New location at MyBookJoy.com!

 Hey there,

If you've found this, then you're almost there: I've moved this blog to a new site! Check out MyBookJoy.com for the latest posts. It's a bit different than here, as I've added new kinds of content, but reviews and thoughts are still included. 

See you there!

~Jennifer

June 9 - June 15, 2019

100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons - ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Recommended: Yes!
For a warm-hearted light read (pun!), for an easy smile about falling in love, and reminder of the truth of Dumbledore's legendary words: "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

Gorgeous cover!!!

Summary:
Tessa can't see how she'll ever get back to her old life. Primarily because she can't see after the accident. The doctors say it should come back after a few months, but doctors have been wrong before. That means months of no writing, no contact with the limited friends she had who were all online, and no happiness or light. Weston signs up to become her eyes, and try to show her the light in her darkness. Taking her on a trip through her other senses, Weston writes what she tells him to and revels in her lack of knowledge of his own disability. As for what she'll think of him if she gets her sight back, well... he'll just wait and see what to do if the time comes.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

May 19 - 24, 2019

Kingdom Cold by Brittni Chenelle

A free copy was provided by NetGalley in trade for my honest feedback ☺ So excited about that site!!

Recommended: sure!
For those who enjoy the fight-for-your-crown plot line, and unexpectedly realistic characters in this otherwise unrelatable setting for modern-day people (unless you're modern-day royalty, I suppose!)

Summary:
When the fighting of her country's endless war spills into Princess Charlotte's her own courtyard, she's delighted to call off her arranged marriage with Prince Young. After fleeing with her stoic betrothed, they finally escape one battle and immediately find themselves in another. A sleazy new suitor is suddenly scheming for her hand --- and her kingdom --- and suddenly Young doesn't look so bad as an ally, if not a husband. Trying to save the kingdom Besmium from being overrun with enemies begins with figuring out who among their own they can really trust.

A very bold ending that I deeply applaud. I'm hoping Kingdom Soul delivers just as much in the sequel!

Overall, I quite enjoyed the story! The characters had distinct and developed personalities that consistently carry through in their actions, and have the miraculous ability to actually talk to each other (instead of that thing where the conflict would be resolved by a short chat). We got a few chapters from the perspectives of the not-quite-main characters, which actually worked really well to add depth all around and tangle you up by making you feel a bit sympathetic even for the villains.

The places I stumbled were the grammatical errors, particularly issues with missing commas. Those really stand out to me, and it took me out of the story at best, and at worst made me actually not understand what was happening. There were also a few times when actions were inconsistent (such as Charlotte saying she sat up to talk to her mother, then when her father entered the room "it was almost enough to make her sit up". I'm like, girl you're already sitting up??).

These are small issues that can easily be solved with a second pair of eyes taking a look at the text though, and the driving force of characters and story was solid!


Skeleton Women  by Mingmei Yip
Recommended: yes, BUT...
for those who are interested in 1930s Shanghai (and let me tell you, everyone should be. it was a crazy and wondrous time), and emotional development of characters, and flexibility of mind to accept a very different culture and set of norms. Don't have high expectations for action-plot or romance.

So what DIDN'T work for me was the romance and the amount of tangible action. The main romance was very weak and frankly, Jinjin annoys me as a useless whiny pretty boy. And even though this is a story around a trained assassin working in a world of top-tier gangsters... there was not nearly as much tension as you'd expect from that setup.

However, I really enjoyed reading this. The way it's written is what I liked best, since the character is very consistent in her thoughts and actions. I felt a stab of pride understanding her many "The Art of War" references from reading it last year, and combined with the 36 Stratagems, I liked hearing her interpretations of them in her life. The descriptions of sex are odd and sometimes funny to a 2019 American woman (a woman's "gate of mystery" will never not crack me up), but again, they felt fitting to the character and sometimes were actually rather beautiful. The writing and the setting were the strengths here for me, more than that actual events. Which seems kind of odd, now that I'm writing it out, but hey, I like what I like.

May 12 - May 18, 2019

The Expats by Chris Pavone

Recommended: Sure!
For people who like to try to solve the puzzle before the characters, who like to travel, and who like spy-crime intrigue minus guts and gore. It's a pretty PG spy story.

