Flaire

Sometimes I'm not sure what to say about classics. I had always meant to get around to reading these and I'm so glad I did. I personally really enjoyed them and the way fate weaves its way through these characters lives. I went ahead and read them in the order the penguin classics edition had them in and all the introduction/background information as well and I felt that was really helpful to deepen my understanding of the plays. I liked them all so much, it's hard to choose a favorite but I may be partial to Antigone.

In the beginning this was funny and interesting and really pulled me in. The second half really started to drag in comparison. Don't get me wrong there was still plenty of interesting ideas in the second half, but the author also had an idea of breaking off into tangents. And these tangents would last for pages, making the chapters feel quite long.

The concept was great, and I did enjoy the content, but I think it could have been paired down a bit. But that may just be my personal preference.

Okay, so this book did take me forever to get through as I kept reading other books around it. But... I did like it. It was just long with a lot of dumped information. Not my usual favorite style of book.

My favorite parts were Frank Sheeran's story telling and then the last few chapters where Charles Brandt wraps up all that happened in the making of this book.

I personally had trouble following all the big information blocks that were put in the book, but I do understand the necessity. Even though I was annoyed by all that information while reading after having gotten through the whole book I have a deeper understanding of the events surrounding Sheeran and Hoffa and appreciate the information a lot more.

I loved this and can't believe I waited so long to read it, since it's been on my radar for years. The way Erin Morgenstern writes is beautiful, and I really felt transported back in time to the 1800s and that circus.

I loved the love story in this book as well. It wasn't rushed or too romance heavy which I tend to get annoyed by in fantasy novels.

If you like magical stories with lots of world-building descriptions this book will probably be for you.

This was actually pretty adorable! I bought it on a whim when I saw it on sale for just a couple dollars, and didn't expect much outside a cool cover but I was pleasantly surprised.
This was a cute adventure tale, loved the different characters and the uniqueness of monster land. And everything wrapped up nicely for me too.

The only thing I knocked of a star for was Abigail's storyline. I felt it needed a lot more detail than it had to be worth being part of the book honestly.

This was really well done. I love a good nonfiction about food, but occasionally some of them drag or I find them far to tangential to follow. Sourdough Culture didn't have these problems. Eric Pallant has a sourdough culture rumored to be from the Gold Rush era, and he embarks on quite the adventure to figure out if it's true. Telling both a history of bread starting with the ancient Egyptians to modern times and his own personal history with bread he does his best to track down where his sourdough starter could have come from. Pallant's voice really comes through in this book and I felt like I was listening to a story the whole time, even when he was giving facts or talking about history, something I personally love in nonfiction works. I intend to try some of the recipes included in this book as well and I'm sure it's a book I'll read again some day.

I binged this really fast, it was compelling and the writing was fantastic. I really enjoyed learning about this town and it's way of life as well as how Emma's life has been going since the death of her father. The fantasy elements with the fae creatures were really well done, and while some might be saddened we didn't get more of them, I'm alright with the fact that they were just one part of the bigger story. The only thing that fell flat for me was the romance, we really don't get that much personality from him. There was a cute scene or two but I was hoping for more depth, then again this is a three hundred something page novel not a five hundred one so maybe I can give it some slack.

I'm feeling a little indecisive about this one. So maybe a 3.5?
I liked the writing style very much, and felt myself pulled to continue reading all the way through. I enjoyed the unreliable narrator aspect, and from the beginning I was trying to guess where this would lead. I didn't really see the ending coming, but maybe I should have. My main complaint on this book is that it's a little slow. For a lot of the book you're waiting for something, anything to happen and it all does in the last 20-30 pages, so a lot of waiting. However, I never felt the need to give up on the book or skip through parts so I suppose the writing speaks for itself. And because of that I will probably check out this author again.

I actually enjoyed this one a good bit. And will read the second.

This story centers around a teenager named Elena who is a common-born in a society where only those from mage-born families ever learn to read and write. The reason for this? The ability to write is tied to the ability to compose magical workers and only those from the high-born mage families are able to control this power and not blow up full cities by accident.

Despite being common born Elena is found to have power and power that is spoken nonetheless. This kind of power has never been seen before and there is a large political debate among the high born families wether it is safe or not for her to exist. Meanwhile Elena is also taken to the Mage Academy to study control of her power, where she makes friends and enemies. And of course as most young adult fantasy books do this story also has a romance with a boy that initially dislikes her, in this case the Prince of their society who is also attending the academy this year.

The book has some cliche things about it like the typical “we hate each other but somehow can't get enough of each other” type romance, though it is really light on the romance aspect until the end of the book. The main character is somehow special, completely different then and more powerful (with only a little training) than everyone else trope.

The plot in general is not particularly deep and didn't surprise me anywhere but I went into this expecting a light, enjoyable YA and that is what I got, so I really can't complain.

So this is my second Julia Quinn book and I decided to read it because of the hype of the new Netflix show of course. I'm so beyond disappointed. I was actually really enjoying this book, I thought the couple was cute and it was a decent lighthearted read to listen to on my drive to work. But then then the author ruined it. I could look past Daphne getting suddenly ridiculously naive about sex despite being portrayed as more knowledgeable than most women due to her brothers throughout the book. But I can't get past the scene where she doesn't let Simon pull out. At this point they've been fighting about having children or not and so when he's drunk Daphne decides to take advantage of Simon. Already a red flag that had me cringing, but he seems to get into it, and I get it lots of people do enjoy having sex while drunk, fine... but then she knowingly stops him from pulling out and tries to force having a baby on him. This is in no way okay. I can't believe how many reviewers below are justifying this action and saying it's fine because they are married. I know marriage was treated differently in history than modern times, but I'm personally not interested in reading about toxic abuse portrayed as a romance. I've also since seen that the Netflix adaptation has kept this scene in so I will be skipping that as well sadly.

