of Will Byers - the first book in a series that left you intrigued and slightly confused

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, you never really know what’s real or what isn’t, you don’t understand the powers and secrets and none of it really makes sense until later, but it’s a definite page-turner.

2) The Upside Down - a book with a setting you would never want to live in

The Hunger Games, I think the fuck not.

3) Eleven - a book you own that is somewhat damaged, but loved to pieces

I’ll Give You the Sun, I left it in the front pocket of my backpack while I was playing rugby and since I live where I live, it started raining an dry bag got soaked. Thankfully only the dust jacket got wet, but the cover is no longer as sunshiny.

4) Mike, Lucas, and Dustin - a trilogy you always go to whenever you need a pick-me-up

Shatter Me, but only because of Kenji and my OTP Juliette and Warner. So cute.

5) The Demogorgon - a book with a terrifying beast you wouldn’t want to face in a dark alley

A Court of Thorns and Roses, jeez, imagine having that asshole Tamlin “in love” with you, feel bad for Feyre.

6) Dr. Brenner - a book with a villain who is both manipulative and dedicated

Sebastian Morgenstern because despite everything he did I couldn’t hate him. He had us all convinced he had changed and then just stomped on our hearts, but I still love him.

7) Nancy Wheeler - a book you didn’t expect to love

Daughter of Deep Silence, no one seems to ever talk about this book and when they do it’s never very good, so I didn’t expect much going into it, but I fricking love that book. A+

8) Hawkins, Indiana - a book with a setting that’s just a little bit strange

This one I don’t even remember the name of, I just remember when I was in Elementary school one of my teachers read this book to me about this guy, I think his name was Mark, and he went out into the middle of the desert I think for an adventure and was transported to another world, there were cannibals and tribes and I think he ended up marrying the daughter of a chief. It was just really weird and the book that kept coming to my mind, I anyone knows the name of it please let me know, I would love to know because it’s driving me a bit crazy.

Feel free to also do this tag!

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My Irritation Towards Perspective Changes

Perspective changes are probably one of the most common things in literature. Which is why it is incredibly important that they are done right, however, some people haven't gotten the memo, which is why I'm here to spell it out.

There are two things I hate in books, when the author writes the exact same book in another character's point of view and when the author changes perspectives halfway through the series, say adding a second perspective or just transitioning to a different character altogether. 

Books that are rewrites of another book but in another character's perspective are very hit or miss with me. Usually, I hate them.

I feel like a lot of these stories don’t add anything new to the original novel by having these new perspectives. For example, I love Jennifer L. Armentrout’s books, but she decided to rewrite Obsidian in Daemon’s point of view, and it was just that, Obsidian from Daemon’s point of view. There was nothing that we didn’t already know or any secret revelations that lead us deeper into Daemon’s inner workings, it was just him telling us what happened and I honestly could have gone without reading it. 

However, I do have to admit that Colleen Hoover’s Losing Hope was a rare exception as I think it gave us a lot of what we didn’t and couldn’t get out of Hopeless. It showed Dean’s side of things, the years he went without Sky, and in that case, it was a completely important part of the series. Also, I would like to add that if Richelle Mead ever decided to write the Vampire Academy from Dimitri’s point of view I would be the first in line to read it. What these two examples have in common is that these other characters are not open books, they have lots of secrets and a lot of the time you aren’t quite sure what they are thinking or what their motivations are, in these cases I would definitely love a book written from a separate point of view. However, most books aren’t like this. 

As for when the perspective changes halfway through the series it just doesn’t flow that well. I can understand if that book is another character's story all together but is just part of the same series, but if the book is just shifting over to say, the love interests point of view just for their input, I can’t stand it. Unless I hated the original protagonist, which I rarely do, then I don’t want a shift in character perspective.

Thoughts?

