Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 416 (not enough)
Rating: 9 out of 10

Summary (Goodreads is my rose): When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

My Thoughts: This novel was great. I mean like wanted to reread it right after I finished reading it, which is weird because half the time, I don't even reread novels. 

Even though it was a retelling, and therefore is similar to the original story, it was a fantastically unique story to me. I thought that it was original. Especially the characters. Feyre (whose name is super annoying because I have to think about it to read it) is amazingly strong. I couldn't do 1/4 of what she did, nor would I even pretend to try. There are so many times when I would have given up or lost hope. Sure, she did lose hope a few times, but she always came back swinging harder than ever before. I couldn't have been her. Lucien was the perfect combination of annoying, snappy, and sarcastic. Tamlin was just fascinating. 

The world that was painted for the reader was so beautiful and also terrible that you couldn't help but find it attractive, even when it was scary and you wanted to run away from it. 

There were no instant relationships (yay) and there was a done of action (yay) that was well thought out and carefully laid (double yay). I believed where it was going and how everything happened. I didn't once catch myself wondering when the book would end or what was to come; I was living in the moment, book style. It was great. 

The end (not the actual end) was great. The whole last section had be sitting on the edge of my seat, scheming right along with the characters, trying to understand their motivations and who could be trusted. I swore at this book and argued with the characters and caught my heart beating faster as it went along. 

The vocabulary, the description, the structure were all wonderful and weren't a distraction. They only made me read more quickly since I wasn't stuck tripping over sentence structure or other problems with the writing. I forgot that I was even reading and ended up staying awake until 2am. Clear writing makes me so (so so so so) happy.

My only real (not actually an issue) issue is that this novel doesn't seem to belong in the young adult section. Violence, romance, nasty names, and some horrible thoughts definitely make this novel a new adult. Which is great for me because that section is really growing on me. So much was left for the rest of the series but it also could be read on it's own, I think. 

So: I thought that this was a fanatic retelling of Beauty and the Beast; it helps that I am a huge fan of that story as it is. I want the rest of the series right this moment and might cry because I can't. This novel might be my favourite by Maas. I think you should read it. End of story.

Best novel I've read in a while.

Review: On Beauty and Being Just

Reviewer: Kelsey

Author: Elaine Scarry

Format: Paperback

Pages: 134

Rating: 6 out of 10

Summary (Goodreads is beautiful): Have we become beauty-blind? For two decades or more in the humanities, various political arguments have been put forward against beauty: that it distracts us from more important issues; that it is the handmaiden of privilege; and that it masks political interests. In "On Beauty and Being Just" Elaine Scarry not only defends beauty from the political arguments against it but also argues that beauty does indeed press us toward a greater concern for justice. Taking inspiration from writers and thinkers as diverse as Homer, Plato, Marcel Proust, Simone Weil, and Iris Murdoch as well as her own experiences, Scarry offers up an elegant, passionate manifesto for the revival of beauty in our intellectual work as well as our homes, museums, and classrooms.
Scarry argues that our responses to beauty are perceptual events of profound significance for the individual and for society. Presenting us with a rare and exceptional opportunity to witness fairness, beauty assists us in our attention to justice. The beautiful object renders fairness, an abstract concept, concrete by making it directly available to our sensory perceptions. With its direct appeal to the senses, beauty stops us, transfixes us, fills us with a "surfeit of aliveness." In so doing, it takes the individual away from the center of his or her self-preoccupation and thus prompts a distribution of attention outward toward others and, ultimately, she contends, toward ethical fairness.
Scarry, author of the landmark "The Body in Pain" and one of our bravest and most creative thinkers, offers us here philosophical critique written with clarity and conviction as well as a passionate plea that we change the way we think about beauty.

Slight disclaimer: I read this book for class...

Thoughts: This novel really succeeded in making me think. It was easy to understand and interesting. This book was my favourite of the five I read for my intro to philosophy class. It examines the ways beauty creates a better world and how it can encourage us to be more moral. I had never considered that beauty was the reason we try to recreate things, including creating children. 

It was short and very educational...ish so there isn't much I can say except that if you are interested in beauty, justice, philosophy as topics to read about, you should check this book out. I am currently looking into another one of Scarry's works for pleasure instead of for school. That is a pretty strong testimony in itself, I suppose.

