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In the end, I really enjoyed this, but I have to admit I struggled for the first portion of it.
Multiple protagonists are one of my favorite things in a book, but I felt like in this case we got to know one of them way too much before meeting the other, so I resented Rielle for quite a bit for "intruding" on Tyen's story, then once I became interested in her, I resented Tyren every time he came up. Eventually, I think I was more intrigued by Rielle, who had some interesting stuff going on, because after a certain point, Tyen's story just sort of ends up feeling like filler.
I liked the idea of the world, but I wasn't terribly impressed by the fleshing out of it. Honestly, I'm not sure if the two protagonists are going to meet, or how, and my grasp on the magical college and the Empire and everything else is tenuous at best. I'm willing to hope that this will be remedied in later books, given this is the first in a series, but it still kind of rankled.
I enjoyed the different cultural views on magic, though I would have liked some more answers. Most of those seem to be intentionally withheld, however, for later books, so I'll be picking up the next one at some point to see what on earth is going on regarding that.
One of the odder points was the cliffhangers. Cliffhangers for each chapter, or at least for each viewpoint switch, were generally done well, but the end of the book didn't quite manage it. It doesn't feel like a complete story in itself, really (or two complete stories, I guess, which is what is basically being told here), but neither cliffhanger works well as a hook for the next one, either. I'm kind of interested in picking it up, but not in any kind of a rush, and that's sad because throughout I was intrigued enough to want to read the next chapter.
While I will be picking up the next book in the series and possibly trying some of the author's other series, I'm not immediately going out to grab them, and I really wish the book had instilled that desire in me.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Multiple protagonists are one of my favorite things in a book, but I felt like in this case we got to know one of them way too much before meeting the other, so I resented Rielle for quite a bit for "intruding" on Tyen's story, then once I became interested in her, I resented Tyren every time he came up. Eventually, I think I was more intrigued by Rielle, who had some interesting stuff going on, because after a certain point, Tyen's story just sort of ends up feeling like filler.
I liked the idea of the world, but I wasn't terribly impressed by the fleshing out of it. Honestly, I'm not sure if the two protagonists are going to meet, or how, and my grasp on the magical college and the Empire and everything else is tenuous at best. I'm willing to hope that this will be remedied in later books, given this is the first in a series, but it still kind of rankled.
I enjoyed the different cultural views on magic, though I would have liked some more answers. Most of those seem to be intentionally withheld, however, for later books, so I'll be picking up the next one at some point to see what on earth is going on regarding that.
One of the odder points was the cliffhangers. Cliffhangers for each chapter, or at least for each viewpoint switch, were generally done well, but the end of the book didn't quite manage it. It doesn't feel like a complete story in itself, really (or two complete stories, I guess, which is what is basically being told here), but neither cliffhanger works well as a hook for the next one, either. I'm kind of interested in picking it up, but not in any kind of a rush, and that's sad because throughout I was intrigued enough to want to read the next chapter.
While I will be picking up the next book in the series and possibly trying some of the author's other series, I'm not immediately going out to grab them, and I really wish the book had instilled that desire in me.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was really looking forward to this, and it's quite possible my high hopes were just a little too much for any book to sustain.
The setting was interesting, certainly, and the time travel itself was pretty cool, but they were not well-supported by plot and characters, and that became a problem rather quickly for me. I kept setting this book down and then picking it back up and then setting it back down again. The idea seemed consistently better than the execution of it.
Our main character, Aralias, is just not at all my type. He's a bit too full of life to be believable without ever managing to jump off the page. It's an odd dichotomy, and I found myself annoyed every time he pranced "on screen" to say things that were ridiculous without being amusing or surprising. How someone with as much "life" in him could also feel flat is something I can't quite explain. It might be the lack of growth throughout that left this impression. He starts and ends as what he is, and what he is is rather annoying.
Clara, our other primary character, is probably more likeable, and I would have liked her better had she not the terrible taste of finding our main character worthwhile. Their banter was one of the weakest parts of the book, and I never bought their supposed chemistry--it also fell extremely flat, and they felt like they were being shoehorned into the roles of romantic partners because the book needed that, not because they were suited.
