Review: A GATHERING OF SHADOWS by V. E. Schwab

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

It’s probably strange that I’m reviewing this book when I didn’t review the first book, but I have stuff to say about A Gathering of Shadows whereas I simply enjoyed A Darker Shade of Magic without any further comment. I’ve been so hyped to read this series; I had heard nothing but amazing things about it and about Victoria Schwab’s writing style (plus these cover designs are absolutely some of my favorite covers ever), so I was immensely excited to finally read it.

The first book was really good; I liked the plot and the characters and the world. But in the sequel, I expected a bit more. I liked this book. But I didn’t love it. I wanted to love it, but I think the nature of listening to the story on audio leaves something to be desired, plus I’m certain I missed various details along the way. I’m pretty sure that whenever I physically reread this series (because I certainly will at some point), the story will be more vivid in my mind and I will be able to enjoy it more than I did now.

I wanted more world development in this book. I wanted to know more about the differences between the Londons, between the politics and cultures of the worlds. Does life go on the same in each London or does the magic have a bigger influence than we know? I was hoping the story would extend beyond London, as well. Is there a black, a white, a red, and a grey dimension of everywhere on the planet or just London? I think my biggest disappointment with this book is that I wanted to know more about the four Londons and what makes them different from each other, which is described only in the basest sense. This story could have been so much grander in scale, but I feel like Schwab sort of missed the potential on crafting it into an epic fantasy. The coolest part of the story, to be honest, was Kell’s coat of multiple coats; I want a coat like that.

The main focus of this story is in developing the characters and explaining what is happening in their lives. There is much less time spent on developing the setting and talking about the magic. I like a lot of descriptions of setting and place, but there really weren’t that many definite scenes painted out for me.

I really wish this book had a map of the world. Especially since Lila is on a ship and traveling around, the characters kept mentioning different locations and I would have liked to know where they were. It would be extra cool to get colored images of the four Londons as well, to see the colorful differences between them, but I clearly want too much out of my books because there are no visual indicators in this book at all. (I know there is a poster map that comes in the trilogy box set, which depicts the four Londons, but it is more for artistic purposes than it is an actual useful map. What I want is a map that I can look at throughout the story to follow the characters’ journey along with them.)

This book didn’t go at all where I expected it would go. I don’t even know anymore what I expected, but pirates and a royal competition were definitely not on that list. I’m kind of impartial to pirates so I didn’t exactly love those parts, but I didn’t dislike them either. And as for the competition plotline, I felt like it didn’t really further the story but was just thrown in there for something interesting to have the characters do. (I’ve actually grown really tired of stories that revolve around competitions as the main event in the story, and hearing that’s what this book was about made me roll my eyes a little.)

I wanted to love this book so so much. I still enjoyed it, and I’ll definitely be reading A Conjuring of Light and other books by Schwab, but this series isn’t one of my new favorites yet as I had hoped and thought it would be, which makes me a little sad. For some reason, I have very little success with the most popular books that receive all the hype and that everyone seems to love. I keep reading them but they keep falling short for me. I’m really hoping this is a case of “it’s not you, it’s me” because of the audiobook, but I won’t know until I do eventually reread this series.

As far as the audiobook narration goes, it was just okay. The narrator for A Darker Shade of Magic was wonderful and did a splendid job. But then they changed narrators for some reason and the narrators for A Gathering of Shadows were less good. The male had a very monotonous voice that I struggled to focus on, and the female was fine but not great.

Review: HEIR OF FIRE by Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I’m a little conflicted on my rating for this book because I think the first hundred pages or so were solid, as were the last twenty pages, but the whole middle of the book just wasn’t there for me. I enjoyed Throne of Glass more than this book, but I definitely think Heir of Fire is a stronger book in the series. Ultimately, this book was a bit confusing for me in multiple ways, which ended up hindering my enjoying the story to its fullest.

There were quite a few new characters who subsequently talked about the histories and lives of a bunch of non-present characters, and the lineage was something I had trouble keeping straight, especially when Aedion was talking to his men about the rulers of Terrasen. My eyes kind of glazed over at that part so I hope it wasn’t vital information.

And then when Celaena met Queen Maeve, that scene was confusing too because I thought she knew what she was going to Wendlyn to do and who she was going to see, but she acted all terrified and surprised like she never expected to run into Fae royalty there.

