A Glimpse into my mind

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3.5 stars actually.

An interesting combination of Sleeping Beauty/Rapunzel with Persian folklore.

A princess, cursed since infancy to be poisonous to the touch and as such kept separated from her royal family and never knowing the touch of another person not through layers of fabric, forced to watch the world from a distance.

Just before her twin brother's wedding, she learns that a demon has been captured after it attempted to assassinate him. She also meets the man who captured the demon and has become part of the royal guard.

This man looks at her with understanding and doesn't see the monster she feels she is. He agrees to help her sneak into the dungeon to talk to the demon to see if there is away to remove the curse.

But the question comes - who is the real monster of the story?

++++

I was mostly ambivalent towards this story. I liked the combining of Persian folklore with European fairy tales.

There were "twists" in the story that were kinda predictable, but the seeing it coming did not diminish from the overall. I found the Princess annoyingly naïve but at the same time it worked as she's been a reclusively shut-in.

I honestly would have liked to have seen the Princess embrace the "monsterous" within her but that's my personal choice.

I will continue to look for this author's work as I read her other book last year.



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The (sort of) Dark Mage by Nelson Chereta

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Waldo is the 7th and youngest child of Lilith Corpselover - head of the most powerful Dark Mage family in all the land. Additionally - Waldo is probably the most inept Dark Mage ever with his magic leaning toward White Magic.

He is also he default heir as all of his older siblings have been killed on their first quest. However the other 6 ruling families have categorically said he is not worthy of being the head of the Corpselover family and insist that his mother finally send him on his first quest. If he survives, he will have proven that he's worthy and powerful enough to rule the family when his mother is gone. But unlike other first quests where the family and the quester determine success, the ruling families give him specific tasks he must complete - he must bind 3 monsters to his service, defeat a knight and steal a dragon egg.

So, of Waldo goes to his future. Determined to be his own man, he takes on the last name of the most terrifying thing he experiences during his first day of the quest... he becomes Waldo Rabbit.

+++++

I fully admit that this trope is one of my favorite in fantasy literature - complete inept villain who has to succeed despite the odds.

I found it funny, entertaining and I cannot wait until I have my next audible credit to get the next book.



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Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Holly Darling has spent her life living in the shadow of the famous story about her family - yes THAT story. The one about her grandmother, Wendy and her great-uncles John and Michael and Neverland.

After her husband and one of her twin sons is killed in a car accident, she takes the surviving son and moves to New York to use her new skin care product business to hid her research to find a way to help her son stay healthy and get away from being a Darling.

Then one day a call from England brings her past crashing back into her life and she finds herself returning home to face the secrets she's run from - and the prime secret is the one her family is famous for - Peter Pan.

He's real and the only one she can talk to about him and what is happening is her mother Jane, who believes that Peter is the hero of the stories, even though Holly knows otherwise.

++++

I found this book completely engrossing. I spent the entire day listening to the book. I am glad I did it as an audiobook so that I was able to still be productive while listening to find out what happens next.

I loved this modernizing tale of the classic that shows Peter to be the villain that I have always thought he was - even as a little kid I thought he was the bad guy in the Disney movie.

I cannot recommend this book enough.





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Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


4.5 stars.

The Yaga siblings are two independent young adults who have suddenly inherited their Great Grandmother's house. But it's not just any house. It arrives to them by ocean freight and when it's uncrated.... it has legs. The cottage is alive and moves around on giant chicken legs.

What follows is a series of encounters with a mysterious man who seems to be focused on finding the house, which the Yaga's have named Thistlefoot, and destroying it.

++++

I really enjoyed this book that has been inspired by the folklore of Baba Yaga (one of my favorite Russian folktales. There is a great blend of modernity, mysticism, fantasy and folklore. Add to that great use of language and a wonderful reading by one of my favorite audiobook narrators - January LaVoy.

Highly recommend




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Cursed by Benedict Jacka

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


3.5 stars but I rounded up.

Alex's new apprentice is proving to be challenging. Her curse to change the luck of those around her for the bad makes things hard enough without her new boyfriend stealing a magical item from his store ... the famous Monkey's Paw.

Add to that there is someone out there killing magical creatures to steal their magic for their own, and a mysterious woman shows up at his shop being pursued by a magical construct bent on killing her and even if that means taking Alex with her.

After the fourth attempt on his life, he takes things personally. Then when a magical creature he's close to is captured, he has to find a way to stop it all without getting himself cursed or killed in the process.

++++++

I enjoyed the second installment in the Alex Verus series. It is up there with The Dresden Files and the Rivers of London Series.

It's not perfect. Like Harry Dresden, Alex feels the need to save the women around him, even when it actually causes more trouble than help - often getting him into trouble. Alex is also like Harry Dresden and Peter Grant, Alex also plays a bit fast and loose with the "rules", partnering with whomever will best help him - white hat or black hat.

I will be continuing to follow this series as my reading schedule allows.



