Why I picked itMy pick for the History of Magic OWLs for the April Magical Readathon I participated in, this book has been on my shelf for a bit. I picked it because it was a bit shorter, and it seemed like it would be a nice, fast read, perfect for the readathon. I also needed something with a magical witch/wizardry element. Turns out that I was right! This book also fulfills the Asia stamp for my #2020ReadingPassport! Brief Summary As sisters, Diribani and Tana are very different. One has poise and grace, and a filter that she uses, making her eloquent. The other stumbles over her words and never quite knows what to say. When both of them run into a goddess, she gifts each of them with an ability according to their reactions to her. One seems more like a curse than a blessing, but the girls trust their goddess and go on a quest to find the purpose behind their gifts. What I LikedThis book was cute, touched on some social topics of the time it was set in, and was an overall fun read. I really liked the dynamic between the sisters. Even though they were not blood related, they had a close bond, willing to sacrifice whatever needed to help one another. Even when they get separated, their thoughts are with one another, their focuses on getting back together safely. Throughout, there were a few twists and turns. I wasn't quite sure where the overall story was going because the journeys were quite long for them both, and there were a couple of times I questioned what the purpose of the journey would become. But along the way, there was still enough information and intrigue to keep me reading. What I didn't LikeLike mentioned above, there were a few moments that the journeys seemed to drag on without a renewed sense of purpose. Each of the sisters learned life lessons along the way, but their internal purposes would change, and there just seemed to be times that I wasn't sure what was coming next at all, and if it would be a good progression or something that pulled me out of the story. Overall Impression 🌟🌟🌟Overall, I did enjoy the book. I probably wouldn't read it again, but I think that is more because it's a lower-grade book. I would probably recommend it to a middle or high schooler who is interested in magic and fantastical stories of sisterhood. But personally, I wouldn't reread it.
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Hello, friends!! Today I'm (finally) coming at you with a new blog post, and I'm excited!! Currently, I’m on a two-week vacation. The original plan for this vacation was a trip to Costa Rica for my husband and I with his college choir, but with COVID, that didn't happen. Yet, I still needed to use my PTO hours, and with the recent purchase of our house, I kept the two weeks off and we have been working on finalizing our move, finishing some small projects, and just hanging out and getting ready to celebrate our first wedding anniversary on Monday. :) Anyway, this break is also giving me a break to recuperate from the busy-ness of work and the whole home-buying process, and I get a bit of chance to get back to reading, writing, and just taking some creative time. Along with our anniversary and this vacation to start my month of June, I also have decided to participate (to my best ability) in two - yes, two - readathons this month. #MakeYourMythTakerThe #MakeYourMythTaker readathon is hosted by the team at @MythTakeReads - Ashleigh from A Frolic Through Fiction and Charlotte (@charkar_). They did a great job preparing for this readathon. They are encouraging everyone to create their own Mythic Character by following different character paths that each have 4 book prompts. The rules are: you must choose your character path and TBR before you start (and stick with it), you should SHARE that TBR, and you need to complete the prompts in order! They have 4 character classes, and each one has 4 characters: Rogue: Bandit, Pirate, Assassin, Exile |
Sarah Mackey is going through a divorce. It isn't really an ugly divorce, they just sort of fell out of love. In the midst of it, Sarah meets Eddie when she's visiting her family in England. They spend only seven days together, but they both fall in love. Unfortunately, at the end of their perfect week, Eddie ghosts Sarah and she can't understand why. It turns out there are plenty of reasons for him to stay away. |
what i liked
The whole premise of the book was very intriguing. "Ghosting" is becoming such a popular term, and it was just really interesting to read a story where there's a lot more mystery in why the ghosting happens. Because who would think that after an absolutely perfect week, you could get ghosted by someone?
Sarah Mackey as a character was extremely relatable. She was real, she was in love, and she has a lot of stressors in her life. She's trying to take things slow and make sure she's over her husband before jumping into a relationship, but she knows what she and Eddie felt together was real. So why did he just disappear on her? I feel like most people who have ever been in love can relate to the frantic thoughts running through Sarah's head as she tries to figure out where things went wrong.
