Genre: Magical Realism

Last Book of 2016 & First Book of 2017 | Reviews: The Night Circus and The Secret of a Heart Note

Posted January 23, 2017 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments

I thought it would be appropriate to put my reviews for my last read of 2016 and the first read of 2017 together. I ended up cutting it very close with my Goodreads goal because I decided to be lazy with my final book. I ended up finishing it 20 minutes before I had to leave for New Jersey for my NYE plans… whoops. That’s what happens when you tell yourself to meet your Goodreads goal exactly – no more, no less. I started my first book of 2017 on New Years’ Day while Chris and I were hanging out at home before bed. I was hoping to spend a good portion of the day reading but I ended up watching lots of football (duh). In any case, here are the books that ended one year and started another! I had pretty high expectations for this book. It ends up on a LOT of people’s all-time-favorites lists. I bought this on Scribd forever ago with one of my credits, solely because it was narrated by Jim Dale. The story itself intrigued me because I find circus settings to be fascinating, but I really only went through with the purchase because of Jim Dale. He is perfection. His narration did end up being a major highlight for me. It was jarring at times because he used similar voices to the Harry Potter characters (like one character in this book sounded a lot like Dumbledore) and the book had some similar words I […]

Review: Between the Lines

Posted June 12, 2015 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments

This was my book club’s pick for May, which was really the only reason I was motivated to read it! (And even then, I only picked it up a couple of days before the meeting… YOLO). I started a YA book club because there weren’t any near me, and this is what we agreed to read for the first meeting! We thought it would be good for those who aren’t experienced YA readers, since Jodi Picoult is a popular and recognizable adult fiction writer. Soooo, about this book. I have somewhat mixed feelings. I didn’t actively want to sit down and read it that often, but I did find myself pretty engaged as I was actually reading it. The concept itself is probably my favorite part. It’s like Toy Story for books! What happens to the characters in a book when you close it? In this case, they’re all essentially “actors” in the book and lead regular (very different) lives when the book is shut. Delilah reads this book and starts to fall for the main character, Oliver, and he finds a way to communicate with her. The two of them spend the book trying to get him out of the story so they can be together. Pretty cool, eh? Otherwise, the book felt suuuuper young to me. The writing definitely didn’t feel Picoult-esque, and that’s probably because she wrote it with her young daughter, but there were some parts that had me majorly rolling my eyes. A lot of it […]

Blog Tour Review: The Summer of Chasing Mermaids

Posted May 29, 2015 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler Publisher: Simon Pulse Release Date: June 2nd 2015 Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Retellings, Chick Lit The youngest of six talented sisters, Elyse d’Abreau was destined for stardom—until a boating accident took everything from her. Now, the most beautiful singer in Tobago can’t sing. She can’t even speak. Seeking quiet solitude, Elyse accepts a friend’s invitation to Atargatis Cove. Named for the mythical first mermaid, the Oregon seaside town is everything Elyse’s home in the Caribbean isn’t: An ocean too cold for swimming, parties too tame for singing, and people too polite to pry—except for one. Christian Kane is a notorious playboy—insolent, arrogant, and completely charming. He’s also the only person in Atargatis Cove who doesn’t treat Elyse like a glass statue. He challenges her to express herself, and he admires the way she treats his younger brother Sebastian, who believes Elyse is the legendary mermaid come to life. When Christian needs a first mate for the Cove’s high-stakes Pirate Regatta, Elyse reluctantly stows her fear of the sea and climbs aboard. The ocean isn’t the only thing making waves, though—swept up in Christian’s seductive tide and entranced by the Cove’s charms, Elyse begins to wonder if a life of solitude isn’t what she needs. But changing course again means facing her past. It means finding her inner voice. And scariest of all, it means opening her heart to a boy who’s best known for breaking them . . . This book was one […]

Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest

Posted January 29, 2015 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments

This is definitely not going to be an easy book to review! I got to the end and wasn’t even sure how to pull my thoughts together enough for a rating. I mean this in a very good way, but Holly Black’s books can just be so delightfully weird that half the time I don’t even know if I fully understood it. This was certainly a unique read with lots of nuances and secrets; it had a slow and steady plotline that didn’t really have a formal “climax” with a lot of action. I enjoyed that though. I completely forgot how much I love Black’s writing style; I know it’s not for some people. She is the absolute QUEEN of magical realism, this I know for sure. It gave the book an old-school folklore feel while also being set in modern day. The Darkest Part of the Forest takes place in a very unique New England (yay!) town that happens to have faeries living in the forest. I won’t get too much into the actual plot, because I feel like the action is very slow-burn and I wouldn’t want to spoil any of the plot points aside from the ones in the summary. Ben and Hazel are siblings who have spent their lives in love with a horned boy that has slept forever in a glass casket in the forest. Things start getting a bit crazy around the town as the faeries, who usually leave them alone, start injuring the townspeople. […]