I actually didn’t prefer Celaena as the main character in this book. I found myself looking forward to Chaol’s, Dorian’s, Sorscha’s, and Aedion’s chapters much more. I guess I’m just kind of tired of reading about Celaena flip-flopping back and forth between being ruthless and being soft.

The only character who I didn’t care to read about was Manon, the new fierce witch girl. In the beginning, I didn’t really mind her, but the more I read about her the more I just didn’t care about her training her wyvern or preparing for the king’s War Games or fighting with the other witch clans, and I really struggled to get through her chapters. She was overall a rather unlikeable character, and I hope she doesn’t show up in future books, but she probably will, unfortunately.

Alternatively, the character who I started out not really caring for but ended up liking was Rowan. He wasn’t a particularly likable character at the start but I love his bond with Celaena, and I’m looking forward to seeing where that connection goes. I hope their relationship stays platonic though because I want her to get back with Chaol again.

This book has cemented that I like Chaol more than Dorian as a character. In Throne of Glass I liked them equally, and in Crown of Midnight I liked Chaol only slightly more, but now after Heir of Fire, I much prefer him over Dorian, who has just become somewhat melodramatic.

Who I ended up being surprised that I liked, though, was Sorscha. She was more than she appeared, with how much she seemed to know about the prince and Chaol and Celaena. I’m happy Dorian found someone to turn to and trust during this book, but I am sad I won’t be seeing her in future books.

At first, I really hated the piece of crap that was Aedion, but he slowly grew on me—and I grudgingly accepted that I started to like him by the halfway point in the story. Once I got to hear his thoughts and emotions, especially regarding Aelin, I started to realize he wasn’t as bad as he pretended to be. I still don’t fully trust him, but I no longer think he’s an insufferable jerk.

Heir of Fire felt somewhat similar in plot to Throne of Glass, with Celaena training and needing to prove herself at the end in order to get what she wanted. And what was she even doing in Wendlyn? She went over there to dispatch the king and his son, yet when she gets there she totally forgets that plan and mopes around in the city for weeks until she’s summoned to see Queen Maeve, who instructs her to train and prove herself before she can enter Doranelle. So that’s what Celaena does for a few hundred pages, paying no heed to her initial quest, not even so much as mentioning that she’s flouting the king’s orders.

And then why was Norrak sent to kill Celaena? The king didn’t know what she was up to, and for all he know, she could have been fulfilling her duty by killing the king of Wendlyn like she was supposed to. There was never a chapter from the king’s perspective so we don’t know what his thoughts were, although I wish we could have read from his point of view because even though he’s a terrible person, his is the most interesting perspective to read from.

Another thing I had an issue with in this book is that there were multiple scenes that started out in third-person limited point of view from one character’s perspective and then suddenly switched to another character’s point of view without so much as a break to indicate such had happened. Or the perspective would switch to third-person omniscient and that was just confusing because I couldn’t tell who was supposed to be thinking. This was just poor writing in my opinion; viewpoints should never be mixed without some sort of page break, and they should stay in a limited perspective if that’s how they start.

I personally don’t think Sarah J. Maas has the best writing style. I found it hard to understand what was being described or what was happening until well after the fact, like she just didn’t explain anything well enough. I felt like information was constantly referenced that I had no prior knowledge of; like details were talked about in a way that I should have known them already but I didn’t. And since I’m reading these books back-to-back, it’s not like I’m forgetting major details; I just don’t think these pieces of information were explained well and that’s why I was confused. For example, someone made a comment like, “who do you think betrayed us?” and this was the first I had known of a betrayal, like it was never clear earlier that they had indeed been betrayed, and that’s not a detail I should have missed. Or about Celaena’s Fae magic—do all Fae have magic? Is it always elemental magic like Celaena’s and Rowan’s? And is Celaena’s human form her animal form? Do all Fae have an animal form but not all their animal forms are human? Just little details like that, that I’m sure were implied but never outright stated, were what caused confusion for me and ultimately made me feel distant from the story. I mentioned this writing technique to some friends who have already finished this series and they all confirmed that that’s just how Maas writes, and I don’t like it. There’s still quite a bit I’m confused about after finishing Heir of Fire, and I don’t like when an author doesn’t explain details well enough so that I have to intuit my way through the story and then misinterpret information. This writing criticism is my biggest complaint about Heir of Fire, and I feel like it will happen again in future books, which doesn’t make me excited to continue on with the series.

