amreading – Among the Authors

Off the Shelf: A Review of Ghosted by Rosie Walsh

Let me start by saying that I picked this book as my selection for July’s Book of the Month box. When selecting one of five book selections, subscribers see a genre, brief descriptions about the book, and a synopsis. I typically always pick the thriller selection. However, I had already read July’s thriller (The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager), and upon reading through each book’s synopsis, found myself really drawn to Ghosted. It confused me that the genre said “Romance” while the synopsis sounded fairly more like a mystery, but I figured – why not? Even if it had a bit more romance than what I normally read, it may be a welcome change to try something different. While I’m sure there will be plenty of people raving over Ghosted, having finished the book, I find myself feeling rather ho-hum and like the romantic bits were the only parts that kept me away from a DNF.

Summary (via Goodreads)

Seven perfect days. Then he disappeared. A love story with a secret at its heart.

When Sarah meets Eddie, they connect instantly and fall in love. To Sarah, it seems as though her life has finally begun. And it’s mutual: It’s as though Eddie has been waiting for her, too. Sarah has never been so certain of anything. So when Eddie leaves for a long-booked vacation and promises to call from the airport, she has no cause to doubt him. But he doesn’t call.

Sarah’s friends tell her to forget about him, but she can’t. She knows something’s happened–there must be an explanation.

Minutes, days, weeks go by as Sarah becomes increasingly worried. But then she discovers she’s right. There is a reason for Eddie’s disappearance, and it’s the one thing they didn’t share with each other: the truth.

Things I Liked:

Like I said, the romantic bits did keep me reading. It may be because I just kept picturing Eddie as Colin Firth, and Colin Firth is charming enough to make anything better. I actually didn’t hate the insta-love for once, and Sarah and Eddie’s scenes together truly worked for me…the key word there though is “together”. Most of those are told through flashbacks. The way the story is broken up doesn’t really lend itself well to establishing the depth of the relationship in a timely enough fashion to make the reader care about why Sarah is this level of brokenhearted over being ghosted after one week.

The reveal of why Sarah was ghosted was an excellent twist, and it answered many of the questions that had been building. It kept me guessing, and even though I thought I had it figured out, I didn’t. It definitely goes deeper than what you may expect.

I enjoyed most elements of Walsh’s writing style. The characters were interesting, and she kept the story feeling like it straddled the line between romance and mystery. I read through it in just a few hours, mostly in one sitting, and I really found myself enjoying Walsh’s use of dialogue and tension. While this was touted as a debut book, it’s actually described on the jacket as Walsh’s “American debut”. She has several other titles under the pseudonym Lucy Robinson, and I would be fairly interested to try some reading one of those in the future.

Things I Didn’t Like:

I had a really tough time finding Sarah believable. While being “ghosted” after such an emotional connection with someone would surely be nerve-wracking and spur some kind of obsession, there are some moments when I felt like she was an over-the-top teenager rather than an adult woman nearing 40. Her antics are a bit too angsty for my taste, especially when she borders on being a real stalker.

The story is spliced with flashbacks, letters, and emails which go a long way in showing us that there’s something more going on than what we might think. However, the structure and pacing of how these unfold often distracts from the momentum of the main story. Many parts felt repetitive, unnecessary, or occasionally eyeroll-inducing.

While the original twist of why Sarah was ghosted worked well for me and was mostly unexpected, the twists that take place after that point in the story fell incredibly flat. I felt they were pretty obvious choices to tie the story together, and the two I’m thinking of in particular were entirely predictable. I think I wanted the ending to be a bit darker rather than being packaged up so nice and neat, but I have to remind myself that this was meant to be a romance.

Overall Rating:

3/5. It was a very quick read and parts of it were fabulously written, but overall I found myself pushing to get through it. Didn’t love it, but didn’t hate it. Like I said before, I’m sure there will be plenty of people that love this book, so if you’re looking for a romantic story with a slow burn, give this one a try.

Add Ghosted by Rosie Walsh to your To Be Read Shelf on Goodreads

Off the Shelf: A Review of A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

It had been a little over a week since I closed the final book of the Shades of Magic series and talk about a book hangover. I seriously don’t know what to do with myself right now. I’m just not ready to move on and leave this world (and its magic) behind.

And it looks like I won’t have to…

While marking A Conjuring of Light as finished on Goodreads, I happened to stumble upon a trio of untitled projects from V.E. Schwab. The description of the first untitled book currently reads, “The start of a brand-new trilogy called the Threads of Power, which will be set in the same world as the Shades of Magic series, featuring new leads, plus the entire cast from Conjuring of Light”.

Yes. YES. YES!!!

