February Book Haul

 

Hey Reader Friends!  It's hard to believe February is basically over.  Here are the books I've picked up this month.

Bought Books: 

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Library Haul:

                                                    

Are there any books you've purchased or picked up at the library that you're excited about?  Let me know in the comments below!

Books I regret spending money on

 

There are some books we pick up that just don't resonate with us.  After all, everyone has different tastes and likes - but sometimes we pick up books because of the talk surrounding those books.  I've done that a few times and ended up....burned.  I've also been sorely disappointed by series endings that I read thinking they would be as great as the rest of the series. 

(Now before you get all up in arms - please remember these are just books *I* ended up hating.  Everyone has different tastes.  Read what you want, don't read books you don't like, and don't let other peoples feelings and tastes determine what YOU like.)

Here are my books that I felt disappointed with purchasing.

1. Fifty Shades of Gray. I said what I said.  To me, the whole series really vastly misrepresented the D/s relationship, and did a horrid job of displaying what a truly healthy relationship should look like. 

2. Allegiant.  This book was not only so much more poorly written and underdeveloped than the first two books in the series, but the fact that the author just killed off her main character without even a second thought still eats at me to this day.  Is she George RR Martin?! 

3. Unenchanted - Chanda Hahn.  I wanted to like this book.  I really did.  But as soon as I started reading it, I was dragged down a hole of poor writing and horridly developed characters that made me want to cry.  

Reader friends, are there any books you've bought thinking you'd love them and you just couldn't?  Let me know in the comments below. 

The Mary Shelley Club - Goldy Moldavsky

 

Title: The Mary Shelley Club 
Author: Goldy Moldavsky 
Format: Hardcover 
Rating: 5 Stars 

I've only started reading horror regularly in the past couple years, and so I still feel like I never really know what to expect.  The Mary Shelley Club definitely went above and beyond and was a great foray into everything I'd want in a scary book. 

This book has all the twists that you'd expect in a horror book. It starts with something horrific, and gives the readers enough scare from there to make them wonder why they're continuing his book!  You'll never want to head out into a forest again.

The characters were teenagers, so there was the teen angst and stuff that you'd expect - surely we can give kids a break as they grow and try to navigate the world around them! But I thought all the characters were well written and had personalities that really added to the story as a whole.  I feel like the characters really played well together and off of each other.  Each person had different things that added to the group dynamic of the Mary Shelley Club, and to their school and personal life environment.  The small bits of information we get about certain characters throughout the book really adds to the book as well. 

The fact that this book opened with quite a punch, then just continued to pack in so much twist was fantastic. Throughout the book, there are several things that happen that tie everything together and make the reader realize that Rachel is in more trouble than she realizes. I loved the foreshadowing, as well as the snippets of Rachel's past that we see - it all builds up to add a lot of depth to the story. 

I feel like there was a lot of good development in terms of the fear tests that each person had to do as well.  Each test really tied well into what the overarching plot and theme of the book were.  That added a lot to the story that I really loved. 

The only thing I didn't love was that the ending felt sort of rushed and just a little too neat. It would have been better if there had been more of a punch and a motive at the end for everything that had happened.  Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I'd definitely recommend it to all of you! 

If you've already read this book let me know what you thought in the comments. 

Discworld

 

Hey reader friends!  Most of you have probably at least heard of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.  I just found a reading challenge on the internet called Turtle Recall.  The goal is to read the Discworld series books in 2022 (or at least as many as you can/want.)

I thought that sounded like a fun challenge - so naturally I'm going to try it out (in addition to the Pop Sugar 2022 Challenge and the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge.)

Do you have any reading challenges you're doing this year?  Talk to me about them in the comments!  I'd love to hear from you.

Bout of Books - Wednesday is Here

Happy Wednesday reader friends!  I hope you've been having a good week.  I'm here with a Bout of Books wrap up from yesterday.  Here's how everything went:

Books Started: 3
Books Finished: 1 
Pages Read on Tuesday: 180
Total Pages Read: 200

Books Started: 

Vanity Fair 

The Mary Shelley Club 

Books Finished:

The Willoughbys Return 

 

Bout of Books 33 - Happy Tuesday

 

Hey Reader Friends!  Happy Tuesday.  I hope your new year reading has started off with a bang. I'm here as usual to give a little Bout of Books update for Monday! 

Books Started: 2 
Books Finished: 0
Pages Read Monday: 20 

Books Currently Reading: 

Vanity Fair - William Thackeray 
The Willoughby's Return - Lois Lowry (Actually finished Tuesday.)

What have you been reading this week?  Drop me some comments below and let me know how well you're crushing your reading so far this year! 

Library Love Challenge

 

Hey reader friends! Welcome to 2022.  I skipped the library love challenge last year, but I am doing it again this year!  I am so excited.  You know how much I love my library!  

If you've never heard of this fun challenge go check out the details on Angel's Guilty Pleasure blog or Books of My Heart blog.  They have been running this fun challenge for a while.  

I have no idea which books I'll finish from the library this year, but I do know it will be a lot!  I hope you'll think about joining this fun challenge as well.