book review: the cruel prince

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 370 pp.
Published January 2, 2018

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

sunday post #26

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to recap posts from the past week and tease upcoming content, as well as share new books, reading challenge progress, and anything else you've come across in the last seven days.

I'm happy to report that the bunny's birthday (aka, the Fourth of July) went splendidly! He got to nosh on some homemade strawberry cupcakes and dig through a big bag of presents filled with tissue paper to rip and tear. At the end of the week my mom and I went to see Incredibles 2. I'm sorry to say it, but I was a little underwhelmed? The scene with Jack Jack and a raccoon was pure gold though.

This coming week will have a little hiccup in my usual routine thanks to jury duty on Tuesday. Yay—not! I plan to put up a little poll on my Twitter (@darkmaterialss) tonight or tomorrow to help me decide which books I should take with me to stave off the soul-crushing boredom. Please stop by and vote!

book review: the essex serpent

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Serpent's Tail, 416 pp.
Published May 27, 2016

Set in Victorian London and an Essex village in the 1890's, and enlivened by the debates on scientific and medical discovery which defined the era, The Essex Serpent has at its heart the story of two extraordinary people who fall for each other, but not in the usual way.

They are Cora Seaborne and Will Ransome. Cora is a well-to-do London widow who moves to the Essex parish of Aldwinter, and Will is the local vicar. They meet as their village is engulfed by rumours that the mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming human lives, has returned. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist is enthralled, convinced the beast may be a real undiscovered species. But Will sees his parishioners' agitation as a moral panic, a deviation from true faith. Although they can agree on absolutely nothing, as the seasons turn around them in this quiet corner of England, they find themselves inexorably drawn together and torn apart.

Told with exquisite grace and intelligence, this novel is most of all a celebration of love, and the many different guises it can take.

2018 mid-year review

Happy Fourth of July to my fellow American readers...and happy Wednesday to those of you overseas! (You're more than halfway through the week—yay!) For this mid-week holiday I thought something fluffy and filled with pretty book covers would be a welcome treat, so I'm looking back over all of the books I've read and reviewed so far this year. The first half of 2018 has seen some amazing new and new-to-me books. While there are some duds sprinkled throughout the months, it's been such fun discovering new favorites to add to my shelves and discuss with friends!

For some additional context, these are my basic reading stats so far this year:

Goodreads Challenge: 64 out of 50 books completed

Total pages read: 24,183 pp.

Pages per day: 134 pp.

Average rating: 3.52 (out of 5)

For every title that has a review posted I've included a link, excerpt, and the star rating. For those that haven't been published (or written...) yet, I've copied my preliminary Goodreads blurb instead. I've also noted my 5-star reviews with a little star beside each title if you're most interested in the greatest hits! Please feel free to explore, discover, and enjoy ♥♥

book review: spinning silver

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Del Rey, 448 pp.
Published July 10, 2018

DISCLAIMER: I received a free finished copy of this book from Del Rey for review purposes.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders... but her father isn't a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has loaned out most of his wife's dowry and left the family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem steps in. Hardening her heart against her fellow villagers' pleas, she sets out to collect what is owed--and finds herself more than up to the task. When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold.

But having the reputation of being able to change silver to gold can be more trouble than it's worth--especially when her fate becomes tangled with the cold creatures that haunt the wood, and whose king has learned of her reputation and wants to exploit it for reasons Miryem cannot understand.

sunday post #25

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer. It's a chance to recap posts from the past week and tease upcoming content, as well as share new books, reading challenge progress, and anything else you've come across in the last seven days.

The days continue to be long and hot, with very little to report. It's hard to get motivating into leaving the house and running around when the temperatures are sweltering. I did remember to pick up a couple of new citronella candles when I ran errands this week, though, which should make evening reading sessions in the backyard possible, nay—pleasant! In addition to my usual book review schedule I screened a couple of upcoming movies as well, including the excellent Leave No Trace. The Fourth of July holiday has me extra wary of movie theaters, but I also really want to see Incredibles 2 and Sicardio: Day of the Soldado, so it looks like I'll be leaving the cool, dark shelter of my room for the cool, dark shelter of a cinema soon!