The story and the kidnapping got a little lost in the time travel shenanigans, and although I did honestly enjoy those bits, because of this it felt less like a coherent book and more like a series of escapades. In fact, it might very well make an intriguing and fun tv show, but I was not very impressed with it as a book and I'm hoping for more coherence in the next time travel story I pick up.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The setting was interesting, certainly, and the time travel itself was pretty cool, but they were not well-supported by plot and characters, and that became a problem rather quickly for me. I kept setting this book down and then picking it back up and then setting it back down again. The idea seemed consistently better than the execution of it.
Our main character, Aralias, is just not at all my type. He's a bit too full of life to be believable without ever managing to jump off the page. It's an odd dichotomy, and I found myself annoyed every time he pranced "on screen" to say things that were ridiculous without being amusing or surprising. How someone with as much "life" in him could also feel flat is something I can't quite explain. It might be the lack of growth throughout that left this impression. He starts and ends as what he is, and what he is is rather annoying.
Clara, our other primary character, is probably more likeable, and I would have liked her better had she not the terrible taste of finding our main character worthwhile. Their banter was one of the weakest parts of the book, and I never bought their supposed chemistry--it also fell extremely flat, and they felt like they were being shoehorned into the roles of romantic partners because the book needed that, not because they were suited.
The story and the kidnapping got a little lost in the time travel shenanigans, and although I did honestly enjoy those bits, because of this it felt less like a coherent book and more like a series of escapades. In fact, it might very well make an intriguing and fun tv show, but I was not very impressed with it as a book and I'm hoping for more coherence in the next time travel story I pick up.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not sure how I managed to never hear of Ambrose Bierce, but I genuinely regret the omission in my earlier reading.
His stories are creepy, but they are also weirdly fun. He's nailed down a proper horror atmosphere, which is often the hardest thing, and he generally has a good grasp of the twist ending and how to mange it, which is remarkably difficult. He did have a few endings that felt a bit off (I find this weirdly common in horror of any kind), but most of the stories in this collection were enjoyable all the way to the end.
In terms of atmosphere, he reminds me quite a bit of Lovecraft or perhaps Poe, though his focus is farther west than theirs was, which adds a different feeling to the stories.
I will definitely be poking around for more of his writing now that I've discovered him. He's definitely worth reading for anyone who is interested in short horror stories.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
His stories are creepy, but they are also weirdly fun. He's nailed down a proper horror atmosphere, which is often the hardest thing, and he generally has a good grasp of the twist ending and how to mange it, which is remarkably difficult. He did have a few endings that felt a bit off (I find this weirdly common in horror of any kind), but most of the stories in this collection were enjoyable all the way to the end.
In terms of atmosphere, he reminds me quite a bit of Lovecraft or perhaps Poe, though his focus is farther west than theirs was, which adds a different feeling to the stories.
I will definitely be poking around for more of his writing now that I've discovered him. He's definitely worth reading for anyone who is interested in short horror stories.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This close to Christmas, I couldn't help myself when I saw this book available on NetGalley. Wrapping presents is a favorite pastime when I actually have time to manage it (and not just stick everything in dollar-store bags Christmas Eve, which...happens more than I should probably admit), so anything that offers to be useful on that front wasn't going to be passed by.
The book was quite useful in that regard. I enjoyed the different suggestions on how to wrap differently shaped objects (stupid round things have always gotten me!) as well as the more generalized tips, some of which seem like common sense (Wrap on a hard surface to get crisp lines!) once you hear them. I've spent my entire life wrapping presents on the floor. It really explains a lot.
There are a crop of interesting ideas here, so if you're interested in stepping up your wrapping game, this is a nice selection of thoughts on the process. I'll probably be making a few of my own boxes and trying out some of the other suggestions from this for my Christmas presents this year. It'll add a special touch to make the wrapping paper I wrap something I made in, I feel.