I just wasn’t as into this book as I was with previous installments. Even during action scenes that should have had me on the edge of my seat, heart pounding, I found them boring and I tried to read quickly to move on. The whole middle made me kind of upset and not very excited to keep reading, and then the last twenty pages finally became more interesting. Heir of Fire felt like a big book of set up for the rest of the series. Lots of new characters were introduced, lots of new abilities were revealed—and then honed to be lethal—lots of betrayals happened, lots of deaths occurred, and much of this book felt like a catalyst for what’s to come in future books.

To be honest—and I feel bad saying this—but my interest has just waned and I’m not feeling super inclined to finish the series. I’m going to, or at least I’m going to try, but for some reason I’m not obsessed with the Throne of Glass series as it seems everyone else is. I don’t dislike it, but it’s just not capturing my attention as much as when I started. For now, I’m going to take a break from it and read something else, but I do intend to finish it in a month or two, and I hope by then I will be more excited about it.

Review: HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE by J. K. Rowling

Rating: 5/5 stars

I forgot how much of this book was not the tri-wizard tournament. It plays such a crucial role that I thought it was basically the whole book, but really it’s just three chapters. And the first task doesn’t even start until a third of the way into the story.

I did feel like the story was much more drawn out than in past books (I mean look at the size of this tome) and had lots of details and scenes added for fun that didn’t really pertain to the story, but I didn’t mind. I don’t think the story ever felt slow-moving, but instead, the extra details just made it more fun and enjoyable to read.

I think it’s interesting that the crux of the story of Harry Potter doesn’t really start until the very end of this book or even not until book five. The first four books kind of stand on their own and each has a mostly self-contained story. There are, of course, small pieces that carry over (like the two horcruxes being destroyed in the first two books, but even then we didn’t know what they were), but overall there’s not the overarching feel of a fluid story.

I am very much looking forward to starting The Order of the Phoenix to really start reading about the heart of the story. As much as I enjoyed rereading The Goblet of Fire, especially since there were so many details I had forgotten, I’ve been most excited during this rereading process to read books five, six, and seven. I really feel like the most plot development and life-altering decisions happen during those three books, plus that’s when most of the long-awaited and important details are revealed.

This is kind of a pointless and short review, but it reminded me how much I do love the Harry Potter books.

Review: CROWN OF MIDNIGHT by Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 4/5 stars

I liked Crown of Midnight more than Throne of Glass, but so far The Assassin’s Blade has still been my favorite. I thought Celaena’s character was much more developed in this book, and she finally started to act more like an assassin than she did in the first book.

*The rest of this review has SPOILERS for Crown of Midnight.*

Early in the book, the name Aelin Galathynius came up as being the lost heir of Terrasen, and I know that the main character in the later books is named Aelin, and that Celaena’s name is not her real name, and that Celaena is from Terrasen, so my guess was that Celaena is the lost heir of Terrasen but doesn’t know it because she’s been away since she was so young, and she’s actually named Aelin. This was pure speculation, but lo and behold, at the end of the book we learn that Celaena is actually Aelin—and she knows it. Lots of clues led up to that revelation, so I wasn’t very surprised to learn the truth, but I am pleased I guessed correctly who she was.

I’ll stand by what I said in an earlier review: Celaena is described as the fiercest assassin in Adarlan, yet she is actually quite compassionate, and she wants to kill only people who deserve it. And even then she still has reservations, like how she spares the people she’s assigned to kill by the king simply because they’re innocent. She’s not quite the brutal assassin I imagined and was led to believe, but I guess having morals is a good thing, even for an assassin.

There were some scenes when she was brutal and full of vengeance and I honestly liked those moments. The action scene that happened in the warehouse when she’s rescuing Chaol is the most exciting part of this book and my favorite action scene I’ve read about Celaena so far. She was so fierce and ruthless and I loved every minute of it because she just dropped all those men like they were nothing. I wish more of the book could have been like that part. I would have liked to see more killing, especially an attempt on the king’s life, although I doubt that will happen until Kingdom of Ash because there’s so much more story to be told surrounding him.

The King of Adarlan was actually my favorite perspective to read from. His was a rare point of view to see, but we learned a lot in this book about him and his plans and his secrets. He is a very cunning man, and I want to know more about what he is hiding. I hope we get more scenes from him in later books as well. It’s clear there are a lot of mysteries and lies circling around the castle, and I sense a major betrayal at some point in the series, if not a handful of minor betrayals as well. People in power know things and are keeping that information hidden for massive plans of destruction and control.

