Cátia

"The good news," said the cat, "is that you've done such a terrible job that this will likely need to be redone in a few weeks."

"How is that good news?" asked Tal.

"You'll get the chance to do better next time."

I picked this book up after discovering it through the r/fantasy sale and I am incredibly glad.

I was invested from the first to the last chaptr. The story starts with Talia going hunting with her older brother for a festival in honor of the Thirteen Whisperers who basically saved the world hundred of years (centuries?) ago. Things take a turn when she accidentally shots at Morel, a Whisperar's cat-shaped companion, and she is forced to live with this Whisperer for a year as punishment.

The Whisperer in White starts with a light and humorous tone but gets serious when it needs to be. Books with a humorous tone all throughout tend to not work for me. I think my main problem is that, usually, there isn't a tone shift. In this case, the writing device contributed to the story's atmosphere.

The old Whisperer shot her a look. " I don't pay you to talk out of turn."

"You don't pay me at all!" protested Tal.

As for our main characters, we have Talia who is impulsive and, at times, reckless, but always well intentioned (side comment: she is a good character to discuss intentions vs outcomes); Morel is ironic but cares; and Fourth, our Whisperer may seem standoffish but is kind-hearted.

Besides the characters arc and the dynamic between them (it gives off found family), another highlight is Y. R. Liu's ability to write emotional scenes. I confess, I may have cried reading this book. I don't know how she does it but with a few sentences she can pack a punch. I reckon some of the passages would be great as conversation starters or wanderings. That's another reason why I loved The Whisperer in White.

I loved watching them grow up, but then I had to watch them grow old.

(chapter 14 has my heart)

I don't know if this is weird, but this reads, to me, as a cozy fantasy. I say weird because, as you can read in her author bio:

(...) she has a particular fondness for bittersweet sacrifices, pyrrhic victories, and otherwise less-than-happy endings.

I can attest all the above is true (RIP). However, what makes it my kind of "cozy" is the 50/50 balance between character-driven and plot-driven elements, the interactions between the main characters, and the almost low fantasy. Actually, I would also recommend the book to readers that like the idea of cozy fantasy but cannot get into it.

Although there were no big surprises for me plot-wise, that did not deter from my enjoyment as my takeaways were beside it. I will say that I would have liked if the way the Whisperers fixed the tears and all that was explained in more detail as that is kind of fuzzy to me.

Last comment: Love the cover and the fact it is tied to a specific scene.

Overall, highly recommend.

Reasons why this book didn't work for me:

• The characters felt superficial with no distinct personality.
• Not only were the storylines predictable, but they took longer than it should have to be revealed. I was just waiting for the author to get there so we could move along.
• At times nothing was happening, boring me.

I decided to read this book after seeing it being recommended several times for the comfort it gives to its readers.

Overall, I liked the narrative style - the story is told through letters and telegrams. However, I always have a "problem" when stories are told this way: for me, it creates a certain distance between the reader and the characters. (I recognise that this is a me problem though).

I also was unaware of the romance. It was not exactly an unwelcome surprise, but it wasn't that well developed, I needed more scenes with them.

The end felt a little unfinished and abrupt which most likely the result of the primary author's declining health that led her niece, Annie Barrows, to do some rewriting and editing.

What I best liked about it: I hadn't even ever heard about the Channel Islands and the german occupation during World War II. I'm appreciative of the knowledge it brought me and the curiosity to know more. For this reason alone, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and its memorable characters was worth the read.

I put this book on my TBR immediately after reading the synopis and I got to say, it did not disappoint!

This book had me doing some mental calculations, wondering how the puzzle pieces fit together. Even when I got things right, it never diminished my enjoyement because, truth is, there were a lof things I wasn't completely sure about - I would go back and forth on my guessings. It definitely managed to keep me on my toes.

• The pacing was great
• The characters: standouts
• The writing: addicting
• and the plot... a rollercoaster

This is the first book I've read from the author but it has left me intrigued to see what else she has written and will publish in the future.

