why I picked itI've been going more and more outside of my reading comfort zone by picking genres like poetry and biographies/autobiographies to mix in with the typical fantasy, romance, and contemporary that are my typical picks. I wanted another good audiobook, and this was a short listen (just 2-3 hours), and it was a book of poetry. I thought it would be great to mix it up a bit before I moved on to another longer read/listen. summaryThis is a collection of poems by Rupi Kaur. They range from stories about life, love, hardships, understanding yourself, becoming strong (or learning how to find your strength) and life lessons. What I likedShe definitely was not afraid of any subjects. There was a wide range of hardships that it sounds like she has overcome, and she discusses them pretty freely in her writing. That takes a very brave individual who is confident in herself and who wants to share the knowledge she's gained. I loved how willing she was to share all of the knowledge she now has. She really focuses on a message to women to be themselves, love themselves, and know that they have value. She doesn't want anyone to rely on what others think about them, especially lovers that say they love you but really only love to use you. She also had a few messages for the dads and men and boys and other women who change girls' perspectives. For example, one thing that stood out to me was from the first chapter. She talked about how when fathers yell at their kids, specifically their daughters, and then tell them that they yell in love, it makes the girls think that that is an expression of love. So, it may make them more likely to grow up and seek men like their fathers, ones that yell "in love" when really those relationships are not healthy. what I didn't likeIt seemed to be all about sex. I was not ready for it at all. Within probably the first 10…no 5…minutes, she was talking about rape. I was SO NOT READY. Then, as it went on, I thought that it would get better. We'd learn the lesson she wanted us to learn, and we could move on to something else. Like the second or third chapter titled "Love." Great! I thought. We get to move on to the better parts of life! No. Nope. Instead, we essentially learn about the lust involved with love. How "love" makes you feel. And then that later transforms into "wow. Even guys who say they love you, or you lust after, that doesn't mean it's love." At that point (with only about 30 minutes left in the book) I just about DNF'ed it. I was done. I didn't want to continue. I figured it would continue on like that the rest of the time (and it pretty much did). The only reason I kept going was because 1) I was so close to the end and 2) the other audiobook I had gotten from Bridges didn't actually download onto my phone, so I didn't have access to it yet. overall impression 🌟🌟I only give this book 2/5 stars. Like I said, I almost just DNF'ed it. I wasn't ready for the amount of talk of sex and in depth information about rape and abuse that it included. I totally understand that the whole thing was Rupi Kaur's point. I think she wanted to push boundaries and talk about the touchy subjects and bring certain feelings and emotions to light. She did a good job of that. If that was her purpose, she completed it. But I think that it maybe could have been done a little more tastefully.
I truly tried to keep an open mind throughout the book. I still loved the lessons that it brought up. And I liked that it pushed hard subjects. I just wish that those things didn't take up the whole book. I wish that there were some more happy and light lessons alongside the hard dark ones.
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Why I Picked ItNot only am I a bookworm, I also love theatre. Specifically musical theatre. (Plays are fine, but I just love the music being intertwined into the story). Kristin Chenoweth is an icon in the musical theatre realm, and I've always been a fan (not an I-pay-attention-to-everything fan, but I enjoyed seeing her involved in everything. It was time for another audiobook (I'm doing a good job of mixing them in with my normal reading right now!) and I thought I'd go with an autobiography. When I came across this, I thought it sounded great (especially since Kristin Chenoweth also narrates the audiobook!). SummaryThis is just a summary of Kristin Chenoweth's life so far. It documents her struggles (how do you come in third for almost every pageant you're involved in??), her successes (so many great things), her loves (because it's hard to find someone who can deal with a showbiz lifestyle), and her illnesses (did someone say stomach parasite?). She jumps back and forth from a present timeline and back to her history as well. How she's gotten where she is and what it has taken to get here. What I LikedI loved that she brought in some of the important people in her life to narrate a couple parts of her story. It was so cool to hear from one of her best lifelong friends. I also just loved that Kristin is so real. She is relatable. She is funny. She's good humored. She is definitely not afraid to make fun of herself (and her HUGE hit TV show, Kristin. HUUUGGEEE hit). Honestly, I never knew that Kristin was so based in her Christian faith (like I said, I didn't know much about her). I really liked hearing about how she stuck with her faith, even through show business. And no matter what, she was never afraid to share in her beliefs, though it seems like she never really pushed that on others. When she dated someone who had a Jewish heritage, she made sure to learn a ton about his faith so that she would understand him. Also, I think that Kristin had a great mindset. She had to make a lot of hard decisions between different projects. She taught herself to not look at just the fame and fortune that the opportunities would bring her, but she wanted to make sure she always based her decisions on the fun-factor of the project instead. I think that's advice we could all take. What I didn't likeOff the top of my head, I can't think of anything that I didn't like. It was a book that I kept wanting to listen to. I even went as far as to skip watching Netflix while working on my DIY wedding projects and just listed to Kristin's story instead. That doesn't happen often. Overall Impression 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟I'll give A Little Bit Wicked 5/5 stars! I'm glad I stumbled upon it, and I kind of wish I could get some more life lessons from Kristin! She shares a lot in her book, and I could stand listening to or reading it again to glean more from it.
