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Jennifer Mathieu: Moxie (2017)
In a small Texas town where high school football reigns supreme, Viv, sixteen, starts a …
4.5/5*
Full thoughts and discussion here:
https://anchor.fm/mipliophile/episodes/Mipliophile-Ep-1-BOOK-TALK-Moxie-by-Jennifer-Mathieu-e14eor
This book took me a while to read, but I very much enjoyed all the characters. I can see how people think it's not strictly necessary, but I think I'm glad I read the Grisha Trilogy first, as I feel I wouldn't have enjoyed the story nearly as much.
Shadow and Bone is a young adult fantasy adventure and debut novel written by Israeli-American …
I only read this series because I'd heard so many great things about the Six of Crows duology, and I don't like going into magic systems blind. This series is a weak point in Leigh Bardugo's writing, and it shows in just how strong it is with SoC.
I think I liked Ruin and Rising the best out of the three, and I'm glad I read the Grisha trilogy before jumping into the world with SoC, but they were a letdown. I often found myself wondering how long til I was done, and feeling like my bookmark wasn't moving no matter how many hours I spent reading.
That said, even though my disappointment was huge, my love of Nikolai Lantsov is even bigger and I am better for learning of his existence. He should be in every book, not just Bardugo's books, but all books. He is the saving grace …
I only read this series because I'd heard so many great things about the Six of Crows duology, and I don't like going into magic systems blind. This series is a weak point in Leigh Bardugo's writing, and it shows in just how strong it is with SoC.
I think I liked Ruin and Rising the best out of the three, and I'm glad I read the Grisha trilogy before jumping into the world with SoC, but they were a letdown. I often found myself wondering how long til I was done, and feeling like my bookmark wasn't moving no matter how many hours I spent reading.
That said, even though my disappointment was huge, my love of Nikolai Lantsov is even bigger and I am better for learning of his existence. He should be in every book, not just Bardugo's books, but all books. He is the saving grace of this trilogy and I am amazed at my ability to feel so lukewarm about an entire trilogy and yet love a single character from it above most other characters. Thank you for Nikolai.
When her sister Patty died, Jenna blamed herself. When Jenna died, she blamed herself for …
Definitely not my favorite Seanan McGuire book I've read. It could be a bit of a slog, and I was hoping for more of a creepy/horror vibe, and I didn't get that. I also feel like it went in an odd direction that wasn't alluded to in the slightest in the blurb for it, which may be the root of my general dislike.
After finding a break-up letter written by her older sister on the day she died, …
I enjoyed this book. It’s a contemporary that managed to grab my attention without really mentioning the romance involved, which I love. I don’t mind romance, really, but it can’t be the selling point. It can’t be the plot, and it wasn’t here. The plot was grief, and a mystery involved in said grief, and it was interesting in that this wasn’t a sad story. Because life goes on and sometimes you aren’t overcome by depression when you’re grieving and sometimes you just don’t understand how to grieve or even that you are grieving.
Shadow and Bone is a young adult fantasy adventure and debut novel written by Israeli-American …
I'm hating myself for not writing reviews of the books I read as I read them.
I can't recall much from this book(a bad sign, really), other than how much I dislike Mal. But we also meet Nikolai here so it wasn't all bad.
Another fantasy audiobook from Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, which began with the Alex, Hugo, …
Thus far, this is hands down my favorite Wayward Children book. While I was a tad lukewarm on the new characters, other than Sumi's daughter, it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment. In fact, I would love to see a book in the future exploring the new POV character from this book more in-depth.
I also found myself frustrated when Kade or other people from Logic worlds got upset about how things worked in the Nonsense worlds. One line in particular stood out, "Some things seemed like a misuse of magic, and this was one of them." How's it being misused? It isn't YOUR magic.
I think my door would go to a nonsense world.
As the oldest daughter, willful, outspoken Sophie knew that her life could lead to nothing …
I picked this up because I'm so familiar with the Ghibli film, I had to know the source material.
Without bashing the movie, which is wonderful in it's own right, I just have to say that I wish the movie included more of the book than it does. As is normal, the movie changed and omitted a lot, which is unfortunate. The book breathes so much more life into what are already lively characters. Anyone more familiar with the Ghibli movie should definitely give this a read, it paints a much fuller picture of the story.
"Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were …
4.5/5
I wasn't expecting to like this one more than Every Heart a Doorway, but I did! Jack and Jill weren't my favorite characters from the firs book, so I didn't think I'd be as super sucked into this book as was with EHaD, but I was pleasantly surprised! This leaves me with high hopes for Beneath the Sugar Sky, because Sumi is my favorite character.
