Top 5 Books I Read in 2017

The year of 2017 was a good reading year for me. I read a total of 62 books, and I had more four- and five-star reads than the previous year. On this last day of the year, I want to share my top five favorite books of 2017 with you.

1. The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

This was one of the most breathtaking books I've ever read. The story is about a lighthouse keeper and his wife who live alone on a small island, simply maintaining the lighthouse from day to day, when one day a boat washes ashore with a dead man and a live baby inside. Believing this baby's family is all dead, the couple decides to raise the baby as their own. It isn't until months later when they travel back to the mainland that they discover they may have been wrong, and there is a woman mourning the loss of her husband and baby at sea. Now faced with a difficult decision, the couple must decide whether to keep the secret safe they now harbor or to come forward with their crime. Stedman's writing in this novel is lyrical and elegant, and the story is truly spectacular. This book immediately became one of my favourites.


2. Love That Lasts by Gary and Joy Lundberg

This nonfiction handbook helps couples in all stages of marriage achieve a more fulfilling and intimate relationship with their partner. The book is full of anecdotes and tips from a variety of couples, and the stories really provide perspective into your own marital relationship. Although written by an LDS couple and directed primarily at LDS couples, this book will guide couples of all faiths toward a happier marriage. This book is very enjoyable and easy to read, and I see myself revisiting it year after year. To read my full review, click here.





3. The Dark Hills Divide (Land of Elyon series) by Patrick Carman

This series was one of my favourite trilogies when I was younger, back when it had only three books. Now a decade later, I reread the original books then finished the additional two, and I love the series more than ever. This is one of the most adventurous and exciting middle-grade fantasy stories out there (that I've read). We follow Alexa Daley on a journey across the land to discover hidden secrets and solve mysteries, all with the help of some forest animals that she can communicate with. This is one of those stories that did not lose its savor with age, and I would recommend it to readers of all ages. To read my full review of the first book, click here.


4. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

This is a steampunk post-apocalyptic young adult novel about a city that was built underground to withstand a massive war above ground. Over two centuries after its inception, the city is falling apart and the lights that keep the city alive are starting to flicker and go out. Lina and Doon are two kids that find some clues to a world beyond their crumbling city, and they are determined to discover what's out there. This novel is full of real problems that face the protagonists, which I loved to see in a kids' book. The underground setting it authentic and the writing is excellent. Again, I would recommend this book to all fantasy lovers. To read my full review, click here.




5. Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore

I read an arc of this book earlier in the year, and I never expected an arc to become one of my favourite books of the year. This was a very original story that truly covers all genres of literature from science fiction to historical fiction to contemporary to fantasy. We see Milo, who has already lived 9,995 lives, trying to achieve perfection before his ten thousandth life. The reason this achievement is so hard for him is that Milo is in love with the persona of death, who he calls Suzie. We read through the last of Milo's lives as he struggles to truly reach perfection, making mistake after mistake along the way. This book was funny and sad and crude and thought-provoking, and I loved it all, even the hard-to-read parts. To read my full review of this novel, click here.

Review: LOVE THAT LASTS by Gary and Joy Lundberg

Rating: 5/5 stars

This book is excellent. This is the kind of book I will revisit year after year because of the effect it has (and will have) in my life.

Written by a long-time married couple, Love That Lasts is about how to strengthen your marriage in all ways. The Lundbergs discuss secrets to a happier marriage, including communication, finances, parenting, humor, intimacy, kindness, and enduring to the end as a couple. The format of the book is very easy to read with each chapter covering one of the fourteen "secrets," and the book is full of personal experiences of many couples across the country. These anecdotes were my favourite parts because I can see how other couples face their problems and how overcoming them strengthened their marriage. It was also very humbling to read about the trials that others faced because it puts into perspective how blessed I am in my own life, but also how much I need to improve upon.

Although this book is written by an LDS couple and is written primarily for LDS couples, I believe anyone will benefit from the guidance and counsel found within its pages. There is only a very little bit that has references specific to LDS culture. I would honestly recommend this book to anyone looking to create a deeper and more meaningful and loving relationship with their husband or wife.

The most important lesson I learned from Love That Lasts is to always keep your spouse at the top of your list. He or she should be your number one priority and should be the most important person to you. If you make all other decisions based on that thought, your marriage will flourish and your love for them will deepen. Over the past four months that I've been taking my time reading this book, I've been implementing some of the suggestions and I've seen a difference in my own marriage. I've become more patient and I'm learning to love my husband's idiosyncrasies. Next year we even plan to read the book together to strengthen our marriage even more.

Review: DANGEROUS CREATURES by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Rating: 2/5 stars

If I didn't already own this book, I probably wouldn't have decided to read it. I bought it years ago when I read the original Caster Chronicles because I loved that series, though I don't think I wanted to read this spin-off series much when I bought it or I would have done so by now. At least I finally read it this year.

Dangerous Creatures follows our favorite bad girl, Ridley, and her boyfriend, Link. They move to New York City to follow Link's dream of being in a band, or so Link thinks that's the plan. It turns out Ridley's keeping from Link the real reason she came to New York with him: she has a debt to pay. Honestly, this book felt a lot like a typical YA novel, full of unnecessary drama. If I didn't already know the characters, I probably wouldn't have cared much about them.

But speaking of characters, Ridley had a different disposition in this book than in the original series. In Beautiful Creatures, she was dark and rebellious, not caring what anyone else thought of her. She forged her own path regardless of the situation. She is a siren, after all. But in Dangerous Creatures, she has turned soft. She suddenly cares about these "friends" she's known for only a few weeks. She whines about doing mortal work. She even sheds a tear. Ridley just wasn't the same siren I've grown to love in the other books. Link, on the other hand, was every bit the same.

One nice thing about this story is a cameo appearance from Ethan, Lena, Liv, and John in the beginning. They make a pact and Lena forges these rings for them to keep them all bound together. She tells the group they will warn the others of danger, and they will all jump to the rescue if anyone needs it. This sounds great and all, but this concept was left open. Throughout the story, the rings Link and Ridley wear change color and burn them, but we never learn what that really means. Shouldn't the crew back home be warned that the two in New York need their help? Wasn't that the whole purpose of the rings? We never hear from Ethan and Lena, etc. again in the story though, so we can't know what they were experiencing and thinking while Link and Ridley were fighting for their lives up north. I was a little disappointed the authors didn't put a deeper purpose behind the rings.

I listened to this book on audio, and the audiobook was done really well. The narrator did voices for the characters, so it was easy to keep the dialogue straight. There were even sound effects and music in the background. My favorite thing, though, was that whenever Link and his band performed, there was a snippet of a band playing with Link singing his lyrics about chicken wings, etc. It was a nice touch.

Overall, this book was just alright. While I want to reread the original series someday, I won't be rereading this book. However, I'm probably going to read the next book just to finish out the series and because Dangerous Creatures ended on a cliffhanger -- and not a very good one at that; it was more of an afterthought thrown in there for suspense.

