book Archives - Page 4 of 8 - A Bookie's Books

Fence, the Cutest Book Ever!

Title: Fence: Striking Distance

Author: Sarah Reese Brennan

Illustrator: Johanna the Mad

Creator: C.S Pacat

Series: Fence #1

Published September 29th 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Contemporary, YA, LGBTQ

“The boys of Kings Row bout with drama, rivalry, and romance in this original YA novel by The New York Times bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan—inspired by the award-nominated comic series by C.S. Pacat and Johanna The Mad.

Sixteen-year-old Nicholas Cox is the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion who dreams of getting the proper training he could never afford. After earning a place on the elite Kings Row fencing team, Nicholas must prove himself to his rival, Seiji Katayma, and navigate the clashes, friendships, and relationships between his teammates on the road to state championships—where Nicholas might finally have the chance to spar with his golden-boy half-brother.

Coach Williams decides to take advantage of the boys’ morale after a recent victory and assigns them a course of team building exercises to further deepen their bonds. It takes a shoplifting scandal, a couple of moonlit forest strolls, several hilariously bad dates, and a whole lot of introspection for the team to realize they are stronger together than they could ever be apart.

The first installment of this enticing original YA novel series by Sarah Rees Brennan, rich with casual diversity and queer self-discovery, explores never-before-seen drama inspired by C.S. Pacat’s critically acclaimed Fence comic series and boasts original cover and interior art by Johanna The Mad.” -Goodreads

My Review:

OMG!

I found this book while perusing my libraries online audiobooks and this was the only book n the YA section that was available.

Boy am I thankful that I checked it out!

This was the cutest little audiobook I have ever listened too. It really got me into the mood of listening to audiobooks.

I think that the relationship between Aiden and Harvard is so cute! They were the main romance in the novel. I know the comic version mainly focuses on Nicolas and Seiji but I have not read it. I am trying to find out where to get it!

I absolutely loved this book. I listened to the entire thing in one day. I could not stop playing it. I began cleaning my house to it and than suddenly, I was laying in bed just listening.

The narrator did really well doing each person’s unique voice. The illustrations made it really easy to see the boys infront of me while they went along their tasks.

The one thing that I was not a huge fan of was the lack of fencing in the book. Sports romance books always seem to lack the sport they surround. The Foxhole Court was the same way.

I cannot wait for the second book to make it’s way too me. And I really want to check out the comics.

If you want an easy cute little read, I would definetly check this out!

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 4.3

Crooked Kingdom Review

Title: Crooked Kingdom

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series: Six of Crows #2

Published September 20th 2016 by Henry Holt and Company

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Pages: 546

“Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets – a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

Welcome to the world of the Grisha.” –Goodreads

My Review:

AGGHHHHHHHH

I love love love this book!

It had everything I love in it:

Action
Scheming
Crazy hot psychopaths
and a cute gay romance!

Bardugo really steps up her game in this book. She gives us even more character development. She gives us better back stories. She builds the realm of Ketterdam even more beautifully than the first book.

The plot thickens on the Crows story as they try to get the money that was owed to them in the last book. I felt like this story, while lacking the adventure aspect of the first book, gave me everything the first book was missing and more.

It explained more of the love interests in the stories and developed those relationships. Wylan and Jesper are even more enthralled with each other. The little teasing just GETS ME. Nina and Matthias are shown to be united and happy together. Inej and Kaz are the slowest burn alive but that BATHROOM SCENE had me SCREAMING!

We got to see more realm building. We steered off of the Shadow and Bone Ravkan knowledge of how Grisha were treated. Bardugo delves deeper into how Grisha are treated in any other part of the world.

This book was really good. I honestly have no complaints for it. I have not had a book I read in awhile that I have not complained about. The ending was a little shocking but I definitely cant complain about the shock factor.

I think everyone should go check this out. Also, now that I finished the books, I watched the TV show and it was so good! Not super accurate to the Six of Crows books but I liked the Shadow and Bone adaptation.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 4.6

The Glittering Court, a Review

Title: The Glittering Court

Author: Richelle Mead

Series: The Glittering Court #1

Published April 5th 2016 by Razorbill

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 416

“Big and sweeping, spanning from the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.

Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training, and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court.

When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide’s deception. Complications soon arise—first as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and then when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor.

But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands…”-Goodreads

My Review:

I picked up this book quite a few years ago. I got the recommendation either from Sasha Alsberg’s YouTube or her Goodreads page.

Let me just say…it is not worth the read.

Plot wise, this book sucked. The synopsis makes the conflicts in this story seem a whole lot more exciting than it really is. The supposed “plot” is more like sub-plot. Most books have the overarching struggle along with many other tensions running underneath so the story doesn’t get boring.

