Opposite Titles Challenge!

I saw this floating around on Instagram (@lu.cyreads specifically) and thought that this would be fun! Book titles that are complete and utter opposites of one another! To steal one from Lucy’s post as an example: The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare, and The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter. You get the idea?

So I’ve been scrounging my goodreads shelves, and here are 3 opposites that I could find!

Holes by Louis Sachar

VS

The Ascent of Everest by John Hunt

Death Bringer by Derek Landy

VS

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

a place called perfect

VS

The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket

What do you think? Are these opposite enough? It’s surprisingly tough to do! Please do try out the tag, it’s so fun!!

All Systems Red – a review

The wonderful Veronica from Veronica’s Shelf gifted me All Systems Red by Martha Wells as a surprise, and I had heard of it before but it wasn’t yet on my tbr. Apparently Veronica knows my taste better than me because this 100% should’ve been on my tbr!!!

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

All Systems Red follows Murderbot, this is the name the droid has given itself after it was able to hack into it’s own systems and override protocol. They can do anything, the Company no longer has control over them. And they use their power… to watch soaps and daydream all day! But Murderbot is assigned to a mission, and when the neighbouring mission goes dark it’s up to Murderbot and the scientists it’s there to serve to get to the truth.

This. Book. Is. So. Fun! I adored all of the character interactions. I adored being in Murderbot’s head and learning about the world through their unique viewpoint! And the ending? I totally didn’t expect that! I definitely want to pick up each and every book in this series!!

They’re very short books too, all of them being novella’s and book one being under 150 pages. So ya girl needs to get them onto her shelves!

My ratings on CAWPILE are:

Characters: 10

Atmosphere: 9

Writing: 9

Plot: 9

Intrigue: 9

Logic: 9

Enjoyment: 9

Which gives an overall score of 9.14 which is a 5*!!! I adored this book so much and I can’t wait to read more in the series!

Highlight here to read the trigger warnings: violence, murder, slavery, body horror, medical content, panic attacks, self harm, fire

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – a review

In light of my blog post about being more chill with my book blog, this is going to be my first post where I don’t sit and write an academic article about my thoughts on a book! Ironic that I’m doing this with a science based book but here we go, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

This books is a biography written by a white woman, Rebecca Skloot. With this being about a Black woman who was exploited I was concerned about this going in, but she actually addresses this within the book itself. Of course as a white woman I can’t speak on this properly, but it did seem like she really cared for the wellbeing of the Lacks family and wanted to truly tell Henrietta’s story to the world. But I would look for own voices reviews of this to get a view on that part.

I liked that there was science mixed in with the personal, it wasn’t all just about her life and it wasn’t all just about the science, the two intertwined. It shows the impact that the HeLa cells have had on society, saving so many lives, as well as the impact the treatment of Henrietta had both on her and on her family around her. And that difference is pretty stark.

I like that Skloot chose to write about how she got in contact with the family. It shows the exploitation that they’ve been subject to before, as well as hopefully keeping her accountable for how she was getting in contact with them. Given that they’re able to pick this up and read it.

Overall I gave this 4*s. On my CAWPILE spreadsheet I rated it:

• 10 for characters
• 7 for atmosphere
• 7 for writing
• 8 for plot
• 9 for intrigue
• 8 for logic
• 8 for enjoyment

The CAWPILE rating isn’t designed for non-fiction books so I’ve had to just make this fit for the book the best that I can. And my rating came out at 8.14, so a solid 4 stars!

Highlight for trigger warnings: mention of sexual abuse, cancer, racism, classism, medial procedures, death

Honestly I really recommend picking this one up. It’s a really interesting book that focuses primarily on the human impacts of the work carried out, both on Henrietta and on what the HeLa cells have been able to achieve and it’s really important to remember and honour the woman who’s cells were stolen, who has enabled so many scientific advancements.

Do you DNF?

DNF – Did Not Finish, to put a book down before you read until the last page and never pick it up again.

It’s something that a lot of us can struggle with! Especially for us who make content online cause we feel like we need to read to the end to be able to properly talk about the book! I had thought that I was fine DNFing books. Reader, I am not.

I was reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn recently, and I was bored as all hell. So bored. I skipped to the end to read what happened!!! And yet I couldn’t bring myself to DNF the damn thing. I kept thinking about how would I mark it in my bullet journal? Would I then have failed my tbr if it was a DNF? Does it still count as reading it? And so I read all the way to the end.

I will say that the end section was better than the 300 pages before it, but I still gave the book a lowwww 2*s and I probably would’ve been better off just not finishing it at all!

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it! Why not?!?! I really don’t know. It’s something I’m going to have to get better at cause I don’t want to read books I don’t like!

Let me know your DNFing tips!!

Why I don’t like romance books

Romance is such a popular genre, and I can totally see why! It’s feel good, and you know what’s going to happen at the end so you can just sit back and enjoy the ride! And yet… I don’t like it. Why?

