Double Review: The Evolution of Mara Dyer & The Retribution of Mara Dyer

Hiya!

This will be a double review of the 2nd and 3rd books in the Mara Dyer trilogy: The Evolution of Mara Dyer (★★★★☆) and The Retribution of Mara Dyer (★★★★☆), both by Michelle Hodkin. I am so excited to have finally finished this trilogy, especially because I started with the first book over a year ago.

I really liked this trilogy as a whole, even though I may have been confused a lot of the time. I think that is just the nature of the beast with this story. You never really know what's real and what isn't, because our narrator, Mara, doesn't even know. There isn't much that I can say about these sequels without spoiling, so I'll just say that there were definitely still some questions at the end that weren't answered to my liking, but that kind of fits with the confusing nature of the story. There were a lot of pieces that almost felt like the author was having a conversation explaining everything, and then we walked in halfway through. We got the end result of everything, without enough explanation to really satisfy. That said, I really liked the description of characters, places, and events, and I can't wait to read more from this author. I got an e-galley of The Becoming of Noah Shaw from NetGalley, and I can't wait to dive in to this world from Noah's perspective. I think I might take a little breather and read something else in-between, and then start off December with some NOAH!<3 .="" font="">

Currently reading:
Elantris
Her Body and Other Parties
The Sun and Her Flowers

Keep reading!
Katy

Review: Hate List

Hiya!

This will be a review of Hate List by Jennifer Brown (★★★★☆). I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked this book! It was definitely an impulse buy for me. I saw the cover, decided to check the synopsis, was semi-intrigued, and then realized it was over 500 pages, so I grabbed it (always on the lookout for Tome Topple books!) It took me a long time to get started with it, because I assumed it was going to be a tough read (I have school-age children), but while there were parts that were tough in that regard obviously, most of the book just wasn't about that. It was definitely about what happens afterward, and the people that are left behind. Being the significant other of the shooter is not a perspective we get to hear from often, either in novels or in real life. We also heard from parents, friends, classmates, teachers, and everybody else in the community where this tragedy occurred, but most of the story was about the shooter's girlfriend (our narrator). There was also the unique twist of the narrator being involved with each and every one of the victims, which is why they all got shot. That definitely adds a layer of intrigue to the story that made it much more interesting. 

I liked the way most of the characters were described. I liked the description of events, even when they got graphic, because it still made me feel like I was seeing it after the fact. I also liked the way that the ending wrapped up, and the fact that the "moral" of the story was a positive one (as cheesy as that may be). I will look to check out some more of Jennifer Brown's work, as I believe this is one of, if not her first novel.

Currently reading:
The Evolution of Mara Dyer
Her Body and Other Parties
The Sun and Her Flowers

Keep reading!
Katy

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Hiya!

I finally finished The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (★★★★☆) This was a reread for me. When I read it before, in October of 2016 (Wow, I didn't realize it was almost exactly a year since I read this!), I read the first book and stopped. I don't remember why I didn't pick up the rest of the series, but I never even started the second book. Reading my review, I know I was excited to read it, and now that I've read it again, I can't imagine not going into the second book immediately!

My thoughts: I loved this book. I am a huge fan of an unreliable narrator, and we definitely get that in this book. You never know whether things are real to Mara, and you never know whether they are real to other people. There were definitely some moments in this story that I had to reread, because I had to try to figure out what was really happening. This book uses a lot of brain power to figure out, but doesn't feel like it. The characters are described very well. Obviously the main characters (Mara, Noah, Daniel), but also the other characters at school and such. I could totally picture everybody that was mentioned even in passing. The plot definitely moved very fast in some parts, and got confusing, but I think that's the idea. Mara definitely would have been feeling that things were moving fast also, and would have been very confused sometimes. And... Noah Shaw. Enough said. Even though I already read this book, I forgot all about the major plot twist at the end, and I got to be surprised all over again, which was cool. I definitely want to see where that whole situation goes, because it has the potential to be really lame.

All in all, I loved this book. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was amazing. I can't wait to see some resolutions to some story arcs in the second third books. Then I can move on to The Becoming of Noah Shaw, which I got as an ARC on NetGalley. I'm excited to see how Michelle Hodkin was able to write another book in the series, but keep it individual as well.

Currently Reading:

Hate List

Her Body and Other Parties

Happy Families

Keep Reading!

Katy

Looking toward the end of the year

Hiya!

I've started looking back at my reading goals and resolutions from the beginning of 2017, and I've realized that I have definitely not met most of them. However, there are some that I think I can still get close to, so I'm going to try.

2017 Reading Resolutions:

1. Read 1 classic a month (12 total)

2. Read 6 books a month (72 total)

3. Read all 8 Anne of Green Gables books

4. Read 1 nonfiction book every 2 months (6 total)

5. Finish 5 series that I've started.

6. Start a BookTube channel

7. Do 1 buddy-read every quarter (4 total)

Results (so far):

1. I have read 5 classics so far. I can probably read a couple more in December if I try really hard. ✗

2. I have read 103 books as of the writing of this post. ✓

3. I have read 4 Anne books so far. I'm going to see how many more I can read in December. ✗

4. I have read 4 nonfiction books so far. I can probably handle this one, if I just squeeze in a couple of celebrity memoirs. ✗

5. I have finished 4 series that I've started, and I will definitely be finishing the Mara Dyer trilogy. ✗

6. I didn't start a BookTube channel, but I have started this blog, so I'm going to count it! ✓

7. I have not done any buddy-reads this year. This is a 100% definite fail. ✗

Wrap-up:

I haven't finished very much yet, but I have at least mild confidence that I will finish a couple more things before the end of the year. We'll see. I'll update after New Year's with my wrap-up of 2017.

