Currently Reading // September 9th 2017
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Currently Reading // September 9th 2017
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book, book photo challenge, book photography, book recs, bookaholic, bookish, bookish photography, booklr, books, bookworm, colleen hoover, currently reading, flatlay, it ends with us, next read, photo, photography, read, reader, reading, succulent, tea
Currently Reading // September 9th 2017
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book, book photo challenge, book photography, book recs, bookaholic, bookish, bookish photography, booklr, books, bookworm, colleen hoover, currently reading, flatlay, it ends with us, next read, photo, photography, read, reader, reading, succulent, tea
The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi HeiligRating: ★★★☆☆SynopsisIt…
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book, book recommendations, book recs, book report, book reports, book review, book reviews, bookaholic, bookish, booklr, booklr recs, booklr review, books, bookworm, fantasy, heidi heilig, next read, pirates, read, reader, reading, review, reviews, the girl from everywhere, time travel, ya, ya lit, ya recs, ya review, young adult
The Girl
from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis
It was the kind of August day that hinted at monsoons, and the year was
1774, though not for very much longer.
Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their
crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate
ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and
her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times – although
a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix’s father is only interested in
one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her
mother was alive. Something that puts Nix’s existence rather dangerously in
question…
(from Goodreads)
Thoughts
I was really excited to read
this book for the longest time. First of all – time-traveling pirates. That’s
the best thing imaginable. Secondly – the cover is just so incredibly beautiful
(I know, I know, don’t judge a book by its cover), that it drew me in. In the
end the book may not have quite lived up to my expectations, but it was still
an enjoyable read.
The concept of this story is
spectacular and unique. It’s such a cool idea that a person would be able to
navigate to any map, be it real or imaginary. My first thought when the
characters described how they travelled between times was of course: “So if they
had a map of Hogwarts or Narnia, they could just go there?” That made me very
excited. Do you have any idea how often I’ve dreamt of being able to do that?
However, navigating, as they call it, it a bit more complicated. The map has to
be hand drawn and made in the contemporary time, so a map of India in 1774 must
have been drawn in 1774. And in order for them to travel to a mythical or
imaginary land the person who drew the map must believe the place is real. This
makes it sound like mythical maps are extremely rare, but apparently not. On
the ship the crew has a bunch of magical objects from different myths, such as
a bottomless sack from an Irish story and luminescent herring from a
Scandinavian myth explaining the Northern Lights. They even have a crew member
from an imaginary city.
The crew is able to navigate
to these strange and magical places all thanks to Nix, our main character. The
girl is like a walking encyclopaedia of myth and history. I am myself a big fan
of mythology, but there was still so much mentioned in this book that I had no
idea about. Still, you could keep up with the story without knowing all the
facts beforehand. And for the very curious (like me) there is a handy dandy
author’s note in the back detailing the origins of most of the myths and
objects mentioned in the story.
The story mostly takes place
in Hawaii in the 1800’s. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii, so learning more
about its history was really fascinating. This was a story I had never heard
before in my life. I am starting to realize what an interesting history Hawaii
has, and would really like to learn more.
I found the main character to
be extremely smart, but a bit hard to relate to. She keeps herself at arm’s
length from the other characters, and also from the reader. The rest of the
characters in this story are very diverse, which always makes a story better in
my opinion. The ships motely crew come from all over the world and from all
different times, which makes a very interesting mix.
This is most of all an adventure
story, but from the blurb I thought it would also have quite a bit of romance
in it. I mean, the front reads “A journey through time. A journey to love.”. In
spite of that, I do not think this was a love story at all. Sure, there was
some romantic tension between a few characters, but not at all enough to call
it a romance. This turned out to be the complete opposite of most YA, where
there is usually more romance than you expected. Instead, this book focuses
more on the love within families, which is refreshing.
I really enjoyed this story.
It had plenty of adventure and lots of myth and history. I adore the
time-traveling concept, and I look forward to seeing where the author takes the
story in the next book (I believe this is a duology?). I recommend it to all
history- and mythology nerds out there or to anyone looking for an entertaining
adventure story. Also, how could you say no to time-traveling pirates?
//love from L
The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi HeiligRating…
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book, book recommendations, book recs, book report, book reports, book review, book reviews, bookaholic, bookish, booklr, booklr recs, booklr review, books, bookworm, fantasy, heidi heilig, next read, pirates, read, reader, reading, review, reviews, the girl from everywhere, time travel, ya, ya lit, ya recs, ya review, young adult
The Girl
from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis
It was the kind of August day that hinted at monsoons, and the year was
1774, though not for very much longer.
Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their
crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate
ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and
her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times – although
a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix’s father is only interested in
one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her
mother was alive. Something that puts Nix’s existence rather dangerously in
question…
(from Goodreads)
Thoughts
I was really excited to read
this book for the longest time. First of all – time-traveling pirates. That’s
the best thing imaginable. Secondly – the cover is just so incredibly beautiful
(I know, I know, don’t judge a book by its cover), that it drew me in. In the
end the book may not have quite lived up to my expectations, but it was still
an enjoyable read.
The concept of this story is
spectacular and unique. It’s such a cool idea that a person would be able to
navigate to any map, be it real or imaginary. My first thought when the
characters described how they travelled between times was of course: “So if they
had a map of Hogwarts or Narnia, they could just go there?” That made me very
excited. Do you have any idea how often I’ve dreamt of being able to do that?
However, navigating, as they call it, it a bit more complicated. The map has to
be hand drawn and made in the contemporary time, so a map of India in 1774 must
have been drawn in 1774. And in order for them to travel to a mythical or
imaginary land the person who drew the map must believe the place is real. This
makes it sound like mythical maps are extremely rare, but apparently not. On
the ship the crew has a bunch of magical objects from different myths, such as
a bottomless sack from an Irish story and luminescent herring from a
Scandinavian myth explaining the Northern Lights. They even have a crew member
from an imaginary city.
The crew is able to navigate
to these strange and magical places all thanks to Nix, our main character. The
girl is like a walking encyclopaedia of myth and history. I am myself a big fan
of mythology, but there was still so much mentioned in this book that I had no
idea about. Still, you could keep up with the story without knowing all the
facts beforehand. And for the very curious (like me) there is a handy dandy
author’s note in the back detailing the origins of most of the myths and
objects mentioned in the story.
The story mostly takes place
in Hawaii in the 1800’s. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii, so learning more
about its history was really fascinating. This was a story I had never heard
before in my life. I am starting to realize what an interesting history Hawaii
has, and would really like to learn more.
I found the main character to
be extremely smart, but a bit hard to relate to. She keeps herself at arm’s
length from the other characters, and also from the reader. The rest of the
characters in this story are very diverse, which always makes a story better in
my opinion. The ships motely crew come from all over the world and from all
different times, which makes a very interesting mix.
This is most of all an adventure
story, but from the blurb I thought it would also have quite a bit of romance
in it. I mean, the front reads “A journey through time. A journey to love.”. In
spite of that, I do not think this was a love story at all. Sure, there was
some romantic tension between a few characters, but not at all enough to call
it a romance. This turned out to be the complete opposite of most YA, where
there is usually more romance than you expected. Instead, this book focuses
more on the love within families, which is refreshing.
I really enjoyed this story.
It had plenty of adventure and lots of myth and history. I adore the
time-traveling concept, and I look forward to seeing where the author takes the
story in the next book (I believe this is a duology?). I recommend it to all
history- and mythology nerds out there or to anyone looking for an entertaining
adventure story. Also, how could you say no to time-traveling pirates?
//love from L
The Custard Protocol series by Gail CarrigerThis is a…
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book recommendations, book recs, book report, book reports, book review, book reviews, bookaholic, bookish, booklr, booklr recs, booklr review, bookworm, gail carriger, historical fiction, review, reviews, steampunk, the custard protocol, ya, ya lit, ya recs, ya review, young adult
The
Custard Protocol series by Gail Carriger
This is a spoiler-free series
review of the first two books in the Custard
Protocol Series: Prudence and Imprudence. In case you were
wondering/confused.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis
From New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger comes a new novel
in the world of the Parasol Protectorate starring Prudence, the daughter of
Alexia Tarabotti.
When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given
an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar
circumstances – names it the Spotted Custard and floats to India in pursuit of
the perfect cup of tea. But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles
upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier’s wife, and some
awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis and an
embarrassing lack of bloomers, what else is a young lady of good breeding to do
but turn metanatural and find out everyone’s secrets, even thousand-year-old
fuzzy ones?
(from Goodreads)
Thoughts
This is such a funny series.
It takes place during the reign of Queen Victoria, in a steampunk/supernatural world.
This is a parallel universe to our own except with dirigibles or airships
galore and vampires and werewolves living in plain sight in high society. The
vampires live in hives, with one queen and several drones. They have a great
influence in regard to fashion and etiquette. The werewolves live in packs with
an Alpha. They have close ties to the military. Both groups are immortal, can’t
be out in daylight, and have a big role to play in her majesty’s government.
