Read This Month

November

You can already tell that this month was not great regarding reading - it was quite a slump but I did managed to read a couple

1. Alien Busters, part 1 REVIEW
2. Three Dark Crowns
(3. the very beginning of: The Raven King)

Rereads

Time and Series

I've been on a journey regarding my TBR (To Be Read: books you own and haven't read). As you might know if you've been following my blog - I made an arrangement with myself, that I would read all the books I'd bought and not read before that year. (You can read more about that and how it worked here: link)

Other than not bying that many books, part of being able to reduce my TBR was not rereading that many books.
I LOVE rereading books because:
a) you know you'll love it
b) It's like reconnecting with an old friend
c) You get the perfect book for your mood, and sometimes you just really don't wanna get dissapointed
& d) it doesn't take as long as reading a new book

So not rereading books really made me appreciate how much I truly love doing it - and now that I've gotten my TBR down I'm loving rereading!

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The problem I usually have with reading series is that I don't remember what happened in the last book, and I don't have time really want to get to the next one, and won't reread it.

So if you have this issue here is a solution that I really like:
A website like Shmoop, SparkNotes, Cliffsnotes have detailed everything for a classics book. From characters to the plot and themes you can find it there to refresh your memory.
(Also it might be a good idea to have one of these open to understand a book better)

But for YA books and books that aren't on those, there are similar websites:
Recaptains
BookSeriesRecaps

If the book is not there you can also always check if someone has made a spoiler review on it.

Read on lovelies,

Sally

Playing With Emotions

[Tag]

I've been writing a post about what makes a book good, and a big part of that is that it makes you feel things. So in light of that, and the fact that it's taking me quite some time to finish that post:
here is a tag about emotions and what books I link to them.

The book that makes me happy…

… is Anna and the French Kiss by Stephenie Perkins

The book that makes me sad…

… is If I Stay by Gayle Forman

The book that makes me angry…

… is Speak by Laurie Anderson

The series that makes me nostalgic…

… are the Roald Dahl & Dr. Seuss books

The book that makes me scared… (for the main character that is)

… is The Raft by S.A. Bodeen

The book that surprised me the most…

… was Murder in the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

The book that disappointed me the most…

…was My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

The book that made me feel distressed…

…was Me Beofre You by Jojo Moyes

The book that confused me… (in a good way that is!)

…was Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

Alien Busters : review

Alien Busters: Alien Hunting, Part 1
Safa Shaqsy

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*Book kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review!*

This is a novelette, part 1 (10 chapters) of the Alien Busters series by Safa Shaqsy,
and there won't be any spoilers!

The premise is quite self explanatory from the title; the main character is an alien buster with a mission to kill all alienss, but on a mission she finds an alien baby and everything changes.

Goodreads' link to the book

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>I gave this book 2.5 stars

So as usual, I'll tell 2.5 things I liked about the book and 2.5 thing I didn't like.

So what did I think?


+1 | The idea and premise is clever and intriguing.

+0.5 | Entertainment value. It had some good points in there.


+/-0.5 | Characters. I liked the main character and Star was so adorable! This was a short novelette so the character development was yet to be seen.
A problem I had with the main character was that she didn't really think of her actions

+/-0.5  | World and building. Overall I really liked the world, but the building of it had holes in it.

-0.5  | Explanations. There were so many things that I would've wanted more infromation on - consequently it fell flat.
I want to be immersed in a book and not wonder about unexplained things.

-1  | The writing. Unfortuantely there were mistakes that made the experience as a whole less than it could've been.

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Overall rounding everything up, the book is halfway there and I think it has potential.

Read on lovelies,

Sally

Fairytale Retellings pt. 3

Top 10 Disappointing

From 2 years back I have a part one with a top 5 (link), and from a couple months ago another one of those (link), so for some variety I decided to list ones that I was disappointed with.

1. Eon
Retelling of Mulan that I actually DNF'd...I really hoped that I'd like it and tried multiple times to continue it, but it just wasn't meant to be for me.

2. Sisters Red
I have a weird relationship with this one, but for the gist of why it's on this list check out TheBookSmugglers review!

3. Faery Tales & Nightmares
I don't even remember exactly what it cointained, but I do remember NOT liking it

4. Curse Dark as Gold
As a child my favourite fairytale was Rumplestiltskin, and so when I heard of this award winning retelling I was excited. But alas, I was disappointed, but it wasn't bad per se.

5. Sleeper and the Spindle
And lastly maybe a suprise? I gave it 3 stars, so I liked it, but it was a disappointment and not memorable. The illustrations were gorgeous though!

Read on lovelies,

Sally