why I picked itThis is the absolute favorite book of one of my new favorite Booktubers, @jessethereader. I also saw the movie a couple years ago (because my fiance also loves the book) and I just hadn't heard of it before. So once I watched the movie, I knew I needed to add the book to my TBR, but it wasn't a priority at the time. So last week I had a couple of days at my office alone and I was working on finding and organizing paperwork. Since I knew I was going to be doing a (mostly) mindless task, I wanted to listen to an audiobook while I worked, and this one happened to be available on Libby/Bridges. I got through it in two work days. It was a good read/listen. summaryJacob has always loved the stories his grandfather would tell about growing up during World War II in a home monitored by a "Bird" and with peculiar children that had different special abilities. A girl who could fly, a boy made of bees, inhumanly strong twins. But eventually Jacob stops believe the far-fetched stories. One day, he gets a frantic call from his grandfather saying the monsters were there and that he was in danger. After witnessing a terrible tragedy, Jacob battles anxiety. He knows what he saw, but the police, his parents, his friends, and his psychiatrist convince him that the attack wasn't by monsters, but by wild dogs. When a letter is found in his grandfather's things, Jacob sets out to find out more information about his grandfather's past. On a small island, he finds Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children and learns that his grandfather had always told him the truth, though he omitted some of it along the way. Jacob learns about himself and his grandfather while helping the children against the monsters of this world. what I likedI absolutely loved the detail in this book. I really got to know the world and I could picture everything that was happening. I could picture the various characters and their special abilities. Jacob is a fun character. He is so dang awkward a majority of the time. And he's gullible. And forgetful. And a fun guy. However, when he's around his parents he is just so sassy! He's always being sarcastic with them and sometimes downright rude (though I don't blame him. I know I used to be that way as a kid sometimes too!). So I like the dynamics. You can tell when he's comfortable in the situation he is in versus when he isn't. I also love Miss Peregrine. She's just the right amount of strict headmistress mixed with the caring motherly tendencies. She teaches the children and wants them to thrive, and she loves each and every one of them. Once again, she also keeps things from Jacob just as his grandfather did, but she is open when confronted by the truth. Another character that really got to me was Jacob's dad. It was interesting to hear and learn all about him. How he didn't really feel like his father was a good dad, how he loves to write about birds but can never finish anything, how he has a slight drinking problem. He's just an interesting support character that actually adds a lot to the book. Emma and Jacob have the perfect relationship. It's perfectly imperfect. It's just the right amount of young romance mixed with the problems and road blocks that go along with the world of peculiar children. Emma is so sassy, but also sweet at the same time. It's fun to hear about her. And the rest of the peculiar children each have their own quirks that are fun to learn about. I feel like I knew most of the children that lived in the home, and that I could be friends with them too. what I didn't likeThere wasn't much that I didn't like! However, A major thing I don't like is that Emma is often shown as a "seductress." The way Jacob is thinking about her all the time seems like she's just trying to seduce him. And at one point, he actually calls her out saying that she was doing that, and she denies it. I don't blame her. It seems like she's flirty, but I didn't feel like she was trying to seduce him. Other than that, I have no complaints (at least that stuck with me). overall impression 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟It was a great read/listen, and I am very excited to move on and continue the series! 5/5 stars. Just ask my fiancé. I ranted to him about how much I now want both the books and movie...