This is a good resource for those of us who kind of want our presents to be pretty under the tree, and yet never quite manage it.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The book was quite useful in that regard. I enjoyed the different suggestions on how to wrap differently shaped objects (stupid round things have always gotten me!) as well as the more generalized tips, some of which seem like common sense (Wrap on a hard surface to get crisp lines!) once you hear them. I've spent my entire life wrapping presents on the floor. It really explains a lot.
There are a crop of interesting ideas here, so if you're interested in stepping up your wrapping game, this is a nice selection of thoughts on the process. I'll probably be making a few of my own boxes and trying out some of the other suggestions from this for my Christmas presents this year. It'll add a special touch to make the wrapping paper I wrap something I made in, I feel.
This is a good resource for those of us who kind of want our presents to be pretty under the tree, and yet never quite manage it.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It's always hard for me to rate an entire book of short stories as a whole because there is almost no way I'm going to like them all equally. This is, of course, true in this case as well. Generally, however, these were enjoyable forays into twisting fairy tales a bit.
I enjoyed the second part of the book overall more than the first, as the first part was set in modern times and the second in more traditional fairy tale settings. Hey, I'm a fantasy person at heart! Placing some of these fairy tales in modern times just felt off, no matter how interesting the twist, and seemed to lower the stakes. If you can't be turned into a frog or burned as a witch at any moment, it just feels generally less dangerous!
For all that I enjoyed the more traditionally-set tales, my favorite in the book was probably the take on Sleeping Beauty, which was very well done and handled with genuine care, not just kid gloves. It was somehow exactly what it ought to have been, exactly the treatment that that story needed and had not yet gotten.
There were a few I wasn't terribly fond of, but the writing was good and nothing dragged on past its welcome, so I never really felt the need to set the book down. I felt like one of the weaker stories was, unfortunately, the first in the book, which is both a blessing and a curse. Short story placement can be extremely tricky, and I did wonder as I was reading that take on Cinderella whether this was going to be a book for me. As it turned out, I'm quite glad I went on from there, though, and I enjoyed this.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed the second part of the book overall more than the first, as the first part was set in modern times and the second in more traditional fairy tale settings. Hey, I'm a fantasy person at heart! Placing some of these fairy tales in modern times just felt off, no matter how interesting the twist, and seemed to lower the stakes. If you can't be turned into a frog or burned as a witch at any moment, it just feels generally less dangerous!
For all that I enjoyed the more traditionally-set tales, my favorite in the book was probably the take on Sleeping Beauty, which was very well done and handled with genuine care, not just kid gloves. It was somehow exactly what it ought to have been, exactly the treatment that that story needed and had not yet gotten.
There were a few I wasn't terribly fond of, but the writing was good and nothing dragged on past its welcome, so I never really felt the need to set the book down. I felt like one of the weaker stories was, unfortunately, the first in the book, which is both a blessing and a curse. Short story placement can be extremely tricky, and I did wonder as I was reading that take on Cinderella whether this was going to be a book for me. As it turned out, I'm quite glad I went on from there, though, and I enjoyed this.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was an interesting plot and a very interesting setting, but didn't quite "wow" me the way I was hoping it would.
Things started with a bit of a bang and I was definitely hooked, but once we moved on to grown-up Jane, I was significantly less interested. The pacing in general seemed off in this book--there were bits I devoured and bits I slogged through, and it might have been a bit better with a bit more tightening up. I did see that the author was trying to have us get a feel for grown-up Jane and her problems before whisking her away to fantasy-land, a reason for her to not believe, although she had believed as a child, but things went on a little too long and had a few too many details for me. Other bits later on seemed to fly by too quickly, to the point where I felt like certain aspects were not handled as well as they could have been had there been more time to develop. A more even pacing would have benefitted this book greatly.
Jane herself was a decent main character. I generally felt for her, and she wasn't stupid. Even her concerns regarding the fantasy that crashes into her "real world" seem rational and rationally handled. She's neither too naïve nor too rational--she's willing to accept the unexpected but clearly real, and I appreciated that.
