Another month is already over so it’s time for one of my favorite posts: my monthly wrap up! July was a pretty awesome reading month for me. I did cut down on reading graphic novels compared to the previous month, although I continued to read them in between my longer reads, which I think made it easier for me to move onto something new and different; I think of it as a little bit like a palate cleanser! I’ve enjoyed alternating between full length novels and graphic novels, so I’m pretty sure that I’ll continue doing that as much as I can! In July, I read a total of 25 books.
★★★★☆
★★★★★
★★★★★
★★★★½
★★★★½
★★★☆☆
★★¾
★★★★★
★★★★☆
★★★★☆
★★★★★
★★★☆☆
★★★★☆
★★★★☆
★★★★★
★★★★☆
★★★¾
★★★☆☆
★★☆☆☆
★★★½
★★★★☆
★★★★★
★★½
★★★★☆
★★★☆☆
Compared to previous months, there was an almost equal split of reading physical (12) and e-books (12) this month. As I mentioned above, my reads continue to be a mixed bag including seven graphic novels, five of which were e-ARCs. I’ve continued to slow down my requests on NetGalley, limiting myself to either short reads and mainly graphic novels, so that I don’t feel even more pressure that I just can’t deal with in my life right now. I think I’ll be participating in ARC August this month so keep an eye out for my post on what needs reading ASAP! Looking at what I read, I honestly don’t think that I could pick just one favorite, but if I had to pick a Top 3 they’d be: Daisy Jones & The Six The Great Alone Sorcery of Thorns
Notable mentions for me are also Aurora Rising, I’m Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come and The Bear and The Nightingale (for which I still haven’t been able to write a half-decent review for)! I think I read some great books that I really connected with emotionally this month, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to continue this streak in August!
As I mentioned in my previous wrap up, I achieved my Goodreads reading goal last month and obviously I have continued to exceed the number I set out for myself. I had already changed my reading goal from 75 to 90 in May and I didn’t feel like changing it again in June, so I think by the time 2019 ends, it’ll look like I’m really overachieving this year when in reality I’m just too lazy 😅 That said, I’ve now read 128 books and it’s only August! I don’t think I’ve ever read this much perhaps ever, and I really attribute this to immersing myself in the book community. It’s amazing how this community keeps me so motivated and eager to keep turning pages. I couldn’t be happier that I took the leap to start this blog and to really give 1000% towards improving my bookstagram!
I’ve written reviews for most of these so if you want to see what I thought of them, you can follow the links below! Most of the e-ARC reviews are going to be posted closer to the publication date! Am I the only one that does that? I feel kinda like a noob for doing that but I’ve done that from the start? Lol Anyway, that’s all for now, friends. I hope everyone’s reading month was super duper!
Friends, it’s August tomorrow. We’re eight months into the year and… I don’t even know what I’ve done with my year besides read! I think it’s kind of scary how quickly time is going. Don’t you think? Or is it really just me? Lol It’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be talking about:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
My recent ‘big finish’ was Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Daisy Jones is probably one of the most hyped up books in 2019 and I admit to a great load of wariness in picking it up because even though I’ve loved everything that I’ve read by TJR so far, I was worried this one would let me down. Let me put those shameful thoughts to rest right now because wow, I really had nothing to worry about. I absolutely LOVED it. I will be posting a longer review on my blog soon (because I really can’t stop gushing about it) but for now, you can read my review up on Goodreads! After finishing Daisy Jones on Monday, I was a little worried about having an epic book hangover so I decided to read a fluffy romance (or two). I finished That Second Chance (Getting Lucky #1) by Meghan Quinn and The Consequence of Falling by Claire Contreras. Reviews coming soon!
What are you currently reading?
I’m kind of not reading anything at the moment? I really can’t decide what to pick up next after finishing The Consequences of Falling earlier today. I feel like I’m still in that ‘book hangover zone’ from Daisy, so I’m wondering if I should stick to romance (The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker), move on to some thrilling YA (Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson) or if I should just pick up a fantasy that I’ve been wanting to read for a while (We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal)? I might be reading all three of these before the night is over 😬
What will you read next?