While it may be awhile before I get to visit again, I’m thrilled that the door to Red London will remain open. I can’t say enough what an incredible journey this series was. It has quickly found itself among my favorite reads of all time, and A Conjuring of Light is a fitting ending (at least for now).

Summary (via Goodreads)
“Witness the fate of beloved heroes – and enemies.

THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED…
The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise.

WHO WILL CRUMBLE?
Kell – once assumed to be the last surviving Antari – begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?

WHO WILL RISE?
Lila Bard, once a commonplace – but never common – thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.

WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL?
And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay.”

Things I Liked:

V.E. Schwab did something amazingly unexpected in this book — she made me care deeply about a character that I had pretty much ignored in the first two books. Knowing this was the last book in the trilogy, I went into it expecting death and devastation. I clung to my every moment with my favorite characters, wondering which of them Schwab would rip away from me in a bloody instant. I held my breath, page after page. And while we see more death in A Conjuring of Light than the rest of the series, there was only one death scene that brought actual tears to my eyes (though there were multiple deaths that really tugged at my heartstrings). I actually had to take a slight pause from reading to reflect on it. How did she do it??? In a matter of a few exceptionally well-written scenes, I went from not caring about (and maybe even disliking) a certain character, to weeping at that character’s death. Now THAT takes skill. And from what I can tell from comments Schwab has made about this character, we might actually be seeing more of this person’s backstory sometime in the near future (yay!).

And just so you don’t think everyone in the main cast gets to live – nope. A character I had grown to love throughout this series does ultimately leave us, but in a way that was bittersweet and gentle. Tragic and beautiful. It was emotional but exactly what it needed to be. Anoshe.

As for Alucard, in my review of A Gathering of Shadows, I couldn’t make up my mind about him. I wanted to like his character, but like Kell, I considered him to be trouble and worried what kind of pain he could cause Rhy. I expected him to really “show himself” in this book, and he did… but not in the way I expected AT ALL. I’ll just go ahead and let my Alucard and Rhy flag fly, because the way their story comes together in the end is SO. DAMN. HEARTWARMING.

I don’t typically get caught up in romances in stories, but I really did enjoy the chemistry between Lila and Kell. I think it played out at just the right pacing to make me really fall in love with this pairing. Things definitely heat up in A Conjuring of Light, so much so that I felt a little embarrassed that I’d recommended the series to my young niece before reaching this book. “Read this series!” I’d said. “It’s written for adults, but I haven’t found much that would be considered too adult for you.” And while I’m sure she can handle the content (it’s not that graphic), I did have the awkward moment of blushing through a particularly steamy scene and then remembering who all I’d recommended the series to. XD Oh, well! Kell and Lila forever!

Things I Didn’t Like:

There is nothing that I can fault this book for. NOTHING. Hell, there was hardly anything I could fault the series for overall, other than a slight dip in pacing during book two, but you better believe that this book is a nonstop, action packed, wild adventure from start to finish.

Overall Rating:

How could I give it anything other than 5/5 stars? 624 pages of pure delight. It’s the perfect end to a perfect series, and I’m still emotional about it actually coming to a close. In fact, I can already picture myself giving the whole series another read, especially with another trilogy coming out set in the same world. One thing is for sure though, Victoria Schwab has to be one of the most talented writers of our time. I want to immerse myself in everything she has written and find out how she does it, because this is genuinely good writing and is not to be missed. Go see for yourself!

My Reviews of Books 1 & 2 in the Shades of Magic series:
A Darker Shade of Magic
A Gathering of Shadows

Side Note:

While I was stuck in my book hangover still hanging on to just how good this series was, all I could think about was Kell, Lila, and all of the others that made this a magical experience. So when I saw this adorable pupper up for adoption, I thought he bore a striking resemblance to a certain black-eyed prince. Now, I don’t use Twitter as often as maybe I should, but I couldn’t resist the urge to show this adorable doggo to V. E. Schwab. I never expected that a retweet from her would lead to this tweet being viewed almost 22,000 times (as of my last check before writing this). Wowza! Now, if only we had room in our pack for one more doggo… Just look at those eyes!

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Side Note x2:

If you consider yourself a writer, particularly a writer of fantasy, I can’t recommend Victoria Schwab’s Pembroke College Tolkien Lecture, “In Search of Doors”, enough. I watched it hungrily in search of guidance for my own work and found exactly the insight I was hoping for (–as well as finding out that she and I have a lot in common when it comes to authors we consider inspiring). Do yourself a favor — clear your schedule for the next hour, and give it a watch:

It’s hard to say goodbye to this series that I’ve so thoroughly enjoyed, so I won’t…

“Arnesians had a dozen ways to say hello, but no word for good-bye.
When it came to parting ways, they sometimes said ‘vas ir’, which meant in peace, but more often they chose to say ‘anoshe’ – until another day.