The magical elements of the series are slowly coming into play and I am curious how the story will change once magic makes a full return (if that ever happens). I’m also curious about the limits of the magic the king is using from the Wyrdkeys. I also wonder if he banned traditional magic but still kept it for his own use only to become the most powerful ruler, or if he came across it later on after he banned it, or if he even has access to this magic at all (it was not totally clear in the book). As I had hoped in my review of Throne of Glass, the nature of the Wyrd and Wyrdmarks are described more fully in this book. We actually learn a lot about this form of “magic,” and I was pleased that so much information was revealed to Celaena. I still would like to know more about the magic that’s not related to the Wyrd though. What is it? What can you do with it?

I expected the Throne of Glass series to have a classical fantasy setting but the more I read, the more supernatural it gets. I’m not opposed to magic in this kind of setting but all these demons and inhuman-like creatures keep showing up and that’s just not what I wanted to happen and it honestly made me a bit disappointed. The last sixty or so pages of Crown of Midnight took me so long to read and made me less excited to start Heir of Fire because I know there will be more supernatural elements and creatures because that’s the direction the story is going, but I’m determined to finish this series anyway! I guess I also want more action and assassinations to happen, and not just Celaena fighting monsters but her fighting and killing evil people, that’s what I wanted to see. The Assassin’s Blade was my favorite because it had the most action and interesting scenes and character development, and it was the closest to what I was expecting out of this series.

I’m happy Nehemia was in this book again; she still might be my favorite character, at least thus far. However, it took me the whole book to decide whether she was on Celaena’s side or not because I couldn’t tell what she was truly after. I am sad that she was killed, but we needed an important death in this book as a compelling force for Celaena to proactively search out the answers she needs now.

Chaol is growing on me. In Throne of Glass, I liked Dorian and Chaol equally. But now, I like Chaol more, but that might just be because he was more present and we got to see more of his emotions in this book. I loved his (short-lived) relationship with Celaena and the slow build up it took to get there. There’s definitely not insta-love going on in these books, which I appreciate. Quite the opposite, actually, when I was itching for something to happen every time they were in the same room. I liked Chaol and Celaena together, and I really hope that they mend the rift between them and revive their relationship eventually because I like her with Chaol more than with Dorian. I am sad that they split so soon, but I figured something had to happen because it’s rare for a relationship to be cemented by book two of a seven-book series. I don’t want her to flip flop back and forth all series though, so if she ends up staying with Dorian for the rest of the series then I’ll be fine.

Archer was the most infuriating character, I swear. He’s good, he’s bad, he’s good, he’s bad. He’s about to die, he lived, he’s on this side, he’s on that side. I was so glad when Celaena finally ended him, like seriously, I’d been waiting for that to happen for a few hundred pages.

Crown of Midnight was a good installment in the Throne of Glass series. I’m so glad I’m finally reading all these books. The story ended with a big reveal about Celaena and her Fae heritage and about the Wyrdkeys and magic, which is going to lead to some interesting adventures for Celaena as she travels to Wendlyn in Heir of Fire. I’m excited to see where the story goes from here because there are so many open ends right now.

Review: THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas

Review: 4/5 stars

I’m so glad to finally be reading this series. And I’m so glad I read The Assassin’s Blade before starting Throne of Glass; I really feel like the prequel information learned there is necessary to enjoy this book to its highest potential. In this book, Celaena makes references to events that we learned about in the different stories in The Assassin’s Blade, and I liked actually knowing what she was talking about.

This is one of those rare series where I actually have no idea what happens. I have not been spoiled one bit, so I’m very looking forward to seeing where the story leads from here. I enjoyed Throne of Glass quite a bit, and I’m glad that I did because I was worried that it had been hyped up too much for me and I wouldn’t love it.

I can see why some people comment that this book is about an assassin who does everything except assassinate people. It is kind of true in a way, although I can also see why the story’s like that. Because of the competition that Celaena’s a part of to become the king’s new Champion, she’s kept under guard and isn’t really given the chance to kill anyone; the competition isn’t to the death. Who would she kill anyway? She’s not a murderer but an assassin who’s sent on missions to eliminate people who actually deserve to be punished. Plus she’s trying her best to follow orders so she actually has a chance at winning and gaining her freedom, so it makes sense that she would cooperate. So even though we don’t see direct killing occurring, she still has that fierceness and that desire, and we really see that in her thoughts throughout this book. This is another reason why reading The Assassin’s Blade beforehand was so crucial, in my opinion, because we actually see Celaena live up to her title as Adarlan’s Assassin in that book, so I went into Throne of Glass already knowing her character.

