This was a cute, slightly fluffy story about accepting the unexpected and seemingly impossible.

 

Henry was a bit of a stick-in-the-mud for the first part, although I do understand it. It was nice to see him work his way into accepting everything in Wonderland and the Hatter as...well, I don't want to say "normal," but that's probably the closest word I can really find. He started accepting things instead of questioning them, and watching him go on that journey was worthwhile; even if I didn't always necessarily enjoy him, I was absolutely rooting for him.

 

It's a lot of fun to be in the Hatter's head; he's quippy and amusing even in his own thoughts, although he retains the insanity that is his most defining character trait. He's definitely not all right in the head, but that seems completely legitimate in Wonderland. He has been given a little bit of the Johnny Depp-treatment here in that his insanity is less problematic than it previously seems to be, though there is also a reasoning behind that (whether acceptable or hand-waving is your call). At any rate, whether I really believe he is the same Hatter Carroll wrote about or not, he was a Hatter I enjoyed reading about, and that was what really mattered in the end.

 

Things developed between them in the way you'd expect, with snipping giving over to something sweet. It was fun to watch the two of them together, and although I could see where it was going in that regard pretty much from the first page (heck, from the description!), it was an enjoyable romp to get there.

 

I must admit I'm a bit confused about the timing of the novel. It feels too modern for Alice to have gone to Wonderland in the same timeframe she did in the original work, but the rest of the background story seems to be the same. Perhaps we are to assume that everything happened in the same way, but about a hundred years later than the novel? I'm honestly not sure, since the novel doesn't really seem to exist in this universe. It's the sort of thing I kept expecting an answer, however, and it stuck in the back of my head.

 

There was a surprise partway through that I genuinely was not expecting, but other than that, the plot was pretty guessable and the real focus of the story was the relationships, not just romantic but also familial, and on their importance. That is where I think the story was strongest. Once the crucial plot element was revealed, it became clear where things were going. That is not to say that it was not enjoyable, however.

 

There have been several Wonderland "retellings," for lack of a better word, released lately, and I would say this one falls on the lighter side of things. Wonderland has terrible things, certainly, and it is dangerous and quirky, but it is not nearly as dark as some stories make it out to be, and even some of the darker elements have a spot of fun in them. There are jokes and riddles and fun galore--this is the lighter side of Wonderland, even in the darker parts, and that's part of what made it a fun ride.

 

If you're looking for darkness galore and gore and horror, this is probably not the retelling to pick up. But if you prefer your Wonderland a little more full of whimsy and your characters a little more fun and full of banter, this might be right up your alley.

 

This book was provided to me for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

 

I downloaded this in audio format from Audible because it was free and short and interesting-looking (and I'm still playing with Audible and audiobooks in general).

 

This was good.

 

I don't really know what I was expecting, honestly. I rarely go into things that are free expecting them to be great, which is perhaps not the best attitude but is useful at times. I was just looking for something interesting to kill an hour of my time while I played Hearthstone; something that was more interesting and less annoying than the dog snores that were currently my backdrop.

 

I was genuinely impressed by the whole thing.

 

This is apparently part of a series, though it stands alone just fine (I always check for that sort of thing--I hate coming in in the middle of a series), and I will absolutely be picking up the rest of the series at some point soon. The characters were interesting and clearly had some background, though I'm not sure if it is something I would know had I read the novels that this story is related to or if it is supposed to be at least partially obscured (I'm guessing the latter), and I liked their partnership and seeing them handle the whole mystery.

 

The mystery itself was great. It was twisty and full of surprises, and every time I thought I had a piece of it, I would discover that nope, something else is going on, either in addition to what I thought or instead. I'm not sure I've changed my mind about the outcome of something so many times in the course of an hour, but it was a very fun hour.

 

I'm hoping the novels live up to this taste of the universe I got here, and I'm looking forward to finding out if they do. 

 

When I got my hands on a copy of this book, I was both ecstatic and terrified.