Review: THE MIRK AND MIDNIGHT HOUR by Jane Nickerson

Rating: 3/5 stars

The beginning of this book was so agonizingly slow and devoid of any plot that I almost considered not finishing it. But then I read a review that said it picked up after page 100, so I decided to stick it out. On exactly page 149 the story got interesting and continued climbing from there. While the beginning was barely two stars, the middle and ending were a solid four stars.

The Mirk and Midnight Hour is blurbed as a retelling of the fairytale Tam Lin. I’ve personally never heard that tale before reading this book, but kudos to Nickerson for retelling an obscure fairytale. I don’t know how closely this book follows the original story, though. The back of the book simply says, “A southern girl. A wounded soldier. A chilling force deep in the forest. All collide at night’s darkest hour.” (Though I would not say that’s a very accurate description of the plot, and I definitely wouldn’t use the word “collide.”)

That back-cover blurb gave me vibes of Beautiful Creatures, which I loved, and that’s why I originally wanted to read this book. However, I can say that the two stories are vastly different. While both are set in the South and revolve around the Civil War, those are about the only similarities. This book had significantly less magic than I was expecting. The only magic in this book comes in the form of a “witch doctor” and his family, whereas Beautiful Creatures is straight-up paranormal and features many characters with blatant powers, for comparison.

Although I did like this book and the journey that Violet takes in befriending the soldier and rescuing him, it was fairly easy to see the outcome. Any reader could guess what the end would be, no matter what obstacle stood in the characters’ way. This is just one of those books that you think to yourself while reading, “Well they’ll surely get out of that predicament,” or, “It looks bad now but they’ll be okay; no worries.” I find that to be true of most YA novels, when you know that the characters will survive and what the happy ending will be, but you keep reading to find out how they get there. Nonetheless, this book was still entertaining. There was a lot of great character development throughout the story, and not just with our protagonist, Violet. We see significant changes in Sunny, Miss Elsa, and Seeley as they overcome trials presented to them and become characters with real depth instead of the superficial plot devices they started as.

Even though The Mirk and Midnight Hour started out with a slow burn, it ended with a blazing fire. Looking back, I did enjoy the story, and I can see how the backstory was necessary, although I wish Nickerson would have presented it differently to make the beginning more enjoyable. Overall, I would recommend this book to those who like classical fairytales and historical fantasy stories.

Review: EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES by Lynne Truss

Rating: 3/5 stars

I have been interested in reading this book for a long time because I love the English language and all its formalities. I am a grammar Nazi--and a punctuation Nazi and spelling Nazi for that matter. So needless to say, this book seemed right up my alley. And it was . . . kind of.

This book was, at times, funny, and I literally laughed out loud at some of her comments and examples. But I also got the feeling that Truss's vigor and violence were not just for show. "If you still persist in writing 'Good food at it's best,' you deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave." I, like her, am also a stickler for punctuation, but that's going too far; I simply shake my head at people who punctuate like that instead of wishing for their demise.

Since Eats, Shoots & Leaves was written by a Brit and therefore includes British language rules, there were quite a few differences in how she writes compared to how Americans write, and she discusses those differences in her book, which I found to be helpful. Similarly, she has that dry sense of humor true of most Brits, and I only sometimes connected with it. Some examples and jokes she made were too much for me, and I was left wondering what their appeal was. This is probably the biggest disconnect I had with the book: there came a point where even I was thinking, calm down lady, it's not that big of a deal.

One disagreement I did have with her was in the history of the use of the apostrophe. Her rant about the apostrophe's many tasks is unnecessary, as the apostrophe has one main task that all other tasks fall under: to indicate omission. Even when used to show a possessive in a singular noun (e.g. "the girl's book"), the apostrophe still indicates an omission. Historically (as I learned in my English language classes at university), the suffix -es was added to words to show possession, and nowadays the apostrophe stands in place of the "e" in -es (e.g. "the girles book" became "the girl's book"). Whenever an apostrophe is used in English, it almost always indicates an omission of something.

Overall, this book was a nice refresher of the rules of English punctuation while providing lovely examples of historical use and humor along the way. Somewhere in the chaos of her rants, Truss actually does explain the proper uses of the comma, apostrophe, period, ellipsis, dash, bracket, quotation mark, exclamation point, question mark, hyphen, and even the interrobang. While not a book I would read again, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is still one I would recommend to any over-the-top English language fanatic like myself.

We are like the little boy in The Sixth Sense who can see dead people, except that we can see dead punctuation. 

Review: THE TWILIGHT SAGA: THE OFFICIAL ILLUSTRATED GUIDE by Stephenie Meyer

Rating: 4/5 stars

After finishing and loving the Twilight series, I discovered this book's existence and had to check it out immediately. Honestly, this is one of the best series companions I've ever seen; it is very comprehensive.

We start with a question and answer session between Stephenie Meyer and fellow author Shannon Hale. This was fun and easy to read, and we learn a lot about what went on in Stephenie's head while writing the Twilight saga, and how the story turned from a dream to a novel to a movie in such a short amount of time.

Next, the book is divided into sections: vampires, werewolves, and humans. Each section goes into great detail about that species as a whole and then breaks it down by coven/family. We get to read about each and every character in the entire series, even ones that were just mentioned in passing. For each person, we find out some raw facts plus a story of their personal history and their most famous quotations. This section basically tells you everything you wanted to know about everyone. There are even beautiful illustrated photos of all the main characters, plus photos of different locations and items from the series.

a picture of human Bella from the book

After that, there's a section that includes all the vehicles from the series and includes a photo of each one. Following that are pages and pages of timelines and key plot points throughout the whole series. (If you ever wanted to reread all four books in one day and get only the important information and skip the non-essential stuff, the key plot points section is the thing to read.) Then there are tons of fan drawings and international covers for the books (I loved looking at these visual sections). Next is a playlist of songs that inspired Stephenie while writing, and it includes the corresponding scene that matches each song. The book concludes with outtakes from the series and frequently asked questions.

I learned so much about the Twilight universe that wasn't covered in the books or was only hinted at. There are so many details and background stories and new facts contained in this illustrated guide. This book truly does complete the puzzle, and I would 100% recommend it to any hardcore Twilight fan; it's a must-have.

Review: THE LAST SONG by Nicholas Sparks

Rating: 4/5 stars

This was my first time reading a Nicholas Sparks book, and I mostly enjoyed the experience.

I didn’t love Sparks’s writing style, as I found it to be more on the “telling” side than the “showing” side at times. There were big sections of prose where he explained that time had passed and these events had occurred and now something new was happening. Moments like that led me to feel like the overall story was a bit slow-paced, but it wasn’t overly dragging so it didn’t bother me too much.

The best part of Sparks’s writing was his plot. He weaved details together throughout the novel that created a beautiful story in the end. And I absolutely loved the character arcs he created. Each character, Ronnie especially, went through such deep changes and progressions over the course of the book, and I loved being able to watch these characters grow as the months passed. Each person was realistic and flawed. The character development is this novel’s greatest strength.

I think this was a good first novel to get introduced to Nicholas Sparks. I do plan on reading more of his works eventually because I think I will really like many of his other books. I would definitely recommend The Last Song, though, if you’re looking for an emotional contemporary novel that centers around family with a side of romance.

