My dad first read this book when it was first published, and then when the movie came out, he passed it on to me. I remember it being bad, but I definitely did not remember just how horrifyingly bad it truly is. I don't mean bad as in written badly; I mean bad as in Oh My God I'm Going to Have Nightmares for a Month (and I'm pretty sure I did).



I mean, the movie's not bad, right? There's that one scene that makes you cringe, but otherwise it's not the stuff of nightmares unless you've even a bigger scared-cat then me, and I'm pretty pathetic when it comes to horror (though I do love a good Walking Dead episode). But the book was just so, so much worse.



Unfortunately, without writing a bunch of spoilers I feel like I can't get into specifics, but I'm shuddering just thinking about it. I read this book back in July when I was recovering from surgery & it took me this long to even think about writing a review for it because I couldn't stop shaking.

So I've been stuck in a rut, for, well, really a year or so now. I barely read last year - OK so I read 28 books, but considering I usually read over 100... I barely read. This year hasn't been much better. I've been listening to audiobooks but really have only read a couple of books all year. It's been bad, guys.

I read Rita's Henchgirl as an early reviewer & really enjoyed it, and have really wanted to read the rest of Rita's books, so I was pretty excited and looking forward to reading this, the beginning of a new series. I was hesitant to sign up to review because I haven't been reading, but I also work best with a deadline, so I did sign up... and I'm glad I did! I can't say my reading mojo is all the way back, but I'm excited about reading again!

So, about Magic... first, there's two point of views. I hate that. I almost didn't finish the Divergent series because I hate it, and I've given other books less than great reviews because I just can't get into/follow books with multiple viewpoints. It is confusing in points but overall is well done and I didn't dislike the back and forth like I usually do. I definitely liked and related to Vasilisa better. Both are strong women with unique personalities.

Next... I'm also not a big fan of romance in books, but this book has just the right amount.

The book is based upon myths and I definitely see a little bit of Cinderella in the book too with the evil step-mother. I am not a big fan of mythology, never had been, but it's well done in the book.

The plot is fast paced and has a good blend of good & evil characters & flaws. There is a cliffhanger... just to warn you, because some people hate cliffhangers in their book.

First, my apologies to the author, who probably thinks I'm the world's biggest git for not getting this review out months ago, despite how much I LOVED this book. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure this is my favorite book of the year. Though I haven't read as much as I usually do, X Varient still beat a LOT of other books! Reading the book was just bad timing - I read it right before I had surgery, and though I thought I was going to be laying around in bed, bored out of my mind recovering, in fact all I did was sleep, and then sleep some more, and then went right back to work, when all I did for another 6 weeks was work, and sleep, and then sleep some more. Then it was getting read for vacation & taking vacation, the end of my band concert season for another year, our anniversary, etc etc... and I just never got around to the review. Please know, the author was amazing and has been very patient in dealing with pain in the butt me and the delay was not due to how amazing the book was!

 

So, all of that to say the book was great. I mean, a time traveling zombie book? Who knew? This is the first book of a series & I can't wait to read the next one & I hope the author is kind enough to let me get my hands on a review copy...

Kala is just the right kind of heroine - she's brave - but not crazy ridiculous brave so you don't believe it brave, and smart, but not that annoying kind of smart where you can't even talk to the person. She's confident, but not full of herself. She has flaws, which makes her human and relatable and likable. Most of the other characters are that right blend of qualities that makes you like them, believe in them, root for them. That's what makes a book a five star book to me, it's the characters that make you fall in love with them.

The world building in this is just amazing too - I hate books that you can't picture the world around you, those books just fall flat for me, but from the very beginning you can see the action happening, and i kept thinking what a great movie this would make, because I could see the movie forming in my head.

If you aren't a big fan of the zombie genre, this book is a good one for you to get your feet wet - yes, it's a zombie book and yes, you will see zombies, but the book is about the people and survival, and not the big gruesome blood & guts scenes you see in shows or comics like the Walking Dead.

 

 This review was originally posted on Rambling Reviews

I was looking forward to reading this book for months before my library finally got a copy of it (after much nagging by me, I might add). It was worth the wait except for a smidge of preaching at the end, which can easily be forgiven considering what the author went through. (nothing wrong with preaching; just wasn't why I was reading the book).

(also as an aside: I hate, hate, hate that cover. The author explains it at the end, and I understand her reasoning, but I hate it all the same)

 

So, this book is written strictly from the author's point of view, and tries very hard to only tell her story - even though there's a lot more to the story, others have also written about it. I think the thing to keep in mind with any of the LeBaron books is you really need to read multiples of them in order to understand the whole story. This one does a great job of trying to explain a very, very complicated, heartbreaking, awful story - and is probably a great place to start if you want to read about this polygamist family and community.

 

You'll often think you are reading fiction, and you'll have to remind yourself that this is truth (or at least truth as the author saw it).