This may seem like quite a complex world to grasp, and it may be so, because
this is the third series Gail Carriger has written about this world. The first
series was the Parasol Protectorate (with
this series main character’s mother as the leading lady) and the second being
the Finishing School series (which
takes place before the events of the first series), which I have read and
reviewed before. You do get the basics of the world in the first book of this
series, but if you would like to completely understand this world you should
read the other two series as well.
The main character Rue is the
daughter of Alexia Tarabotti, the main character from the Parasol Protectorate and Lord Conall Maccon, Alpha to a powerful
werewolf pack. She is also the adoptive daughter of Lord Akeldama, one of the
most influential vampires in England. Confused yet? As far as I understand it,
this arrangement was put into place to make sure Rue would not be partial to
one species of supernatural over the other, because she herself in very
powerful. She is a Metanatural, meaning she can steal the supernatural shape of
anyone she touches, turning herself into a vampire or werewolf while also
nullifying the supernatural person in question into a mortal, for a limited
time. This ability means she gets to live quite a different life from your
normal British aristocratic lady during the Victorian era.
The characters are what makes
this story so entertaining. On her airship Rue assembles a crew with some of
her best friends, the Tunstell twins Primrose and Percy, whose mother is a
vampire queen, and Quesnel Lefoux, slightly irritating and very charming French
engineer. Together the four of them get up to some crazy adventures, but
nothing that can’t be solved with Rue’s special abilities or a nice cup of tea.
Seriously, these people drink tea like it’s the answer to everything. Also,
they of course abide by the proper manners of their time-period. It makes me
want to start drinking tea with my pinkie high up and speak like a proper lady.
It’s hilarious to see how meticulous they are about etiquette and proper dress.
They are a great and quirky group that work of each other beautifully. My only
complaint is that the two ladies are nicknamed Rue and Prim which constantly
makes me think I’m reading the Hunger
Games.
I liked both books, but I feel
like the second was even better as I had gotten to know the characters and the
world a bit better. I realize this series might not be everyone’s cup of tea
(see what I did there?), but I hope you will still give it a go. It may very
well surprise you. I was not sure about it at first either, but I ended up
loving it. I’m very excited to read the next book in the series when it comes
out (there are two more in the works). It’s such a hilarious read and really
takes your mind of things. It’s light and fluffy and just plain whimsically
funny.
//love from L
The Custard Protocol series by Gail CarrigerTh…
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book recommendations, book recs, book report, book reports, book review, book reviews, bookaholic, bookish, booklr, booklr recs, booklr review, bookworm, gail carriger, historical fiction, review, reviews, steampunk, the custard protocol, ya, ya lit, ya recs, ya review, young adult
The
Custard Protocol series by Gail Carriger
This is a spoiler-free series
review of the first two books in the Custard
Protocol Series: Prudence and Imprudence. In case you were
wondering/confused.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis
From New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger comes a new novel
in the world of the Parasol Protectorate starring Prudence, the daughter of
Alexia Tarabotti.
When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given
an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar
circumstances – names it the Spotted Custard and floats to India in pursuit of
the perfect cup of tea. But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles
upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier’s wife, and some
awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis and an
embarrassing lack of bloomers, what else is a young lady of good breeding to do
but turn metanatural and find out everyone’s secrets, even thousand-year-old
fuzzy ones?
(from Goodreads)
Thoughts
This is such a funny series.
It takes place during the reign of Queen Victoria, in a steampunk/supernatural world.
This is a parallel universe to our own except with dirigibles or airships
galore and vampires and werewolves living in plain sight in high society. The
vampires live in hives, with one queen and several drones. They have a great
influence in regard to fashion and etiquette. The werewolves live in packs with
an Alpha. They have close ties to the military. Both groups are immortal, can’t
be out in daylight, and have a big role to play in her majesty’s government.
This may seem like quite a complex world to grasp, and it may be so, because
this is the third series Gail Carriger has written about this world. The first
series was the Parasol Protectorate (with
this series main character’s mother as the leading lady) and the second being
the Finishing School series (which
takes place before the events of the first series), which I have read and
reviewed before. You do get the basics of the world in the first book of this
series, but if you would like to completely understand this world you should
read the other two series as well.
The main character Rue is the
daughter of Alexia Tarabotti, the main character from the Parasol Protectorate and Lord Conall Maccon, Alpha to a powerful
werewolf pack. She is also the adoptive daughter of Lord Akeldama, one of the
most influential vampires in England. Confused yet? As far as I understand it,
this arrangement was put into place to make sure Rue would not be partial to
one species of supernatural over the other, because she herself in very
powerful. She is a Metanatural, meaning she can steal the supernatural shape of
anyone she touches, turning herself into a vampire or werewolf while also
nullifying the supernatural person in question into a mortal, for a limited
time. This ability means she gets to live quite a different life from your
normal British aristocratic lady during the Victorian era.
