Tag: reading

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!