Tag: lyrical

Review: A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross

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Alexis holds A River Enchanted next to A Fire Endless on a gray blanket with an Aquarius candle.

Alexis:

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

I’m back home from a hospital stay, where I unfortunately had to have (more) lung surgery. The only good news about that is I’ve had plenty of time to read!

During my recovery, I read A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross, which is the sequel to A River Enchanted. 

This adult fantasy duology follows four main characters—Jack, Adaira, Sidra, and Torin—who live on the Isle of Cadence. The Isle is split between two warring clans and has spirits/faeries, music, and magical items. 

As with the first book, I loved the historical Scottish-inspired island in A Fire Endless. Ross’ writing is as lovely, atmospheric, and lyrical as ever. 

What I really appreciated about this sequel was getting to know Jack and Adaira better. In the first book, I preferred both Sidra and Torin’s POVs. But I felt like both Jack and Adaira had great character arcs. 

Sidra is still my favorite character, and I loved her character arc, as well!

Torin’s POV lost me a little bit. This book is slow moving, and I felt like Torin’s POV dragged it down. I also felt like his character growth already happened in the first book, so I didn’t feel as invested in his journey. I also didn’t like the plot as much as in the first book; however, I did really enjoy the ending!

Overall, I think if you’re looking for a character-driven, historical fantasy novel, this duology might be for you. 

VERDICT: 🔥🔥🔥🔥/5

Review: Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw

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Alexis:

“The forest sticks to me.”

Happy day after Christmas, everyone! If you celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful day despite this very strange year.

Now, I’m always down for a story with a spooky forest.

Winterwood follows Nora, a seventeen-year-old girl who comes from a long line of Walkers: women with witch-like powers who live next to the creepy Wicker Woods. Nora finds a lost boy named Oliver alive in the woods despite a massive snowstorm, and works to unravel the mystery of how he survived. 

Things I liked:

I love Ernshaw’s writing. It’s lyrical and enchanting, reminding me of a dark fairy tale. It perfectly fits the lovely, cold, and haunted aesthetic of this book.

I loved the setting. Nora’s house sounds homey and witchy, and I enjoyed the descriptions of it, alongside the forest, from Nora’s perspective. 

Things I didn’t like as much:

Besides Nora, I never felt like I got far enough below surface level with the other characters, and sometimes I couldn’t pin down motivations. Usually, I love dual perspectives, but I felt like Oliver’s perspective didn’t reveal enough about him for me, and his amnesia didn’t help.

I loved the magic, but I wanted it to be talked about/explained even more. I never really understood how it worked, even with the many pages dedicated to the Walker ancestors.

While I loved Ernshaw’s writing, it was too repetitive sometimes. Even though it fits the nature of this story (by the end), and I usually love repetition, I think it was utilized just a little too much.

Lastly, I guessed one of the main plot reveals very, very early on, and it’s already a slow-moving story. On top of that, the book’s conclusion felt a bit like a cop-out.

Despite that, I really enjoyed reading this book, and I sped through it. I love Earnshaw’s writing, and I look forward to reading her future books, where hopefully the plot and characters will be a little more refined.

VERDICT: 🌲🌲🌲/5

Review: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

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Alexis: While I didn’t enjoy The Little Paris Bookshop as much as The Book of Dreams by Nina George, I still really enjoyed reading it!

Summary: In Paris, a fifty-year-old man named Monsieur Perdu runs a bookstore on a barge, which floats on the Seine. He calls it the Literary Apothecary, because he treats books as medicines to cure people of their broken hearts. But Perdu is harboring twenty years of heartache, after the love of his life left him without any explanation, except for a letter, which Perdu hasn’t been able to bear to even read. Until one day, when he finally reads the letter, and decides to finally start living his life.

What I liked: I loved Perdu’s journey. While he physically journeys down the Seine in his bookshop, he emotionally breaks out of the depressed funk that he’s been stuck in for twenty years. His character arc was perfect.

I enjoyed George’s lyrical writing style, and how the book veers towards magical realism in some parts. For example, Perdu is always able to somehow read his customers and understand what book they need. 

The overall bookish feel of this book was wonderful, and you can really feel George’s love of books seep into Perdu’s character. 

The secondary characters are vibrant and oftentimes outlandish. I enjoyed reading about Perdu meeting them and finally creating connections with people after all his years of loneliness.