The characters are what makes
this story so entertaining. On her airship Rue assembles a crew with some of
her best friends, the Tunstell twins Primrose and Percy, whose mother is a
vampire queen, and Quesnel Lefoux, slightly irritating and very charming French
engineer. Together the four of them get up to some crazy adventures, but
nothing that can’t be solved with Rue’s special abilities or a nice cup of tea.
Seriously, these people drink tea like it’s the answer to everything. Also,
they of course abide by the proper manners of their time-period. It makes me
want to start drinking tea with my pinkie high up and speak like a proper lady.
It’s hilarious to see how meticulous they are about etiquette and proper dress.
They are a great and quirky group that work of each other beautifully. My only
complaint is that the two ladies are nicknamed Rue and Prim which constantly
makes me think I’m reading the Hunger
Games.
I liked both books, but I feel
like the second was even better as I had gotten to know the characters and the
world a bit better. I realize this series might not be everyone’s cup of tea
(see what I did there?), but I hope you will still give it a go. It may very
well surprise you. I was not sure about it at first either, but I ended up
loving it. I’m very excited to read the next book in the series when it comes
out (there are two more in the works). It’s such a hilarious read and really
takes your mind of things. It’s light and fluffy and just plain whimsically
funny.
//love from L
ya-book-reports: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi Par…
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book, book recommendations, book recs, book report, book reports, book review, book reviews, bookaholic, bookish, booklr, booklr review, books, bookworm, dystopia, favorite, favorite book, favorite series, ignite me, next read, read, reader, reading, reviews, shatter me, tahereh mafi, ya, ya lit, ya recs, ya review, young adult
Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
Part threeof the Shatter Me trilogy. Parts one and two here.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis
Omega Point
has been destroyed. Juliette does not know if her friends or any of the rebels
are still alive. The only thing she knows for sure is that she will no longer
sit by and watch when she has the power to change things. She will do whatever
it takes do bring the Reestablishment down, and she will do it with Warner’s
help. The person she never thought she could trust. The person who saved her
life. If Juliette is to discover the true strength of her gift, she will also
have to face the truth about her feelings.Thoughts
This was by
far my favourite book of the series. I waited for two book for this to happen,
and I’m so happy we got there: Juliette has finally realized what a badass she
is and it is awesome! She is so sure of herself now, and it makes me so happy
for her. The cross-outs that were so frequent in the first book are all gone by
the end, which really shows her brilliant character development. Another
character who has had some extreme development is Warner. I don’t believe I’ve
ever changed my mind about a character as completely as I have with Warner. It
really shows how important perspectives are for how you view a story. Another
character that I fell in love with in this book is Kenji. At first I just
thought he was the comic relief but in Ignite Me he becomes such an amazing
friend to Juliette. Any scene with him in it made me happy. Now, as you can
probably tell by my ramblings, my favourite part of this book was the
characters. They are all so broken and twisted in so many different ways, and
we get to see them break down and pick themselves back up again, and it’s
really great. I really loved the relationship between Juliette and Warner, as
well. I mean, how can you not! They are adorable and they complement each other
so well. Also, how beautiful is this cover!? It goes so well with the symbolism
of Juliette’s character development. I flew though this book, I loved it even
though the ending was rather abrupt, and it is one of the most interesting
series I’ve read.//Love from
L
ya-book-reports: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi Part threeof the…
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book, book recommendations, book recs, book report, book reports, book review, book reviews, bookaholic, bookish, booklr, booklr review, books, bookworm, dystopia, favorite, favorite book, favorite series, ignite me, next read, read, reader, reading, reviews, shatter me, tahereh mafi, ya, ya lit, ya recs, ya review, young adult
Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
Part threeof the Shatter Me trilogy. Parts one and two here.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis
Omega Point
has been destroyed. Juliette does not know if her friends or any of the rebels
are still alive. The only thing she knows for sure is that she will no longer
sit by and watch when she has the power to change things. She will do whatever
it takes do bring the Reestablishment down, and she will do it with Warner’s
help. The person she never thought she could trust. The person who saved her
life. If Juliette is to discover the true strength of her gift, she will also
have to face the truth about her feelings.Thoughts
This was by
far my favourite book of the series. I waited for two book for this to happen,
and I’m so happy we got there: Juliette has finally realized what a badass she
is and it is awesome! She is so sure of herself now, and it makes me so happy
for her. The cross-outs that were so frequent in the first book are all gone by
the end, which really shows her brilliant character development. Another
