monicalaurette's reviews
292 reviews

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Book is out in September 7th 2021

When I heard that this book was a thing I was so excited, I had only read the first one ‘Pax’ earlier this same year and loved it. I saw that it wasn’t released yet and that there was a giveaway on Goodreads for an ARC version of the book, and knowing that I don’t win a lot of them, I entered.

Flash forward a month later and I got a wonderful email letting me know that this time was different and I would be getting an ARC copy! I was so excited and grew even more so when it showed up on my door. I was able to read this in one day (if you remove the times in between reading that I had to take for work and eating and spending time with family).

This book was a really wonderful closing to the ending of ‘Pax’. It answered some questions on what happened with both Pax and Peter after they said their goodbyes.

From the cover, you can infer that Pax and Bristle had some kits, and I wish that my ARC had the art in it so I could see how cute they looked, but alas I’ll have to get a final copy once it’s released into the wild. But even without the art in the book I really liked this story and how it connected the stories again in the end.

Seeing the way that Peter and Pax looked differently at their families, both related by blood and love, was a really fun way and an insight on ways to deal with grief and guilt. Also how to deal with those who have passed, and how we go about our lives afterwards because of them and the way that they raised us/inspired us.

I gave Pax: Journey Home 5 stars because I just loved it so much and it was nice for me to have an ending like that.

*No quotes in this as the ARC may be slightly different from the final text sold in stores. Will add quotes once I can compare them to the final text and see if they are the same or changed slightly.

I loved how Jade and Sam played their part in this story for Peter. Trying to get him to accept that he has a very different family now. He has no parents, but he has a grandfather that’s starting to be more emotional and Vola who cares for him as if he was her own.

Meanwhile Pax has his own children but knows that his boy is the only thing that can save his daughter.

LET ME TELL YOU I THOUGHT PETER WAS GOING TO SHOOT HER I WAS ABOUT TO THROW THE BOOK LIKE HOW HOW HOW!

I loved that Peter named the kit Sliver, because she was the ‘sliver or crack in his exterior that let the emotions in’ like Jade said.

Content Warnings

Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

C'est le premier livre en français j'ai lu après l'université. Un livre et une histoire très connue dans beaucoup de maisons.

L'histoire de "Le petit prince", pour moi, est une histoire à propos de 'trouver l'enfant à l'intérieur'. De plus, le monde et la vie ne sont pas toujours sérieuses. Une personne autorisée être heureuse et agir comme un enfant en tant qu'un adulte.

"Les grandes personnes sont bien étranges."

J'ai donné 'Le petit prince' 3 étoiles et demie. C'est une bonne histoire avec une morale très réfléchie. Et, je voudrais en apprendre plus sur l'auteur et sa disparition.

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

What a great read! This book has been sitting on my TBR for a while, and it was only after I was given the book for Christmas in 2020 that I was finally able to read it (granted a decent while after I was given it).

This book was first in my head as a sort of re-telling of Alice in Wonderland, but I only a few pages in did I realize that wasn’t the case. It was so much more. Instead of our Alice being a “new Alice” like many retellings, she is a fighter, a protector of Wonderland.

“...even when you’re careful, even when you play by the rules, it might not be enough.”

The premise of Alice being a fighter and the Nightmares that she does fight is a really wonderful twist on Alice in Wonderland to me. To see some of the characters interacting with our world and the different circumstances to why they are not in their homeland was very unique.

I also liked how during the book, while Alice is trying to stop all the bad that is happening, that she was still worrying about home and being back home dealing with those repercussions. I feel that sometimes in books like this their home life is only thought of and never a big part of the storyline that adds to the tension.

Friendship is something so important to me in books, like above all if there aren’t any good friendships, how is the character supposed to advance in their life? And the friendship between Courtney and Alice was just that.

I gave this story 4.5 stars because I really liked it, and it was different from other Fantasy and Young Adult books that I have read. It was different to see that they continued to live in their real world while also working in Wonderland, and sometimes it threw me a little.

I knew that Brionne’s murder was going to be brought back into the book later, but honestly thought her like spirit would be made into a Nightmare, to just add further insult to injury for Alice, but the way that it did tie in was done in a great way to show that now matter what, the emotions are still tied to a spot as well as a person.

AOIUDNAOIABLEJOSNABOI NOT MADDIE MY SWEET MULTI-COLORED EYE LOVE!

Having the Tweedles be Dreamwalkers as well was fun because it gave a little more life to the characters than just some bumbling idiots that Alice has to decipher.

I KNEW ODABETH AND XELON WOULD KISS IM SO HAPPY IT HAPPENED I KNEW IT! I could just tell from the first time they interacted that it was either an already established relationship or it was the sort of feelings that both liked each other but didn’t know the other did until the end. All in all very good, we love seeing the LGBTQ+

When they were talking with Odabeth the first time I think she mentioned having a sibling but then it like wasn’t brought up again so I don’t know if that will be brought in later or if I missed the part in Odabeth talking that the sibling is no longer like the Red Queen

Content Warnings

The Last Time I'll Write About You by Dawn Lanuza

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emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

I’m not one who normally reads poetry, or even writes it. But one of my best friends told me that this book helped them after a break-up. And I trust them.

