Read: The Final Trial (#54-2022)

The Final Trial by Kelley Armstrong

(Royal Guide to Monster Slaying, Book 4)

Rowan's final expedition, meant to prove that she's worthy of being called the Royal Monster Hunter. With the resources provided by her friends and companions and the knowledge she's gained from past trials, Rowan will surely escape the final trial unscathed and victorious. 

I Read: A Psalm of Storms and Silence

A Psalm of Storms and Silence by Roseanne A. Brown

(Book 2 in the series)

Of course, I had to read the continuing story after I enjoyed the first book so much. And while I was in a very different headspace than I was a year ago reading the A Song of Wraiths and Ruin it doesn't mean that this one disappointed me.

I found it difficult to follow some of the twists and descriptions, but that's more to do with me than with the book. Every word seems carefully chosen and adds something to the totality of the story. I liked the conclusion, how it wasn't a fully happy ending but it was satisfying. It brought everything to a cohesive end but left space for further stories at the same time.

I wish Brown a continued story career. She seems destined for it.

#91-2021

I Read: Thor's Serpents

Thor's Serpents by Melissa Marr & K.L. Armstrong

(Book Three in The Blackwell Pages)

Oh my gosh!  How do you write about the finale of a trilogy without giving anything away. Obviously, the heroes vanquish their foes, they live happily ever after. But how do they do that?  Not in the way that you would imagine. There's a significant amount more drama to be had before the end. You can't be sure that things will happen in the way that you think, or that they're laid out. 

It was a satisfying conclusion. The epilogue may have been unnecessary, and if necessary it needed to be a little bit more, but otherwise, it was a good way to end the three books. 

#86-2021

 

I Read: The Witches

The Witches by Roald Dahl

This is the Roald Dahl novel (besides Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) that I thought I remembered the most, but it turns out I didn't really remember it at all. This is actually pretty disturbing, and I can't imagine reading this as a kid and thinking it was entertaining. I would have been petrified as a child and would have likely been paranoid about Witches from that point on. 

Thankfully, I didn't really remember it, and it does follow the tradition of Dahl novels where the "bad guy" gets it in the end, in some way or another. And usually not in a way that you would necessarily guess. They always leave you with that slightly weird twist that makes you keep thinking about the story. 

#87-2021

I Read: Odin's Ravens

Odin's Ravens by K.L. Armstrong & Melissa Marr

(Book Two in The Blackwell Pages)

The second book in a series is generally pretty boring. They've set up the conflict in the first book and they finish with an epic battle/love story or whatever in the third book, but in the second book, you're kind of just plodding along picking up pieces. 

I can't feel much differently about this one, unfortunately. There are some interesting developments, absolutely there are. But for the most part, we're just setting up events for the third book - some interesting Norse mythology moments aside. 

#85-2021

I Read: Loki's Wolves

Loki's Wolves by K.L. Armstrong & Melissa Marr

(Book One in The Blackwell Pages)

Another Kelly Armstrong, though this time in collaboration with Melissa Marr, whom I've never read before. This took me a while to get through - I chose distractions instead of reading, and it's written for a much (MUCH) younger age group than I belong to so it felt slow. 

The characters are written as well as I always find with Armstrong, and the story is based on Norse mythology, so it's interesting to see how the lore is woven through. 

I Read: Finding Audrey

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

This was surprisingly poignant, considering it's written by the same author as the Shopaholic series. I wasn't expecting that. I enjoy the casual nature of Kinsella's writing here, even though she's writing about some serious stuff. And I like that it's relatable, even if we haven't all gone through anything similar. 

The character of Audrey is well developed, and I think that very much helps us to understand how and why she's in the situation she's in. And how she can get out of it. Some of the moments could have been stronger had there been a little more focus on them, and though we get a picture of what she went through, I felt a little bit like I would have been more sympathetic with some more detail. But the vague-ness fits perfectly with the character and the story. 

I Read: Let it Snow!

Let It Snow! by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle

No secrets here - I enjoy young adult books. One of the authors I especially like is John Green. I hadn't read any Maureen Johnson until this past year, but I've very much enjoyed her online presence for several years already. 

I picked this up solely because John Green was included in it. And I had aspirations of actually reading Maureen Johnson, so I thought a short story might be the way to start. Thankfully I had read a couple of novels before I read this. 

I Read: Dear Martin

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

I don't really even know where to start talking about Dear Martin. It's poignant, especially currently, but it's not hard to read, which makes it easier to spend time thinking about. 

The fact that there's no shock to the events of this book, that I read it just taking it as if it was completely logical pains me. The world should not work the way it does in this book.  But I can't deny that it does. I may not be the target audience, nor do I relate personally to any of the events in the book, but it's very clear that this is based in truth. 

I Read: Slay

Slay by Brittany Morris

I really, really enjoyed this book. I'm not even sure what made me pick it up, but it's a really well thought out story, with lessons and realizations peppered seamlessly in. 

The first couple of chapters took me a little bit to get into. I wasn't sure where it was going, and I felt out of place which made my reading a little slow. I'm not a gamer; I don't know that world at all. But there was something about the character of Kiera that made me want to know what story she was telling.