Why I picked itI'm making my way through the Lunar Chronicles right now because I had heard so many amazing things about it! I'm definitely glad I started it! summary(Few possible Cinder spoilers if you haven't read the book. I tried to keep it as spoiler free as possible, but beware just in case.) This is a retelling of the classic fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood. Scarlet's grandmother is missing. The police are no help, so she ends up enlisting the assistance of a suspicious yet seemingly okay street fighter called Wolf. Together they make their way to where a gang is holding her grandmother and trying to get information out of her that Scarlet is convinced she doesn’t have. At the same time, Cinder is on a mission with a new accomplice (that was forced on her) to stop Emperor Kaito from marrying the Lunar Queen Levana. She has secrets, lots of them, and she's trying to figure out a new way to end Queen Levana's reign. Together, she and Captain Thorne end up on a search for Scarlet and her grandmother as well, meeting up with Scarlet and Wolf to continue their quests. what I likedAnother great book. Unlike with some series where the middle books can at times get a little boring, Scarlet was not that way. Even though I went straight from Cinder into Scarlet, I still was surprised by some of the things that developed throughout the book. Normally I pride myself in being able to read things and predict what is going to happen extremely early, but it took me a couple of different references to something before I realized what was going to happen. So, props, Marissa Meyer. You've been able to slow me down in predicting the direction of your books! Wolf is probably one of my favorite characters. There is an internal battle happening with him at all times, and I love to see him go back and forth between the two instincts. Though I knew which was going to win out (sorry, Marissa, that you couldn't hide from me), it was still a real enough struggle for me to sympathize. The jumping back and forth between two main storylines plus another one or two support storylines was very smooth. Transitions were good and made sense, and the storylines meshed well. I wasn't feeling like the jumps back and forth were confusing at all, and all of the information that came into the picture happened at the right time. I'm also starting to see a subtle trend that I didn't actually pay attention to until I started Cress. I love that these fairytale retellings are very similar to the actual fairytales, yet instead of "Prince Charming" saving the "Damsels in Distress" the girls save themselves. They're very strong, independent women, and I love that they can do things on their own. They just happened to fall in love with a guy along the way. what I didn't likeSomething I've found that Marissa Meyer does extremely often is that every time a character gets angry, upset, or stressed, they immediately have a headache that comes on. I'd like to see some different reactions to these emotions that fits with each character instead of having them all battle these headaches. Maybe nervous ticks or quirks that they did when they experienced these. The worldbuilding was a little better in this book, mainly just because information keeps coming in about the different provinces around the world as well as more information about Luna too. However, there are still times I wish that I could get a little better descriptions. On the flip side, I love the development of all the different types of characters in the world: humans, lunars, cyborgs, the Lunar army Levana is creating, etc. Overall Impression 🌟🌟🌟🌟I'm gonna stick with 4/5 stars. As with Cinder, I loved this book and didn't have many complaints. However, the books are not my ABOSOLUTE favorite. They are so good. But not 5/5 good yet. As I keep reading the series, I'm becoming more and more impressed (especially with some of the seemingly not important details in the first book that are becoming important now. THAT takes a lot of worldbuilding, character building, and forethought!). Maybe the overall series will end up a 5/5 rating.. We will see!
Why I Picked ItI've heard so many great things about this series, and I was really curious to read it. I wanted to see if it was worth the hype, and I was ready to start another series since I hadn't read one in a long time. So, getting ready for #24in48 last weekend, I decided to pick it up and start it! SummaryThis book is a retelling of the classic fairytale, Cinderella. Cinder is a cyborg, which makes her an outcast. A disease plagues the land, and one of Cinder's closest friends (and family members) gets infected. Cinder struggles against her stepmother, and ends up being sent to help find a cure. During this time, the Emperor is also infected, and the Lunars (a civilization that lives on the moon) are trying to strike a deal with the Eastern Commonwealth. The prince is doing his best to keep both his own interests, as well as those of his people, in mind at all times. What I LikedI loved the retelling of this classic fairytale. I think the coolest part is that Cinder kind of became her own fairy godmother, making it so that she didn't have to rely on others. She was so self-sufficient throughout the whole book, and I loved that about her. Not only that, but the interactions between Cinder and Prince Kai are so adorable and sweet and innocent. I loved every part of their sparking adoration for one another. And the personalities given to some of the characters? Perfect. I loved Iko the android, the doctor, Peony. Each character was built and developed so well. I could picture them, I felt like I knew them. I always love character development, so it was great to see them throughout the book. What I Didn't LikeI can't think of a lot…Honestly, I'd like a little more world-building. There are things I still don't understand about how they got to where they are from our world today. I would have liked a little more world development. Other than that, I really loved so much of it. Oh, and it was a little predictable. From the very beginning (I think I was reading the first few chapters to Corgan, and he ended up guessing one of the big twists by the second chapter). Overall Impression 🌟🌟🌟🌟Four of five stars. I loved it. There was a little work that could be done, but I really did like this book. I'm SO EXCITED to start on Scarlet later tonight. I'm glad I finally started this series.