The romance was a bit odd for me. I didn't really like it, and I didn't really feel much about it. I generally prefer a touch of light romance in my fantasy (read "expect" as "get confused when it is not there"), but this didn't feel...I hate to use the word realistic when talking about a book like this, but I can't come up with another one that captures it properly. The characters felt real, but the connection we were supposed to be seeing between them felt less like human beings developing feelings and more like mashing Barbie and Ken dolls together to go on a date--it was oddly plastic and didn't work.
The plotline was interesting and kind of fun to unwind and unweave, though I made a few more correct guesses than I wanted to and the main character made a few less than it seemed like she ought to have been able to.
I don't regret reading it and I'll probably pick up another book by the same author, but I was hoping for more than I got with this.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Things started with a bit of a bang and I was definitely hooked, but once we moved on to grown-up Jane, I was significantly less interested. The pacing in general seemed off in this book--there were bits I devoured and bits I slogged through, and it might have been a bit better with a bit more tightening up. I did see that the author was trying to have us get a feel for grown-up Jane and her problems before whisking her away to fantasy-land, a reason for her to not believe, although she had believed as a child, but things went on a little too long and had a few too many details for me. Other bits later on seemed to fly by too quickly, to the point where I felt like certain aspects were not handled as well as they could have been had there been more time to develop. A more even pacing would have benefitted this book greatly.
Jane herself was a decent main character. I generally felt for her, and she wasn't stupid. Even her concerns regarding the fantasy that crashes into her "real world" seem rational and rationally handled. She's neither too naïve nor too rational--she's willing to accept the unexpected but clearly real, and I appreciated that.
The romance was a bit odd for me. I didn't really like it, and I didn't really feel much about it. I generally prefer a touch of light romance in my fantasy (read "expect" as "get confused when it is not there"), but this didn't feel...I hate to use the word realistic when talking about a book like this, but I can't come up with another one that captures it properly. The characters felt real, but the connection we were supposed to be seeing between them felt less like human beings developing feelings and more like mashing Barbie and Ken dolls together to go on a date--it was oddly plastic and didn't work.
The plotline was interesting and kind of fun to unwind and unweave, though I made a few more correct guesses than I wanted to and the main character made a few less than it seemed like she ought to have been able to.
I don't regret reading it and I'll probably pick up another book by the same author, but I was hoping for more than I got with this.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I want to start by saying that I am not joking, the title of my post is the actual title of the book, ellipsis and all.
This looked a bit quirky, but hey, you say "haunted house" and I'm there, even when I have a few reservations regarding aliens and such. I'm going to have to revise this policy, I think.
This wasn't the worst thing I've ever read. I think there was a good story, possibly, in there somewhere, but it was buried under a bunch of strange stylistic decisions and what appeared to be conflicting desires to both imitate and stand-out. In the end, it certainly managed unique, but I'm not really feeling like that was a good thing.
The switching between characters was just not well-handled. They did not have unique enough voices, and it didn't add anything to the story. If anything, it made it more convoluted and difficult to follow, and honestly, it wasn't fun to be in some of these people's heads. I do love multiple viewpoint stories, but it does need to be handled carefully. Why am I seeing the same thing from multiple viewpoints without really getting anything worthwhile added? I just saw what happened, I don't need to see it again from another viewpoint. A few of them did genuinely add information that would not otherwise have been available, though whether said information was interesting, useful, or enjoyable is a whole other question.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the author read a decent chunk of Stephen King. The language use reminds me a bit of him (though decidedly not him at his best), and the plot felt a little bit The Tommyknockers, though that is not my favorite novel of his and this made decidedly less sense. Yes, it made less sense than The Tommyknockers. I have a lot of trouble believing that these characters all talked this way all the time. I don't care about swearing in my books (seriously, I don't--I attempt to be professional in my reviews, but I can swear like a sailor when need be), but the sheer amount of it, as well as other obscenities, out of the mouth and mind of every single character in this book just felt off. I have trouble believing that there can be a group of people who manage to think and talk like this so consistently and yet get by in actual reality. Maybe I'm naïve, admittedly, but I refuse to believe a lot of what was said was not added for sheer shock factor and not because it was appropriate for the character.
