Title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Series/Standalone: Between Series (Book #1)
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Horror
Pages: 360
Publisher: Dial
Year Published: 2013
Format: Hardcover Copy (Own it)
First Line: "' You stop fearing the Devil when you're holding his hand.'"
"Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White's sleepy, seaside town... until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet's crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard.
Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?
Violet's grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun,m who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery... who makes you want to kiss back.
Violet's already so knee-deep in love, she can't see straight. And that's just how River likes it.
Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevive Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying a debut to watch."
My Rating: 3/5
Trigger Warnings for Gore/Violence, self-harm, suicide, to name a few.
I'm going to write this review and be aware that it will make little to no sense. If I was rating based just on my enjoyment I would say that this book was like a 4.5 or a 4 star book. But I know deep down that this book just came to me at the perfect time. I needed something to distract me like a good teen CW show, you know what I mean? And that's exactly what this was for me. Something where the characters were very basic, but the intrigue was based in the town and the background story. I was happy with those two aspects of the story and therefore this story was a 3 star read. I do plan on reading the next one, even though I've heard not great things, I just need something to totally distract me with weird paranormal teen show vibes.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Title: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
Author: JK Rowling
Series/Standalone: Harry Potter (Book #6)
Genre: Modern Classic, Young Adult, Fiction
Pages: 607
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year Published: 2005
Format: Paperback Copy (Own It)
First Line: "It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind."
"Suspicion and fear blow through the wizarding world as news of the Dark Lord's attack of the Ministry of Magic spreads. Harry has not told anyone about the future predicted by the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries, nor how deeply what happened to Sirius Black affected him. He's desperate for Professor Dumbledore to arrive and take him away from the Dursley's- but Hogwarts may not be the safe haven from Voldemort's Dark Forces that it once was.
In his sixth year, the names Black, Malfoy, Lestrange and Snape will haunt Harry with shades of trust and treachery as he discovers the secret behind the mysterious Half-Blood Prince- and Dumbledore prepares him to face his own terrifying destiny."
My Rating: 4.5/5
Now might not have been the time to give this specific book a reread, but I was already reading it before COVID-19 changed the way we are living. And while some of us are struggling with our mental health watching tragedy happen before our eyes. It's just not a great time to read the most tragic Harry Potter book, in my oh so humble opinion. Also, unpopular opinion Harry is not my favourite character. In fact, he annoys me almost all the time so sometimes while reading I find him a painful character to read from. That being said the message that love is the most powerful magic is something we could all use right now.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Title: The Queen of Nothing
Author: Holly Black
Series/Standalone: The Folk of Air Series (Book #3)
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 308
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Year Published: 2019
Format: Audiobook
"He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.
Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to. Jude learned that lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.
Now, as an exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is left reeling from Cardan's betrayal. She bides her time, determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.
Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines, she becomes ensnared in the conflict's bloody politics.
And when a terrible curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity...."
My Rating: 3.75/5
I know that for lovers of this series this book was not a lot of people's favourites. But I really enjoyed it. I felt more connected to the characters and although there were plot lines that I wished had been further developed, I enjoyed the story overall. I think that this cast of characters goes through so much growth and there is such a great plot that it was a good series. That being said, I don't think that I will be purchasing the whole series for my personal collection, I've read it once and that was enough for me. I loved the angsty aspects of the story especially and look forward to perhaps reading more by Holly Black in the future.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Title: Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love
Author: Jonathan Van Ness
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction, Adult, LGBT
Pages: 276
Publisher: HarperOne
Year Published: 2019
Format: Audiobook
"'Over The Top (is) a lightning bolt- devastating and stirring... generous and frank' The Guardian.
Who gave Jonathan Van Ness permission to be the radiant human he is today? No one, honey.
The truth is, it hasn't always been gorgeous for the beacon of positivity and joy.
Before he stole our hearts as the grooming and self-care expert on Netflix's hit show Queer Eye, Jonathon was growing up in a small Midwestern town that didn't understand why he was so... over the top. From choreographed carpet figure skating routines to the unavoidable fact that he was Just. So. Gay. Jonathon was an easy target and endured years of judgement, ridicule and trauma- yet none of it crushed his uniquely effervescent spirit.