Throughout January, I participated in a Bookstagram challenge by posting a picture based on a prompt every day! The challenge I chose was #newyearnewbookworm2019 hosted by @daniiwho and @rose.loves.books. I actually did very well. I only missed one day and just put 2 posts into one the day after I forgot. For my first challenge, I was impressed with myself! So I just wanted to share with you the photos that I chose for the challenge. Each one is captioned with the prompt I was given through the challenge! Why I Picked ItI feel like this was a book that I had just seen a lot about and heard that it was really good. So when I saw it at the local Goodwill store in really good shape, I decided to give it a try! I was in the mood for another realistic fiction book, so I grabbed it off my shelf for my fourth read of 2019. SummaryDelores Price's life changes drastically as she grows up, and most of it starts when the free black-and-white television showed up at their house. You follow Delores from adolescence, through the awkwardness of middle school, into college and adulthood. You go with her through family problems, making friends, discovering herself, and battling issues (so many issues…) of all kinds. This book is kind of hard to summarize because it's such a long storyline that anything I go into could end up being a spoiler, so I won't give you much more than that What I LikedWhen I started the book, I was enjoying it. It was an interesting story of a young girl trying to find her place in the world and trying to figure out rights and wrongs. She wasn't sure all the time what was going on around her, yet she also wasn't completely naive either. I did enjoy watching her go through some of the problems. Like making friends. At times growing up, I could understand the ease of making friends who were adults much better than being friends with kids my own age. I also understand what it's like with battling parents (though not near as bad as what Delores goes through). The voicing was great. I could hear personality throughout the whole book. And most characters were developed pretty well, giving you a good idea of who each one was What I didn't LikeOkay, so about halfway through this book, I started getting really irritated. Delores as a character was making all the wrong choices. Given her history, I could understand why she'd be acting out so badly. However, the battle kept raging in her head, yet she kept making the choice she knew was wrong. Almost every time. Not only that, but every time yet another bad thing would happen to Delores, I got increasingly upset. I get that some people have really really rough lives and strings of bad luck, but it was getting ridiculous. By the end, I felt like Lamb just wanted to shove all of the social problems of that era into one book. AIDS, same-sex relationships, abortion, mental illness, divorce, racism, sexual assault, abuse, you name it, it's probably in this book. Another thing. NOT ALL GUYS ARE AWFUL PEOPLE. Let me spell that out one more time. NOT. ALL. GUYS. ARE. AWFUL. If you read this book, you may notice that pretty much every male character is portrayed in a negative manner. Really, there's only 2 male characters…maybe 3…that aren't awful or totally insane. All of the rest of them do something bad. And not just like, make a bad decision. Awful things. And though, in the end, I'm glad Delores finally gets a break with all her bad luck, I think the end was very ridiculous. Within the last 15 pages (15 PAGES!) I didn't want to finish the book. Like, I laid my head down and screamed into my pillow at 11 p.m. when I finally finished it (Corgan just laughed a little and said, "Well, at least you finished it."). I was just.so.done. Overall Impression 🌟🌟2 stars. Mainly because I didn't hate it until halfway through, and then I didn't start REALLY hating it until about another 150 pages later. I think the book just tried to cover way too much of her life. And too many issues. Overall, it's just the problem that there was too much shoved into one book (even a 640 page book), and it became too much for me.
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AuthorJust sharing my passion of reading through my passion of writing. Archives
May 2020
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