Keep reading!

Katy

I finally read some Stephen King

I can't believe that it has taken me 31 years to read a Stephen King novel, but I've finally done it. I've read 3, in fact!

I decided that October would be a perfect time of the year to read my first King book, so I asked around my friends IRL to decide where to start. I was told that I should start with Finders Keepers, because it is more mystery/thriller, and less horror, than his others. I found out that this book is the 2nd book in a trilogy, but that it reads like a standalone. Of course, me being me, I decided that I needed to begin at the beginning, so I started with Mr. Mercedes, and then went on from there.

I loved this whole trilogy, but the 3rd book was definitely very different than the first two. I will review them all individually here, and then review the trilogy as a whole.

SPOILER ALERT!! The only book I can really review without spoilers is the first one, since it is a trilogy, so I am just going to warn you ahead of time, that there will be plenty of spoilers in this post.

Mr. Mercedes (★★★★★): Like I said, this was my first King, and I am so happy that this is where I started. I am not the biggest horror/scary story lover, so I was very happy when I heard that this is more mystery/thriller. The characters in this story were so real and the story was so realistic that it was freaky. I didn't realize until I really got into it that this book was written much more recently than I thought (2014), so a lot of the world events that were mentioned were either real-world things that just happened recently, or they were definitely things that I see realistically happening in the present. I certainly grew to love Ret Det Hodges, and his friend Jerome, and obviously started my trilogy-long detesting of Brady Hartsfield. I loved all the different rep of mental illnesses, including depression and anxiety. I just really liked how easily King was able to make me care about all the characters, even if they weren't in the story for very long. I definitely couldn't wait to get to book 2.

Finders Keepers (★★★★☆): I had heard that this book could be read as a stand-alone, but I didn't really believe it. Of course, I had to read the first book first, right? Wrong. There are definitely a few things in here that wouldn't have made sense without reading Mr. Mercedes, but for the most part, it's a completely different story. A good one, too. I had a little bit of a hard time following all the back-and-forth switching points of view, but that could've been because I listened to most of this on audiobook. Maybe some formatting in the physical book would've helped with that. I really liked all the bits of how fanboy-ish our protagonist was (before he got cray about it, that is.) Getting the little teaser bits of Brady mentions in this book got me so excited to read book 3, which was tempered only a little bit by the allusions to telepathy and telekinesis in those mentions.

End of Watch (★★★☆☆): I didn't like this one quite as much as the other two books in the series, but I think that's only because the trilogy kind of switched genres on me for this last book. I would classify the first and second books as thriller, but this third book is more sci-fi. I think if I knew going into it that's what I'd be getting, I might have liked it a little more. I still loved all the characters, and I think it wrapped up nicely.

Overall, I loved this series, and I can't wait to read some more King. Also, End of Watch was the first book on my Scallywagathon TBR, so I've gotten at least 1 book accomplished in my first readathon of the month. That's something, huh?

Currently reading:
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Her Body and Other Parties

Keep reading!
Katy

November TBR (including 3 readathons)

Hiya!

These are all of the books that I hope to get read this month. I'm participating in 3 readathons, so I'm hoping that I'll actually get most of these done, even though this list is pretty darn ambitious.

Scallywagathon:
End of Watch by Stephen King
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Contemporaryathon:
Happy Families by Tanita S. Davis
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Tome Topple:
(carry-over of Hate List)
The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Graphic novel - TBD

This brings me all the way to the end of November, so hopefully, I can get this all in by then. The Thanksgiving break should help a lot. Plus, it's a lot colder outside now, and it gets dark so early, so there will be a lot more time spent inside bundled up.

Are you participating in any of these readathons in November? Have you read any of these books? Are you planning to read any of these books? I'd love to know!

Keep reading!
Katy

October 2017 Wrap-up

Hiya!

I had a major reading slump starting in August, because of all the readathons I participated in for the month of July. So finally, by the beginning of October, I was starting to get back into the swing of reading all the time. This is what I came up with:

Insurgent by Veronica Roth - ★★★★☆

Allegiant by Veronica Roth - ★★★☆☆

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King - ★★★★★

Finders Keepers by Stephen King - ★★★★☆

Overall, I had a really awesome reading month. I finally finished the Divergent trilogy that I just started for the first time in September, and I read m first Stephen King. I have since finished that trilogy and I feel really good about it. I am definitely back in the swing of things for the most part, and I can't wait to read a whole bunch more books in November. I have a couple more readathons, so that should help.

Keep reading!

Katy

Introduction

Hiya!

My name is Katy, and welcome to my new little corner of the world! I would love to share with you some bits of my life as they pertain to my reading habits.

I read a whole lot (usually about 12-15 books a month), and I keep some stats on paper about what I read, and some of the info about the books I like and don't like. Obviously, doing this electronically makes a lot more sense, so I figured that while I was making the switch to the computer anyway, I would just share my thoughts with you all!

My goal with this blog is to not only track what I read, whether I like it, and what types of books I tend to gravitate toward, but also to share my specific thoughts on each book. This way, you can make more informed decisions about whether you want to pick up a book, based on how my taste seems to correlate with your own. I absolutely love hearing other people's reviews and thoughts of books I'm thinking of reading. It really helps me narrow down which books I want to spend my time on. I hope that you all feel the same way, and that my opinions and thoughts can help you out.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to talk to you all soon!
Keep reading!
Katy