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helenafaustina's reviews
365 reviews
The Fathers of the Church: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers by Mike Aquilina
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I took this as part of a course, and I loved every minute of reading the excerpts, and want to read it again on my own! Reading it made me even more passionate about my Catholic Faith than ever and ready to defend it, especially in regards to Scripture and Tradition.
Content Warnings
Minor: Religious bigotry, Cannibalism, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Torture, and Death
Just mentions of things tagged above for historical reasons, either that happened or that people were accused of. Nothing triggering at all, really.
Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Oh...oh my... *sobs in realization that this is the last Tales of Goldstone Wood novel*
This series has been an absolute journey, and although I'm glad there's two more novellas to finish, it's so bittersweet to finish this. This has really been the first series that is my favorite that I have found in my older years, so it means a lot to me and has truly taken me on an adventure.
I know I really ought to stop thinking that her next book can't possibly be as good as previous ones, but I did, and was proven wrong again. It was not my favorite in the series, but it still carried that adventurous flavor, charming world, dearest prose, with it's own unique style that separates it from the other books. As usual, the plot isn't predictable in the slightest, and it's an amazing end. The characters are awesome, and I love to see reoccurring ones. *Eanrin fangirling ensues*
This series has been an absolute journey, and although I'm glad there's two more novellas to finish, it's so bittersweet to finish this. This has really been the first series that is my favorite that I have found in my older years, so it means a lot to me and has truly taken me on an adventure.
I know I really ought to stop thinking that her next book can't possibly be as good as previous ones, but I did, and was proven wrong again. It was not my favorite in the series, but it still carried that adventurous flavor, charming world, dearest prose, with it's own unique style that separates it from the other books. As usual, the plot isn't predictable in the slightest, and it's an amazing end. The characters are awesome, and I love to see reoccurring ones. *Eanrin fangirling ensues*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content and Murder
Minor: Torture, Confinement, Slavery, and Self harm
Swearing that's made up for the series.
Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father by Donald H. Calloway
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
This book has seriously changed my life, I don't even know where to begin! The consecration is awesome, you read the whole thing throughout 33 days. There's so much insight on the life of St. Joseph and meditation material, not to mention many beautiful prayers and learning about what different saints thought of him and how the Church has taught about him. If you want to become closer to God, pick up this book and do it through St. Joseph!!
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I really enjoyed this! I think it’s underrated, as I’ve always heard that it’s long, slow, and boring, but I found the plot to be really interesting and the characters really awesome. And I love Dickens’s writing, especially with the occasional clever quips and the way he illustrates someone’s character so well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Violence, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Genocide, Medical content, Child death, and Physical abuse
Minor: Torture, Sexual violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Cursing
Nothing is inappropriate, but should be for a more mature audience, good for high school.
Beautiful Eucharist by Matthew Kelly
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
An incredibly good and simple book to help one reflect on the awesomeness and power of the Eucharist!
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
A woman wrapped in silence, by John W. Lynch
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book was beautiful. The insight into the Holy Family's life, especially Our Lady's, made it so much more personal and lovely. I'd highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death
Minor: Blood
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book kept getting better and better, and I'm glad I picked it up.
The first thing I'd like to say is that this would be a great book to read for anyone who wants to get into creative writing. There is a lot of descriptive writing with beautiful similes, prose, and things like that that are not only enjoyable, but would be really good for students to pay attention to.
It's a cozy book, full of twists and turns. It gets rather crazy at some points, and there was a lot of shocking plot twists that I didn't expect, although I did predict one from the beginning that I'm proud of myself for. I'd like to reread this knowing all that happens. The writing, in true Montgomery fashion, is gorgeous. As a nature lover myself I absolutely relished those parts. Romantic tropes came up, but it wasn't cringy, and it was enjoyable and sweet.
The only think that made me take away a half star was that during Valancy's rebellion, her attitude towards swearing was weird. She was decent in every way, but she had become weirdly tolerant of it to the point of considering doing it herself. It was an odd point in her character development.
The first thing I'd like to say is that this would be a great book to read for anyone who wants to get into creative writing. There is a lot of descriptive writing with beautiful similes, prose, and things like that that are not only enjoyable, but would be really good for students to pay attention to.