What a great note for me to end the year on!

I loved this book so much more than I expected to. I mean the premise sounded interesting: a mysterious mansion, an eccentric recluse, a female protagonist that sees through the mystery and lies, plus takes place in the 1920's! I knew I had to read it.

Going in the first couple pages, it wasn't what I thought it would be and I almost put it down. The main character came across younger then I was expecting and definitely less mature then I typically enjoy. But I pushed through and obviously the book grabbed me, because I finished it the same day.

This book was filled with references of real art pieces, tales of Greek mythology, which I was not expecting and loved reading about. It's also filled with mentions of real events from the year the book takes place in adding some great historical realism to this work of fiction.

I immensely enjoyed this and know I would re-read it again some time.

I didn't know what to expect going into this book. I picked it up on a whim looking for books to read in October. And the first couple pages I was not sure what kind of book I had chosen.

It turned out to be an entertaining and cute comedy about a young boy who spies on his neighbors and finds them getting taken over by demons who mean to open the gates of hell.

This book made me laugh out loud multiple times especially when the like-able demon Nurd was around. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would read it again.

I enjoyed this a lot. Really liked both August and Kate. The world seems very interesting. However the book didn't wow me enough to get that final star from me. And this is the kind of book I wish he pictures because I had a little bit of a hard time imagining some of the creatures, though that's a personal problem probably and didn't effect my rating.

This was great! An awesome way to finish off the year. I admittedly don't like mustard but food history is a favorite niche genre of mine so when I saw this book I knew I had to read it. I think this book was really well organized which I find to be really important in a historical nonfiction. I also love that the writing was to the point and not super tangential. So nicely structured and I enjoyed learning about Mustard which I knew pretty much nothing about previously.

This was pretty good. I really enjoyed the plot and the mystery of this faire which kept me engaged throughout. I also really like where we ended up and am excited to dive into the next one.

The only reason why it's sitting at a 3.5 for me is some of the writing was a little repetitive. For example the phrase “put this in my rear view mirror” was used two different times she left the faire. Using a cliche once is one thing, but then pretty much the exact same two sentences again the next time stood out to me in a bad way. There was other repetitive parts as well. The main character essentially saying the same things over and over about herself, her condition and her friends.

Overall though I did enjoy this enough to finish off the book pretty quickly and really can't wait for the next one so I would recommend it for those who like creepy circus vibes and/or dark romances.

I wish I liked this more. I was really expecting too, especially after hearing the beginning which I loved the opening chapter. But honestly for me this book just seemed plotless and rambling.

It's just over 12hrs on Audiobook, (I do got to stop and say Christine Eakin who did the reading was great with voices, and I enjoyed the creepy music added in here and there as well) and getting to the last hour and half or so I still wasn't really sure where this book was going. I kept glancing at the time wondering how this book was going to get wrapped up when nothing really happened in the first 10hrs.

The time is eaten up mainly by flashbacks about Tanna's childhood which I found mostly boring and then information about the history of Coldtowns. Which honestly I did like the Coldtown info and found the world Holly Black created to be really interesting. I also liked the personalities of both Tanna and Gavriel (and even the small bursts of supporting characters like Aiden, Valentina, and Jameson). So all of that made the book enjoyable for me.

I just really wish there was more of a plot! Also the ending was left super open. Some may like that but it mostly annoyed me. Which is a shame because a good ending will usually make a book for me.

I told myself I wouldn't DNF this one so it wouldn't become the second King book I didn't finish this year (the first one being “The Institute”) Plus this one was so short and I was listening to it on audiobook so I felt I could push through.

I didn't really care for it. The main character annoyed me from beginning to end... your facing an unknown dangerous end of the world scenario and all you can think about is sleeping with another woman trapped with you? While your wife is in who know's what danger herself?

Beyond that the writing style of this book is very detailed in what the character is thinking in every moment but also barely fleshed out in story. I think that's supposed to add to the horror of it, and leave it up to your own imagination, but it's just not my style.

I do think the actual creatures were pretty neat and the action bits when they attacked were pretty nerve-wracking. During those times of the book I felt really invested but everything around it I had to fight with myself to listen and not zone out. I also didn't mind the ambiguous ending honestly. This one just wasn't for me... and it's been a while since I read a book by King that I liked, and I can think of quite a few I have DNF'd over the years so it's possible he's just not for me... (is that a sin?)

I enjoyed this until the ending, it was a fun series of events for me. Kid trying to be a different person gets caught up distributing weed and working selling cocaine. I found the main character fairly like able and entertaining.

I did however call the ending, and was hoping that wasn't actually the case since I didn't like where it was going. But that was how it ended and I am giving it 3 stars for that since it really kind of ruined it for me.

I'm not sure how I feel about Stephanie's character yet. She's a little all over the place, and I'm not sure if she's the most believable in how she reacts to everything. She annoyed me multiple times throughout reading. But the overall plot was entertaining and the scenes with Morelli were always fun so I'll probably try the next book and see if she grows on me.

So many questions! The mysterious plot has definitely thickened in this book.
This is my least favorite book in the series so far, but I still very much enjoyed it! I also loved that Simon makes an appearance once again!

Charming books like these are great for passing some time in quarantine and I really do recommend the audiobooks!