I have a feeling that my buddy read for A Spark of Light has fallen through because nobody is saying anything in the group chat (lol) but if I’m in the mood for it, I think I’ll still pick it up. There are also some ARCs that I want to get to and I’m considering participating in ARC August(?) that I’ve seen a few people mention. I’ve got a few that are fairly overdue and my guilt is kind of eating away at me but I’m also so good at ignoring it? This is why being a mood reader can be so frustrating sometimes!
What are you currently reading? How do you avoid a book hangover?! Leave me a comment and let’s chat 🙂
It’s that time of the week again, friends! We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: a freebie! You’d think this would be easy, right? But it actually took me quite some time to figure out what I wanted to post. I was tossing up a few topics that sounded fun, including some older TTT posts from when I hadn’t started blogging yet (there are tons!) but after some deliberating, I settled on: books from one genre that I’d like to read more of. It’s not the most exciting topic but I’ve been feeling a bit low on inspiration lately (see: severe sleep deprivation due to sleep issues). Every year I tell myself that I’m going to read more non-fiction and while I do make some effort, meaning I add a few non-fiction books to my shelves, I still end up only reading one or two at the most. It’s not that I don’t like NF, but I always find that unless it’s written in a very compelling fiction-esque way, my attention will waver faster than you can say go. But here are ten books that I’d love to pick up (soon?) from this genre that always eludes me 🙂
Side note: You’re very quickly going to see a pattern develop on my list today because I love true crime. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be true crime. There’s just something about these wickedly disturbing people and the horrifying things they do that compels to read all about it. I just want to know everything (pls don’t judge me. I’m not a creepy sociopath or serial killer, I promise).
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote This has been on my wishlist for forever and I finally got my hands on it a few weeks ago. I really hope that I don’t let this one languish too long on my shelf. 🙈
The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story by Ann Rule This is another one that has been on my wishlist for ages. Ted Bundy is terrifying but I’m just so curious to know more about how he functioned. Ann Rule was his close friend. I can’t even imagine what it’d feel like to realize that someone close to you is a serial killer. *shudders*
Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John Edward Douglas & Mark Olshaker Criminal Minds featuring the BAU of the FBI is one of my all time favorite shows EVER. I find criminal profiling incredibly fascinating. Fun fact: I thought I wanted to be a criminal behaviour specialist when I majored in Behavioural Studies for my BA. Criminal Behaviour was my fave class!
Columbine by Dave Cullen As far as I recall, this was the first time I’d heard of shootings in American schools and it was unfathomable to me that a massacre could occur in high school to kids my own age. It will never get easier to hear about these things. There’s a lot of praise for this book, so I’m looking forward to learning more about what happened that day.
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore Call me ignorant, but I’d never heard of The Curies’ use of radium in the products until I (somehow) stumbled across this book title earlier this year. It’s absolutely shocking and vile that they denied the nasty side effects of RADIUM on their workers. I’m so curious to know more about what happened.
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson I’d seen this a lot in the bookstores when it came out but it never occurred to me to pick it up. Of course now that it’s no longer readily available in book stores here, I want it desperately. I heard it’s not only very funny (I mean, look at that cover) but it also gets very real about depression.
Becoming by Michelle Obama I actually have this on audiobook but I’m really bad with audiobooks. So I’m waiting for my physical copy to come in (which I coincidentally just bought this morning as it was on sale)! There’s no way I’m not reading this one. I’m very excited. Michelle Obama is so inspiring!
Educated by Tara Westover So I’ve actually been seeing a few mixed reviews about this book now that the incredible hype surrounding it has died down a little. People are saying it’s not authentic? Westover’s background is world’s away from what I’m familiar with, and her journey sounds very inspiring, so I’m looking forward to finally reading it (hopefully this year)!
Have you read any of these non-fiction books? What’d you think of them? So curious to know what others have come up with for their TTT freebie this week! Don’t forget to leave your link in the comments below so I can swing by your page and we can have a chat!
It’s time for another Goodreads Monday, a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners that invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you’re feeling it! I think from this week’s post onward, I will use a random number generator to choose the books for this weekly meme!
This week’s book is: What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon. This is book #747 on my GR ‘to-read’ list and it’s actually one of the more recent additions to my list (01 March 2019).
Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.
The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.
As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?
Why do I want to read it?