Another thing that was amazing is that there are twists and turns. I never knew where the story was going. Each time I'd take a stab at guessing what was coming next, I was wrong. Sometimes I got close. Other times I had no clue. I really enjoyed the fact that the story could surprise me throughout the entire book.
Sarah Mackey as a character was extremely relatable. She was real, she was in love, and she has a lot of stressors in her life. She's trying to take things slow and make sure she's over her husband before jumping into a relationship, but she knows what she and Eddie felt together was real. So why did he just disappear on her? I feel like most people who have ever been in love can relate to the frantic thoughts running through Sarah's head as she tries to figure out where things went wrong.
Another thing that was amazing is that there are twists and turns. I never knew where the story was going. Each time I'd take a stab at guessing what was coming next, I was wrong. Sometimes I got close. Other times I had no clue. I really enjoyed the fact that the story could surprise me throughout the entire book.
what i didn't like
In the first part of the book, there is a lot of jumping around on the timeline. There are letters being written to someone that you're reading, there are pieces of the "perfect week" for you to see, and there's the current timeline. And all of this jumps around in really no particular order. By the time you get to parts two and three, the jumping has pretty much stopped, though, so I'm glad it didn't continue throughout.
overall impression 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a great contemporary mystery that wasn't too dark or thriller-esque. It had just the right amounts of mystery and romance and plot twists. I truly enjoyed almost every minute of reading this one.
I'd recommend this book if you enjoy tense love stories, a little bit of mystery, and unique characters.
I'd recommend this book if you enjoy tense love stories, a little bit of mystery, and unique characters.
Why I picked it
Similarly to The Lost Boy, I decided to pick this book up when I happened to be at the library because I wanted something between reading my backlisted TBR on my shelves at home. So, this graphic novel caught my eye!
Summary
In a town where all women are witches, a boy (Bucky)'s sister goes missing. No one seems to know what happened to her, and her father, though the Sheriff, can't look into some of the top suspects because they are witches and protected by law. But that doesn't mean that Bucky can't investigate.
With a little bit of help from his childhood best friend, Bucky goes on a hunt to find out what happened to his sister. At the same time, his mother, a witch with powers to control the weather, can't control her tears falling (which in turn means it won't stop raining). As conditions in town get worse, it looks like Bucky will never find out what happened.
With a little bit of help from his childhood best friend, Bucky goes on a hunt to find out what happened to his sister. At the same time, his mother, a witch with powers to control the weather, can't control her tears falling (which in turn means it won't stop raining). As conditions in town get worse, it looks like Bucky will never find out what happened.
What I liked
The illustrations are absolutely GORGEOUS. Probably some of my favorite in a graphic novel ever so far. Everything was detailed, yet easy to absorb and see what all is going on. There was a nice mix of dark and light illustrations, just a slight bit of color, and overall, just beautiful scenes.
I also loved the story. There was a good premise, and you're rooting for Bucky to find his sister. He gets to find out more about the town he lives in than he knew before. There are tensions between characters that I wasn't sure why they were there until the reasons were slowly revealed. And the ending- THE ENDING -caught be so off guard. It ended perfectly, kind of bittersweet in different ways, but I did NOT see it coming (which I often love when I'm reading a mystery).
The characters were developed well for such a short story. I got to know Bucky and what was important to him and some of his deeper desires. I got to know the coven of witches that he immediately assumes kidnapped his sister. There are mysteries and tensions (as I mentioned above) between characters and I love that they are alluded to, and nothing is really explicitly said until you get a couple of flashbacks and see what happened and brought things to the point they are at now. The characters were interesting and lovable, and they kept me interested throughout the book.
I also loved the story. There was a good premise, and you're rooting for Bucky to find his sister. He gets to find out more about the town he lives in than he knew before. There are tensions between characters that I wasn't sure why they were there until the reasons were slowly revealed. And the ending- THE ENDING -caught be so off guard. It ended perfectly, kind of bittersweet in different ways, but I did NOT see it coming (which I often love when I'm reading a mystery).