 

 This review was originally posted on Rambling Reviews

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for my honest opinions/ review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.DNF as I couldn’t get beyond multiple instances of ableist language. It was also not edited at all.

Publicist - who was very sweet & very nice - said that the author's husband refused to change any of the ableist language in the book because he wanted to keep his wife's memory alive (badly paraphrased) which is very understandable - however, the badly written sentence structures & grammatical errors took away a lot from the story.

 

Author also seemed incredibly naive, entitled, unrealistic, and immature, and did not appear to grow as a person throughout the half of the book that I did read, instead blaming everyone else for her problems and decisions.This review was originally posted on Rambling Reviews

I received this book for free from the library in exchange for my honest opinions/ review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Betsy is so annoying, yet you can't help but laugh at her antics and keep on reading the novels in this series. Every time I finish one, I say I'm not going to bother reading the next one, but I do anyways.

I'm not a big fan of romance & yet, every paranormal book that's out there seems to be a paranormal romance. So read 'em I do.

Quick, fast read, the usual repetition that happens in every series I swear. Light on plot, humorous for the most part, worth a read if you're a fan of fluffy vampire novels.This review was originally posted on Rambling Reviews

The first book I read & finished in 2015 just for me :)

I read Divergent late to the game - last summer, maybe? and never managed to write up a review. I enjoyed it; not as much as Hunger Games, perhaps, but I definitely enjoyed the book. I admit I watched the movie first and liked the movie enough to try to tackle the book.

Roth creates a great, dystopian world from the first page. I like where the story starts; you get enough of Tris' family & her life before she decides to join Dauntless. I enjoyed the bit of "will they or won't they" romance between her and Four; surprised me, honestly, because I'm normally rather bored with romance in books, but Roth throws the romance at you in between the action scenes and makes me want to know what will happen next.

--2018 review of audio--
I've been in a reading funk for a long, LONG time - gosh, a year now or maybe longer? I'm trying to get back on track with both reading & blogging by listening to audiobooks. I really enjoy them and am lucky enough to have an amazing library system in which to get audiobooks (usually digital because it's so easy to listen wherever I go, as compared to actual books on CD). I did read Divergent before in the beginning of 2015 but honestly didn't remember much about the book, just some vague memories of the movie.

I honestly enjoyed the audiobook way more than the book! It was terrific. The narrator did an amazing job and she sounded so much like the Tris I image in my head. The pacing just seemed so much better in the audio version, too.

I received this book for free from Inkitt in exchange for the possibility of my honest opinions/ review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. So, I had a few problems with this book - mainly because I enjoy a good backstory, and I like the details of a book to make sense and I'm big on continuity, which was lacking in a few places. (for example, in the beginning of the book the main character mentions several times how poor she was, including having to make her own, very limited amount of clothes, yet in a later scene she talked about how she was used to a home with nice things and decorations. If you are that poor, you aren't going to have a home with decorations).

I also struggled with the beginning scenes - this Running, for example, which sets up Blythe to meet her Mate. She's a complete, whiney, immature teenager who knows nothing of the real world. Getting picked for the Running is a complete shock to her, yet in several places the author explains that it was her turn to go - there's also a bit where the author explains that every family has to send someone to the Running each year. But yet, only ten women are picked to go the the Running. So there's only ten families in the whole world? Later on, it's explained that there are several other sites where the shift shapers live - so they have separate Runnings for each of their houses? Why wouldn't they just have one, if the human population hates the Shifters so much? There's just so many loopholes and things that aren't consistent and don't make any sense to anyone who thinks about the plot for even half a second (I could give many, many multiple examples but don't want to completely spoil the book).

So, the first half of the book was basically Blythe meeting the shifters and getting to know and accept her knew world. She cries on every page, whines 3 or 4 times a page, and is extremely annoying. Then she falls in love in half a second, stops crying on every page (now she cries every five pages) and all of a sudden, she starts to grow up. It's not a realistic character arc - she's not slowly growing as a person, her personality just changes. All in all, however, the first half is enjoyable, you just have to ignore some of the plot holes and the constant crying.

The shapeshifters are mostly written the exact same way - they have one side to them - violence. I get it - they are prisoners, don't get to see the sun, their life sucks - but they are all extremely one sided - as is Blythe herself.

In the second half of the book, most of the plot disappears, and you are left with Blythe having sex, cooking & baking, and abuse, and a lot of stilted conversations where nothing much happens.

So, with all of my complaining - why am I giving the book three stars? Because even with all of that, I did like the book. Blythe was so annoying, but the world building was very very interesting, especially if the world is developed more. There's a huge similar to the Running verses the Hunger Games, and I'd love to see the author take her own spin to this. There's a huge amount of room for more stories to be developed in this world.This review was originally posted on Rambling Reviews