This is a romantic historical fiction with a big time travel twist. The time travel part of the synopsis vaguely reminds me of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, but I haven’t read that book yet so I can’t be sure. That said, I love a good romance and historical fiction, and the added element of time travel was a nice surprise because I wasn’t expecting to see that in the description! On top of that, I haven’t read many books set in Ireland but that’s one place that I’ve always been interested in reading more about it. I think this book represents a perfect combination of likes and wants!
Have you read What the Wind Knows or is it on your TBR? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and let’s chat books!
Goodreads: The Magicians: Alice’s Story Publish date: 16 July 2019 Publisher: BOOM! Studios Genre: Fantasy, Graphic Novel Rating:
Alice Quinn is manifestly brilliant, and she’s always known that magic is real. During her years at Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, she rises to the top of her class, falls in love with Quentin Coldwater, and witnesses a horrifically magical creature invade their dimension. It’s not soon after graduation when Alice, Quentin, and their friends set their sights on the idyllic setting of Fillory: a place thought to only live in the pages of their favorite children’s books. A land where magic flows like rivers . . . But in this magical realm nothing is what it seems to be, and something darker lies behind the spellbinding facade. It is in the darkness where Alice will discover her true calling and her life, and those friends, forever changed.
Having read the first book in The Magicians series, I was able to follow along with the story pretty well. It’s very much to the book, which I appreciated. I thought the artwork was well done, a little dark coloring, with darker and imperfect lines to fit the tone of the story. One of the things I liked most was that the characters in the graphic novel were true to the descriptions in the book (unlike in the TV show). I liked them better this way.
I always found myself having a love/hate relationship with Alice so I thought it’d be interesting to learn more about her and to experience things through her eyes. That said I wish that the story covered more than just following along with exactly what happened in the novel. I thought this would cover more of her at home life, her odd relationship with her parents (which was really a sticking point for her in the book) and how the loss of her brother affected her. That loss really turned her life upside down and I wish that more of the effect it had on her was explored. I also felt the ending was a little rushed. While the graphic novel does stay true to the original book, I thought it really lagged at times. It honestly gave me the same feeling I had when reading the original novel, which I admit that I wasn’t the biggest fan of because it felt a bit dull. I thought reading it in graphic novel form would make it better, and it was but only slightly.
I’m glad that I read this though. I am curious to know what happened to Alice after the ending. She does make a reappearance in the TV series but I’m not sure about the book (because I stopped reading it). That said, it would be interesting to know if there’s anything sentient left. This was not a quick graphic novel read, but it was still enjoyable.
Thanks to NetGalley for sending me the e-ARC for an honest review. Have you read Alice’s story? Loved it? Hated it? Meh about it? Come let me know in the comments and let’s chat!
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme, and this time it’s actually Sunday when I write this! 😉 This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!
I’m pretty sure that we’ve all heard about one of the most hyped books of the year: Daisy Jones & The Sixby Taylor Jenkins Reid. I’ve read a few of TJR’s books this year and I’ve loved every single one of them, so I don’t know why I kept putting off reading Daisy for so long. Then I woke up this morning and I started to listen to the audiobook on a whim. It’s read by a full cast and I felt myself immediately hooked into the story. My attention span is pretty crap though and I’m still trying to find the best way to listen to audiobooks without getting distracted, so I decided to pick up the physical book to follow along. The audiobook is pretty amazing but I ended up focusing too much on wondering who was reading which character’s part and I might have ended up on a bit of a Google spree trying to figure out the who’s who. I think the narrators are perfectly cast and I love how it’s bringing the story to life even more than reading the physical book already does. I’ve found myself constantly wanting to put down the book to bring up Spotify on my phone so I can play some of their songs, only to remember that this is a fictional band! WELP. TJR doing her thing yet again! In case you don’t know about it, the synopsis is below:
Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity…until now.
Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.
Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.
Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend. The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies.
What are you currently reading?
