December Roundup

 

 I love Cassandra Clare's books. I love that she is so prolific and that her books are so long and satisfying. Its been awhile since I read The Mortal Instruments series so I might disagree with myself later but at this point I prefer the characters and time period of Clockwork Angel. This was such a fun book to read- a perfect book to relax and just be entertained by, which I was needing. I always love the action in her books but the characters are what I keep thinking about even now a week after finishing this one. I was trying to figure out a few favorites and then realized I'd be listing them all- Tessa, Jem, Will, Jessamine, Henry, Charlotte, the super creepy & perfectly named Magister... I loved reading them all! I am so looking forward to more books from Cassandra and to the City of Bones movie (yay!).

 

This one was a let down. Many other reviews say it better than I will but this was so unoriginal. I couldn't stop thinking about The Giver not to mention The Hunger Games. It was all interesting but I never really cared about the characters or felt the big love triangle. I will read the wikipedia summary of the rest of the books in the series just to see how it ends but that is because I am ocd and have to know how things end even when they are silly. 

Angieville review of Matched

I ordered this immediately after I read the premise. It sounded so creepy and suspenseful and it did not disappoint. It was a super fast read but was very well done. Great pacing, believable plot, and characters who I cared about... I definitely want to read more of April Henry's books.

This book was another disappointment to me. I love Nancy Werlin's book, Impossible, so much and had high hopes for Extraordinary. But this one just fell flat for me. When I got to the big reveal I was left pretty underwhelmed and also wondering at how such a strange idea came to be the basis of an entire novel. I wonder if the actual Rothschild descendants know about this book and its weird premise. They probably don't or if they do are too busy & rich to care about it but I would be a little weirded out if it was my family being fairy tale-ized so oddly. This was a definite bummer to read, probably more so because of my high expectations. But Impossible was just so good! It's hard to reconcile that they were written by the same author.

I have been super excited for this anthology for what feels like forever. I love all of the art and the cover is so perfect. I think I am remaining firmly Team Unicorn because so  many of the zombie stories were just too gross or depressing for me. I really loved Cassandra Clare's Cold Hands and Meg Cabot's Princess Prettypants. Oh, how I wish I was Meg Cabot! She needs to write some more Heather Wells soon! There were a few unicorn stories that were a little too gross for me as well- I think my tolerance for grossness was pretty weak during this reading though- maybe I'll blame my vertigo. This was definitely a fun book!

Happy December!

In completely predictable news I have been sick which has led to less reading of late. I am excited to have made a new Christmas tumblr though! I love this time of year even if I've been stuck in bed for the last few days with vertigo, which I thought was a disease for the elderly. Maybe I am fastforwarding myself into that group, who knows?

My reading update is full of some trashier stuff this time. And I am starting to think I might not make it to my goal of 200 books this year. I've got 26 days to get 40 more books read and I don't like the idea of reading 40 YA or 40 super short books either so we'll see what I end up doing.

Because I have been feeling so mentally blah I'm not going into the past 11 or so books I've read in too much detail. They can be summarized as follows:

-a fun new (well, at least new to me) supernatural series with books that can be read in 2 hours each leading to my irritation at having to wait for the next installment coming out a year from now (Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series)

-the latest in a different supernatural read in 2 hours each series that was a little bit of a let down (Devon Monk's Magic at the Gates)

-3 trashy regency romances (Mary Balogh & Sherry Thomas books)

-2 moderately silly YA titles that many people seem to love that grate on my nerves just a bit (Simone Elkele's Paradise series)

-1 middle grade nonfiction about the Brontes that I thought was quite well done (A Family Called Bronte)

-Shadow Hills- I remember liking this while I read it but I honestly can't remember much about it now. I will blame my vertigo infected brain for that.

-Stalker Girl- this one I remember & liked in all its creepy glory. I love books like this one with unreliable narrators and so much suspense. I could not put this book down at all. It was so good! And it was funny to realize that the other is a professor at St. Mary's where I have done some of my continuing ed teacher credential classes. Small world!