Over the Top uncovers the pain and passion it took to end up becoming the model of self-love and acceptance that Jonathon is today. In this revelatory, raw and rambunctious memoir, Jonathon shares never-before-told secrets and reveals sides of himself that the public has never seen. JVN fans may think they know the man behind the stiletto heels, the crop tops and the iconic sayings, but there's much more to him than meets the Queer Eye."
My Rating: 3.75/5
Since this is a nonfiction book, I often have trouble rating these since I can't comment on plot or character. My rating usually comes down to the writing style, how entertained I was and if I was intrigued. I was interested in Jonathan Van Ness's story after watching Queer Eye obviously, but also after hearing about his HIV diagnoses and when that went viral He is a strong individual who has overcome so much adversary and has risen above it. I'm sure that there are aspects of addiction and mental health that are still lingering because there is no cure for such things. The ability to be able to maintain the self-care for yourself after hitting lows is such a priority for yourself that isn't self and that is certainly something that is shown once and again through this memoir.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Title: The Unhoneymooners
Author: Christina Lauren
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Romance, Adult
Pages: 400
Publisher: Gallery Books
Year Published: 2019
Format: Audiobook
"Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in... well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiance is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she's managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she's forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.
Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren't affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there's an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.
Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn't mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky."
My Rating: 3.75/5
This isn't the type of romance that I've been reading lately. This is a sweet romance with a little bit of sex and hate to love relationship. It's about opening up and finding a deep love without sex, to begin with at least. And I don't know how I feel about it. Maybe I just wasn't cheering on the main character because she seemed to really hate her body and was constantly either being body shamed, or feels at though she was. I didn't appreciate the way those around her viewed her body, or how her being "curvy" was portrayed. I felt like it just wasn't a true way to encompass a "curvy" girl. Bigger people eat salads, workout and are not always clumsy. It was frustrating to read about as someone who used to be a bigger set. Overall, it was a fun book but I don't know if I would recommend it.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Title: P.S I Still Love You
Author: Jenny Han
Series/Standalone: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (Book #2)
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Pages: 337
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Year Published: 2015
Format: Audiobook
"Lara Jean didn't expect to really fall for Peter. She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren't. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever. When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean's feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?
In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that's part of what makes it so amazing."
My Rating: 4/5
I have somehow managed to avoid spoilers for both this second book as well as the movie. I know I am amazing at climbing under a rock and staying there. I thought that this was quite an interesting change from the first book. I thought that this would be more, happy go lucky, but it was far more dramatic than the first book in the series. I enjoyed the addition of another love interest and the change of scenery in the seniors' homes that Lara Jean volunteers in. I'm looking forward to watching the Netflix movie tonight and forcing my boyfriend to binge-watch both the first and second over a glass of wine and a plate of bagel bites.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Title: Sever
Author: Lauren Destefano
Series/Standalone: The Chemical Garden (Book #3)
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia, Romance
Pages: 371
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Book for Young Readers
Year Published: 2013
Format: Hardcover (Library Copy)
First Line: "In the atlas, the river still flows."
"Time is running out for Rhine in this conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Chemical Garden Trilogy.
With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughan's worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, through the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine's memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine's side, even if Linden's feelings are still caught between them.
Meanwhile, Rowan's growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future- and about the past, her parents never had the chance to explain.
In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano's Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered."
My Rating: 3.75/5
This is the final instalment in The Chemical Garden series. And I was a bit confused by the plot of this one. I felt as though this instalment went so many directions and I wish it just would have chosen one direction to go on. I was confused by some of the author's choices as I felt they might not have been the original plot but were thrown in upon editing. There is nothing wrong with that it just wasn't the direction I thought that this series was going to take. I will say that I love the characters and the growth they go through. I also enjoyed the plot twists and the world. Some of the twists just seemed to come out of left field for me and I wasn't at all prepared (especially when there were only 100 pages left in the series).
