Tag: The Witcher

February 2021 Reads

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This book was the perfect book to kick off Valentine’s month. It was fun and cute and perfectly hit all the romance beats. I loved Daisy’s Avenger’s obsession, it made her so much more relateable. Loved how sensitive Liam was. And it was the perfect friends to enemies to lovers trope. Their shared history is what made the book so much better.

I ended up reading this book in one sitting, and I have no regrets. For a book I picked out just because the cover was pretty, I think I did a good job. (BOTM)

4/5 Stars

This was our book club pick for February, and I will admit, I wasn’t sure about this. I had heard good things about it though in many of the book groups I’m a part of, so I gave it a chance.

Matthew McConaughey is a storyteller. He knows how to weave a tale. And he has certainly lived an exciting, and different, life. However, one couldn’t help but wonder as you’re reading, how much of this is an exaggeration? How much is he using his storytelling to push forward something by bending the truth just slightly? Either way, I really enjoyed reading this book. And now I want to watch all of his movies.

4/5 Stars

This was a beautiful story. Therapist finds a suicidal man on the side of a bridge ready to jump and saves him. She brings him into her life for a weekend and both of their lives are changed forever. I never wanted this book to end. I could have stayed in their world for at least 200 more pages. Everything about the story Cross-Smith wove was beautifully done. The book moved me to tears several times over. Did I like the ending? It wasn’t one I expected, but it was realistic and just like the rest of the novel, perfect. (BOTM)

4/5 Stars

What can I say about this book? This is my favorite read of February. I’ve had this book sitting in my TBR for a few months, and I don’t know why it took me so long to get to it. Azere and Rafael are serious couples goals. My favorite thing about this book was how it was a traditional romance, and hit all the traditional romance beats, but it also interwove this complex story about being an immigrant and having to try and balance maintaining your own culture and trying to fit in with your new culture.

Everything about this novel was beautifully written with ease. I predict that I’ll be reading this book over and over and over again. (BOTM)

5/5 Stars

After beginning the series a year ago, I am finally done, and I have to say, the series has a fairly satisfying ending, although I can see why they made the video games.

The book was very long, and dragged at times, and I felt a lot of it was unnecessary, however, it was a really good end for Ciri. Her story wrapped up very nicely, and I loved seeing her come into her own, become a Witcher, and have a mostly happy ending.

4/5 Stars

This. This was a fun read. I love, love, LOVE retellings of popular stories. Especially when they’re taken from their typical setting and placed in a completely new one.

Pride takes Pride and Prejudice from Regency Era England and plops it down in 21st Century Brooklyn. And the story just…fit. I loved the new time bending and race bending of the characters, and their relationships. Zoboi fit it all in. Everything. But updated. If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, then you should definitely give this book a try.

4/5 Stars

Well, this was definitely a book that was well outside of what I would normally read, but I’m so glad I read it. Clarke is a master at storytelling. When the novel begins, it’s very unclear what is happening. But slowly, things start to get revealed, and once you know what is going on, the novel just becomes even better. The build up of the mystery of what exactly was happening to Piranesi made me want to keep reading. I won’t say anymore, because this is a book best to go into cold. But I will say, if you do pick it up, keep reading. You won’t regret it.

5/5 Stars

The second book I read this month in one sitting. My second Christina Lauren book, and just as the first I read (In a Holidaze), I loved it so much I couldn’t stop reading. A romance that hits all the romance beats, and featuring one of my favorite tropes (enemies to lovers), The Unhoneymooners is hilarious, swoonworthy, and tear inducing. The banter between Olive and Ethan was enviable. I hope I can write banter that good. There was absolutely nothing I didn’t like about this book.

5/5 Stars

I didn’t think I would be reading this book so soon, I was on a very long wait list at the library. However, I was lucky enough to score a skip the line copy, and I’ve never been so happy.

A prequel to The Hate U Give, Concrete Rose is Maverick’s story when he was Seven’s age. It begins with him learning he’s Seven’s dad, and moves through about a year in his life. Prequels are usually hit or miss, and sometimes they can ruin a character for me (I’m looking at you Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) however, this book was not that. This book made me love Maverick even more.

