I have had an excellent month. June had a few reading challenges and buddy reads that I wanted to participate in. I read 12 books for the month.
Let's get into those reviews!!
1. The Memory Book by Lara Avery - I read this as part of the
Axis Libri - The Calling "Knowing Your Power" because the book has a white cover. I liked it. It was really good. It always hits very close to home for me, as I work in an assisted living facility that has a rather large number of residents suffering from various levels of dementia. I loved her idea of keeping a journal after finding out that she is suffering from a very rare mental disorder that causes dementia-like symptoms. I think I will look into more books by Lara Avery. Her writing is good and I practically flew through the book.
2. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides - This was amazing. I had picked it up on the recommendation of several Booktubers. When so many people all suggest the same thing, there has to be something good in it. I wanted to know what it was. Boy was I glad that I checked it out. I read the entire thing over three days. That isn't something I would normally do with an adult psychological thriller novel. I didn't realize just how enmeshed the timelines are, that the past and present were far more intertwined that we are lead on to believe. I could not believe it when I reached the end and saw who exactly the person behind the murder of Gabriel Berenson was. I understand the hype completely here. Look forward to reading more by him.
3. The Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza - It was really good. I like the premise and realized shortly that it was kind of a retelling of Princess Anastasia Romanov. Just as good. I was kind of like "meh" when they revealed the end and who the junker that what's his name was with was the other princess, but you know, beggars can't be choosers. I'll take what I have. It was a well written story that is a perfect little piece if you like space and lost princesses.
4. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang - I loved this. It was a brilliant underdog tale. Right up until they started with the whole "chosen one" and summoning the gods themselves that half the people in country of (pseudo-China) Nikara didn't even really believe in any more. I did like the way it was told and I look forward to getting my hands on a copy of the Dragon Republic to see how Rin's tale continues and if she actually manages to avenge Trengsin.
5. Bound by Donna Jo Napoli - Just a nice short retelling of Cinderella. It took me a while to figure it out, too. I think I was a solid eighty percent through before it dawned on me. I liked the idea of it being what I have been calling "Chinese Cinderella" even though some of the practices were not around then and the way she described the people was sometimes a little bit on the problematic side. It was still good and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to read stories based on China or Asia.
6. The Reader by Traci Chee - This was a fun read. I couldn't stop thinking about it as I read it. Another one set sort of in Asia, but not. It is really well done and I immediately got myself the next two books in the series that I can hopefully figure out how to squeeze into the next readathon I'm doing. We will see. I enjoyed how (I am bad at names, female main character....) Sefia more or less remembered the alphabet and then taught herself to read. It was sweet seeing her reading to (also a name I cannot remember at the moment) Archer (had to get the book out because I couldn't think of it).
7. The Last Manchu by Henry Pu Yi - Are any of you sensing the theme yet? I read this one for a prompt in Axis Libri. It was to read a book while exercising. So what I did was listened to the audio while I walked to/from work (when I was allowed to walk from work, no one seems to think I can get home on my own) and when I would walk my dog. I enjoyed learning more about the last Emperor of China before the formation of the People's Republic. It was interesting. I had previously read and enjoyed a book about his grandmother, the Empress Dowager Cixi. I think learning the history of all sorts of places is a good idea. I felt bad for Pu Yi when he got sent to the camp and had to do things on his own, something he had never done before as Emperor. Perhaps I will hunt down more books on the ruling classes of China and other countries.
8. The Selection by Kiera Cass - A reread, but still a book well done. Though not exactly my cup of tea on screen, I found that more or less reading the bachelor on paper is far more appealing. We get to see the insights of the bachelor himself and of the contestants on the screen. It isn't just one way or the other. Plus I liked that these girls in the book weren't petty. They weren't trying to sabotage one another just for the sake of winning Prince Maxon's hand. We all know where the storyline is going in
The Elite, and
The One. But at least we get some entertainment along the way, right?
9. The Capture by Kathryn Lasky - The other reread of the readathon. I only had two books that would have fit this prompt, but I wanted something shorter to be sure if I could fit it in. Owls are my favorite animal of them all, followed shortly by crows and horses. I realize now I could have used one of the horse books, but I forgot. Forgive me? Anyway, I love how the entire thing is told from the perspective of fledgling owls. I have the rest of the series and look forward to continuing on. I cannot wait to see what happens with Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger.
10. The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson - I read this one for the BooksandTea group read for the month of June. It was good. I don't like the way that Prince Ericen acted when he was around his mother. I also wish we had gotten some sort of conclusion to what they did with the eggs they found in the first book. I'm pretty sure to find out, we would have to keep going and read
The Crow Rider or whatever it's called, I am very bad at remembering names of things...That said, I may look into it to find out what happens with Anthia and Ericen.
11. Cinder by Marissa Meyer - I have read a few of her previous books (read: entire Renegades series) and I thought I would give this one a go, just to see if I liked it. It was decent enough for a Cinderella retelling (we've seen that before) and had the makings as well as an Anastasia retelling (we've seen that too, here today). I didn't much care for how they described the cyborgs. You could just tell when they kept rattling on about Cinder not remembering her past and Princess Selene being missing for the exact same amount of time Cinder had been, well, Cinder that there was a connection. I might continue on to at least the second volume in the series and see if I like it.
12. Not a Hero by Cherise Sinclair - This one was read for a reading group that I have since left. I mean, I don't mind it, but they just are not the type of books that I would normally pick up. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't much care for the graphic descriptions of sex. I get it, the sexy time was good, but did we have to go into that much detail? Leave something for the imagination. Perhaps next time I will look more carefully into the books I am picking out to read.