Now I’ve also never been in a romantic relationship, but I’ve had bad friend and family breakups. So honestly some of the sentiments in here really struck me.

Perhaps this will lead me to get my own thoughts out of my heart and onto paper. Thank you Dawn.

Wolves of the Northern Rift by Jon Messenger

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 69%.

I gave this book more than half of the way to really grab me, and it didn't. This is in no way against the author, but this just wasn't the book for me.

While reading, it felt that the story just followed Simon and Luthor, and I never really felt any danger though they said there was. When the true villain was announced and they were able to escape so quickly and easily, it just felt wrong. There should have been something, a closer call, to really get the blood pumping in that scene.

I chose this book because there was a steampunk feel to it, but there was very little actual steampunk in the story in my opinion. There were the zeppelin and the top hats, and that's like all that I could see of the steampunk.

Also, I was not a fan of some of the ways characters were portrayed. Like the idea that the indigenous tribes outside the city wall were of f**king course the wolves. And how they were called 'abominations' by some of the characters. It just felt wrong to me, or maybe a little too on the nose with how history has gone and labeled them. Comments on virgins and "complaining like a woman" also threw me off and made me annoyed with the story. Didn't read this to be insulted.

If I was able to give this a rating, I'd give it a 1.5 star rating. The idea was good, the premise there, but the execution and the characters in the story just didn't do it as much justice as I would have thought.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“Do not underestimate the strength it takes to be kind in a world as cruel as ours.”

I am so upset with myself for how long it took me to get this book, and then to start reading it after acquiring it because this book was so good. I don’t even know if I could accurately describe in words what I really liked about it, and I have notes!

One aspect of this book that I really loved was Malik’s anxiety. I loved how real it was and I was able to relate to the feeling each time. “Breathe. Stay present. Stay here.” When I first read that as the tool Malik uses for his anxiety, I found myself closing the book and rethinking my own panic attacks. If I had followed those rules before, my senior year of college may have been easier to handle. And when Adetunde gave him the elastic to help I fell in love with him. Which made the ending that much harder.

The characters in this story were so well-flushed out and truly individual to me. And being so flushed-out it helped move their individual arcs across while not completely rewriting a character (which I’ve seen). They were each able to grow, change, adapt, but still stay themselves and fight for the things most important to them, even if that thing changed over the course of the book, it was still a driving force for Karina & Malik.

So many twists in this book that I didn’t see coming, characters that I loved in the beginning that turned out to be on the wrong side and I had to rethink my choices; at one point I even looked down at my notes and saw that I wrote down how much I liked a character after they were revealed...like damn. Hit me in my darn soul.

“I don’t think you’re weak for being scared. I don’t think you could be as strong as you are if you weren’t.”

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin receives a 5-star rating from me. The world building was amazing, and never something that was ‘too much’ or overbearing to me while reading, I can’t wait to see more of it in the next one (please release soon!).

One last thing I want to say, because I thought it was funny, was that the three sibling’s names were in alphabetical order; I don’t know if anyone else saw that, maybe it was done on purpose. Either way, it gave me a chuckle. LMN: Leila, Malik Nadia.

“But the fear that centuries of brutality had instilled in his people propelled him forward.”

There are things I want to add to this but can’t get the right words written out, like how Eshra is an occupied/colonized land, and the Eshrans are a hated people for it. It brought a whole new level to the story of the siblings and I know my words on it won’t do the sentiment justice.

Like I literally wrote down ‘I <3 Farid’ and then he goes and kills Tunde. MY GUY NO!

I feel like Farid is going to turn out as a worse villain that Idir because of his motives.

Malik’s tale in the Second Challenge was so cool, that’s the type of power I want when I tell a story.

Content Warnings

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

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emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.75

I’m not one to read non-fiction works unless it is for school. Very rarely have I read a biography or biographical type book as well. Just not the type of book that I tend to lean towards. Not to knock these types of books either, I’m sure they’re great. I just like dragons and elves and the fae.

This book came to me from a friend who was moving away and let me go through their books that they were giving away. I thought the topic of the book and that it was a slight biography of the hillbilly lifestyle drew me to it. I could see how some of the hillbilly lifestyle could spill over into my life growing up (maybe because past hillbillies came into my areas and brought their culture, just not as much as Ohio perhaps).

Hillbillies are definitely something that I used to mock while growing up, because I was made to see them as someone lower than me because of where they lived and how they lived. But as I’ve grown up, faced my own struggles, and learned more of the struggles of others, I know that it was wrong to say those things, and that sometimes we have the same struggles that have come from the same foes.

I was glad that the author brought in the fact that sometimes the struggles of hillbillies mirrored the struggles of Black and Latino and other POC communities, and also mentioned that sometimes the hillbillies don’t have it as bad. I just feel that maybe mentioning the racism aspect that also plagues the POC communities that make their struggles so different and complex compared to the [white] hillbilly communities would have been nice to see. Maybe I missed that sentence though.