Review: TEN THINGS WE DID (AND PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE) by Sarah Mlynowski

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

I only picked this book up because I wanted something cute and fluffy to read while on vacation at the beach, and that’s what I got. (This cover is awful though.)

Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn’t Have) is about April and Vi, two teenagers who end up living alone for a year, and all the shenanigans they experience while being parent-free. They pretty much did whatever you can imagine: they hosted parties and invited boys over and drank lots of booze and bought a hot tub. I do wonder how realistic this story was because I wouldn’t have done half this stuff as a teenager. But I guess everyone is different. . . .

I did not agree with all the teenage sex that happened. I kind of wish the girls had been more responsible and set a better example for younger readers. But at least the ending of the story had a good message and moral to it, and I feel like April and Vi learned from their mistakes.

Overall this isn’t a book I would normally choose to read, and I won’t reread it, but it was a good time while it lasted and there were lots of humorous moments in it.

Review: TWILIGHT: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED MOVIE COMPANION by Mark Cotta Vaz

Rating: 4/5 stars

This was an awesome little book about the making of the movie Twilight. I've never read a behind-the-scenes type of book before, and I'm not quite sure what prompted me to pick up this one (other than my neverending obsession with all things Twilight) because I've never been very interested in how movies are made or any behind-the-scenes work. But it was so cool!

I learned about many of the special effects and how they came into play. I learned about how the weather in the Pacific Northwest severely impacted the filming schedule (which I found to be surprising). I learned about how the crew set up props to match the atmosphere of the movie, down to choosing what books to place on a character's bookshelf. I had no idea that so much detail and preproduction work was put into making movies. The book talked about how people had to go scout out different locations, and how they pinpointed exactly what they were looking for in a building and how they could use that for the set. I was surprised to find out that the director wanted minimal special effects in the movie and tried to shoot it as realistically as possible to make it more relatable. I liked that decision because I do prefer movies set in real places because of that realistic factor. Even fantasies based in the dominion of Earth are better than otherworldly fantasies, in my opinion.

My favourite detail to learn about was how they filmed Edward pushing the truck away from Bella, thus denting the truck. Instead of using CGI, the team formed a thin layer of aluminum over the door, and they cut a hole out of the real door. So when Edward pushed the door, it actually dented the metal and looked like he had superhuman strength.

This book features neat movie stills and behind-the-scenes photos of the cast and crew, and I loved that the pictures matched up with the different scenes in the movie that were being discussed. (An example of this was when the author was discussing how they created the fight scene in the mirrored ballet studio, and pictures from that scene accompanied the dialogue on those pages.) Although this book is written by a third-party, there are tons of quotations and presumably interviews with the director, Catherine Hardwicke, and other elite members of the production crew.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, even though I didn't think I would. It opened my eyes to the tremendous effort it takes to plan, film, and produce a movie, and I've developed a greater appreciation for the moviemakers. I will most likely check out more of these kinds of books in the future about how different movies are made because it really is fascinating. Now I have the desire to rewatch Twilight, even though I just watched it last month, because I want to notice all the small details and nuances this time around.

Review: BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman

Rating: 4/5 stars

There is a thing outside, and if you look at it, you will go insane. It is happening all over the world, and no one is immune to the insanity. Quick, put a blindfold on to save yourself. It is there, right next to you. You don't know what it is, but if you look you will die.

I loved the concept of this novel, and I think Josh Malerman delivered on that concept well. The writing was thoroughly engaging. The story is told back and forth between the past and the future, and the transition between time periods was well timed. The pacing kept me entertained and constantly searching for new answers to new questions.

We follow Malorie and her two children over the span of four years as they try to blindly (literally) navigate this world. They are trapped in a safe-house until one day when Malorie decides to leave in search of humanity and a better life. She must travel over twenty miles completely blind, relying only on the hearing abilities of the two kids with her.

The main question I had while reading this book was what is it exactly that is outside? What can the people not stand to look at? While the book does not address the answer to this question, I found an interview with Josh Malerman where he mentions what concept led to this book's creation, and thus what the thing outside essentially is. (Skip the rest of this paragraph if you haven't read the book and don't want to know.) He says that he once heard the following statement: Man will go crazy if he tries to comprehend infinity. And that got Josh thinking, and he came up with the idea of personifying the concept of infinity into a monster. He doesn't directly say that is what the thing is in Bird Box, but that idea is the driving force behind the novel. I inferred that the people in the book are seeing a creature that represents all of infinity, and that is why they go crazy; they have no way of understanding that. I was seriously blown away by that idea when I found out that's what it was. Fascinating.

I didn't originally intend to, but I ended up listening to most of this book on audio. I chose to because, in the book, the characters rely solely on their sense of hearing instead of sight, and listening on audio produced a similar experience for myself. The descriptions are all about how things sound, and that impact is amplified when you're hearing the story instead of reading it.

I've heard Bird Box described as a horror novel, but I didn't think it was particularly scary. It was suspenseful and eerie, but not terrifying to me, although it might be to some. This is a tiny, quick book, but it pulls you right into the story and won't let go until you reach the last page. I look forward to reading more from Josh Malerman in the future, especially if his stories are as gripping as Bird Box is.

Review: BREAKING DAWN by Stephenie Meyer

Rating: 4/5 stars

*Warning: spoilers ahead*

I think Breaking Dawn is my favourite book in this series. I have been very invested in Edward and Bella's relationship since the beginning, so I was very excited to read about their wedding and honeymoon and the next stage for them. (Also, I'm a sucker for a good romance.)

By this book in the series, Meyer has created such a strong, realistic world. The details are flushed out, the characters are all evolved and familiar, and the histories and lore run deep through the story. I loved jumping right in, knowing everyone and everything that had happened so far.

I think this book was a good conclusion to the story developed in the first three books. It wasn't until after I finished it that I learned that there was a huge controversy about this book, and I still can't figure out why. I liked it, and I won't be ashamed to admit that.

This book is one of those rare instances where I didn't have any idea how it was going to end. I already knew Bella turned into a vampire and had a child with Edward, but I had no clue what happened after that, so I was really eager to find out. There were a lot of events that I was surprised about. I'm really glad that Bella was able to keep Charlie in her life after she changed. I didn't expect that to happen (I kept waiting for the scene when the Cullens would tell him that she died), and I mourned for their relationship because he is such a great character. So I'm pleased that Meyer was able to work him into Bella's immortal life.

I'm also glad that Jacob still plays a key role in Bella's life. Even though I didn't like him as her love interest, and I didn't even like him at all sometimes, he is such a prominent character that I would be sad to see him go. I also think it's better for Bella that he's still around. But man, I did not ever expect him to imprint on Renesmee! That scene totally caught me off guard. It was funny though, and clever, to keep Jacob around that way. In the end, I'm happy that he and Edward could be on cordial terms with each other. I think that's a friendship that will keep growing and surprise everyone with how strong it will become. (Look at me, talking like these characters are real. . . .)

