LET’S BE MONSTERS

“That was what magic did. It revealed the heart of who you’d been before life took away your belief in the possible. It gave back the world all lonely children longed for.” — Ninth House, @lbardugo

September Reads

Truly Devious: A Mystery  by Maureen Johnson

It by Stephen King (Unfinished)

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Unfinished)

Cruel Prince by Holly Black (Unfinished)

September was a slow reading month. I put IT on pause and started a few other books, but wasn’t in the mood. Hopefully October will be better, and I will finally finish IT by Halloween. 

2019 Reading

I took a count yesterday and I reached 21/30 of my year goal for reading. I’m really impressed with myself. While this may not seem like a lot, I just finished school in May, have a full time job working between 40-60 hours a week and am a family oriented person. I’m glad I got back into reading.

Though Stephen King’s IT is currently killing me. 😵

Seeing IT Chapter 2 tonight. Only 175 pages into the book. 😓 oh well

August Reads

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

The Diviners by Libba Bray

July Reads

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Eliza And Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I finished the first book in this popular fantasy series while I was on vacation. It is now one of my favorite fantasies. I am thankful to the booktuber that recommended this wonderful series. The book is so descriptive of its world and has such a complex magic systems. It reflects the world today, the separation of the rich and the poor and the powers in which religion can have on a population. I high recommend. I may write a more detailed review later. 

2019 DNF

For me it started as a show.......

I  watched maybe one or two episodes before realizing it was a book. I love to read books before movies or shows, so I stopped everything to read this book. I won’t give away details, but half way through the book has a lull, a drop in story. I couldn’t get passed that. I had fallen in love with the little girl’s character and even the relationship of the two actors in the show, but the book had failed me and thus assuming the show would as well. So for now and until further notice you are DNF’d, The Passage by Justin Cronin

Shout Out!

My favorite book for 8 years has been George Orwell’s 1984. An unusual favorite book, but it was also the book that really got me out of my comfort zone and enjoying more then the typical YA books. My motivation to read adult books and more complex dystopians is due to this books ability to surprise me with the complexity, and accuracy to what life is like now. Although it is slowly falling behind other books as my most favorite it still sits deep within my heart, and is the only book I own two copies of, well other than Alice in Wonderland. 

Fun Fact: George Orwell was a pen name for Eric Arthur Blair

I also love this book for its deep connection to my personal life, though I won’t say why. You will even see my profile is the iconic eye watching from above. 

This happens all the time, everyone should be able to make decisions for themselves about books. Don’t let others opinions change yours.

When you finally read the book everyone's been talking up and you're just kinda like

no one: me: here’s a flow chart of 41 lgbtq+ book recommendations, have fun! disclaimer: this is a very non-comprehensive list since I’m only including books that I’ve read

I have a thing for WW2 fiction and these two books were absolutely fantastic. It’s been a long time since I did a book rec so I figured it was time. 1. The Only Woman in the Room - The story of Jewish actress and physicist Hedy Lamarr. Well written, and absolutely beautiful. It made me cry more than once. 2. The Huntress - A nazi murderess, two war criminal hunters, a Brooklyn teenager aspiring to be a photographer, and a female pilot who was a member of the Night Witches. I don’t know how to say much else without giving it away. This book had a great story line. As well, it includes gay and bisexual characters, and they are wonderfully wrote. Go read it.

The Huntress By Kate Quinn

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fresh off reading this unique book. The story line fallows three characters Ian, Nina, and Jordan. All of Nina’s story lines take place during WWII and her time as a Night Witch clashing with the notorious Huntress and living to tell her tale. Ian has his own reasons for searching for the murderess in his present day timeline. Lastly, Jordan tells her story of the last five years building up to the preset. Jordan’s father has recently fallen in love and Jordan must deal with sharing her family with a women whose history has mysterious holes. 

I really enjoyed this book, while it was long at times, it was necessary for the character development, all 4 characters including Tony, whose voice is never written, have extensive backgrounds and history that is covered throughout. The only negative comment that I have is easy conclusion that Jordan’s new Stepmother was the Huntress. I had knew that was were the story line was going at the first mention of an Austrian/Polish women dating Jordan’s father, after that it was filing in the dots as too how she got there, who was Ruth, and what exactly had she done. 

Despite the title, so little in this book was about the huntress herself. It was about the sadness of lose and the effects of war on people after WWII. Even Jordan who was not apart of the war was affected by her fathers expectations for her life. Ian and Nina struggling with their fear and vengeful desires, while Tony struggled with feeling like he belonged and made a difference anywhere. 

SPOLIERS

What I most enjoyed about this book was that I partially wanted to change Ian’s mind. He always believed all Nazi’s needed to be punished, but I do feel as though some only conducted their jobs, such as Mr. Wolb. I wanted for them to come to understand what Anna had done and for there to be a perfectly good explanation, but we come to find later that she is more cold hearted and villainous than believed. Even Jordan states, that she still loves her and pities her but doesn’t want to, knowing she is a monster. As a reader I feel a little bit of that as the huntress is so nice and caring throughout. 

I only wished that characters such as Mr. Wolb are shown, how they only did their job despite what the country did as a whole. For example, Yelena sided with her country and are likely on separate sides of the Cold War, it cannot be said it s Yelena’s fault when she believes to be doing good for her country by fighting. 

In conclusion, this novel has so any complicated feelings and emotions while struggling with life challenges. It is not what I expected, but highly recommended. 

My Read List (07/19)

Currently Reading: 

The White Princess by Philippa Gregory

A Conjuring Of Light by V.E. Schwab

Reading Next:

Mistborn: The Final Empire  by Brandon Sanderson

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

IT by Stephen King

The Women in the Window by A.J. Finn

The Women Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure 

Be lost. Give up. give In. in the end It would be better to surrender before you begin. be lost. Be lost And then you will not care if you are ever found.

- Vicious by V.E. Schwab