N??o h?? duvida que a escrita de Pedro Lucas Martins ?? s??lida. Certamente n??o fiquei surpreendida ao descobrir que ele tem forma????o em Lingu??stica e Tradu????o. Algo que se destaca ??, sem d??vida, a combina????o de palavras que torna a narra????o excelente em determinados momentos. Coloco de seguida alguns exemplos:

Houve tempos em que n??o acreditara no Inferno. (...) Actualmente, sabia que n??o bastava n??o acreditar, que coisas h?? que nos for??am ?? persuas??o. Sabia-o porque o Inferno, que na ordem natural das coisas s?? deveria vir depois de morrermos, se antecipara a vir ao seu encontro. Fizera dele um crente.

N??o havia nele austeridade ou moralismo, nem sequer aquela arrog??ncia de quem pensa estar certo sobre a vida, a morte e tudo o que vem no meio.

J?? n??o embarcava no sono com grandes expectativas - dormir deixara de ser solo f??rtil para tais ambi????es.

Longe est?? o que podia ser feito. Isto ?? o “tarde de mais”.

literary fiction

Vivian Pham started writing The Coconut Children at 16 (!!) and published it at 19. It explains why the teenagers in this story felt like actual teens, as well as why the dialogue between them was realistic. The writing in itself is both beautiful and overblown. There's some amazing passages, but also others that would benefit from less embellishment and editing. Though that may be attributed to her adolescent life as a writer. However, this means there's only room to grow, which is why I'm definitely keeping an eye on her. Additionally, the showcasing of the Vietnamese culture, often in the form of conversations in vietnamese and traditional food, was lovely to read.

Although autumn had already found its way into surrounding regions, our beloved suburb had bargained with the seasons and won itself more sunlit hours.

The Coconut Children

Every metamorphosis has its melancholy. Every born blossom already feels itself beginning to be forgotten. But ask the tree how it gets through summer, autumn, winter, spring, and it will tell you about the ending of everything. 

Turning the Tide on Plastic discusses an extremely relevant subject offering, in my opinion, nothing new. All ideas presented, including the ones about actions we can take to reduce our consumption of plastic can be read anywhere else on the internet for free.
Ultimately, I would recommend this book for people who have dived at all into this book's subject.

Perguntem a Sarah Gross segue 2 timelines: uma durante os anos da I e II  GM, e a outra nos anos 1968-1969. O tema ??, claro, a II GM e o Holocausto. Como j?? antes de iniciar a leitura tinha conhecimento do facto, esperava que o livro fosse, em partes, emocional. Contudo, fiquei com a impress??o de que, para o autor, toda a tragicidade envolvente para as personagens do livro que foram impactadas pelo mesmo n??o era suficiente e sentiu necessidade de elevar a fasquia. Como? Ora, dando um background doloroso a uma outra personagem, e acrescentando uma pitada de mist??rio/ assassinato . Mas para qu???, pergunto-me eu. Para al??m disso tive problema com a mudan??a completa de storytelling que ocorreu ap??s a primeira metade do livro. Algumas coisas poderiam ser retiradas, reescritas ou condensadas.

• Good writing
• Interesting and creative magic world although there were somethings I didn't fully understand
• One of the themes is the different variations of gender identity
• Ridiculous insta love
• In the first half (I DNFed at that point) there's not enough focus on the plot, IMO
• Recurring use of sweard words, which I don't have a problem with, except they're "plucking" and "pluck it"

So far I've only seen positive reviews for Stillhouse Lake, unfortunately I seem to be in the minority. There are two reasons:

• I've read this story before. As in, I've previosly read this one book (to be fair, I think it may have been published after this one, but I read it first, so...) where the main character (female) is taking care of her brother and has moved to this new place. There, she meets this guy who becomes her love interest. Some murdery thing happens, she becomes a suspect, etc. In Stillhouse Lake, our MC is also female and is now a single parent to two kids. They too change to a new place - stillhouse lake -, trying to escape people who threaten her and her family and want to make her pay for her husband's crimes. In this new place, she meets a guy, who also becomes a love interest. Even the endings have similarities, specifically  the kidnapping of someone close to the MCs. All in all, there were way too many plot resemblances for me to be able to enjoy this.