J.D.’s experience, or parts of it, made me think of my own childhood and my current life. The struggles with family, and even the list of ACE’s he listed had me closing the book and just looking into the distance. I also sometimes would hide the truth of my lifestyle by spending above it or just ignoring it. We may have different [but somewhat similar] lives, and some different views, but I really liked Hillbilly Elegy.

And on that note, I gave Hillbilly Elegy 3.75 stars. I gave it this rating because I felt that at some points it was a little repetitive with the information being talked about in multiple chapters. I also just don’t read these types of books so I tried to like it more than I really did, and that probably made me not like it as much. Or maybe it was because of all the class-issues that the wealthy keep hidden that J.D. brought to light that brought my liking down. So perhaps this rating isn’t warranted, but it’s the one that I’m giving.

This book is great to read if you want to learn about communities that are different from your own, the secrets that the wealthy and successful hide from others, and maybe some insight into your own family and community life, I would give this book a try. I’m glad that I did.

The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien, Ruth S. Noel

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informative

3.0

Kind of like a textbook for a language class. At least that’s how I took it and read it.

Wished it was a little more in-depth of all the languages. Instead of just listing them towards the end (before the dictionary).

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Vampires. Forbidden love. Dystopian-esque world. Julie Kagawa’s writing. Count me in!

This book has been in my TBR and on my shelf for a while now and I don’t understand how I just now got around to reading it.

I’m a fan of the vampire, I won’t deny this fact. I haven’t read too many books with vampires in them either, but I have to say that this is one of my favorite interpretations of vampires and how they can integrate with our world. I liked how the whole ‘vampire veganism’ aspect was in a sense ignored in this story too as just something that won’t work. The other vampire stories that I’ve read have either had the vampire eat only animal blood or have the blood source only be blood bags of unknown origin.

Seeing a vampire being a blood-sucking vampire just because that’s what they are was really great to see in my opinion. I really liked the character of Allison and how (sorry if this is a spoiler but it’s also in the summary) she turned into a vampire so early on in the book. So it wasn’t she was constantly fighting against vampires for most of the story, but fighting against herself. How she never really left her Fringe life as a vamp because she was still fighting off hunger and self-preservation.

“Immortality is a lonely road.”

I gave The Immortal Rules 4 stars. While I loved the way that vampires are shown in this book and the story was interesting to me and hooked me in, I felt that some of the aspects of the story line were a little predictable and left me wanting a new and different twist by the end. But, that all being said I will be getting the other two books soon so that I can finish this story!

I really thought it would turn out in the end that Jeb was a vampire or vamp-like creature at first because of always traveling at night but then it was because of Rabid raids.

Kanin was probably my favorite character after Allie because I love an ancient vampire who is just done with everything but also trying to help the world. But I hate his son. Gave me bad vibes.

Stick will be seen again and I feel it’s either going to be as a human or maybe even a vampire. Maybe Allie will have to turn him and risk making him a Rabid.

Content Warnings

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I am a Twilight Fan. I read these books while I was younger, related to Bella in my struggle with my own depression, and have met some wonderful people and friends from these books and the world of the Cullens and Swans. I will binge the movies with my awesome friend Emmy and just laugh at it. This world holds many good memories for me.

That being said, I took this book with a grain of salt. And with that grain of salt I can say...I didn’t love this book like I hoped I would.

Being inside Edwards head was...hard. To say the least. After a few pages it got repetitive and annoying to have him constantly talking about himself and how hard it was to be him and his soul and blocking out the ‘boring human voices’. At times he just felt pretentious to me.

Of course, there are those few scenes that I loved from both sides of the story. The van accident and Edward saving Bella, the first time in the meadow together, and (my personal favorite) THE BASEBALL SCENE *begin Supermassive Black Hole*.

I enjoyed being back in the world of Forks and seeing characters that I liked, and was reacquainted with characters that I forgot about (probably because they weren’t mentioned in the movies which I watched more than read the books). But also reading this I noticed how much I really wish there was more diversity in Meyer’s books. I know why there’s not, but I can’t help but think how much more I’d like the story if there were.

I give Midnight Sun 3.75 stars because I have a strong sentimental pull to this story, but I have grown up from the last time I read any Twilight content and I just didn’t enjoy being in Edward’s head and following his thoughts. Put me in Rosalie’s head next PLEASE. Or that himbo Emmett.

One other character that I wish I knew more of is Alice. Both her story and how any of us are truly supposed to believe that Jasper is her only romantic love, and that she’s only into men. Because believe me when I say she is coded as into women. No one can convince me otherwise.

*just a small postscript of my review. I have donated to the Quileute tribe’s move to higher ground and I will recommend those who can donate to look into their mission and possibly donate yourself to help save their culture and teachings for the future generations!

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monicalaurette's reviews 292 reviews

monicalaurette's reviews
292 reviews