Anoshe was a word for strangers in the street, and lovers between meetings, for parents and children, friends and family. It softened the blow of leaving. Eased the strain of parting. A careful nod to the certainty of today, the mystery of tomorrow. When a friend left, with little chance of seeing home, they said anoshe. When a loved one was dying, they said anoshe. When corpses were burned, bodies given back to the earth and souls to the stream, those grieving said anoshe.

Anoshe brought solace. And hope. And the strength to let go.” –A Conjuring of Light

Anoshe.

Waiting on Wednesday: Smoke & Iron

Waiting on Wednesdays spotlights highly anticipated upcoming releases, and was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Since Jill is no longer hosting, I’m now joining up with Can’t Wait Wednesday at Wishful Endings. Check it out, and leave a link to your “can’t wait” book of the week!

If you’ve been a follower of my blog, you probably know by now that I’m a huge fan of the Great Library series by Rachel Caine. I even have a signed poster of the series hanging over my desk as I type this. If you’re not familiar with the series by now, it starts with Ink & Bone, then its sequel Paper & Fire, and then what many people thought would be the end (it wasn’t!) Ash & Quill. It gives me great joy knowing that we are now less than a month away from the release of book four, Smoke & Iron (and even more joy knowing that an ARC copy just arrived in my inbox). I’ve heard that there will be five books total in the series, but I for one have my fingers crossed that the story won’t end there.

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RELEASE DATE: JULY 3, 2018

Summary (via Goodreads)

“The opening moves of a deadly game have begun. Jess Brightwell has put himself in direct peril, with only his wits and skill to aid him in a game of cat and mouse with the Archivist Magister of the Great Library. With the world catching fire, and words printed on paper the spark that lights rebellion, it falls to smugglers, thieves, and scholars to save a library thousands of years in the making…if they can stay alive long enough to outwit their enemies”

Why I’m Waiting:

It seems like every time a new book in this series is about to be released, I’m in a reading slump. While I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m in one right now (as evidenced by my current marathoning of the Shades of Magic series), I am definitely in one in regards to the young adult genre. YA is usually my go-to genre, and I’ve uncovered so many incredible titles that have found a forever home on my shelves.

But lately? Not so much. I’ve combed through pages and pages of upcoming releases in the YA genre, and there aren’t many titles that stand out to me. I want something different. I want a story that really grabs me. I’ve struggled to find that in many of the descriptions.

That’s why I’m so thankful that it won’t be long before I’ll be rejoining Jess Brightwell and friends. Each book has been fresh and unique. The world is so finely crafted and the characters so well developed that even when you finish the last page, the story stays with you. The Great Library always revives my faith in the genre, and it tells a story that’s exciting for all ages.

If you haven’t started the series, now’s the time! Happy reading!

Check out my reviews of the rest of the series:
Ink & Bone
Paper & Fire
Ash & Quill

Add Smoke & Iron to your To Be Read List on Goodreads

Off the Shelf: A Review of A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

This is one of those times where you might say, “That series has been popular forever! Why are you just now reviewing it?”

To be honest, I don’t have a good excuse, and I deserve a swift kick in the rear for not getting around to it sooner.

I loved Victoria Schwab’s The Archived and The Unbound, and it has always been in the back of my mind that I need to read more of her work (I keep seeing rave reviews for Vicious, so that needs to move further up my to-read pile). When I say she’s ridiculously talented, it’s an understatement. I think it’s even safe to say that she was destined to write. Her workload is impressive, and it seems like she always has a new project (or two…or three…) in progress, but the fandom that has been built around the Shades of Magic series is a force to be reckoned with. I knew one day, sooner or later, I’d need to find out what all of the hype was about. It just so happened that now was that time.

A Darker Shade final for Irene

Summary (via Goodreads)

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.

Things I Liked:

I’m not sure why, but I struggled to get started with this book. It’s not that it was boring – not at all – but I found myself only reading a few pages before bed and quickly falling asleep. I wanted to savor the language and the author’s beautiful descriptions, but I felt like I kept losing focus. You might be wondering why this is listed under “Things I Liked” – well, that’s because it actually turned me on to something that I thought I severely disliked: audiobooks. As much as I love podcasts, I have always struggled to listen to an audiobook all the way through. It hardly ever happens. But, when I found myself struggling to stay focused in the first few pages of ADSOM, I decided that maybe I would give the audio version a try. Instantly, I was hooked. If I dislike a narrator’s voice, it often dooms the audiobook for me, but Steven Crossley was magnificent in most regards. I could easily sit back with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and just listen to him weave the story for hours (and that’s exactly what I did). I listened to the book over the span of two days, and I just couldn’t get enough. Schwab’s writing style is so cinematic that every glance, slight movement, and atmospheric difference to the different Londons was completely visible and real in my mind. I plan on enjoying the rest of the series on audiobook as well (something I never thought I would say).