• As you can tell by the synopsys, there's a killer, who seems to be imitating our MC's husband crimes. Rachel Caine is not subtle about who it is since you can guess it from the first time they show up. I mean, it was pretty obvious from their first lines that they're up to something. As such, when the reveal time came I wasn't surprised. Some people don't necessarily need an unpredictable plot to appreciate a mystery/thriller, and I agree to a certain extent. But between this and the fact that I have read another book with an identical plot...

Hamlet is centered around Agnes, William Shakespeare's wife: her relationship with her family, her husband and her children. Maggie O'Farrell chooses to emphasize the fact by never writing the name William. This is true for the entirety of the book, except the second part is also an exploration of grief.

It is pretty evident from the book that O'Farrell knows how to write, she does have that kind of style some would associate with literary fiction. However, I feel like she, at times, overdid it with the descriptions and lingered too long on them, to the point where you could skip some parts and not miss out on anything.

Even though I overall enjoyed the book and how some themes were wrought, something was amiss for me in the second part: not enough delving into her children (I'm trying not to spoil anything, but if you've read it you'll most likely know what I'm talking about) and, ironically, some plot points regarding Shakespeare (his infidelity and brushing aside of it, lack of depth (regardless of the book not being about him. He's still a central part to the story)).

The main problem I found with Assassin's Apprentice was the pace. The first part took me about a week to get through (I remind you this book is 435 pages long!). The only reason why I was picking it back up was to get to the point where I could understand people's praises about this book. Needless to say, this novel is highly regarded by readers, but I was, at first, not impressed with it. There was just a bunch of not much happening, and the plot had yet to be established - one of the reasons why I didn't feel compelled to continue reading. I also want to add: for a book with “assassin” in the title, there's not a lot of assassination going on, or even deaths. If you pick up the book expecting and wanting this, know you will be disappointed. The same can be said about magic, there's just not much of it. Regardless, I managed to pull through, and as I said previously, this book started to get my attention in the second half. Not only was the plot finally moving forward, but you got to know the characters better, as well as feel for them. I especially loved the last third, which was filled with political intrigue. We were introduced - without spoiling too much - to a new land and a new set of characters. I immediately liked them and was looking forward to seeing more of them and pondered on the impact they would have on the ending. It did not disappoint. I cannot explain how good of an ending it was. It completely made reading the book worthwhile. I've also heard people say the second book is better so I definitely plan on reading it!

The Wolf of Oren-Yaro's main protagonist - Talyien - was not what I was expecting, especially due to the book's summary and series title (Chronicles of the Bitch Queen). I figured she would be this badass woman capable of fighting and at least slightly heartless or headstrong or a fist iron ruler. That's not what I got, albeit I did like that she was indeed capable of fighting, but not unrealistically so. 
Yes, Talyien can defeat people, but it depends on the number of people against her, her and her opponents' weapons, etc. 
As for personality-wise, I was expecting more. I saw little of her being a “bitch”. I also wished she was stronger in that department. Because she is not, she makes questionable decisions (although understandable but at times frustrating) and holds her tongue and sword (lol) for some people that should just drop dead (in my opinion of course hehe). 
What ended up “bothering” me was that the entire plot revolved around her husband's leave 5 years ago the night before their coronation and her almost inability to cope with it. First of all, Rayyel (the husband) was the biggest ass; second of all, in the end, we find out the reason why he made that decision and let me just tell you... it is dumb. Seriously, I could no even wrap my head around it.
All that being said, I did enjoy this book, albeit not as much as I wanted. Despite the length, the book was a quick read, entertaining, and introduces us to some interesting characters that will hopefully appear in the next installment and be further fleshed out. There's also a lot of food descriptions which I highly enjoyed. I plan on reading the second book.

