Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by
Rachel Ignotofsky
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
This was great! I had a bit of information overload, since I listened to the audiobook, which is good. However, I think it would probably be more enjoyable to read through the print version of this one, as you could linger (and I've heard it has an interesting format) and tackle only a few women at a time, instead of everyone at once, like I did.
This would be awesome for school science classes to read about one amazing woman at the start of each class for 50 days. The excerpts are relatively short, so it's feasible.
Scythe by
Neal Shusterman
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I revisited this book in preparation for reading the final book in the trilogy. It’s still fantastic and so well-plotted. The characters are deep and fascinating. The world and premise are stellar. This is just a great read by any standards.
PREVIOUS REVIEW:
THIS BOOK SLAYS!
I would give it all my stars, and not just to avoid a reaping.
Book 294 read in 2018
Book Pages: 435
Thunderhead by
Neal Shusterman
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
So happy to have revisited this masterpieces, and I can’t wait to go start book 3. Bye now!
PREVIOUS REVIEW:
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!
JUST SHUT UP AND TAKE ALL MY STARS.
Book 295 read in 2018
Pages: 504
The Toll by
Neal Shusterman
My rating:
3 of 5 stars
I loved books one and two so much, so it’s with a heavy heart that I’m giving this 3 stars, and probably feel only 2.5 of them at most. This is long, and not in a delightful way. It’s sort of all over the place, yet it also feels like it’s going nowhere for most of the book. I had no idea what I was even supposed to be rooting for or hoping for, because the plot is random, character intentions are unclear, and there are so many scenes that seem to lead absolutely nowhere.
The pacing probably could be worse, though I’m not quite sure how at this moment, because I’m still so shocked and sad that it felt like a complete chore to read this book. I had to force my way through the last half and was relieved when it was finally over. I mean, there are some great moments here and there. It just isn’t enough to make this feel like an exciting and worthwhile story. Now I have to go, because I kind of want to wallow in despair.
PRE-RELEASE COMMENTS:
I NEED THIS BOOK. RIGHT NOW.
GET IN MY WAY, AND I MAY HAVE TO GLEAN YOU.
RULES SCHMULES.
Regretting You
by
Colleen Hoover
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I’m emotionally flailing, and for some reason, I love it. Curse you, Colleen Hoover, for being a wizard with words.
Call Down the Hawk
by
Maggie Stiefvater
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
I love Ronan, but I struggled with this throughout the last 1/3 of the book. It could have just been me being inattentive to the audiobook, but I felt like I rewound and was confused a lot. Something about it just didn’t flow and hold my attention, but it has been a long week and maybe it was me. Regardless, I still love this world.
Five Feet Apart
by
Rachael Lippincott
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
Wow did I love this. I don't exactly know what I want to say beyond that. I would definitely reread this one.
Spellbound by
Dannika Dark
My rating:
2 of 5 stars
The description says “Full Length Novel,” but I don’t exactly agree with that assessment. It feels more like a slice of life novella. It’s about half the length of all the other novels in the series, but also, it just reads less like novel and more like a meandering novella that exists only for the purpose of providing some additional character insight.
I didn’t get this book immediately following the previous book, and apparently just having a 4 week gap in which I read several other books was enough of a break from the series that I couldn’t quite dive right back in easily, especially since the POV focus is shifted to other characters. Something about the whole start of the novel just felt uncomfortable to me, and it was hard to settle into Gem’s perspective. She was a whole lot less fun and bubbly in this than I felt she was in the rest of the series.
That being said, I enjoyed some elements and moments, even though I wasn’t quite sure what the overall purpose of this short story was. There was just a lot of randomness and filler, and I wanted a better storyline and more interesting character development for these 2 particular characters. I actually really loved both Gem and Nikko before I read this, and they just fell so flat for me in this offering. I'm honestly disappointed, because I think it made me like these characters less, which upsets me.
It feels like this offering was poorly plotted and rushed in comparison to the other novels. It has serious pacing issues, particularly in that it is incredibly slow and uneventful with a lot of just two characters sitting or standing around chatting. Needless to say, I obviously don't love it and kind of wish I had just skipped it.
Dead Until Dark by
Charlaine Harris
My rating:
2 of 5 stars
It’s not bad. It’s just not quite as good as I thought it would be after having this on my TBR for almost 2 decades. I don’t know if I will continue the series. I’m thinking about it, in case this is one of those series where each new book is better than the last, but I’m currently feeling a bit indifferent.
The pacing of this was surprisingly slow, and the storyline was kind of all over the place. I wanted more development of the side characters and more growth in the main characters. I even wanted more world building and clarity on the rules of the world and creatures. There were interesting elements, but this lagged too much to inspire any real emotion in me.
Kristy's Great Idea by
Ann M. Martin
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
I recently purchased this book from Audible for nostalgic purposes, as I read the whole series as a kid. This was glorious. I feel 12 years old again. I thought maybe it wasn’t going to be nearly as good as I remembered, because some books don’t age well or stand up to the test of time. Fortunately, I enjoyed this all over again, and the 80s references and clothing descriptions are an additional fun perk.