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Adventures in Farland Spoiler Free Review

Adventures in Farland
by Moshank Relia

Synopsis:

Mira Rawat has heard tales of Farland all her life from her mother, who has described the magical place of gnomes, fairies, mermaids and animals, and especially its wondrous festival, the New Moon Party. Now, Mira has been informed by a man named Bushy that she has been invited by Princess Harmonica to attend the party. Bushy also uses a spell to turn her two friends, the mischievous and vexing boys, Bira and Vira, into rats so that they will not disturb the other party guests with their constant fighting and misbehaviour. At midnight, Mira, with Bira and Vira snuggled in her pocket, climbs Gunhill and is picked up by the pilot Starhead and flown in his plane to the party. However, the flight is cut short by a terrible wind, and Starhead is forced to land his plane near the Lost Forest. There, Mira discovers that Farland is in great jeopardy. Another Farland resident, Windman, has been generating great windstorms to prevent the Queen of Witches from reaching Dragon Hill. She intends to release the Dragon of Underhill, chained in its den beneath Dragon Hill, so that Farland will be burned and completely destroyed.

My Thoughts:

This book was hard to rate. My enjoyment level wasn’t all that high as I am not much of a middle grade reader. Looking at it as a children’s book, it had a bit of a higher rating, but only reading it as a child. It was hard to pinpoint where exactly it sat on the spectrum. I finally decided on 2.5 stars. 

I was told this book was for ages 6-15 but I feel like it would be more along the lines of 5-12. It just feels a bit young for 15 year olds. As I was 15 a few years ago I can say that I was definitely not reading books like this, I was more into the older YA books and I feel like a lot of 15 year olds would agree with that. This is definitely a good book for children though.

I’m a fan of middle grade, but this book felt even younger than middle grade and I’m just not sure if it was my cup of tea. If I had a small child I would definitely read this one to them as a bedtime story.

The illustrations in this book were also very cute and it was nice to see them every few pages, it gives a bit more of picture. It was also fun, books with little illustrations always add a bit of life to the story.

Waiting On Wednesday

Tiger's Dream
by Colleen Houck

Release Date: March 2018

Synopsis:

A tiger left behind.

A goddess in need of an ally.

Stranded in a time and place he never wished for, Kishan Rajaram must carry out his destiny of assisting the beautiful yet extremely irritable goddess Durga. This daunting task is not made easy by the fact that he must also face the truth about the girl he loves and the brother who stole her away.

When the wily shaman Phet appears and tells Kishan that Kelsey needs him, he jumps at the chance to see her again. In his efforts to save her, Kishan discovers that the curse he thought was over is just beginning. As time unravels around him, Kishan realizes that the fates of all those he holds dear lie in hands.

The goddess’s power hangs in the balance. Kishan has no choice but to sacrifice the unthinkable to fight the dark forces swirling around the woman he’s charged to protect. As he does, he discovers that love and loyalty create their own magic and accepts that he must decide his destiny once and for all.

Tiger’s Dream is the conclusion to the epic Tiger’s Curse fantasy romance series that left you breathless.

My Thoughts:

5 years. I have waited 5 years for this book to come out. I've waited 5 years for this book to even get a cover and synopsis and finally, it is here. I'm excited and terrified to read this in the coming year. I just hope that when I finally do get to read it that it'll be worth the wait.

Because You Love to Hate Me Review + Giveaway

Because You Love to Hate Me
By Ameriie and Various Authors

Synopsis:

Leave it to the heroes to save the world--villains just want to rule the world.

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.

These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

Featuring writing from . . .

Authors: Renée Ahdieh, Ameriie, Soman Chainani, Susan Dennard, Sarah Enni, Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Adam Silvera, Andrew Smith, April Genevieve Tucholke, and Nicola Yoon

BookTubers: Benjamin Alderson (Benjaminoftomes), Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia), Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Tina Burke (ChristinaReadsYA blog and TheLushables), Catriona Feeney (LittleBookOwl), Jesse George (JessetheReader), Zoë Herdt (readbyzoe), Samantha Lane (Thoughts on Tomes), Sophia Lee (thebookbasement), Raeleen Lemay (padfootandprongs07), Regan Perusse (PeruseProject), Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS), and Steph Sinclair & Kat Kennedy (Cuddlebuggery blog and channel). 

My Thoughts:

Overall, the anthology got an average of 4 stars from me. I don’t read a lot of anthologies as they aren’t really my thing, but I had a blast reading this one. Some stories were better than others, but it was all pretty good.