I was surprised that I did like most of the characters in this book. Dorian and Chaol seemed very similar to me and I struggled to keep them straight for the first half, but I do like them both. I did feel like the attraction between them and Celaena was a little awkward though, like one scene she hates them both, then the next scene she notices their handsome faces and toned muscles, and then the next scene they’re irritating and rude again—like I couldn’t quite understand Celaena’s line of thinking there. Nor could I understand Dorian’s or Chaol’s: she is a ruthless assassin yet they view her as beautiful and a possible suitor. That just seems out of place. And if anyone says there’s a “love triangle” in this book, they are wrong. The romance is so mild. She is friends with both Dorian and Chaol but she never expresses interest in Chaol until after she ends things with Dorian. And she’s never debating between the two. I personally like Chaol a bit better, but I don’t really care who she is with in the end because Dorian is fine too.

Nehemia was my favorite character and I hope she’s present in later books. She was mysterious and secretive at times, but for good reason. I thought she was a true friend to Celaena, and I hope to see their friendship keep growing throughout the series.

I thought the whole mysterious thing with Elena was kind of weird and out of place, but I guess that’s just because there’s no magic in this world anymore and all those scenes had an air of magic about them.

Kaltain frustrated me so much, but a good book set in a castle needs a character like her to add to the court drama. Her singular goal became more clear the further I got into the story, as did her source of crazed thoughts. I am very pleased with her ultimate fate, although there was one final revelation that makes me not so sure I really know her yet. . . .

I did like the political intrigue and court scenes that added to the story, making it more than just a book about a competition. I mean half of the competition was only described in passing as “two more tests happened over the past week” or something like that because so much more of the story involved characters who weren’t vying for Champion. I did feel, however, like a lot of what happened with Celaena as far as court politics go was a little unrealistic. She’s a prisoner and an assassin and she’s given dresses and jewelry to wear and is invited to feasts and events and is allowed to roam around on her own? Like that would never happen. I’m surprised she even has her own quarters with an attached dining room and game room because that alone seems too extravagant for her position. This book was more about court life and drama between characters than it was about her being an assassin and having adventures (which is what The Assassin’s Blade was about). I’m hoping the following books get a little better in this regard because I was wanting to read an epic fantasy about an awesome female assassin, not a court drama. Still, I did enjoy this book a lot, but I went in knowing very little about it and it just didn’t go in quite the direction I was expecting.

I hope in future books the magic comes back to the land and we get to see some of that and how it works. It was a little unclear if the king of Adarlan banished magic, so no one had the ability to use it, or if he banned it, so anyone using it would be punished but the ability still remained. It is clear that there is more magic present in the court than most of the characters are aware, so maybe the king is using this to his benefit.

Another thing I hope to receive more clarification on in future books is the nature of Wyrd and Wyrdmarks. Is this related to the lost magic? It was so vaguely described anytime Celaena mentioned it that I still don’t know what Wyrd is. But the idea of Wyrdmarks really interests me. I’ve always been keen to learn about signs and symbols and secret codes, so I hope we get more information about them soon.

I want to talk about the final battle scene because I had some issues with it. SPOILERS: [I did not like the way the fight with Cain happened. It was too out there for me—too otherworldly. I get that there’s a magical fae/demon dimension and Queen Elena was there to help Celaena, but it just felt too contrived to feel like a natural fight. Because magic was involved in helping Celaena win but the magic has not at all been explained thus far, her winning almost felt like a case of deus ex machina to me, which is really frustrating. I obviously knew that she would win, but I wish it was done a little differently; what I wanted was a classical epic fantasy battle scene with swords and quick maneuvers, not a drugged, demon-invading, “magical” event where Celaena wins even though there’s no way she realistically would with the injuries she sustained. Even if Elena removed the poison from her, Celaena still has cracked ribs, broken bones, likely a concussion (I’m surprised she didn’t already pass out), and tons of cuts that were bleeding profusely. Yet she still stood up and defeated Cain? Even if she is the greatest assassin, that still seemed unlikely given her condition at the time. I was disappointed with this whole scene, but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the book overall, and I see how what happened opened up questions to be answered in further books.]