The plot was sort of all over the place. I think it was supposed to be, on some level, given the central character and his issues, but this took it to an entirely new level. On the plus side, I was rarely able to guess what was going to happen. On the negative...well, it all happened. And I'm not sure why, and I didn't care.
The side stories of the other characters were not terribly compelling. The female characters suffered badly from stereotyping: we have "the mom" and "the slut", and I really can't come up with anything else to add to those descriptors unless I was to put the word "crazy" in front of the latter. Admittedly, I could probably safely put that in front of a descriptor of every character in the novel, but Cassie definitely stood out.
The "reveal" felt like a brainstorming session. I could almost hear the characters themselves going "Well what if it is this? No? How about this?" If you want to do the double-revelation shocking twist, go for it (I fully support and love this), but give the reader time to grasp one crazy revelation before throwing out another one that replaces it. I suppose in the end it made sense on some level, sort of, but it was badly handled throughout the book if that was the route it was going, and it was not a satisfying resolution given the way the book was written.
I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to think of pretty much any part of the ending, except it did pull a bit of a Stephen King (again, though, not one of his better tricks) and a deus ex machine on top of that, which was just awkward. Add to that the odd "resolution" for a main character (which seems like it might even be a set-up for some kind of sequel) and I ended up closing my Kindle and just looking at it like it had betrayed me somehow. (We have since made up, of course.)
This felt like a "kitchen sink" book--too much was thrown together and stirred to the point where I can't even tell you which genre this is, except "really messed up". Genre-bending is great. "I have literally no clue what was going on or how to classify this" is a lot harder of a sell. I can't recommend this with a clear conscious, even to horror aficionados, because I am not even sure that is what it was.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This looked a bit quirky, but hey, you say "haunted house" and I'm there, even when I have a few reservations regarding aliens and such. I'm going to have to revise this policy, I think.
This wasn't the worst thing I've ever read. I think there was a good story, possibly, in there somewhere, but it was buried under a bunch of strange stylistic decisions and what appeared to be conflicting desires to both imitate and stand-out. In the end, it certainly managed unique, but I'm not really feeling like that was a good thing.
The switching between characters was just not well-handled. They did not have unique enough voices, and it didn't add anything to the story. If anything, it made it more convoluted and difficult to follow, and honestly, it wasn't fun to be in some of these people's heads. I do love multiple viewpoint stories, but it does need to be handled carefully. Why am I seeing the same thing from multiple viewpoints without really getting anything worthwhile added? I just saw what happened, I don't need to see it again from another viewpoint. A few of them did genuinely add information that would not otherwise have been available, though whether said information was interesting, useful, or enjoyable is a whole other question.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the author read a decent chunk of Stephen King. The language use reminds me a bit of him (though decidedly not him at his best), and the plot felt a little bit The Tommyknockers, though that is not my favorite novel of his and this made decidedly less sense. Yes, it made less sense than The Tommyknockers. I have a lot of trouble believing that these characters all talked this way all the time. I don't care about swearing in my books (seriously, I don't--I attempt to be professional in my reviews, but I can swear like a sailor when need be), but the sheer amount of it, as well as other obscenities, out of the mouth and mind of every single character in this book just felt off. I have trouble believing that there can be a group of people who manage to think and talk like this so consistently and yet get by in actual reality. Maybe I'm naïve, admittedly, but I refuse to believe a lot of what was said was not added for sheer shock factor and not because it was appropriate for the character.
The plot was sort of all over the place. I think it was supposed to be, on some level, given the central character and his issues, but this took it to an entirely new level. On the plus side, I was rarely able to guess what was going to happen. On the negative...well, it all happened. And I'm not sure why, and I didn't care.
The side stories of the other characters were not terribly compelling. The female characters suffered badly from stereotyping: we have "the mom" and "the slut", and I really can't come up with anything else to add to those descriptors unless I was to put the word "crazy" in front of the latter. Admittedly, I could probably safely put that in front of a descriptor of every character in the novel, but Cassie definitely stood out.
