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egbella's reviews
212 reviews
The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes
5.0
This little but powerful book was recommended to me by a friend, and now it's a favorite. The content was just what I needed at this point in my life. I highly recommend it to anyone going through difficult times and searching for hope and conviction.
City on Our Knees by TobyMac
4.0
Not life-changing, but definitely worth the read!
My only qualms with this book were the slightly odd formatting (not a problem, just a difference in preferences) and slight repetitiveness in some of the stories. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book! The stories of Christians stepping up and doing their part to spread God's love, no matter how difficult their circumstances, were very inspiring. As someone who enjoys reading about others' journeys, it was a quick read and I finished it feeling motivated.
My only qualms with this book were the slightly odd formatting (not a problem, just a difference in preferences) and slight repetitiveness in some of the stories. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book! The stories of Christians stepping up and doing their part to spread God's love, no matter how difficult their circumstances, were very inspiring. As someone who enjoys reading about others' journeys, it was a quick read and I finished it feeling motivated.
The Selection by Kiera Cass
4.0
I have hugely mixed feelings on this series, haha. Based on reviews from friends, I hadn't planned to read these books, but after finding the first two for a dollar combined at my local thrift shop, I figured I'd give them a shot. And honestly? I binge-read them both in one day, and they were a lot better than I thought. I'm going to try and sum up my main thoughts...
Things I liked:
~ The Cover! Listed first because it's the first thing I noticed. Say what you will about the story, but that cover does its job very well, in my opinion, haha. Instantly drawn to it.
~ DYSTOPIA. I admit, I'm a sucker for dystopian stories. I suppose they'd be my 'guilty pleasure' novels. Even if they're not very good, I tend to be a lot more forgiving of plot holes, flat characters, etc. simply because I like the genre. And yes, I'm sure that's influencing this review, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt if you're not a fan of dystopian books.
~ Worldbuilding. Like I said above, the dystopian part of this book was fantastic. I'm not 'educated' enough to know if it was realistic, but as far as I could tell, it was well-developed and intriguing. The caste system and the history lessons were very interesting to me. Everything felt immersive.
~ The premise. I'm not a fan of romance books in general, but this intrigued me for its Cinderella/the Bachelor/Hunger Games vibes. The whole idea of a nation-wide competition sounded interesting. Partway through reading, I also realized how much it was reminding me of the biblical story of Esther. I don't know if that was the author's intent, but it definitely shares elements and I thought that was a neat spin.
~ Prince Maxon. I see this is a pretty controversial opinion, but I liked him from the start. In fact, I think he was the only character at all that I didn't ever dislike. Was he perfectly developed? Admittedly, no. But he was sweet and clueless and yet far more mature than most the other characters seemed. I genuinely wanted him to end up happily married by the end. I was expecting an arrogant airbag, so a prince I could actually root for was a pleasant surprise.
~ The maids. Those girls are so sweet and unrecognized. I take back what I said earlier, because I don't think I disliked those girls either. No matter what was done to them, they stayed kind and humble, and yet had their own personalities and fire too.
~ The queen. I wish she'd shown up a lot more, but the times that she did, I liked her. Not enough to have strong opinions, but she seemed pretty kind and levelheaded, and she was motherly to America (the MC).
~ America's dad. The rest of her family kind of annoyed me to be honest, haha, but her dad was the exception. For the most part, he seemed to be genuinely looking out for his daughter's well-being the best he could, even though his caste made that difficult. He was always supportive and encouraging of her. Perhaps too lenient? But his heart seemed in the right place, and I admired that.
~ The contest. Again, this intrigued me. I found myself very engrossed in the plot and action of the contest as it progressed. Getting to 'meet' all the different competitors (for better or for worse!) was neat, and I enjoyed how the author developed the system. Also again, I can't say if it was done realistically or even logically, but I didn't bother thinking too hard about it and just enjoyed it as is.
Things I Didn't Like:
~ Aspen. Nope, nope, nope. For the briefest bit in the first chapters, when Aspen was struggling with not being able to provide for his family, I thought, "okay, I could like him," but it just slid downhill from there. His and America's relationship never felt real or even safe to me. Just very much based on physical attraction and infatuation. I know they were supposed to have been together for several years before the story started, but I honestly could never understand why. The entirety of their relationship felt like kissing, mixed with fights, flooded with "I love you"s and "You're the only one for me", followed by more fights, and finally, more kissing. I'm sure there are other opinions, but no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't like him. Maybe that's why I rooted for Maxon so much.
~ The physicality. I won't spend much time on this one because everyone has differing opinions on what's clean and appropriate. To me, this was a lot better than many books I've read, but still made me uncomfortable. Yes, it could have been much worse, and I appreciate that she never took it farther than she did. But America and her beaus were far more loose with their affection than I'm comfortable with, and I wouldn't feel right recommending it to my family for that reason alone.