What I didn’t like: I really wasn’t a fan of Manon’s character. Her diary entries gave me a good glimpse into her character, and I figured out early on that I didn’t like her. She just seemed so immature and erratic, and sometimes the way she talked about Jean felt too manipulative. What I did enjoy about her diary entries were her descriptions of Jean, because it showed what Jean was like when he was young.

Overall, I loved reading about Perdu’s journey. This book is about love lost and love found, finding yourself, and the power of books. 

VERDICT: 4 starsZ

Review: Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

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Alexis:

I read Etta and Otto and Russell and James last year, and I immediately added it to my favorite books list and gave it 5 stars! But I read so many books that, over a year later, I couldn’t remember all the details. I knew I was going to the beach, so I thought, “Why not get it for the beach and give it a re-read?”

The first time I read this, when I checked it out from the library, I didn’t realize it was magical realism. But I love magical realism, and reading it a second time, it made more sense in the story.

This book is character-driven, low on the plot, and heavy on the emotion. The book is non-linear, and switches back and forth not only in POVs (though all are in 3rd person) but also back and forth in time. It explores the relationships between three main characters: Etta, Otto, and Russell. Etta and Otto are married, and Russell is their longtime friend. In the present day, they are all old farmers in Canada. One day, Etta decides to trek across the Canadian wilderness in order to see the ocean for the first time.

In the past, Otto grows up on a farm, and Russell, his neighbor, becomes his best friend. Later, Etta becomes a school teacher while Otto goes off to fight in WWII.

Hooper is a wonderful writer. She’s also a musician, which gives her writing a rhythmic and lyrical feel that I love. Hooper also excludes quotation marks in her dialogue, which adds to the magical realism feel of the book.

Overall, this is a quietly powerful book. At its core, it’s about both a physical and an emotional journey through the Canadian landscape and the characters’ pasts. It explores war, family, and farming, with a talking coyote thrown in there for good measure. If you love magical realism, lyrical, poetic writing, and character-driven stories, I highly recommend it!

VERDICT: 5 stars

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DNF: Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

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Alexis: Happy World Book Day, everyone! Unfortunately, I think I jinxed myself, because I had to DNF Gingerbread.

The first couple of pages were wonderful. I loved the descriptions of the gingerbread, and Oyeyemi’s imagery and writing is fresh and lyrical.

Unfortunately, even though I love magical realism, Gingerbread is just too abstract. This book doesn’t have a clear plot, which I know is on purpose, but it’s just too atmospheric and all over the place for me. I wasn’t super invested in the characters, and talking dolls never fail to creep me out, even if they’re not supposed to be creepy! The real story begins around page 50, but by 10 pages into it, I didn’t have the energy to continue reading.

I hesitate to give this book too bad of a rating, though. Oyeyemi is clearly a talented writer, and this is a niche book that I can see certain people loving.

VERDICT:

Plot and style: 1 star

Characters: 2 stars

Writing and voice: 5 stars

Review: Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

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Anna:

I’m excited to share my first 5 star read of the year! T Kira Madden’s memoir is a heartbreaking and beautiful account of growing up in Boca Raton—or Rat’s Mouth— of Florida. It’s so raw and emotional, and not to mention lyrically written, that it’s both hard to read yet impossible to put down. My inability to stop reading, despite the contestant pretense of bleak topics, is something I love about Madden’s writing. She truly has a talent in making the bad beautiful in her writing without diminishing the severity and impact of the bad.

This book comes with a trigger warning for just about everything. A lot of this book deals with drug abuse, alcohol abuse, physical abuse, child pornography and sexual abuse, and basically every kind of abuse you can think of.

Something I really like about this memoir is the cyclical nature of it, which is something I find quite annoying in some memoirs, but that isn’t the case here. Madden never “harps” on certain details or asks the reader to feel bad for her in any way. It is her blunt and rich writing that earned my sympathy and trust.

Something else that stood out to me is Madden’s tremendous ability to forgive, especially in the case of her family and her parents. This lack of anger and blame, despite the difficulties she has experienced, is what has resonated with me the most since finishing this memoir.

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls will be published March 5, 2019 in the U.S. I can’t wait for more people to read this!

VERDICT: 5 out of 5 books