I loved the relationship between Maverick and Seven, and between him and Lisa as well. Everything felt fluid, and made me want to re-read The Hate U Give.

5/5 Stars

This book, I really don’t know what to say about it. I think I’m still trying to process what I read. Written as a satire of tech startups, Black Buck is a commentary about race in the tech world. And race in the world in general.

Saying all of that, this book was weird. Not bad weird, just weird weird. You have to remind yourself that the book is satire so when it goes off the rails, you still keep reading. I will say the pacing was a bit clunky, and this is the book that took me the longest to read all month. However, I enjoyed Buck’s story, and never was tempted to abandon the book. (BOTM)

4/5 Stars

The shortest book in the Dune series, and I listened to this book for 9 hours, and I can probably summarize what happened in just a few sentences.

But while not much happened plot wise, I really enjoyed it. I’m sad about the fate of Paul, but he also had one of the most badass scenes out of either of the books I read, so I guess I will forgive him for the choice he made at the end.

4/5 Stars

I don’t know what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but it wasn’t what I got. If you are loooking for a great feminist Western, this is your book. I didn’t expect alternative history, nor did I expect for the reason why the gang was formed, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The book drew me in with its amazing first line, and kept me there. I’m not quite sure I liked the ending. It felt very abrupt. But it didn’t ruin the book. I really liked Ada and The Kid, and the rest of the Hole in the Wall Gang. I just wish I had some more closure at the end. I was instead left wanting more. (BOTM)

4/5 Stars

January 2021 Reads

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Hamnet

My first read of the new year was actually supposed to be my last read of the previous year, but I didn’t get it finished in time. Hamnet is the story about Shakespeare’s family. The story is very historical fiction, as we don’t really know much about Shakespeare and his life. And to tell the truth, the story more revolves around the women in his life, and Shakespeare isn’t really ever really named.

The novel deals very heavily in the loss of a child. Historically, Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, died at the age of 11, cause unknown, but heavily believed to be from the bubonic plague. The story is beautifully told, and I really enjoyed the dual storylines of Agnes’ past and present in the front half of the book. If you can’t handle reading about a child dying or reading about a mother’s grief, you may want to hold off from reading this book for now.

Rating: 4/5

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

This book was so beautifully written, it just transported you to Italy. Everyone knows that the second born Fontana daughter is cursed to never find love. Which is why when Great-Aunt Poppy calls Em and Luce and tells them she can break the curse on her 80th birthday if only they all go to Italy, what is there to lose?

Nothing. There is nothing to lose, and what follows is a fun story about finding yourself at any age, and not letting a family legend define you. The characters leapt off the page and sprung to life, and this book should be a study in character development. And interwoven with the Italian adventure of Poppy, Em and Luce is a beautiful love story between Poppy and Rico that will equally break your heart, and make it swell in joy. (BOTM)

Rating: 5/5

Play it as it Lays

Realistic Fiction is not my favorite genre, so I dreaded this book a little when it came up as the randomized choice in the book club I’m doing with my sisters. And while it was not something I would normally pick up, it was okay. The problem with realistic fiction is it doesn’t really feel like anything really happens in the book. The plot moves slowly. Also, in this book the characters were not very likeable, and there was absolutely no character growth. The book didn’t really hold my interest, but I didn’t hate the book, and I’m glad I read it and went outside of my comfort zone.

Rating: 3/5

Pretty Little Wife

When everyone started raving about Pretty Little Wife in the Book of the Month Club Facebook group, I knew I needed to read it. Thankfully my friend had it and let me borrow. I went into the book thinking it would be very much like Gone Girl or Girl on a Train, and a lot of it read that way. Spouse mysteriously disappears, surviving spouse is the prime suspect. However, there are multi-layers to this book.