The main reason I docked one star from this book was that I felt it was a little rushed and confusing at parts. I can think of four scenes in particular when I had no idea what was happening until about ten pages later when it all came together and I had to go back and reread some dialogue. I don't believe that a reader should ever have to go back and reread a scene to understand it; I think the writing should be clear the first time through. I didn't have this problem with any of the other books in the series, just this one.

I am satisfied with the happy ending, but I do feel like it was a little too happy. I was honestly expecting a fight and expecting people to die, and it kind of feels like a cop-out to make everyone resolve the conflict in peace and survive (save Irina, but she wasn't really a pertinent character). However, I know if there were a fight, there would be a LOT of casualties and I would be very sad (I actually cried during this scene in the movie because I thought everyone was dead and I couldn't believe the directors would do that to us). Ultimately I'm not complaining that everyone lived because I would miss any character that didn't. However, I was noticing that the books kept on telling us that to kill a vampire, you must tear its limbs off and then burn them; if you don't burn them, the vampire can reconstitute itself. We never actually saw that happen in the whole series, and I think it would have been quite interesting to include that somewhere, to see a vampire put itself back together. That would have been a good psych-out at the end, like you thought Edward (or someone else) was dead, but he was just temporarily dismantled. Ha.

What I really want to read (now that I have a book hangover) is a spin-off series about Jacob and Renesmee after she has reached maturity. How is that relationship going to work? Can a human-vampire hybrid mate with a werewolf, and what kind of child does that produce? Does Jacob stop aging permanently now that he is constantly near a vampire? I just really want all the answers about that couple, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another book someday. Until then, I will be reading The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide to satiate my desire for more in the Twilight world.

Review: NEW MOON by Stephenie Meyer

Rating: 3/5 stars

I liked Twilight better than New Moon, but I guess that's because I liked Edward and he was hardly in New Moon, and he was kind of a jerk anyway. You could probably say I'm "Team Edward," although to be fair, so is Bella. So I don't even know why "Team Jacob" is a thing; she doesn't even like him like that. I like Jacob, but I like him as Bella's friend, not as her boyfriend. However, Jacob's personality got a little belligerent in this book, which is to be expected considering his transformation, but he just acted like two separate people at times. Likewise, Edward was pretty stupid to leave Bella all alone, thinking she would be safe (safer, at least) without him around, considering he already saved her life twice in less than a year. It just seemed like everyone got new personalities in this book, and they didn't always make the most sense. (I don't even want to discuss Jessica. . . .)

Despite my aforementioned qualms about New Moon, I did enjoy the book. I'm glad we got a detailed view of the werewolf life, and many of my questions were answered. I'm also pleased that we learned about the Volturi and the vampire laws, etc. Again, many lingering questions were answered. It is always very satisfying when an author answers my questions throughout a series instead of leaving them all for the last thirty pages of the last book.

One thing I loved about this book was the Romeo and Juliet motif throughout the book and the irony that Edward and Bella kept talking about Romeo and Juliet and then their own story ended up paralleling that in the play. I thought that was clever.

Another thing I enjoyed, which also applies to book one, was the presence and importance of parents in this book. Bella's parents, her dad especially, are vital characters to the story. We also have Jacob's dad, Billy, and the Cullen parents, Carlisle and Esme. I see far too often YA stories that don't include parents hardly at all in the plot, but the reality is that your mom and dad are huge parts of your life when you're still in high school. I loved that Bella got grounded and got in trouble. I also loved the awkwardness between her and Charlie. That's all so realistic and it really added depth to the story.

I am secretly really excited to read the rest of this saga. I can't remember if I've seen the Eclipse movie or not, so I actually don't know what will happen in the next book.

Review: TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer

Rating: 4/5 stars

I originally read Twilight ten years ago when it was at the peak of popularity and everyone and their mom was reading it at that very moment. The book was gifted to me by a friend who was in disbelief that I hadn't yet read it, and so I did. And I hated it. It took me six months of trudging through the story until I finally finished it. I don't know if it was my refusal to conform to popular opinion that made me hate the book, or if it was the actual story itself, the writing, or some other factor, but I feel like I didn't give the book a fair chance, especially since I did actually love the movies. Now that a decade has passed and I have somehow acquired all four books (they were all gifted to me), I feel like it is time that I revisit this series with a more objective perspective and actually read all four tomes this time.

I wasn't actually planning on starting this series until next year, as there are some other books I was trying to read first, but when I happened to pick up Twilight one night just to look at it, I ended up reading the whole first chapter. I must've subconsciously missed being in Washington or wanted a romance story because I just kept on reading from there.

I probably don't need to summarize this book since its popularity has led everyone to know at least the gist of the story.

It would be very easy to critique this novel and list out its flaws. I could go on about minor plot holes, about Bella and Edward's relationship seeming hasty and unfounded, about Bella being naïve and not seeing the danger in Edward, but I don't want to dwell on that. I enjoyed this book, purely for its entertainment value (hence the high rating), and I'm choosing to put aside its aforementioned flaws because I'm sure those have been critiqued enough already.

I want to mention a few things, though, that stood out to me:

Edward says and does a lot of things that could be construed as stalker-ish and manipulative, or in other words, emotionally abusive. I would've said that that's the case if I hadn't already read this book and seen the movies and know that he's actually a good guy, but he does tell Bella multiple times that he's dangerous, that he's the villain, that he's not good for her, and he follows her everywhere. I just feel like his character is portrayed concerningly wrong for who he actually is.

I know that a lot of people don't like Bella because she is so weak and dependent on Edward; people like the "strong female character" instead. But you couldn't have strong females without the weak ones. I actually find that I relate quite a bit to Bella, and I like her. She's klutzy and meek, but I'm the same way. However, I completely don't understand why she didn't tell Alice and Jasper about the phone call in the hotel room. (By the way, why did they not use cell phones except for at the most convenient time in the book? It would have made more sense if they had them from the beginning. They're in high school and don't have phones and I was just very confused by that.) Alice and Jasper could have helped Bella concoct a plan. And Bella says that's she's accepted that she won't see Edward again, but how is she okay with this? Earlier in the book, she said she lived for Edward. Anyway, I thought that this scene leading her to confront James alone was the only stupid thing Bella ever really did.

The scene in the ballet studio is the climax of the book, but somehow it felt anticlimactic. I think the movie did a much better job at interpreting it, with Edward having trouble stopping sucking Bella's blood out. That makes so much more sense since he has such a strong allure to her. But in the book, he has no problem stopping and there is no suspense of if she'll live or not.

And lastly, how did Charlie feed himself before Bella arrived? He's utterly hopeless at cooking.

I actually enjoyed Twilight this time around. I was sucked in to the story, something I didn't expect to happen, and the romance had me giddy. I will say, though, that the writing is rather elementary, not being distinctive of Meyer's style yet but still amateur. This is her debut, after all, so I do hope that it will improve over the course of the series, especially since I read The Host and felt her writing was much more developed there.

This review wasn't as objective as I hoped it would be, but my enjoyment of the book kind of overshadowed my desire to analyze every aspect of the story. I'm okay with that though.

Review: THE ICE HOUSE by Laura Lee Smith

Rating: 4/5 stars

Caution: For erudite audiences only.

