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Kiwiria's March Reads
Mar. 31st, 2021 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiwiriaThornyhold - Mary Stewart, 4/5, 207 pages
Slow to start, but once Gilly made it to Thornyhold I was thoroughly hooked. It such a charming story, replicating the style of a much older type of novel.
Genre-wise it was a bit all over the place - fantasy, suspense, historical fiction, romance - but while I never quite figured out what it intended to be (thus my generic categorization here of just 'fiction'), it just worked for me. The end came somewhat more suddenly than I had expected, and there were some points I would have liked expanded upon (although mostly just because I wanted the book to last longer!), but I've loved descriptions of "setting up house" ever since I first read "Famous Five Run Away Together" as a child, and this was an extremely satisfactory read in that regard :-D
Magic Uncorked - Annabel Chase, 4/5, 212 pages
A delightful read - I finished it in one sitting and was utterly charmed. From a literary standpoint it was nothing special, and I could certainly see its flaws, but for me it was the right book at the right time, and came in very handy after a bit of a reading drought. Besides - a witch who does magic through cocktails? I am so there for it! Also, I do enjoy reading about people who figure out how to polish their spine.
The first in a series, but can very easily be read on its own, as it seems like each member of the Magic Cocktail Club has their own book.
Autoboyography - Christina Lauren, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~9.5hrs
The first YA book I've read by Christina Lauren. Still really well written, and I very much appreciated that the LDS community was written respectfully, and that the focus on this book wasn't "LDS = bad!", but rather on the challenges on falling in love outside your own faith, which I thought was very tastefully done.
I loved the friendship between Tanner and Autumn - would have loved to read more about that.
Aldrig mere fri - Sara Blædel*, 4/5, 374 pages
Slow to start, but it quickly picks up and becomes very interesting. It touches upon one of the most despicable crimes: human trafficking. It's something I feel very strongly against and therefore had a hard time stomaching the book, which also ended up being somewhat more violent than many of the earlier ones.
It ends rather abruptly and with an unexpected twist, but unlike some of her other books the abruptness doesn't mean any threads are left hanging... or rather they are, but not in an unsatisfying way, but rather because it couldn't be any different.
Heaven - Randy Alcorn*, 3/5, 457 pages
When I first read this back in 2007, it was the first book I read on the topic of Heaven, and as such I found it extremely interesting and thought-provoking. This time around I was less impressed, and had to downgrade the rating from 4 to 3 stars.
Randy Alcorn does forth a lot of interesting theories, but while there were a few I hadn't thought of before (like the idea of an intermediate Heaven where believers go between the time they die and the bodily resurrection to the New Earth), most I either felt were obvious (to me, at least), or I felt he drew broader conclusions than the Scripture allows. I'm still glad I've read it, and it did make me long for Heaven, but I'd no longer recommend it unreservedly, and am very unlikely to reread it.
Lab Rat One - Andrea K. Höst*, 4/5, 232 pages
Caszandra - Andrea K. Höst*, 4.5/5, 357 pages
Gratuitous Epilogue - Andrea K. Höst*, 5/5, 128 pages
I adore this trilogy, and find it a huge shame that so few people know about it. It needs to become a movie/mini-series pronto!
Books read: 28
Pages read: 6037
Slow to start, but once Gilly made it to Thornyhold I was thoroughly hooked. It such a charming story, replicating the style of a much older type of novel.
Genre-wise it was a bit all over the place - fantasy, suspense, historical fiction, romance - but while I never quite figured out what it intended to be (thus my generic categorization here of just 'fiction'), it just worked for me. The end came somewhat more suddenly than I had expected, and there were some points I would have liked expanded upon (although mostly just because I wanted the book to last longer!), but I've loved descriptions of "setting up house" ever since I first read "Famous Five Run Away Together" as a child, and this was an extremely satisfactory read in that regard :-D
Magic Uncorked - Annabel Chase, 4/5, 212 pages
A delightful read - I finished it in one sitting and was utterly charmed. From a literary standpoint it was nothing special, and I could certainly see its flaws, but for me it was the right book at the right time, and came in very handy after a bit of a reading drought. Besides - a witch who does magic through cocktails? I am so there for it! Also, I do enjoy reading about people who figure out how to polish their spine.
The first in a series, but can very easily be read on its own, as it seems like each member of the Magic Cocktail Club has their own book.
Autoboyography - Christina Lauren, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~9.5hrs
The first YA book I've read by Christina Lauren. Still really well written, and I very much appreciated that the LDS community was written respectfully, and that the focus on this book wasn't "LDS = bad!", but rather on the challenges on falling in love outside your own faith, which I thought was very tastefully done.
I loved the friendship between Tanner and Autumn - would have loved to read more about that.
Aldrig mere fri - Sara Blædel*, 4/5, 374 pages
Slow to start, but it quickly picks up and becomes very interesting. It touches upon one of the most despicable crimes: human trafficking. It's something I feel very strongly against and therefore had a hard time stomaching the book, which also ended up being somewhat more violent than many of the earlier ones.
It ends rather abruptly and with an unexpected twist, but unlike some of her other books the abruptness doesn't mean any threads are left hanging... or rather they are, but not in an unsatisfying way, but rather because it couldn't be any different.
Heaven - Randy Alcorn*, 3/5, 457 pages
When I first read this back in 2007, it was the first book I read on the topic of Heaven, and as such I found it extremely interesting and thought-provoking. This time around I was less impressed, and had to downgrade the rating from 4 to 3 stars.
Randy Alcorn does forth a lot of interesting theories, but while there were a few I hadn't thought of before (like the idea of an intermediate Heaven where believers go between the time they die and the bodily resurrection to the New Earth), most I either felt were obvious (to me, at least), or I felt he drew broader conclusions than the Scripture allows. I'm still glad I've read it, and it did make me long for Heaven, but I'd no longer recommend it unreservedly, and am very unlikely to reread it.
Lab Rat One - Andrea K. Höst*, 4/5, 232 pages
Caszandra - Andrea K. Höst*, 4.5/5, 357 pages
Gratuitous Epilogue - Andrea K. Höst*, 5/5, 128 pages
I adore this trilogy, and find it a huge shame that so few people know about it. It needs to become a movie/mini-series pronto!
Books read: 28
Pages read: 6037
