Tag: Review blog

Award

Blog Award: Sunshine Blogger

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I was nominated by Becky’s Book Blog! She is so sweet and I have loved following her posts. Make sure you’re following her too!

I am so happy to receive this nomination. And I know it’s been awhile since I was tagged, but I got to it! It was fun to answer all of these questions. Hope you enjoy.

What is the Sunshine Blogger Award?

The Sunshine Blogger Award is given to those who are creative, positive, and inspiring, while spreading sunshine to the blogging community.

How Does It Work?

  • Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
  • Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.
  • Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
  • List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

One. If you could have a mythical creature as a pet, which would it be?

DRAGON. Oh my goodness. I LOVE dragons.

Two. What is your favorite book relationship?

Feysand.

Three. What is your favorite bookish trope, and why?

Enemies to lovers! This never gets old to me. I could read about it all the time.

Four. Who is your favorite minor/side character in a book?

I’d say probably Cassian from ACOTAR. Though this changes on a regular basis. I also love Kenji from the Shatter Me series. I clearly have an affinity for sass.

Five. Whats a song that you listen to all the time?

This changes every few days, but at the moment of writing this: Hunger by Florence + The Machine. It is MY JAM.

Six. Whats your most anticipated read of 2019?

Probably Finale (Caraval #3), or Vow of Thieves. Crescent City (SJM) was mine, but as most of us found out recently, we have to wait til 2020. WHY.

Seven. If you could live in the setting of any book, which would you pick?

Velaris. I want to live in the City of Starlight. I sleep so little anyways, lets make the most of it!

Eight. If you could have any magical ability which would you pick?

Oh my goodness. I have no idea. I think invisibility would be cool! Or just innate powers in general. Maybe some mind stuff. Flying. Any would be really awesome.

Nine. Who is your all time favorite author?

Sarah J. Maas, Brandon Sanderson, Leigh Bardugo, Stephanie Meyer, Mary E. Pearson, Cinda Williams Chima. Goodness gracious I could go on and on.

Ten. Whats your go to TV series?

FRIENDS. The Office. Parks & Rec. New Girl. How I Met Your Mother.

I’m a big fan of funny short episodes of things. I seriously rotate through these yearly. Currently I’m watching Friends again.

Eleven. What initially drew you to blogging?

I wanted an outlet for creativity. I was really suffering from postpartum depression (and living in New Mexico – which I absolutely hated). I was miserable and decided to give this a chance. I’ll forever be grateful it helped!

The Reading Chemist || Tonkin About Books || The Caffeinated Reader || Aurora Librialis || Bookishly Rebecca || A Book. A Thought. || The Writerly Way

Okay, so I only tagged 7 and I’m only doing 7 questions. Feeling rebellious today, so feel rebellious to not do this tag if you don’t want too!

Here are my questions:

  • What was the last book you raved about?
  • What is your least favorite trope?
  • What do you like to do for fun (besides reading)?
  • What kind of books are you drawn to during summer?
  • Who is a bookish couple that you just don’t like?
  • What is your favorite food?
  • What is one of your blogging goals for 2019?

Instagram || Goodreads

Book Review

Review: A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness

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ADOW

Rating: ☆☆☆☆ [truthfully some unknown number between 3 & 4]
Audience: Adult, a tiny bit of language, a few love scenes, lots of kisses & make-outs, some violence
Length: 579 pages
Author: Deborah Harkness
Publisher: Viking Penguin
Release Date: February 2011
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

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I AM SO AT ODDS WITH THIS BOOK.

Okay y’all. The reason my star rating is “somewhere between 3 & 4” is because goodness gracious, I can’t decide what I feel about this book! Stay with me here. My thoughts may get scattered.

I definitely give points to the concept. I think it’s cool! It’s a different spin on Vampires, Witches and Daemons. Also, it spans such big time periods! I actually like that Matthew is 1500+ years old because there is so much to his background.

My issue stems from the fact that, generally speaking, I hate vampire books. I read (and enjoyed) the Twilight series, but after that I felt done. Since then, if I realize a book is about vampires it usually ends up on my DNF shelf with no remorse.

Matthew being a vampire didn’t ruin this book for me, but his dynamic occasionally bugged me. He felt too possessive, demanding, stubborn, stealthy, etc. Which then made Diana appear way too meek, submissive, and just an overall sense of: STAND UP FOR YOURSELF WOMAN.

While I felt their love story had truly good moments, the action of the book never heightened enough. I kept asking myself, was that all? Maybe that’s why I’m at odds. I kept reading expecting more, but never got it, yet enjoyed it, but also skimmed it, and this run-on sentence could just keep going. It was too long of a book, with a lot of side stuff that got in the way, so I sped-read through those bits to get to the heart of the novel.

I will pick-up the second book and reconvene here for a determination as to whether the third book is worth my time.

Book leans more towards adult, very very little language. Some kiss/make-out scenes. A few love scenes that are semi-descriptive. A bit of violence.

Book Review

Review: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

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Being Mortal

 

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Adult, one curse word, no love scenes, or violence
Length: 282 pages
Author: Atul Gawande
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Release Date: October 7th, 2014
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

 

BOOK SUMMARY:

In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending

Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extends suffering.

Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession’s ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person’s last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.

Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal asserts that medicine can comfort and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life but also a good end.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

MAKES YOU RECONSIDER.

While personally, death and all qualifying concepts still frighten me to some degree, I enjoyed the truths this book emanated.

Death is a hard conversation, and those right in the line of fire aren’t always getting the best that could be given them. NOT because of horrible doctors or anything to that affect [within regards to this book], just because, all of us are needing to learn how to ask the right questions. There’s so much more in those last few months of life that could be better handled if all of us approached it differently.

This book really opened my eyes to that line of thinking. What trade-offs are you willing to give for maybe a chance at having more time? We all will eventually have someone in our lives (or unfortunately, be this person) that wants to truly understand what’s happening. I feel marginally more prepared to handle these issues in the future. I appreciate Dr. Gawande’s take and how he addressed the topics and his own short-comings.

Hospice, assisted living, and other entities of this sort can be a lot more powerful when programs are appropriately provided and everyone understands the essence of care needed to help patients have the best day, they can at that moment.

A quick, thought-provoking read. One curse word was used. Appropriate for any audience comfortable with confronting the realities of mortality.

 

Book Review

Review: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

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Before We Were Yours

 

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Adult, no language, child violence/abuse/neglect, no love scenes
Length: 342 pages
Author: Lisa Wingate
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: June 6th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

TAKES A LOT OUT OF YOU.

Oh this book. Oh my heart. WHY ARE PEOPLE THE WAY THAT THEY ARE? It’s one thing to completely fictionalize something, but it’s another to know that it’s a historical fiction.

CRAP LIKE THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Rill and her siblings are swept on the most horrible river of life. I was only moderately appeased by the end, because things yes, do end ‘well’, but then you remember once again all the trauma that they went through and it pulls on your heart strings again.

Be wary that this may be too much for some readers. Thankfully, things aren’t described in depth, but things are insinuated that makes you hug any small child you know tighter.

I enjoyed the perspective of Avery Stafford, but didn’t know if it was totally necessary. I felt it was more added to help give light to the shadows of the past which I do appreciate. There was just some bits that weren’t needed.

Better suited for someone a bit older, no language that I can recall. A lot of child abuse, neglect, and violence. No love scenes, a kiss.