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amanda_readingnwritinglife's Reviews (180)
** spoiler alert ** This was recommended by my son for my book by Dahl. I liked it and was disturbed at the same time. đ. I found it sad that the boys is turned into a mouse and will only live a few more years. I know itâs a fantasy book, but I was still sad for him. He doesnât seem to care though, and I love that they plan to live the rest of their lives hunting witches. Now I need to watch the movie!
I was a little intimidated to start this one at first because I heard how beautiful the prose was and how lovely everything was, and I like books that move along pretty fast-paced. I like character development and not a ton of flowery, descriptive writing, so I was worried about this one. I was so pleasantly surprised. I did like the mixture of beautiful descriptions and action. It never felt stagnant or even slow at all. It was just such a great story of Lazlo Strange learning about who he really is and where he is meant to be. I was cheering for him and brokenhearted with him from the very beginning and those feelings only intensified as we got to the end. I could feel his yearning and his hopelessness at times and it was just such an immersive reading experience. I am going straight to the next book because I have to find out about his Muse of Nightmares.
I was so happy to begin this book and I was so happy at the end of this book. Did it end exactly the way I wanted? No, but did it end the way it needed to? Yes. My favorite character of the whole series who I had no idea would be my favorite? Spook! Yes. It was so nice to see all of my friends again and once again watch them move all over the kingdom following clues, learning about the world, and learning more about themselves. Watching the characters grow over this series has been one of the best things about it. Learning the magic system of this world was almost effortless. It was just a great book and a great series, and I'm happier for having read it.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
This is my first Sarah J Maas book, and I had no idea it was going to be a romance. :) Or, I guess I should say I didn't know it would be so romance heavy. And it wasn't even that romance heavy. We have two POVs (mostly), which is so refreshing after reading some fantasy books with 5 or more POVs. I love multiple, but sometimes less is more.
Anyway, we meet Bryce who can't seem to catch a break in her life. Things go from kind of bad to horrific pretty quickly and she spends the rest of the novel trying to piece herself and her world back together. Throw in a family member who may not be what he seems, friends who have stopped speaking to her, and a broody fallen-angel, hitman slave who is assigned to guard her, and you have the recipe for a great book.
I laughed and cried reading this, and that is high praise from me. I loved it.
I listened to this book on audio from my library, and I love that it was read by the author. I know that she is a poet, and you can tell that in the words that she uses and just some of the phrasing in the book.
I knew nothing of El Salvador, and could only tell you that it's somewhere in Central America, and maybe near Guatemala (although, to be fair, I think all Central American countries are near Guatemala).
I picked this book to read because I love the NPR book concierge and I randomly chose a book from the 2019 Biography section of the book list. I have done this several times with multiple books and I've only been disappointed by one of them. That was not this book.
Carolyn does such a good job of making the reader feel the confusion and naivety that she must have felt and the beginning of her acquaintance with Leonel.
I loved how this book flowed from one scene to the next and how I never knew what was going to happen. I could put myself in her shoes for a lot of book, and it left me feeling sad and at points helpless. I didn't even finish the book before I was googling like crazy. "El Salvador War" "Priest Romero" "Leonel Gomez Vides" "Carolyn Forche". I spent over an hour reading everything I could find about these things, and it was such an education. I was born in 1977, when Carolyn was leaving to go to El Salvador, and I just had no idea about the war or anything else. Oscar Romero sounded familiar to me, but nothing else.
I love the way her eyes were open to the things around her that are easy to ignore. They are especially easy for me when I live in a comfortable house and can use my phone to listen to books or whatever else I want to do with it. I have had my eyes opened more and more over the last couple of years, and I'm glad there are books like this that can help me open them just a little bit more.
I knew nothing of El Salvador, and could only tell you that it's somewhere in Central America, and maybe near Guatemala (although, to be fair, I think all Central American countries are near Guatemala).
I picked this book to read because I love the NPR book concierge and I randomly chose a book from the 2019 Biography section of the book list. I have done this several times with multiple books and I've only been disappointed by one of them. That was not this book.
Carolyn does such a good job of making the reader feel the confusion and naivety that she must have felt and the beginning of her acquaintance with Leonel.
