Book Review: Anatomy of a Scandal

Cameron

It’s 2am again but here we go. First off, if anyone is uncomfortable with rape and/or sexual assault or it is triggering for you, this book is not for you I would not recommend you read this.
This book… was not a thriller, was not a mystery and I really really dislike that is how it is advertised. It was a courtroom drama. Like this book was if we sat in court for like a week and heard every nitty gritty detail about EVERYTHING. And boy, did they ever go into detail about the rape. It was uncomfortable. Which is good! Because rape is not a pretty subject, it’s not something that is easy to hear about. BUT, I feel like since the book description never really mentions rape, this whole arc can throw someone way off. The book itself was very dry and definitely did have a hard hitting moment but really? I didn’t like the characters. I didn’t like the overall plot of the book because it was not AT ALL what I thought it was going to be.
Let’s talk about the characters shall we?
James? Whole ass dick. He had no personality other than the huge neon lights flashing “I’m an Asshole” burning over his head the whole time.
Sophie? Again no personality. She was so freaking wishy-washy and the way her arc in the story ended was possibly the most enabling thing I have ever read.
Kate? I understand that Kate was raped when she was younger and that’s why she felt such passion for Olivia but fucking hell, you do not stake your whole career on that. Especially because her rapist was the same person who raped Olivia . And trauma can strip your personality away so at least I understood her lack of a personality.
If this book was labeled as a drama or just fiction, that would make more sense. But the mere fact that this book was labeled a mystery/thriller makes me so freaking frustrated. I apologize if you really love this book, I just did not enjoy it at all.

A Cruel Prince by Holly Black: A Review

Cameron

“Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.“

The Cruel Prince is about Jude and her journey to be taken seriously. Jude’s parents were murdered when she was seven years old by Madoc, the high general of Faerie. Her and her siblings were taken away from the human world to be raised in Faerie. There Jude learns of the cruelty of The Folk and longs to be taken seriously by them. Especially Cardan and all of his friends who she has grown up with. But who is going to take a mortal seriously, someone who will eventually grow old and die while the others will live forever. Jude decides to prove herself by doing extremely dangerous stunts while putting herself and her siblings’ lives in jeopardy for doing them.

So this book has so much hype around it and that is why I picked it up in the first place. And I have to say I am really disappointed in it. I have found that Holly Black just isn’t for me and that is okay! But getting into the story!

The characters were mostly unlikeable. Our main character, Jude, was whiny and stubborn. She always put herself into situations without thinking how it may affect other people around her, and usually seem like she doesn’t really care about what happens either way. She continually says she is doing all of these dangerous, stupid things to be better than the Fae but to be honest, it just seemed more like a really dangerous form of peer pressure. “If I do XYZ, Cardan/Madoc/Orriana/etc., will take me seriously as a person”. And guess what? They never did. They were just pissed off at her for doing it in the first place. I was also really confused about her feelings when it came to Madoc. She would constantly be pointing out how much of a monster he was and how horrible he was, then flip her attitude completely and talk about how much she loved him or call him Father. I understand that Stockholm Syndrome may be in effect with that attitude but holy crap it was annoying to read. It just felt like she couldn’t make her mind up with how she felt.

Cardan did not seem redeemable in my eyes. He was cruel and mean. Did he kill anyone? No. But if your standard for being a mean person is them murdering someone I think you need to reevaluate your idea of what is mean. Cardan constantly proved how much of a dick he was every single time he was in a scene. Even when he was trying to tell Jude about his true feelings, he came off as a douchebag.

And one of the things that I absolutely hate more than anything is using abuse as an excuse for being a bully and a jerk. You can explain a root of behaviour with abuse, yes. But using it as an excuse? I’m not someone who will be like ‘Oh he was abused by his brother, I guess that makes sense why he’s an absolute asshole’. As someone who has gone through abuse, I hated hearing about my abuser and how hard his life was. That was my excuse for years and why I let that behaviour slide for him. Just because someone has been abused, does not mean in the slightest that is is okay or understandable that they act the same way to other people. And it definitely isn’t okay that it seemed like the idea of if a boy pulls on your hair it means he likes you thing. Bullshit.

