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YA MYSTERY/ REALISTIC FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

book review for "The book of moons" by k.m herbert

6/14/2020

4 Comments

 
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Disclaimer: This review is spoiler free except for the parts labelled as spoiler
Book: The Book of Moons
Author: K.M Herbert
Page Number: 218 Pages
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4/ 5 stars

“‘It means eternity.’ She brushed Kira’s hair. ‘The beginnings are the endings to our beginnings and the like’”

Synopsis: Sixteen year old Kathy is on the run from the orphanage that she and her best friend, Sinead, had resided in. Their mission is to make it to Dublin but matters get complicated when Kathy wakes up to find that she is in an Irish Traveller camp, miles away from Dublin. In order to enlist the Traveller camp’s help in getting her to Dublin, she must prove herself by acquiring a talent. Heath, a Traveller, helps in her search to find one. Unfortunately, Kathy has tried fortune telling, fiddling, dancing and has had no luck in any of those departments. Nothing is working out for Kathy- until she discovers the Book of Moons. 

“The Book of Moons” is a beautifully woven story of Kathy’s journey. As a debut novel, this was very well written. It was a light read with a bit of mystical touch to it!

Without further ado, here is what I loved about this book:

  • The First Chapter: Right away in the beginning I was hooked! I was glued to the book as Kathy and Sinead escaped their orphanage. While the next few chapters of the book were slower paced, the first chapter had me on the edge and left me wanting to know more!
  • Irish Culture: I loved learning about Irish culture! It’s a topic I don’t know much about, so the exposure to Irish culture from this book was very welcome. 
  • Kathy: In most books, the main character is really confident and strong. Kathy is more of a flawed, reserved character and it was refreshing to read about. She was different from the normal fictional character I read about and it gave a unique air around her.
  • The Frenemy Relationship: I love the frenemy relationship between Brigitta and Kathy. It was so heartwarming to see them both comfort each other in the worst of times.

“I’m not even a Traveller, I’m not anything. I’m just a girl who ran away from the orphanage.”

What I felt could use a little more improvement:

  • Backstory: I was really looking forward to a backstory or a few more flashbacks about Kathy’s past in the orphanage and what she endured there. We only got a few flashbacks here and there but not enough to explain all the questions I had. What were her parents like? When did she go to the orphanage? How did she end up in that orphanage? What incident happened that made Kathy and Sinead want to leave the orphanage in such a rush? A backstory or a flashback could’ve answered these questions and given more depth to the characters.
  • Story Ending: Spoilers: For me, the ending felt incomplete. I really would have liked to see Sinead. Instead, I’m left with more questions. What if Kathy never sees Sinead again? What if Sinead was captured by the people in the orphanage? I really wished the ending of this book gave more answers instead of leaving me with more questions.
  • Typo: This is a really nit-picky suggestion but on page 24 it says: “‘I noticed,’ Kathy mumbled darkly. ‘She’s not that bad, honest.’
Kathy raised an eyebrow. ‘I’ll believe it when I see the other side of her’” (Page 24, Herbert). I’m pretty sure the first dialogue is meant to be from Heath but instead there is a typo and it’s written like Kathy is saying it. 

“You say you haven’t seen the world but when I look into those eyes I can see a thousand places that I’ll never be able to see”

Overall, I really enjoyed reading “The Book of Moons”. I was quite invested in Kathy’s journey from the start and was happy to see her character evolve to become more confident at that end. Everyone should definitely check this book out and let me know your thoughts!


4 Comments

Book review for the five princes by deidrea dewitt

6/11/2020

2 Comments

 
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Disclaimer: This review is spoiler free except for the parts labelled as spoiler
Book: The Five Princes
Author: Deidrea DeWitt
Page Number: 464 Pages
Genre: Humorous Royal Fiction (Choose your ending novel)
Rating: 4/ 5 stars

“Life isn’t worth living until you find someone you can be every side of yourself with.” 

I absolutely LOVED this book! It was the perfect lighthearted and jovial book that I was hoping to read! My favorite part of this book is that the reader gets to choose their own ending, which I thought was so cool!