All this being said, I plan to read more of Lauren Destefano's works.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Author: Rebecca Skloot
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, Science
Pages: 370
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Year Published: 2010
Format: Audiobook
"Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells- taken without her knowledge- became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first 'immortal' human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all the HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50 million metric tons- as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb effect's; helped lead to important advances in vitro fertilization, cloning and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by billions.
Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the 'colored' ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta's small, dying hometown fo Clover, Virginia- a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings and voodoo- toe East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.
Henrietta's family did not learn of her 'immortality' until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family- past and present- is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.
Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family- especially Henrietta's daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother's cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn't her children afford health insurance?
Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks capture the beauty of drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences."
My Rating: 4/5
I am not an extremely educated woman. I don't know much about science particularly. I read this book as a part of an online book club through Goodreads. I was super interested in this story and the rights people have to their bodies/cells/tissues. It was upsetting to hear about the past treatment of African American people in hospital and medical care. I knew that it wasn't going to be a happy story or even a hopeful one but this was depressing to read about. And while we've come along way in society we just haven't come far enough. How is it that a person's cells can be used for research and their children are unable to get the coverage they need for their own medical expenses. I don't understand this at all. I would also like to note that I am privileged in multitudes of ways. I am caucasian, I am a middle-class woman and I am a Canadian citizen. These are the facts so while I don't know everything that other people go through, but its important to shine lights on the discrimination of the past as we as currently. In fact, the facts are that privileged members of society have the ability to shine lights on discretions of the past and present in order to change the world for the better. Especially in times such as now, with a global pandemic being announced. We need to stand together to better understand the use of science, research but also the different barriers each other face in order to access healthcare, medication or even groceries that we need.
In times such as these, be thoughtful, be kind and be there for each other.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Title: The Wicked King
Author: Holly Black
Series/Standalone: The Folk of the Air (Book #2)
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Year Published: 2019
Format: Audiobook
"You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.
The first lesson is to make yourself that strong.
Jude has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were biddable. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermines her, even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.
When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a faerie world. "
My Rating: 4.5/5
I was not hopeful when I picked up this book. I thought that the first book was mediocre at best and didn't quite understand why it had gained such a fandom. But this instalment made me understand some of the feelings people had for certain characters. I really enjoyed the change of pace in this story. We got to explore some different areas of the story as well as see the Fae in a different light. Not only as dangerous but as plotters and schemers. I enjoyed the political aspects of this story and the twists and turns. That being said, near the middle of this story, I felt a slight bit of drag and was concerned about where the plot was going. By the end, I had been entertained, surprised and curious about where the third book would continue. Overall enjoyed this book in the series and look forward to continuing via audiobook.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
Title: Foundryside
Author: Robert Jackson Bennet
Series/Standalone: Founders Series (Book #1)
Genre: Fantasy, Adult
Pages: 512
Publisher: Crown
Year Published: 2018
Format: Audiobook
"Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne's docks, is nothing her unique abilities can't handle.
But unbeknownst to her, Sancia's been sent to steal an artifact of the unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic-- the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience-- have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact's secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.
Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there's nobody with the power to stop them.
To have a chance at surviving-- and at stopping the deadly transformation that's underway-- Sancia will have to marshall unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact's power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined."
My Rating: 2.5/5
I found that this work was really hard to get into. Maybe that is due to the fact that I haven't read many Adult Fantasy works but this one took me a while to be interested in what was happening in the story overall. This also could be due to the fact that I really need to care about the characters in a story to continue on with the novel and truly care about where the plot was going. It wasn't until the last 2 hours that I felt something strong for our main characters and our side characters. There is a ton of world-building in this story and I understand why because the magic system is very different from other things I've heard about and needed a lot of explanation for the reader. I do wish that we could have gotten a bit more show and a little less tell, that being said I understand why the author had to use the tell method more often with such a complex magic system. I would recommend the audiobook for anyone who struggles with name pronunciation because when I was typing this books description I didn't expect any names to be spelt the way they were. Is this only a me problem?
I did like the plot of the heist and the plot twists were amazing! I'm still unsure if I will continue on with the next book in the series, for now, I"m curious but content to wait it out.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