 

I love the Lady Julia Grey mysteries. They're comfort reading for me (and for my mum!) and I re-read them pretty regularly. Deanna Raybourn had me from the first line of those, so I was pysched about the idea of a new series by her set in London, but very worried that it wouldn't live up to what I loved about Julia or wouldn't feel different enough.

 

There was no reason for me to be worried at all. This was fantastic.

 

I apologize in advance for all of the comparisons with the Julia Grey series, but it's very hard not to compare it to a series I adore by the same author.

 

The characters were fabulous. Even the more minor characters were interesting, and I can't wait to see what else we learn about them. Lady Cordelia in particular seems to hold a few genuinely interesting mysteries, and it is lovely to see a female character besides the main one get some screen time and not be the villain or related to the main character. I'm hoping to see some friendship develop between them in later books.

 

Stoker was simultaneously infuriating and brilliant. The two often go together, but for once he did not feel like a caricature; he has mysteries and interests that I'd like to hear more of, and a past that might cause problems, but will definitely be worth exploring. He's also, for once, slightly more repressed than his female counterpart, which was refreshing to see.

 

Veronica is absolutely wonderful. She reduced me to stitches several times with her forthright manner (especially on certain subjects), and she was rational and brilliant and driven in her own right in a way that I really loved. If Amelia Peabody and Lady Julia Grey had raised a daughter together, I think she might turn out a bit like this, though both would likely shy in the face of her salaciousness, another character trait of hers I found quite endearing as well as unexpected.

 

On the whole, she actually reminds me an awful lot of Amelia Peabody (from Elizabeth Peters' long-running Egyptian mystery series, one of my favorites), down to the whole "designing her own clothes" part. She is sensible and driven by an interest in science and a glorious flouting of those conventions of this rather repressed Victorian time that do not suit her.

 

The romance developing (slowly!) between the two of them was quite interesting.

 

The murder more so, of course.

 

Watching the characters attempt to figure out what was going on was fascinating because, for once in a mystery novel, we were not faced with idiots. The solution was not staring them in the face. In fact, with the exception of the obvious fact that a murder had taken place, the mystery was not staring them in the face. It was very unclear for a bit what exactly they were looking for, but they took that in stride and handled it very well. It was lovely to see them forming a decent partnership and not always tripping over each other. They are both in the habit of hiding things that are probably better shared, but their lack of knowledge of what is important coupled with their short acquaintance gives them reason enough for that, I feel, so I'm certainly willing to forgive it.

 

I was not expecting several of the revelations, and found myself, paranoid as I am, trusting the wrong people at several points. What is probably the most major revelation left me completely shocked, and I am really hoping we hear (quite a bit!) more about it in later books in the series.

 

I miss the lack of paranormal-esque stuff from the Lady Julia Gray books, but these feel like smarter mysteries, with a very similar kind of humor and with characters that I already like quite a bit and could quickly see myself growing to love.

  

I'll be re-reading this when it comes out properly, and buying my own copy to share with my mum, who adores Deanna Raybourn.  I'm already excited for the next one. I can't wait to see where it goes from here. These (like the Lady Julia Grey books), are going to be insta-buys for me, and that is not something I say lightly.

 

If you liked the Julia Grey books, you're quite likely to love this. If you didn't, you may still like it--it is just different enough (more rational, I'd say) that it is worth it trying it. This comes very highly recommended.

 

This book was provided to me for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

 

This was boring. Boring is a word that means not fun to read and also causing weariness when reading continues.

 

The definitions were killing me, here. Absolutely killing me. This seems to be a Lemony Snicket thing, but I just can't take it. I couldn't have taken it as a child, and I certainly can't take it as an adult. It feels alarmingly patronizing in the worst possible way (is there a good way to be patronizing?)

 

The little mysteries were kind of interesting, though very bare bones, and I solved a few and didn't manage to solve a few of the others. These reminded me of the "Clue" books I read as a child, which I really enjoyed.