My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories is a 2014 anthology edited by …
Midnights by Rainbow Rowell; 3.5/5
This one was cute and cozy, and friendship to lover is my favorite sort of romance, if I had to choose.
The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link; 2/5
I wouldn’t say this one was bad so much that I didn’t know what was going on. Who was Fenny, exactly?? And the lady? His wife? Why were they trapped in this purgatory thing but also able to visit the living but only on Christmas in the snow?? Why was the girls mother in jail??? What did she do? I feel like there were unnecessary details that went unexplained, there was just to much going on to be wrapped up in a short story, this probably would be better suited as a novella, where we could learn about the mother and Fenny’s past.
Angels in the Snow by Matt De La Peña; 4/5
This story …
Midnights by Rainbow Rowell; 3.5/5
This one was cute and cozy, and friendship to lover is my favorite sort of romance, if I had to choose.
The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link; 2/5
I wouldn’t say this one was bad so much that I didn’t know what was going on. Who was Fenny, exactly?? And the lady? His wife? Why were they trapped in this purgatory thing but also able to visit the living but only on Christmas in the snow?? Why was the girls mother in jail??? What did she do? I feel like there were unnecessary details that went unexplained, there was just to much going on to be wrapped up in a short story, this probably would be better suited as a novella, where we could learn about the mother and Fenny’s past.
Angels in the Snow by Matt De La Peña; 4/5
This story made me emotional for several reasons. Feeling directionless in college, first Christmas without my family, being hungry and having no food. It was a well told little story and ended in them acknowledging their feelings rather than falling in love so that’s nice.
Polaris is Where You’ll Find Me by Jenny Han; 5/5
Ok so perhaps I’m just a sucker for a good “Santa is real” story, so sue me. But I want more of this!! Santa adopting a child abandoned on his sleigh on Christmas Eve? That’s so cute. And the elves are real elves, like in mythology, tall and slender and beautiful. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a story that didn’t depict Santa’s elves as short, dwarf-like creatures. Santa and his elves have their own mythos that has evolved away from more traditional fae mythos, and I LOVE setting something that fits them back into it. I would read this story, romance and all.
It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins; 4/5
Acknowledging social media in a positive way is a plus for me, but also I relate a lot more to the way Marigold notices people she’s attracted to. In a “it can’t be denied they’re attractive but I have other things to think about” kinda way until she has a reason to get closer to him, at which point she essentially thinks “wow all I want is to hear him say words”. Relatable, honestly. Really though, this was a cute one. One of those where I wouldn’t mind reading a happy story following these two in a relationship.
Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan; 4/5
I didn’t have very many Jewish friends growing up, so I wasn’t exposed to the perspective of people who didn’t celebrate Christmas(even my friends from agnostic and non-religious households celebrated Christmas. I was from a similarly non religious household). As such, I find out to be an interesting perspective to see. Plus, I had gotten so wrapped up in the sugar sweet hetero romances here that I was caught off guard by story about two boys. A+
But what I really got out of this story is how much I want to read about Santa and his various thoughts doing his job. His thoughts on cookies, and how sad he is when he can tell when a household is down on it’s luck. Stuff like that.
Krampuslauf by Holly Black; 1.5/5
This story was pretty boring, tbh. I feel like I came in the middle of another story with relationships that had been established in writing before and I had no context for it. And I don’t think the Krampus legend was utilized as well as it could have been. Really just about everything related to Krampus and the fantasy creatures could have been done by regular humans, or left out entirely and the story wouldn’t have changed, so nothing they did added anything unique. However, I liked Wren.
Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White; 3.5/5
This one was a cute, easy to read short story. Nothing too special, but nice to read anyway. And I liked the idea of a psychic chef. I’d read that book.
Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter; 3/5
I’m pretty lukewarm on this one. It wasn’t bad, but it was corny.
The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor; 1/5
I’m sorry but I was so confused reading this one. I could’t even finish it. I couldn’t tell if it was set in a fantasy world, or if it was our world with a touch of fantasy in it, but either way I felt thrown into it with no real explanation or introduction to the world or the magic in it, and it would have benefited more from being a full length story.
Final Thoughts
So my overall rating for this book was 3/5, which is the average of all of my ratings for each story. It was a nice book to have picked up near Christmas, but I found myself increasingly bored by it as time wore on. If I’m being honest, I’m glad to be done with it.
This debut from two emerging YA talents is told through a series of texts and …
3.5*
Dawn Kurtagich: The dead house (2015)
Told through journal entries, a psychotherapist's notes, court records, and more, relates the tale of Carly, a teen who was …
Shadow and Bone is a young adult fantasy adventure and debut novel written by Israeli-American author Leigh Bardugo. It was …
What happens when a trans* girl who is not out to her family accidentally inherits …
4.5/5