Wasn't for me. Honestly, I just didn't care much about anything. Didn't click with the writing from the beginning, it is too descriptive. Not every single sentence has to have a flowery writing and similes, methaphors and the like. In fact, it's about knowing when to do it and stir the reader's emotions. Some people have said the book is one of those angsty novels where the author makes the main character go through the worse things imaginable just for the sake of it or for the shock value. Having read 30% of White Oleander I see how that may be true.

Admittedly, romance has never been my favourite genre. I do read it from time to time when I'm looking for some light reading or to get back into reading if I feel like I'm in a reading slump. For that reason, the majority of the romances I read get a 3 star from me. What that rating means, in this case, is: I enjoyed my time with the book, it gave me what I was looking for, but I will most likely never re-read it or think about it.
Overall, this was a good book with a diverse cast revolving around the fake dating trope which, I'm not going to lie, I highly enjoy. However, there were a few things that affected my feelings toward Take a Hint, Dani Brown, namely:

• I don't know why, but I was never truly rooting for the main couple - Danika and Zafir. Now, this doesn't mean I didn't want them together. Even though I did enjoy their interactions, I didn't get giddy over them. Since this is indeed a romance, it is important one becomes addicted to the couple (I'm talking about fangirling and shipping, yes lol).
• There was a lot of telling, not showing. One thing that still stands out to me is how Zafir would make an observation about Dani's character/personality after she did something, explaining to us what was obvious. After coming across this more than once, I became annoyed.

The Guest list is a fast-paced and entertaining novel. However, in one word, it's forgettable. 
Even though it reads quickly, it isn't particularly mysterious or tense. It seemed to me that the story had no ups and downs, but remained instead in this flat line until the very end, where it went slightly up. The murderer's identity revelation was unsurprising since I had already considered that person. I will say there were a few plots that I didn't see coming, but I wouldn't describe them as shocking, they just were. I should also add that I did not like one of those plots - it's hard to explain it without spoiling it, so I will just say: it seemed unlikely and something the author forced to happen.
Despite all that,l I would encourage anyone interested to read the book because, really, it isn't a bad one, I just found it unimpressive.

The Alice Network is told through 2 POVs: Eve's and Charlie's. When reading reviews of this book I noticed a great number of people stating they preferred Eve's and, after having read it, I would 100% agree. In fact, Charlie could have been removed from the story and not much would have changed. Personally, I don't find her character added much, I don't see what her purpose in the grand scheme of things was. Adding to that, her part of the story was too predictable. Within her first few chapters, if not the first, you can guess how things are going to end for her and her part of the plot. At last, I just want to make a little comment on how unnecessary the romance was; the need people feel of adding romance to every single thing  (not just books) is annoying.

The Fifth Season is told in three perspectives, one of which is written in second-person singular. It surprisingly worked really well. I also liked the reveal of how those three perspectives are interconnected. Personally, my main issue with the novel was the direction of the plot. Basically, this first installment allows you to know the main protagonists and a little bit of the world. However, the book's goal is to indicate you the premise of the next book. As such, the impression that stays with me is that this is a prelude to the main story/action that will happen in book 2.

My Dark Vanessa is a sort of a study of a relationship between a student and an English teacher, which starts when they are 15 and 42, respectively. It, therefore, touches on pedophilia, as well as manipulation, consent, coercion, and to some degree, self-worth, and self-confidence. It is this that makes the book an uncomfortable, at times, hard-to-read, but also a compelling read. These subjects were incredibly well presented and approached, allowing you to understand to some extent how these relationships sometimes happen and develop. 
As it could only be, My Dark Vanessa raises a lot of questions to which it doesn't offer clear answers and to which, upon reflection, you will not be able to answer in a better way since the novel deals with grey areas.
It will most likely be a book you will think of it often after you've read it. The only critic I can think of is that there was a part where the pace slowed down and became a little redundant. However, it is not something that bothered me significantly.
Definitely one of my favourite reads of 2020.