The characters were developed well for such a short story. I got to know Bucky and what was important to him and some of his deeper desires. I got to know the coven of witches that he immediately assumes kidnapped his sister. There are mysteries and tensions (as I mentioned above) between characters and I love that they are alluded to, and nothing is really explicitly said until you get a couple of flashbacks and see what happened and brought things to the point they are at now. The characters were interesting and lovable, and they kept me interested throughout the book.
What I didn't Like
Most everything was great. At times, it seemed like the story was going in an unimportant direction, but every time, the clue Bucky was following somehow fit into the end scheme (did I mention it surprised me?). So even that complaint I had while I was reading was resolved by the time I finished it.
Overall Impression 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Favorite graphic novel of the year so far!! This was such a fun read, super quick and lovely. I'm glad I added it to my stack of books for February!
If you love cute mysteries and you love magic, this is a world you need to dive into. You'll be sucked in!
If you love cute mysteries and you love magic, this is a world you need to dive into. You'll be sucked in!
Why I Picked It
I go through these phases where I want to read graphic novels. So when my husband *finally* went to the library with me to get his library card, I decided to grab a couple. I'm really truly trying to avoid the library for now and work on my physical TBR at home. But I breeze through most graphic novels and picked up a couple of them so that I could have a small break from my other TBR reads.
And, since I picked up a graphic novel, it's the perfect book to count for my Scenic Route stamp for my #2020ReadingPassport!
And, since I picked up a graphic novel, it's the perfect book to count for my Scenic Route stamp for my #2020ReadingPassport!
Summary
Fifty or so years ago, a boy disappeared, and no one knew what happened to him. He was a boy interested in recording his thoughts and discoveries on his late mother's tape recorder, but the tapes seemed more like the musings of a young boy rather than clues to his disappearance. At least to those who didn't believe.
There's a world of shadows and animals that talk and dolls that walk, but it's a world only children seem to be able to see, and only if they believe.
Jump to the present, and a young boy moves into an old house with his parents and upon picking his room, finds an old tape recorder under a loose floorboard. Then the strange neighbor girl explains what the tapes mean and the strange things that are out and about in the woods and in their town, and they set out on a journey to find out what happened fifty years ago.
There's a world of shadows and animals that talk and dolls that walk, but it's a world only children seem to be able to see, and only if they believe.
Jump to the present, and a young boy moves into an old house with his parents and upon picking his room, finds an old tape recorder under a loose floorboard. Then the strange neighbor girl explains what the tapes mean and the strange things that are out and about in the woods and in their town, and they set out on a journey to find out what happened fifty years ago.
What I LIked
I liked the illustrations. They were pretty darn good. Not necessarily my favorites, but I didn't dislike them either. I thought they were very well done. I also loved that depending on whose point of view it was, when it was in the past, the background of the page was black, and the present had a white background. It helped me keep the two timelines straight very easily.
Another thing I liked about the book was the characters. You weren't exactly sure at the beginning who was "good" and who was "bad" because it was kind of hard to tell until more was explained to you. I liked the mystery of not knowing what exactly was going on at the very beginning.
Another thing I liked about the book was the characters. You weren't exactly sure at the beginning who was "good" and who was "bad" because it was kind of hard to tell until more was explained to you. I liked the mystery of not knowing what exactly was going on at the very beginning.
What I didn't Like
The storyline was really predictable. Like, SUPER predictable I generally knew where it was going, I knew who the "bad guy" was right off the bat, and I figured out most of the story once the beginning mystery was explained and wore off. My brain always tries to guess what's going to happen, and I love stories so much more when they surprise me and don't go the way I thought they would. So having such a predictable plot was a bit of a disappointment for me. I was kind of hoping for a twist, but I didn't get much of one.
Overall Impression 🌟🌟🌟
Overall, this was a decent book. Will I pick it up again? No. But did I dislike it? Also no. It was just a very average read for me, but it was kind of nice to break up my other reading with a graphic novel like this one!