That was seriously my first reaction to this book once I finished it. There are so many sesquipedalian words in this book that I had to read it with a dictionary on hand to look up new words every few pages. At first, I thought that the author is very intelligent and has a large lexicon, but when the book ended and I counted 91 words that I needed to define, I decided that Smith probably wrote this book with heavy assistance from a thesaurus. The "thesaurus writing" was severe for the first quarter of the book, but it mellowed out after that. Although, I still did really enjoy the writing style in this book and the fact that it challenged me intellectually with all the new words. The way she writes had me engrossed in the story. There were times where the story took a tangent for half a chapter, but I didn't even notice because the way she described the small town of Little Silver and the maintenance of the machines in the ice house had me enthralled and I was seriously interested in what was happening, even if it wasn't pertinent to the plot.

After having had to look up a lot of words, I realized that there were quite a few regional Scottish words, but there were also quite a few words specific to North American dialects. This led me to two conclusions: the American author is writing about a Scottish man and therefore attempts to include Scottish words to give credence to the story, but she still uses American-specific words because she is American; or, the Scottish man in the story has lived in America for many years and has picked up dialects from both countries and therefore the author uses words from both countries for his character. I am not sure which of these theories is true, if either, but it was just something that I noticed while reading.

At first, I didn't really want to read this book (I can't remember why I requested it in the first place), but once I reluctantly started I couldn't get enough. The author's style pulled me right in, as did the plot. Not to mention the unique setting. I've never read nor heard of another book that's set in an ice factory. And I actually learned a lot about that business while reading this novel. I think The Ice House was thoroughly researched, in mechanics, in medicine, and in the scenery. It felt real, like real people having real conversations, and that's something I loved about the book. You know far too often that characters fall flat and confabulations (to use a word from the book, meaning conversations) feel forced and stiff, but I didn't see that happening here. The characters, especially Johnny and Pauline, were fluid and they experienced trials and growth throughout the novel. And Chemal was my favourite character, of course.

The Ice House follows Johnny and Pauline, owners of an ice-manufacturing plant. The ice factory has just been served a lofty fine by OSHA for a recent accident that occurred in the building. Amidst trying to combat the possibility of the factory being permanently shut down, one of the protagonists experiences a sudden seizure, which leads to a potentially devastating diagnosis. While all this chaos is happening down in Florida, Johnny's estranged son, Corran, is up in Scotland experiencing some turmoil of his own. We read from multiple perspectives in this book, which I found to be an asset to the story; I loved the limited viewpoint each character offered and how the details in each person's life connected to create the satisfying revelations by the end of the book.

Ultimately, I don't think the book sounds overly interesting from an outside viewpoint, but the writing style had me hooked the whole way through, and I was actually quite absorbed in the plot. I became attached to these characters and I became emotional in their struggles. Every piece of this story is important and rich with detail as the narrative is woven together. Laura Lee Smith is an author that I will definitely keep on my radar because I would love to read more works by her after enjoying this one so much.

"I think most of us take for granted that the foundations of our life are solid."

By the way, I looked up Loch Linnhe in Scotland, where Corran lives, and look what I found. There's a ferry line that shares his name. This can't be a coincidence.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Review: THE CITY OF EMBER by Jeanne DuPrau

Rating: 5/5 stars

This is an older book that has been rather popular, but I never decided to read it until now. I've seen the movie before, so I already knew the story, but I wanted to give the book a chance, too. I am so happy I did because this book was awesome!

The City of Ember is a steampunk adventure story following Lina and Doon, two kids who live in Ember, a city of complete darkness except for the street lights powered by the generator. But Ember wasn't built to last as long as it has; the lights are beginning to go out for minutes at a time, and the generator needs constant repair. Everything in the city is broken and worn, and resources are nearly gone. Despite their circumstances, Lina and Doon are on the edge of hope that Ember is not the only source of life in the world, that another city lies beyond the blackness. One day they discover an ancient note, and as they attempt to decipher its message together, they begin to wonder if there really is more beyond Ember than darkness.

Something I really appreciated about this book was that Lina and Doon faced real problems on their journey, situations that actually had me wondering how they were going to proceed next. I think if this would have been a superficial young adult story where an issue surfaces and then magically resolves itself (which I've seen happen way too often before), I would have been so disappointed. But in The City of Ember, Lina and Doon really had to work through their struggles to reach a solution. (The scene where they discovered how candles work was my favourite. And that ending!) This book truly has a thoroughly crafted plot in a completely unique world. I was enraptured with DuPrau's storytelling.

I was left with a few questions that I hope will get answered later on in the series. First of all is why the Builders built the city of Ember in the first place and made people move underground to live there. We get a snippet of information about this, but not enough yet to be satisfactory. Second is how they managed to convince people it was necessary to move underground where they would never see the sun or trees again (because the first residents of Ember would have come from our world). I'm basically just interested in how the whole thing started and how they managed to build Ember. I'm very excited to read the rest of the series. Unlike this book, I know nothing about the next three books, but I'm sure the story will be just as exciting and the world-building just as rich.

Sidenote about the audiobook: This audiobook was amazing. There were sound effects all throughout the story. For example, whenever Lina or Doon was near the river, I would hear rushing water in the background. There were also sounds like scraping metal, cheering crowds, and chirping bugs. It was a phenomenal addition to the story that really had me engrossed in what was happening. I think all audiobooks should incorporate sound effects like these.

Review: THE HOUSE AT 758 by Kathryn Berla

Rating: 3.5/5

This book features a coming-of-age story about Krista, whose mother recently died. She hasn't yet gotten over the death and is still burdened with grief every day. Krista deals with her grief by periodically visiting a house, the house at 758, which has a significant meaning to her. We spend half of the story trying to piece together the mystery surrounding that house and its inhabitants, although I guessed rather early on what her reasons were for continually going there. In the latter half of the story, we learn about Krista's grandfather, who has come to stay with her for a short time, and his years spent in camps during the Holocaust. We hear stories from his life, so although this is a contemporary book, there are bits and pieces of powerful 1940s historical fiction.

Krista's grandpa's story is more than just a war narrative, though: it's a passionate story focused on the time we have left on this earth and making the most of that time. That is ultimately what the whole book is about, and the grandpa's stories tie very well into that.

The main emphasis of this story is the importance of family. Although there is a mild romance in this contemporary novel, it is like the third or forth sub-plot, which I found to be refreshing. The romance was the only part that I found to be slightly unrealistic. It moved a little too fast, probably so it could fit into the short book, but I did appreciate that it remained a clean romance.

The House at 758 is a simple story, calm and relaxing, but powerful. It's about how one small moment in someone's life can make a lifelong impact in someone else's life. These important messages are delivered through Berla's lyrical prose that was easy to enjoy. Although a shorter read, this book doesn't lack in characterization or depth, for the most part.

I really like Krista as a protagonist, and I'm going to miss reading from her perspective now that the book is over. I related a lot to her, and it was comforting to read about her and her life.

"Hate doesn’t hurt the hated person . . . it only hurts the person who hates.”