I mean, to be honest this can be answered pretty quickly. I need more than just love to make a book work for me. I need some sort of plot, and some sort of depth of relationship (platonic) before I can get really invested in the people I’m reading about.

For me this works best when I’m reading about a fantasy world, it means that I have so much built up around me that I can also enjoy those romantic elements. But on occasion I can jive (wtf Abi… jive?) with a contemporary book as well (e.g Pride and Prejudice that I just finished and was absolutely lovely!!)

The thing about those books as well, is that the happy ending isn’t guaranteed. For some reason, that makes me love a romance all the more! We don’t know that it’ll succeed so there has to be hardship and struggles which makes the payoff just that bit more sweet!!

I will say I’ve been tempted to pick up Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royal series though!!

Do you read romance books? Do you think I’m totally wrong?! Chat with me!!

June TBR 2021!

Something a little different for my blog! I show my tbr’s on my channel and on my bookstagram (to be read, the pile of books I want to read that month) but I don’t tend to show them here! I think that’s mainly cause I don’t want to have to go through the hassle of editing the post #lazy so I’ve decided to just try out text post versions. No book covers. Nothing fancy. But here is my tbr!

To start with the “obvious” (if you follow me) I’ll be continuing to read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy this month (I’m reading a chapter a day with Olivia from Olivia’s Catastrophe and we’re really enjoying it!!). Hopefully we’ll hit book Eleven next month!

As I’m taking part in the Buzzwordathon hosted by Kayla from Booksandlala I’ll be reading Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan, this is a thriller following a woman who receives a letter from someone claiming to be a girl who went missing 20 years ago. I’m hoping that cause this is a thriller it’ll be a nice quick read!

Each month I’m also taking part in the Dead Famous Read-a-long hosted by Hannah at LadetteM along with Bekka from the Comic Book Sanctury, Aly from the Chaotic Reader and Emma from EmmaNovella. We’ve reached book 5 in the Skulduggery Pleasant series which is Mortal Coil by Derek Landy. This series follows a young Irish girl who discovers magic via a talking skeleton detective and goes on to join him in saving the day! This is one of my favourite series and I’ve read every single book that’s published so these are all re-reads for me! I also want to re-read Apocalypse Kings which is a novella which only came out this year for World Book Day. Of course I only read it for the first time recently but this is where it chronologically sits so I want to pop it in here!

Then whilst filming my tbr I picked out my tbr jar pick for the month, which turned out to be Dark Places by Gillian Flynn! This follows a girl who’s family were all brutally murdered leaving just her and her brother. Her evidence put him behind bars but there are people who think he was innocent. I’ve never read any Flynn before so I’m hoping for good things!

Now finally onto the 3 “random” books on my tbr!

First up is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen! I actually own 2 copies of this. One is a standard book, but one is a more magazine format, and although they have the same illustrations the magazine ones are coloured. I’m not sure which copy I’m going to pick up, and considering I measure page count I’m not sure which one I’ll be using for that either. But either way I’m wanting to read the book this month.

Then we have Pet by Akwaeke Emezi which was gifted to me by the lovely Olivia (mentioned above). This follows a young girl who was raised in a world where monsters have been defeated, but then Pet appears. But are they a monster? Or are they protecting the city from the real monsters? I loved Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi so I’m super excited to read more from this author!

Last but by no means least, Touch by Claire North is the final book on my tbr for June. The synopsis on this one is pretty sparse. With one touch she can take over your body for however long she wants. And that’s who we’re following! I’ve read 2 books by North so far and adored them both so I’m really excited for this one and I hope it’ll be a quick read!

And there you have it! My June tbr! I’ve been trying to be nicer to myself lately so if I don’t manage to complete the tbr then it’s not the end of the world. I will read my War and Peace chapters each day, and I will aim to read my tbr jar pick, the Skulduggery book (but only Mortal Coil, Apocalypse Kings doesn’t matter so much) and the buzzwordathon book. And Pet. Just cause I want to. But the rest would just be bonus books. We’ll see how I do, fingers crossed!!

What do you want to read in June? Have you read any of these? Let me know in the comments!!

The Pale Dreamer – a review

Another short book from the beginning of the year! I was determined I was going to catch up on The Bone Season series and this was the next step after reading The Song Rising at the end of 2020. I ended up reading all 90 pages in one day and I absolutely adored getting to see more into the world that Samantha Shannon has built.

This prequel follows a 16 year old Paige (who is 19 at the start of the main series) who has recently started working for Jaxon Hall, one of the most notorious mime-lords. She wants to prove her worth to him as the newest member and the latest event in the underworld is the perfect chance for her to do so, but of course this won’t go as smoothly as she’d like.

This is a fantastic novella, it provides another dimension to the relationship between Paige and the others within the underworld, both working with Jaxon and against him. It makes Paige’s reasoning for her decisions in The Bone Season much more understandable and explains the connection and the debt she feels towards Jaxon. It also gives us some more insight into the relationship between Paige and Nick, and also Paige and Eliza. These details feed throughout the entire series, and I’ve noticed threads of them in even the most recent book so it’s wonderful to see them here!