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Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok

My rating: 1.5 of 5 stars


I'm being generous with a 2**

+++++++

Penina is a single woman in the Orthodox Jewish Community of Minneapolis. She longs for love and marriage and family. But she cannot have children and that makes the prospects of a good match difficult. The Match Maker keeps matching her with older creeps or "way too emotionally attached" Momma's Boys.

When Penina's sister admits that she and her family are on the risk of losing their home to foreclosure, Penina feels she has to make a sacrifice. When she's matched with a Gay man who wants to get married to a woman to make his dying mother happy and agrees to help pay off the outstanding debt on her sister's house, she thinks she's found the best option - once her mother in law dies she can get divorced and move on with her life.

Then one day her boss gets ill and his incredibly handsome, single and rich son takes over. But he's not Orthodox so that means he's out of bounds.

Now she's torn - faith, family or feelings?

++++++++

I received this audiobook free from Net Gallery in exchange for an honest review.

I found no chemistry between Penina and Sam (the boss' son). She constantly obsesses about how handsome and attractive he is, but I felt nothing. And it seemed like she was constantly commenting on her infertility. We get it - you can't have babies, there was no need to bring it up in almost EVERY chapter.

But then we get to the reader of the book. Throughout the book she pronounced Hebrew words wrong (I asked many of my Jewish friends to be sure) and everytime she said them, she said them differently. She even pronounced non-Hebrew words oddly and I found myself being constantly distracted by it.

So I do wonder if I would have liked the book more had I physically read it, but frankly, I do not wonder enough to find a print copy and rereading a book I did not like.



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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars


Melinda is starting high school as a social outcast. She called the police while at an end-of summer party and the entire school blames her for ruining the fun. As time goes on, those who used to call her friend shun her and she find herself shutting down more and more. It reaches the point where she barely speaks to anyone. Even if she wanted to talk to anyone, who would listen to her? Who would believe her that she did not call the cops because the party was getting too much?

Over the course of the story we learn that she was given drinks at the party and once she was under the influence, she was was assaulted. It takes her almost an entire school year to understand that he didn't hurt her - he raped her. And she has to see him everyday at school and watch as her former best friend pursues him to be her boyfriend.

Melinda's grades suffer and her parents, whose marriage is basically a sham, just keep grounding her and punishing her. Her only solace is art class, where she finds the full-year assignment helps her start to work through her emotions and perhaps find the strength to speak up.

+++++

This was a VERY powerful and emotional book. Melinda is a relatable character and the author really got into the mind of not only a teenage girl traversing the pitfalls of starting high school but also a sexual assault survivor.

There is also an underlying theme of personal rights, identity and community.

Instead of being banned by schools, this is a book that should be required reading for all genders.




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The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Spenser is a private investigator who is hired by a college to help them find a stolen medieval manuscript from their collections. He finds himself embroiled in anti-establishmentarian student organizations, murder, organized crime, drugs, fraud and all kinds of things that keep putting him in the line of fire of both bullets and police.

++++++

I have vague memories of the TV show that this book series was based on. I honestly wanted to like this book more. I was even able to put aside the clear misogyny as a product of the time the book was written. But in reality I found the story flat, uninspired and rather boring. However, I MIGHT have liked it more if the reader had ANY amount of emotion in his voice. Instead it was flat and monotone.

Can't say I would recommend the book, but I can't really say I would try to stop you from reading it either.



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Red Rising by Pierce Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Far into the future Democracy is gone and all of humanity is broken into castes designated by colors. Golds are the elite of the elite, blacks soldiers, pinks pleasure trained, browns are service and the reds... reds are the lowest of the low.

Deep underground reds are working hard terraforming Mars for civilization with the belief that if they work hard and mine the precious and rare elements only they can find, when the planet is ready, they can come above and their children's children will have a better life. But make one small infraction and a Gold will bring judgement and judgement means death.

Darrow is a young man born of the Reds of Mars. But he and his wife are caught out of bounds and sentenced to death. Eo, his wife is killed and somehow Darrow survives the hanging. From there he learns that the Deep Reds, as his people have been called by others, have been lied to. Mars has been colonized for CENTURIES and his people lied to.

He's recruited into a rebellion and he undergoes extreme surgeries so that he can pass as a Gold and infiltrate them and bring them down from the inside.

But how much of himself will Darrow allow to be changed in order to find the revenge that he so desperately seeks?

++++++

Enders Game meets Hunger Games meets the Roman Empire.

This was a good book for the Dystopian Space Genre. IF you liked Hunger Games and Divergent, I think you would like this one.



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The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a book that I was leery going into as I'm not one to be overly fond of classics, and gothic era writing. And because of when the book takes place, I admit I assumed that it was written during that time period. But lo and behold it was written at the turn of the 20th century and i think that is what made a big difference.

I highly enjoyed this story. One of the first "hero in disguise" stories that is NOT from the hero's point of view - which I also liked.

All in all, a definite like.



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