Tag: books read in 2018

title: Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1)

author: Leigh Bardugo

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

my thoughts: under the cut for possible spoilers.

I loved it! It didn’t hook me in right away. The first couple chapters went through the six main characters point of view first to set up their background and the world. It was a little slow going and I was nervous the whole book was going to be like that. I was wrong and glad that I was. It picked up pace and I became invested in the story. I fell in love with these characters; Bardugo made me care for all of them! I’m so excited to continue on with this series. Jesper & Wylan are OTP!

Finish date: 06/22/18

title: Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them (Hogwarts Library)

author: Newt Scamander

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

my thoughts: What a fun book! Very easy read, only took one day to finish. I love that the book is authored by Newt Scamander. There were a lot of fun facts and information about the magical creatures from the Harry Potter series. Recommended for Harry Potter series lovers.

Finish date: 06/15/18

title: The Old Willis Place

author: Mary Downing Hahn

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): Middle Grade, Horror, Mystery

my thoughts: Mary Downing Hahn is one of my favorite childhood authors. I have been reading her books since elementary school and the stories are always interesting and fun. I recommend this book if you like middle grade stories and want an interesting and easy read.

Finish date: 06/15/18

title: A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1)

author: Sarah J. Maas

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

my thoughts: under the cut for spoilers

Finish date: 05/25/2018

I love fairies. Anything fairies I will give a chance. I really enjoyed this book and I loved the whole fae aspect. The romance was eh, I liked Tamlin a lot but then they introduced another High Fae. When Rhysand was introduced my first thought, oh here we go again with a love triangle. It wasn’t prominent in this book and I’m hoping it doesn’t go there. I’ve seen the ship on tumblr so I am wary but I’ll read and see for myself.

It’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling and I thought that was really cool. Although that did make some parts predictable; that didn’t bother me too much in this book. I also liked that it was a fast paced book, very easy read. I will be continuing on with the series.

note: Depending on how I manage the rest of my time, I may end up including this book for my pop sugar reading challenge.

title: A Discovery of Witches

author: Deborah Harkness

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

my thoughts: under the cut for spoilers

Finish date: 05/15/2018

This book was just too slow paced for me. It took me over a month to finish, I just couldn’t stay interested. It also seemed like the author tried too hard to be different, to try and distinguish this book from other witch/vampire books. There was so much information that in my opinion seemed unnecessary to the plot. I mean whole pages dedicated to wine tasting that in the end was only used to show how refined Matthew’s (the vampire) tastes are and how old he is. This book was just not for me and I won’t be continuing on with the series. When I finally finished I was honestly relieved to be done with this book.

title: They Both Die at the End

author: Adam Silvera

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Lgbtqa+

my thoughts: under the cut for spoilers

Finish date: 05/12/2018

I liked reading this book. It wasn’t amazing and out of this world, just okay. I really did like the plot but I think some things could have been done better. I’m just a reader though, not a writer and it’s always hard for me to really describe what it is that was lacking, just that something was missing.

The characters could be very one dimensional at times and I felt no connection to them, I wasn’t sad when they did die or that they were scared about dying, I just didn’t care that much. I did like how all the different characters lives intersected with each others without them knowing. To them it was just another person passing them by on the street, to the reader you could see just how their lives connected. The world building seemed almost incomplete or like it could have been more fleshed out.

I read the book as well as listened to the audio book. I gave up on the audio book not even half way into the story because it was bad. The voices changed with some of the characters, one female was being done by the guy but then later in a different chapter she had her own female voice actor. I couldn’t follow along with the recording.

title: Zodiac (Zodiac #1)

author: Romina Russell

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

my thoughts: under the cut for spoilers

Finish date: 05/11/2018

Okay so I rounded up to 3 stars instead of the 2.5 to be generous. I love the cover and that went towards the .5, as well as me wanting to find out how the rest of the series plays out. The love triangle was seriously off putting, I don’t know why I judged this book so harshly. Maybe because I was hoping for more, the plot was intriguing and the side characters interesting but the ending and overall story just fell short of my expectation. The main character could be annoying at times, she went back and forth many times and seemed to be constantly throwing herself a pity party. The book was also a little predictable, of course nobody was going to believe her and of course she wouldn’t triumph at the end, that’s just how it goes.

The plot and setting were interesting. I liked the different take on the Zodiac. I recommend to those who like books with love triangles or don’t mind them.