If a guy makes you go into a lake where there are little fairies who drag you down, drown you and eat you? Yeah I’m not thinking he’s your secret admirer. I’m thinking that he’s just a dick for no god-damn reason. So the romance aspect of this book wasn’t something that I enjoyed at all.

The plot of The Cruel Prince felt lacking in a big way. It was mostly Jude making bad decision after bad decision and we were just here for the rollercoaster ride. Jude decides to become a spy for one of the Princes, bad decision number one. The only reason that she actually went through with it was to prove to her “father” and Cardan that she was actually useful. Too bad she was magiked into not saying anything so it’s not like it mattered. After that? It’s just a lot of more bad decisions.

Obviously this book is very popular for a reason and while I just was not into it, it doesn’t mean that you won’t enjoy this book too! So if you like darker stories and about fairies, I would pick up The Cruel Prince. For myself, I would rate this book about 1.5 stars out of 5.

Book Review: Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Cameron

”I went north, to where the stories always said the wild things lived, where the folktales came from and still magic in the mountaintops.” 

Listen, I straight up love fairytales, my fairytale book that my mom gave me when I was young is falling apart from all the love I give that book. This book is a beautiful combination of 2 or 3 different fairytales and it works so well together. Echo is our main character and when she is just a little girl she is scarred badly by a wild wolf. She is taunted and scorned as the devil’s child because of her scars, everyone except her father and brother treat her badly. When one day she finds her father half frozen to death far into the woods, she is ready to do anything to save him. Even make a deal with a magical talking wolf.

Echo must live with him for one year, learn how to clean up the enchantments around the magical house, and never, ever, EVER look at the wolf in the light at night. And slowly, but surely she falls in love with the wolf. But everything is not quite what it seems to be! Cue the dramatic music!

I loved the fairytale aspects of this book, largest ones pulling from Beauty and the Beast, East and Tamlin! They all are different in some ways but incredibly beautiful together. Echo was an amazing character and I loved her growth. My favorite aspect of Echo’s growth was that at the beginning she said she was ugly because of her scars but at the end of the novel she would say she was beautiful. You know what that is? Growth. She had such good character development, she was smart, not conventionally beautiful and brave! Then there is our wolf, he is very closed off at the beginning. But our beautiful white wolf becomes more open and loving as time goes on. The only thing is why can’t we see him at night? What spell is cast over our wolf?

I loved the characters of this book and the plot but the main thing that was incredibly was the magic in the book! Every room in the mansion was a different spell, different enchantment. Our library wasn’t a normal library, it was mirrors that you could step into the story. Like how badly do you wish you could just step into the story and be a part of it!? Cause I want a library like that. Magic in this book is beautifully written and you can just feel the enchantment was breathed into the words.

I would give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I would for sure recommend this book to whoever loves fairytales and magic and love!

The Seven Deadly Sins Tag

Cameron
  1. Greed: What is the most inexpensive book you bought? What is the most expensive?

My most inexpensive book any ARC that I was sent, most recently Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton. And my most expensive book is my copy of Peter Pan, which was like $40!

2. Wrath: What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

That would be Marrissa Meyer! While I love the Lunar Chronicles with all my heart, I haven’t liked anything else that she has put out since then. While I haven’t read Renegades yet, I haven’t got my hopes up super high for it.

3. Gluttony: What book have you devoured over and over again?

Harry Potter, duh! I love this series so much, even though I was late to the game reading it.

4. Sloth: What book have you neglected to read due to laziness?

Um I am a book hoarder, I have way too may books I have neglected to read…..

