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463 reviews by:
wretchedtheo
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story that created Christmas as we know it.
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adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
*clears throat* I made fanart. Can you tell I'm crazy for it?
Tiff writes as if she's been to Hollybrooke and met its residents. I loved all the characters! Alison is a wonderful protagonist - perky and silly and chaotic, constantly making pop culture references and testing Will's patience. Will is a charming partner-in-crime/love interest: kind and rational, but deep down just as nuts as Alison. They're both walking disasters and I ship them so. Freakin. Hard. Chelsea, Tia, Tommie and all of Alison's friends shimmer with personality and just leap off of the page.
Now, let's get my complaints over and done with so I can rant more later.
*Deep breath* if you're a grammar nazi, do not read this book.
Poor syntax and orthography combine with botched homonyms, redundancies and repetitions for a decidedly self-publised feel. MMatGC reads like a book without an editor. I was mentally going over every page with a red pen and several clicks of the tongue. "Your" mixed up with "you're", "to" with "too", commas thrown about where they shouldn't have been and/or lacking where they were needed, sentences with no verb... I wound up mentally blocking this out because the story and its quirky characters were so good, but it seriously detracts from the professionalism of the text. *proceeds to ignore it and snort at Ali and Will's hilarious banter*
Secondly, the ending felt...a little rushed? I never saw the twist coming, but then again, there were about 30 pages left before things REALLY got intense. The plot kinda...meanders about to pick daisies, as we're treated to scenes of donuts, renaissance festivals, slow dancing, and movie marathons (don't get me wrong as this is TOTALLY my thing!) And then, the actual murder mystery is kind of a subplot. Just a fair warning.
(I also would've rather left the story without the epilogue... but that's just me and my weird fondness for open endings, with their characters headed toward an uncertain future, so take this with a pinch of salt.)
Imma stop with the complainy stuff right now and tell you that the banter in this book is a GEM. Murder Mystery and the Gingerbread Cookies got me in trouble with my mom because I was laughing so loud she couldn't focus on her work.
In conclusion, buy and read Murder Mystery and the Gingerbread Cookies if:
-you love cute, clean and healthy romance with plenty of banter and jokes
-you're a sucker for hot Christian dudes
-you're the kind of person who sings carols in July
-cute filler is your thing
Give it a skip if:
-you're expecting some gritty, harrowing roman noir crime stuff
-Christian lit isn't your thing
-you're a grammar Nazi
-dude, just buy it anyway or I'll slap you in the knees with a cane.
Tiff writes as if she's been to Hollybrooke and met its residents. I loved all the characters! Alison is a wonderful protagonist - perky and silly and chaotic, constantly making pop culture references and testing Will's patience. Will is a charming partner-in-crime/love interest: kind and rational, but deep down just as nuts as Alison. They're both walking disasters and I ship them so. Freakin. Hard. Chelsea, Tia, Tommie and all of Alison's friends shimmer with personality and just leap off of the page.
Now, let's get my complaints over and done with so I can rant more later.
*Deep breath* if you're a grammar nazi, do not read this book.
Poor syntax and orthography combine with botched homonyms, redundancies and repetitions for a decidedly self-publised feel. MMatGC reads like a book without an editor. I was mentally going over every page with a red pen and several clicks of the tongue. "Your" mixed up with "you're", "to" with "too", commas thrown about where they shouldn't have been and/or lacking where they were needed, sentences with no verb... I wound up mentally blocking this out because the story and its quirky characters were so good, but it seriously detracts from the professionalism of the text. *proceeds to ignore it and snort at Ali and Will's hilarious banter*
Secondly, the ending felt...a little rushed? I never saw the twist coming, but then again, there were about 30 pages left before things REALLY got intense. The plot kinda...meanders about to pick daisies, as we're treated to scenes of donuts, renaissance festivals, slow dancing, and movie marathons (don't get me wrong as this is TOTALLY my thing!) And then, the actual murder mystery is kind of a subplot. Just a fair warning.
(I also would've rather left the story without the epilogue... but that's just me and my weird fondness for open endings, with their characters headed toward an uncertain future, so take this with a pinch of salt.)
Imma stop with the complainy stuff right now and tell you that the banter in this book is a GEM. Murder Mystery and the Gingerbread Cookies got me in trouble with my mom because I was laughing so loud she couldn't focus on her work.
In conclusion, buy and read Murder Mystery and the Gingerbread Cookies if:
-you love cute, clean and healthy romance with plenty of banter and jokes
-you're a sucker for hot Christian dudes
-you're the kind of person who sings carols in July
-cute filler is your thing
Give it a skip if:
-you're expecting some gritty, harrowing roman noir crime stuff
-Christian lit isn't your thing
-you're a grammar Nazi
-dude, just buy it anyway or I'll slap you in the knees with a cane.