Well this story only had sub-plot. A whole lot of mediocre sub-plots. Sure, they had the overarching love story (but even that seemed like a small issue). Everything else was just there.

Not only that, everything was so easily fixed. Conflicts, internal and outer struggles were quickly tied up by the end of a few chapters after they were introduced.

The story did not really have a point or have any build up. I saw no development in the characters or in the story.

The end was absolutely ridiculous. They had so much action packed into the last few chapters but it was like “hey omg I am about to be kidnapped. Oh look these random people, who we have only mentioned ONCE as a little world building jumped into to help with no explanation as to why they are here to help me, have come to save me!”

This book was so dumb.

Pros:

The love interests end up together

Cons:

Boring
Weird England/America parallel that I felt was unnecessary
To fast
Not well written
No knowledge of horses (see the part where she leaves a horse tied to a tree because its show comes off)
Adelaide=dull character
Arranged marriage being traded for…another arranged marriage
What was the point of this book?
Objectifying women while trying to make it seem like we were combating feminism

This book was absolutely ridiculous. I have never read a Richelle Mead book and I think it was steered me away from reading any other books she has authored.

Would not recommend this book to anyone. I am not even going to read the other books in the series to find out if it gets better. I have no faith.

Let me know what you thought in the comments. If you actually thought this book was good, please tell me why. Because honestly I can’t see why.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 1.5

Sensational: A Book Just as Exciting as the Women It Talks About

Title: Sensational: The Hidden Histories of “Girl Stunt Reporters”

Author: Kim Todd

Published April 13th 2021 by Harper

Genre: History, Non-fiction, Feminism

Pages: 400

“A vivid social history that brings to light the “girl stunt reporters” of the Gilded Age who went undercover to expose corruption and abuse in America, and redefined what it meant to be a woman and a journalist — pioneers whose influence continues to be felt today

In the waning years of the nineteenth century, women journalists across the United States risked reputation and their own safety to expose the hazardous conditions under which many Americans lived and worked. In various disguises, they stole into sewing factories to report on child labor, fainted in the streets to test public hospital treatment, posed as lobbyists to reveal corrupt politicians. Inventive writers whose in-depth narratives made headlines for weeks at a stretch, these “girl stunt reporters” changed laws, helped launch a labor movement, championed women’s rights, and redefined journalism for the modern age.

The 1880s and 1890s witnessed a revolution in journalism as publisher titans like Hearst and Pulitzer used weapons of innovation and scandal to battle it out for market share. As they sought new ways to draw readers in, they found their answer in young women flooding into cities to seek their fortunes. When Nellie Bly went undercover into Blackwell’s Insane Asylum for Women and emerged with a scathing indictment of what she found there, the resulting sensation created opportunity for a whole new wave of writers. In a time of few jobs and few rights for women, here was a path to lives of excitement and meaning.

After only a decade of headlines and fame, though, these trailblazers faced a vicious public backlash. Accused of practicing “yellow journalism,” their popularity waned until “stunt reporter” became a badge of shame. But their influence on the field of journalism would arc across a century, from the Progressive Era “muckraking” of the 1900s to the personal “New Journalism” of the 1960s and ’70s, to the “immersion journalism” and “creative nonfiction” of today. Bold and unconventional, these writers changed how people would tell stories forever.” -Goodreads

My Review:

I do not read a lot of non-fiction books especially not about history. But I recently was talking to an editor at a local magazine in my home state who told me about this book. I would love to become a more well-rounded reader so I decided to use an audible credit and listen to it while I drove to Montana.

This is a story about female stunt reports in the later 1800s to early 1900s. I am a journalism major so I thought this was a fitting topic to pursue.

Todd does a great job of showing instead of telling all the facts. She writes in the story in a way that does not sound like a textbook but does not sound like a narrative piece. She does give great details and beautiful imagery.

Each chapter focuses on a certain woman or a certain event and how that affected the course of journalism or the women’s work. It highlighted a tie where female reporters were not seen as serious news reporters.

The book highlights so many great role models. Nellie Bly and Ida B. Wells are two of my favorites in the book. I love looking at their histories and what they risked to becoming such influential people in this time period.

I am usually not a huge fan of non-fiction. I usually get bored really easily reading long works like this. News stories are fine, like what the women in this book write.

This book I did not get bored at all. Sometimes, I felt a lull in the story. Some experiences felt like reiterations of the same story last chapter. I listened while I was driving so I probably would have fallen asleep and crashed if this book had not been as entertaining as it was.

