Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:
I did 9 weekly blogging memes:
How was your week? What did you guys read?
The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.
This Sunday I’m reading The Black Swan of Paris by Karen Robards.
A world at war. A beautiful young star. A mission no one expected.
Paris, 1944
Celebrated singer Genevieve Dumont is both a star and a smokescreen. An unwilling darling of the Nazis, the chanteuse’s position of privilege allows her to go undetected as an ally to the resistance.
When her estranged mother, Lillian de Rocheford, is captured by Nazis, Genevieve knows it won’t be long before the Gestapo succeeds in torturing information out of Lillian that will derail the upcoming allied invasion. The resistance movement is tasked with silencing her by any means necessary—including assassination. But Genevieve refuses to let her mother become yet one more victim of the war. Reuniting with her long-lost sister, she must find a way to navigate the perilous cross-currents of Occupied France undetected—and in time to save Lillian’s life.
What book are you in bed with today?
This meme is hosted by Steph at A little but a lot. The weekly prompts for 2019 can be found here.
This week’s prompt is Tropes I Love. Here’s my list:
Did you make a Six for Sunday list?
Title: Manga Classics: The Count of Monte Cristo
Author: Stacy King, Alexandre Dumas
Genre: Manga
Publisher: Udon Entertainment
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 1, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★
A Conspiracy and a miscarriage of justice turn the gentle Edmond Dantès into an implacable agent of fate: The Count of Monte Cristo . Obsessed by vengeance and empowered by providence, the Count avenges himself on whose who have wronged him – but is this justice, or is this hubris? In the end, does even the Count know?
Alexandre Dumas’ skillful narrative combines intrigue, betrayal, and triumphant revenge into a powerful conflict between good and evil. Now this exciting saga, rich and diverse, takes on an entirely new life in this Manga Classics adaptation!
Edmond Dantès gets the exciting news that he will become captain of the ship he has been working on. When his adversaries find out, they make sure he will not be captain, and put him in jail. After being in prison for years, Edmond becomes friends with a fellow prisoner who gives Edmond his personal fortune. With this newfound wealth, Edmond reinvents himself as the Count of Monte Cristo. It takes a few years, but the Count devises a plan to bring justice down on all of the men who made him suffer.
I found it funny that the characters didn’t recognize Edmond as the Count. It had been years since they saw him and they assumed he had died, but I still think they would have recognized him. This created some dramatic irony, since the reader knows that he is Edmond, but most of the characters don’t recognize him.
I liked the illustrations in this manga. I find that sometimes the characters end up looking alike in some manga comics. Each character had a distinct style and looked different, so it was easy to tell them apart. I also found the story very easy to follow with the illustrations. The Count of Monte Cristo is a long novel that I’ve never read, but I could understand the story, and read it much quicker, in this format.
This is a great manga adaptation!
Thank you Udon Entertainment for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read Manga Classics: The Count of Monte Cristo? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted Devouring Books. This week’s prompt is Coming of Age. Here’s my list:
(All book covers from Goodreads)
If you’d like to do this list too, consider yourself tagged!
Did you make a Top 5 Saturday list?
Title: Shades of Magic, Vol. 2: Night of Knives
Author: V.E. Schwab, Andrea Olimpieri
Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy
Publisher: Titan Comics
Source: Publisher
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 16, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
Written by #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab and torn from the universe of the Shades of Magic sequence, this all-original comic book adventure continues the story begun in The Steel Prince – perfect for fans of bloody, swashbuckling adventure and gritty fantasy!
The young and arrogant prince Maxim Maresh, having faced the terror of the Pirate Queen, now aims to capture the respect of the combative port town of Verose – by taking the impossible challenges of the Night of Knives… and surviving, where none has survived before!
These are the hidden, secret adventures of Maxim, from long before he became the king of Red London and adoptive father to Kell, the lead of A Darker Shade of Magic!
Collects Shades of Magic #5-8: Night of Knives
Prince Maxim is training with the army, but he finds that the soldiers still think of him as a royal, not a fellow soldier. To gain their trust, he decides to do the Night of Knives. The Night of Knives is a series of four challenges that people can do to prove their strength. Maxim’s friend Isra has done it, but she only made it through the first two. She tells Maxim not to go all the way through to the fourth challenge, because no one has ever survived it. Maxim doesn’t always follow instructions, so he has some surprises waiting for him in the Night of Knives.
This was another great story set in the word of the Shades of Magic. This volume could be read without reading the first one, though you will get more out of it by reading them in order.
This second volume was even more fast paced than the first one. There were a lot of action when Maxim was fighting through the challenges, which made the story progress quickly. My only complaint is that I wish the story was longer because I love this world.
I loved this graphic novel! I’m so excited to read the third and final volume.
Thank you Titan Comics for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read Shades of Magic, Vol. 2: Night of Knives? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice.
The Rules are:
I chose Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith.
Here is my line from page 56 in my copy:
“Like Photoshop, I wish my body came with the Copy/Paste function.”