Overall, I thought Throne of Glass was an entertaining read with a lot of great characters. It’s not as epic in scope as I had wished it would be, but it was still a fun story. I do intend to finish the series, so I look forward to seeing what Celaena does now that the competition is over.

Review: THE ASSASSIN'S BLADE by Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 4/5 stars

I had been wanting to read the Throne of Glass series for a while, but I was waiting for all the books to be out because I like to binge my series without having to wait for the next installment. Seeing as the final book came out a few months ago, I decided now was a good time to start.

I was a bit hesitant going into this series, however, because of the mass amount of hype surrounding the books. Everyone seems to love Throne of Glass, so I was worried I’d be in the minority that doesn’t care too much for it.

I also didn’t want to read these novellas at all because I generally do not enjoy novellas or short stories in general, but I read some reviews that said it was necessary to read these ones and to read them before Throne of Glass, seeing as they are prequels. Wanting to get the most out of the story, I decided to do just that.

I’m happy to report that I actually did enjoy each of these novellas. They provided a good introduction to and background for Celaena and the other characters in the Assassin’s Guild, as well as getting me familiar with the world. I’m glad I decided to read The Assassin’s Blade before starting Throne of Glass because I think that book will mean more if I go in already knowing Celaena’s backstory and how she got to where she is at that point.

This collection was a bit different from novellas I’ve read in the past because each story built upon the previous story and followed chronologically, so it actually felt like I was reading one long story in five parts instead of five separate short stories. Plus the information here felt necessary to understanding Celaena’a history and character, whereas most short stories I’ve read before don’t feel necessary at all to the overarching storyline.

I enjoyed Celaena as a character, especially because she’s so fierce but still loves reading and fashion. Like she’s still a girl and isn’t completely heartless. I also really liked Sam but we won’t talk about that.

A note on the map in the book: I love when books have maps. But I don’t love when the maps aren’t useful. Any city or region that is mentioned at all should be on the map, otherwise what is the purpose? I found this to be a problem with multiple locations mentioned in the first couple of stories, but for the most part, the map seemed useful.

Lastly, I swear if Sarah J. Maas uses the word “dispatch” one more time . . . Seriously, it’s like that was the only word meaning to kill that she had in her vocabulary while writing this book, and it was definitely overused in every single story.

Here are my reviews of each of the stories as I finished them:

“The Assassin and the Pirate Lord”—4/5 stars
I actually enjoyed this story more than I thought I would. This was my very first introduction to the Throne of Glass world, and I wasn’t disappointed. I liked Celaena as a character and I’m excited to see her grow throughout the series.

“The Assassin and the Healer”—4.5/5 stars
I liked this story quite a bit. It was slower but we were introduced to Yrene, who I feel will show up again in future books, and I loved reading about Celaena teaching her some defensive skills.

“The Assassin and the Desert”—4.5/5 stars
This one was longer than the first two but I also think it was better than the first two. Celaena goes through some more hardships and growth, and I think meeting Ansel really impacted her. I do foresee Ansel showing up in future books with the way this story ended though.

“The Assassin and the Underworld”—4/5 stars
This was my least favorite of the stories, but it was still a good story. It was a lot more political than the others, and that made it drag a bit in the middle. I felt that a lot of the action and descriptions of who was doing what was unnecessary and repetitive. Although, I did enjoy the way it wrapped up. I like that the story showed some of Celaena’s weaknesses and that even she gets into compromising situations.

“The Assassin and the Empire”—4.5/5 stars
Even though I didn’t like anything that happened in this novella, I think it was my favorite one in this collection. It had such a sad ending. I didn’t know I could care so much about a character I felt as if I’d just met and had known for less than 400 pages. Why did it have to be like this?

Review: ONE DAY IN DECEMBER by Josie Silver

Rating: 5/5 stars

I walked by this book literally every day for a week as it sat on the shelf in the bookstore where I work, and I contemplated buying it multiple times but never did. I picked it up almost every day and read the back-cover synopsis and blurbs many times each, but for some reason, I just never bought myself a copy. I knew I’d be getting lots of books for Christmas anyway, and I didn’t need to add one more.

Well, I caved. I bought the book the day after Christmas, started reading it within twenty minutes of getting off of work, and fell in love with the writing style and Laurie’s personality from the very first page.