Synopsis: “The Selection” meets “The False Prince” in this choose the ending novel where Marina’s whole life has been turned upside down after she was let in on the secret that was kept away from her: she was a princess! Yay….. or not. The thing is, Marina didn’t want to become royalty. She would rather spend her days teaching students at her uncle’s karate dojo. 
As if Marina’s life couldn’t get any worse, she meets Prince Nikos and Prince Julian who want nothing to do with her, yet are supposed to teach her how to become a proper princess. Yikes…. 
Luckily, Marina has also met the kind King Cryus, the loyal guard Evann and the mysterious Tai to help her out and give her company.
Reluctant and stubborn, Marina finds it hard to make a decision on whether or not she wants to continue on her old life or embark on a new royal lifestyle. However, someone is set out to make sure Marina’s decision is very easy- and that she never chooses to live as a royal.

What I liked about this book:

Marina: Right from the start I knew I liked Marina. Her feisty, and sassy attitude made me crack up and drew me in from the beginning. “Huh. Maybe he was looking for the other half of his personality. The nice part that was destroyed by scowling and half-as*ed sentences.”
Her personality and witty jokes is one reason why I just could not put this book down! Fun fact: I read this entire book in just one day!
The 5 Princes: It was so hard for me to choose just one ending because I liked all of the princes! All of them had certain aspects and elements that made them unique and all the more likable. At certain times I would find myself leaning toward a certain prince and then two seconds later I would change my mind- if an author can do that to a reader, then the book is usually really well written. So hands off to Deidrea Dewitt (the author) for writing so well that I fell for each of the characters! 
My ranking of the 5 characters would be:
  1. Nikos
  2. Julian
  3. Evann
  4. Cyrus
  5. Tai
Choose the Ending: What really sold this book was that the reader could choose their own endings. It happens wayyyyy too often when I disagree with a book’s ending or who the main character ends up with. This was my first “choose the ending” book that I’ve read and it did not disappoint! I’m so glad that “The Five Princes” let me decide the ending because it gave me a sense of satisfaction at the end! Side Note: It was so fun reading all the different endings and seeing all the outcomes that were possible! (My favorite ending was Julian’s but I ended up choosing Nikos’s ending since he was my favorite character in this book!)
The POVS At The End: Reading a few significant scenes from each of the Prince’s view was probably one of my favorite things about this book! It helped me connect better with each of the Princes! Also, seeing how all of Prince’s thoughts (except Evann’s) went from not caring about Marina to sharing a special bond with her, was really nice to read about! Spoiler: Nikos’s POV!!! AHHH! My heart ached for him when he expressed how lonely he was…

“For the one who puts on the biggest show, you were the one to be the most forward and honest. Not everyone deserves to know the real you. I’m not glad I met the World’s Prince. I’m glad I met Nikos.”

While this book was such a funny, lighthearted novel that I binge read in less than a day, it had a few inconsistencies or vagueness that made me tick 1 star off:

Location of Aujina: The location of Aujina was very vague and I couldn’t help but wonder which continent it was located in and which countries it was near… I really would have loved to see a map in this book! That would have added an extra special touch to this already wonderful book!
The Wealth of Marina’s Parents: Marina had said: “Dad only bought wine once a year. Mom sold hideously expensive clothes, but she rarely bought them for herself”. This implies that Marina’s family was poor. However, near the beginning Marina says: “My parents had arranged the entire thing, but Dad had business in Hong Kong and Mom had a fashion show in Milan, so neither of them had come with me”. What I was wondering is how can Marina consider her family poor when her dad has business trips to Hong Kong and her mother had a fashion show all the way in Milan? That would imply that both of them were secure in their jobs and if her dad had to travel to foreign places for his job, he obviously was paid a lot. (Spoiler: I know it's a disguise for his meetings as kings but shouldn't Marina be suspicious if they were living poorly when both of her parents (to her knowledge) had high paying jobs?) Then how was Marina never skeptical about why her parents were living a lifestyle that didn’t match their job status?

Marina not Knowing that She Was Royal: I’m a little bit confused as to how Marina was able to remain oblivious about her royal status her whole life when modern technology could have easily told her. Marina’s parents left the kingdom when they were in their teens, so everyone must have known them as the Prince and Princess of the country. So then how did they spend all those years without anyone or the media recognizing them? 

Julian, Nikos and Evann: Spoiler: I wish we had gotten to read about Julian and Nikos finding out about who Evann really was! I would have really liked to read about their reactions!

