book review – Page 2 – Pixel Reads Books

author: Brian K. Vaughan

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): Comics, Fantasy, Science Fiction

my thoughts: I loved this! The backstory of Marco & Alana and the tidbits about their childhood and home life peaked my interest. I also really like that this story is being told by a future Hazel. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of these comics.

Finish date: 10/12/18

title: Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park #1)

author: Michael Crichton

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Adventure

my thoughts: under the cut, no spoilers.

This was such a fun read and imo far better than the movie. Okay don’t get me wrong I still love the movie and I always try my hardest not to compare books and movies but I love that this book gave me so much more about the concept and the characters. It grabbed right in the first paragraph and I didn’t want to stop reading. I needed to find out how it ended and I’m really looking forward to the sequel. Some of the science and math went over my head (two of my worst subjects in school) but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book.

Finish date: 10/12/18

title: Behind Closed Doors

author: B.A. Paris

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): Mystery, Thriller, Fiction

my thoughts: under the cut for spoilers.

This book is definitely a thriller and a very easy read that kept me interested. I wouldn’t say it’s a mystery, pretty much everything is right there in the beginning as well as in the summary but that didn’t make the story any less intriguing. You want to find out what’s going to happen next and I was rooting for Grace to escape. Jack was terrible! The main characters were wonderfully written.

Finish date: 10/09/18

A5. A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title – Tangerine by Christine Mangan

Finished 09/28/18

I was immediately sucked into this story and it was a very quick read. The ending did leave me wanting. I wanted something more final but I guess that’s life and this story was true to that. This is the author’s first novel and I hope she has plans for more books in the future because I enjoyed her writing.

A1. A bestseller from the year you graduated high school – The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

Finished 09/21/18

I read The Poet by Michael Connelly back when I was in high school and I didn’t know there was a second Jack McEvoy book until I went searching for a book to fit this prompt. It was fun to read about McEvoy and Walling once again. I like their dynamic and how realistic Connelly portrays these characters. They’re human and humans are not perfect and that was one of my favorite things about The Poet. I’m glad I came across this book and that I was able to read it. I plan to check out more of Connelly’s books.

20. A book by a local author – The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi

Finished 09/18/18

I had a hard time with this prompt so I expanded my area to the state in general. According to his bio, Tony DiTerlizzi resides in LA. I figured eh same state at least sounds good. Also I’m a big fan of The Spiderwick Chronicles. The illustrations are wonderful and enhanced the story. It helped paint the world DiTerlizzi created. The story itself dragged or felt stagnant in some places. I’m interested to find out what happened to the earth in the rest of this trilogy.

title: Ash Princess (Ash Princess Trilogy #1)

author: Laura Sebastian

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): YA, Fantasy

my thoughts: under the cut for possible spoilers.

First off beware the dreaded love-triangle. Okay if it’s your thing, this story has it and if it’s not well again this story has a love triangle. Now they don’t really bother me that much, only enough to make a note of but not avoid a book. This wasn’t a bad story just a tad slow and boring for me and there was a lot of potential. I really kept waiting for something to happen, there was so much lag in between any action and even the action wasn’t very… action-y. The main, Theo, kept trying to see the best in people even after they showed their true colors and then she’d give them a second chance. One example her friend Cress, she showed she only cared for “Thora” so long as she stayed in her lane but that was as far as her humanity stretched. And Theo kept giving her the benefit of the doubt, twice she tried to appeal to Cress and even in the end after Theo tried to kill Cress, she felt bad for her and guilt. Girl make up your mind, was she your friend or not? (imo not). Ugh sorry this review is terrible. I just wasn’t feeling this book but I am planning on reading the rest in the series since it’s only a trilogy.

Finish date: 09/16/18

title: Daughter of the Pirate King (Daughter of the Pirate King #1)

author: Tricia Levenseller

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): YA, Romance, Fantasy

my thoughts: I really enjoyed this! It was a really fast read, not very long but wonderfully written imo. The story pulled me in right away and I did not want to put the book down. I also love the story behind Alosa’s conception. I’m a sucker for cover art and this one got me hooked before I read the summary.

A little tidbit about me, I get all my books from the library first and if I really like the story I’ll go and buy it to support the author. As soon as I started the book I knew this was going on my books to buy wish list. This book left me wanting to read more by Tricia Levenseller.

Finish date: 09/12/18

A9. A book about a problem facing society today – The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Finished 09/07/18

When I saw this prompt I thought oh boy this is going to be a heavy one no matter what the subject. I had three books in mind for this prompt, The Hate U Give, Dear Martin and Still Alice. At first I had decided on Dear Martin because my sister owns the book and I was planning on borrowing hers. Then I decided to do another reading challenge alongside the PopSugar one and The Hate U Give could easily fit this prompts in both of my reading challenges. I still plan to read the other two but for the challenge I went with this one.

This is a very intense read, I definitely cried. I don’t even know how to review it because I’m not an expert on the subject matter nor have I experienced it. I will say that it was informative and eye opening and I recommend this book. I think Angie Thomas did a great job at painting a picture to show a glimpse into these characters lives that very much portrays what is going on in society today.

A7. A book by an author with the same first or last name as you – Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Finished 09/05/18

First, this prompt was not my friend. I had a difficult time and sort of bent the prompt so I could actually complete it. This book was published in 2007 and it needs to stay there. Quite a few of my fellow book lovers on goodreads marked this with 4 stars & up so I gave it a chance. It was also the only book with an authors name that was even remotely close to mine and I had to force myself to push through. I really tried to give it a chance but it was terrible. I was a sophomore in high school when this was published and my fellow teens were not this terrible. I’m not saying they don’t exist but it was so hard to relate or give a shit about these characters, they were that terrible. TBH the behavior of these characters reminded me more of when I was in middle school than high school. It was like all the cliche teen shit from mean girls x10 with vampires. Actually now that I think about it, it was fucking mean girls! The new girl going under cover with the popular mean girls clique, liking the main queen b’s ex-BF. There was even the gay best friend whose name was also Damien. No thanks, I won’t be continuing with this series.