This is the first spy book I've ever read, and I may have found a new genre I like! This might not be a blow-you-away book for people more well read on this genre, but I loved it as an introduction. Since I've been to some of the places they visit, I got a little giddy when I could picture so well where they were and merge with my own memories. 😊

We really only get in depth with the main character, Kate, and the others are created through her own impressions. They're fairly predictable static characters: clever dependable husband, sexy playboy spy, cunning faux-friend spy. Kate is not terribly exciting, but I appreciated the turn of her being excited to have a stay-at-home mom kind of life, and then having the courage to admit that maybe it's not actually for her. I enjoyed watching her sneak around and work things out and plan out how to get everything to go her way. There's really no romance here, so don't be looking for that.

It wasn't terribly predictable to me, but probably would be to more well-read people in the genre. I also wasn't thinking so much about how it might end, because I was really sucked into the present moment. That's good writing! Definitely enjoyed it! 

May 5 - May 11, 2019

Circe by Madeline Miller

God that was exhausting. Didn't think I'd make it through. I am *BAFFLED* by how this was 2018 Best Fantasy Book on Goodreads. I guess I won't be following those as recommendations for what to read anymore, and this was my first attempt at that!

Recommended: NOPE
It lacked emotion, a likable main character, and at times was even lacking interest (aka.... it was dull.)

This follows the life of the goddess Circe, which seemed really exciting because she is a FASCINATING character of mythology. Unfortunately, it was written very weirdly, and it felt like she had no emotion, no strong voice, and came across almost like a documentary. I could picture David Attenborough reading this to me. (Audiobook idea? He would def make it better!)

At times it was just pages and pages of her saying "I'm bored" in a million different ways. I get that exile might be boring for an eternity, but my god, maybe you went too far with making your reader emphasize because I put the book down for a week or two and only barely managed to pick it back up! I didn't like Circe in this story. She was wildly fickle, flipping from one extreme to the other, with no consistency. 

There are some events that I thought, there's no WAY this can be boring (her and the Minotaur, crossing Scylla's path, etc) and at times those parts did really suck me in. But in order to get to the Minotaur, we had days of bland sailing, looking around the woods, complaining to and about how mean her sister is. And that just really sucks the fun away. 

I didn't HATE this book, but I was immensely bored by it, and disappointed by the Goodreads community, because how the heck was THIS what they thought the best fantasy book of 2018 was?! Fantasy is in a really bad state if that's true. Don't get sucked into the hype like I did, and try picking up Ben Bova's The Winds of Altair if you're looking for some real fantasy.

April 28 - May 4, 2019

The Wednesday Letters by Jason F Wright

Recommended: YES!

This was a glorious used-bookstore-find, and a rare book that I will probably read multiple times. It gives me the warm fuzzies, but avoids the cliches and cringing that often also accompany the warm fuzzies.

The adult children of this family suddenly lose their parents and all come together in their hometown to handle it, when they find a basement full of THOUSANDS of letters that their father wrote to their mother, weekly, without fail, for their entire marriage. Including the last one, which he wrote immediately after his wife died in his arms and before he takes his own life / dies of heartbreak. Reading through the letters reveals some intensities of their parent's marriages they had never known, and deeply rattles all the kids as their images of their parents - and themselves - changes forever.


Also, the "Epilogue" and its presentation KILLS ME with how adorable it is!!!! All I'll say: read to THE VERY END OF THE BOOK.

April 14 - 20, 2019

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Recommended: sure
For someone looking for a quick read that's cute enough, for someone who has no idea about autism and this might help be more humanizing for those who have it, someone looking for some detailed and generously frequent sex scenes

Uh, well, I did not expect to be knee deep in a detailed sexy scene in the first chapters in the book. She's hiring a prostitute, and I'm sitting here waiting for the kooky mixup. But nope... he actually shows up and proceeds to seduce her as she asks. Well, at least it was decently written and they didn't make him a misogynistic ass.

The story was ok, the characters were ok, the romance was ok. What knocked it down to 3 stars for me was the lackluster conflict towards the end. It felt like the standard weak issue where if the people JUST ACTUALLY TALKED TO EACH OTHER, nothing would've even been an issue. It's hard to enjoy the story when I get to here, and I'm like "Oh they're actually both idiots."

I did appreciate that her autism wasn't necessarily her defining characteristic, even though it was a motivator for her in this aspect of her life. But she recognizes that it also makes her who she is, and has positive benefits too, like her ability to focus so clearly on things that helps make her excellent at her work. Overall that seemed very positive, as well as giving insight into how someone with autism can also enjoy sex, social situations, etc. and are just people. 

Was it predictable? Kinda, yeah. Did I enjoy it? Yeah, it was a quick "good enough" kind of read. But you're also not missing out on anything huge if you skip it.