Mona Lisas and Little White Lies : Review

Mona Lisas and Little White Lies by John Herrick

*ARC kindly provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!*

Publication: March 19th 2019


SUMMARY
She’s America’s hottest new celebrity. But her identity remains a secret.

Lily Machara is a wisecracking auto mechanic. She’s never cared for glitz or drama. But when Ryder Flynn, a rising star in the world of commercial art, adopts Lily as his muse after a random sighting, Lily discovers herself painted into his hot new pieces … and becomes America’s newest — anonymous — celebrity.

The only problem: The woman Ryder imagines isn’t the true Lily.

Or is it?

Goodreads' link to the book!


><><

Stars: ✦✦✦✧✧

So as usual, I'll tell 3.0 things I liked about the book and 2.0 things I didn't like.

So what did I think?

+1 | The idea itself is clever and interesting

+1 | The characters in the book were well though out, each with layers and flwas

+/-1 | The writing was almost lyrical with descriptions, but not always adding to the plot thus making it slower

- 1 | It had no surprises and no mystery to it. A good story, but nothing too different

Read on lovelies,

S

Classics I Want to Read

Some years ago I started doing a "Read a Classic Every Month" challenge which I continued successfully for quite a while. But last year I ended up butchering it and I know this year would go similarly if I didn't do something differently. Hence this post.

So I've made a list of classics I'd like to get to, possibly even this year.
(I won't be checking these off of the list like I do my TBR and early challenge)


Austen: Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Lady Susan
Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations
Collections: Aesop's Fables, Hans Christian Andersen
Shakespeare: Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream

Other:
of Mice and Men
Animal Farm
Great Gatsby

Robin Hood
Around the World in 80 Days
Treasure Island

If I Wrote a Book

People ask me if writing a book is a dream of mine, but my answer is always no. I don't think I could ever be able to:

a) write one,

b) have a story developed enough

or even c) have a original and creative story.

Every once in a while I do think of characters or a world or story and might even write some scenes down, but a novel? Nope.

But if I were to write one, these are things I'd have to consider:

1) Who is the target audience?

2) What makes it special

3) Genre

4) POV

5) Style (readability)

6) Organization: coherence, consistency, flow
7) Length
8) Possible message

9) Characters

-strength

-weakness

-goal
-backstory
-possible names!

10) And then what actually happens:

setting, character, conflict, climax, resolution, details...

Personally I would probably write a fairy tale retelling with adventure, action and hints of magic and romance.

Read on lovelies,

S

Safely Endangered Comics : review

Safely Endangered Comics by Chris McCoy

*ARC kindly provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!*

Publication: April 9th 2019

SUMMARY
A collection of gloriously random and unexpected cartoons from the hugely popular webcomic Safely Endangered.

Goodreads' link to the book!

><><

Stars: ✦✦✦✦✧

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

So what did I think?

+1 | The idea is great, and I can see why the webcomic is so popular

+1 | The humor was definitely entertaining

+1 | The drawings perfectly fitted the context

+1 | I enjoyed the randomness of it. From references to games and shows to animals and natural phenomena, it covered a lot

-1 | Maybe it was the randomness, or the short page-sized comic strips, but I felt like it ended abruptly

Read on lovelies,

S

Do I Have That Book TAG

Link to original here

The Challenges 1. Do you have a book with deckled edges?
I'm not too fond of them, but yes: My Lady Jane

2. Do you have a book with 3 or more people on the cover?
Cheaper by the Dozen
3. Do you have a book based on another fictional story? Lots of retellings, does that work? For example Love, Lies & Spies

4. Do you have a book with a title 10 letters long? Bitterblue

5. Do you have a book with a title that starts and ends with the same letter? Snow Like Ashes

6. Do you have a Mass Market Paperback book? Cheaper by the Dozen, which I think is quite fitting

7. Do you have a book written by an author using a pen name? Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

8. Do you have a book with a character's name in the title? Cinder, Scarlet, Cress and Winter

9. Do you have a book with 2 maps in it? Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

10. Do you have a book that was turned into a TV show? City of Bones

11. Do you have a book written by someone who is originally famous for something else? (celebrity/athlete/politician/tv personality...) The only one that comes to mind is What If? whose author is known for XKCD (which is writing, but not that of a book...)

12. Do you have a book with a clock on the cover? Clockwork Angel has a faint one of Big Ben

13. Do you have a poetry book? Vuosisadan rakkaustarina

14. Do you have a book with an award stamp on it? An Abundance of Katherines

15. Do you have a book written by an author with the same initials as you? The closest to my SV is Susanne Winnacker

16. Do you have a book of short stories? Aesop's Fables

17. Do you have a book that is between 500-510 pages long? Oddly specific, but I have four, one of which is my Finnish edition of Pride and Prejudice

18. Do you have a book that was turned into a movie? I have 1 movie edition and that is Dear John

19. Do you have a graphic novel?
I enjoy them, but I have a rule of sorts of not buying/owning them since they are quite expensive and I'd want the complete series, but this was a recent gift: Elias

20. Do you have a book written by 2 or more authors?
And full circle to my very first answer: My Lady Jane or My Plain Jane

Read on lovelies,

S

Read This Month, February

January

1. Safely Endangered Comics REVIEWED ✦✦✦✦✧
2. Awesome Achievers in Technology Non-fiction REVIEWED ✦✦✦✦✧
3. Race Me in a Lobster Suit Non-fiction REVIEWED ✦✦✦✧✧ 

Data:

Male/Female author:
         33 % female,
         67 % male
Genre:
         33 % comic,

         67 % non-fiction
Pages:
       464 p
Format:
         100 % e-books
Average:
         3.67
Arcs:
          100 % sent to me (for honest reviews)

*For stars and more info check my Goodreads: link*

Read on lovelies,

S