It's a cozy book, full of twists and turns. It gets rather crazy at some points, and there was a lot of shocking plot twists that I didn't expect, although I did predict one from the beginning that I'm proud of myself for. I'd like to reread this knowing all that happens. The writing, in true Montgomery fashion, is gorgeous. As a nature lover myself I absolutely relished those parts. Romantic tropes came up, but it wasn't cringy, and it was enjoyable and sweet.
The only think that made me take away a half star was that during Valancy's rebellion, her attitude towards swearing was weird. She was decent in every way, but she had become weirdly tolerant of it to the point of considering doing it herself. It was an odd point in her character development.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, Bullying, Medical content, Cursing, and Death
Minor: Sexual content
Mild swear words, like d*mn. Mild physical romance, nothing to worry about.
The One by Kiera Cass
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Disclaimer: I did not find anything to like about this book so I'm going to be brutally honest with this review. If you loved the book, you may not want to continue reading. 😂
Perhaps the title, The One, was a hint to how I would give it one star. Perhaps I should not have picked up a series because it was popular and continued reading to say that I finished a story so that people couldn't tell me I don't deserve an opinion unless I know the end. (Actually, that's not a perhaps. Don't waste your time with books you don't like, even if they are quick.) I've seen this series described as mental junk food, and that is a perfect description. But it never gave me the pleasure that junk food does, BUT it did make me really appreciate other actual pieces of literature.
First off, we have America. The ultimate cliche girl who prefers pants, doesn't like makeup, thinks she's ugly, and all that jazz. She's "brave", "unique", (even though I only recall a few examples of when she was reckless with good intentions) and "has a good moral compass and love of doing the right thing" even though she has abundantly shown herself to do the wrong thing way more, such cheating on a guy she's dating (with zero remorse or conscience pricks), jumping to whatever conclusion her brain reaches first, and being impure. And no, I don't care if that's "the norm" for the series, immodesty still isn't right and I'm not going to adjust my opinion on this for a character's trashy standards.
Then we have the boys, the 2/3 of the love triangle. Maxon, the prince, who in the first book, actually seems pretty decent! He keeps his distance, he has standards, I had expectations for him! Expectations WHICH HE SLAUGHTERED when he (probably catching on from America) dates and flirts with the other girls and keeps one especially for backup. He hangs out with one of the most hated girls just because, oh woe is me oh poor little neglected boy, he wants the experience. BAH. Aspen doesn't get much better. He definitely never treated America like a lady, not that she gave him any reason to. But in this book, he doesn't show up much unless it's to give a hurt look to America or whatever. But then his problem is quickly done away withwhen all of a sudden we find out that he's in love with someone else! Now everyone can live happily ever after, hooray!🎉 I'm sorry, but that's a cheap plot.
Then, the one character I liked, Marlee, ends up destroying my faith in humanity as well whenshe cheats on Maxon. And everyone's like, aw poor Marlee, she doesn't deserve that! First of all, she could have gotten way worse. Secondly, she literally broke an oath and the law AND was impure, why should she have any special kind of sympathy? I liked the maids too, until they conspired with America to design a dress to attract Maxon. 🙄 That, by the way, is the only time America takes the time to think of something with a plan. The only character I ended up remotely liking was the queen, who turned out to be a bit spineless and she died, not only in a lackluster ending but it seriously wasn't fun. Then there's the tyrannical bully of a king who-ah, what's this? Another weak plotpoint? HE DIES! Also, can we talk about how when something interesting starts to happen America gets locked up so we don't get to see it??
I could go on (especially about how the whole politics and war subplot makes no sense), but I'll leave with this: This book teaches that if you are attracted to someone and have feelings for them, you can do a whole bunch of horrible things and it's fine because it's meant to be, and therefore beautiful, because all's fair in love and war or whatnot, and you'll end up together in the end! It shows that a lack of self control or ability to stop and think is just fine and dandy if you have good intentions. It's false romance.
Perhaps the title, The One, was a hint to how I would give it one star. Perhaps I should not have picked up a series because it was popular and continued reading to say that I finished a story so that people couldn't tell me I don't deserve an opinion unless I know the end. (Actually, that's not a perhaps. Don't waste your time with books you don't like, even if they are quick.) I've seen this series described as mental junk food, and that is a perfect description. But it never gave me the pleasure that junk food does, BUT it did make me really appreciate other actual pieces of literature.