 

Lemony Snicket as a character (because yes, he is a character, the main character, and I think I might be missing some of the mythology of this guy) is faintly annoying. He seems to know the answer to everything without actually feeling clever, which is just awkward-feeling and seems like bad writing more than anything else. Coupled with the fact that he shares the author's name (or pseudonym, I suppose), it feels like he knows the answer because the author knows the answer because the author is, you know, writing the bloody book, so obviously he knows the answer.

 

The writing style is just not something that worked for me at all, and I don't think it is something that will ever work for me. I finished this because it was extremely short and I'll probably finish The Bad Beginning because I have started it and because it is such a hugely popular series, but I don't think that I can jump on the Lemony Snicket train here. Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. 

 

This sated my desire for further Percy Jackson books with a slightly less interesting backdrop (you can't really beat Greek mythology) in exchange for a cleverer and more introspective hero.

 

Ronan is easy to root for. He's a bit of an outsider, and a lot of that is because of his exceedingly strange skillset (fencing and gymnastics?) and his mother's insistence on dragging him off to every after-school activity you can think of. He takes it all in stride and lets himself get dragged from activity to activity, not realizing that perhaps his mother has plans for him other than to simply fill his time so he doesn't feel so alone. 

 

I liked that he was thoughtful about what kind of a person he was and what kind of a person he wanted to be. Not overly thoughtful--he's a teenage boy in a life-or-death situation, after all; there's only so much introspection time available--but I felt like there was more going on in his head than one normally sees in a novel of this type, and I enjoyed that. Watching him sort out the mysteries afoot and what on earth is actually going on was fun. 

 

Dawkins was a complete joy. He is probably my favorite character, and I can't wait to see more of him. He plays both the comic relief and the mentor roles with aplomb and panache, and he made the whole journey better in every scene he was involved in. 

 

Greta is a spunky little thing. It is easy to draw the obvious comparison with Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series, and much like her (and Hermione before her), she is often the voice of reason. She is not necessarily the cleverest one, though, and her skillset differs from theirs in quite a few degrees. She could completely kick some ass, and I loved that about her. 

 

The plot starts with a bang and never really lets up. There are moments of levity, but most of the focus is on moving forward and trying to figure out what is going on, with missing parents, multiple secret societies, and an entire system set up to try to prevent the end of the world. It sounds more generic than it is, and a large part is clever plotting and good characterization, which takes this book from decent to great. 

 

I'm not sure how I've never heard of these or why they weren't coming up immediately in my desperate searches to fill the void that Percy Jackson recently left in my life, but if that type of book is even remotely up your alley, you'll love these. I'll be snagging the next one at some point very soon. 

 

This book was provided to me for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

 

I don't normally comment on prose in my reviews; I generally feel like good writing fades into the background, so I want to take this first moment to state that Tananarive Due's writing is absolutely beautiful. 

 

While I didn't fall madly in love with any of these stories (I came close with Ghost Summer, which is practically a novella, Danger Word, one of the only zombie stories I think I have ever really connected with, and Free Jim's Mine, which I imagined as a horrifying Morrowind quest), I can't think of a single one of them I disliked, or even felt "eh" about, which is an astounding feat in a collection of this size. 

 

The characterization is all top-notch and several of these I would have happily read as a novel (I understand one of them was actually turned into a novel, and even a movie, and I'm going to have to pick that up). 

 

I'll be keeping an eye on this author and adding a few more of her books to my to-be-read list, because she's got the craft down and can keep my attention, and because authors good at short stories are few and far between. I'm not sure any of these strictly "scared" me, but quite a few of them made me think about the horrors of life, and that in itself suggests a skill worth watching.

 

 

This book twisted and turned so many times I was never sure which way was up.

 

And I loved every minute of it.

 

I'm not sure if this is a horror or a thriller. I'm still, after reading everything, not positive what was real and what was a lie and what was misunderstood and what was going on. I'm not suggesting the ending does not wrap things up: it does. It has a very solid ending that still leaves you with lots of questions.

