librarianryan's reviews
6218 reviews

The C*ck Down the Block by Amy Award

funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I felt like I was looking at myself 20 years ago. I was a tween librarian in Colorado who is fat. Didn’t have the football playing best friend but that just made this all that much better. I love that this book centered around a fat girl. Not a curvy girl, a fat girl. And that romance and sex were completely allowed and rejoiced. This book is pretty gosh darn predictable. Based on tropes and the way you expect a romance to happen, it’s all right there. However, what was nice is when the event that everybody knows is coming happens, it’s the way they deal with it. The way they say I’m not apologizing. The way of taking a stand against the harsh criticisms of others. I loved everything about this book and I’m glad it’s a series. Can’t wait for the next one. 

Identity: A Novel by Norah Roberts

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 

Nora Roberts is a crapshoot. You never know exactly what you’re going to get, but you almost always like it. This was one of her more modern thrillers. It did involve serial killers and stolen identities. It wasn’t a full-on romance, but romance was at its core, and did have a happily ever after. This book was a little long, but you usually expect that from Nora Roberts. I did thoroughly enjoy listening to this. It was a great way to pass the time while I was working on other things. 

The Cross-Eyed Kitten: Children's Book About Inclusion and Kindness for Kids 3-7 by Judith M. Ackerman

slow-paced

2.25

 

This book screams, self-published. First, the story is too long. It feels more like a spoken wood story than a written story. The illustrations are nice, but the art style and the color make it feel dated. Like I’ve picked up a book from my childhood that is ready to be recycled. The other issues I have with this book is how easy it makes tt seem to adopt a kitten form a humane society.  Anyone who has tried to adopt knows there are rules and budget constraints, home visits, and various hoops to jump through to adopt animals. This isn’t the case at all shelters, but at many, especially if one wants to adopt special needs animal. The seven-year-old birthday girl adopts a cat that’s cross eyed, and most shelters would be very strict on who can adopt a special-needs animal. A kid getting their first pet is not normally someone who gets to do that. So for this book I think is a leave it on the shelf, leave it at the store. There are better done and more accurate books on pet adoption and children. 

Always Carry Me With You by Hervé Eparvier

medium-paced

4.0

 

This book starts out as a little odd. It starts with a person wishing they were a stone. And most of the page is telling you about stones big and small, and what can and can’t be done with them.  Then it morphs into a story about belonging. How sometimes a stone can be so small that it can be held in a hand. That the act of holding the stone could make you feel or remember the person who gave it to you. So very touching book and very well done. A moment about the art. This art seems fresh and new, at the same time it has a retro 70s mod feeling. The art is the best thing about this book. The story is fantastic but it’s the art that makes it memorable. I want to see more of this art style. I want to hang these pictures on my wall. I want to give this book to others. 

The House That She Built by Mollie Elkman

informative medium-paced

4.0

 

This is a typical book about construction. What makes it unique is every job is done by a woman. And “this is a house that she built” is the constant reframe. Each page focuses on a different aspect of building a house: what the job is, what they do, and it emphasizes that this can be a woman, of any race creed, color, or ability. Overall, this is a fabulous book for the entry into construction and building that will appeal to both boys and girls. 

My Teacher Has Tattoos by Darren Lopez

informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

 

This is a children’s picture about stereotypes, using a non-racial, non-disability stereotype.   The author wrote this based off real conversations that happened in their classroom while they were a teacher.  They have tattoos and were thought of as less than, riffraff, and/or gang members. This book that not only covers “stereotypes are bad”, but also how tattoos can mean different things to different people. The artwork is fantastic but the covers a little ho-hum. Overall, this was a great read that could be used in classrooms or libraries for years to come. 

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Did not finish book. Stopped at 19%.

This book is a soft DNF. On a day when I couldn’t find an audiobook that fit this one did. This is an extremely long audiobook over 20 hours, and I did listen to approximately three. This story is about the offspring of a king, who has no chance of ever sitting on the throne and has been in isolation on the outskirts of the kingdom. They receive news that their father and all the older brothers have died which means they are now the monarch. All of that was very interesting and kept my attention. However, in listening to this audiobook the number of times they repeat the word “serenity” is annoying. I gather that this is a greeting both in welcoming and in leaving kind of like aloha, but it’s just odd.  I can’t tell if this is a mistake, or purposeful. It is done so often it could almost become a drinking game. I was at the stage of the story when the main character is told they must take a wife to keep their nephews and younger siblings from killing them to take over the throne, that I stopped the audiobook and never went back. I was thoroughly enjoying this book, that I will probably read it in print because the story was good, but the narration was annoying.

10 Truths and a Dare by Ashley Elston
Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.

 

This book started out interesting, but it didn’t stay there. This is a family story about meeting their expectations versus your expectations for yourself. Learning about the family was interesting, but when it gets down to the main part of the book where they must get their PE credit in order to graduate on time because the teacher didn’t turn in a report. This is where I stopped caring about this book. Maybe it was the narration style, maybe it was the book, but I had no desire to find out what happened at the end. I did make it 22% of the way through. 

Warlord Born by David Beers, Michael Anderle
Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.

 

This was a DNF. I’m not sure if the DNF is for the narration, or the book itself. While listening to this on a car trip, it felt like I was plugged into the middle of the story and was lost. I got about 30-35 minutes into this before I said OK I’m done.  This is normally the type of book that I like but it feels like I woke up in the middle of a video game somebody else was playing. I might like this better if I read it instead of listen. 

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

 

This was a DNF. I started this as an audiobook three different times, and each listen only lasted an hour and a half to two hours into a 20 hour story. The main reason that I DNFed this book is that every time I started this book I couldn’t remember anything I had already listened to. This is because so much of this book is telling not showing. At least in the beginning there is so much set up for who the characters are what they’re doing, etc. It’s almost never ending. Even now, though I have listened to those first two hours multiple times I still cannot tell you anything that happened. I’m not saying this book was bad I’m just saying it wasn’t for me as an audiobook.