Well, it’s been a pretty funky week for me. I made a note on my late Friday Favorites post about how I had to take a break from the blog (and social media) because life and my anxiety has been particularly crippling this week. I think I really reached a ‘breaking point’ on Friday and I couldn’t muster up the energy to re-open my laptop after I got done with work, let alone finish writing my Friday post. I’ve always had issues with sleeping and it suddenly got worse two years ago, so I started to take melatonin to help me sleep. However, my metabolism is so slow that if I don’t take it at least a good 2-3 hours before I want to sleep (i.e. midnight-ish) then I won’t fall asleep until well past midnight and I’ll wake up feeling even more tired than before. Over the last two weeks I’ve not been taking melatonin because whenever I remember that I should have taken it, I find that it’s already 11PM, and because of that I’ve been running on 2-3 hours of sleep every night. For two weeks. I think my body finally gave up on me on Friday so I’ve been feeling pretty lousy and unmotivated this weekend. That said, I got a good lie in (6 hours!) on Saturday and today, so I’ feeling a bit better now. Obviously this means that my blogging has been pretty much on the ‘meh’ front this week, but thanks to the reading rush I did manage to read quite a few books this week. You’ll find a recap of what I read for the rush after my post recap below!
If you read my post last week, you’d know that I was thinking about joining The Reading Rush (formerly known as the Booktubeathon) but wasn’t sure because of time and life etc. But then I caved pretty quickly and jumped on the challenge wagon and I’m glad that I did! Considering my state-of-mind this last week, I’m actually quite proud that I managed to read four books for the challenge (on top of other ARC reads) and that I also earned quite a few badges (more than I actually thought I would)! I did end up reading everyone’s a aliebn to fulfill three prompts, but hey, that’s okay 🤷🏻♀️While I’m happy that I took part in the challenge, it made me realize just how much of a mood reader I really am. I was fighting the urge to pick up any random book by the time I finished my second book, so I’m proud that I managed to finish four. Sticking to TBR lists just isn’t my jam! Since today’s the last day of the challenge, I thought I’d call it in and I’m glad that I did.
Here are the books that I managed to read for the #ReadingRush:
Here are the badges that I earned:
How has your reading and blogging week been? Did you also join the Reading Rush Challenge? Are you happy with what you’ve read/achieved? Come let me know in the comments and let’s have a chat 🙂
So I actually had the backbone of this post ready for me to finish off after work on Friday, but when I got home I just felt so completely drained that I didn’t even have the energy to open my laptop again. I’m going through some stuff in life at the moment that’s making me question a lot of things and it’s really been affecting my sleep. I’m already a bad sleeper (oh how I love sleep, but sleep definitely doesn’t love me!) but the past two weeks have been really bad for my sleep. I’ve been functioning on 2-3 hours of sleep every night for the past two weeks and I think I finally reached the end of my tether this weekend? I just didn’t have the energy to do anything and for the first time in what feels like the last 5 years, I slept in until the afternoon without even trying. Granted, I did end up falling asleep at 5AM, but while I usually wake up again at 9AM, this time I woke up at 1PM! It threw me off completely but I guess my body really needed it? So I know it’s Sunday and this blog post is also a bit bare boned, but I wanted to post it anyway 🙂
It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favorites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: favorite tropes. I thought this was a fun prompt to answer! Before I started writing reviews and taking the time to think about what I’m putting into my brain, I wasn’t aware of these terms for books, like ‘tropes’. All I really knew is that I hated love triangles (lol), but I didn’t realize there was a term for plot elements/lines. That probably sounds really stupid and ignorant (lol again) but I really used to consume books without ever thinking too much about what I read, liked and didn’t like. Thinking about that now sounds really weird and I don’t even know how that’s possible? But like I said, all I really knew was that I hated love triangles LOL So after educating myself over the last few years, here are the first tropes I love that come to mind:
Enemies-to-lovers.
Would it be surprising to see this on a lot of peoples’ lists? Nope (at least it wouldn’t be for me lol). I love this trope so much and if done right always gives me such feels! The tension that runs through these types of relationship changes is always SO charged. Oo, I get goosebumps just thinking about it!
Friends-to-lovers.
This is another one that I love and yes, I know these first two tropes are found predominantly in romance stories but hey, I’m a hopeless romantic and love me a good romance! The tension in this type of romance is always high too, but I love seeing the transition from friends to lover. They’re best friends and then they become more and a lot of the times it’s super sweet.
Villain redemption.