I Read: Fangirl

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Full disclosure, this is a bit hard to write. Fangirl has been on my TBR for a while, and I've been looking forward to read it, having read several of Rowell's other novels previously. I'd finally started it and was about halfway through when some uncomfortable issues were made clear to me about Rowell's novel Eleanor & Park, which I initially enjoyed. It made me rethink finishing Fangirl. But I had so far enjoyed it, so I kept reading. 

I'm going to say very clearly right here that I don't choose every book I read based on what it can teach me about the world. Sometimes I just want a book that's going to give me warm fuzzies, or that I can read as if I'm binge-watching a ridiculous TV show. Sometimes it's just pure entertainment and I don't have big expectations. To me, that's what Rainbow Rowell writes. Her stories have potentially real-world situations in them, but I don't read them thinking I need to learn something. I'm just reading, and I don't have to put a lot of thought into it. So on that score, Fangirl is a winner.

I Read: Love, Stargirl

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

I didn't love this as much as StarGirl. I don't know why, but I think it's because by having StarGirl as the narrator, she loses some of her mystery. She's still quirky and unique and learning to find herself and how she fits in the world, but when you can see how her mind works, and why she chooses the things she does, it takes some of the interest away from her character. 

This is written like a journal, or more specifically a really long, expanding letter to former boyfriend Leo. StarGirl says in the beginning that she'll never send it, so it's really functioning much more like a journal than a letter, but she is definitely writing it to someone. 

I Read: Stargirl

Stargirl by Jerry Spinellio

This book joined my TBR by way of a Facebook post series. I was nominated and then in turn nominated folks to post 7 favourite books over 7 days. One of my nominees is also a book lover and decided to go for 3 (or was it 4?) different sets of books, based on genre. Amazing dedication.

Anyway, this one was on his list. I'd honestly never even heard of it, but for some reason immediately decided I needed to pick it up. And I am absolutely not sorry for that. 

I Read: A Song of Wraiths and Ruins

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

I picked this up based solely on the recommendations of some random other book readers on Twitter. I'm not kidding. It hadn't even come out yet, and people were in love with this book, and the author seemed like a super-fun person, so I ordered it. 

It took me a while to read, through no fault of the story or the writing, but because the political climate of the world has been insane, and I haven't had any attention span to read at all. Real-world burn-out, I guess. 

But, I am very glad that I read this. It's something I may not have picked up without those random recommendations, even though it's a similar genre style to what I've been reading for the last couple of years. 

I Read: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and six more

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and six more by Roald Dahl

I remember Roald Dahl from when I was in school. And of course, he's the genius behind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I've always been amused by the way his mind works. 

My mom found this book as a set of three book recommendations from Trevor Noah on Goodreads. We both respect and admire Trevor Noah and so we decided to pick up the books. This one was the most surprising of the recommendations so of course, I read it first. I kind of always assumed that Dahl was a white, North American flavour, rather than being globally known. I still don't know any different - Trevor could have found the book once he was already in the US. But I still found it an interesting choice. 

I Read: The Gryphon's Lair

The Gryphon's Lair by Kelley Armstrong

(Second in the Royal Guide to Monster Hunting series)

Once again, another Kelley Armstrong book. I make no apologies for being a fan of her writing, reading everything she puts out, and pre-ordering most of the time to make sure that I get it in short order. Even when it's a fantasy novel intended for kids, which is the case for this one. 

If it's not obvious I want to tell everyone that if they haven't read Kelley Armstrong yet, please, please do.  It doesn't have to be her teen, or young adult stuff, but everything she writes comes with the same attention to character and story. Her characters are believable and they grow within the story. Even the minor ones. 

I Read: The Last Little Blue Envelope

The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson

(sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes)

Okay, so the sequel didn't disappoint. I enjoyed this as well, and read it very quickly. Like I said in talking about the first book, I didn't have any expectations so this was a very pleasant surprise. It's a very cute story, and I was very happy to revisit it with the sequel. 

I very much wanted something to end. Properly. And while there is still room that this could continue, it's only in the way that life continues. There's not really a big expansive story to continue with. 

I Read: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

I've had this sitting on my TBR (to-be-read) shelf for several years. I follow the author on Twitter, and thought that I should probably read something she'd written, but I just never got around to it.

Finally, I picked it up and read it in about 36 hours. It's remarkably cute, and not really what I expected at all. But her character is actually very realistic in my view, and goes on a crazy adventure at the behest of her aunt. Her favourite aunt.  And really, her favourite person.

I read: Wolf's Curse

Wolf's Curse by Kelley Armstrong
(Book 2 in the Otherworld next-generation duology)

Starting from the cliff-hanger we ended on (and that greatly upset a lot of people) in Wolf's Bane, this novel picked up and ran us through a number of new mystery theories before depositing us back to the original problem, and solving that all while keeping us entertained with relationship drama and teen angst.

Armstrong's writing never fails to entertain.  It makes me sad that this is the final Otherworld book that we're likely to see potentially forever. But I know that we have many other great offerings in the future.

I read: The Isis Trilogy

The Isis Trilogy by Monica Hughes 

(includes Keeper of the Isis Light, The Guardian of Isis and The
Isis Pedlar)

I read these books when I was in grade 7 or 8.  I recall finding them immensely interesting because I think they were the first things I read that were in the sci-fi genre.  Set in the future, but about humans as if they're now, these are an interesting study of people.