 

It's a rather stark book, and the setting is absolutely perfect for that. A creepy Scottish island in the middle of nowhere is a great place for a book about questionable identities and potential ghosts or insanity, and having the family at least partially isolated is a trick for horror stories that never really loses its power as long as there is a reason behind it.

 

It's stark in terms of the representation of the characters and the story, as well. It deals with some dark elements of family life and of loss, and it does so quite well. I don't necessarily want to say I liked the characters, though I did find them intriguing. I couldn't figure them out completely, and having them hiding things worked extremely well here.

 

I was wrong again and again as I struggled to figure out what was going on, and I was creeped out a bit besides. Although not a straight horror novel, this definitely qualifies as one, and I recommend for those who find the blurb compelling. There isn't too much that can really be said about it without either recapping the blurb or spoiling, and this is not a book you want spoiled. Watching it all slowly unfold before you is a beautiful experience, and that shouldn't be missed. 

 

This was a solid suspense/mystery book, though occasionally the characters were a bit wearying.

 

The plot was intriguing enough to follow and the idea was an interesting one: how do you handle a murder when you can't trust the only person you know for sure has any of the clues?

 

There was clearly supposed to be a lot of second-guessing, and at first I thought it was all for naught--I had the solution very clearly in my mind early on, and although there were lots of clues pointing to lots of people, I was steadfast in my idea on who had done it.

 

I was wrong.

 

I'm honestly impressed by this. If I get a clear idea in my head and am not swayed by the red herrings while reading a whodunit-style mystery, I'm generally right, as vain as that may sound. People have certainly tricked me into not knowing who to guess, but it is rare that I make a solid guess and am just incorrect (there is a standing Agatha Christie exception).

 

I did enjoy how things played out, though I'm not completely sure how I feel about the ending. It wasn't badly written, and it made sense to the character and was validly justified by her beliefs, I'm just not completely sure I agree. This is kind of a grey mystery--it raises some questions on guilt and innocence and what the right thing to do is, and I enjoyed that aspect.

 

The characters were, as I mentioned above, a bit wearying at times. Some of it is that they have rather specific roles to play, and they play those roles to a fault. While they are certainly livelier than stock characters, I can make a pretty solid guess at any given moment how each is going to react, and they tend to fit specific molds. This is a not uncommon problem with the genre, really, but coupled with the fact that you are kind of supposed to suspect everybody, and thus everybody needs to be suspect, it is hard to form a close attachment to any of the characters. I didn't dislike the main character herself, but I never connected to her the way I was hoping to.

 

If the summary sounds good to you or the idea of an unreliable witness to something sounds like a fun read, I do recommend this book. I'd be interested in seeing if anyone else settles on a specific person as the perpetrator, and if so, whether it is the same one I did.

 

This book was provided to me for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

 

I fully admit that I picked up crochet exclusively to make adorable little stuffed toys. And I feel no shame about this. This book was quite useful in this regard, because what is cuter than stuffed dinosaurs!

 

This is a very solid collection of patterns. I really loved that the author included the stitch count at the end of each line--my skills are still kind of questionable, honestly, and I still count to make sure I haven't badly borked something up.

 

The additional stitches included in the front were also very helpful for a newbie, and would probably be a decent refresher for people who had more skills than I currently do.

 

The patterns are very cute. I'm working on one now, and though I have yet to finish it, I'm finding working on it to be easy and it is coming out quite well.

 

The book is well-organized and the pictures of completed dinosaur amigurumi are cute enough that it is hard to settle on one to start.

 

The only thing to keep in mind is that this book does assume that you have some very very basic crochet skills--if you have never picked up a crochet hook, this is probably not the way to learn, but it would be a good first pattern book. If you like to crochet and think the pictures on the front are cute, this is a solid addition to a crafting library.

 

This book was provided to me for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.