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: DISNEY AT DAWN by Ridley Pearson

Rating: 2/5 stars

I feel like this series as a whole had a lot of potential with its premise, but Ridley Pearson didn't capitalize on that potential. We hardly see any Disney characters in either this book or the first one. The only character who shows up is Maleficent, who happens to be the main villain in both books. Why are we not seeing more (and different) Disney characters? In book one, the kids briefly see Pooh and Piglet, and Chip and Dale. Why are they not seeing any more characters at the park (that is supposedly filled with Disney characters) or while being DHIs? Why are there not more villains working with Maleficent or who make appearances? I guess we get a short, silent cameo from Chernabog at the end, but does that even count? Is he even a real villain? What happened to the iconic Disney characters that I expected to fill these pages?

I'm just very disappointed with the direction this series went. It had the ability to be a great series about the Disney characters, but instead, we got a series about the six kids, and it just happens to take place in Disney World. I think they could have had the same kinds of adventures anywhere, and it wouldn't be that hard to make this story unrelated to Disney.

There were a plethora of inconsistencies in this book, and they completely disrupted my reading experience. I'm going to describe a few of them, which might include very minor spoilers ahead. The biggest inconsistency was that the point of view changes from character to character within the same chapter, even though it's supposed to be a third-person limited perspective to one character at a time. This happened throughout the entire book, and it was very irritating.

The characterization was inconsistent as well. Jez became Jess at the end of book one, but book two starts with her as Jez again? Why did this happen? No one knows, as no explanation is ever offered for it. There is also a quotation that said, "Maybeck always called Finn by his last name." Since when? Did this happen all throughout book one, too, or am I missing something?

Finn's phone rings while he is in the theatre (the only time it ever rings in the book), and we never find out who called (probably his parents). He doesn't ever call his parents though, and that seemed unrealistic. Wouldn't they be calling more? Later on, he addresses that he should call them, but it felt like a last-ditch effort to include parents in a book about fourteen-year-olds because he never actually calls them.

In a scene toward the end of the book, Philby says multiple times that he "can open the hatches." Plural. More than one hatch. But a few chapters later, Finn is wondering who opened the second hatch? Uh, Philby did. We already covered that. It is these small details being inconsistent and wrong that makes me the most frustrated with the series. There are so many examples in this book of poor editing, and that is just one of them.

Another poor editing example is this quotation: " 'The black door!' Maybeck called out calmly." Tell me how you calmly exclaim something (see that exclamation point?) when you're in a predicament and fighting for your life. That doesn't happen. Even the tiniest of details like that were getting on my nerves in this book.

Here's another one: "Two of the tigers and several of the monkeys and apes had been holograms. No wonder his blows with the stick hadn't done much." There's a big difference between not doing much damage with the stick, and the stick going right through the being because it doesn't exist. In this case, Finn should have been able to figure out the animals were DHIs way before they vanished.

I also saw quite a few textual editing errors and visual spacing errors in this book. That, combined with the times the author contradicts himself with inconsistencies and the constant repetition of details throughout the story (it's like he thinks I've forgotten what he wrote only five pages ago), has me wondering how this book managed to be published at all.

One thing I did like about this book was that the kids were in the Animal Kingdom instead of in the Magical Kingdom like book one. Switching to different parks every book adds some variety, and it's nice that they go to a new park every book throughout the series (from my understanding). However, I thought only the Magic Kingdom was wired for DHI projection. Did they change this technical roadblock in a matter of a few months? There is also no explanation as to how or why the kids can cross over and become DHIs while being awake, but it felt too easy and convenient for the plot, like the reasoning didn't matter as long as the could become DHIs to solve all their mortal problems.

I enjoyed book one, and I finished book two, but I will not be reading any more books in this series. I think my ultimate problem is that I don't like Pearson's writing style. I read a detailed and spoilery synopsis for books three and four, and my eyes about rolled out of my head. The same exact kinds of predicaments and revelations happen in every book. It honestly felt to me like the story repeats itself every book, but the kids are in a new location each time. I'm just not really interested in reading about these kids and their antics anymore.

Review: DISNEY AFTER DARK by Ridley Pearson

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This book pleasantly surprised me. I didn't initially want to read it, but a friend lent me her copy and asked me to read it, so I did.

This story follows Finn and four other kids as they are selected to be Disney Host Interactives (DHIs) for the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. One night, Finn winds up in Disney World in the middle of the night, but he isn't dreaming. He was transported there, along with the other DHIs, and together they must stop the Overtakers (A.K.A. Disney villains) from gaining control of Disney World.

I actually really enjoyed this book, but I just felt a little too old for it. I think if I were in middle school, or even high school, this story would have been an even more amazing story to me. The biggest problem I had with the book was that some details were over-explained when they seemed obvious to me. For example, there was a detail brought up early in the book (this happened more than once), and I thought it was an established fact at that point. But then that detail kept being brought up and clues were dropped about it until a big reveal later on in the book, but I had already guessed what was going to happen at the first mention of that detail. One example of this is [SPOILER: that Jez was working with Maleficent. I thought that was obvious during the car wash scene, but there was still a big reveal about it at the end of the book.]

Contrary to this, there were other details I kept waiting to read about again, thinking that they were important facts that would pertain to the story, but these details never resurfaced. An example of this is [SPOILER: that all five kids were from different schools. I thought one of them would say something about this fact, how it made it harder for them to get in contact with each other. That maybe that was the Overtakers' plan all along, that they weren't supposed to get together to solve the mystery, or something like that. But this bit of information wasn't brought up again.] I was just a little bit bothered by events happening this way, and to me, it felt like that created minor plot holes. Thankfully, this didn't detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the book.

I love that the parents were a part of the story. At thirteen years of age, of course your parents are going to start asking questions if you wake up in dirty clothes and it looks like you've been sneaking out at night. The concerned parents added a more realistic element to the story that I appreciated.

Despite my enjoyment of this book, I am at a disadvantage in reading it because I know very little about Disney. I have been to Disney World once before when I was five, but I do not remember much at all. I also haven't seen very many classic Disney movies, so I am not in a position to say how accurate the setting in the story was, although I would like to know anyway.

Overall, this book's plot and setting were highly original and enjoyable to read about. I do wish we got to see more of the "good" characters after dark instead of just the villains, though, but maybe they will come in a later book. I do plan to continue on with the series, and I hope that it only gets better.

Review: REINCARNATION BLUES by Michael Poore

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Reincarnation Blues had me hooked when I first heard the premise that Milo is an ancient soul that has lived 9,995 lives, each time hoping only to meet Death (A.K.A. Suzie) each time he dies. Milo is in love with Suzie, and this is what is preventing him from reaching Perfection, for fear he won't be able to ever see Suzie again. But Milo has only five more lives - five more opportunities to reach Perfection - until he becomes Nothingness.

The best part about this book is that it really is a combination of all genres mixed together: historical fiction, science fiction, contemporary, fantasy, dystopian. Milo lives in all different periods of time, including during 2600 B.C., in many futuristic colonies in space, in the current day, and in the "afterlife."