character who has had some extreme development is Warner. I don’t believe I’ve
ever changed my mind about a character as completely as I have with Warner. It
really shows how important perspectives are for how you view a story. Another
character that I fell in love with in this book is Kenji. At first I just
thought he was the comic relief but in Ignite Me he becomes such an amazing
friend to Juliette. Any scene with him in it made me happy. Now, as you can
probably tell by my ramblings, my favourite part of this book was the
characters. They are all so broken and twisted in so many different ways, and
we get to see them break down and pick themselves back up again, and it’s
really great. I really loved the relationship between Juliette and Warner, as
well. I mean, how can you not! They are adorable and they complement each other
so well. Also, how beautiful is this cover!? It goes so well with the symbolism
of Juliette’s character development. I flew though this book, I loved it even
though the ending was rather abrupt, and it is one of the most interesting
series I’ve read.//Love from
L
ya-book-reports: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi Pa…
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book, book recommendations, book recs, book report, book reports, book review, book reviews, bookaholic, bookish, booklr, booklr review, books, bookworm, dystopia, favorite series, next read, read, reader, reading, review, reviews, shatter me, tahereh mafi, unravel me, ya, ya lit, ya recs, ya review, ya reviews, young adult
Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Part two ofthe Shatter Me series, part one here.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis
At the end
of Shatter Me, Juliette, Adam, James
and Kenji all manage to escape to Omega Point, the rebel base where people with
all kinds of abilities like Juliette’s live together, hiding from the
Reestablishment. In Unravel Me, we pick up with a Juliette who is still afraid
of her own power. She still feels like an outsider. Escaping was supposed to
set her free, but now she has to battle her own demons. She needs to face her
past and learn to control her powers. Most of all, she needs to stop running. Before
it’s too late. Before the war arrives.Thoughts
Juliette is
still a very problematic character. She is overreacting and shutting other
people out. She has the power to literally crush walls, but she is too afraid
to see it, which is very frustrating. Her relationship with Adam is getting
increasingly unstable, which is not making things easier for her. Thankfully,
she gets some extreme character development, which is one of my favourite
parts. Unravel Me really picked up
about halfway through, when the really exciting things started happening. It
had some great plot twists that left me so incredulous. That’s what really kept
the story going for me, the constant twists and turns and the urge to know what
would happen next. It deals with some pretty deep motives of ethics and morals,
which I was not expecting but loved nonetheless. The best part of this novel,
however, was that it made me realize that villains are often the most
interesting and complex characters. If you read this, I would recommend keeping
the next part of the trilogy, Ignite Me,
close at hand. This ending will leave you desperate to know what will happen
next.//Love from
L
ya-book-reports: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi Part two ofthe…
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Posted in book, book recommendations, book recs, book report, book reports, book review, book reviews, bookaholic, bookish, booklr, booklr review, books, bookworm, dystopia, favorite series, next read, read, reader, reading, review, reviews, shatter me, tahereh mafi, unravel me, ya, ya lit, ya recs, ya review, ya reviews, young adult
Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Part two ofthe Shatter Me series, part one here.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis
At the end
of Shatter Me, Juliette, Adam, James
and Kenji all manage to escape to Omega Point, the rebel base where people with
all kinds of abilities like Juliette’s live together, hiding from the
Reestablishment. In Unravel Me, we pick up with a Juliette who is still afraid
of her own power. She still feels like an outsider. Escaping was supposed to
set her free, but now she has to battle her own demons. She needs to face her
past and learn to control her powers. Most of all, she needs to stop running. Before
it’s too late. Before the war arrives.Thoughts
Juliette is
still a very problematic character. She is overreacting and shutting other
people out. She has the power to literally crush walls, but she is too afraid
to see it, which is very frustrating. Her relationship with Adam is getting
increasingly unstable, which is not making things easier for her. Thankfully,
she gets some extreme character development, which is one of my favourite
parts. Unravel Me really picked up
about halfway through, when the really exciting things started happening. It
had some great plot twists that left me so incredulous. That’s what really kept
the story going for me, the constant twists and turns and the urge to know what
would happen next. It deals with some pretty deep motives of ethics and morals,
which I was not expecting but loved nonetheless. The best part of this novel,
however, was that it made me realize that villains are often the most
interesting and complex characters. If you read this, I would recommend keeping
the next part of the trilogy, Ignite Me,
close at hand. This ending will leave you desperate to know what will happen
next.//Love from
L