“In only a couple hours I’d have to announce what I wanted — who I wanted to be. I 
could walk away from everything and become the ruler of an entire country. I wouldn’t have to look for a job, I wouldn’t have to worry about physical security, and I could have the power to help a lot of people.”

Overall, this book was such a good read! It had all the good aspects that a humorous royal fiction should have! Everyone go check out this book right now and tell me which ending you chose at the end!
       
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2 Comments

TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET IF ONE IS DEAD BOOK REVIEW

6/4/2020

0 Comments

 
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Disclaimer: This review is spoiler free except for the parts labelled as spoiler
Book: Two Can Keep a Secret If One is Dead
Author: Karen McManus
Page Number: 323 Pages
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 3 / 5 stars

“Welcome to life in a small town. You’re only as good as the best thing your family’s done. Or the worst.”

Synopsis: Twins Ellery and Ezra recently move to a small town called Echo Ridge. This is no ordinary town… 20 years ago, Ellery’s aunt had disappeared. 5 years ago, homecoming queen Lacey Kilduff’s body was found. Both were two occurrences in which the perpetrator wasn’t caught. Then a month after Ellery moves in, another girl goes missing. Ellery, Ezra and their friends: Malcomn and Mia make it their mission to uncover the town’s secrets-and find who is behind these murders.

As soon as I picked up this book I got PLL vibes (Pretty Little Liars). The title is lyrics from the PLL theme song, the character Ezra in this book shares his name with a main PLL character and just like how “A” leaves cryptic messages for the Liars to decode, the murderer in this book leaves behind messages and little treats for the town as well. 

But that’s where the similarities end.

I love the show PLL so I went into the book excited only to come out feeling disappointed. It wasn’t downright terrible but it also wasn’t a particularly well written mystery that kept me on the edge of my toes either. I hadn’t expected too much out of this book in the first place since I didn’t love “One of Us is Lying”. (I felt like the secrets of each of the characters were revealed too early and it took away the mystery.) 
There were many things about Karen McManus’s second installment that made me feel disconnected from it. 

Here is what I didn’t like:

  • Predictable Plot: All the “surprising”plot twists and turns that this book throws at us is very predictable. Except the ending, that was totally unexpected. 
SPOILERS: The part about Viv being the one spreading the homecoming threats so she could cook up a journalism story was so predictable and I called it halfway through the book. I also predicted the relationship between Daisy and Declan the moment Declan came into town. Right away, I had already thought of the conspiracy theory that Declan and Daisy had dated back when Lacy was still alive. 
  • The Characters: I literally could not care about these characters. Malcomn and Ellery were ok, but Ezra and Mia were pointless filler characters that were very underdeveloped. Sidenote: I wish the twin bond between Ellery and Ezra was more developed because in the book, there surprisingly wasn’t as much interaction between the two as I would have liked.
  • The Similar Character Povs: I love when an author gives us two povs from the main male character and the main female character! However, in this book Ellery and Malcomn’s voices were so similar it was hard to differentiate between the two povs. Sometimes I would be a quarter into Malcomn’s chapter and think it was Ellery speaking. I would have liked to see larger differentiation between the two characters and the way they thought.
  • The Ending: (SPOILERS, READ AT OWN RISK!)


The ending was unexpected for sure but very random. At the end of the book I still had so many questions and the book just felt unresolved! 
  • Where is Sarah’s body?
  • Why would Peter (a mastermind who has kept his secret for over 20 years) suddenly become stupid and dump his reciept in a trashbin at Fright Farm where it could easily fall into the wrong hands instead of shredding the evidence?

My main problem with the ending is that the murderer (Peter) felt so random. It’s like the author chose anyone who we didn’t suspect at that point to be the murderer so the ending would be “unexpected”. I really would have liked to see Peter have a better motive and having a reason for killing the girls….. It would have made the ending have more resolution.

What I Did Like:

The Last Sentence: The only reason this book gets even three stars is because of the last sentence which has the perfect amount of creepy. 

Spoilers: “I thought she was your mother.” *Shudders*


“We’re finally figuring out that we haven’t been normal for years and it’s time to redefine the word.” 

Overall I thought this book was a nice, easy read where I could take a break from my usual heavy fantasy and read something lighter. I would recommend this book to people who love Karen McManus’s other books but I suggest going in with low expectations.

​
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