Weekly Reading Wrap Up- Feb 8th to 14th (Happy Valentines Day!)
Hello Book Lovers,
It is I, Anna the forever late. To say that this post is going up late is an understatement. I have been playing catch up all week and it shows.
Presented below for your reading pleasure are the books I have read the week of February Feb 8th to 14th. Dare I say I had a good week? I think I did. I finished all the books I have started and am now on top of my reading in terms of having no books hanging unfinished over my head. I am still behind on just reading everything I want to read. But that will only change if I become immortal and go live in a magical library. If you can put me in contact with a person who can arrange that please let me know.
Hunger by Roxanne Gay- Rating: 7/10- This book was assigned to me for one of my classes. I didn't hate it, it was written very well, and it did a good job showing that there is a lot more to food, addiction, and self-harm than most people think there is. I did not agree however with a good chunk of the author’s thoughts and opinions. Which is fine, that is why e read after all. To find people with a different mindset than us. I don’t blame the author for how she feels. In fact, she has every right to her feelings. I would be happy to support her on her journey of healing and discovery. The problem is she would tell me to fuck right off if she was reading it. I don’t think people are as mean-spirited as she thinks they are. I don’t think everyone is constantly gloating because of someone else's misfortune. Do we have moments of spite? Absolutely. But this dark worldview is not something I want to get behind.
““The world has no right sitting on your shoulders, yet you’ve given it more than you will ever owe,”- We Free the Stars”
We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal- Rating: 10/10- I loved this book so much. So much. The amount of stress I went through is not fair. The world has changed a lot since the first book but it only makes sense seeing as the quest was about making those changes. Seeing the fallout was great. I am also obsessed with all the relationships. The romance is fantastic. So are the friendships and familial relationships. I wanted to punch a few characters in the face, but I also wanted to give them a hug. I think it takes skill to write characters that inspire both reactions at the same time. I do have to say, however: I demand a spinoff. I need it. There are so many opportunities for further stories with this world and the characters. I know the author is writing a story set in the same world just in a different part of it, but I think she also needs to return here. II need more.
““Fairness is but an idea conceived by someone who has the power to make such pronouncements.”
― Roshani Chokshi, Aru Shah and the Song of Death”
Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi- Rating: 10/10- These books are such a joy. I know it says Quartet in the official title of the series but is it actually? I would hate to devour all the books out, and the new one coming out in April and then wait for a year for the next one… someone help. We got new characters, and I am already willing to die for them. Aru is honestly #goals as a person in my opinion. Friendships are a thing of beauty. I like the little possibility of romance we were given in this one too. Just a tiny sprinkle. I love learning about Hindu traditions and stories. I will eventually throw in a book or twenty on the subject. I also get very hungry with all the food descriptions. Those are just mean, but at least I know the author also makes herself hungry when writing about the food.
““As deaths go, it would have been a kind one. There were worse ways to meet one’s demise than being buried alive in literature.”
― Tessa Dare, The Governess Game”
The Governess Game by Tessa Dare- Rating: 8/10- Once again I had a blast reading this book. The second in the series improved on the first one in terms of showcasing friendships and other relationships outside of romance. I loved the scenes where the two heroes from the first and the second book interacted. The confusion resulting from the Shakespearean insults was everything I needed to see. The romance was sweet and steamy of course. That is after all the backbone of the book. The way the two characters interact and the way they feed off each other makes it obvious they are perfect for one another. I loved that the hero had no idea what the heroine was talking about when she got going about astronomy but he still wanted to listen to her talk about her passion. Oh, and the comet! Another great thing was the relationship between the hero and his wards, but I wish we got a little more of it, as well as more of his relationship with his secret brother masquerading as his solicitor. I love that the hero told him to cheat him out of his money though. It made me laugh.
““Sometimes there won’t be a right choice, just the best of several bad options.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows”
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas- Rating: 10/10- Sarah, I think. Is the kind of storyteller that pulls you in and makes you so invested in these characters. At least for me, her books weave some kind of spell on the mind and I don’t want to leave the story. This book was a masterpiece. So many things got resolved, and so many new storylines opened. We got many new characters and did they ever change the rhythm of the story. I had a blast. Lysandra was a delight. The Dorian storyline was one of the most emotionally devastating things I have ever read to this day. This is saying something considering all the things Sarah puts her characters through. The complex puzzle pieces of the story coming together is a thing to behold. The ending is absolutely amazing. There are moments that are just burned into my mind. And the relationships that start to develop in this book are just so wonderful. These people all go through so much and watching them slowly find each other is heartwarming, even if you're crying through some of it. Wait that not you, it is I. I am crying through most of it, not just some.
““There are no ambitions noble enough to justify breaking someone’s heart. ”
― Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds”
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough- Rating:5/10- I wanted to love this book so badly. I really had high hopes because I love family Sagas, and the setting is so unusual for me. How often do you read books that take place at turn-of-the-century in New Zealand and Australia? Not often I would wager. But I quickly ran into a problem. I did not like any of the characters. They all were so cold, or so passive, or so self-absorbed that I quickly lost interest. The book was saved at the end by the characters of Justine and Dane, they were the only ones that felt like they had real personalities, and like they truly knew themselves or at least were trying to. They had a real familial bond and would have gone to hell for each other. Sadly that didn’t last and reading that scene where you knew someone's world would come crashing down made me so sad. I dint care enough to cry because a large impact of it was lost on me because I didn’t care about people such a Ralph, Maggie, and Fee. I also did not appreciate that every female relationship presented to us was toxic. Every single one. Mothers and daughters were presented as natural instinctive rivals, and that continued through multiple generations. I hated that mothers actively picked one child over another, with full knowledge and no regrets. I hated that love was made toxic over and over again. I gave it a rating like I did because the writing was very good, and the characterization stayed consistent throughout. Every action each character took made sense in terms of who they were, I just did not like them. If the plot shocked me in some way I could have overlooked my dislike and the toxicity to some extent but sadly i knew here the plot was going early on.
““People with the purest souls are capable of the greatest evils.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, White Hot Kiss”
White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout- Rating: 8/10- I had a blast reading this book. No not much shocked me about the plot, and I can already feel the love triangle looming and filling me with dread. Yet I had so much time reading this. I got pulled into the character’s head right off and I didn't hate her. Do I wish she had tried to form more meaningful relationships with other females? Yes. Do I wish she was honest with her best friend? Yes. Do I wish her best friend was not used for creating a contrast between how pure and humble the main character was vs her BFF? Yes. But were all those things not enough to make me hate the book? Yes. Despite everything, I think the friendship the main character has is real, and I hope she tries to be honest with her friend in future books. If she never does so, I might take points away severely. I am not a big believer in keeping secrets to keep someone safe. I was fully on the heroine’s side when she lost her shit about that. She had every right. I also was there with her when she got pissed that anyone had the audacity to criticize and punish her for trying to get answers about her life. If you just told her asshole male none of this would have happened so kindly sit down. I have many questions about the world and the mythology of it that I hope to get answers to in the next books. The heroine only knows so much and we are in her head so we learn s she learns. But why put hair on Gargoyles? It is not okay. What was JLA thinking when she did that? Why would stone monster creatures have hair? I can’t cope.
Here we are. This is the end of my reading wrap-up for the week. Yes, I am very late, but at least I still have it here to refer back to. I am already working on the wrap-up for next week. I tend to write these as I finish reading each book but due to last week and the craziness, I lost my document and had to start from scratch.
Did you read any of the books on the list? Did anything pique your interest? I try to keep everything as vague as possible to avoid spoilers.
See you next time,
Anna
