Read This Quarter III

What I read this quarter, Quarter III

July, August & September

1. Faith: Taking Flight          ebook REVIEWED ✦✦✦✦.5

2. Unspeakable Acts           Non-fiction short stories ebook REVIEWED ✦✦✦✦✧

- - -
3. Dear Girls           Non-fiction ✦✦✦✧✧

4. Come Tumbling Down            ✦✦✦✦✧

- - -

5. Burn            ebook/audiobook REVIEWED ✦✦✦.5✧

6. Just Act Normal            ebook Non-fiction comic ✦✦✦.5✧

7. Iltatähden kilta           ✦✦✦.75✧

Reread: The Book of Ivy

Data:

Author:

          62.5 % female,

          37.5 % male

Genre:

         62.5 % fantasy

         37.5 % non-fiction

Pages:

       2 100 p

Format:

         6.25 % audiobooks,

         43.75 % e-books,

         50 % physical books

Average:

         3.28

Arcs:

          50 % sent to me (for honest reviews)

*For more info check my Goodreads: link*

Read on lovelies,

S

Burn : review

 Burn by Patrick Ness

*eARC kindly provided by the publisher HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review!*

SUMMARY

On a cold Sunday evening in early 1957, Sarah Dewhurst waited with her father in the parking lot of the Chevron gas station for the dragon he’d hired to help on the farm…

A prophecy that involves a deadly assassin, a cult of dragon worshippers, two FBI agents in hot pursuit—and somehow, Sarah Dewhurst herself.

Goodreads' link to the book!

Release Date: June 2nd, 2020

- - -

Stars: ✦✦✦.5✧

So as usual, I'll tell 3.5 things I liked about the book and 1.5 things I didn't care for.

+1 | It's different, new, and interesting.

+1 | The world and its fantasy elements were well executed, with dragons and magic galore.

+1 | Entertainment value. The pace and writing are gripping and keeps you reading.

+/-0.5 | The characters and relationships. Some were great, but some just didn't do it for me. With the split POVs I sometimes just wanted it to go back to another character.

-1 | There was some confusion from jumping around, I felt like I really had to focus at times to understand.

>> Overall I'd recommend it to anyone wanting a new and refreshing dragon tale, with some Patrick Ness quirks.

Read on lovelies,

S

The Book GIF Tag

The Book GIF Tag

Basically, I chose books from other people’s lists and tried to find a suitable GIF for it!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Harry Potter by JK Rowling

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

A is for Arsenic

Turn of the key by Ruth Ware

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter

Babe by Dick King-Smith

My Lady Jane by the Lady Janies

Read on lovelies,

S

Book Love : Review

Book Love by Debbie Tung

SUMMARY
Book Love is a gift book of comics tailor-made for tea-sipping, spine-sniffing, book-hoarding bibliophiles. Debbie Tung's comics are humorous and instantly recognizable - making readers laugh while precisely conveying the thoughts and habits of book nerds.

Goodreads' link to the book!
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Stars: ✦✦✦✦✧

So as usual, I'll tell 4.0 things I liked about the book and 1.0 thing I didn't like.

+1 | The idea is simple and cute

+1 | The illustrations fit perfectly into the story being told

+1 | At the same time quick and simple, but also thought-provoking

+/-1 | Entertainment value. It had some really great ones and some that weren't. It's a bit of a hit or miss, but I'd say every reader can find something they like from it!

Read on lovelies,

S

The Aesthetically Pleasing Book TAG

The Aesthetically Pleasing Book Tag

1. Best color combo on a book cover

Not just because of the colors, but the Wayward Children series covers also portray the feeling of the book so well

2. Best typography/font on a book cover

3. Best simple cover

The banner is actually the book jacket and underneath is just a feather, a coin, and a spool of yarn

Another good one:

4. Best end pages

The Wrath and the Dawn duology, with its beautiful colors

7. Best back cover

My Hunger Games foil editions just have a quote on the back of each cover

5. Best map

The map in The Kiss of Deception - though maybe not the best, one I really like nonetheless

6. Best naked hardback

My Finnish edition of Pride and Prejudice, though it doesn't have a book jacket at all...

