Quick Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

“There's a monster in our wood. She'll get you if you're not good. Drag you under leaves and sticks. Punish you for all your tricks. Anest of hair and gnawed bone. You are never, ever coming... home.”

About

Our main story revolves around Hazel and her brother Ben who live in a town where human and fae co-exist. The town is quite the hotspot tourists and the main attraction is the horned boy, who has been asleep in a glass coffin in the woods for generations. While the fae usually leave the townsfolk alone, choosing to prey on the tourists instead, something has changed. Now the townsfolk are fair game to the wicked games of the fae.

My Thoughts

I am a huge fan of Holly Black, ever since high school reading her Modern Faerie Tales series. While this story was dark and creepy, everything that I love in a Holly Black book, this has to be my least favorite book that I have read of hers.

This book was okay. I didn’t hate it, but I definitely did not love it. I think that I had set my expectations really high for this book and when it didn’t live up to the hype I had built, I became disinterested. This book got off to a slow start. Nothing really happened until halfway through the book and then BAM everything was happening all at once and then it was over.

Overall, this book had potential and I wanted to like it more then I really did (which is probably why I threw in the extra .5 star), but it just did not do anything for me.

Overall Rating - 3.5 Stars

Find on: Goodreads or Amazon 

Quick Review: Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini

“There comes a day when every girl loses the stars in her 

eyes. And then she can see clearly.” 

  

About

This story is about Lily, and Lily has had a pretty hard life. Lily’s mother is crazy, and she happens to be allergic to everything in this world. But that does not stop Lily from trying to live a normal life (YAY for perseverance!!). Lily is determined to attend her first high school party, with her BFF (whom she is secretly in love with) Tristan. After catching Tristan with another girl, Lily has a drink which causes her to have a seizure, embarrassing herself in front of all her peers. Utterly embarrassed Lily wishes she could just disappear.  And then she does. Lily is transported to an alternate universe, one with witchcraft and another Lily who just happens to be the most powerful witch in this world.

My Thoughts                                                                           

I really enjoyed this book. Like, surprisingly enjoyed it.  The world building, a magic system that actually makes sense, the main and side character and the romance all worked together to make a really good read. That cliff-hanger ending made me really excited to get my hands on the next book in this series. 

Overall Rating - 4 Stars

Find on: Goodreads Amazon

A Confession...

I have a shameful secret. Okay, it's not so shameful that I need to go into hiding but it is a secret that I never thought would become a reality. I used to read books. You see how I have bolded and underlined the used to part. Yep, that is my secret. I, the former bookworm, have not finished more than 5 books in the last 2 years.

Now, for the majority of people this would not be an upsetting fact, but I spent my childhood lying around reading books. Not playing video games or playing sports, but reading books. My local librarians knew me by name and let me know when they were ordering in new books so that I could have first dibs. We were tight. I was a dork.

I loved to read. I loved books from across all genres - fantasy, historical, romance, comedies - loved immersing myself in another worlds, with new friends and stories that would captivate me and help me escape my boring life in a small country town.

My love for reading didn't even wain when I moved 6 hours away to attend University. Even with the burden of course work, holding down a job and making time to party with my friends, I still made time to read the occasional book for pleasure. It was not until I graduated and starting working full time that my reading habits fell to an all-time low. It wasn't that I didn't have the time. I worked 9-5, I watch more television now than I ever did and honestly have no social life to speak of.

I can't even pinpoint the last time I picked up a book. I am going to just say I have read 5 books in the last two years because that seems like an acceptable number. In all honesty it could be less. Sure I have attempted to read a few more books than this. I can never seem to get through them. I think I have another 10 books sitting in my book case that have been read 25-50%. I cannot seem to focus. I used to pick-up a book and read for hours. My mom used to yell at me all the time for staying up past my bedtime reading (like she should I have been happy I was a huge nerd). Now I am just constantly distracted. I will start reading, look at my phone, play Candy Crush, remember that I haven't watched this week’s episode of The Blacklist, which turns into Vampire Diaries and morphs into some show about redneck Gypsy's. Weeks later I will remember that I was trying to read a book and the cycle begins all over again.

So I have decided that I am going to change. I was going to revert back into my bookworm self (the 15 year old me is cringing - who knew reading would be cool?). This is where this little blog comes in. I want something (and maybe some someone’s) to keep me accountable. My goal is to write a book review after I finish a book. I am honest, sarcastic and bitchy. I don't sugar coat things so perhaps people will enjoy what I have to say (yes I am speaking to you future reader).

In all honesty, what I hope to get out of this little experiment is to just enjoy reading again.

Wish me luck!