Bookish Goodness: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

My sister and I are cat sitting and my laptop had run out of battery so I couldn't do schoolwork or work on my NaNoWriMo project. Which means that I marathoned Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I didn't mean to; it just kind of happened. It's pink cover was glaring up at me, begging to be read.

I've actually read, or at least attempted to read, every other Rainbow Rowell book (except Carry On). My problem isn't that I don't like her books, its that I like them a whole lot and then the ending ruins everything for me. I had an inkling that Fangirl would be different, but I couldn't be sure, so I put it off. It's actually kind of funny that I finally got around to reading this book right now though. In junior high/high school, I was a huge fanfiction reader. It was my top source of entertainment. As I got older, I still read fanfiction, but not as much as I used to. My life has been kind of difficult for the last couple of years though and I have been increasingly falling back into fanfiction (I fully realize that this may be a less-than-healthy coping mechanism, but it is helping me cope). Then, I saw a tweet about NaNoWriMo. In my fanfiction heyday, I did try my hand at writing fanfiction (one stand alone that was half decent and another multi-chapter fic that I abandoned [and was not very good to begin with]) but I didn't stick with it for long. For years afterward, I would write down ideas as they came to me for other fics, but I never actually tried to take them anywhere. So, I decided to dive right in and try to actually write a fanfiction based on one of my ideas. Basically, over the last couple of days, my life has been reading fanfiction, writing fanfiction, and now reading about a girl writing fanfiction.

There are a lot of things, besides the fanfiction, that I liked about this book. I liked that Cath was kind of lost and weird when she first got to college. I like that she made mistakes and misunderstood things and just generally kept to herself. I like that her sister was a total bitch. I like that Levi messed up. I like that Reagan stuck by Cath. I like that some things worked out in the end and that some didn't.

There wasn't a lot that I didn't like about the book. I didn't like how Cath and Wren's Dad seemed kind of thrown into the story sometimes. I didn't like Courtney. At all. Period. I didn't like that we didn't get to see more of Professor Piper's class or more of the ultimate final project.

So, this is, by far, my favorite book by Rainbow Rowell. I really couldn't give it anything other than 5 out of 5 stars. Now, I absolutely cannot wait to dive into Carry On; I really hope it lives up to the standard Fangirl set.

Bookish Goodness: Chasing Merlin by Sarah White

Between NaNoWriMo (my word count is at 800, but I'm happy with that because it's more than the 0 I started out with), schoolwork, and the craziness going on on campus (I go to the University of Missouri), I haven't had a lot of time for reading. But I decided to take a little break from everything and dive into a book I have been wanting to read that has been sitting on my shelf for a long time: Chasing Merlin by Sarah White.

Merlin is one of those characters who, in one form or another, has been written about more times than a person can count. In my experience, there is no in-between portrayal of Merlin, it is either good or bad. This story is one of the really good ones. I liked that the story addressed both Merlin as myth and Merlin as man and that both aspects were worked into the story. I liked that there was magic present in the story but that it wasn't the main focus and didn't drive everything that happened. One problem I did have was how Emrys treated Dyllan, which was completely rude, and how she just accepted it without any anger. I also had a problem with how the relationship and conflict between Emrys and Ryan just suddenly cut off, almost as if it didn't matter, when it was actually a driving plot point behind the last part of the book. My biggest complaint though is the ending. The entire book was filled with clues and foreshadowing of where the story was going, who the characters were, and what their motivations were. Then the ending came, with no warning, and it wasn't what had been hinted at from the beginning. The other did make mention of a foretelling that made the ending make sense, but it felt contrived. Nevertheless, I loved this book! I gave it 4 out of 5 stars and would definitely recommend it!

Outside My Norm: NaNoWriMo News and a Daria Song Book Review

Hi All! It's November, and you know what that means: NaNoWriMo! I've actually been signed up on the NaNoWriMo website since 2012, quietly lurking in the shadows, watching other people's progress, but I've never actually tried to write anything of my own before. Sure, I've had ideas for stories, both fanfiction and original, but I've never had the (drive, time, patience) to actually attempt to flesh it all out in writing. This year, and last fall, has been very changing for me though. I went through, and am still going through, some things that made me realize that I have to go for what I want. In light of that, I decided to try writing some of my ideas out. Most recently, I have had several ideas for novels but, if I'm being perfectly honest, I don't think I have the experience/technical ability to do them justice. So, I decided to start by working on a Harry Potter fanfiction idea I came up with almost eight years ago.  School of course comes first, so my writing has been pretty sporadic, but I'm having fun anyway. If you're participating in NaNoWriMo (or want to, there is still time to sign up!), I'd love to be buddies! Here is my NaNoWriMo page. Good luck to everyone participating!