I admit to not having read a lot of books where there’s a a good redeemed villain storyline but there are a few that made my heart melt and my eyes get a little teary. Lookin’ at you Snape!
Brooding characters who are really cinnamon rolls with marshmallow hearts.
Okay this is another one found a lot in romances, but there are also characters in non-romances like this (please don’t ask me right now because my brain is still half-shrouded in a fog. That said, I am so trash for dark broody characters as long as they’re not acting like downright assholes 90% of the time until their marshmallow hearts are shown.
Epic friendships formed during trying times.
I don’t know even know if this is a trope? But I love how really tough times and situations can bring a seemingly random group of acquaintances or even strangers together and strengthen/solidify them as a badass group of friends that will get each other through the craziest adventures. Yes, I admit to thinking a lot about Squad 312 as I’m writing this answer 😂
What are some of your favorite tropes? What about least favorite tropes?Leave me a comment below and let’s chat tropes!
Goodreads: Double Vie (Rose #1) Publish date: 19 June 2019 Publisher: Europe Comics Genre: Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Comic Rating:
Ever since she was a little girl, Rose has had a special and troubling power: the ability to “double” herself and travel outside her body. She always saw it as something wrong with her… until now. When her father is murdered, Rose’s strange ability gives her a chance to find her father’s killer, solve a series of mysterious cold cases, and untangle a centuries-old curse. But maybe some secrets should stay buried…
I want more! What an interesting and peculiar story! It has ghosts, witches, demons, and it’s all wrapped up in the big mystery of her father’s murder and her father’s house.
And okay, honestly? I wasn’t thinking about inconsistencies or things that didn’t sit right in the story when I was reading this one; I was just enjoying the story that was playing out in front of me. In this first issue/volume, we learn about Rose and her ability to leave her body at any time. It seems a little bit like her soul was leaving her body. We see her leaving her body quite a few times throughout the story but I wished that we learned more about why it happened and how she manages to leave her body (especially when it happened the first time when she was a child). There was some narration at the start (which I assume is her father) that explained it a little, but I wanted to know more. I want to say more but I also don’t want to give anything away!
Although it was a bit of a slow start, I liked how the process of Rose’s thinking and discoveries unfolded. It wasn’t rushed and not totally implausible. Looking at ‘inconsistencies’ I guess it was odd that the house, its history, and the history of that history was recorded in the archives. Was the detailed history of the house, including the ancient witches curse, in the regional archives because the house had burned down so many times? It seems a lot of people are keeping secrets in this mystery and I’m very curious to know more!
I thought the artwork was well done. This is going to sound weird and I don’t know how to explain it but there was something very European about it. Perhaps it was the setting and the way the characters acted and dressed. It’s not my typical favorite style, but I found I really liked it. It’s a bit dark, and always a little gloomy, but I thought the style suited the story. The story might not be completely original and it isn’t one that you won’t be able to get out of your head, but it was an enjoyable fast mysterious read. I’m looking forward to finding out more.
Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC for an honest review. This graphic novel was published on 19 June 2019. Have you read about Rose? Loved it? Hated it? Meh about it? Come let me know in the comments and let’s chat!
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.
The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
Coming at you hot with an unpopular opinion. Please don’t come for me! We all have different reading experiences, and honestly, I’m just as bummed about it as you probably are!
This is another one of those books this year that has received an insane amount of hype and I got so excited when I came across the last copy at the bookstore two weeks ago that I (obvi) immediately snatched it up. Oh friends, I’m really torn up about how I feel about this book… Did I hate it? No… Did I love it as much as 99.9% of the rest of the book community did? Also, no. I wanted to love this book so much and I’m pretty disappointed that I didn’t. When I thought I’d be zipping through and finishing this in basically one day, I ended up finding it a much slower read than I anticipated. I struggled with the characters and a bit of the politics too (although I surprised myself with how much I know about American politics compared to politics in my ‘home’ country). Though the big turning point for me was really in the last 30% of the book and it made a huge difference in how I felt about the story in the end.
I want to keep this as straightforward as possible so I’m going to focus on what my likes and dislikes are. Starting off first with the dislikes because I want to end my review on a brighter note!
