The Defining Decade – Meg Jay

The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter—And How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group Canada
Published: 2012
Publisher: Twelve
Recommended Age: 16+
Genres & Themes: Adult, Nonfiction, Psychology, Work & Love, Personal Growth

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REVIEW:

This is a fascinating and informative psychology book. I couldn’t have chosen a better moment to read it – I was in the right mood for it and I needed it, besides.

I am turning twenty-three in June. I’m happy with the number and where I am currently in my life, though it’s hard to believe sometimes that I started reviewing books at sixteen and here we are today.

Soof – Sarah Weeks

Soof by Sarah Weeks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Publisher
Published: October 9th, 2018
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Recommended Age: 7+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Middle Grade, Family, Realistic Fiction, Love

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BLURB:

All her life, Aurora has heard stories about Heidi and all the good luck she brought Aurora’s family. Aurora, though, doesn’t feel very lucky. The kids at school think she’s weird. And she’s starting to think her mom thinks she’s weird, too. Especially compared to Heidi. On the eve of a visit from Heidi, more bad luck hits Aurora’s family. There’s a fire in their attic, destroying a good part of their house. And, even worse, Aurora’s beloved dog goes missing. Aurora and her family have always believed in soof — Heidi’s mom’s word for love. But sometimes even when soof is right there in front of you, you still need to find it — and that’s exactly what Aurora is going to do.

Review: Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist

Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group Canada
Publication Date: January 3rd, 2017
Publisher: Little, Brown
Point of View: 1st Person & Masculine
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Slow
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Love, Contemporary, Blindness, Art

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BLURB:

On his first day at a new school, blind sixteen-year-old Will Porter accidentally groped a girl on the stairs, sat on another student in the cafeteria, and somehow drove a classmate to tears. High school can only go up from here, right?

As Will starts to find his footing, he develops a crush on a charming, quiet girl named Cecily. Then an unprecedented opportunity arises: an experimental surgery that could give Will eyesight for the first time in his life. But learning to see is more difficult than Will ever imagined, and he soon discovers that the sighted world has been keeping secrets. It turns out Cecily doesn’t meet traditional definitions of beauty–in fact, everything he’d heard about her appearance was a lie engineered by their so-called friends to get the two of them together. Does it matter what Cecily looks like? No, not really. But then why does Will feel so betrayed?

Told with humor and breathtaking poignancy, Love and First Sight is a story about how we related to each other and the world around us.

Review: Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Borrowed
Publication Date: May 3rd 2016
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Romance, Summer, Family, Italy, Adventure

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BLURB:

“I made the wrong choice.”

Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is get back home.

But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires Lina, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

Best Ever Fairytale Retellings on Earth

Best Fairytale Retellings

Dear readers, my love for fairytale retellings is incomparable. I have read them ever since I learned how to read and, even today, I cannot spend two weeks without reading them. They are truly magical and wonderful – most of them, anyway. Making this list was hard for me, but here are my favourite fairytale retellings!

Review: Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas, #1) by Zoraida Córdova

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Raincoast Books
Publication Date: September 6th 2016
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Normal
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Fantasy, Adventure, Witches, Magic, LGBT, Culture, Family

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BLURB:

Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.

Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange markings on his skin.

The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…

Beautiful Creatures meets Daughter of Smoke and Bone with an infusion of Latin American tradition in this highly original fantasy adventure.

Review: Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, #2) by Cassandra Clare (NO Spoilers)

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: December 6th 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Margaret K. McElderry
Point of View: 3rd Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 13+
Pacing: Very Slow
Genres &  Themes: Young Adult, Romance, Steampunk, Fantasy, Adventure, Demons, Mystery, Family

BLURB:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Minuscule, Adorable Reviews for Good and Awful and Amazing Books (LOL, What a Title)

Hello, friends, readers, perusers! As you know, bloggers have lives, too. Sometimes, they don’t feel like writing a review for a book, so they just tweet something about it instead. I usually try my best to write complete reviews, but sometimes I just don’t feel like it. BUT, I still want to share some of the books I’ve read this year, even though I have not reviewed them properly. Here they are, them (mostly) tweet-sized reviews!

Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaug ❤ The only thing remotely good about this book is the cover. Am I the only one who felt deeply uncomfortable being spoken to by the main character as if I were his lover?

Uprooted by Naomi Novik  ❤❤❤❤❤ I think this book was uprooted from Heaven’s grounds and magically brought to Earth.

Review: The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Borrowed
Publication Date: 1973
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Point of View: 3rd Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Slow
Genres &  Themes: Young Adult, Fantasy, Love, Adventure, Classic, Kings and Queens, Danger, Pirates

BLURB:

What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be…well…a lot less than the man of her dreams?

As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts were left out of good old Dad’s recitation, and only the “good parts” reached his ears.

Now Goldman does Dad one better. He’s reconstructed the “Good Parts Version” to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups everywhere.

What’s it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex.

In short, it’s about everything.

Must-Read: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell – Review

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: October 6th 2015
Publisher: St-Martin’s Griffin
Point of View: 1st Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 13+
Pacing: Fast
Genres &  Themes: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic, LGBT, Boarding School, Friendship, Romance, Destiny, Vampires

BLURB:

Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here—it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story—but far, far more monsters.