I tried so hard to make it through this but since the beginning this was so boring. There are so many secondary characters that weren’t propednf @ 65%
I tried so hard to make it through this but since the beginning this was so boring. There are so many secondary characters that weren’t properly introduced, so they’re just names on a page. The stakes were so incredibly low in this tournament. I genuinely don’t know how a power to grow pomegranates or multiply beans would do anything for the king of Spain. Finally, the romance was so poorly developed and lackluster, I yawned when we finally got to the sex scene.
attempting to fill the void in my heart after finishing cemetery of forgotten books series
blanca and the departure is blanca’s dad the author that wentattempting to fill the void in my heart after finishing cemetery of forgotten books series
blanca and the departure is blanca’s dad the author that went mad in the mansion david ends up living in or am i delulu
nameless david deserves so much better and reading this just hurts
a young lady from barcelona am I supposed to remember who laia is bc ngl I kinda forgot
rose of fire of course it’s all connected. am I even surprised anymore ?!?
the prince of parnassus is this my sign to read don quixote
a christmas tale love me a spoopy christmas story!!!
not emotionally or physically (it's a heavy one) ready for this
beware for potential spoilers ahead, since this is book 4 in the series
PG. 0-100 the waynot emotionally or physically (it's a heavy one) ready for this
beware for potential spoilers ahead, since this is book 4 in the series
PG. 0-100 the way everything intertwines since the first book is mind boggling and just another example of the brilliance of this series / author. introduced to a new character, Alicia, and she's giving very Red Queen vibes (the spanish series, not the terrible YA fantasy one). It's long overdue for us to have a brilliant female detective (is that what she is?) in this series. the emergence of Valls fosters so much hate in me, i can't wait for this man to get what he deserves.
PG. 100-200 we've got a new forgotten book and this one seems creepy, definitely something i would read as a child and have nightmares on. so far Alicia has taken the reigns as our main character and her banter with Vargas is refreshing and comedic. I've forgotten some of the minor characters from the previous novels that are making an appearance in this one, but hopefully in time it will come back to me. Something about Leandro is so off-putting; not sure whether I trust him.
PG. 200-300 does it make me a bad person to cheer for every awful thing that occurs to Valls despite the fact that he completely deserves it?? i’m loving all the detective work going on.
PG. 300-400 everything is starting to connect but I’m only halfway through the book, leaving me to worry what else might be in store. What happened to Mataix and his family was so heartbreaking (didn’t think it was possible for this series to get any sadder).
PG. 400-500 poor Fernandito :( i’ve missed seeing the Sempre family but I don’t want Alicia to be the one that ruins their marriage either. here I though Valls was the biggest villain when in reality it is Hendaya.
PG. 500-600 Rovira was a plot twist i did not see happening!!!! i'm glad my instincts about Leandro proved to be correct. this story just got even more intertwined than i thought possible. as much as I love Alicia, I empathize with Be a so much and feel so bad for her.
PG. 600-700 ALL THE ACTION THAT WAS PACKED INTO THESE PAGES. I CANNOT TAKE IT. Isabella's story was absolutely heartbreaking. i think i have to re-read book 2 to fully embrace what was going on with her and David. Leandro finally getting exactly what he deserves.
PG. 600-700 the way everything tied together in the end was so beautiful. sorry to the library for the tears left on the pages
overall thoughts do I start this series all over again?? ...more
suffered a little bit of "filler book" syndrome, however this series can do no wrong in my eyes so still top fucking qualitysuffered a little bit of "filler book" syndrome, however this series can do no wrong in my eyes so still top fucking quality...more
Babel suffers from using a the same plot line from The Burning God, (view spoiler)[the main character self-sacrificing themselves for the greater goodBabel suffers from using a the same plot line from The Burning God, (view spoiler)[the main character self-sacrificing themselves for the greater good (hide spoiler)]. It's great if you haven't read it before and thus it ends up surprising you, however in this instance the predicability had me eye-rolling; coupled with a messy pace and weak magic system, a mediocre novel emerged....more
I chose this book because it has such a high average rating - I'm here now to bring that average rating down.
The Heart's Invisible Furies follows CyrI chose this book because it has such a high average rating - I'm here now to bring that average rating down.
The Heart's Invisible Furies follows Cyril as a coming of age story. Adopted by two people that seems to be in a very strange marriage, Cyril grows up with a skewed version of love. At a young age he develops an infatuation with Julian. Throughout the novel we encounter their moments together as they become close friends, while Cyril's closeted homosexuality crescendoes.