Review: Never Never

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
Format: ebook
Pages: 159
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Summary (Never forget about Goodreads.com): Best friends since they could walk. In love since the age of fourteen. 
Complete strangers since this morning. 
He'll do anything to remember. She'll do anything to forget. 

What I think: I have a huge problem with this novel. My problem is that this novel is the opposite of huge. This novel was too short. It's not even really a novel. It's barely a novella. Still, they claim that it can stand on it's own. This is a load of bull. I was enjoying the novel well enough. It was unique, completely different than the usual boring stuff but then it just ended. I loved that it was written by two authors working together. I don't mean that I was rushing through it so fast that I missed that I was coming to the end. I mean that it ended almost mid thought when there was no real reason for the novel to end. Never Never: Part Two was just released last week or something but I almost don't want to read it because I'm worried the same thing would happen. I understand that both authors are extremely busy and that's fine. So wait. Wait until you can tell the full story or, at least, a normal portion of the story. I understand that there was a legal reason for this being a novella but I still think that they could have released the two novellas close or SOMETHING. I don't know...

This novel made me mad. Because of this, I am in no rush to read the next one. I have a funny feeling that I will either not have a single clue what is happening or it will end abruptly like this novel did. 

It could have been so great and that makes me so sad.

Other than that, like I said, this story was unique. I enjoyed the characters and their perspective. I think that both authors are extraordinary (and Kristen can comment on my slightly over the top love for CoHo...). I suppose that, given the length, this novel would be easy for you to get your hands on and would not take all that long to read. Could I just suggest waiting until you have the second before reading the first? 

Review: Frostfire

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Amanda Hocking
Format: Paperback
Pages: 321
Rating: 5 out of 10

Summary (Thanks, Goodreads.com): Bryn Aven is an outcast among the Kanin, the most powerful of the troll tribes.

Set apart by her heritage and her past, Bryn is a tracker who's determined to become a respected part of her world. She has just one goal: become a member of the elite King’s Guard to protect the royal family. She's not going to let anything stand in her way, not even a forbidden romance with her boss Ridley Dresden.

But all her plans for the future are put on hold when Konstantin– a fallen hero she once loved – begins kidnapping changelings. Bryn is sent in to help stop him, but will she lose her heart in the process?

My Thoughts: So, this novel made me a little bit sad. Perhaps it was that it has been quite some time since I had read any novels by Amanda Hocking but I seem to recall her novels being so much better than this one.

Sure, there was some adventure and some romance aspect...it all felt forced though. I had to struggle to believe this novel and the fact that the characters weren't human was almost the easiest thing to accept! Everything went too quickly. This novel seemed to skip over a lot of important stuff, taking for granted that people had already read Hocking's Trylle series. This meant that the world wasn't explained as well as it could be. It also means that important action was lost. Fights were resolved too fast, emotional issues were skipped over, and family drama was all but ignored. This novel could have been so much more. Granted, this is part of a series, so there is room for it to get better but I wish this novel had done more to help with that. 

I loved that the main character didn't find any insta-love and that she was strong. She wanted to do things on her own and for herself. She never discounted her ability to do something and believed in herself. It's too bad that novels are more than just the characters that can be found in them.

Overall, the novel could have gone deeper. Show me deeper into the protagonists thoughts and emotions. Show me more about the world in which these people live, their city, their customs, their family arrangements, their politics, their daily lives. Show me more of the main characters and their motivations. Show me more about the big bad guys. Show me more about the fight scenes and how the characters manage to get out of these sticky situations. Show me something more! I needed more of just about everything. It needed more work, which is sad because I thought that grammar, vocabulary, and structure were great.

Basically: This novel was much worse than I expected. It was an easy read but is very clearly young adult in nature. I wish that it had slowed down. I'm not sure what this would have meant for other novels in this series but I don't care. It needed to be done. I'll likely finish the rest of the series but I am in no rush at all. This one was a disappointment. Check out Hocking's other works first, please!

Review: Saint Anything

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Sarah Dessen
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Rating: 7 out of 10

Summary (Goodreads is a saint): Peyton, Sydney's charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion's share of their parents' attention and—lately—concern. When Peyton's increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?

Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time.

The uber-popular Sarah Dessen explores her signature themes of family, self-discovery, and change in her twelfth novel, sure to delight her legions of fans. 