The story starts off pretty slow and predictable, but soon the story picked up and the suspense kept me reading. And then the end. Let me tell you. If you like good endings to your suspense/thrillers, this is a book for you. (BOTM)

Rating: 4/5

The Giver

My book club book for January was The Giver. I hadn’t read it since I first read it in middle school over twenty years ago. And let me tell you, reading it as an adult is a completely different experience than reading it as a pre-teen. When you’re twelve, you’re reading it as if you’re Jonah. As an adult, you can see more of the nuances of the community. Also, since having read this previously, I had also read two of the sequel books. Knowing what comes next really takes away from the ambiguousness of this books endings. All of this being said, I still loved the book very much, and it is one that absolutely holds up through time.

Rating: 5/5

The Book of Longings

What. A. Beautiful. Book. Told from the point of view of Ana, Jesus’s wife, The Book of Longings brings to life Israel at the time of Jesus. Relegated to a mere side character, Jesus is treated as a historical figure rather than a religious one, and I think that is what makes the book so beautifully done. Yes, Ana is Jesus’s wife, but she is also so much more than that. Feminist in a time when it was unheard of, Ana longs for her freedom, and to write.

Ana is such a well drawn character, it’s hard to imagine that she wasn’t real. She starts off as a wealthy girl, who doesn’t want to be forced to marry someone she doesn’t love, transitions into her role as Jesus’s wife where she learns how to farm and do domestic chores, and finally as a devout religious figure who writes for the rest of her days.

We all know how Jesus’s story turns out, and even though I know the story of the crucifixion in my sleep, it’s even more devastating told through the eyes of the woman who called him beloved.

The prose is beautiful, and I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve read a book by Sue Monk Kidd. (BOTM)

Rating: 5/5

Tower of Swallows

Book 6 in the Witcher series, and the penultimate book at that. This was my audiobook for the month, because at about twenty hours, I can only listen to one audiobook a month right now.

This book was mostly about Ciri, and her journey to The Tower of Swallows. The book was mostly filler, and not a whole lot happened to advance the plot very much. Geralt and Yennefer are barely in it. My favorite part of these books is the analyzing of Ciri’s genetics, which sounds weird. I probably wouldn’t enjoy it so much if I was physically reading all of it, but I love listening to it.

There’s a big reveal at the end about Ciri that made me yell in the car, and I waited very impatiently for the final book to arrive in my library app.

Rating 4/5

Boyfriend Material

Boyfriend Material is such a fun book featuring one of my favorite romance tropes: fake dating. Luc is the son of two former rock stars, so basically famous by association. When he gets a series of bad press, his job tells him he needs to clean up his image or get fired. So, he gets set up with Oliver, a straight laced attorney who needs a date to his parents’ anniversary party. What follows is exactly what you would hope from a fake dating romance.

Luc and Oliver’s relationship was very swoonworthy, even before the fake dating turned into real dating. The book also had amazing side characters and made me laugh out loud several times before utterly breaking my heart and making me cry. This book is all around perfect. I had been looking for something to stand up against Red, White and Royal Blue, and this one hit the mark perfectly.

Rating: 5/5

Winter Counts

Winter Counts was a very interesting book. It was advertised as a thriller, I would categorize it more of a suspense than a thriller. It definitely kept me reading. It was a slow burn, but totally worth it. Virgil is a vigilante on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, taking care of cases law enforcement won’t, bringing justice to the people. When hard drugs start finding their way to the rez, and his teenage nephew he’s caring for OD’s, it becomes Virgil’s mission to find who is bringing in the drugs, and bring them down.

What follows is an intricate story of finding the balance between biding your time and following the laws, and bringing about justice for those you love. All of which is interwoven with what every day life is like on an Indian Reservation. The story is both simple and complex, and it builds to an amazing finale that has me hoping Weiden will make this book the first in a series of Virgil the Vigilante books. (BOTM)

Rating: 4/5

The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living

This was a very cute book. It was a nice formulaic romance about a baker who moves to a small town to bake for a tiny little inn. She finds love and family and plays in a bluegrass band. All while baking delicious pies and cookies and all manner of desserts. I absolutely adored Livvy and thought she was a very well developed character. I do wish there was more Martin, and that the author showed more of their relationship developing rather than Livvy baking practice pies for the pie contest. Other than that, I felt this was a great book, and it made me super hungry for apple pie.