Because I'm juggling school and NaNoWriMo, my reading has slowed down some. But reading is my stress outlet (writing could be if I wasn't so type A about it). Luckily for me, Blogging For Books sent me a copy of The Time Chamber by Daria Song to review.

If you couldn't tell from the cover, this is an "adult" coloring book! I have been wanting to try one for a very long time, so I was doubly happy to receive this copy. The first thing about this book that caught my eye, and made me super happy, is that the cover (besides the copper leaf) is fully colorable on the outside and on the inside! The second thing that I noticed is that the book isn't just a coloring book! It has an actual story, with words, on the inside. There aren't so many words that it bogs you down reading, but just enough to drive your imagination forward! I also really liked the Visual Index in the back. Sometimes, when the pictures are big with lots of tiny details, I get overwhelmed. It's helpful that I can get an idea of the overall picture and what I want to do with the picture without being caught up in the minutia!

As for tools, I specifically bought Crayola Twistable Colored Pencils for this book. However, those are more blunt tipped and the pictures have many fine details that I think classic pencils that can be sharpened would be better to use. All in all, I am super happy with this coloring book! I give it 5 out of 5 stars. The pictures are gorgeous and I cannot tell you how much I enjoy adding color to them.

TLC Readalong Recap: Month 3 - Cress Review

Confession time: I almost forgot to read this month's book. That being said, the October book for the TLC Readalong was Cress by Marissa Meyer.

 

It took me a little longer to get into Cress than it did the other two books, but it eventually drew me in. I thought the pacing of the book was a little off. Some chapters were nothing but action and then the next chapter would be really slow. I liked that we got a more up, close, and personal view of Captain Thorne. In Scarlet, Thorne was just super annoying and I thought he was a character I could do without reading about. His parts in Cress completely changed my mind. He seemed more personable. His being annoying reminded me more and more of a defense mechanism rather than a personality trait. I liked Cress as a character too, but she was harder for me to be interested in. I felt like she was too juvenile at times, which could totally be explained by the raised in isolation thing, but still bothered me anyway.

 

Scarlet and Wolf are still my favorites, but I think Thorne and Cress are growing on me as a pair. I do like them better than Cinder and Kai. I'm not sure what to make of Princess Winter. I feel like her story is going to be really complex but I think Marissa Meyer is more than capable of telling it in an awesome way. All in all, I think this book deserves 4.5 out of 5 stars. It's not quite as good as the other books, but still really great. I cannot wait until Winter comes out! In the meantime, I better get to reading Fairest!

ARC Review: An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Emma of Miss Print sometimes adopts out ARCs that she has received. The second ARC that I adopted from her is An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes by Randy Ribay.



 

When I first received the ARC, I was really shocked because it was a hardcover copy instead of softcover like I am used to. The cover is gorgeous too. I like that it is simple with a couple of details (white clouds, gold stars, and writing. The texture is interesting; it feels more like parchment instead of the usual smooth cover.

One part of the book that I especially liked was the amount of diversity in the book. There are characters that are straight, gay, white, black, Asian, adopted, raised by two parents, raised by divorced parents, raised by grandparents, and that's just the main characters. The side characters are just as diverse. I like that the characters aren't stereotypical either. They're diverse in a way that is unique and organic to them.

Beyond the diversity, I didn't really like the story. The tagline on the cover reads "In real life, you need real friends." As far as I could tell, none of the characters were really all that close until the very end of the book. Actually, they were all real assholes to each other. I didn't like that we followed the events of a couple of days from the point of view of four characters, making us rehash the same events several times over. It felt too tedious and dragging. The plot of the story was pretty generic YA fare for the most part too and it ended abruptly. I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. The book was okay, but there was a lot of room for improvement.

Bookish Goodness: The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra

One aspect of my reading, that I am honestly surprised hasn't come up in one of my blogs before, is my indiscriminate love of Russian and Russian themed literature. In fact, it is a good bet that if Russia or Russians are so much as mentioned in connection with a book, I will read it (Side note: I am woefully behind on classic Russian lit though. I do plan to catch up eventually). So you can imagine my delight when I read the synopsis for The Tsar of Love and Techno which was written by the talented Anthony Marra. I was lucky enough to receive a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books, but this in no way affected my review.