One Day in December at first appears to be a love story told over ten years’ time as our characters meet for the first time and then meet many times again over the years in both expected and unexpected ways. But the story is much more than that, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that. It’s a lighthearted read that was perfect for the holiday season, but it still covered some more serious topics along the way.

The story is told from both Laurie’s and Jack’s perspectives over the course of a decade. One night they see each other at a bus stop, Laurie on the bus and Jack outside on the bench. Ever since their eyes met each other, a lifelong connection was made. Just as Jack is about to get on the bus, it drives away, Laurie still inside looking after him. She spends the next year searching all over town for him, in bars, at bus stops, in shops, but to no avail. Then the following Christmas, her best friend Sarah introduces Laurie to her new boyfriend. Who happens to be Jack from the bus stop.

This story goes a lot deeper than the initial description would make you think. Laurie deals with heartache in many ways, not just romantically. This book might be a love story on the surface but it’s also about friendship and familial relationships and following your dreams and how people and situations change over the years and how what you once wanted and worked so hard for might not be what’s right for you anymore. It’s about taking chances and making choices and living with the consequences.

At the beginning of each year, Laurie writes out her New Year’s resolutions, and I loved seeing how they unfolded throughout the year and helped to shape both her and the new resolutions she made the following year.

I loved seeing the progression of the characters over the years as far as their jobs, their maturity, their relationships, and their personalities. I really felt like I was growing with them. And then when they mentioned fond memories, I could look back and remember reading about those things happening earlier in the book. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that takes place over such a long time period following the same characters, but Josie Silver does an excellent job executing a story in this manner.

Overall, I would definitely recommend One Day in December if you are looking for an adorable, mostly clean holiday romance story that reads like a Hallmark movie turned into a book. It was exactly what I needed right now and it made me so happy to read about these characters and find parallels between their lives and my own life. This is a book I could see myself rereading during many Christmases to come. 

“Sometimes you just meet the right person at the wrong time . . . and then you spend every day afterward wishing that time could be rearranged.”

2019 Reading Challenges

After completing my read-your-own-books challenge last year in 2018, I wanted to do something similar this year in 2019, but I don't want to have so many challenges. I had 18 challenges last year, so my first thought was to have 19 this year to match the year; however, I'm just going to give myself ten challenges this time. I discovered last year that I am going to read whatever I want to read, and most of the books that I wanted to read fit into a challenge anyway, but then it came down to three challenges in the last two months, and I didn't want to read any books that qualified for those challenges, so I had to force myself to read a few books that I wasn't in the mood for. I am trying to prevent that this year by having fewer challenges and ones that are more open-ended. Eight of the ten challenges were ones I had last year, and two are new ones I've added for 2019. Just like last year, I can fulfill a challenge only if I read an unread book that I own—a book on my TBR. And for reference, my TBR at the start of 2019 is 297 books.

Here is my Read-My-Own-Books challenge for this year:

1. Read a book that has been on my TBR the longest.
2. Read my most recently acquired book.
3. Read an advanced copy (ARC) of a book.
4. Read a book that has a screen adaption.
5. Read a popular backlist book.
6. Read a book by an author I've never read before.
7. Read a book by an author that I love.
8. Finish all series I've started but haven't finished yet.
9. Start and finish a new series.
10. Let my husband pick out a book for me to read.


I also have decided that every year I want to tackle a long series. These would be series that I am intimidated by because of the length of the books or the number of books or some other reason that has made me put them off for quite some time. In 2018 I read The Mortal Instruments as my long series, and in 2019 my goal is to read the Throne of Glass series, which has eight books.

There are also some other series and standalone books I'm hoping to read this year, including catching up on a lot of Brandon Sanderson's books. Here is my list of specific titles I hope to get to in 2019:

1. The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
    -The Assassin's Blade
    -Throne of Glass
    -Crown of Midnight
    -Heir of Fire
    -Queen of Shadows
    -Empire of Storms
    -Tower of Dawn
    -Kingdom of Ash
2. The Shades of Magic trilogy by V. E. Schwab
    -A Darker Shade of Magic
    -A Gathering of Shadows
    -A Conjuring of Light
3. The Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes
    -Falling Kingdoms
    -Rebel Spring
    -Gathering Darkness
    -Frozen Tides
    -Crystal Storm
    -Immortal Reign
4. The Reckoners trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
    -Steelheart
    -Firefight
    -Calamity
5. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
6. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
7. Legion by Brandon Sanderson
8. Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson
9. Starsight by Brandon Sanderson (if it actually gets released)
10. Uprooted by Naomi Novik


Lastly, I will be setting another Goodreads reading goal this year, and my goal is going to be 50 books. I am expecting to surpass that number but I also thought it would be wise to aim for a lower number since I intend to read lots of longer books and fantasy series this year, which will take more time for me to read. If I read all the books listed above plus ten other books for my read-my-own-books challenge, I'll still be under 40 books, so that gives me some room to read other random books that come my way.