10. Best spine

Barnes and Noble edition of the Complete Fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen

8. Best chapter headers

Harry Potter signature edition

9. Best illustrations

I don't think there's another answer than the illustrated Harry Potter books

11. Favorite cover on your shelves

What a tough one!

And maybe not favorite, but I got hardback's so that I could get these covers

- even though I prefer paperbacks and rarely like covers with faces on them.

Also, that way I didn't need to wait too long!

Read on lovelies,

S

Unspeakable Acts : review

Unspeakable Acts by Sarah Weinman (editor)

*e-ARC kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review!*

SUMMARY

A brilliant anthology of modern true-crime writing that illustrates the appeal of this powerful and popular genre, edited and curated by Sarah Weinman, the award-winning author of The Real Lolita.

Goodreads' link to the book!

Release Date: July 28th, 2020

- - -

Honestly, I feel a bit weird giving this book a star rating, since it's an anthology accounting true stories.

I did give it one but didn't break it down, like I usually do, to how I came to that rating. Instead, I wrote out my opinions, and what to expect from the book!

Stars: ✦✦✦✦✧

• Though not all of the stories were new to me, I still got lots of new information. Though you might want to note, that these are all previously published pieces.

• The collection had vastly different types of cases and also reflects on why some became well known, and why people can be fascinated by them.

• Written by many different people; reporters and journalists, some with ties to the cases, it goes in-depth into 13 cases one by one. As with any anthology, you might end up really liking the style of one and really disliking the next, but fortunately, that didn't happen to me.

• Organized into clear sections separating different types, the book moves well (though you could just read a few here and there if you so choose). The first delves into four crime cases with classics features, the second goes further into cultural interaction related to crime, and the third being more broad and general about criminal justice.

! This book goes through real-life cases, and if you haven't figured it out yet, don't read the book if you are sensitive to reading about true crime cases. !

Read on lovelies,

S

Faith: Taking Flight : review

*Disclaimer - this is technically next week's post, but since this book will be released in a couple days, I wanted to go ahead and publish this now!

But don't worry I'm not changing schedules, and the next one will be on the 25th (also a review of a soon-to-be-released book I'm excited for!)*

- - -

Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy

*ARC kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review!*

SUMMARY

From Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin', comes the first in a two-book origin story of Faith, a groundbreaking, plus-sized superhero, from the Valiant Entertainment comics.

Goodreads' link to the book!

Release Date: July 7th, 2020

- - -

Stars: ✦✦✦✦.5

So as usual, I'll tell 4.5 things I liked about the book and 0.5 things I didn't care for.

First I'll point out that I'm not familiar with the original comic, so I can't say how accurate things are.

And quite surprisingly, this is my first book by Julie Murphy that I've read, though I know her work Dumplin' became popular and is being released on Netflix now.

+1 | The plot and pace

It took me some time to actually pick the book up, but once I started reading it, it felt like it flew by. The plot is interesting and the story moves at a good pace

+1 | Events and storyline

It has some crime and a bit of mystery, but at the end of the day, the characters were what made the story so engrossing. Also, another thing I enjoyed was how the author wove in fandom with a popular TV show starting to film in town.

+1 | Characters

I loved Faith's personality, and the set of people were so interestingly different with everyone having their own personality, perspective, and background which brought depth into the book

+1.5/-0.5 | Relationships and romance

As much as I felt like the characters were what drove the story for me, I didn't like the relationship triangle. At the same time, I saw how it was necessary to really show Faith's struggle in getting to know herself. But then when it comes to the friendship groups, I adored them!

Note: If you're interested in this book being "the next superhero book" with plenty of action, you might be disappointed - though there is action and tells the tale of a "superhero" in the making.

Maybe it's the younger-feeling writing or that the characters are at the forefront.

To end I'll just say, that I'll definitely be reading the next (and last?) book when it comes out!

Read on lovelies,

S