Review: Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, by Roselle Lim

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Genres: Contemporary fiction

Goodreads

I received a free copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

Natalie Tan hears a bird sing a particular song and suddenly, she knows: her mother has just died. After seven years of estrangement, the pain of her loss comes together with regret for all the years she lost because of pride. Coming back to the neighborhood where she grew up, she finds out that her mother left her the restaurant her grandmother used to own, and Natalie decides to follow on her family footsteps and re-open the restaurant. If she fails, the whole neighborhood will suffer even more, but if she succeeds… it could mean bringing the whole community together and healing old wounds.

Mini-Review: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: Historical fiction

I’ve read Chimamanda’s books by the inverse order of publication: so this one was my most recent read by her, and one can definitely tell how much richer her writing has become with each book. This was such an engaging read, so heart-breaking and beautiful.

Purple Hibiscus follows the story of Kambili, a fifteen-year-old girl who lives under the strict rules of her father, a wealthy and deeply religious man. Due to a coup that puts Kambili’s family in danger, she and her brother Jaja stay with their aunt and her children, whose lives are filled with laughter, struck by poverty and so entirely foreign to both of them.

Through Kambili’s perspective you get little by little glimpses of the abuse she and her family suffer, and what it can do to a person. Her narration is filled with both awe and fear for her father, and it’s very moving. I expected this book to be more depressing, but it really isn’t; there is hope and growth and love. I was wondering if the length of the book wouldn’t leave too many things out of it and feel too rushed, but it didn’t feel like that at all. It definitely stays in your mind for a really long time after you finish it. This was powerful and heartbreaking, although I loved her other books a lot more than this one, I highly recommend it!

The Sunday Snuggle W47/2019: Weekly Wrap Up

Hello readers!

It’s been a crazy week at work and I ended up not reading a whole lot. Hopefully next week I have a more or less stable work schedule and can read a little more – I’m also feeling a bit sick this weekend, so today it’s mostly resting and not so much reading.

Weekly Wrap Up

Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir / Review ★★★★★

This was such a fun read, I had a great time reading this. It was hilarious, and I particularly enjoyed that it has so many different types of necromancers put together in an abandoned mansion. Such a cool book.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune, by Roselle Lim / Goodreads Ongoing

I have conflicting feelings about this book: I love that it’s sweet and it revolves so much around food. I enjoy books like those so much! But it reads like a YA book, and it’s not particularly well-written, which agonizes me a bit. Also the character development seems not entirely believable to me… I think it will end up being a 3 star book.

Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo / Goodreads Ongoing

I started this book almost immediately after Gideon the Ninth because I was craving something to fill the whole in my heart that it left and since I wanted to pick up something released this year, I thought I better tackle Ninth House, instead of getting to ARCs that aren’t due till next year. It’s so far not really great, but it’s entertaining and I think it will get much better soon!

 

Bibliophile, by Jane Mount / Goodreads Ongoing

I didn’t actually pick this up this week, oops.

Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen / Goodreads Ongoing

Didn’t pick this up this week either.

What have you read this week?

Review: Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #1), by Tamsyn Muir

Rating: ★★★★★

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, F/F

Goodreads 

The Emperor needs new necromancers, and the Ninth House Necromancer needs a cavalier. Gideon is not a cavalier, but she is the best swordswoman, and if she can pull off pretending to be a loyal, obedient cavalier of the Ninth, Harrow has promised her freedom. She knows she cannot trust Harrow, but this is probably her best chance at being free, so she will take her chances and try to fool the other eight necromancers and eight cavaliers. But she isn’t the only one with secrets, and as the trials for becoming a Lyctor begin, tensions grow and it is clear that not everyone (or anyone) will stay alive.

Anti-TBR: Hyped Books Released in 2019 That I Am Not Going to Read

Hello readers!

It’s time for another Anti-TBR post! I love writing these because it’s fun to see that I actually have some level of self-control and that my to-be-read pile could be much, much worse. I am not hating on any of these books at all, some of those I’m actually a bit sorry I’m not more interested in.

I tried picking up as many hyped books as possible when I first started blogging, wide-eyed by how awesome everything sounded, but by now I know my taste better and would rather read fewer hyped books and more books that I actually think I will love.

What books released this year are you not going to read despite the hype?

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

I actually enjoyed When Dimple met Rishi, but since I read that book my taste has changed so much I don’t think I’d enjoy this one nearly as much. A pity! But I heard it’s really cute.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

I haven’t read the Shadow and Bone trilogy, neither do I intend to. So this book, following characters I don’t know, didn’t really interest me much.

Wolfhunter River (Stillhouse Lake #3) by Rachel Caine

I don’t see a point for book 3, honestly. The story was excellent on book 1 and a bit less convincing on book 2 and I don’t want to read I book I don’t see the point of. I’m waiting to see more reviews, but unless I pick this up on Amazon Unlimited some time, I doubt I’ll read it at all.

Review: This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Rating: ★★★★★

Genres: Science Fiction, Literary Fiction

Goodreads

In This is How You Lose the Time War, Red is fighting the war on the side of the Commandant. She is the most lethal agent and is used to winning. The only one who could possibly beat her is Blue,an agent working for the Garden, and Red knows her signature well. As they try to sabotage each other’s mission, and send taunting letters to each other, the unthinkable happens: Red and Blue start to bond. No one must know of this treason. And yet, how could they ever survive it?

The Sunday Snuggle W46/2019: Weekly Wrap Up

Hello readers!

I actually ended up reading so much F/F this week that reading any sort of straight romance was funny. I was not planning on it, but I am still attempting to get all my most anticipated reviewed ASAP, and a lot of them are F/F. I also ended up receiving an eARC for Harrow the Ninth, which made me pick up Gideon the Ninth as an e-book. I’d actually ordered it a month ago, but they had to buy my edition from another country and it just never arrived. So e-book it is! These covers are so awesome, so maybe I end up buying the physical copies if I love the series!

I bought:

From Edelweiss, I received:

Weekly Wrap Up

Review: Jade War (The Green Bone Saga #2), by Fonda Lee

Rating: ★★★★★

Genres: Urban Fantasy

Goodreads 

[Spoilers of Jade City ahead]

Jade War is the sequel to Jade City, an excellent urban fantasy novel that brings to life the struggle of clan No Peak to stay in power. Led by the Kaul family since their break from the original One Mountain clan, they have been at war with the biggest clan from Kekon for power, both from jade and from gold. In Jade War, Shae and Hilo fight to gain more international allies and to bring clan justice to Lan’s murderer.  Meanwhile, Andy is sent to Espenia after having humiliated Hilo and the clan, partly in exile, partly for his own protection.

eARC Review: Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Historical Fiction

Goodreads

I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Girl, Woman, Other (Winner of the Man Booker Prize of 2019) tells the story of twelve people whose lives intertwine, each of them experiencing the country they all live in at some point (UK) in a unique way, through different years and from different backgrounds.

This brilliant book certainly left an impression on me – telling the story of twelve different, unique people is no easy task, especially making the reader connect and empathize with each of them. The narration flows from one to the next, connecting them sometimes in subtle ways to each other, bringing to life their pain, their energy, their strength and their mistakes. Some chapters ended bittersweet. I did discount a star because sometimes the dialogue felt a little bit too script-like, a little too neat, and like some characters had a bit more depth than others. Which is to be expected from a cast of twelve main characters, I expect, but still from some of them I wanted more.

If you liked this book, try this F/F book!

Hello readers!

I really enjoy posts of “if you liked…, then read…”, so I thought it would be a nice idea to spread some F/F love and recommend some books based on other books you guys may have liked. Some correlations are more obvious than others, and I normally try to match books by the feelings they gave me as well as the plot, where possible, but you’ll see me matching fantasy with scifi, contemporary and fantasy… to me, if they had the same energy, they’re a match.

If you liked Sadie, by Courtney Summers…

…try Missing, Presumed Dead, by Emma Berquist!

This is a bit of a stretch, but hear me out. They are both YAs with girls who are after revenge, and are full of anger. While Sadie is a contemporary thriller that goes dark in a painfully realistic way, Missing, Presumed Dead has ghosts and some romance thrown in. It’s dark and gritty, but not in the same way as Sadie, and it’s not as heart-breaking, in my opinion. But if what you liked about Sadie was the main character being driven by rage for the murder of an innocent girl, I think you will enjoy this F/F pick!