Reading this book is kind of like reading a bunch of short stories that take place in multiple time periods and locations but are all about the same person, Milo. Because of this, most stories recounting one of Milo's lives don't go very far in depth and therefore have more "telling" than "showing." But the stories are interesting nonetheless. This book goes in depth in detail for the last five lives that Milo lives, and the shorter snippets are told in between those five lives.

The story is told in a third-person omniscient perspective. It's interesting though because sometimes the story will be in the future tense, and sometimes the POV will be that of a shark, or a dog, or a whale.

Reincarnation Blues is a highly original, eccentric book that's full of magical realism. Poore's writing can be very poetic at times, which just adds to the beauty of the story. I highly recommend this book.

Milo had squeezed so much learning and experience into his one, single soul that the knowledge had grown pressurized and hot and transformed into wisdom the way coal changes into diamonds. His wisdom was like a superpower.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING by Viktor E. Frankl

Rating: 2/5 stars

The first part of this book, Frankl's autobiographical account of being in the prisoner of war camps during World War Two, was enlightening to read. I have not read many true accounts of concentration camps, but that doesn't make the horrors that happened there any less real. Even though this part of the book was interesting, I found it hard to read, as in I didn't really have the desire to pick it up and continue reading. When I got to part two about logotherapy, I found myself reading this part much more quickly. I actually enjoyed reading about logotherapy more than I enjoyed reading about the camps (this seems to be an unpopular opinion, as I've read from others that part two was boring and hard to get through).

I originally thought Man's Search for Meaning would be a philosophical discussion about how to find and attain purpose in one's own life. I didn't realize it would include an autobiographical section about World War Two, although that account and the stories within add great depth to the philosophical discussion that did follow in part two. Frankl taught how to find meaning when it seems that there is nothing left to live for and all hope is lost. This book would have been less impactful had his story not been included.

The reason I gave this book two stars is primarily because I struggled to want to read it. In my rating system, all books start out at three stars and either gain or lose stars based on my interest level and engagement in the book. I think it is wrong to rate someone's personal experiences, and therefore my rating does not in any way invalidate Frankl's experiences that he wrote about; it is merely a reflection of my personal interest while reading his book. I do want to say, though, that I think this was a meaningful and powerful book that many will benefit from.

Review: GOODBYE, THINGS by Fumio Sasaki

Rating: 3/5 stars

If you know me, you know I've been into minimalism for a little over a year now. In that time, I've been trying to read many books about minimalism to gain different perspectives on it. Goodbye, Things offers the perspective that minimalism is living with the bare minimum possible to sustain your life. According to Sasaki's philosophy, I am not a minimalist. I am just "living simply."

I appreciate that he has his own opinions and views about minimalism, but I disagree with him; to me, minimalism is living with the bare minimum to be happy. Yes, I own 400+ books, and yes, I still consider myself to be a minimalist. Why? Because books bring me so much joy. I couldn't imagine walking in the door every day and seeing a blank wall in my living room instead of my three full bookcases. Each book is something that makes me happy, and so I keep them. Could I get rid of them to be more of a minimalist? Of course. But I don't want to. As I've said before, everyone has their own definition of minimalism, and that's okay. Fumio Sasaki's definition includes not owning a bed but instead using a fold-up "airy" mattress, and owning only eight clothing items. That seems a little extreme to me, like a step beyond minimalism. My bed is my number one necessary item.

At one point Sasaki says, "I think the ideal minimalist is someone who can give a rundown of every item that they own." I mostly disagree with this statement. I could tell you what kinds of items are in every drawer and cupboard in my home, but I'm not going to list for you every book I own or every item in my pantry, nor will I describe every shirt in my closet. I don't think being able to do that necessary qualifies someone for being a minimalist.

I appreciate Sasaki's story of his own transformation from a maximalist (I love that terminology) to a minimalist, and I am glad he included photos in the beginning of the book of his journey. It is very enlightening to hear others' stories of their transition to less.

Review: WHY WE SLEEP by Matthew Walker

Rating: 4/5 stars

In the beginning, the author made claims that seemed to have no medically researched background, such as, "Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer," and "A lack of sleep can kill you outright." I was worried the whole book would be written like this, that the author would expect me to believe his claims without evidence, but it was only the first chapter that left me skeptical. The rest of the book was actually well organized, and Walker's claims were backed up by the results of decades worth of research and studies. I slowly became impressed at the amount of evidence that went into each chapter of this book.

Why We Sleep is written in a witty and light banter that's easy to understand and engage with. It was such a relief to read a nonfiction book that actually feels like the author was telling me a story instead of quoting a textbook. Matthew Walker uses many analogies to explain concepts that may be difficult to the average reader (like me) who is not familiar with the scientific and medical terminology. For the most part, the explanations are easy to understand and enjoyable to read about.

There were a few parts that became mundane and started sounding like a university essay. One example was when the author started talking about biological concepts involving the evolution of sleep in different species of animals since the beginning of time. I think that part was too technical and unnecessarily long for this book. Other than those few parts, this book was a pleasurable and highly informative read.

This book talks about not only why we sleep (as the name suggests), but also the effects of different amounts of sleep on a person, and especially how a lack of sleep can affect someone over time. I learned about the problems of mixing caffeine and technology with sleep, what sleeping pills actually do for you, how the brain functions while sleeping, how sleep revives our minds, and everything I ever wanted to know about dreams. I honestly was shocked to learn just how important sleep is for every aspect of our well-being, and I will definitely be making a better effort to get at least eight hours of sleep every night after reading this book. As Walker says, "That humans can never 'sleep back' that which we have previously lost is one of the most important take-homes of this book."

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Review: STARGAZER by Patrick Carman

Rating: 5/5 stars **some spoilers ahead**

I was a little weary before starting this book since it isn't part of the original series and is an add-on book, but it was so, so good! It only expanded further the already expansive and rich world created by Patrick Carman. (Stargazer is book four in the Land of Elyon series; you will not want to read this book or this review until you have finished the original trilogy.)

Alexa and her crew travel across the Lonely Sea to a mysterious and hidden land called the Five Stone Pillars, which is a unique world within itself. It turns out Abaddon got loose and followed them there, and now Alexa has to save the Five Stone Pillars before he completely destroys them.

There are many new and loveable characters introduced in this installment, and I wish I had more books with them. It would be wonderful to see this world and set of characters continue in more follow-up books. Just like Alexa says, Thomas Warvold was the land adventurer, Roland Warvold was the sea adventurer, and she is meant to be sky adventurer. We also read at the end that Elyon tells Alexa, "I have many things that need doing, and so it will be awhile for you [before you return to the Tenth City]." There is a lot of room for expansion in this world, and I would love to read about Alexa's other adventures as she explores other corners of this world.

Although this book was probably my favourite in the series, there are a few inconsistencies I was confused about unless I am mistaken and heard wrong while listening:
Matilda said she had been to the fourth pillar when she was very young, but later Alistair said he is the only person to have come to the fourth pillar.
Alexa said she could hear the voice of Abaddon only when she looked at him but then she starts hearing his voice without looking at him.