~ The love triangle. I'm not opposed to love triangles in general, if they're done well (which, granted, is rare), but this one was exasperating. It started off okay, but by the end of the book, I just wanted America to either pick Maxon already - remember, no rooting for Aspen here, haha - or call it quits and don't choose either of them, rather than continue to swing back and forth in her affections. And the physicality just made it worse for me. How could America justify her jealousy and yelling at Maxon for his paying attention to other girls when she's still running around with Aspen behind his back?
~ America. Not my favorite character. She had her strong suits, and I liked her especially at the beginning. Her determination, love for her family, and courage was admirable, and I enjoyed her sarcasm and wit. But especially when the love triangle swung into full force, I just couldn't take her seriously. She felt very shallow, indecisive, and petty. And somehow she found a way to turn any conversation with Maxon or Aspen into a fight, which then sent her running back toward the other - sure they were the one! - until they had a fight, at which point she'd realize her mistake and run to the other...I had a hard time keeping up with her. By the end, and especially in the second book, I found myself getting bored and even irritated.
~ Some random plot holes, tropes, and awkward sentences. In particular, the whole 'not like other girls' trope stood out to me, and some of America's thoughts seemed jarring and out of character.
~ Occasional language. Not much, and nothing severe, but worth noting.
I could add more to both categories, but those were the main things that stood out to me in the first (and second) books in this series. Overall, I did enjoy them. They kept me interested and I enjoyed the fun dystopian plot. That said, I don't plan to reread them, and unless the third book shows up in the thrift shop, I don't think I'll be searching it out (by my research, it looks like I called the ending pair correctly anyway).
They weren't anything phenomenal to me, but I was still plenty content to read the 'fiction junk food'. In my opinion, they were worth the read.
Things I liked:
~ The Cover! Listed first because it's the first thing I noticed. Say what you will about the story, but that cover does its job very well, in my opinion, haha. Instantly drawn to it.
~ DYSTOPIA. I admit, I'm a sucker for dystopian stories. I suppose they'd be my 'guilty pleasure' novels. Even if they're not very good, I tend to be a lot more forgiving of plot holes, flat characters, etc. simply because I like the genre. And yes, I'm sure that's influencing this review, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt if you're not a fan of dystopian books.
~ Worldbuilding. Like I said above, the dystopian part of this book was fantastic. I'm not 'educated' enough to know if it was realistic, but as far as I could tell, it was well-developed and intriguing. The caste system and the history lessons were very interesting to me. Everything felt immersive.
~ The premise. I'm not a fan of romance books in general, but this intrigued me for its Cinderella/the Bachelor/Hunger Games vibes. The whole idea of a nation-wide competition sounded interesting. Partway through reading, I also realized how much it was reminding me of the biblical story of Esther. I don't know if that was the author's intent, but it definitely shares elements and I thought that was a neat spin.
~ Prince Maxon. I see this is a pretty controversial opinion, but I liked him from the start. In fact, I think he was the only character at all that I didn't ever dislike. Was he perfectly developed? Admittedly, no. But he was sweet and clueless and yet far more mature than most the other characters seemed. I genuinely wanted him to end up happily married by the end. I was expecting an arrogant airbag, so a prince I could actually root for was a pleasant surprise.
~ The maids. Those girls are so sweet and unrecognized. I take back what I said earlier, because I don't think I disliked those girls either. No matter what was done to them, they stayed kind and humble, and yet had their own personalities and fire too.
~ The queen. I wish she'd shown up a lot more, but the times that she did, I liked her. Not enough to have strong opinions, but she seemed pretty kind and levelheaded, and she was motherly to America (the MC).
~ America's dad. The rest of her family kind of annoyed me to be honest, haha, but her dad was the exception. For the most part, he seemed to be genuinely looking out for his daughter's well-being the best he could, even though his caste made that difficult. He was always supportive and encouraging of her. Perhaps too lenient? But his heart seemed in the right place, and I admired that.
~ The contest. Again, this intrigued me. I found myself very engrossed in the plot and action of the contest as it progressed. Getting to 'meet' all the different competitors (for better or for worse!) was neat, and I enjoyed how the author developed the system. Also again, I can't say if it was done realistically or even logically, but I didn't bother thinking too hard about it and just enjoyed it as is.
Things I Didn't Like:
~ Aspen. Nope, nope, nope. For the briefest bit in the first chapters, when Aspen was struggling with not being able to provide for his family, I thought, "okay, I could like him," but it just slid downhill from there. His and America's relationship never felt real or even safe to me. Just very much based on physical attraction and infatuation. I know they were supposed to have been together for several years before the story started, but I honestly could never understand why. The entirety of their relationship felt like kissing, mixed with fights, flooded with "I love you"s and "You're the only one for me", followed by more fights, and finally, more kissing. I'm sure there are other opinions, but no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't like him. Maybe that's why I rooted for Maxon so much.
~ The physicality. I won't spend much time on this one because everyone has differing opinions on what's clean and appropriate. To me, this was a lot better than many books I've read, but still made me uncomfortable. Yes, it could have been much worse, and I appreciate that she never took it farther than she did. But America and her beaus were far more loose with their affection than I'm comfortable with, and I wouldn't feel right recommending it to my family for that reason alone.