Rating: 4/5

Conversations with Friends

Another pick for my book club with my sisters. The randomizer seems intent on bringing me out of my comfort zone with realistic fiction. This one, though, was a chore for me to read. I was already a bit against it when I flipped through and noticed there were no quotation marks. And then as I was reading, the prose felt more like Rooney was making lists of things that happened.

The book was definitely not one for me. This book was just another strike against realistic fiction, and a very big one. The characters were all terrible people with nothing redeeming about them, especially Frances, the narrator. The only character I felt anything remotely close to sympathy for was Nick, and that’s because I felt sorry that everyone was treating him terribly. This was advertised as a romance, but I found absolutely nothing romantic about it, and I was rooting for Nick to just leave both Melissa and Frances and go live with his sister and beloved niece. The ending just made me rage. The story felt like it dragged, and nothing seemed to actually happen in the book. I don’t plan on reading anything else by this author.

Rating: 2/5

October Reads

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Lovecraft Country

I was watching the show, and really enjoying it, but very confused, so I decided to pick up the book, hoping it would make the show make some more sense. Spoiler Alert: it did not.

The book is vastly different than the show, and just as good. I couldn’t put the book down. If you want a good sci fi fantasy that also deals with race relations in the US, this is definitely a book for you. Especially if you enjoyed the show.

Night Swim

As a lover of the True Crime genre, and a listener of True Crime podcasts, the premise of this book appealed to me greatly. And I was not disappointed. This is easily my favorite book of the month. I couldn’t put it down. The best part was, by the end of the book, I hadn’t solved the “who did it” mystery of the past crime told throughout the book. I was honestly completely shocked. And that says a lot, because usually I can figure it out.

The book does deal with sexual assault, so please be aware of that if you prefer not to read books with that. There is a case where it’s just mentioned, and then there is one where the situation is not super graphic, but it’s not implied either. (BOTM)

Rebecca

This was our book club pick for the month. And I did not enjoy it. At all. It wasn’t the writing or the plot, per say, it was specifically the character of Mrs. de Winter. I couldn’t get past the fact that she didn’t stand up for herself, and she let herself be treated like garbage. I prefer books where the female protagonist is a lot stronger and can hold her own. And before you state it was written this way because of “the time,” remember that Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice are things, and their female leads wouldn’t take any crap from anybody.

The Boys Volume 2: Get Some

This book mostly was a lesson on the different factions of Supes around the world, and more lessons for Wee Huey. I really enjoy these comics because they’re fun, and a quick read.

Baptism of Fire

I prefer to listen to these books, so I took a break while there was no school for six months. But now that school is back in, I can listen to books in the car again, the toddler doesn’t have an opinion…yet.

This book furthered the action of the previous two. We are well and truly entrenched in the war with Nilfgaard. But Geralt is finally prominently featured in a book as he goes in search of Ciri. In fact, most of the action takes place around Geralt. Ciri and Yennefer making brief appearances. There is a huge section where they explain the genetics around Ciri and her powers, which is probably one of the most fascinating things I’ve read. The book ends with a cliffhanger, for the first time giving me a sense of urgency to read the next one.

No Judgments

I have loved Meg Cabot since The Princess Diaries series, so the fact that she has branched into adult romances thrills me to no end. Was this the best book I’ve ever read? No. Was it fun, romantic and an easy read? Yes. That’s why I gave it five stars. I love a book where I can devour it in one sitting, and walk away feeling a warmth in my chest. If you like Hallmark movies, you will love this one. Also, there’s a whole plot point about rescuing animals. If you’re an animal lover, you will feel your heart warm.

No Offense

Another quick, fluffy read from Meg Cabot. This is the second book in her Little Bridge Island series. I devoured the book in a day, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first one. But, still, it was a fun romance between a librarian and the sheriff. The plot was just a little messy with a few loose ends that don’t really get tied up at the end.