By the way, I highly recommend reading book 0.5, Into the Mist, right before this book. The series is very fluid when read that way, as book 0.5 ends at the exact point that Stargazer begins.

Review: THE END WE START FROM by Megan Hunter

Rating: 2/5 stars

This is an interesting little book, more of a novella, about a woman just after she gives birth. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style, almost like a diary, this story follows the nameless mother and her husband as they try to survive after all of London has become uninhabitable due to a massive flood. The couple moves around, looking for shelter, meeting others in the same circumstance. There is a minor dystopian feel to this book, although it is different from a typical dystopian novel.

All of the characters are named only with a single letter (e.g. R, Z), though I am not sure why the author chose to name them this way. It makes the story impersonal, and I had a hard time connecting with any characters. I think I would connect more with the main character if I were a mom like her because this story focuses heavily on her birth and her son and his impact on her life.

In fact, I think this book would appeal mostly to mothers, especially those who have lost their husbands or whose husbands are away for an extended time (e.g. at war).

I both liked and disliked the writing style. I didn't really understand what the author was trying to communicate at times, but the writing does have a beautiful quality.

The End We Start From doesn't feel much like a book to me, more like an outline for a book that never got written. There is no direct dialogue, although conversations do take place. There is lots of room to make the story deeper if it were expanded into a full-length book, lots of places to add emotion and suspense. Overall though, this is a story about finding hope in troubling times, and I appreciate the way the author communicated that message.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Review: THE DARK HILLS DIVIDE by Patrick Carman

Rating: 5/5 stars

The Dark Hills Divide was one of my very favourite books when I was little. I remember reading it and being enthralled by the magical story of Alexa as she finds a magical glowing stone that allows her to communicate with animals and uses her newfound ability to help stop a war on the city of Bridewell.

I am so glad that I decided to reread this book. I was worried the story would have lost its magic with age, but it was just as good as I remember. I had forgotten many of the details, so it was as if I was reading the story for the first time, following the journey and solving the clues right along with Alexa.

As an older reader now, I can see some problems with the story, like the fact that Alexa seems to be the only child in the whole city, and that no women are present or have speaking roles in the book (aside from a letter from Alexa's mom), but that didn't deter me from loving the story.

If you love middle-grade fantasy and haven't yet discovered this series, I highly recommend you give it a chance. This is a story of hope and renewal that will stick with you for quite some time.

Review: MILK AND HONEY by Rupi Kaur

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I saw this book on display at the grocery store one day and casually picked it up and started reading it. The next thing I knew, my husband had already checked out and was waiting for me to leave. I put the book down but immediately reserved it from the library and got it the following week. In the store, it was this poem that made me realize I had to finish the entire book:

every time you / tell your daughter / you yell at her / out of love / you teach her to confuse / anger with kindness / which seems like a good idea / till she grows up to / trust men who hurt her / cause they look so much / like you

That particular poem just spoke to me. When I got the book from the library, I read it all in one sitting (rereading all the parts I had previously read at the store) and it was beautiful. These poems are for women, mostly. Women who have experienced pain and love and loss. I believe everyone will be able to relate to at least one poem in here; I know many resonated with me.

Rupi Kaur takes us on a journey through the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing in life, illustrating every other poem with a line drawing that is so connected with the poem that it becomes part of the poem. This is the kind of poetry collection I could see myself rereading when I am sad or broken. It has that kind of healing effect.

Here is another of my favourite quotations, one that shows the self-worth of a woman is not dependent on what a man thinks. I just love the meaning behind this:

the next time he / points out the / hair on your legs is / growing back remind / that boy your body / is not his home / he is a guest / warn him to / never outstep / his welcome / again

Review: ALL THINGS NEW by Lauren Miller

Rating: 5/5 stars

All Things New begins in the middle of one of Jessa's panic attacks: chaos abounds through short sentences and fragmented thoughts. I was overwhelmed and confused, but this is exactly how an anxiety attack feels. Lauren Miller wasted no time getting to the point with her strong opening scene.

Jessa is a relatable high school girl, especially to someone like me who also suffers from anxiety and panic attacks. Her internal thoughts have often been my exact thoughts before. I understand why she gets anxiety about certain situations, even when it may seem illogical and irrational to others. I've been in her shoes.

After she gets into a car accident that leaves her scarred in more ways than one, Jessa begins seeing scars, burns, bruises, and cuts on others' faces. After realizing she is the only person who can see these marks, Jessa begins to wonder if there's a purpose behind their existence and if she's getting better or worse in the months post-accident.

This novel does a really good job at communicating the idea that everyone experiences pain, whether physical or emotional or mental, and that everyone has a "dragon" to fight. Just because one cannot see the hurt does not mean that it doesn't exist. Most pain we bury away anyway, putting on a facade of being happy and okay, but what if others could see what we are actually struggling with on the inside?

All Things New's diversity in mental health conditions brings awareness to the many diseases that exist. This book features characters with an array of afflictions: autism, Aspergers, panic attacks, OCD, anxiety, addiction, and anorexia, among others. Although some conditions may have been portrayed stereotypically at times, none of it was in a negative light.

This is a beautiful story of acceptance, both of yourself and of others, and the differences and trials that make us human. It is witty and heartfelt, emotional and encouraging. But most of all it is about the hope of overcoming your "dragons" and how that can revive your soul.

I've been letting fear win. . . . Generalized anxiety disorder is no small dragon. But I'm the one who gave that dragon the throne. Not because I didn't know how to fight it, even though that's what I would've said. But because I was afraid of what fighting it would cost me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Review: THE HOUR WASP by Jay Sheets

Rating: 5/5 stars

This poetry book features an eccentric style of writing that was perfect for my taste: free verse poetry that requires you to think below surface-level words and dig out layers of meaning and imagery embedded in the sentences. It is poetry that doesn't always make sense at first but still exudes an ethereal quality, poetry that has a life-altering impact once it's read four times and the words connect and sink in. This kind of poetry isn't for everyone, but it is for me. 

Even the presentation of the poems add to the quality of the collection: every word is in lower case font without punctuation. The visual style changes from poem to poem, cutting phrases in pieces between lines and ending so abruptly that it slices you like a razor blade. But it's beautiful. 

The Hour Wasp is a literary collection of poems not meant for the uneducated, the non-dreamers, or the faint of heart. It is raw, it is dark, it is honest. This collection is made of otherworldly imagery that will transport you to another time and place, one you only wish you could reside in forever. And when you come back to your suddenly sullen reality after the last page, you'll be tempted to leap back into that dream state of chaos created by the elegantly occult poems.

Also included in this book are absolutely stunningly beautiful black ink watercolor paintings of earthly creations. The only improvement I would make to this book would be to add more artwork like that which already exists inside. 

I struggled to pick only one quotation to include, but here is my favourite part, lines from a poem titled [my fingers damp in a ruined dream]: 

her fingers / exhume vellum word-coffins / from pockets no hands should find . . . & the rude beauty whispers: plant the bones / know they'll grow to become the flowers / ours will never be

This is a book that I will read time and time again because it had that much of an impact on me. 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ebook in exchange for an honest review.