~ The love triangle. I'm not opposed to love triangles in general, if they're done well (which, granted, is rare), but this one was exasperating. It started off okay, but by the end of the book, I just wanted America to either pick Maxon already - remember, no rooting for Aspen here, haha - or call it quits and don't choose either of them, rather than continue to swing back and forth in her affections. And the physicality just made it worse for me. How could America justify her jealousy and yelling at Maxon for his paying attention to other girls when she's still running around with Aspen behind his back?
~ America. Not my favorite character. She had her strong suits, and I liked her especially at the beginning. Her determination, love for her family, and courage was admirable, and I enjoyed her sarcasm and wit. But especially when the love triangle swung into full force, I just couldn't take her seriously. She felt very shallow, indecisive, and petty. And somehow she found a way to turn any conversation with Maxon or Aspen into a fight, which then sent her running back toward the other - sure they were the one! - until they had a fight, at which point she'd realize her mistake and run to the other...I had a hard time keeping up with her. By the end, and especially in the second book, I found myself getting bored and even irritated.
~ Some random plot holes, tropes, and awkward sentences. In particular, the whole 'not like other girls' trope stood out to me, and some of America's thoughts seemed jarring and out of character.
~ Occasional language. Not much, and nothing severe, but worth noting.
I could add more to both categories, but those were the main things that stood out to me in the first (and second) books in this series. Overall, I did enjoy them. They kept me interested and I enjoyed the fun dystopian plot. That said, I don't plan to reread them, and unless the third book shows up in the thrift shop, I don't think I'll be searching it out (by my research, it looks like I called the ending pair correctly anyway).
They weren't anything phenomenal to me, but I was still plenty content to read the 'fiction junk food'. In my opinion, they were worth the read.
The Elite by Kiera Cass
2.0
See my review of Book #1 for full thoughts, but in general, I was disappointed by this one.
The Selection wasn't my favorite, but I still genuinely enjoyed it and stayed sucked in the whole book. In contrast, I found myself skimming this one and had to make myself go back and read so I could review it fairly. Personally, I thought the endearing qualities of the first book mostly disappeared here, and the frustrating bits became more prominent. I don't plan to seek out the third.
The Selection wasn't my favorite, but I still genuinely enjoyed it and stayed sucked in the whole book. In contrast, I found myself skimming this one and had to make myself go back and read so I could review it fairly. Personally, I thought the endearing qualities of the first book mostly disappeared here, and the frustrating bits became more prominent. I don't plan to seek out the third.
Here I Am Again, Lord: Confessions of a Slow Learner by Carole Mayhall
4.0
An easy read, full of encouraging and touching reminders of God's love and grace. Good to hear in the midst of discouragement and guilt.
Shards of Sky by E.C. Colton
4.0
I received a copy of this book through a giveaway and was thrilled to finally read this lovely little story. I don't read much middle-grade, but this was such a deep, touching story. And the author's writing style is absolutely beautiful, reminding me of poetry. There were some confusing elements to me, and I would have loved for the story to continue longer and flesh out more of the subplots, but I believe that's simply due to the shorter length. The author also did a great job weaving Christian themes in powerfully, without being too confrontational. I enjoyed the read!
The Golden Booklet on the True Christian Life Restores original comments, footnotes and numbering by G. Fisher, John Calvin
5.0
A gift from my cousin - one I'm very grateful for. This was a short, but powerful book on the Christian life from someone whose faith I respect. There were many truths and impactful statements that I will be referring back to. A meaningful, quick-but-deep dive into what being a Christian really means in our everyday lives, and I definitely recommend it!
A Lifting Up for the Downcast by William Bridge
5.0
This was an in-depth, beautifully-written, and profound book about the Christian faith. In older, Puritan language, it dives deep into the topic of discouragement and doubting for Christians, and it was exactly what I needed to read in this time of my life. Every section was full of things I mentally 'highlighted', and probably would have actually highlighted if I hadn't been borrowing the book. It's one I think I'll need to read a few more times to really digest all the truths inside. Highly recommend for any believer - we all go through rough times, and this book helped me.
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
4.0
A fun read with some fascinating backstory and intriguing and suspenseful plot. I'll admit upfront that there are many things I think this story could have done better - namely character development, further explanation of the world, and several plot lines - but as I'm forever a fan of dystopian novels, I enjoyed this more than I maybe should have, haha. There's nothing ground-breaking or differing much from your generic dystopian, but I read the story in one night, and am definitely open to reading the rest of the books in the series if I come across them (this one was loaned to me).
Hunger by Jill Williamson
5.0
A gripping, character-driven, and satisfying finale to a great duology! (My sister and I already have the connected series on order after finishing this book). I really enjoyed both these prequel books, and look forward to carrying on in their world. I've been a fan of Jill Williamson's for some time (thanks to her teaching and personality), but now I can confidently say I'm a huge fan of her writing too!
Full review to come (hopefully)
Full review to come (hopefully)