Review: Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy

Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A funny and cute graphic novel by the same author as Nimona (one of my favorite books of last year)! I love the characters and the female friendship and empowerment. I can't wait to read the rest of the series! :)

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Review: Beneath the Sugar Sky

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars. I love this series!!! This one was definitely better than #2 for me. I just liked the world they visited and the characters better. I also love how short these are because I don't feel like I'm committing to a long read; I can crank these out in a couple of hours. I really like how they've added a few illustrations as well.

My one complaint would be that I do think McGuire focused too much on the character Cora's size. I don't mind discussions of a character's struggle with weight, but it seemed to be her only character trait. I would have liked to see less of a focus on that, but there were enough other diverse characters and events that I am able to look past it and give it a high rating. She really has a beautiful writing style. I highly recommend this series!

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Review: The Annotated Little Women

The Annotated Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I decided to reread this book for a couple of reasons. First, I got the annotated version, so I was excited to read a new-to-me version. Also, I know there is an upcoming Little Women mini-series adaptation that I'm looking forward to, so it was a perfect time to reread it!

This time it was probably more of a 4-star read for me, but I always have and always will love this book. If I think about what the book has meant to me through the years, it is a 5-star read. I've read it many times, I watch the movie every year, and I even wrote my senior thesis in college about it (along with Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice). The annotations were somewhat interesting, but not much that I didn't already know. However, I enjoyed seeing May Alcott's artwork and other illustrations throughout the story, and it was interesting to learn a little about the real people Louisa based her characters on. I just love this book!

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Review: The Passion of Dolssa

The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I am not going to rate this because I did not finish it. I got about a third of the way through and I think I may have liked it if I had kept reading it. However, because I had to read it for Battle of the Books, I didn't want to. Two books that I really wanted to read (Beneath the Sugar Sky and Thunderhead) came out while I was reading this one and I am just too distracted to read it right now. I may come back to it, but I'm not sure.

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Review: The Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.75 stars (I know - I never can just stick with a whole number). I reeeeallllly took my time on this one, but it was pretty good. I read it on my Kindle Fire, so it was my "putting the boys to bed" book when the lights were off. I didn't always read when putting them to bed, which was why it took me so long to get through. However, I always remembered what was happening in the story and remained engaged, even when there were several weeks between readings.

I picked it up because I heard that it was being made into a movie in 2018 and because that it was similar to X-men. I've always been a big fan of X-men, and of course there are some similarities with the subject matter. The main character was likable enough and the story was fairly action-packed. I am not giving it a full 4 stars because although I enjoyed it, I wasn't compelled to read it enough to finish it more quickly (I did take 5 months . . . not usual for me!). I'm also undecided as to whether or not I will continue reading the series. However, I did enjoy this book! I definitely plan to read more by Alexandra Bracken even if I don't continue with this series.

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Review: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.25 stars. This was a fun read with a lot of great music history. Honestly, I don't love all of Mitch Albom's books they way some people do because they sometimes seem a little bit too sappy or something for me, but I don't dislike them either. In this book, the repeated phrase ("Everybody joins a band in this life, sometimes. . . ") got on my nerves, perhaps because I was listening to the audiobook so I actually heard it a lot. I don't listen to a lot of music (I like it, but I usually am listening to an audiobook instead), so although this was a good story, it just wasn't really my "thing." That said, I liked how Albom weaved Frankie's story through all kinds of music history and I was never bored. Overall it was a decent book.

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Review: Scythe

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.25 stars. This had a really interesting premise and I was very engaged while reading it the entire time. Sometimes it was a too dark for me (actually it was often quite dark), but I guess that comes with the subject matter. It was almost too much for me to handle at times. However, I'm glad I stuck with it because it was definitely worth it. The story and characters were fantastic, and I immediately gave it to my husband to read. He's reading it right now and is loving it also.

I am very excited for Thunderhead to come out later this month! I plan to read it as soon as possible.

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