What I didn’t like about it:
I really wished that we had more than just Alex’s POV. I think that the book would’ve been much more enjoyable, and also worth the 450+ pages, if there was more than one perspective. Especially considering that Alex was so far from my favorite character. He was infuriating, childish and annoying. He was also incredibly over the top. I just couldn’t get past Alex’s attitude and it got to me a lot more as the book went on, especially in comparison to Henry’s person.
Although honestly, I thought the majority of the characters were over the top. I felt like there was drama just to make drama sometimes and I actually read a lot of the dialogue as if they were shouting at each others’ faces because their tones were just SO LOUD. Also, I’m sorry but, do people really say “shut up” all the time for everything? Is that really how people talk? Everyone, including the president, came off as just way too much 90% of the time.
How I feel about the characters greatly influences how I feel about a book and unfortunately, for the majority of RW&RB, my feelings were pretty negative. Although McQuiston’s writing style is pretty straightforward and easy to read, it didn’t help that I found the pacing very erratic and the story jumped around a lot. I usually don’t mind text messages and emails thrown into the writing mix too, and while I didn’t mind the emails, the text messages were just confusing. This didn’t add anything to story and it could’ve be done without. Sorry to say it, I thought the book was too long for what it was. A lot could’ve been cut out and I don’t think anything crucial would’ve been missed. 🤷🏻♀️
What I liked about it:
The romance between Alex and Henry was wow. Like, WOW, I was not expecting that heat between them, and their chemistry was off the charts, honey! Towards the latter half of the book, so many beautifully written words were exchanged between them that made my heart swell, my throat close up, and my eyes water. There was so much sweet tenderness between these two and these exchanges were pretty much the only times I found myself genuinely liking Alex. Also, their banter was brilliant! I found myself unable to contain my laughter so many times while reading this book. The many quips were also just too good!
“The next slide is titled: ‘Exploring your sexuality: Healthy, but does it have to be with the Prince of England?’ She apologizes for not having time to come up with better titles. Alex actively wishes for the sweet release of death.”
I loved Prince Henry. Hands down, he was my favorite character and half the time I found myself wanting to bundle him up and keep him safe from the nastiness in this world. I also really liked a few side characters like Nora, Pez and Bea. They were quirky, hilarious and surprisingly strong pillars of support. They were also so unapologetically themselves.
This book also raises a lot of important topics that are prominent in today’s social dialogue and agenda. Sexual identity, race, and inequality are just some of the big issues this book covers. And honestly, even though the ending is predictably fairytale-esque and sappy, it also left me feeling so lifted, happy and light. Reading this book did leave me with a feeling of hopefulness and I think that’s one of the best things about it. The interactions in this book are so open and all of the people in Alex’s life are so supportive of his coming out (in fact, it seems that a lot of people suspected or “knew” about him before even he knew about him). It was a really positive discussion surrounding LGBTQIA+ issues, about not having to hide who you are and be vilified for it, and while maybe we’re not to that level yet, I have no doubt that the younger and future generations will be able to take the important steps to creating platforms for openness and discussion. I really wonder if or when that’ll ever happen in Indonesia and it makes me a little sad that there’s an even longer way to go for LGBTQIA+ people here to find a place where they will feel loved and accepted for who they are.
To round all this up, I basically wanted to share the quotes that gave me so much life and made me feel everything! Some of the romance and lines were super cheesy but it still managed to make my heart melt. Feast your eyes on the goo:
“I thought, this is the most incredible thing I have ever seen, and I had better keep it a safe distance away from me. I thought, if someone like that ever loved me, it would set me on fire. And then I was a careless fool, and I fell in love with you anyway. When you rang me at truly shocking hours of the night, I loved you. When you kissed me in disgusting public toilets and pouted in hotel bars and made me happy in ways in which it had never even occurred to me that a mangled-up, locked-up person like me could be happy, I loved you. And then, inexplicably, you had the absolute audacity to love me back. Can you believe it? Sometimes, even now, I still can’t.”
“Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too. I kinda wish people still wrote like that. History, huh? Bet we could make some.”
“To every person in search of somewhere to belong who happened to pick up this book, I hope you found a place in here, even if just for a few pages. You are loved. I wrote this for you. Keep fighting, keep making history, keep looking after one another.”