Because the first chapter focuses on his biological mother, and the story of how she gave him up / who she was, there was no mystery or build-up in my opinion as he goes through life trying to figure out who she is (though he doesn't really until the end, which is why this backstory seems really strange). I also disliked how many times their paths crossed and the dialogue between them, because again knowing the backstory you know that they are related and it lacks any climax.
There were so many of these near-miss moments to the point that the novel seems hyperbolical. It ended up being pretty cheesy. Cyril's actions were incredibly unforgivable. There was an insane amount of info dumping about Ireland. Overall, felt like an over-hyped book.
Mornings in Jenin was a profound novel centered mostly on Palestinian refugee Amal. Beginning in 1941, we receive background on her grandparents, fathMornings in Jenin was a profound novel centered mostly on Palestinian refugee Amal. Beginning in 1941, we receive background on her grandparents, father/uncles, mom/aunts and their need to leave their hometown of Ein Hod and settlement into the refugee camps of Jenin as Isreali soldiers occupy Pakistan. Amal is born in Jenin and from this point forward we follow her journey as the violent horrors unfold.
Every single character in this novel had character development and was fully fleshed out, so even though Amal was our central character everyone else still played a significant role. Despite this being a historical novel, you grow to care about every single character and happens to them. It is important to note that although this work is fiction, the events and figures in this story are accurately rendered.
The various POVs in this novel really annoyed me. The beginning portion was written in 3rd person since this was before Amal's birth and I wish it stayed that way. Instead we switched to a first person narrative for two different characters within which were observations/thoughts for other characters that our 1st POV wouldn't have known about. This also led to repetitiveness, for example Amal's POV described her brothers reactions (he saw others and couldn't face them due to fear for what he saw) and then we would get her brothers POV in which he felt the same things. We gained no new perspective. Thus, remaining in 3rd POV all-knowing narrative would have provided us with same level of detail.
I really encourage you to give this read a try, this must have been one of the best written and informative historical fictions I have ever read.
Although environmental stories are not my usual reads, I was intrigued by the premise from the opposite perspective. Instead of focusing on the “1.5/5
Although environmental stories are not my usual reads, I was intrigued by the premise from the opposite perspective. Instead of focusing on the “tree huggers” (which was the focus of my last environmental book), this one focuses on the working class loggers in the 1970s.
Rich has been cutting down redwood trees as long as he can remember. Almost 50 now and after his younger wife’s miscarriage, he makes the decision to use their life savings to buy a huge section of land with the intention to profit off the cut redwoods.
Unknown to him, his wife, Colleen, begins to question whether her miscarriage (and the seven previous ones which she kept a secret) were caused by the sprays used to keep the land free of weeds. Working in secret with her ex boyfriend, she begins to wonder whether the nose bleeds, cancers, and deaths are worth it trade off for the income Rich gets.
The story is also told through Chub’s perspective. As their only kid, his chapters showcase his innocence in what’s going on around him.
The synopsis that I provided should have really set the background for the story, but instead this plot lasted for over 70% of the novel. Every plot point that I mentioned kept getting repeated and it seemed that there was no escalation.
You may be asking me what then was happening for majority of the book?
Well, we really meet a lot of random and pretty asshole-ish characters. By a LOT, it honestly felt like every chapter a new character was interjected. I didn’t use the word introduced, because no introduction was ever given. They would just appear using logger jargon. Their whole family was also mentioned as if we should know who they are in relation to Rich or Colleen. I honestly wouldn’t be able to describe the other characters no matter how hard I tried (and trying to find them in the book would be impossible).
There was also a weird focus on some storylines. Rich’s toothache was mentioned so many times for absolutely no reason. We’re given background on his previous dentist. We’re told the life story of the current dentist he refuses to see. We get a random chapter of him going to the dentist. It makes no sense. Additionally, there was a skull found very early on but I don’t think there was ever any conclusion to who that was or what happened.
Overall, maybe the last 10% of this book actually felt like something was going on. I still don’t completely understand what’s happening with the land in the end (but I can’t say I ever knew what was going on with it).
I might have set too high expectations for this and ultimately had to really push myself to read to the very end. ∙ part of race against time challenge (aka read all 2021 releases before the year ends.)
Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review....more
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