5. Pride: What book do you talk about most in order to sound intellectual?

That would have to be The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas, which is a giant book! I was so proud of myself for finishing this book! I may have bragged about it to my husband about it…

6. Lust: What attributes do you find attractive in characters?

Honestly, the question I found said male characters but yo, both are pretty attractive to me. I enjoy dark hair, if they have freckles and if they are geeky and have a sense of humor. Honestly, just both the main characters from The Upside of Unrequited are attractive to me!

7. Envy: What book would you most like to receive as a gift?

I would honestly love to receive the collector’s edition of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab! It’s just so beautiful and I want it in my life!

I will be tagging @jenacidebybibliophile for this tag! I don’t know if they’ve done it before cause it’s pretty old but heyo!

Top 5 Wednesday- Bookish Things I’ve Changed my Mind About

Cameron

If you know what Top 5 Wednesdays are, you know that it was created by Samantha, creator of Thoughts on Tomes. Today’s topic is Bookish things I’ve changed my mind about, and this could be anything! Tropes, characters, genre, anything!

1. TBRs have changed in my mind, I always just went with whatever I felt like reading. But recently since I have acquired so many books that I need to actually set a TBR for a month so I can get it to an actual normal number. Aka not over 100

2. Buying books! I used to buy books like it was going out of style! But now since I have to pay my own bills and for groceries and necessities I don’t buy books unless I have actually set money aside for them! Instead I just get many, many books from the library so I can actually tell if I like the books before I purchase them.

3. When I was younger, I only bought hardcover. Now I honestly have the patience to wait for the paperback books, they are just cheaper and weigh less. My husband doesn’t enjoy paperbacks though which is funny.

4. Over time, I grew in what I read. I had only stuck to Young Adult novels for years but over the past couple years I branched off into adult fiction and fantasy. Even now though I still have a special place in my heart for young adult, I read different novels.

5. I don’t like reading about young teenagers, I have recently found that reading from the perspective of a 15 year old is the most irritating thing ever. I am 23 years old, I remember what it was like being 15 and oh my gosh, it is already awkward just remembering. I don’t need to read about some little girl having a crush for the first time. It’s just uncomfortable.

ARC review: Love from A to Z by S. K. Ali

Cameron

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchanged for an honest review.

“Maybe that’s what living is — recognizing the marvels and oddities around you.”

To start off, I just have to say that I love this book so much. I loved reading this book and I enjoyed every moment. There is islamophobia and racism in this novel. Zayneb is in college and unfortunately is in a class with an incredibly racist professor. She tries to stand up for herself and her religion but only ends up getting suspended for “threatening” her teacher. Her parents send her to Doha to learn some lessons in being less angry. So angry and confused, Zayneb goes to live with her aunt for the summer, trying to get over her hurt. On the same plane is Adam, he became a Muslim when he was 11 years old. He is going to Doha to see his father and little sister for the anniversary of his mother’s death. There is a giant secret weighing on Adam as he has quit school and doesn’t know when he will go back. He sees Zayneb across the plane, writing in the exact journal he has written in for years. Thus starts their journey together

The way the book was actually written and the layout of the book was really cute. Each chapter began with either Adam or Zayneb and their marvels and/or oddities that they observe around them. It made the characters grow a lot more in positive ways and shed light on their flaws. They both grew so much in this book and if there is one thing I appreciate about in a book, it’s character development. At the beginning of the novel, Zayneb is full of rage about the hate surrounding her religion and people. At the end of the novel, Zayneb is still full of rage but she is also able to control it and use it a way that makes actual change. The way that this character was written feels like it is something that will empower those who are Muslim and even those who aren’t but are standing up to the hate nonetheless.

Adam was a character who I loved and I wanted to comfort and hold. He decided when he was 11 years old that he wanted to become a Muslim. He saw that his father was Muslim and that it seemed to bring him peace. When he told his father that, his father said that being Muslim didn’t bring him peace but it certainly made him search for peace in his life. Now Adam is grown and he still seeks peace in every moment of his life. And even Adam changed at the end of the novel as well. He became more aware of the hate that surrounded him and started to research into what he could do to be more helpful. His story and past made me cry, and cry over French fries. FRENCH FRIES! If you can make me cry about french fries, you have done your job and done it well.