I loved how this book flowed from one scene to the next and how I never knew what was going to happen. I could put myself in her shoes for a lot of book, and it left me feeling sad and at points helpless. I didn't even finish the book before I was googling like crazy. "El Salvador War" "Priest Romero" "Leonel Gomez Vides" "Carolyn Forche". I spent over an hour reading everything I could find about these things, and it was such an education. I was born in 1977, when Carolyn was leaving to go to El Salvador, and I just had no idea about the war or anything else. Oscar Romero sounded familiar to me, but nothing else.
I love the way her eyes were open to the things around her that are easy to ignore. They are especially easy for me when I live in a comfortable house and can use my phone to listen to books or whatever else I want to do with it. I have had my eyes opened more and more over the last couple of years, and I'm glad there are books like this that can help me open them just a little bit more.
Joshua Whitehead gave us a glimpse into a beautiful life, and I was happy to be a part of the journey that Johnny took to find out more about himself while remembering where he came from and the beauty that comes from that.
Sometimes I can appreciate the beauty of writing or the wonder and power of a story, and still not really like it. I'm not sure that the point of this novel was to like it. Enjoy it, yes, and get the overall theme that he was trying to portray without liking it.
I am rating this as high as I am because the writing was beautiful and real and raw and while some of it was disturbing to me, it didn't detract from the beauty that was shown in Joshua Whitehead's words.
I grew up in the southern part of the US, so I had very limited interactions with Native Americans. That all changed when we moved to South Dakota, and met people who had grown up on reservations. I took some classes to prepare for fostering in SD, and one of those was focused on generational poverty and how the early American government had systematically destroyed the native populations and found new ways of dehumanizing an entire population of people.
After a few years of learning and reading, I still have no idea what it is like to live on a reservation or be raised on one. I will continue to educate myself by reading voices who have had these experiences, and I will not pretend that I understand anything about it. I will listen with an open heart and open mind and be continually ready to learn.
Sometimes I can appreciate the beauty of writing or the wonder and power of a story, and still not really like it. I'm not sure that the point of this novel was to like it. Enjoy it, yes, and get the overall theme that he was trying to portray without liking it.
I am rating this as high as I am because the writing was beautiful and real and raw and while some of it was disturbing to me, it didn't detract from the beauty that was shown in Joshua Whitehead's words.
I grew up in the southern part of the US, so I had very limited interactions with Native Americans. That all changed when we moved to South Dakota, and met people who had grown up on reservations. I took some classes to prepare for fostering in SD, and one of those was focused on generational poverty and how the early American government had systematically destroyed the native populations and found new ways of dehumanizing an entire population of people.
After a few years of learning and reading, I still have no idea what it is like to live on a reservation or be raised on one. I will continue to educate myself by reading voices who have had these experiences, and I will not pretend that I understand anything about it. I will listen with an open heart and open mind and be continually ready to learn.
We read this as part of our American History curriculum in our homeschool. This was such a cute book. Told from the point of view of Joey. He talked about visiting his grandmother's house for one week every summer starting when he was 9 and ending when he was 15. Their grandmother was just an awesome lady, but also a "bad influence" on them both. :) My kids and I all loved it and we are excited that we'll be reading the next book in this series for our school also. I highly recommend this book for any age, especially older elementary and middle grade.
This is the fourth book, and I feel like I know who everyone is and how everyone will act. They are feeling like members of my family and friends. I'm not sure what kind of review I can do for this book because I hope you aren't coming here for information on Stephanie Plum. Please go back to book #1 and start there. I will say that most of the time I am disappointed about where Stephanie is in her personal life at the end of one of these books, but at the end of this one, I was feeling optimistic. I also really hope Sally stays around or at least pops back up. He was great with codes, so hopefully he will be back to help again.
Anyway, this book was just as good as the rest (if not better). Read these books, if you like mysteries. Listen to these books if you want a truly immersive New Jersey experience :) I can't wait to read #5!
Anyway, this book was just as good as the rest (if not better). Read these books, if you like mysteries. Listen to these books if you want a truly immersive New Jersey experience :) I can't wait to read #5!