Why I picked it
I got People of the Book within the last few months, either at a book sale or for Christmas from family. But I really loved the cover (I know, I'm into the vanity aspect), but I also loved the premise of the book. It intrigued me, and I was ready for a historical fiction-type book in my reading this year!
This book also counts toward my World Travel #2020ReadingPassport, because this book has scenes in SO MANY places across the globe including Australia, the U.S., Europe, and Asia!
This book also counts toward my World Travel #2020ReadingPassport, because this book has scenes in SO MANY places across the globe including Australia, the U.S., Europe, and Asia!
Brief Summary
Hanna is researching and restoring an ancient Haggadah that has recently been recovered after being lost for decades. In her inspection, she finds a few traces of different things like wine, blood, salt water, hair, and more, which helps her trace a bit of the path of the Haggadah. We follow both Hanna's journey, as well as the book's journey, meeting many people that contributed or were impacted by the book along the way.
What I liked
I loved the way the story was set up. You get a semi-present view of Hanna and her inspection of the book, as well as her relationships with family and people she meets. Then, as she goes to her colleagues for help researching the traces she finds, you get a glimpse into the past where that trace or item gets into the book. You travel around the world following the book on its journey through time and hardships.
I'm a fan of historical fiction, because I get a glimpse into history that I didn't learn (or don't remember). I'll admit, I didn't have the greatest history teachers growing up, but I also am AWFUL at history. I can't tell you names or dates, or even really why things happened. I have a VERY general understanding of most major conflicts or times in America's history, but especially getting into world history, I've got nothin'. So reading books like this helps me to learn more and actually make connections to remember what happened. I know that not everything is totally historically accurate, but I still get a better general idea of what happened. I learned more about the Spanish Inquisition, World War II, and other periods of time because of this book.
The end had a nice twist to it. I wasn't quite ready for what happened at the end; I kind of just thought we'd get through the story of the book, a couple of Hanna's relationships would resolve, and that would be the end. Everyone lived happily ever after. But my expectations were blown out of the water. I wasn't ready for the increased conflict at the end and the changes that happened in the resolution.
That brings me to the fact that this book seemed very realistic. Not all of the relationships worked out happily like some stories end. Sometimes relationships just don't work out because people grow apart or have differences and conflicts that they don't resolve. That's just life.
I'm a fan of historical fiction, because I get a glimpse into history that I didn't learn (or don't remember). I'll admit, I didn't have the greatest history teachers growing up, but I also am AWFUL at history. I can't tell you names or dates, or even really why things happened. I have a VERY general understanding of most major conflicts or times in America's history, but especially getting into world history, I've got nothin'. So reading books like this helps me to learn more and actually make connections to remember what happened. I know that not everything is totally historically accurate, but I still get a better general idea of what happened. I learned more about the Spanish Inquisition, World War II, and other periods of time because of this book.
The end had a nice twist to it. I wasn't quite ready for what happened at the end; I kind of just thought we'd get through the story of the book, a couple of Hanna's relationships would resolve, and that would be the end. Everyone lived happily ever after. But my expectations were blown out of the water. I wasn't ready for the increased conflict at the end and the changes that happened in the resolution.
That brings me to the fact that this book seemed very realistic. Not all of the relationships worked out happily like some stories end. Sometimes relationships just don't work out because people grow apart or have differences and conflicts that they don't resolve. That's just life.
What I didn't like
I think the biggest thing I disliked about this book was that it didn't always interest me. I'm not saying that it didn't move along and make me want to continue the story, but I didn't have the desire to just keep reading. It was kind of nice to have a few good spots to stop after each "section." But I also found myself just not picking up the book a few days and opting for something else instead.
Overall Impression 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Another solid 4/5 star book. I liked the premise of the story, I may have lagged in my reading for a bit, but overall the story kept me interested and reading. I liked the characters and the relationships both built and broken throughout the book. I really liked the diversity of the characters, and my favorite thing was learning what happened throughout the book's long and difficult journey and life. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in history, or even just enjoy learning about the journey of one item through history!
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