This book was beautifully developed and the setting itself was described amazingly. Another part of this book that I loved so much was that it incorporated so many Muslim traditions, language and culture. I want to learn about so many different types of religions and cultures that this was genuinely interesting. There was so many different types of greetings and prayers that were included in the book. It was just so well done and incorporated in the novel.

Another really wonderful thing about this book was that there was MS awareness brought up in the book. I won’t talk about it that much because it does spoil some things for major plot points. MS is something that affects Adam’s day to day life because when he was 10 years old, his mother died from MS. It went into detail about how it affected his mother and what it felt like to lose his mother at a young age.

Overall, this book was incredibly interesting and diverse. And although the two main characters are different in a lot of ways, they still fit together, like two squiggly puzzle pieces. I loved this book and I really do hope that you pick it up as well!

I rated this book 4.5 out of 5 stars!

A Review of “A Very Large Expanse of Sea” by Tahereh Mafi

Cameron

“I was so raw from repeated exposure to cruelty that now even the most minor abrasions left a mark.” 

WARNING: This book is full of islamophobia, racism and xenophobia

I finished up this book this afternoon. This book is the latest release by New York Times bestseller Tahereh Mafi! If you loved Shatter Me, this book is waaay different from it. In this novel, we follow Shirin, one of the only Muslim girls in her school. And it was hard before but now after 9/11 it has become much, much harder. Shirin has hardened her heart and ignores all of the remarks her classmates throw at her. She just wants to wear her hijab, write in her journal and learn breakdancing with her brother. She just wants to live her life. Enter Ocean (yes, you read that right, his name is Ocean). He is just a normal guy, playing basketball and living that white boy life. They start to fall in love but people don’t like that their all-star bball player is dating the “terrorist”. Can their relationship survive the hate that is thrown at them?

Now I sadly didn’t really enjoy this book that much. I DO think that it is very very important for POCs because this is an experience that I am not familiar with. I don’t know what it’s like to be made fun of my religion or religious wardrobe. It is incredibly important that this book has been published. But I didn’t really like the writing of the novel. It felt like she wrote the book just so she could. It felt like it was just written in response to The Hate U Give. The characters were very poorly developed and didn’t really grow at all. The only growth was in the last couple pages of the novel. Since I am not Muslim and I don’t know much about the religion, it was a very interesting thing to read about. But there wasn’t even that much put in about Muslim.

We are growing as a community for books being written about POC and I think that it is beyond wonderful! I loved The Hate U Give and would love to read more books about the POC experience. I want to give as much support as I can to these POC authors writing about POCs characters, most of whom are written versions of themselves and their experiences. But this was sadly, a 2.5 star book for me. It was underdeveloped for the characters and the only plot was that Shirin was confused about her feelings 90% of the time.  While I think it had potential to be a really good book, I personally didn’t enjoy it.

Get to Know the Blogger!

Cameron

Since I am new to this whole blog thing, I thought that I would list some things about me so that I’m not an enigma to everyone!

  1. I got married last month! It was amazing and I loved it all!
  2. My favorite type of tv shows to watch is mockumentary style like The Office, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn 99
  3. I have a cat name Oswald, named after our very own Oswald Cobblepot from Gotham
  4. I have over 130 books that I own on my TBR
  5. My favorite movie is The Greatest Showman
  6. My celebrity crushes are Evan Peters and Carlos Valdes (who I actually have met)!
  7. My favorite color is green
  8. My favorite animal is Red Pandas, they are the cutest animals in the world and I love them so much
  9. I have a giant TARDIS bookshelf that my husband built for me
  10. I used to play basketball in middle school and I was one of the most aggressive person on the team
  11. I am obsessed with Queen and the Beatles
  12. I am from Prince Edward Island, Canada
  13. My husband and I own 4 wands in total
  14. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairytale and is always something that I look for in books and retellings!
  15. I am a feminist
  16. I have depression and anxiety
  17. I think both cats and dogs are in need of love, so I love both of them
  18. I love mashed potatoes and my husband will get them as a side for his meals at restaurants so I can eat them as well as fries
  19. The first book I ever really loved is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher which I read when I was 14 years old
  20. Books are important and will always be important to me