So, that’s it. I hope that I wasn’t too harsh or bruised anyone’s feelings with this review. If it isn’t clear, I didn’t hate this book, I just didn’t love it like everyone else. It was just okay for me, and while I was really looking forward to loving it, I’m okay with that. If I could just read the latter half, especially the last 30% of the novel, then I would’ve given it a higher rating. If it was just the email exchanges and only the romantic bits of this book, I would’ve rated it even higher still. The sweet romance was undoubtedly my favorite part of this book–it was heart meltingly sweet– and if there was one reason that I’d remember this book it’d be for the amazing romantic quotes. 😍
Have you read Red, White & Royal Blue? Anyone feel the way I felt about it? (Lol 😂) Leave a comment down below and let’s chat!
Goodreads:The Great Alone Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Rating:
Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.
Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.
At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources. But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.
Kristin Hannah is fast becoming an absolute favorite. This was my second book of hers, the first being The Nightingale, and both have been solid five star reads for me. She has a way of making me feel a deep emotional connection and investment in her characters and their lives. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a big crier and in this book, once the tears started at about the 80% mark, they pretty much kept flowing until the end. Hannah paints anenchanting and terrifying portrait of the Alaskan wild, and a family that struggles with the darkness in their lives that mirrors their surrounding environment.
“This state, this place, is like no other. It is beauty and horror; savior and destroyer. Here, where survival is a choice that must be made over and over, in the wildest place in America, on the edge of civilization, where water in all its forms can kill you, you learn who you are. Not who you dreamed of being, not who you imagined you were, not who you were raised to be. All of that will be torn away in the months of icy darkness, when frost on the windows blurs your view and the world gets very small and you stumble into the truth of your existence. You learn what you will do to survive.”
It’s a beautifully written, intensely atmospheric and heartbreaking story of family, love, hope and survival. I thought Hannah’s writing style in this was a lot more descriptive than in The Nightingale, but it isn’t over done and you don’t get bogged down with all the information about a place you almost can’t imagine because of how wild and foreign it is. The writing really helped me immerse myself in the Alaskan setting, which obviously plays a very significant part of the story. I honestly can’t imagine this book being set anywhere else.
“… home was not just a cabin in a deep woods that overlooked a placid cove. Home was a state of mind, the peace that came from being who you were and living an honest life.”
As much as the setting makes the story, so did the characters and I really loved (almost) all of them. Leni was a beautiful main character. Her growth throughout the story was so wonderful to experience that at times I almost felt like a proud little mama hen. That said, it was also very sad. She deals with so much loneliness and isolation, and endures many trying moments with her father, but she always proves how strong and resilient she is by finding new ways to survive. Leni’s tender and innocent love for Matthew (and his for her) was a bright light amongst the dark tones of the story, even when it set me on edge sometimes because I just knew something bad was going to happen (I was right 90% of the time btw). On the other hand, I found myself growing increasingly frustrated with Cora. I’m sorry if it sounds harsh, but Cora was weak and what made it worse was that she would often be purposefully provocative in public! Why would you not only put yourself in that situation but risk putting your daughter in danger with that kind of destructive behavior? Cora and Ernt’s relationship was so incredibly toxic and felt extremely suffocating at times. They were such selfish and immature characters and my heart really broke for Leni because she was such a good, loving and kind daughter.
Although the Allbright’s take center stage, I thought the other characters were also well developed. Matthew Walker, Large Marge and Tom Walker were such heartwarming characters and I became so attached to all of them. We learn about their ‘before-Alaska’ lives and their family history which really made connecting with them even easier. Though sometimes that made this an even more difficult read to get through because there’s so much emotion involved, and it already isn’t an easy read to begin with. A lot of bad things happen through the majority of this book, but I will say that the heartache, frustration and fear is so incredibly worth it in the end.
There was so much life in this novel, I know that I won’t be forgetting it anytime soon. Kristin Hannah is a wonderful storyteller and I’m sorry that I don’t have better words to describe what an amazing book this is and all the things it’s made me feel. You just have to read it for yourself, but be prepared for your feelings to get put through a shredder! Content warning: physical abuse, alcoholism, PTSD
Have you read The Great Alone? Loved it? Hated it? Meh about it? Leave a comment below and let’s chat! 🙂
dinipandareads 