I think it is really worth the read. Not everyone will enjoy it but if you like reading about women’s issues, are a journalist, or like non-fiction, this book will interest you quite a bit.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Book Review of a Court of Wings and Ruin

Title: A Court of Wings and Ruin

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #3

Published May 2nd 2017 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 705

“FEYRE WILL BRING VENGEANCE.

She has left the Night Court – and her High Lord – and is playing a deadly game of deceit. In the Spring Court, Tamlin is making deals with the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees, and Feyre is determined to uncover his plans. But to do so she must weave a web of lies, and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well.

As mighty armies grapple for power, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords – and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

BUT WHILE WAR RAGES, IT IS HER HEART THAT WILL FACE THE GREATEST BATTLE.” -Goodreads

My Review:

As usual…

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

I do not think that there is a SJM book I have hated.

I will have to say, while I was reading, I received a TikTok from my friend about SJM’s use of m-dashes. Let me tell you, that was something that shocked me. Before this, I did not notice but now, there is not a page you can escape from her excessive (and incorrect) use of the m-dash.

Aside from that, and the weird growling/moaning noises heard from the tents in a war camp, this book was pretty awesome.

It developed the story and romance of Feyre and Rhysand in a way that was exciting but not unexpected. If you have ever read an SJM story, they all go along in the same way. They have the main female character usually do something heroic and her side male piece does the same thing (but we dont focus on that because WOMEN POWER). The story leaves off in a cliff hanger and torment. But, she always does it in an exciting way!

I think the characters lacked development in this book but like Queen of Shadows in ToG, this book seemed like a filler. A book that needed to be written to get all the necessary exposition out there, but not important enough to be the most exciting book in the series. (This is by no means slander to Queen of Shadows.) It had some good exciting scenes and some dramatic battles, but it lacked a storyline. There was a climax (multiple, many times in one night) but it was just simply a battle. There was importance to it of course, but it was still filler. It did not solve the grander issue.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It kept me entertained while still furthering along the plot of the series. I think it lacked its own general plot but it did help the series and give more depth to the issues that was lacking in the other stories.

I would recommend everyone read this series. Maas writes well (other than her excessive grammatical mistakes) and makes great worlds. I love talking with others about her books.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 4.1

Books I Couldn’t Put Down

“Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” -That Artsy Reader Girl

This weeks theme is:

Books You Read in One Sitting (Or Could Have If Time Permitted)

Fence: Striking Distance by Sarah Reese Brennan

2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

3. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

4. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

5. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

6. Heartless by Marissa Meyers

7. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

8. Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

9. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

10. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Need Book Recommendations

Hey bloggers,

Hope you all are having a great day!

I am having an issue.

If you look on my website, I have a page called “Reviews.” Under that, is a list of all the book reviews I have ever written.

It is in alphabetical order and here is my problem. I have blanks under letters.

This may not seem like a big deal but I want to fill this list. That is my goal by the end of the year. I want to have at least one review under each of those letters.

So I am looking for recommendations of books with the tittles beginning inn the letters:

Help!

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Six Reasons to Like Six of Crows

Title: Six of Crows

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series: Six of Crows #1

Published September 29th 2015 by Henry Holt & Company

Pages: 465

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Adventure

“Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.” -Goodreads

My Review:

Wow!

The hype for this book was deserved. This made the whole Grishaverse from Shadow and Bone WAY more exciting and adventurous.

It had exciting plot lines and a huge adventure that ACTUALLY get finished in the book.

From binge reading the Shadow and Bone series to reading starting this duology was a huge change.

To review: Shadow and Bone lacked good development of characters and setting. It lacked a show not telling piece in the story that would have set it high on my list. It was a great story and had great characters…but it lacked depth.

But Six of Crows was a major improvement in that area. While it may have lacked in few key character and plot development moments, it was a drastic improvement from SaB.

Plot

The plot was really interesting. It had a beginning, middle, and end. That seems like a very basic “well duh” element of a book but in Shadow and Bone, I felt like every book just stopped in the middle of a plot line until the next book. This book had a climax and falling action. It actually wrapped up really nicely with only one major cliff hanger for the second book.

2. Kaz

Kaz Brekker is my new favorite crush. This is probably influenced by the Netflix Shadow and Bone adaptation with him being played by Freddy Carter. But, hey what can I say. I love a man who secretly harbors a crush for a girl. I love the trope of “he-would-burn-the-world-down-for-her.”

3.Inej

Inej is a badass. You know I love badass women in literature. This book has the wraith, who no matter how much the world is out to get her, she defies them…and gravity.