The "reveal" felt like a brainstorming session. I could almost hear the characters themselves going "Well what if it is this? No? How about this?" If you want to do the double-revelation shocking twist, go for it (I fully support and love this), but give the reader time to grasp one crazy revelation before throwing out another one that replaces it. I suppose in the end it made sense on some level, sort of, but it was badly handled throughout the book if that was the route it was going, and it was not a satisfying resolution given the way the book was written.
I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to think of pretty much any part of the ending, except it did pull a bit of a Stephen King (again, though, not one of his better tricks) and a deus ex machine on top of that, which was just awkward. Add to that the odd "resolution" for a main character (which seems like it might even be a set-up for some kind of sequel) and I ended up closing my Kindle and just looking at it like it had betrayed me somehow. (We have since made up, of course.)
This felt like a "kitchen sink" book--too much was thrown together and stirred to the point where I can't even tell you which genre this is, except "really messed up". Genre-bending is great. "I have literally no clue what was going on or how to classify this" is a lot harder of a sell. I can't recommend this with a clear conscious, even to horror aficionados, because I am not even sure that is what it was.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really ought to not pick up self-help books, or at least not the super mainstream ones that you can get for free on Amazon, but I was having a downer of a day and it was free! So I grabbed it.
I won't say that the idea or that the habits themselves are necessarily bad--it probably does work. The problem is attempting to slog through the book itself.
It is 150 pages. It could have been maybe 10 and covered the same information to the same depth with absolutely no problems. The repetition was starting to drive me mad (though given the author is trying to convince you to repeat actions until they become habits, perhaps that was intentional?). The language is extremely, horrifyingly, debasingly basic for something so intensely career-focused.
The odd suggestions about meditating to the "Source" (I clearly read too many fantasy books, because that one made me snicker every single time it showed up, which was, as mentioned above, way too often), just felt...odd. I don't mind religion in my self-help stuff, but I like to recognize it at least. That's obviously personal preference in that particular regard, but given there's no suggestion from the outside (that I could find) that there is any spiritual practices at all involved in the book, it is probably worth a heads up.
The habits themselves generally fell into two categories.
1. Extremely basic stuff that you should probably be doing anyway just...in order not to feel terrible all the time? Maybe for people who have really terrible habits it might be helpful, I'm not sure, but picking my way through the simplistic and sneering language seems like it would kill any good self esteem I might have gotten from any of this.
2. Weirdly specific stuff that is only useful in extremely specific office job circumstances. For people who work in those kinds of situations, again, this might be useful if you can wade through to find out the stuff that you need, but I feel like for quite a few of us (including some of us who do work in an office!), the advice was completely useless and the habits made no sense.
All in all, I think I'll be avoiding free self-help books from now on. There's a (personally) weirdly large market for the ones you have to pay for--this may be a situation in which "free" means "not worth paying for".
I won't say that the idea or that the habits themselves are necessarily bad--it probably does work. The problem is attempting to slog through the book itself.
It is 150 pages. It could have been maybe 10 and covered the same information to the same depth with absolutely no problems. The repetition was starting to drive me mad (though given the author is trying to convince you to repeat actions until they become habits, perhaps that was intentional?). The language is extremely, horrifyingly, debasingly basic for something so intensely career-focused.
The odd suggestions about meditating to the "Source" (I clearly read too many fantasy books, because that one made me snicker every single time it showed up, which was, as mentioned above, way too often), just felt...odd. I don't mind religion in my self-help stuff, but I like to recognize it at least. That's obviously personal preference in that particular regard, but given there's no suggestion from the outside (that I could find) that there is any spiritual practices at all involved in the book, it is probably worth a heads up.
The habits themselves generally fell into two categories.
1. Extremely basic stuff that you should probably be doing anyway just...in order not to feel terrible all the time? Maybe for people who have really terrible habits it might be helpful, I'm not sure, but picking my way through the simplistic and sneering language seems like it would kill any good self esteem I might have gotten from any of this.
