I'm losing my days, woke on Friday in a panic thinking it was Saturday already. I still had this to write and a video to edit.
Also so far the StrangeAthon has been a bit of a fail, as I have not read for 3 days which is basically half of my readathon. Though I have discovered a book with a Dyslexic Main character, but it had a disappointing twist at the end. I just want more books about dealing with Dyslexic characters into adulthood, past the point of discovery. I made a Listopia on Goodreads that Dyslexic main characters that are teens and up. It has four books on it so far. It really hard to find.
I have started writing a story using the Sims 4 as a prompt. It involves the Grimm Reaper being a roommate. I don't think you should be able to do that but I hope they don't get rid of it in an Update. They always get rid of the good features in the updates. My sim spends a lot of time playing chest with Grimmy so I guess she immortal now. She did meet the Reaper after almost dying and her boyfriend begging for her life. Well, they're Sims they live or die based on me and whether I willing to cheat them alive again after they've electrified themselves.
I'm going off Tiktok, addictive at first but the discovery page is pretty bad for me still. I still keep getting Pro-forced pregnancy stuff. Not uploaded anything more.
Not heard anything back yet from College. I wish they had actual deadlines, maybe I left it too late. What will be, will be or some other crap.
I'm tired and sad about wasting food from not eating anything proper for a week.
Saturday, 29 February 2020
Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Book Review: The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown
The Truth about Keeping a review schedule, it's really hard for me.
A stunning coming-of-age tale from poet and writer Savannah Brown.
Sydney's dad is the only psychiatrist for miles around in their small Ohio town.
He is also unexpectedly dead.
Sydney believes the crash was anything but an accident. And when the threatening texts begin, and June Copeland - homecoming queen and golden child - appears at his funeral out of nowhere, she's sure of it.
But through Sydney's newfound relationship with June, she's given a glimpse of a life without the darkness of an unresolved grief and the chance, just maybe, of a fresh start.
Until it's clear that the secrets won't go away, and the truth might bring everything crashing down...
Imperfect friendships, the shadow of grief and the sweet pain of romance - this is a poetic, thrilling ode to being human
I first heard about this book when Savannah Brown did a video announcing it but I can't actually remember how much she said about it in that video, but I've been keeping a lookout since.
The main character Sidney is gay and has a Queer friend. This is an established fact at the start of the novel and is just a fact about the character. Homophobia is a topic of the book and the character was previously outed. This is not a major part of the book but also is, like real life. I mean, yes the character is gay and that affects the way people treat her but that's not the story. It does have a Queer romance. You know what I mean. Hopefully.
This novel's plot does have thriller elements and it could be written as a thriller. The main reason I wouldn't classify it as a thriller due to pacing and that's not where the emphasis is. It reminds me of Cat Clarke's book (which are I love and are also often Queer), in its dark contemporary dealing with real things and a bit of mystery but has more focused on character development.
I really liked the writing style of this book, it's pretty sometimes without being too much. It's told in first-person and works great for the story.
Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for Noises in the Night. I really like this book and I wish I was a better reviewer. I mean I'm literally reviewing when I should have reviewed it last year, but you can still buy it now.
Read: 5/3/2019 to 17/3/2019
Reviewed: 20/03/2019 - 26/02/2020
Published Date: 7th March 2019
Publisher: Penguin
Source: Netgalley/Owned
Content Warning for Book: Death; Death of a Parent; Domestic Abuse (Mostly off-page); Homophobia; Harsementl Stalking; Life endangerment; Being Outed; Forced Outed;
Content Warnings are given by the author. I also have trigger warnings and things this book contains in my tags as always (my old system).
Disclaimier: I received e-arc of this book from NetGalley and the Publisher. I also brought it before I finished reading it and I late with my review again as this came out on 7th March 2019.
A stunning coming-of-age tale from poet and writer Savannah Brown.Sydney's dad is the only psychiatrist for miles around in their small Ohio town.
He is also unexpectedly dead.
Sydney believes the crash was anything but an accident. And when the threatening texts begin, and June Copeland - homecoming queen and golden child - appears at his funeral out of nowhere, she's sure of it.
But through Sydney's newfound relationship with June, she's given a glimpse of a life without the darkness of an unresolved grief and the chance, just maybe, of a fresh start.
Until it's clear that the secrets won't go away, and the truth might bring everything crashing down...
Imperfect friendships, the shadow of grief and the sweet pain of romance - this is a poetic, thrilling ode to being human
I first heard about this book when Savannah Brown did a video announcing it but I can't actually remember how much she said about it in that video, but I've been keeping a lookout since.
The main character Sidney is gay and has a Queer friend. This is an established fact at the start of the novel and is just a fact about the character. Homophobia is a topic of the book and the character was previously outed. This is not a major part of the book but also is, like real life. I mean, yes the character is gay and that affects the way people treat her but that's not the story. It does have a Queer romance. You know what I mean. Hopefully.
This novel's plot does have thriller elements and it could be written as a thriller. The main reason I wouldn't classify it as a thriller due to pacing and that's not where the emphasis is. It reminds me of Cat Clarke's book (which are I love and are also often Queer), in its dark contemporary dealing with real things and a bit of mystery but has more focused on character development.
I really liked the writing style of this book, it's pretty sometimes without being too much. It's told in first-person and works great for the story.
Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for Noises in the Night. I really like this book and I wish I was a better reviewer. I mean I'm literally reviewing when I should have reviewed it last year, but you can still buy it now.
Read: 5/3/2019 to 17/3/2019
Reviewed: 20/03/2019 - 26/02/2020
Published Date: 7th March 2019
Publisher: Penguin
Source: Netgalley/Owned
Content Warning for Book: Death; Death of a Parent; Domestic Abuse (Mostly off-page); Homophobia; Harsementl Stalking; Life endangerment; Being Outed; Forced Outed;
Content Warnings are given by the author. I also have trigger warnings and things this book contains in my tags as always (my old system).
Disclaimier: I received e-arc of this book from NetGalley and the Publisher. I also brought it before I finished reading it and I late with my review again as this came out on 7th March 2019.
Saturday, 22 February 2020
Writing Ghosts and Statements.
I finished and sent the application. A second later I realised that in the first sentence of the personal statement, I had written "Closing" instead of "Closest". I sent it to two people to proofread it and not only did one of them not tell me, one had noticed and somehow thought it was a film "term".
How in the context of the sentence. I've yet to get a confirmation email, so I've tempted to the delete the application and re-submit but I'm scared if I did that then something would go wrong and I wouldn't be able to actually resubmit it.
I don't if going back to college is a good idea but I'm not sure what else to do. Maybe I should apply for the Access for Science course and go study dead bodies. I want to be able to cope better. I know I'm in a funk and weird state right now. Everything makes me cry for some reason. Really silly things.
Decided to get with the kids and finally joined Tiktok, maybe this is what will get me internet fame lol. I know think its kinda funny that my generation had Vine and I never used it.
I'm writing the necromancer idea and I have thoughts about a story series. It's fun and petty.
My boiler is still turning it's self off, so saving turns on powers but my stair carpets feel wet. It's getting fixed, its needs a park which I guess isn't in.
I'm gonna go because I'm tired and my dog is singing. The StrangeAthon starts on Monday and I have some editing to do.
How in the context of the sentence. I've yet to get a confirmation email, so I've tempted to the delete the application and re-submit but I'm scared if I did that then something would go wrong and I wouldn't be able to actually resubmit it.
I don't if going back to college is a good idea but I'm not sure what else to do. Maybe I should apply for the Access for Science course and go study dead bodies. I want to be able to cope better. I know I'm in a funk and weird state right now. Everything makes me cry for some reason. Really silly things.
Decided to get with the kids and finally joined Tiktok, maybe this is what will get me internet fame lol. I know think its kinda funny that my generation had Vine and I never used it.
I'm writing the necromancer idea and I have thoughts about a story series. It's fun and petty.
My boiler is still turning it's self off, so saving turns on powers but my stair carpets feel wet. It's getting fixed, its needs a park which I guess isn't in.
I'm gonna go because I'm tired and my dog is singing. The StrangeAthon starts on Monday and I have some editing to do.
Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Book Review: One Little Lie by Sam Carrington
Connie Summers is back, but she claiming she met you before.
My name is Alice. And my son is a murderer. Deborah's son was killed four years ago. Alice's son is in prison for committing that crime. Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son's wrongs. Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control They call it mother's intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?"This is the second book in the series, it says this no way directly, not in marketing or online, but the main character Loser McGree first appears in 'Bad Sister'. The author also considers these to be stand alones. Well, here to say that she is in fact wrong. I won't often to say that but if two books deal with the same characters that is in fact a series and not a stand-alone. Lying about it only makes the reader confused about why are there referencing things as though they've been explained in another book and then annoyed by having to track down that information yourself. Congrats, Carrington you wrote a series. You can't claim them as a stand-alone, especially when Thriller Series standard has already been established for the over hundred years now. Same characters, completely stand-alone cases. I can read any Sherlock Holmes story in any order but don't make it stand-alone.
It's not really Carrington's fault, this is clearly marketing ploy as Stand-Alone Thrillers are the rage right now. It's a bad one. It's marketing who should clarify that characters return, instead of the returning characters not even on the blurb, which odd and bad choice. Did no one but the author like these characters? Their editor had to, right?
This book has several POVs but mainly follows Alice and Loser McGree whose real name I can't remember. It's also not on the blurb making it so much harder to find out. Okay, I'm annoyed but not that annoyed really. Her actual name is Connie Summers, she a psychologist that dealt with convicted criminals but now is trying to build a practice with their victims instead. This somehow involves her investigating a case that has very little to do with her but She is the protagonist. Would this story work better without her? possibly. She the catalysis for a lot of things to happens so it makes sense that she there. She just the most blandest, unlikable character. Maybe if I had read the first book or had gone in knowing it was a sequel, then Connie would feel more like a person instead of a list of past plot points.
This also involves a character refuses to speak for years until Connie talks to him, because convenient. I sort of specialise in Silent characters, it is fine and not offensive in anyway. It's a character who has reason to be quiet.
This is an interesting idea, the plot works having several narrators but has several asinine moments, though it quite far in the book so would be a spoiler. There are ways that actually work successfully. The Twist is pretty good.
Overall, I give this 3/5 stars for Bad Phyocogist. All the characters are unlikable, which I'm fine with, their real sin is them being as interesting as a sack of potatoes that are starting to root. I haven't read 'Bad Sister' nor am I ever likely to, even being half intrigued by the plot. I wouldn't go out my way to or any future books in this series.
Read: 4/4/2019 to 9/4/2019
Finished Review: 19/2/2020
Narractor/s: Rachel Atkins
Published Date: 6/9/2018
Publisher: HarperCollins Audio Download
Source: Library
Content Warning for Book: Don't remember.
Saturday, 15 February 2020
Chopped Captions
Another week, and more writing not having been done. I have had urges to write, but all right before I'm going to bed. I guess I could just get back up and write for the 10 minutes while that lasts.
I have very kind to Saturday Rachel by leaving them this blog to write and to caption a video that I want to go up today at 4pm. I've been quite good at captioning my videos as I upload them. I have even gone back and captioned a past video. Captioning is still a pain in the butt. Automatic captions are getting better, but then that leaves room for more asinine mistakes. I'm dyslexic which does making sure captions are correct is harder and then having to take forever to figure out how to spell a word. Normally, if it took me that long in my writing, I would just change the word, but I can't do that with captions.
I did do almost half of the video yesterday. I've said this before that if I made any money from YouTube, I would use that to hire someone to do captions for my videos. It definitely necessary to have captions, but it's just hard thing for me to do. The internet is now being a pain, so I can't currently load the captions to fix them and when it loads I keep accidentally going to the start of the video.
I have now finished captioning the video because I multi-task and was writing this while captioning and watching Chopped. I don't know if it's odd that I watch TV while doing captions. I mean not TV I'm deeply invested in but still, I'm playing attention at both. Captions feel like such a time suck otherwise.
I should also take my dogs a proper walk and pick up a package. It's raining now so I have two soaking wet dogs anytime I let them out. One of them is scared of towels, you can probably guess who, especially when I tell you that the other one thinks getting dried by a towel is game.
This seems like enough. I should do stuff. Stuff. Stuff.
Also, the snow was an inconvenience that had no concisely.
I have very kind to Saturday Rachel by leaving them this blog to write and to caption a video that I want to go up today at 4pm. I've been quite good at captioning my videos as I upload them. I have even gone back and captioned a past video. Captioning is still a pain in the butt. Automatic captions are getting better, but then that leaves room for more asinine mistakes. I'm dyslexic which does making sure captions are correct is harder and then having to take forever to figure out how to spell a word. Normally, if it took me that long in my writing, I would just change the word, but I can't do that with captions.
I did do almost half of the video yesterday. I've said this before that if I made any money from YouTube, I would use that to hire someone to do captions for my videos. It definitely necessary to have captions, but it's just hard thing for me to do. The internet is now being a pain, so I can't currently load the captions to fix them and when it loads I keep accidentally going to the start of the video.
I have now finished captioning the video because I multi-task and was writing this while captioning and watching Chopped. I don't know if it's odd that I watch TV while doing captions. I mean not TV I'm deeply invested in but still, I'm playing attention at both. Captions feel like such a time suck otherwise.
I should also take my dogs a proper walk and pick up a package. It's raining now so I have two soaking wet dogs anytime I let them out. One of them is scared of towels, you can probably guess who, especially when I tell you that the other one thinks getting dried by a towel is game.
This seems like enough. I should do stuff. Stuff. Stuff.
Also, the snow was an inconvenience that had no concisely.
Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Book Review: The King of Crows by Libba Bray
After all these ghosts, are we ever never haunted?
After the horrifying explosion that claimed one of their own, the Diviners find themselves wanted by the US government, and on the brink of war with the King of Crows.
While Memphis and Isaiah run for their lives from the mysterious Shadow Men, Isaiah receives a startling vision of a girl, Sarah Beth Olson, who could shift the balance in their struggle for peace. Sarah Beth says she knows how to stop the King of Crows-but, she will need the Diviners' help to do it.
Elsewhere, Jericho has returned after his escape from Jake Marlowe's estate, where he has learned the shocking truth behind the King of Crow's plans. Now, the Diviners must travel to Bountiful, Nebraska, in hopes of joining forces with Sarah Beth and to stop the King of Crows and his army of the dead forever.
But as rumors of towns becoming ghost towns and the dead developing unprecedented powers begin to surface, all hope seems to be lost.
In this sweeping finale, The Diviners will be forced to confront their greatest fears and learn to rely on one another if they hope to save the nation, and world from catastrophe...
Back for the fourth and final book of The Diviners series by Libba Bray. I have only reviewed the even number of the series, it was not a conscious decision, just happens to be the ones I have received e-arcs of. I have given each book in the series 4/5 stars, so the average is pretty easy to figure out. In summary, I have liked all the books but had minor issues with them and was excited to see how this series finished. I'm gonna write this review on the basis that you have read the last three books, so expect spoilers for those but as always I will avoid spoilers for the actual book I'm reviewing.
They are a lot of major characters in this series, and Bray does handle the challenge well. This time the characters are forced to split up meaning that we get a lot of new interactions between characters that have not spent a lot of alone time with each other through the series.
Ling is the character I relate to the most being an asexual Disabled character, having a disabled character in a world where she could have been healed, has always been a little weird, but I have always been glad she wasn't magically clued as that is a hurtful trope when comes to disability. I mean I guess if she had been born with a disability instead of gaining one from illness, then she could not have been healed. For some reason, I felt more for her in this book, and I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm just feeling more sensitive than a few months ago when I read the third book. This book series continues to be Diverse and I think done well. I wish more books were like this, a Diverse group of people fighting ghosts; or more likely trying to save the day.
I ended up listening to the audiobook of this book like I consumed the last book in the series. I'm not been doing a lot of physical reading lately (finally getting back to reading my e-arcs) and being really excited for this book I ended up getting the audiobook once I had been missed the released date. The audiobook as read by January LaVoy is great and a good way to consume this book.
My only complaint is that pacing in the middle was a bit slow, but I also understand why it ended up that way. It just seemed very slow re-pacing to the main action.
Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for Black Feathers. A satisfying end for this story and characters. They were things I wish we knew more about but I get that realistically not everything can be explored especially when we have so many major characters. This is a great series about ghosts literal and historical. Honestly, I'm not sure how to review the last book in series.
Read: 10/2/2020 to 8/2/2020
Reviewed: 12/2/2020
Published Date: 4th February 2020
Publisher: Atom
Source: Netgalley/Audible
I received this book as an e-arc from the Publisher for free, my reviews are always honest and my own opinion.
Content Warning for Book: Domestic Abuse; Death; Death of children; racism; hate crimes;
After the horrifying explosion that claimed one of their own, the Diviners find themselves wanted by the US government, and on the brink of war with the King of Crows.While Memphis and Isaiah run for their lives from the mysterious Shadow Men, Isaiah receives a startling vision of a girl, Sarah Beth Olson, who could shift the balance in their struggle for peace. Sarah Beth says she knows how to stop the King of Crows-but, she will need the Diviners' help to do it.
Elsewhere, Jericho has returned after his escape from Jake Marlowe's estate, where he has learned the shocking truth behind the King of Crow's plans. Now, the Diviners must travel to Bountiful, Nebraska, in hopes of joining forces with Sarah Beth and to stop the King of Crows and his army of the dead forever.
But as rumors of towns becoming ghost towns and the dead developing unprecedented powers begin to surface, all hope seems to be lost.
In this sweeping finale, The Diviners will be forced to confront their greatest fears and learn to rely on one another if they hope to save the nation, and world from catastrophe...
Back for the fourth and final book of The Diviners series by Libba Bray. I have only reviewed the even number of the series, it was not a conscious decision, just happens to be the ones I have received e-arcs of. I have given each book in the series 4/5 stars, so the average is pretty easy to figure out. In summary, I have liked all the books but had minor issues with them and was excited to see how this series finished. I'm gonna write this review on the basis that you have read the last three books, so expect spoilers for those but as always I will avoid spoilers for the actual book I'm reviewing.
They are a lot of major characters in this series, and Bray does handle the challenge well. This time the characters are forced to split up meaning that we get a lot of new interactions between characters that have not spent a lot of alone time with each other through the series.
Ling is the character I relate to the most being an asexual Disabled character, having a disabled character in a world where she could have been healed, has always been a little weird, but I have always been glad she wasn't magically clued as that is a hurtful trope when comes to disability. I mean I guess if she had been born with a disability instead of gaining one from illness, then she could not have been healed. For some reason, I felt more for her in this book, and I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm just feeling more sensitive than a few months ago when I read the third book. This book series continues to be Diverse and I think done well. I wish more books were like this, a Diverse group of people fighting ghosts; or more likely trying to save the day.
I ended up listening to the audiobook of this book like I consumed the last book in the series. I'm not been doing a lot of physical reading lately (finally getting back to reading my e-arcs) and being really excited for this book I ended up getting the audiobook once I had been missed the released date. The audiobook as read by January LaVoy is great and a good way to consume this book.
My only complaint is that pacing in the middle was a bit slow, but I also understand why it ended up that way. It just seemed very slow re-pacing to the main action.
Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for Black Feathers. A satisfying end for this story and characters. They were things I wish we knew more about but I get that realistically not everything can be explored especially when we have so many major characters. This is a great series about ghosts literal and historical. Honestly, I'm not sure how to review the last book in series.
Read: 10/2/2020 to 8/2/2020
Reviewed: 12/2/2020
Published Date: 4th February 2020
Publisher: Atom
Source: Netgalley/Audible
I received this book as an e-arc from the Publisher for free, my reviews are always honest and my own opinion.
Content Warning for Book: Domestic Abuse; Death; Death of children; racism; hate crimes;
Book Review: Language of Cherries by Jen Marie Hawkins.
Language of Cherries or just badly taking from other people's cultures.
When Evie Perez is cut off from everything she loves and forced to move to Iceland for the summer, she takes her canvas and paintbrushes into the picturesque cherry orchard behind her guesthouse. She stains her lips with stolen cherries in the midnight sun and paints a boy she’s never met.
Oskar is startled to discover Evie in his family’s orchard, and even more surprised to see himself on her canvas. Too ashamed to reveal his stutter, he remains silent as Evie returns day after day to paint, spilling confessions she wouldn’t even tell her priest.
As Evie’s life back home unravels, Oskar wants to comfort her with words, but he knows he’s waited too long, so he uses music instead. But when it all comes to the surface, he knows that if Evie can’t forgive him for lying, he may never forgive himself for surviving.
I am never going to read Jen Marie Hawkins again. I never enjoy this book which is the important thing when reading for fun and entertainment, but that's not the reason. No, I'm never gonna read Jen Marie Hawkins again because in the acknowledgements she thanks her husband by saying he's "The Joker to her Harley" which tells me she does not understand relationships. I know tons of people somehow miss that Joker and Harley are an abusive relationship, but seriously you need help if that's your ideal. The darker interpretation is that she outing her husbands in the acknowledgement. I don't normally review what authors say in their acknowledgements unless to see if they had information given by their knowledge on the subject the book deals with. Like if they used sensitive readers which Hawkins did.
This is another book with a weird stereotypic Scottish character who has red hair and uses Lad and Lass as though she is 180 years old. It's not that she uses lad or lass instead of boy or girl. No, it's that she says it at nasal as though you might forget that she a walking stereotype. Every other sentence, at times. The Catholic main character asks the Scottish character who named Agnes by the way, another reason why I think she 180 if she is Catholic. I get American wouldn't know how bad that is to do, but it's just a terrible thing to ask someone in general. This a book that wants to be about religion, but goes in no
I almost DNF the book when she appeared, even before I knew she had red hair because I knew by the way she was described I wasn't going to enjoy this nonsense. However, I thought that was kinda silly to be my last straw. They were other things in the book that I wasn't enjoying but this book had revealed itself to have one of my pet projects. This is a proof so I'm not meant to quote from it, so let's call this paraphrasing. Ages is called pushy like most Scots. What? Frankly, that's a new one and blatantly American thing to say. Like it's Heritage has the most to do with nature, rather than culture which varies town to town.
This a contemporary with magic cherry trees. It has the usual tropes, including the one I dedicate too much time, it seems, to discussing.
That's right a Silent Protagonist, okay, I don't expect everyone who reads this review to know what that is. Basically, a Silent Protagonist is the main character who for some reason does not speak for the majority of the novel. Sometimes this because they have a medical disorder where they are mute or have a mental disorder such as Selective Mutism but most of the time they're just doing it for kicks. So I have Selective Mutism so I'm interested whenever I see this in media, and since it's relevant, I also have a speech impediment and a slight stutter. Actually, a lot of kids do develop anxiety around talking due to speech impediments (not me, I just don't know how people work) so this interesting in its realistic but it's a 17-year-old boy that's decided not to talk to a single person because he dislikes her and then he fancies her. I've seen worse ways of doing it and he is my first boy. It goes on too long and Evie really should have figured out that he understood English, even if he didn't speak it. It never discussed properly why he did it.
The way language is used in this book is very performative and doesn't feel natural at all. Random mixing in Icelandic words into English sentences for no reason and the same with Spanish ones in a way that does not flow naturally. I'm not someone who has two first languages. I have Scots and figuring out what of those words don't exist in English, which is another reason why Agnes play as stereotype more than a general. I have been learning Gaelic so I can tell you that Welsh and Gaelic are not the same thing. I could have you that before, but now I know more of the differences. I could get Confusing Irish and Scottish Gaelic since they have similarities but besides being both Celtic languages they not that similar.
English is a useful language to have, but it has no sentimental value because its not our language. It's not Scots or Gaelic, its something that was forced on to us. I probably speak English to my kids if I lived in a foreign country because it's my first language and English is a useful language to know. No idea why his dad thought it was important they know both through, like its a thing. It made it seem like it was a sentimental thing for him when they living in Iceland and he was the Icelandic parent.
I think the biggest problem is that I don't like the main characters. I feel sorry for them sometimes but they haven't presented themselves as real people. This book is told in the third person closely following Evie and an obvious fake journal by Oskar, who writes in verse. Him writing in verse does nothing for me and often is not poetic at all. I'm not expert on poetry and I didn't read any of his poems out loud, so I don't have the tools to judge fully, however, I do have a Higher in English and learnt different forms of poems and I do like the style of poetry its meant to be but it doesn't feel like poetry, just random space lining which this book had a lot.
This isn't the novel's fault but the e-arc I received was badly formatted. Sometimes I could not read Evie's parts because the lines went off the page into the text into the next page. The Kindle version was fine, but that meant I had to keep switching formats from the preferred method of reading e-arcs. So in terms of fair reviewing, that probably lessen my enjoyment of this book but it didn't have much to take from.
Overall, I give this book 2/5 stars for Rotten Cherries. I know I obsessed over the Scottish stereotype thing but hey I'm Scottish and it was annoyingly distracting any time the character appeared. Nevermind, that Oskar was meant to be half Scottish, he was written very American. It's hard to get anything perfect if you don't belong to that culture, but they was literally no reason she was Scottish anyway. She could have just been English and it would have been the same thing. Druid is not a Scottish thing in our Culture, sure Paganish and witches but so is the rest of Great Britain.
Most importantly I didn't like the characters and they were the story.
On a serious note, I'm sort of joking about never reading again because of the Harley thing, Hawkins is a decent writer but this book does just a lot of things wrong for me. I would be interested to see more Own Voice reviews of this book about the elements that I can't speak on. This book just doesn't leave me excited to read anymore but never say never. This a debut.
Read: 5/2/2020 to 11/2/2020
Reviewed: 12/2/2020
Published Date: 11th February 2020
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Source: Netgalley
I received this book as an e-arc from the Publisher for free, my reviews are always honest and my own opinion.
Content Warning for Book: Fire; Car Accident; Death; Dementia;
Oskar is startled to discover Evie in his family’s orchard, and even more surprised to see himself on her canvas. Too ashamed to reveal his stutter, he remains silent as Evie returns day after day to paint, spilling confessions she wouldn’t even tell her priest.
As Evie’s life back home unravels, Oskar wants to comfort her with words, but he knows he’s waited too long, so he uses music instead. But when it all comes to the surface, he knows that if Evie can’t forgive him for lying, he may never forgive himself for surviving.
I am never going to read Jen Marie Hawkins again. I never enjoy this book which is the important thing when reading for fun and entertainment, but that's not the reason. No, I'm never gonna read Jen Marie Hawkins again because in the acknowledgements she thanks her husband by saying he's "The Joker to her Harley" which tells me she does not understand relationships. I know tons of people somehow miss that Joker and Harley are an abusive relationship, but seriously you need help if that's your ideal. The darker interpretation is that she outing her husbands in the acknowledgement. I don't normally review what authors say in their acknowledgements unless to see if they had information given by their knowledge on the subject the book deals with. Like if they used sensitive readers which Hawkins did.
This is another book with a weird stereotypic Scottish character who has red hair and uses Lad and Lass as though she is 180 years old. It's not that she uses lad or lass instead of boy or girl. No, it's that she says it at nasal as though you might forget that she a walking stereotype. Every other sentence, at times. The Catholic main character asks the Scottish character who named Agnes by the way, another reason why I think she 180 if she is Catholic. I get American wouldn't know how bad that is to do, but it's just a terrible thing to ask someone in general. This a book that wants to be about religion, but goes in no
I almost DNF the book when she appeared, even before I knew she had red hair because I knew by the way she was described I wasn't going to enjoy this nonsense. However, I thought that was kinda silly to be my last straw. They were other things in the book that I wasn't enjoying but this book had revealed itself to have one of my pet projects. This is a proof so I'm not meant to quote from it, so let's call this paraphrasing. Ages is called pushy like most Scots. What? Frankly, that's a new one and blatantly American thing to say. Like it's Heritage has the most to do with nature, rather than culture which varies town to town.
This a contemporary with magic cherry trees. It has the usual tropes, including the one I dedicate too much time, it seems, to discussing.
That's right a Silent Protagonist, okay, I don't expect everyone who reads this review to know what that is. Basically, a Silent Protagonist is the main character who for some reason does not speak for the majority of the novel. Sometimes this because they have a medical disorder where they are mute or have a mental disorder such as Selective Mutism but most of the time they're just doing it for kicks. So I have Selective Mutism so I'm interested whenever I see this in media, and since it's relevant, I also have a speech impediment and a slight stutter. Actually, a lot of kids do develop anxiety around talking due to speech impediments (not me, I just don't know how people work) so this interesting in its realistic but it's a 17-year-old boy that's decided not to talk to a single person because he dislikes her and then he fancies her. I've seen worse ways of doing it and he is my first boy. It goes on too long and Evie really should have figured out that he understood English, even if he didn't speak it. It never discussed properly why he did it.
The way language is used in this book is very performative and doesn't feel natural at all. Random mixing in Icelandic words into English sentences for no reason and the same with Spanish ones in a way that does not flow naturally. I'm not someone who has two first languages. I have Scots and figuring out what of those words don't exist in English, which is another reason why Agnes play as stereotype more than a general. I have been learning Gaelic so I can tell you that Welsh and Gaelic are not the same thing. I could have you that before, but now I know more of the differences. I could get Confusing Irish and Scottish Gaelic since they have similarities but besides being both Celtic languages they not that similar.
English is a useful language to have, but it has no sentimental value because its not our language. It's not Scots or Gaelic, its something that was forced on to us. I probably speak English to my kids if I lived in a foreign country because it's my first language and English is a useful language to know. No idea why his dad thought it was important they know both through, like its a thing. It made it seem like it was a sentimental thing for him when they living in Iceland and he was the Icelandic parent.
I think the biggest problem is that I don't like the main characters. I feel sorry for them sometimes but they haven't presented themselves as real people. This book is told in the third person closely following Evie and an obvious fake journal by Oskar, who writes in verse. Him writing in verse does nothing for me and often is not poetic at all. I'm not expert on poetry and I didn't read any of his poems out loud, so I don't have the tools to judge fully, however, I do have a Higher in English and learnt different forms of poems and I do like the style of poetry its meant to be but it doesn't feel like poetry, just random space lining which this book had a lot.
This isn't the novel's fault but the e-arc I received was badly formatted. Sometimes I could not read Evie's parts because the lines went off the page into the text into the next page. The Kindle version was fine, but that meant I had to keep switching formats from the preferred method of reading e-arcs. So in terms of fair reviewing, that probably lessen my enjoyment of this book but it didn't have much to take from.
Overall, I give this book 2/5 stars for Rotten Cherries. I know I obsessed over the Scottish stereotype thing but hey I'm Scottish and it was annoyingly distracting any time the character appeared. Nevermind, that Oskar was meant to be half Scottish, he was written very American. It's hard to get anything perfect if you don't belong to that culture, but they was literally no reason she was Scottish anyway. She could have just been English and it would have been the same thing. Druid is not a Scottish thing in our Culture, sure Paganish and witches but so is the rest of Great Britain.
Most importantly I didn't like the characters and they were the story.
On a serious note, I'm sort of joking about never reading again because of the Harley thing, Hawkins is a decent writer but this book does just a lot of things wrong for me. I would be interested to see more Own Voice reviews of this book about the elements that I can't speak on. This book just doesn't leave me excited to read anymore but never say never. This a debut.
Read: 5/2/2020 to 11/2/2020
Reviewed: 12/2/2020
Published Date: 11th February 2020
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Source: Netgalley
I received this book as an e-arc from the Publisher for free, my reviews are always honest and my own opinion.
Content Warning for Book: Fire; Car Accident; Death; Dementia;
Saturday, 8 February 2020
Pending Snow
I have been ill now for a week. It's a pain in the butt. I feel bad basically, and like I can't breathe right.
I never went to the cinema on Friday due to my energy levels being crap and having been behind on things I wanted to do, including writing this post. I regret it now because it's meant to snow until Thursday which the day films re-set. I don't miss out on more films. I was meant to be going somewhere on Monday, nothing fun but still annoying for it to have to be postponed.
Not sure if I go or not, depends on how heavy it is. The roads tend to be impassable when does snow, so unless it's very light then I won't be going.
There's not much going on right now and been too ill to write much. There's some big storm coming, the house is making noises. The wind is that strong, it's doing it to the doors. I want to write and want to design new graphics for a project. But who knows when I'll get around to that.
I never went to the cinema on Friday due to my energy levels being crap and having been behind on things I wanted to do, including writing this post. I regret it now because it's meant to snow until Thursday which the day films re-set. I don't miss out on more films. I was meant to be going somewhere on Monday, nothing fun but still annoying for it to have to be postponed.
Not sure if I go or not, depends on how heavy it is. The roads tend to be impassable when does snow, so unless it's very light then I won't be going.
There's not much going on right now and been too ill to write much. There's some big storm coming, the house is making noises. The wind is that strong, it's doing it to the doors. I want to write and want to design new graphics for a project. But who knows when I'll get around to that.
Wednesday, 5 February 2020
Book Review: Wranglestone by Darren Charlton
In a Zombie Apocalypse, you may as well live next to a Super Volcano.
Winter was the only season every Lake-Lander feared…
In a post-apocalyptic America, a community survives in a national park, surrounded by water that keeps the Dead at bay. But when winter comes, there’s nothing to stop them from crossing the ice.
Then homebody Peter puts the camp in danger by naively allowing a stranger to come ashore and he’s forced to leave the community of Wranglestone. Now he must help rancher Cooper, the boy he’s always watched from afar, herd the Dead from their shores before the lake freezes over.
But as love blossoms, a dark discovery reveals the sanctuary’s secret past. One that forces the pair to question everything they’ve ever known.
This another post-apocalyptic Zombie book but this time it's Queer, therefore better than all the other zombie books. This book did take me a while to read, not the book's fault. I found myself enjoying the book but also having no will to physically read, which is how things go sometimes. I only say that as an excuse to as why I'm realising this review a day away from the publication date and if I get the beginning blurry.
I love zombies and love stories with Queer stories. Okay, I don't love zombies, but I'm was excited to see a Queer genre YA book. I do like zombie stories if done well. It's nice that the characters being queer isn't made a big deal of, and never comes into the plot. It's just character trait and just happens to be a Queer romance. This is M/M I have seen most reviewers calling this book "Gay" but no labels are used within the text and M/M doesn't make the characters gay. LGBTQ+ people, or Queer as an easy, assessable umbrella term when describing people's whose labels you don't know. It's not discussed at all in the book, but its apocalypse you would hope that people would just get on their lives in the best way possible.
Though, don't worry it does sticks to the zombie format of humanity being capable of terrible things.
The romance is really good, even some hot moments which makes me feel odd now that I'm so much older than the characters. I wished we spent more time with character development which I guess is kinda odd for a genre book. I just want character development in the backdrop of zombies waiting to eat everyone.
Peter is a Soft boy who is good at sewing (important skill once clothes shop stop being a thing) and not so much Survivalist skill, despite having spent most of his life during the zombie apocalypse, not remembering a time before.
The setting is a natural park, where people were evacuated to during the start of the outbreak. More specifically, the community lives on a lake in still houses, to keep the zombies away from them. So definitely cool.
This book is set up for a series, with a lot of plot elements that happen m. There are things I would like explored.
I can't comment on how gory this book is because I don't notice gore unless someone is being distractedly over the top with it. This is a zombie apocalypse so there is some gore.
Overall, I give this 4/5 stars for Car Holes. This a debut and I know I didn't read it in the best way for full enjoyment. I will stick with the series, a book two has been confirmed by the author and will buy my own copy of this book once I recover from investment in concert tickets.
Read: 21/12/2019 to 2/2/2020
Reviewed: 4/2/2020
Published Date: 6th February 2020
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
Source: Netgalley
I received this book as an e-arc from the Publisher, my reviews are always honest and my own opinion.
Content Warning for Book: Sexual Assualt referenced; Violence; Violent Death; enslavement; murder;
Winter was the only season every Lake-Lander feared…
In a post-apocalyptic America, a community survives in a national park, surrounded by water that keeps the Dead at bay. But when winter comes, there’s nothing to stop them from crossing the ice.
Then homebody Peter puts the camp in danger by naively allowing a stranger to come ashore and he’s forced to leave the community of Wranglestone. Now he must help rancher Cooper, the boy he’s always watched from afar, herd the Dead from their shores before the lake freezes over.
But as love blossoms, a dark discovery reveals the sanctuary’s secret past. One that forces the pair to question everything they’ve ever known.
This another post-apocalyptic Zombie book but this time it's Queer, therefore better than all the other zombie books. This book did take me a while to read, not the book's fault. I found myself enjoying the book but also having no will to physically read, which is how things go sometimes. I only say that as an excuse to as why I'm realising this review a day away from the publication date and if I get the beginning blurry.
I love zombies and love stories with Queer stories. Okay, I don't love zombies, but I'm was excited to see a Queer genre YA book. I do like zombie stories if done well. It's nice that the characters being queer isn't made a big deal of, and never comes into the plot. It's just character trait and just happens to be a Queer romance. This is M/M I have seen most reviewers calling this book "Gay" but no labels are used within the text and M/M doesn't make the characters gay. LGBTQ+ people, or Queer as an easy, assessable umbrella term when describing people's whose labels you don't know. It's not discussed at all in the book, but its apocalypse you would hope that people would just get on their lives in the best way possible.
Though, don't worry it does sticks to the zombie format of humanity being capable of terrible things.
The romance is really good, even some hot moments which makes me feel odd now that I'm so much older than the characters. I wished we spent more time with character development which I guess is kinda odd for a genre book. I just want character development in the backdrop of zombies waiting to eat everyone.
Peter is a Soft boy who is good at sewing (important skill once clothes shop stop being a thing) and not so much Survivalist skill, despite having spent most of his life during the zombie apocalypse, not remembering a time before.
The setting is a natural park, where people were evacuated to during the start of the outbreak. More specifically, the community lives on a lake in still houses, to keep the zombies away from them. So definitely cool.
This book is set up for a series, with a lot of plot elements that happen m. There are things I would like explored.
I can't comment on how gory this book is because I don't notice gore unless someone is being distractedly over the top with it. This is a zombie apocalypse so there is some gore.
Overall, I give this 4/5 stars for Car Holes. This a debut and I know I didn't read it in the best way for full enjoyment. I will stick with the series, a book two has been confirmed by the author and will buy my own copy of this book once I recover from investment in concert tickets.
Read: 21/12/2019 to 2/2/2020
Reviewed: 4/2/2020
Published Date: 6th February 2020
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
Source: Netgalley
I received this book as an e-arc from the Publisher, my reviews are always honest and my own opinion.
Content Warning for Book: Sexual Assualt referenced; Violence; Violent Death; enslavement; murder;
Book Review: All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins
What a Bi time to be Alive.
A warm, witty, important story about being a young woman today, and what it's like to find a real connection amid all the noise.
Vetty's never told anyone she gets feelings for girls as well as boys. It could have been easy once, back when Pez was the boy-next-door and she was still comfortable in her own skin. But then Mum died and her family moved out of London, and it felt much safer to keep her heart in hiding.
Now Vetty’s seventeen and heading back to London, she’s determined to start living out loud. Pez is the key, she’s sure. She was always fearless around him.
But Pez is different too. Guarded. It’s like their special connection never existed. And suddenly Vetty’s sure he’s hiding something too.
Okay, this is an odd one. I thought I had written a review for this book but can find no record of it. I definitely had thoughts when I finished this book and I looked everywhere to find a record of these thoughts but there must have got lost in the drama of another hospital stay. Not mine but I did a lot of dring this week.
This has a Bi main character realising she bi, but it's an odd one because it's like she doesn't have access to the internet. She knows she like girls at the start of the novel but has never heard of any Queer labelling outside of the LG, I mean Bi is the next letter after that. I mean this book name drops Tumblr and apparently before it managed to destroy itself. At the age of sixteen, she does a quiz to find out if she Bi, but knew she liked girls at age 12. It does have a moment of "I hate Labels" which is a trope I hate when it comes to people who are attracted to multiple genders. Yeah, some people haven't found labels they comfortable with, but why is always people who are Bi/Pan in media.
This book was meant to be set the during the time I read it and I have some tragic news. It either really dated or lives in a parallel universe as the plot involves NSFW things being still allowed on Tumblr. Maybe Tumblr will try to save itself and allowing NSFW stuff back on it. In the internet age, books can date so easy when listing the actual website. Even with a website that still exists, people who uses them changes. Facebook was for young people, not only parents use it. It's still good for group work but not much for else.
A lot of issues are dealt with in this book, including grief and addiction. The friendships and family relationships in this book were done well.
Overall, I give this book 3/5 stars for Wedding Planning. It is good to have a book about having someone know that they Queer and coming terms to the attraction to the opposite sex. The intention is very good, but cultures change over time, so I don't buy that main character even with her gay Aunts, I just don't buy she wouldn't have realised that multiple-gender attraction is a thing.
Read 24 July 2019, Finish Review 29/01/2020
Published Date 7 March 2019
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Source: Netgalley
I received this book as an e-arc from the Publisher, my reviews are always honest and my own opinion.
A warm, witty, important story about being a young woman today, and what it's like to find a real connection amid all the noise.
Vetty's never told anyone she gets feelings for girls as well as boys. It could have been easy once, back when Pez was the boy-next-door and she was still comfortable in her own skin. But then Mum died and her family moved out of London, and it felt much safer to keep her heart in hiding.
Now Vetty’s seventeen and heading back to London, she’s determined to start living out loud. Pez is the key, she’s sure. She was always fearless around him.
But Pez is different too. Guarded. It’s like their special connection never existed. And suddenly Vetty’s sure he’s hiding something too.
Okay, this is an odd one. I thought I had written a review for this book but can find no record of it. I definitely had thoughts when I finished this book and I looked everywhere to find a record of these thoughts but there must have got lost in the drama of another hospital stay. Not mine but I did a lot of dring this week.
This has a Bi main character realising she bi, but it's an odd one because it's like she doesn't have access to the internet. She knows she like girls at the start of the novel but has never heard of any Queer labelling outside of the LG, I mean Bi is the next letter after that. I mean this book name drops Tumblr and apparently before it managed to destroy itself. At the age of sixteen, she does a quiz to find out if she Bi, but knew she liked girls at age 12. It does have a moment of "I hate Labels" which is a trope I hate when it comes to people who are attracted to multiple genders. Yeah, some people haven't found labels they comfortable with, but why is always people who are Bi/Pan in media.
This book was meant to be set the during the time I read it and I have some tragic news. It either really dated or lives in a parallel universe as the plot involves NSFW things being still allowed on Tumblr. Maybe Tumblr will try to save itself and allowing NSFW stuff back on it. In the internet age, books can date so easy when listing the actual website. Even with a website that still exists, people who uses them changes. Facebook was for young people, not only parents use it. It's still good for group work but not much for else.
A lot of issues are dealt with in this book, including grief and addiction. The friendships and family relationships in this book were done well.
Overall, I give this book 3/5 stars for Wedding Planning. It is good to have a book about having someone know that they Queer and coming terms to the attraction to the opposite sex. The intention is very good, but cultures change over time, so I don't buy that main character even with her gay Aunts, I just don't buy she wouldn't have realised that multiple-gender attraction is a thing.
Read 24 July 2019, Finish Review 29/01/2020
Published Date 7 March 2019
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Source: Netgalley
I received this book as an e-arc from the Publisher, my reviews are always honest and my own opinion.
Saturday, 1 February 2020
Long Live Europe.
The world is terrible. Of course, none of us are shocked by this information.
As of today, I can not say I have been an EU citizen for my whole life. An application I was recently filling out asked me if I had been one and that question really hurt me. I'm still in Europe.
Apparently, travelling is the same for the next 11 months, so until 2021, Maybe we have another referendum then. I have politically burnt out and they know we all politically brunt out but it never stops now. Now that the UK is doomed, I can stop engaging for a while. Not forever, but maybe a month. It's not I had any power over anything. I'm Scottish and young so I'm used to it.
There's not much to say other than My Chemical Romance are playing in Ireland and I wish I had known that before booking an non-refundable hotel. It would probably cost me the same to go fly from Glasgow to Dublin, rather driving down to the bottom of England. I would have rather done that and I would have actually become the Queen of the Emos having seen MCR and Fall Out Boy in less than 24 hours of each of, in two different countries. Instead of the two different countries and several days. Life is life. Of course, all MCR tickets are now sold out, because of course.
I wish I just renewed my passport when it expired. I don't want a shitty British Blue Passport. I want a Scottish Blue Passport, I think we go for bright Blue. Maybe even Baby blue so it looks fake. England have always hated being European so this suites them, changing their passports to match the EU flag.
Someday I hope to be an EU citizen again. I'm no way attached to being a UK one anymore. It doesn't seem to be much benefit to being one.
As of today, I can not say I have been an EU citizen for my whole life. An application I was recently filling out asked me if I had been one and that question really hurt me. I'm still in Europe.
Apparently, travelling is the same for the next 11 months, so until 2021, Maybe we have another referendum then. I have politically burnt out and they know we all politically brunt out but it never stops now. Now that the UK is doomed, I can stop engaging for a while. Not forever, but maybe a month. It's not I had any power over anything. I'm Scottish and young so I'm used to it.
There's not much to say other than My Chemical Romance are playing in Ireland and I wish I had known that before booking an non-refundable hotel. It would probably cost me the same to go fly from Glasgow to Dublin, rather driving down to the bottom of England. I would have rather done that and I would have actually become the Queen of the Emos having seen MCR and Fall Out Boy in less than 24 hours of each of, in two different countries. Instead of the two different countries and several days. Life is life. Of course, all MCR tickets are now sold out, because of course.
I wish I just renewed my passport when it expired. I don't want a shitty British Blue Passport. I want a Scottish Blue Passport, I think we go for bright Blue. Maybe even Baby blue so it looks fake. England have always hated being European so this suites them, changing their passports to match the EU flag.
Someday I hope to be an EU citizen again. I'm no way attached to being a UK one anymore. It doesn't seem to be much benefit to being one.
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