4. Literally all of the characters

You couldn’t help but to love all of the characters. They all spoke to me in little ways. I think out of all of them Jesper is my favorite. He was witty and fun. He is also attractive and has some history around him.

5. Setting

Setting-wise, I was able to visualize Ketterdam and the Ice Prison really well. This was helped my a fantastic map of the Ice Prison thing in this book and a map of Ketterdam in the second book. Bardugo explains the setting with better details than her last series. She shows a lot of improvement in this series.

6. Multiple POVs

With multiple POVs, we get to see more characters and their thoughts. In Shadow and Bone, we only saw people through Alina’s eyes. Now we can make our own judgements about each character without bias from someone’s thoughts.

While she may have improved her writing, I did find a few things lacking.

The six person POV was interesting, but at times it felt rushed. There were moments and situations that I would have loved to see from another POV. I think that the six person thing was to needed at times because they were mostly all together in the same room.

The romance between Jesper and Wylan was a little rushed and lack luster. It seems to get glanced over. Jesper seemingly hates Wylan and than all of the sudden he is flirting with him? Yes, between the POV’s there is a whole lot of time going on there so obviously his feelings changed. I just wish I could have seen that.

There are more positives and negatives I would love to talk about, but I am trying to avoid spoilers.

Let me know what you guys thought down below. If you haven’t already, read this book (but read Shadow and Bone first so you don’t get spoiled for somethings.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

WWW: See what I am reading this week!

For those that dont know, WWW is a meme and this meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words. And it involves answering the 3 Ws!

What am I currently reading?

Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

White Magic by Elissa Washuta

*If you want to see the whole list of my current reads, my Goodreads is listed in my sidebar of this blogsite.

What did I recently finish?

Fence: Striking Distance by Sarah Rees Brennan

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

What am I reading next?

Finale by Stephanie Garber

Link your post down below or let me know what you are reading this week in the comments!

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Back again… I hate writing these

Aww did you miss me?

Probably not but I am back anyway!

I took the last two months off because I wanted to journey into self-discovery and needed to expand myself to have better content for my followers.

WRONG

I just totally forgot to write posts for this blog for two months.

School started kicking my bum. I tried so hard to get up and open WordPress every day. But eventually, I said F that and full-heartedly focused on finals.

That is good right? As long as I am doing something productive. The real question is what have I been doing this past few weeks I have been out of school and not posting.

Well, to name a few things…

I went to a Bachelorette Party which was super fun. One of the nights, we dressed as holidays and I was Valentine’s Day!

I went to a Her Campus Gala. My school’s chapter really did it up and I looked so nice! I was also named Editor for next year’s club.

School ended and I went on a 3-day road trip to Montana for my friend’s wedding. I was a bridesmaid and I had a fun time.

I go back and had to move all of my belongings into the bigger room in our house. My old roommate moved out. I took her old room since it was bigger than the room I was in.

My remaining roommate and I decided to deep clean the house while we searched for a new roommate. The house is all clean. We even found a new roommate (who hopefully works out well for us)!

Before this though, she and I went around looking at 2 bedroom apartments. All of them had been out of our price range. They did not have the amenities we get at our house for much cheaper.

I then started my new work schedule. I have been moved to working on weekends.

I semi-permanentaly colored my hair to this cool pink.

I then had to run home for my best friend’s birthday and my great-grandma’s 100th birthday! That is a once-in-a-lifetime party.

While I am not working on M-W, I have started Doordashing for some extra cash. A girl has to pay for her obsessive book-buying habits somehow right?

The PNW also decided to have a three-day heatwave, where I door dashed in the 113-degree weather. My car overheated the next day and I learned how to put coolant in my car. I then sat in my room the whole next day letting my precious car rest after a bad day.

It has finally calmed down and is only at 84 degrees today. I am settled into my new work schedule and am writing this from the patio at my workplace.

Life is really good right now. Since I have been gone, I have finished 5 books (all in the past three weeks). For you senior readers, that does not seem impressive but usually, during these breaks, I don’t read at all.

I made this Tik Tok about one of the books I read.

I have a really good friend in town that I hang out with. I have a boy who treats me very kindly (not a boyfriend though so don’t ask). I have a fantastic roommate who is getting better at cleaning. I have a steady income.

And I am back to blogging.

I have even planned out the next few weeks on this blog. I know I say that every time but I really did it this time. I got a little Google Calendar that I filled. It has every blog post I want to write and when to post it.

I also have all of my posts written out for the next two weeks.

So please don’t go anywhere. My best is still yet to come but it is coming.

I am looking to grow going forward in this blog.

Anyways, happy summer everyone! I am excited about this summer.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie