Andrea

Wow.... Just wow. I haven't been this touched by a book in years. Laini Taylor has crafted so much beauty, emotion and depth in a seemingly effortless art. I'm struggling to find the words to describe or explain how I'm feeling after finishing this novel but the tears, the jaw-aching grin and overwhelming sensation of happiness will have to be enough. Thank you, Laini, for this gem that I will always treasure. And welcome to my “favourite authors” list!

As a kid I really enjoyed these books but unfortunately, I read this book this year and I found her communications annoying rather than funny. It stills holds a special place in my heart because I read them as a kid and loved them and my dad would always call me Amelia Bedelia but I think I should keep the memory of it in the past and not read any more.

A tale that combines both humour and tragedy, western culture and aboriginal culture, wisdom and foolhardy decisions, Monkey Beach is as beautiful as it is haunting. Told in the perspective of Lisamarie Michelle Hill, a young Haisla First Nations girl, the story unfolds as a coming-of-age adventure fraught with heartbreak and humour in equal parts. Intertwined throughout the story is the tragedy of her brother's disappearance and her journey to look for him at Monkey Beach.


This novel captivated me. I couldn't put it down for long. And though I feel it deserves a five star rating, the interspersed scenes of animal pain and cruelty got to me quite a bit. However, to the novel's credit, I never felt it was gratuitous. It always served a purpose and furthered the story in some way.
The way the story is written makes the spirituality and supernatural elements feel strangely familiar, like I've somehow experienced it myself. Robinson's writing is fantastic and her ability to weave together truth and fiction into a seamless narrative gave the novel a unique verisimilitude.

I rate this a 4 out of 5 on Goodreads and an 8.5 out of 10 on my own scale. This is a truly special book; one that will stay with me for a very long time.

Anya's Ghost is a graphic novel about a first-generation Russian immigrant living in the United States. She struggles to fit in, embarrassed by her heritage, her body, and her lack of popularity. After accidentally falling in a well, Anya discovers the remains of a murdered girl... only the girl never left. Tied to her bones, Emily Reilly has waited for ninety years as a ghost stuck at the bottom of the well for someone to find her. A tentative relationship forms between the two girls and soon Anya finds her life improving with Emily's help and support. But things take a dark turn when Emily takes “best friends forever” a little too seriously.

I strongly encourage you to go and read this graphic novel before reading any further in this review. Go in knowing as little as possible. It's a lot more fun that way.

Anya's Ghost was a thoroughly enjoyable read. The art and text are simple, never overwhelming the reader, yet express many complex themes.

What I enjoyed most about this graphic novel is the progression of characters. You can clearly see the changes in the characters frame by frame. There is Emily who begins are an intensely charming ghost girl to a terrifying monster that will probably haunt my dreams for the rest of the year. And then there are characters like Anya and Dima who change in much subtler ways.

Another thing I enjoyed was how scary the story became. I went into this graphic novel with no idea what it was about and that made the story all the more engaging... and terrifying. It was like taking a stroll through Candyland singing la-la-la while skipping along only to stumble upon the super secret ingredient of Candyland: the souls of lost children! There's a distinct moment you hit while reading where you flip back and forth between a few pages going, “wait... what?! WHAT KIND OF STORY IS THIS!?” For me that moment was on page 152 in the third and second to last frames. Hopefully, if you're reading this you've already read the comic because I felt it had such an impact going in knowing absolutely nothing about it.

I rate this a 4 out of 5 on goodreads and a 9.5 out of 10 on my own scale. This story was sooo good! I related to all the problems Anya faces as a girl and as a student. I only take off some points because the ending seemed a little too neatly tied up. But other than that, it was great!