The Blood of Imriv by Renee Ahdieh

I gave this story 3 stars. It felt almost incomplete, it’s like when an author releases the first two chapters of their upcoming book to get you pumped, but in this case, we don’t even get the rest of the novel. I liked where it was going, though, it had a lot of potential. (Also shout out to Christine for having a hilarious little essay, I absolutely adored it, 10/10 would read again)

Jack by Ameriie

I gave this story 4 stars. I was loving this story up until the end where it completely unnerved me, I feel like I should have expected the ending, but I didn’t and for that, I will applaud the author. Also a very great prompt.

Gwen and Art and Lance by Soman Chainani

I gave this story 3.5 stars. At first, I was expecting it to be a short story in relation to Soman’s Middle-Grade series as Gwen, Lance, and Arthur are a part of that series, but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t set in the same world. I surprised the crap out of me that it wasn’t suitable for children, because like I said before I’ve only ever read his middle-grade work. I can’t say it was bad though, I really enjoyed it.

Shirley & Jim by Susan Dennard. 

I gave this story 5 stars. I couldn’t stop reading and once I finally finished the story I wanted even more. I want a novel series on this. A gender-bent story of Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, and James Moriarty is all I need in my life.

The Blessing of Little Wants by Sarah Enni 

I gave this story 3 stars. I’m unimpressed by this one. Yeah, it had potential to be really cool and epic, but it just didn’t have any new ideas or twists on old classics. I could easily forget about this one.

The Sea Witch by Marissa Meyer.

I gave this story 4 stars. Now, this is a story I’m going to remember! I don’t particularly like the sea witch herself, but the premise was cool and it was written really well. 

Beautiful Venom by Cindy Pon

I gave this story 4 Stars. I was definitely kept on the edge of my seat during this story. The underlying messages were so important and I applaud Cindy Son for writing such an amazing story. I still found it absolutely infuriating though. I know life isn’t fair a lot of the times, but I felt like the protagonist just kept getting knocked down and then someone came along and kept kicking her while she was down and then killed her puppy. She got no justice and that’s really the sad reality of our world also.

Death Knell by Victoria Schwab

I gave this story 5 Stars. I have fallen in love with this story. It was beautiful and clever and I could see an entire book being written about it, although, it does sit well as a short. Victoria Schwab is a master of her craft.

Marigold by Samantha Shannon 

I gave this story 4.5 Stars. How could I not love this one? Condescending misogynistic men from the Victorian era being owned by a badass “evil” queen. I’m here for this. 

You, You, It’s All About You by Adam Silvera

I gave this story 4 Stars. This one took a bit of getting used to as it was told in the second person and I’m really not used to that. I do, however, love what Adam Silvera did with this story. The protagonist wasn’t misunderstood or easily manipulated, she knew exactly what she was doing and just when you thought she had a little bit of humanity, it turns out she was tricking you. It was clever and I really enjoyed it.

Julian Breaks Every Rule by Andrew Smith 

I gave this story 4.5 Stars. I feel like the point of this story was for us all to love and relate to Julian Powell despite him being evil as shit, and the author completely succeeded. I loved Julian Powers and I loved his origin story. I would love nothing more than to get an entire saga about his villainy. 

Indigo and Shade by April Genevieve Tucholke 

I gave this story 5 Stars. I hate Gaston. Always have and probably always will, but the way the author changed him around in this book made me not hate him so much. I actually loved this story so much and I wish I could get more of it. Also, just a general observation about the author, she must really love the color purple. In this book the girl's name is Indigo, and in her book Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, her protagonist is name is Violet. I just sorta hope she keeps up this trend in her other works.

Sera by Nicola Yoon

I gave this story 4.5 Stars. While the rest of the villains in this book were all pretty villainous, Sera was the only villain that I felt villainy was embedded in her soul. She felt like the one true villain of this book. Her very presence set people off and she seemed psychopathic. 

Giveaway:

If you follow me on social media you may or may not be aware that I have in my possession two copies of BYLTHM. Purely by accident, but either way, I have two and I don't need two copies so I figured I'd have a giveaway for the second book. 

Rules:

• Only for U.S. and Canada
• Must be over 18 or have parental permission
• The Giveaway is from October 22nd, 2017 to November 22nd, 2017

a Rafflecopter giveaway