Review: THE BIBLE

Review: 4/5 stars (Is it wrong to rate a book of scripture?)

I have been slowly concocting this review since I started reading the Bible eight months ago, so my thoughts are a bit disassociated from each other. However, I feel that I want to post this review as a testimony of my beliefs and accomplishment.

I’ve heard stories from the Bible my whole life, but this year was the first time I chose to sit down and read them for myself. Once I started reading it in April, I randomly decided my goal was to read the whole Bible by the end of the year. I had previously read all the New Testament, but I’d never read the Old Testament, other than a few chapters here and there. I did not know at the time how much effort I would have to put in every day to even make this goal a possibility.

From the very beginning, I could tell that my faith was increasing. I learned so much that I didn’t already know, and stories I did know were made clearer in my mind. I feel like I have a deeper understanding of the history of the people in the Middle East area during the first few thousand years of life on earth. And that’s all the Bible is—a history book. History has never been my strong point, but the stories have always interested me nonetheless.

The Bible is hard to read; I’m going to be honest. Besides being 1,590 pages long, it is written in English from over 400 years ago. I was reading the King James Version, the original English translation from 1611, so a lot of the language is antiquated or has changed over time. Words have lost definitions and changed meanings, verbs have lost endings, etc. What’s great about this edition though is that, with these original words, we get a lot of secondary meanings and nuances that the more contemporary versions lack. Many words used in the Bible had multiple definitions back then, and oftentimes more than one definition was used in a single context. Modern translations often omit these double meanings, sometimes creating confusion or inaccurate descriptions for readers. I personally believe the KJV is the most correct of any English version of the Bible available today, which is why I chose it as my version to read. It took me a long time to read my designated six pages a day, sometimes more than an hour because I was looking up archaic definitions and cross-references, etc. to really get the most meaning out of my reading experience. It was a journey, that’s for sure, but I’m so glad I did it (and I’m glad to be done now). I had to read the whole Bible at some point in my life, and what better time than the present.

Genesis and Exodus were the most interesting books to me, probably because that’s where all the famous stories come from. Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were full of laws and described how to perform many different kinds of sacrifices. Those books honestly dragged on and felt quite repetitive, although I understand their purpose for when they were written, showing the children of Israel how to properly live the Law of Moses. Much of the rest of the Old Testament kind of blended together, and I think my interest waned a bit after the books of Moses.

Starting the New Testament was like finally being able to breathe after holding my breath for a long time. I didn’t know before this read-through that the New Testament comprises only 25% of the Bible because the Old Testament is just so dang long. But my relief was short lived because the four Gospels are somewhat repetitive as well, telling much of the same stories of Christ’s life over and over. I guess that is a good thing though, that the Bible continues to affirm and reaffirm the teachings of Christ and that He is our Savior.

I find it interesting that many Christians I’ve talked to haven’t read the Bible before. I feel like as a believer in Christ, I should read the Bible to know the history of what I believe in. It was a testimony builder for me because I believe the Bible is true, that the stories within really happened and aren’t merely made up stories. It is clear that some things have been abridged and edited by whoever compiled the books, and we know that lots of things were changed and removed and added during the Council of Nicea, but all faults are at the hand of man, not God. God is perfect, even if his book of scripture written by man is not, and I believe that’s an important distinction to make that a lot of people disregard.

I want to note my rating the Bible four stars. My rating for this book is different than my rating for novels and other books I read. I found it hard to read through some of the denser parts of the Old Testament, and I think anyone who has read straight through the Bible, especially the King James Version, can attest to that. It wasn’t always an enjoyable read, but I am immensely glad I read it. I am also giving it four stars because I do not believe the Bible is the only scripture we have from God. He is an everlasting God, the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that means he continues to give us revelation and scripture even today, just like he did with the ancient prophets. I just cannot justify giving this book of scripture five stars when I believe that it is not entirely translated correctly and when I believe that greater, more-correct books exist.