P.S: Thanks ever so much, Vera Brosgol, for adding a few new nightmares to my nightly repertoire. ;)

After the last book I was feeling like maybe I'd hit a wall with Dresden. I was getting annoyed with some of his formulaic aspects like how every woman seems to be incandescently radiant and beyond attractive, how he's “just old fashioned” about women in distress (even though he's self aware about it which is a great first step, i'd like to seem more development in that area after 10 books. I want to see some growth), and how he always has a headache and is so tired he can't speak. It happens EVERY single book. All this combined with boring and somewhat sloppy plot I was really disappointed with his last book. I was feeling some Dresden fatigue. I picked up this one right away though and was rewarded with one of my favourite in the series thus far. There was so much humour! I was on the edge of my seat so many times. I outright cried a few times. I'm back on the Dresden train. ;)

While initially I was a little wary to read something so outside of my normal reading sphere, I was almost immediately rewarded with endless chapters of knee-slapping humour. The characters are flawed in so many ways its nearly impossible not to find them endearing and interesting. They are so different from each other and yet their dynamic works seamlessly. I really, really enjoy this book! The premise was captivating, the writing style felt effortless and drew me in instantly and best of all I got so many laughs out of it. Thanks Yahtzee for a great read!

I expected more but I still enjoyed it. I'm hoping the next two books will be more what I was looking for. I didn't particularly enjoy the characters, they had few redeeming qualities, but the plot was interesting enough to keep me engaged. The setting was fun and I enjoyed the dramatic shift in narrative tone from her previous books. Overall, it was a good book.

Very entertaining! It never misses a beat. Super witty, super fun, and the characters feel fresh and real (with the exception of Nick who fell flat.) I liked the mystery of Visily Romani and wish the author could have told us who he was. But the mystery feels more satisfying in an unsatisfying way (unsolved mysteries have a way of doing that.) My only criticism, if you can call it that, is that I didn't ever get the felling that Mr. Taccone was a real threat. There were certainly enough attempts to make him sinister but I never really felt it. Other than that, it was an excellent read. Really enjoyed it. :)

I really wanted to like this book. And it was really good! Up until.... well i'm sure the people who have read this book will know what scene I'm talking about. It was the single most horrible scene in a novel I have EVER read. It destroyed me. SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER: Manchee's death scene. Omg. I can hear about people being tortured and hurt or dying and its horrible and I cry but I can get over it. If an animal suffers like that I can't handle it. I refuse to finish this book because it hurt me so badly. I seriously cried for an hour. Anyway, this was my choice for family bookclub. No one else wanted to go through that part so we're all putting the book down and won't be finishing it. Not only was it the death of the animal it was HOW Manchee died. I just can't even....

Wow, I'm always impressed by her writing. She has a real knack for drawing an audience in slowly but strongly. By the end of the story I wanted to hear more about these characters. I can't wait to read the next ones in the series. If I had any complaint it would be that I couldn't necessarily connect with the main character as much as I would like because she acted much differently than I would have and her constant temper was a little much at times. But overall, this was a really great book.

I was hoping that this would be a book that could help non-ace people understand what it is like to be ace. And to some extent it can be used that way. But it doesn't really feel like it's for the uninitiated. You have to have some concept of the terms before going in as the author doesn't do a very good job of explaining what the terms mean. Even for someone like me who is Ace, and has explored more of the community than most non-ace people, it got very confusing. I was losing track of what terms meant and how they were used seemed to be fluid. The author does explain why defining terms is difficult and often unhelpful, but the frequency with which these undefined terms are used makes the text feel inaccessible at times.
Having said that, this was a fantastic look at the issues that Ace people face when considering gender fluidity, race, social status, the difficulty in finding a place/acceptance in the LGBT community.. etc. There were topics I hadn't even thought to consider about the struggles of an Ace individual and the different sub-labels.
Very thought provoking, and validating. Would absolutely recommend to someone who is Ace and trying to understand what that might mean for them.

I got this as an ARC and was thrilled to give it a go.
It's absolutely adorable and a fascinating take on old classics. The only problems I had with it were pacing, it was a little too repetitive, and the writing was, at times, weaker than I would have liked to see. But honestly, these are small things in the grand scheme. It is well worth the read and just an all-around fun time.

TW: for brief mentions of animal cruelty.