First off, we have America. The ultimate cliche girl who prefers pants, doesn't like makeup, thinks she's ugly, and all that jazz. She's "brave", "unique", (even though I only recall a few examples of when she was reckless with good intentions) and "has a good moral compass and love of doing the right thing" even though she has abundantly shown herself to do the wrong thing way more, such cheating on a guy she's dating (with zero remorse or conscience pricks), jumping to whatever conclusion her brain reaches first, and being impure. And no, I don't care if that's "the norm" for the series, immodesty still isn't right and I'm not going to adjust my opinion on this for a character's trashy standards.
Then we have the boys, the 2/3 of the love triangle. Maxon, the prince, who in the first book, actually seems pretty decent! He keeps his distance, he has standards, I had expectations for him! Expectations WHICH HE SLAUGHTERED when he (probably catching on from America) dates and flirts with the other girls and keeps one especially for backup. He hangs out with one of the most hated girls just because, oh woe is me oh poor little neglected boy, he wants the experience. BAH. Aspen doesn't get much better. He definitely never treated America like a lady, not that she gave him any reason to. But in this book, he doesn't show up much unless it's to give a hurt look to America or whatever. But then his problem is quickly done away with
Then, the one character I liked, Marlee, ends up destroying my faith in humanity as well when
I could go on (especially about how the whole politics and war subplot makes no sense), but I'll leave with this: This book teaches that if you are attracted to someone and have feelings for them, you can do a whole bunch of horrible things and it's fine because it's meant to be, and therefore beautiful, because all's fair in love and war or whatnot, and you'll end up together in the end! It shows that a lack of self control or ability to stop and think is just fine and dandy if you have good intentions. It's false romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Medical content, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder, Sexual content, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and War
Minor: Confinement, Bullying, and Classism
Chapter 2 can be skipped. After an announcement happens in Chapter 27, the rest of that can be skipped too. There's mid-level language in the book.
The Elite by Kiera Cass
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
America Singer is insufferable. She just follows emotions without thinking. That's literally the whole book. So read this if you want a girl flip-flopping around about what she feels.
I was holding out hope for Maxon, but he disappointed me so much. Boo. Marlee disappointed me too. She did wrong, even if her sentence was harsh. Aspen is still a jerk.
The only character I like at this point is the queen and we probably only got one paragraph of her. The maids are still really nice, too.
Also, what is going on with palace security??? They can afford so much luxury, yet they apparently can't find a way to keep someone from breaking into the palace every two seconds. Not to mention we have the world's best detective team here who clearly is figuring out what the rebels want. (Spoiler, THEY STINK AT DETECTIVE WORK.)
I usually try to find nice things to say about books I have negative reviews about but I can't for this. It's false romance, predictable, annoying and uninspiring. And I hate that I need to know what happens to these characters. 😂
I was holding out hope for Maxon, but he disappointed me so much. Boo. Marlee disappointed me too. She did wrong, even if her sentence was harsh. Aspen is still a jerk.
The only character I like at this point is the queen and we probably only got one paragraph of her. The maids are still really nice, too.
Also, what is going on with palace security??? They can afford so much luxury, yet they apparently can't find a way to keep someone from breaking into the palace every two seconds. Not to mention we have the world's best detective team here who clearly is figuring out what the rebels want. (Spoiler, THEY STINK AT DETECTIVE WORK.)
I usually try to find nice things to say about books I have negative reviews about but I can't for this. It's false romance, predictable, annoying and uninspiring. And I hate that I need to know what happens to these characters. 😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Classism, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, and Infidelity
Moderate: Grief, Bullying, Cursing, Sexual content, Death, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Mass/school shootings, Miscarriage, and War
The Lord's name is taken in vain a couple times. Minor swear words are used.
Letters from Father Christmas, Centenary Edition by J.R.R. Tolkien
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I loved this so much! I had wanted something to keep me in the Christmas spirit this season, and this did just that. When reading the letters, I felt so connected and warm, as if I was apart of the Tolkien’s family lore. I’m definitely coming back to this in following Christmases! Definitely recommended this for a cozy, winter read!
Content Warnings
Minor: War