 



Beyond the synopsis, the cover also made me want to read this book. The cover looked (and is) just so colorful and the font looks kind of like a cross between what you would see on an old propaganda poster and an '80's band poster. If the synopsis hadn't reeled me in, I would have read this book for the cover alone.

Other than the synopsis and the cover, I didn't know much about this book going in to it. This is the first book I've read by Anthony Marra as well, so I started this book with no idea as to where it was going to go. I was, however, under the impression that it was YA. It's not, which was kind of a shock for me, but it didn't bother me in the end. I also didn't realize that it was supposed to be read as a series of short stories (just goes to show how well I read the synopsis, which is, not very well at all). I assumed it was a novel and just dove right in. I was a little confused for a while, but eventually realized what was happening.

This story was so complex and masterfully done. It's common for a book to have a main character that brings everything else together, but to have the common denominator be an inanimate object is kind of mind blowing. I honestly didn't see how Marra would pull all of the stories together, but he did, and it was so amazing every time I realized exactly how the next story connected with all of the previous ones.

I will admit, I had a hard time staying interested in this book. This is because it is very dark and depressing throughout. However, considering the time periods that this book spans (from the heyday of Communism in Russia to the Cold War and the later rise of democracy) it's no wonder that the tone of the book isn't the happiest. As far as I can tell, it portrays the stark reality of life in Russia very well, and that's really all you can ask.

I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was well written, but I needed more light among the dark parts. I probably would have been happy if we had just followed the first character throughout his whole life. I would recommend that this book shouldn't be given to younger teenagers, as there are some themes that I feel need a certain level of maturity to understand, such as murder and drug use. But I also think that it is a good book that, if approached the right way, could be used as a good teaching tool, both from a social aspect and a historical view point.

ARC Review: Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith

One part of the book community that is fun and frustrating is the acquisition of ARCs. Receiving ARCs seems to be more a study in alchemy (all trial and error) and less an exact science. The only ARCs I have ever received I won through a Goodreads giveaway. Recently, however, I have been delving into the world of Book Twitter and the various book tweeters, and through that found a lovely woman who has been adopting out the ARCs she no longer wants: Emma of Miss Print. I have, so far, been lucky enough to adopt two of her ARCs. The first ARC I adopted from her was Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith. I am a couple days late posting this review because the book was released on October 6, 2015, but I hope you enjoy reading it anyway!

I first saw the cover on goodreads. I thought it was absolutely gorgeous and it was part of the reason why I initially wanted to read this book. Having a physical copy in hand, the cover is just as gorgeous as I thought it would be but it's a little creepy too. I will admit though, I still have no idea how the cover ties into the story. I'm probably just missing something obvious though.

Initially, I had a lot of trouble getting into this book. If I hadn't promised Emma that I would review the book, I probably would have DNFed it after the first couple of chapters. That would have been a mistake. It took me about five chapters to be fully invested in the story but after that I was hooked. I think the slow start for me is completely attributable to the lack of world building.

The story is set in world that seems partly medieval, partly Victorian, but mostly something entirely its own. It comes with its own countries, political systems, religious systems, magic, and so much more. My problem with it was the detail, or lack thereof. The world the story is set in has to be self-contained. Almost everything about it is unique to the story. However, there was very little actual world building. This was partly due to the pace. The story was chalk full of action and very rarely slowed down for analysis. It also seemed to me that another reason for the lack of detailed world building was the emphasis on the character driven aspects of the story. There was so much focus on what was happening to the characters and what they were doing that there wasn't any time leftover for world building.

The characters were kind of interesting, but nothing to write home about. Livia was lackluster and I found myself not caring about what happened to her. Marez and Kriza were dynamic. They were really what pulled me into the story. Brandt really pissed me off. Edina and Vera had a lot of potential to be great characters, but I felt that potential was overshadowed by their story which felt thrown in and needed more development. However, Lindsay Smith used her characters masterfully. Their interactions and actions had me pulled into the story. I was completely fooled by the characters and did not see the conclusion coming at all!

Overall, I liked Dreamstrider but I didn't love it. The story had so much potential but fell just short of achieving it. The characters and overall story were the high points. The lack of world building was a serious detracting point though. Because of that, I have to give this story 3.5 out of 5 stars.