All in all this is a lovely little novella that I really wouldn’t miss out on if you’re a fan of The Bone Season. It adds dimension to the world that isn’t necessarily needed but is wonderful to have and it really deepens your connection to Paige and the others. So of course I rated this 5*!

The Singing – a review

Finally! My review of the 4th and final book in the Pellinor series!! It’s taken me a loooong while to get around to writing this (I read the damn thing in December!) so let’s get into it!

In the first two books of this series we follow Maerad’s pov, and then for book three we follow Hem. In this last book we follow the both of them, with the pov changing every few chapters. Similarly to what I said in my review about The Crow, when I previously re-read these books I skipped out on Hem’s sections a lot. They just didn’t call to me when I was younger and I just wanted to get into Maerad’s story! This time around, of course, that was completely different and I revelled in Hem’s story! Because it had been so long since I had read his sections it was wonderful to see what was essentially a new pov in the story for me. It added so much dimension to the tale and really brings the whole book together.

To keep this as spoiler free as possible, the only explanation I will give for this book is that the two are coming together after time apart, the book follows their journey towards each other and also their journey once their are together which is the end point of the entire series. (right look I know that’s vague but do you want spoilers? No! Go check out the first 3 books and come back!)

The continuous development of the new characters we met with Hem in his story, as well as returning to characters we hadn’t seen since the first book, really rounded out this world and made it feel real. I am so emotionally invested within this world that every battle and every fight is tense, even though I know the outcome! Visiting old friends again is a wonderful way to round out the series and to suggest a direction of events for after what is shown in the books, and I think Croggon does this really well to a point where certain events are suggested but she leaves it open enough for you to come to your own conclusions.

As always the “academic” sections at the beginning and the end of this book are fantastic. I adore all that they add to the world without bogging down the text itself, and the context that they give you to read this tale within.

Is anyone surprised that I loved this reread? No! Now I just need to re-read the prequel and to finally get my butt in gear and read the eBook novella’s that came out a while ago!

The Secret Commonwealth – a reivew

If you’d like to know just how far behind on reviews I am… I read this book in December 2020. Right look. There were other reviews that needed to come first, some specific review copies and some War and Peace ones (which I’m also behind on, look, shut up). But I’m here now. And this was a helluva book. I’d put off reading this for quite a while as it’s a big book, but the lovely Eleanor had read it and posted a video review that I really wanted to watch so I sat my arse down and read this. And wow. What a book. Such a mixture of both good and bad! I’m not the biggest tabber or note maker whilst I read, but I made so many notes through the whole of this!

The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman

Despite all of these notes that I made, I won’t be talking much about them here. They’re all quite spoiler heavy and I don’t want to risk ruining the book for someone who hasn’t picked it up yet. I will say that this book, opposite to La Belle Sauvage, is set after the events of His Dark Materials. We once again are following Lyra, now in her early 20s, as she navigates the world and her relationship to it. We see how her and Pan’s relationship has changed since the… incident in the main series (I’m tryna keep things spoiler free here!) and the struggles that they go through.

I did think that Lyra was quite childish for someone in her early 20s. Whenever she’s arguing with Pan her points are just so silly and juvenile, and as someone who is in her early 20s herself, it just feels a little bit young for the age range Pullman is aiming for. Contrary to this, there’s a relationship that feels a little too adult and I don’t quite know how I feel about it just now. I don’t want to say anything more specific than that, cause again spoilers. But it is something that just didn’t sit quite right with me and I’m going to have to see how things develop in book three before I make my final decision.

As just a general summary, this book was an interesting middle book with lots of plot development in order to bring us up to speed for the third book but also some confusing aspects such as the seeming abandonment of previous events and a few questionable choices. Overall though I did enjoy the book and I’m looking forward to reading book three, especially after that cliffhanger that we were left on at the end!!

Highlight here to see trigger warnings: attempted rape, murder, police violence, rape mention, racism, religious fundamentalism, sexism, sexual assault, stalking, suppression of free speech, violence, xenophobia

Have you read this book? Or any of the other books from the Book of Dust or His Dark Materials trilogies? Let me know what you thought of them and whether you’re going to be picking up book three!

First Lines Friday #22

It’s time for another First Lines Friday! Hosted by Wandering Words!!

What if, instead of judging a book by its cover or its author, we judged the book by its opening lines?

Here is how it works:

– Pick a book and open to the first page.

– Copy the first few lines without revealing which book it is.

– Reveal the book!

So… do these first lines entice you?

I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society.

Scroll down to reveal the book!

A shorter quote today but the next section mentioned Heathcliff by name and that’s just too easy! This was gifted to me by the wonderful Caitlyn from Mad Cheshire Rabbit as it’s one of her favourite classics, so I’ll have to get around to it sometime soon! She also gifted me Frankenstein which I’ve read already and really enjoyed, so I’m hopeful for this. But I’ve heard people say you either like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre and I adored Jane Eyre… buuuuuttt I’m hoping I buck the trend. Have you read this English classic?