2. Weirdly specific stuff that is only useful in extremely specific office job circumstances. For people who work in those kinds of situations, again, this might be useful if you can wade through to find out the stuff that you need, but I feel like for quite a few of us (including some of us who do work in an office!), the advice was completely useless and the habits made no sense.
All in all, I think I'll be avoiding free self-help books from now on. There's a (personally) weirdly large market for the ones you have to pay for--this may be a situation in which "free" means "not worth paying for".
It's that time of the year again, and I've been looking around for some pretty things to make. Since my skills still do not extend to knitting, crochet it is, and The Nutcracker is my favorite ballet.
The patterns in this were cute and generally easy-ish. They were stylistically similar, so if you don't like the images you see on the front cover, the book is going to be more of the same, as a heads up. I thought they were cute and quirky looking and I loved that they match so well, which means if I revisit my desire to make some another year it will be easy to eventually have an entire set without having to track down individual patterns.
Like most (good) crochet pattern books, this includes not only step-by-step directions for the patterns, but also some instructions/reminders on some of the basic crochet stitches you'll need. I would not really recommend this as the only way to learn (this is not an absolute Crochet for Dummies or anything), but it is useful for people (cough, cough, like me) who often forget the more complicated stitches since they're not regularly used.
I'll be making a few of these to add to my general Christmas decorations, and if you like the pictures and have even basic crochet skills, this is a solid addition to your Christmas pattern collection.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The patterns in this were cute and generally easy-ish. They were stylistically similar, so if you don't like the images you see on the front cover, the book is going to be more of the same, as a heads up. I thought they were cute and quirky looking and I loved that they match so well, which means if I revisit my desire to make some another year it will be easy to eventually have an entire set without having to track down individual patterns.
Like most (good) crochet pattern books, this includes not only step-by-step directions for the patterns, but also some instructions/reminders on some of the basic crochet stitches you'll need. I would not really recommend this as the only way to learn (this is not an absolute Crochet for Dummies or anything), but it is useful for people (cough, cough, like me) who often forget the more complicated stitches since they're not regularly used.
I'll be making a few of these to add to my general Christmas decorations, and if you like the pictures and have even basic crochet skills, this is a solid addition to your Christmas pattern collection.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was extremely lovely, even in digital form.
I will admit up-front that I am not exactly known for my vast repertoire of artistic knowledge. However, if you live with one long enough, you pick up some stuff by osmosis, and the Art Nouveau movement has always interested me stylistically. Or, to boil it down to the basics I probably ought to be using when discussing art, I think it's pretty. :)
I'm not quite sure I would consider this the essential reference. It might perhaps work as such for those that are more familiar with the artists included, but I was a bit disappointed with the lack of biographical info on the art and the artists themselves that had been promised. The little blurbs at the end were nowhere near enough information to do anything other than perhaps remind someone who already knew who the person was.
I can't speak as to the completeness of the art and artists included except to say that there were quite a few I had certainly never seen before and I was impressed with the breadth of the movement. I liked that it was separated by country of origin, and the fact that not simply paintings but jewelry and even wallpaper. It certainly gave the reader a taste of the period, which I thought was fun and useful.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I will admit up-front that I am not exactly known for my vast repertoire of artistic knowledge. However, if you live with one long enough, you pick up some stuff by osmosis, and the Art Nouveau movement has always interested me stylistically. Or, to boil it down to the basics I probably ought to be using when discussing art, I think it's pretty. :)
I'm not quite sure I would consider this the essential reference. It might perhaps work as such for those that are more familiar with the artists included, but I was a bit disappointed with the lack of biographical info on the art and the artists themselves that had been promised. The little blurbs at the end were nowhere near enough information to do anything other than perhaps remind someone who already knew who the person was.
I can't speak as to the completeness of the art and artists included except to say that there were quite a few I had certainly never seen before and I was impressed with the breadth of the movement. I liked that it was separated by country of origin, and the fact that not simply paintings but jewelry and even wallpaper. It certainly gave the reader a taste of the period, which I thought was fun and useful.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.