Lemme rant about Știma Apelor by Maria Surducan and Anna Julia Benczedi . It is a short but magical tale of hidden gold protected by powerful and entrancing beings, known as Știme, who hold elemental powers. The magic system is based on east European folklore, so it was extra fun to read!! And guys. The art. It was absolutely gorgeous. I have read this over three times this week only, because my eyes NEED MORE. These ladies did an excellent job and I absolutely can't wait for the second part.
dark
hopeful
mysterious
I have Feelings. More detailed review coming soon.
EDIT: So i actually finished this in...like...JUNE. And forgot to review it?? Treachery. So here you go!! I am mending the error of my ways!!!no longer may God strike me down!
Erratic and Unnecessary is a collection of poems by teen writer Erelah Emerson , which I received in exchange for a copy of my own book! I read it all in one afternoon - there's just something there's just SOMETHING about Emerson's writing that keeps you hooked. It's simple, but not really. You start out reading what sounds like a childish rhyme about insects, and then BOOM, there's a dead body, someone just got murdered, there's a witch keeping severed fingers in jars - you just never really know what they're going to write about next. It's crazy and strange and captivating, and I LOVE it. There were some issues with poor meter, but honestly, I kept forgetting to be critical because everything else was so interesting.
The poems make little to no sense at first glance, but it's as if there's always some hidden meaning poking out at you, something deeply visceral and secret, all tucked away. Some common motifs in Erelah Emerson's writing are insects, bones, plant life, and illness. I love their fascination with these things, as it makes their writing undeniably /theirs/. I look forward to anything else they decide to publish, and am so honored to feature alongside them in the There Is Us anthology that came out last month! But don't just take my word for it, check out the many poems available for free on their Instagram page, @poetry.rae .
EDIT: So i actually finished this in...like...JUNE. And forgot to review it?? Treachery. So here you go!! I am mending the error of my ways!!!no longer may God strike me down!
Erratic and Unnecessary is a collection of poems by teen writer Erelah Emerson , which I received in exchange for a copy of my own book! I read it all in one afternoon - there's just something there's just SOMETHING about Emerson's writing that keeps you hooked. It's simple, but not really. You start out reading what sounds like a childish rhyme about insects, and then BOOM, there's a dead body, someone just got murdered, there's a witch keeping severed fingers in jars - you just never really know what they're going to write about next. It's crazy and strange and captivating, and I LOVE it. There were some issues with poor meter, but honestly, I kept forgetting to be critical because everything else was so interesting.
The poems make little to no sense at first glance, but it's as if there's always some hidden meaning poking out at you, something deeply visceral and secret, all tucked away. Some common motifs in Erelah Emerson's writing are insects, bones, plant life, and illness. I love their fascination with these things, as it makes their writing undeniably /theirs/. I look forward to anything else they decide to publish, and am so honored to feature alongside them in the There Is Us anthology that came out last month! But don't just take my word for it, check out the many poems available for free on their Instagram page, @poetry.rae .
I enjoyed this book immensely! It was filled with hilarious, tongue-in-cheek do's-and-donts for ladies from times gone by. I had so much fun with it that I took pictures of certain passages to share with my best friend and we both had a good laugh.
I do have some complaints, though. First of all, the effect of a Victorian handbook of manners is somewhat spoiled by the constant notes of "inspired by" or "adapted from" at the end of each article. These ought to have been placed all together at the very end of the book, as reference sources traditionally are in works of nonfiction.
Secondly, the articles should have been collected in categories, such as "Cooking", "Family", "Health" "Fashion and Beauty", "Rules of Conduct" etc. As is they were just placed randomly, in no coherent order. This was somewhat interesting and lended a certain element of spontaneity but was not very professional and, again, spoiled the effect of a handbook.
Third, many of the articles were anachronistic, and this was jarring. The book claims to be "A Victorian Self-help Guide for Modern Women" but contains tips and fashions from the Georgian period and the Elizabethan, too - haphazardly arranged, with no regards to order. Ideally, the book ought to have been called not a "Victorian" guide, but something like "A Guide From The Olden Days", perhaps. As for the articles, they might have been arranged in order of the time period they drew their information from.
In short, I found The Lost Art of Being A Lady to have excellent content, but unprofessional structure.
I do have some complaints, though. First of all, the effect of a Victorian handbook of manners is somewhat spoiled by the constant notes of "inspired by" or "adapted from" at the end of each article. These ought to have been placed all together at the very end of the book, as reference sources traditionally are in works of nonfiction.
Secondly, the articles should have been collected in categories, such as "Cooking", "Family", "Health" "Fashion and Beauty", "Rules of Conduct" etc. As is they were just placed randomly, in no coherent order. This was somewhat interesting and lended a certain element of spontaneity but was not very professional and, again, spoiled the effect of a handbook.
Third, many of the articles were anachronistic, and this was jarring. The book claims to be "A Victorian Self-help Guide for Modern Women" but contains tips and fashions from the Georgian period and the Elizabethan, too - haphazardly arranged, with no regards to order. Ideally, the book ought to have been called not a "Victorian" guide, but something like "A Guide From The Olden Days", perhaps. As for the articles, they might have been arranged in order of the time period they drew their information from.
In short, I found The Lost Art of Being A Lady to have excellent content, but unprofessional structure.