Kell is one of the most intriguing characters that I’ve read in a long time. I love his demeanor, his Antari magic and language, and his devotion to his brother – Rhy (who I’m really looking forward to learning more about in the rest of the series because what little we did see of him is ADSOM was fun and fabulous). Lila wasn’t my favorite at the beginning, but (and this is my one complaint with the audiobook) I want to partially blame that on the narrator making her sound a little too over the top, and maybe she is, but I would have likely read her differently if I wasn’t listening to the audiobook. As the story goes on, and softer sides of Lila are shown just slightly, she started to grow on me. Her insatiable desire for adventure redeemed her casual thievery and near constant snark to me, and by the end of the story, I couldn’t wait to see what next great adventure was in store for Lila. Also, I fully expect to see more of Holland, the only other Antari, in the rest of the series. I wanted to dislike him, but I just couldn’t, and instead I want to know more about this mysterious, haunting villain (but is he really?).

Huzzah! This deserves a mention – I love a book that can stand on its own without a romantic element being a driving force! I love that, although there are moments that will make you ship certain pairings, there’s really zero romance here. Lila and Kell are present together throughout most of the book, but instead of sticking them in romantic situations, they’re too busy using their ingenuity to save the many Londons. But hey, if that happens to come later in the series, I’d welcome it.

Things I Didn’t Like:

There is one thing I will say about the audiobook version…I wish there was a second narrator. Female characters start sounding a bit Monty Python-esque, and I think that factored in to why I disliked Lila at first.

There are parts that may seem a bit draggy and slow, but I’m torn in saying that, because there’s not a single line that I would cut. The world and the characters were so expertly crafted that you end up craving all of the little details and exposition.

Overall Rating:

5/5 It’s an easy five stars from me. I was hooked on everything about the world that Schwab created, and I can’t wait to delve further into its story. ADSOM is strange and beautiful, and it is everything a good fantasy should be. My only regret is not reading it sooner.

“I’d rather die on an adventure than live standing still.”

Add A Darker Shade of Magic to your To Be Read List on Goodreads.

Favorite Reads Friday: Good Omens

I normally review ARC copies of books or books that I’ve recently discovered, but I have realized that there are so many other books that I’ve read in the past that I would love to encourage you to pick up – thus, Favorite Reads Friday. These books may have been published awhile ago, but in my opinion, they are among some of the best of the best. So, check back each Friday for a look at one of my favorites and tell me about/share a link to one of your favorites in the comments!

Today, I want to talk to you about Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. You’ve probably been hearing a lot about it lately since it’s currently in production to become an Amazon Prime Video television series in 2019 staring David Tennant and Michael Sheen. I can’t remember when exactly I first read it (I’d say probably 8-10 years ago), but I remember discovering a small paperback copy in a bookseller’s booth at a local flea market. The full title, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, sounded quirky, so I forked over a couple quarters, not realizing then that I was discovering what would soon be one of my favorite books of all time. What I find especially amusing now that the television show is coming, is that from the first time I read Good Omens, in my head, the character Crowley sounded exactly like David Tennant. I still read it that way today, and so I don’t believe his casting could have been any more perfect.

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Summary (via Goodreads)

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .

Why it’s one of my favorites:

This was my first introduction to both Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and my love for them grew from this fantastic co-authored work. Their wit and humor had me literally laughing out loud, giggling uncontrollably in public, and repeatedly quoting lines to friends. I don’t normally gravitate towards “funny” books, but Good Omens is so brilliant in its comedy that I often found myself rereading certain lines and laughing even harder. What’s not to love about an apocalyptic comedy starring a demon, an angel, a young Antichrist and his hell hound, and of course the four horsemen bikers. What makes it even better is that the humor also tends to have a philosophical leaning and will keep you reading and rereading throughout the book, savoring every word. I’ve even tried the audiobook (I reread Good Omens regularly when I need a pick-me-up), and you don’t want to attempt listening with any sort of distractions around, or else you might miss some of the more subtle jokes.

Good Omens is the book I’ve probably recommended most to friends over the years. It never gets old. Funny enough, I recommended it to my now fiancé when we were first dating. As he was reading it, he turned me on to a little show called Supernatural – which quickly grew on me, partially because of another character named Crowley. Both the Good Omens Crowley and the Supernatural Crowley are meant to be a reference in name to Aleister Crowley, but one can’t help but think that with all of their similarities and with show creator Eric Kripke being a big Gaiman fan, that maybe there’s a little nod to Good Omens in the show.

So, be sure to add Good Omens to your To Be Read list, and check it out before it becomes a hit television series in 2019.