My Thoughts: I always forget how much I love Sarah Dessen until I read one of her novels again. This novel was a long time coming, which meant that I've been reading so called "grown up" novels for some time now. I was really worried about getting back to Sarah Dessen...that is, I was worried until I started reading it. These novels are so fantastic because you can always connect to them in some way. You understand what the main character is going through. They aren't just horny teenagers that want to run around getting drunk every weekend at the latest parties. These novels actually talk about something. That's important.

I also find myself struggling to keep my emotions in check. I get so angry when something bad happens to the main character and it's not their fault. This happened to me a great deal while reading Saint Anything. I couldn't get over how the protagonist was being treated. I was mad that her life wasn't fair, even though I am well aware that life isn't fair. I just felt so bad for her.

Even though I was aware of the general direction the novel was taking, I still managed to find myself interested and wanting to keep reading. I didn't put it down. I think my grandfather (who was camping with me while I was reading this novel) thought that I had lost my marbles because I hardly spoke while reading it. It was just that good! And being good enough to make me shut up is a really big feat...

I like that this novel was unique in the characters, the jobs they had, the main issue of the story, that it brought up serious issues including an illness that I know relatively little about, and that there were incredible places for the characters to hang around in. Most of what I experienced in this novel was new to me which is a big deal. That doesn't usually happen. I found myself getting caught up in it all because of this. I definitely want to reread this novel some time in the future and enjoy it all over again.

I hated waiting for Dessen's next novel but I think it was well worth the wait and much different (better, much better and more grown up) than her previous novels. This one is one of my favourite novels by her for sure! I think that if you enjoy young adult and romance and just generally good books, you might want to check this one out.

Review: Under Dark Skies by A.J. Scudiere

Reviewer: Kristen
Author: A.J. Scudiere
Pages: 390
Format: eARC
My Rating: 8 out of 10

Summary (thanks Goodreads): In NightShade nothing is as it seems . . . 

Eleri Eames didn’t think she’d ever be allowed to work for the FBI again, so the special FBI division of NightShade seems like an amazing opportunity. But all too soon, her chance to start over starts to disturb her. 

When the FBI offers Donovan a chance to leave his job as a medical examiner and try his hand at something new, he takes a chance on the NightShade division. Somehow, he has to try to escape from his shadows, but can he trust Eleri with the truth? 

Thrown together on their first case, Eleri and Donovan must deal with a charismatic cult leader and his true-believers. The cult is mixed up with several decade-old kidnapping cases and the missing daughter of a prominent FBI Agent. As Eleri and Donovan dig deeper, they discover that NightShade’s mysteries aren’t coincidence. 

Their secrets will save them . . . or destroy them.

My Thoughts: First and foremost, I think that my favourite thing about this novel was the writing. It was fan-freaking-tastic. It just drew you in, from the first line to the last, and it was just stunning. Seriously, it kept me awake through the night because I just couldn't put it down (the fact that it was a school night and Kelsey had to deal with me the next day can attest to how much I loved it). The mystery of it was enough to keep me reading, but what really intrigued me was how the author interweaved the paranormal into it. It never felt... cheesy... (I don't know if that's the right word), which is quite a large task when you're talking about witches and werewolves and vampires. (Especially vampires, but that seems like such an obvious dig toward some books that should not be named and I didn't want to go there but I did anyway). And again, I credit that completely to A.J's writing. Another thing that I loved that it never felt like it was just going on and on and on and on (kinda like I am, right now). The pacing was perfect, which is key, especially when a lot of procedural things are going on. Overall, I definitely recommend this book. It's fantastic, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next one! 

Final Thoughts: I don't know how to classify this novel because it had a bit of eeeeeverything, but I do know that you shouldn't let this one pass you by! 

Life of a Blogger [25]

Life of a Blogger is a weekly feature that I found through the amazing Rebecca at Vicariously! ,  hosted by the lovely Novel Heartbeat. Each week a subject will be chosen and we get to talk about it. The topics will be non-bookish so that you can get to know each other on a more personal level! Make sure to add your link on the linky list! 

This week's topic is: Nature

I like taking pictures of nature:

I however, don't really enjoy spending that much time out there in it. I don't like the cold. I don't like unbearable heat. I do enjoy camping but it's best in the fall. I could spend hours outside taking pictures though. I don't really have a whole lot to say about nature, apparently. What's your favourite thing about nature?


- Kelsey