"It sounds awful when I say it out loud."
"True things often do."

Oh, Bartholomew, how I wish I had a gargoyle of my own. The humour that is infused throughout this story, from the mouth of the gargoyle, made me wish the story would never end. He is worthy of Disney Princess sidekick status, worthy of a story all his own. What a wonderful character.

Do not go into this book with the Shepherd King duology in mind and heart. Go into it with trust in Rachel Gillig, that she has written yet another story worthy of your love and devotion. I was enthralled.

However, upon finishing, I have my theory on where book two will take us. Much like in the Shepherd King duology, where book one focuses on Elspeth and book teo on Elm, I suspect that in this Stonewater Kingdom duology we have just seen book one centered on Six, and I think, or rather, hope, book two will be centered on Rory.

To create two separate magical worlds, two separate magic systems, Rachel Gillig has proven herself through creativity and wit. This story left me entertained, inspired, impassioned, and breathless. I fell in love with the characters, heard their voices, felt their emotions, and believed in their mission. I cannot wait for book two. 

 

With the newest King release, Never Flinch, being the 4th book in the Holly Gibney series, I decided to start with the very first intro to Holly, which is in the Bill Hodges Trilogy, starting with this, book 1. I have them all. I just haven't read them yet. 

This book had LAYERS. Lots of moving parts. Sometimes it seemed like: why are you telling us this? But King is a fantastic storyteller, and there is always a reason behind the madness. So I made an effort to remember all the little details that seemed out of sorts, the loose ends along the way, and of course, they satisfyingly wrapped themselves up. 

Holly isn't introduced until well into the story. At first, I had no idea how this character could be included, let alone featured, in so many more books, but I got it in the end. I think I like her? I definitely want more of her. Jury's still out.

Covering five decades in the lives of two separate but connected families, of course, has left me wanting more. But not in a bad way. This story doesn't rush through time. The moments that matter are fully presented. This however, leaves us wanting details that the author didn't need to give, but that we curious about because we care about these characters. By the end of this book, my heart felt tight. Me, not a hugger, wanted to give the biggest, most smothery hugs to all them. Loved it. 

ugh! so freaking cute! 

Loved it. I was going to say I can't believe it took me this long to get to this one, but who am I kidding? My physical TBR is out of hand, and there are so many bound-to-be-great books coming out every month. What the hell. I buy a book and it sits on my shelf for weeks, months, YEARS. Ugh. All that said, I'm happy I finally got around to this one. It was thoroughly entertaining. I could hardly put it down even though I was reading it while training for karate tournaments and recovering from being punched in the head...I had to put it down to sleep, but other than that!!! Couldn't put it down :)

There was a lot of math and science; my husband would love it, but he's not a reader. I'm going to try to bully him into reading this one, but I'm not expecting to succeed. Anyway, you don't need to understand it all for this story to grab you by the balls. It's one of those end-of-the-world, 'we need a space mission to save us', stories, and the adventure is real. I loved the humour and the characters. I don't need to say more, this book has been hyped. If you've been putting it off, not convinced it would live up to said hype, give it a go. 

Le Manoir Hillcrest est un livre jeunesse destiné aux lecteurs de 9 ans et plus. C’est une histoire fantastique sur un garçon de 14 ans, confiné dans le manoir de sa famille. On entre tout de suite dans sa réalité difficile et on ne peut s’empêcher de vouloir qu’il s’en sorte. L’intrigue se déroule à toute vitesse, comme si on courait à travers les pages. J’ai envie d’en savoir tellement plus! Je me pose plein de questions...

 

This was a fun read! There were some really freaky moments early on that would absolutely keep me up at night if I were the main character. Blending supernatural occurrences with real-life mind games was a cool take on a haunted house story. 

That said, the tone felt a little inconsistent. And the characters were all stupid jerks that I didn’t care about at all, haha. Actually, that’s not true, Zephyr’s cool. The kids would have been much more believable as teens. There’s no way the boy one is only ten, child-genius or not. The husband is a forgettable asshole who I’m happy sits out much of the story. (Fuck you, man, YOU go to therapy.) My favourite character was the house. Team House all the way. 

Despite some flaws, this was a quick, entertaining read when you focus on plot. Some of the editing issues were a little distracting, but when you’re here for something campy and ridiculous, that stuff doesn’t really matter. It felt like an ‘80s horror flick. You’re not always sure what’s going on, the characters are a mess, but it doesn’t matter because it’s all chaos. The only thing it was missing to fill the ‘80s horror vibe was the obligatory boob scene.