Did you make a post for the Friday 56?
Title: The Girl from Widow Hills
Author: Megan Miranda
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 23, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
Everyone knows the story of “the girl from Widow Hills.”
Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and held vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.
Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows—from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.
And now, the girl from Widow Hills is about to become the center of the story, once again, in this propulsive page-turner from suspense master Megan Miranda.
Twenty years ago, six-year-old Arden Maynor disappeared from her home after sleepwalking. She was found three days later. Now, she has moved away and changed her name to Olivia Meyer, so no one knows she’s “the girl from widow hills.” Her past is brought up again when she starts sleepwalking outside her house. One night, when she wakes up outside of her house, she is standing over the body of a man. Olivia’s past of the sleepwalking girl becomes news again during this murder investigation.
It’s amazing how these media stories affect the people involved. In this story, Olivia was the girl who disappeared but was found days later. The story was brought up again on the five and ten year anniversaries. Something that isn’t always mentioned is how traumatic it is for everyone involved to have to experience the event again. Olivia had to go to great lengths to separate herself from her past, but she still wasn’t able to escape it.
The ending of this book was shocking. I can’t remember the last time I had absolutely no idea how a thriller would end. I couldn’t fit any of the pieces of the puzzle together, but once I learned the final clue, it all made sense. I was so surprised! I loved this ending.
This is a great suspenseful thriller!
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read The Girl from Widow Hills? What did you think of it?
TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.
My pick this week is The Tourist Attraction (Moose Springs, Alaska #1) by Sarah Morgenthaler.
When Graham Barnett named his diner The Tourist Trap, he meant it as a joke. Now he’s stuck slinging reindeer dogs to an endless string of resort visitors who couldn’t interest him less. Not even the sweet, enthusiastic tourist in the corner who blushes every time he looks her way…
Two weeks in Alaska isn’t just the top item on Zoey Caldwell’s bucket list. It’s the whole bucket. One look at the mountain town of Moose Springs and she’s smitten. But when an act of kindness brings Zoey into Graham’s world, she may just find there’s more to the man than meets the eye…and more to love in Moose Springs than just the Alaskan wilderness.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
Title: In the Role of Brie Hutchens…
Author: Nicole Melleby
Genre: Middle Grade, LGBT, Contemporary
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 30, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
Introducing Brie Hutchens: soap opera super fan, aspiring actor, and so-so student at her small Catholic school. Brie has big plans for eighth grade. She’s going to be the star of the school play and convince her parents to let her go to the performing arts high school. But when Brie’s mom walks in on her accidentally looking at some possibly inappropriate photos of her favorite actress, Brie panics and blurts out that she’s been chosen to crown the Mary statue during her school’s May Crowning ceremony. Brie’s mom is distracted with pride—but Brie’s in big trouble: she has not been chosen. No one has. Worse, Brie has almost no chance to get the job, which always goes to a top student.
Desperate to make her lie become truth, Brie turns to Kennedy, the girl everyone expects to crown Mary. But sometimes just looking at Kennedy gives Brie butterflies. Juggling her confusing feelings with the rapidly approaching May Crowning, not to mention her hilarious non-star turn in the school play, Brie navigates truth and lies, expectations and identity, and how to—finally—make her mother really see her as she is.
When Brie’s mother almost catches her looking at photos of a naked woman, she tells her mom that she was chosen to crown the statue of Mary at the end of the school year. She told her mom that to distract her, but Brie wasn’t chosen to crown Mary, and she probably won’t be since that special role is given to one of the best students. After that moment, Brie realizes she may like girls more than boys, since she isn’t boy crazy like her best friend. Meanwhile, Brie really wants to be an actress. She wants to audition for the acting program at an arts high school, but her parents may not be able to afford the tuition. Brie is discovering herself and how to share her identity with her family and friends.
This story dealt with so many important topics in the life of a middle schooler. Brie’s family is going through changes. Her father lost his job, and got a job at her school to get a discount on tuition. The problem was that Brie was embarrassed for the other students to know he was her dad. Her father was also depressed, and Brie had a difficult time figuring out how to behave around him while he struggled. Brie also had some problems with her mother, who wasn’t completely supportive when she learned that Brie may like girls.
Brie was learning about her sexuality. She doesn’t like boys the way her friend does. She could relate to the queer characters in her soap operas, so she suspects that she is queer too. This was especially difficult because Brie’s family was religious and she went to catholic school. It was heartbreaking to see the way Brie acknowledged she had to hide her true identity because it wouldn’t be accepted at school or in her home.
This story was heartbreaking but also uplifting.
Thank you Algonquin Young Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Nicole Melleby is a born-and-bred Jersey girl with a passion for storytelling. She studied creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University and currently teaches creative writing and literature courses with a handful of local universities. When she’s not writing, she can be found browsing the shelves at her local comic shop or watching soap operas with a cup of tea.
Have you read In the Role of Brie Hutchens…? What did you think of it?
Jill's Book Blog 