There we go! That is everything I can think of! Hopefully you all feel like you know me a little bit better!

Review: A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Cameron

“We are all dealt a hand at birth. A good hand can ultimately lose – just as a poor hand can win- but we must all play the card that fate deals. The choices we face may not be the choices we want, but they are choices nonetheless”

Let’s just start off with me saying I love Beauty and the Beast. It is by far one of my most favorite fairytales. I even played Belle in our middle school musical! Beastly is one of my favorite books of all time! So I read the synopsis of this book and was instantly intrigued. We have our leading lady, Harper Lacy, who is amazing! She is smart, tough, fearless, and has cerebral palsy. But if you think that defines her or limits her in anyway, you would be dead wrong. Harper’s family is in debt to some really bad people when all of a sudden she gets swept up to the other realm where there are princes and beasts and knights. And like anyone would, she freaks out. There she meets our Prince Rhen, who was a freaking awesome male lead! He has played out this game of trying to get someone to fall in love with him so many times, he doesn’t care anymore. Even less now that it’s his last chance to break the curse.

Everything that I had heard about this book made me think it was going to be in a contemporary setting but that was far from the truth. The majority of this book is held in a completely different realm than our world. It is about 5% held in our world, mostly in the introductions of Harper and our other secondary character, Commander Grey. The other 95% is held in the world of Emberfall, a fantasy realm where we still have peasants, princes, knights in shining armor and ,even more important, monsters. The fact that it isn’t set in a contemporary setting completely changes the feel of the book. If it was contemporary I would have felt a bit more hesitant going into it, but the fantasy element to the book creates a rich world equal to the characters that are in it.

The character building in the book is amazing and I genuinely had no issues with any of the characters. They all have special places in my heart. Harper was so strong and let nothing stand in her way even if that problem was unsolvable. Rhen was the spoiled prince that we all know from the fairytale but learns and grows with Harper’s guidance. He also had his loyal friend and guard, Grey. And the villain! Oh man, I haven’t seen a villain so straight up crazy since Marrissa Meyer’s Levana! Our enchantress is always around watching and ready to “play” with her human dolls. The characters were just all so well written and developed in just one book. I don’t even think there needs to be a sequel but I am so ready for the next one!

I have giving A Curse so Dark and Lonely 5 stars, I haven’t loved a Beauty and the Beast retelling this much since I first read Beastly. That was in 2011, y’all. Read this book, you will not regret it at all!

The Art of DNFing

Cameron

You decided to pick up a book, you thought it was going to be great but then it just isn’t catching your attention. But what if it gets better? I’m sure if you kept at it, it would eventually get better. Then finally at the end of that book, you are disappointed. What a surprise!

I have picked up so many books this past month and put down at least 5 books. It takes a long time to become comfortable with dnf-ing books. But the last book I put down was “Kill Me Softly” by Sarah Crossan, it just was not my thing. I found the writing poor and the characters annoying as heck. It was the first book that the author had written and I know the author has improved in her writing. And just because I didn’t enjoy the book doesn’t mean that someone else enjoys it!

After years of me trying to push through books, I finally decided that not finishing a book is an okay thing to do. We don’t need to push through books we don’t enjoy. Reading is supposed to an enjoyable activity. We don’t need to continue reading books that we don’t enjoy, even if they are hyped up ones.